Great pitching and productive hitting won the evening for New Hampshire. Ditto for Lansing. Not Ditto for the other outfits on the farm.
With the non-waivers trading deadline having come and gone, here`s a look at some of the traded players in their former uniforms.
Both Las Vegas and New Hampshire had bat-around innings, both teams scored in double figures, both teams won. Dunedin rode good pitching from Chuck Huggins and a strong game by Yan Gomes to win. Lansing had to come from behind to get a walk off win, Sean Ochinko and Kevin Nolan led the way with the bats. Auburn lost another tough game. The GCL Jays won thanks to Canadians Nick Purdy and Michael Crouse.
The affiliates evidently could not stomach the loss of compadre Brett Wallace, as no one without a "League" in their name could muster a W. Apologies for brevity, but some of us have to get away for the Simcoe Long Weekend. Woooo!
Whew, it was not pretty. Despite the farm clubs only scoring 7 runs in 6 games, New Hampshire, Dunedin and GCL Blue Jays managed to put wins on the board.
Two players involved one way or the other in the Roy Halladay deal had nice nights to highlight a 2-4 night on the farm.
Stud Tampa hurler Matt Garza has tossed the 2010 season's fifth no-hitter. Better yet, it was almost the stunning season's fifth AND sixth no-hitters as Detroit starter Max Scherzer carried his own half of a potential double no-no into the seventh inning as well.
The Jays bullpen did not have a fantastic Sunday, and defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory in the second half of a twin bill. It would have given the Jays a 3-game winning streak and put them at 7-3 to finish their road jaunt. With the Orioles coming to town the Jays could have run their streak to six games before getting the Indians, who have been playing better as of late (and have given the Jays trouble to boot all season) but still aren't very good. So maybe the Jays would have been 12-4 coming out of the All-Star break before a difficult stretch that includes 12 straight against the Beasts of the East, an Oakland/Anaheim west coast swing, and then the Sox and Yanks again. And if they could hold their own there, then have a good September, then maybe they had an outside shot at the playoffs...
Ok, so none of that seems particularly likely, and let's face it, the Jays are going to miss the playoffs for the umpteenth straight time. Despite all this though it still seems, well, like an exciting time to be a Jays fan. There's a lot happening right now.