The D-Jays had mostly good weather this April, and responded by scoring over 5 and 1/2 runs per game. Unfortunately, their fine pitching staff surrendered over 5 runs per game, and so the team ended up with a 13-10 record for the month. They are in third place, 3 games behind the Lakeland Tigers.

Tough times continue in Syracuse. New Hampshire didn't hit, Dunedin didn't pitch. Lansing salvaged one win for the minor league affiliates, thanks to Yates and his cast of characters. (I am posting this early because it is done, I will add links on Monday morning)

It was another wet day, but a hard rain did not fall in Dunedin and Dayton, Ohio. The farm affiliates, led by Zach Jackson's gem, split their two games.

...is to throw yourself at the ground and miss.

Two wins and two losses for the farm teams last night. One of the things I've always found hardest to understand about introductions to Minor-League Updates is their habit of continuously stating and repeating the very very obvious, as in, It's a nice day, or You're very tall, or Oh dear, you seem to have fallen down a thirty-foot well, are you all right?

Chiefs and D'Jays waxed, Dayton hands win to Lansing. Janssen's unlucky thirteenth.

Only one game was played last night. That game was on Internet radio. The fact that it was a Dunedin game makes the previous sentence a Fort Myers Miracle.

When I visited the Fisher Cats in Binghamton recently I had a chance to talk with Canadian pitcher Vince Perkins, as well as some of the other pitchers.

In a reverse of yesterday's report, the Jay's affiliates won 4 out of 5 games.

The Jays were off on Monday literally, their farm system figuratively, as the minor leaguers were beaten 4 out of 5.

Vito Chiaravalloti is a favourite of Da Box since his triple crown win at Auburn in his first pro season in 2003. 2004 was an up and down season for Vito, he struggled in April and in August, but he was strong in the middle of the season and in the AFL. I sat down to talk with Vito recently recently when the Fisher Cats were in Binghamton. The first item on my agenda was to make sure I was pronouncing his name properly. Vito told me his family pronounces their last name with a "che" sound at the start, like cherry, but a "kee" sound, like Chianti, is the correct italian way.

Josh Banks continues to mow down AA hitters while Adam Lind gets out, once. A 2-2 day on the farm.

While the big club desperately needs a Bull Durham style artificial rainout (maybe the roof on the Skydome will develop a leak), the farm affiliates had 3 cancellations yesterday. Two games (New Hampshire's and Dunedin's) were washed away, and Lansing's tilt with West Michigan was frozen out. No toque, scarf and mitten ball in the Midwest League. Only Syracuse played, and frankly, the Sky Chiefs would have been better off if a freak hailstorm in Scranton had put the kibosh to their game.

Blown leads were the order of the day in the Blue Jays organization, as two of their minor-league affiliates copied the Toronto bullpen in coughing up one-run leads late. At least Dunedin managed to eke out a messy win afterwards -- but that was the only W anywhere in the organization last night, because the hitting was also pretty bad. Avert your eyes if you’re the sensitive type….

No, it's not a dirty joke nor the start of another tongue twister. When little Jayce Tingler hits a homer, it's front page news at the Box. And last night, he hit his first of the season, as the farm affiliates went 3-1 .

Francisco Rosario and Chi-hung Cheng belong in the first column, while Eric Crozier stands alone in the second category.