On a 3-2 day/night on the Farm, Third Baseman turned Catcher (but playing 3B) Seth Conner hit his second homer of the year and the only one anyone in the system hit on Thursday.

Las Vegas had the night off, and Lansing was rained out. Here's a look at the rest.

The two senior-most affiliates won, while Lansing and Bluefield lost in extras and Dunedin fell short in a shortened game. There were a couple of solid pitching performances and a pair of four-hit games: one from a Triple-A veteran and one from a high-round pick who hasn’t shown the promise as a professional he did as a youngster.

Three affiliates gave up runs in the ninth inning.  For Las Vegas and Bluefield it lost them the game, for Lansing it extended the game until the tenth where they lost.  Dunedin had their game go to twelve innings and they won.  New Hampshire also had a nice win.  Vancouver and the GCL Jays lost.  With so many losses there were few standout performances.  Jon Talley led Dunedin, Jorge Vega-Rosado keyed the Bluefield comeback that was in vain and Nick Baligod looked like he had driven in the winning run for Lansing before the melt-down.

Among the more notable players, Roberto Osuna pitched reasonably well.  Marcus Stroman's first pitch was "outahere".  Anthony DeSclafani pitched well for Lansing.

Even though two affiliates had the night off, two other clubs made up for it by having doubleheaders.  The highlight of a 4-4 Monday was the continued dominance of a Vancouver hurler, who continues to make Northwest League hitters more nervous than Josh Brolin.

Vancouver came out on the winning end of an impressive pitching performance by both teams and scored four runs in the 11th inning to win 4-0. Taylor Cole started that game and lowered his ERA to 0.26 in seven starts.

The bullpen shuffle continues, as last night's winning pitcher (that would be Jesse Chavez) has been DFA'd. (Quick update there!)

And coming up to replace him... Chad Jenkins?

The affiliates went 4-2 on an extremely boring night on the farm.

We need a thread to catalogue the Jays woes over this long weekend. As Dirk Hayhurst said today todays game is brought to you by the Red Cross. In case you missed it here is yesterday's news:

- the Jays tied the game on a 3 run home run in the ninth by Jeff Mathis

- The Jays lost in 15 innings

- Brett Lawrie left the game in the first inning with a sore side/rib cage

- Colby Rasmus left the game in extra innings with what is believed to be a strained groin

- After the game Brett Cecil was sent down, and Drew Carpenter was DFA'd

- Jesse Chavez and Adeiny Hechavarria have been recalled

While the 51s seemed to be reeling from the loss of talent promoted to Toronto, they nonetheless showed they could win with what they had left on Friday night.  And with Adeiny Hechavarria getting the call to Toronto, the 51s seem to be ready to keep the offence going with Mike McDade who brings a big bat to the plate and a great glove to first base.  Time will tell if they can stay close to Sacramento in their division race in the Pacific Coast League.  Let’s not slash our wrists just yet.

It was a 3-5 Thursday on the farm, featuring nearly two games for the price of one and the Canadian soil debut of a Mexican youngster.

Having just vented on how much I hate seeing 21 year olds in a major league rotation, I thought I'd journey back through time and see if this franchise has ever made such a thing work.

 (HINT - They have. Once or twice.But it was a long, long time ago.)

To me this season doesn't feel like a great season for the Jays minor league system.  I have been trying to think about it, to make sense of this feeling of mine.  Dunedin and Lansing won their first half titles.  Las Vegas are challenging for the title of their league, something a Jays AAA team hasn't done for a long time.  The system has promoted several players to the major leagues this year.  2011 prospects and near-prospects such as Drew Hutchison, Anthony Gose, Moises Sierra, Yan Gomes, Aaron Loup and Sam Dyson have been called up.  These players have obviously improved enough to be promoted.  So is it a good year or a bad year for the minor leagues?

I think I know the answer.

...and call it one.

the most remarkable thing to happen on Thursday was that New Hampshire fans - those who endured - got a whole 'nother ball game for free.

It has been a strange season for the Toronto Blue Jays.  They have been hovering around the 500 mark for much of the season despite losing a lot of key players to injuries and despite some notable poor performances.  The list of the bad things that have happened to the team is lengthy:

1. Brandon Morrow, Kyle Drabek, Sergio Santos, Drew Hutchison, Jesse Litsch, Dustin McGowan and Luis Perez are all on the 60 day disabled list.

2. More recently Jose Bautista, Adam Lind and JP Arencibia are on the 15 day DL.

It was a 4-3 night on the farm even though no affiliate could get more than seven hits. Two of the affiliates who won were outhit by their opponents and one had the same number of hits.  It was timely hitting that won games for the affiliates.  New Hampshire won 3-2, Ryan Goins scored two and drove in a third run.  For Bluefield Seth Conner drove in four runs with two of the Jays six hits.  Kevin Ahrens hit a three run home run for Dunedin.

Pitching also was key in the wins, Ryan Tepera, Marcus Walden, Taylor Cole and Kevin Comer all pitched well.  Cole was the best with six shutout innings.  Cole was followed by Marcus Stroman who pitched two perfect innings.  For the losing teams Noah Syndergaard was hit around a bit, while Bill Murphy and Jairo Labourt had forgettable days.