Revvin' up my engine like a 747
Shiny lanky long and lean
What a scene

The Jays rocked the Boston Red Sox again, winning 5-3 Saturday afternoon at the Rogers Centre.

Only one win, by Lansing, in a come from behind victory.  Dunedin and New Hampshire were blown out even though New Hampshire hitters had four home runs and Jesus Gonzalez hit a grand slam.  Several good starters had bad days, Marc Rzepczynski, Chuck Huggins and Henderson Alvarez each struggled.  Las Vegas lost in extra innings when Davis Romero ran out of gas.  Brett Cecil started.

Hey, I could get up and back, right on track
(Is that gonna get you back?) It's right on track, is that gonna get you back?

Casey Janssen had more close calls than Dr. Richard Kimble but he wiggled his way through seven innings to lead the Jays to a 6-3 win over Boston Friday night at Rogers Centre.

It was a rather uninspiring night on the farm with the late Las Vegas result still pending. The other three clubs went 1-2. UPDATE: Am I ever glad I didn't wait up... Las Vegas lost in 16 innings.

Funny how a 9 game losing streak shifts the Jays from massive depth in the pen and rotation with a solid offense to a team needing help everywhere :)

Lets do some overall checking...

Mistakes in the field, struggles with runners in scoring position and mediocre starting pitching all led to losses in the minors as the affiliates won one of five games. Brad Mills’s rough start to the year continued, as he remains winless, although on the positive side Travis Snider went 2 for 4. The Fisher Cats had a rough day in the field and Dunedin could muster little offence. Top first base prospects helped do the affiliates in, as Lars Anderson was 3-5 and Eric Hosmer was 2-4 with a pair of doubles in the first game of Lansing’s doubleheader.

Sorry, folks;  Life and work got in the way of a full minor league recap.  Here's an abbreviated look at Wednesday which was actually a good night.  3 games, 3 wins, all in the final at-bat.  Too bad the big club blew it.

Games like that make us all crazy.

Three affiliates managed five runs in their three losses.  The other scored ten and won in a 1-3 night on the farm.

And so do Jays' affiliates, apparently. Sometime I need to compile their collective record on Mondays. I don't expect it to be good. Though considering how the affiliates have been doing, the other days of the week probably aren't much better.

Alex Anthopoulos has a long title, it is Vice President, Baseball Operations & Assistant General Manager for the Blue Jays.  This year Alex has been talking to the media a lot, he appears regularly on the Fan590 and also sat in for some innings with Jerry Howarth on the radio broadcast over the weekend in Atlanta.  As JP Ricciardi has taken a step back from the microphone Alex Anthopoulos has stepped up to take his place.  We did not know Alex was going to be this popular last January when we first approached him but we hope this interview fills in some of his background which includes time with Les Expos.  Also Alex explains what his job entails at diffeent points of the season.

But first this interview needs some context.  Batters Box originally contacted Alex January to do the interview, Alex promptly agreed, so we got started and Alex answered the first few introductory questions.  Then Bart Given left the organization and Alex's workload increased and the second round of questions went unanswered until this last weekend.  Some of the questions and answers have been overtaken by events, or might appear old, and I am not sure if Alex answered some of them in February or last week. 

But despite that uncertainty we do have questions and answers and things to talk about and Batters Box thanks Alex Anthopoulos for taking the time to answer given his heavy workload this time of the season.

Mo' determined to fold the set
I ain't even started yet
So if you ain't ready you better get ready
I know I do it better when I'm being opposed
Stick ya chest out, keep your chin up
'Cause sometimes you gotta get knocked down to get up

2 -for-4 for the affiliates on Sunday.  Las Vegas walked off with an improbable win, and Lansing's bats channeled the big club's to ruin a fantastic start by a quickly developing prospect.

Las Vegas scored four runs in the bottom of the ninth to win their game.  Tim Collins gave up a solo home run in the ninth inning of a tied game and took the loss for Dunedin.  New Hampshire had a man thrown out at the plate in the bottom of the ninth and lost by a run.  

Things started off well at the top with Las Vegas creaming Oklahoma, but the other affiliates dropped the ball and went 0-for-3.