There was timely hitting and good relief in Las Vegas, a strong display with the bats and by the starter in Double-A, uncommon struggles for Dunedin and more offensive prowess in Lansing. Two of Toronto’s best pitching prospects pitched last night, one well and the other not so well at all.

I am not a scout, I just play one on the internet.  I was in Lansing last weekend to see three Lugnut games.  I spoke with manager Sal Fasano, pitching coach Antonio Caceres, scouts and others hanging around the team to build a picture of the players, to go with what I observed.

My observations are below.  Remember it is tough to evaluate a hitter in a handful of at-bats, they might be hot or cold that weekend which would influence my comments.

Antonio Caceres is back for his second season as the pitching coach at Lansing.  Previously Caceres had been the pitching coach in Auburn and prior to that Caceres was a pitcher in the Blue Jays minor league system in the nineties.  Last season pitchers Henderson Alvarez and Chuck Huggins made big strides under Caceres and he hopes to do the same this year with a new group of pitchers.  I spoke with Caceres last week in Lansing.

Seeing as we're quickly approaching the 50 game mark, we're also getting to that point where performance can't necessarily be masked as a quick or slow start anymore.  So with that being said, I thought I'd throw it to you folks to give your best guess as to where some things may shake out come October.  Call it an End of May Prediction Thread.

Two doubleheaders were split down the middle by the affiliates as part of a 3-3 night on the farm.

Sal Fasano was only a member of the Blue Jay's organization as a player for one year, and in that year he had only 45 at-bats, but he did leave a lasting impression on the organization.  Maybe it was the moustache or maybe it was because he is a friendly guy.  Fasano is now back as manager of the Lansing Lugnuts and I caught up with him last weekend in Lansing.

I was in Lansing for the weekend.  Here are some non-action shots of gameday at the park. 

Um, to hold all the hits the affiliates racked up on Monday night (49 in total)? I'm not really sure where I was going with that one. Anyway, despite those 49 hits, the farm only went 1-3 after losing a bunch of close (and high-scoring) games.

I was away for the weekend, what can I say...

The series finale turned out to be a good one for the Blue Jays as they completed a three game sweep with a 5-2 victory over Texas last Sunday afternoon at the Rogers Centre.

Three wins outta four for the affiliates including a couple of big comebacks and one excellent start in Florida.

Former major league pitcher Jose Lima has died at the age of 37.  His wife says he died of a heart attack.

Two wins in five games for the affiliates.  New Hampshire stayed hot behind Randy Boone, with homers from Brian Jeroloman and Adam Calderone.  Dunedin had three hits from Adeiny Hechavarria, and a home run from Mike McDade, as they came from behind to win.  Las Vegas had twenty hits and lost, as Rey Gonzalez was bombed.  Brian Dopirak hit two home runs.  Lansing lost both ends of a doubleheader in two very similar games.

Yours truly was in Lansing for the doubleheader and lugnut fan, Chad Hillman, stopped by to say hello, as we exchanged notes about the players.  I talked with manager Sal Fasano, look for that on the site next week.

Henderson Alvarez cruised through seven shutout innings Friday night.  He gave up five hits but recorded 14 of his 16 non-strikeout outs via groundballs.  Mike McDade popped two home runs.  And in the "glimpse of the future" department, in the sixth inning Adeiny Hechavarria, Tyler Pastornicky and Travis D'Arnaud had consecutive hits to score two runs.  Jesse Litsch was pretty good for six innings in AAA on Friday but the bottom fell out fast in the seventh.  Las Vegas went on to lose.  Kyle Drabek had a not so good start and the hitters were shut down by Bowie.  Lansing were rained out.

Interleague play starts today.