Seven Cubs and seven Red Sox were selected to the two sides. Roy Halladay is the only Jay selected to play as Shaun Marcum misses the cut, and a record three Canadians make the team - Ryan Dempster, Justin Morneau and Russell Martin. Also, apparently they take about 32 players per league now, which seems like an awful lot.

It was a rather forgettable 2-4 night on the farm. Brett Cecil and Marc Rzepczynski made starts, but neither was particularly strong and its not performances like last night’s that have put those two at or among the top pitching prospects in the organisation. The more impressive pitching lines came in more limited duty, with Jared Potts providing fine relief and Celson Polanco rescuing a ninth inning that turned ugly quickly. Chase Lirette also made his first appearance of the year. There were a few good offensive performances, but instead of looking to Travis Snider and Scott Campbell, we need to turn out heads to a young, slick-fielding shortstop prospect and a first baseman trying to revive a once-promising career with Dunedin.

Bone and steel
Rictus grin

Angels of Anaheim 8, Jays 2. The Angels hang 12 hits on A.J. Burnett to snap his winning streak at two games. No point talking about a game like that. Instead, I have two unrelated findings.

Curtis Thigpen had six RBI's including a grand slam as Syracuse won.  Antonio Jiminez replaced Robby Diaz in the middle of the GCL game and drove in the tying run in the ninth and the winning run in extra innings.  Dunedin and Auburn also won.  New Hampshire and Lansing could only register two hits each.

With the 2008 season seemingly slipping further out of the Jays grasp every day, and in the wake of recent managerial changes, now seems as good a time as any for a review of General Manager J.P. Ricciardi’s record.

Eight games: Four wins and Four losses. One Canadian hurler's stock is up, while another Canuck's is down.

Was that Brandon League I saw ?

A couple of wins and a couple of rain-outs.  Syracuse won in the ninth with a manufactured run courtesy of Wayne Lydon and Danny Sandoval.  The GCL Jays had a big win with an assist to Robinzon Diaz.  Ricky Romero pitched five good innings, out of six.  That "other" inning gave him the loss.  Auburn lost despite a couple of hits from David Cooper.  Lasning will take a 4-0 lead into the fourth inning when they resume play today. 

The affiliates were 3-4 on the night with the top two clubs going 0-3 as New Hampshire had yet another disappointing night, which is becoming a bit of a broken record.

Doc shuts out the Mariners. Jays win 2-0.

Happy Canada Day!

Brett Cecil continues to pitch well in AA a year after being drafted.  So does Marc Rzepczynski who needs to be pitching, at least, in Dunedin.

The affiliates went 2-3 on the night.

... from Baseball's Hall of Names!

Way back in 2005, Original Bauxite Rob Pettapiece, uh petta-pieced together an All Canada Day Hall of Names team, based on the names of the delegates at the Québec Conference of October 1864.

We've not done much for Canada Day since then, but now three years later, let's see what kind of squad we can build of players who were actually born on Canada Day, known here in Tejas as "Uh, it's just July 1st, dude."

There have actually been ...

The Jays get to ease out of Interleague play against the worst team in the AL. I have no idea what's going to happen.

A farily nondescript day on the farm.  Six close games, three wins, and no real standout performances.  I don't really blame you if you don't click on 'More'.

Gregory: "Is there any other point to which you would wish to draw my attention?"
Holmes: "To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time."
Gregory: "The dog did nothing in the night-time."
Holmes: "That was the curious incident."