Dunedin used the long ball five times to overcome a seven-run deficit on the road in a game that boiled down to the last play.  Las Vegas and Vancouver got six shutout innings from their starters to earn victories and Bluefield had a nice game with the bats.  New Hampshire saw a game get away from them in the late innings, Lansing was totally outclassed and the GCL boys lost despite the best efforts of a first round pick.

On a typically unspectacular Thursday on the farm, the teams combined to record as many runs as the allowed which reflected fairly well on the hitters (averaging six runs a game) and not so much on the pitchers.

The Blue Jays will try to shake off a disappointing series at Fenway, but to do so they'll have to beat the red-hot Angels. Los Angeles/Anaheim is 24-8 since May 22nd, and they've won 6 of their last 7. Toronto, meanwhile, continues to shuffle around at .500, which just means they're falling further and further behind in the AL East. Although they are only 3.5 out of the Wild Card, three teams currently stand between them and the playoffs. To make up ground they'll have to knock the tar out of the ball, because their pitching, what little there is of it, doesn't seem capable of keeping the team in games. What's gonna happen? Damned if I know. Advance Scout!

The losers in half of the eight games on the farm yesterday scored three runs. There weren’t many interesting performances, but read on anyway.

The state of the Jays pitching staff is so precarious that when a pitcher does well in AAA or AA you think they might get called up.  Shawn Hill and John Silson both pitched well yesterday and both teams won.  Aaron Sanchez, Tom Robson and Kevin Comer also pitched well.  Dunedin scored in double figures to win while Vancouver were "beat up good".

Offensively Moises Sierra had a big night as did Eric Thames.  Kevin Nolan hit a grand slam and had 5 RBI.  Kevin Howard hit a game winning, extra innings, home run.

The highlights were victories by Lansing and Bluefield.  The lowlights were a couple of one-run losses by the same score, a doubleheader sweep, two extra innings losses and an 11-run beatdown in a 2-6 Monday for the affiliates.

The Toronto Blue Jays look to beat this man to start off the series at Fenway Park.

Boston Red Sox hurler Felix Doubront gets some work in from the bullpen at Target Field April 23

The Blue Jays go into Boston to start a very important two week period. The Jays play 14 straight games leading into the all-star break. They face Boston, LA Angels, Kansas City and the Chicago White Sox. As the rotation stands currently Henderson Alvarez and Aaron Laffey will make three of those starts and Jesse Chavez two.

The affiliates were 3-2 on Sunday and featured a couple of nice pitching performances in the low minors.

A full slate of games saw the affiliates go 5-3 while a top pitching prospect had one of the best starts of his career.

The Farm Boys from the west made us proud.  Now, maybe our guys in the east can step it up for the rest of the weekend.

On a mostly quiet night on the farm, the clear offensive standout was Anthony Gose, and Travis Snider continues to demand the attention of decision makers in Toronto.

That title might be the thoughts in Alex Anthopoulos' mind today as he reviews the rotation.  I am not sure if everyone caught the subtext to the news of Drew Hutchison's visit to the doctor.  He is deciding whether to have Tommy John surgery now or try and rehab in the short term knowing he will probably have to have it later.  Kyle Drabek has had his TJ and is in recovery.  Meanwhile Jesse Litsch has had another operation and is out for the season.  Sergio Santos and Dustin McGowan are still not pitching.

Based on all these news items the Blue Jays have starting pitching problems for the rest of the year, but also for 2013.

New Hampshire was the lone winner on the farm last night as the affiliates lost by 1 run, 2 runs, were shutout, were postponed and had an off day.

All six affiliates won on this night and pitching was the reason.  Among the six teams only two hitters had three hits, namely Ryan Goins and Wuilmer Becerra.

On the pitching front Andrew Carpenter pitched seven shutout innings for Las Vegas.  Chad Jenkins pitched six shutout innings for NH.  Asher Woj pitched six strong innings for Dunedin.  Javier Avendano, Nick Purdy, Daniel Norris and Alberto Tirado each shutout the opposition in their innings.  Joe Musgrove gave up one run in his four innings.