It's the 23rd day of May.

There was a lot of late inning scoring in the three games on Thursday.  Adam Calderone hit a grand slam in the eighth for New Hampshire to give them a two run lead but the bullpen gave up eight runs in the eighth.  Las Vegas fought back to tie a game they had been behind in all night but Bill Murphy and his defense blew it in the ninth.  The bright spot was Lansing whose bullpen has been somewhat unreliable early in the season.  The Lugnuts led 6-2 but the bullpen coughed up three runs in the eighth and it was worry time, but the offense bailed them out with four more in the ninth to seal the win.

The Blue Jays have sent Travis Snider to AAA Las Vegas to get his swing back in order.  The 21 year-old left fielder has struggled this season with a .242/.292/.394 mark with just three home runs and 12 RBI.

Update May 22/09 @10:20 a.m.:  Joe Inglett gets the call back to the bigs according to the FAN 590.

Update May 22/09 @ 11:25 a.m.:  Jays assistant GM Alex Anthopoulos confirms Inglett's call-up on the FAN 590.

Update May 22/09 @ 5:15 p.m.:   "Rapid" Ricky Romero and "The Fugitive" Casey Janssen are back.  Bobby/Robert Ray and Brett Cecil will say yo to Cosmo!  Tip o' the cap to our posters for pointing this out.

The less we say about it the better
Make it up as we go along
Feet on the ground
Head in the sky
It's ok I know nothing's wrong . . nothing.

No sense trying to be a wordsmith here.  This series sucked turd from the get-go for the Jays as they lost 5-1 to the Red Sox Thursday evening.

Edward Rogers III has taken over from his father Ted as the controlling owner of the Jays.  A Western grad, Rogers is the President of Rogers Cable division.

No idea what this means for the Jays if anything, but, it's interesting to note that the official ownership remains in the Rogers family.

The Red Sox went deep five times against Brett Cecil and that was the difference as they pounded the Jays 8-3 Wednesday night at Fenway.

Just two games for the affiliates last night.  Both starters threw nearly identical lines.  One suffered a loss while the other was saved by some late game heroics.

Brian Tallet and the Jays came out on the wrong end of a pitcher's duel at Fenway Park as they lost 2-1 to Tim Wakefield and the Red Sox Tuesday night. 

One win at the higher levels thanks to outstanding pitching and one win at the lower levels despite a Bad News Bears impersonation with the leather.  Total it all up and the four affiliates split things right down the middle with a 2-2 evening. 

I'll just cut to the chase, since this is really what you want to hear: J.P. Arencibia had a huge night, going 3-3 with 2 homers, a double and 2 walks. No matter what else happened, it was a good night for the affiliates.

It's a throw down, a show down, hell no I can't slow down, it's gonna go...DOWN!

In advance of the "Throwdown in Beantown", the Jays of Blue completed a four game sweep of the Sox of White with a 3-2 victory Monday afternoon at the Thunder Dome.

Batters Box recently had the opportunity to check in with Jon Lalonde before June's draft.  Lalonde and the entire amateur scouting team are at their busiest right now preparing for the draft.  Obviously Lalonde was unable to comment on specific players and in truth the Jays draft board has probably not been settled yet.  Many college teams are still playing and trying to qualify for the college series.  Meanwhile cold weather high school players have recently started playing their seasons.

I don't think there are many surprises in his answers but he does leave the door open on high school pitching and also suggests, but does not absolutely say, that his budget has not been cut back.

Disclaimer - the following is an article I wrote for Baseball Prospectus Idol, a contest whose purpose is to find a new writer for BP. The ten finalists have been announced, and, well, I am not among them. But I wanted this piece to see the light of day, so enjoy!

Disclaimer 2 - this piece was written before, um, certain events took place. Fortunately, these events only strengthen the article's main point!

The Jays are 2-for-2 on bobblehead days this season with the featured players contributing to victories.  Alex Rios jump started the offence as the Jays quadrupled the White Sox 8-2 Sunday afternoon at Rogers Centre.

Strong pitching and weak hitting was a theme in the minors on Sunday, as the four affiliates allowed just 10 runs in five games yet still only won two of 'em.