Only Vancouver made the grade Friday in their season opener against Spokane and put up the evening’s First Star.  All it took was 4 RBIs and a Homer.  Lansing’s Kevin Paterson also put up a pair of HRs and got 3 RBIs but came up a run short versus Great Lakes.

There has been a lot of talk about how the pen has been used lately. Is Farrell using it appropriately or is he giving the highest leverage outings to the worst pitchers? Lets see.

The Phillies are in town for the weekend, but due to injury and scheduling Toronto only gets one of Philadelphia's big 3, Cliff Lee. Lee is winless in 10 starts despite ERAs and FIPs right around 3; though the Phillies offense really isn't that bad for the NL, it's no longer the juggernaut it once was. Philadelphia and Toronto are actually in pretty similar positions as we speak, albeit on differing sides of a curve. Toronto's been a game better, but both teams are hanging around just under .500, with positive run differentials, and yet both reside in the cellars of their tough respective divisions, 6.5 and 9 games out with lots of teams to catch. At some point in the next month both teams are going to have to decide whether they should go for it, whether they're going to just hold on, or whether to pack it in for the season. I say that both teams are at differing points in the curve because for Toronto this was supposed to be their first season on the cusp of something; they have a young team, plenty of talent in the minors, and look to be on the way up. The Phillies are the mirror image of this. This year or the next might be the last in which they can realistically hold things together. They're old, and in the offseason they're going to have to pay Cole Hamels $20 million a year, at least. Much of their young talent has been used up bringing players like Hunter Pence or Roy Halladay over, and these guys are only getting older.

So, what to do?

Kyle Drabek has a strained UCL and has hit the DL.  There has been no news on how long Drabek might be out of action.   Brett Cecil will start on Sunday in Morrow's spot.  Cecil last pitched on Tuesday so he was in line for this start unless Alvarez was moved up.  The Jays might have an announcement regarding next Tuesday's starter later although, because that involves a second roster move, the announcement might not be made until Sunday.

The final short season rosters were announced today.  There are not many surprises.  A lot of the 2011 draftees head to Bluefield while the younger 2012 draftees and most of the recent Latino signed players stay in the GCL.  Bluefield's line-up should include five 19 year olds, Dwight Smith, Jacob Anderson, Christian Lopes, Santiago Nessy and Matt Dean as well as 20 year old Dickie Thon Jr.  The pitching line up includes Daniel Norris, Kevin Comer, Joe Musgrove, Jeremy Gabryszwski and Roberto Osuna.

The GCL roster includes DJ Davis, Anthony Alford, Dawel Lugo, Gabriel Cenas, Jairo Labourt and Alberto Tirado.  Mark Biggs stays in the GSL as does Adonys Cardona whio has been injured.

This is one of those reports which provides details of a bunch of relatively lackluster events.

One game of the four was canceled, the teams went 1-2 in the other three and no one really distinguished themselves.

A trio of strong five inning starts paved the way to a .500 day on the farm.

Brett Cecil beat Bear Bay and the Tuscon Padres easily last night.  Cecil pitched well by Las Vegas standards, average by major league standards.  Jesse Hernandez of the Lugnuts took a no hitter into the eighth and completed a one hitter but lost the game. New Hampshire lost a close one and Dunedin were badly beaten.  As usual Las Vegas had a number of strong hitting performances including home runs from Travis d'Arnaud, Moises Sierra and Adam Lind.

I reached out to Dane Johnson last week, the Blue Jays minor league pitching coordinator.  I wanted to get updates on some of the Jays pitching prospects.  He was busy when I called and when he called me back I was not convenient to a speaker phone or my voice recorder.  So here is a summary of our conversation based on my scribbled notes. We talked Deck McGuire, Chad Jenkins, Asher Wojciechowski, John Stilson, Sam Dyson and a few others.

If you like hearing the crack of the bat, Cashman Field was the place to be to dig that sound and shake it around as Las Vegas launched a 17-hit attack.  It was almost a perfect night on the farm as the affiliates won three out of four on Monday.

From the second place team in the NL East to the leader, the Jays tough interleague schedule continues. Most of the team's misfortune has occurred in NL parks; nevertheless they have the third worst interleague record of any AL team, behind only the lowly Royals and Orioles. It won't be an easy task to right the ship, as Toronto faces a Nationals team led by the most exciting young pitcher and hitter in baseball, both of whom are en fuego. Will the (not so cold anymore) north be enough to cool that heat? That's what the Advance Scout is here to tell you (plus next week's winning lotto numbers).

The affiliates were 3-2 on the day with New Hampshire's struggles continuing. Adam Lind and Travis Snider both enjoyed big games.

Three wins in four tries for the affiliates as a top prospect returned to action.

Our farm boys came up empty handed Friday night unable to record a single victory.  Two games, a single game and a make-up were canceled due to rain in Dunedin.  That saved us from the bad side of a total sweep.

The Seattle Mariners, led by Kevin Millwood, blanked the Los Angeles Dodgers 1-0 and shut them out in the hit column at Safeco Field Friday night.




Kevin Millwood (6IP, 1BB, 6K), Charlie Furbush (0.2IP, 1K), Stephen Pryor (0.1IP, 2BB, 1K, W), Lucas Luetge (0.1IP), Brandon League (0.2IP, 1K) and Tom Wilhelmsen (1IP, SV) teamed up for the first combined no-hitter in the majors since 2003.