Shaun Marcum returned with an exclamation mark and a handful of Canadians had good nights.

In two unrelated moves ...

Veteran Tony Clark has waived a $500K trade incentive clause and been dealt from the Padres back to the Arizona Diamondbacks, where he played the past three seasons.

And in AL East news, to nobody's surprise, the Yankees have reached a tentative agreement with whiff machine Richie Sexson, who was released by Seattle last week.

Late addition: Joe Blanton to the Phillies!

At the break the Magic 9, the Papayas and the Wedding Singers lead the way.  It's typically tight in all the divisions, with over half the owners still having a realistic shot at a top 6 finish and a playoff spot.  We are entering the pesky short week which can have a big effect on the standings.

It's the all-star break in the major leagues, the traditional half-way point of the season.  The minor league season is shorter and most teams are at the two-thirds mark of their season.  Now is a good time to take a look at the top prospects to see how they are doing.  In this feature we will look at the Jays top 30 prospects and some players who are looking to move into the top 30.

Brad Mills was the star on this night with seven shutout innings.  With two leagues in their all-star break the affiliates won three of four.  Dunedin, behind Mills, won 1-0.  Auburn gave up seven runs in the first two innings but won easily.  The GCL Jays won in the bottom of the ninth while Lansing lost.  David Purcey pitched will the AAA All-Star game while Travis SNider won the AA home run contest.

Pitchers are an odd beast. They can have career years at age 20 (Dwight Gooden) or age 45 (Phil Niekro). OK, Phil's age 35 season might have been better.

There is a reason no one claims to predict pitchers with a high degree of accuracy, and why TINSTAAPP. Still, lets see how the Jays are doing vs their careers.

Just one of the affiliates were in action.  Much like the parent club, they couldn't get the big hit when they needed it and they didn't hit for power.  None whatsoever, not a sausage. 

Just for fun, while we have a few days with fixed stats, lets see how various Jays have done vs their lifetime numbers. Also included are a few high level prospects who might be here in 2009.

I've got an idea! Let's create a pitcher!

And let's make him a monster. A dragon...

So much for the first half. Less than overwhelming.

Rain washed out three games, and an off day took care of another.  That left only two games for the affiliates and they took care of business in both as a former first-round pick kinda, sorta flirted with a no-hitter.

The other day, for no particular reason, I noticed that two-thirds of the Texas Rangers starting outfield consisted of All-Star starter (admittedly at DH) Milton Bradley and fine utilityman Marlon Byrd, That got me to thinking, Hall-of-Names style, about the "megabytes" (yes, that's abbreviated "MB") of talent in big league history. Current hurler Mark Buehrle, of course, and recent All-Star shortstops Mark Belanger and Mike Bordick came to mind, and then, uh ...

Um ...

The affiliates went 4-2 on the night.

I shouldn't have been surprised at the news today that former Yankee OF (and current announcer) Bobby Murcer, 62, had passed away. The cause was no surprise, complications from his well-publicized brain cancer.

Who was Bobby Murcer to Yankee fans? Well ...

We are one
So much time wasted, playing games with love
So many tears I've cried
So much pain inside