Three wins against one loss.  Ricky Romero was fantastic for six innings, and JP Arencibia made a good first impression, but New Hampshire had to sweat out a win.  Kenny Rodriguez pitched well to get a win for Dunedin and Auburn took advantage of Batavia errors to win.  Syracuse delievered the only loss but Curtis Thigpen got his groove back.

Ice... cold... beer!

They're 5-5 in their last 10, which is woefully inadequate when you're chasing a team that never loses. They're now 8.5 games off the NL Central pace, and as if that weren't bad enough they get to deal with a couple of AL East teams this week. Fortunately, they get to begin that stretch by throwing their more longball-prone pitchers at a banjo-hitting last-place team that ranks 28th in the majors in longballs, has averaged 2.5 runs a game over the last week, and gleefully insists on tormenting its fans by burying a free power fix in AAA.

A slow night in the minors with just two teams in action.

It's been a bad 24 hours for people involved in running 100 million dollar teams, as the Mets have fired Willie Randolph overnight and the Mariners let GM Bill Bavasi go yesterday afternoon.

A team that never strikes out, a team that always makes contact, a team that lays down lots of bunts and steals lots of bases and executes many a hit-and-run. I'm sure I'm not the only one who remembers people SCREAMING for this to happen back in 04/05. Here you are, boneheads. Enjoy.
- King Ryan, 11 June 2008

Former Blue Jay closer Aquilino Lopez (14 saves as a 2003 rookie) has been optioned to AAA Toledo to transition into a starting pitcher for the struggling Tigers

Lopez has no starts in his 134 career big league appearances and has averaged barely 1.1 IP for those appearances. His most-similar player, historically, is another former Blue Jay closer, Darren Hall, who had 17 saves as a '94 rookie, and who made zero starts in 130 career appearances -- averaging less than one inning per appearance.

Well, Lansing can rest their regulars for, oh, the next two or so months as they clinched the First Half Division Title in the Midwest League.

The return of Ted the Tease! And GGZ!

I’m 0-6 over my last two minor league updates, as the three affiliates in action all lost, with two of them being held to one run. The only bright spot came with New Hampshire’s offence, as Travis Snider continued to look good while Scott Campbell demonstrated that even when he isn’t getting hits, he’s still contributing and getting on base. Meanwhile, the Florida State League All-Star Game took place and three Dunedin players were in action.

Lansing were one out away from losing and falling into a tie for the division lead with two games left in their first half, but Kevin Ahrens came through in the ninth and the twelfth to help Lansing win.  New Hampshire won easily and this report features a first hand account of the game.  Syracuse were rained out and Dunedin had the day off.

The Jays have now been around for 31 years. In those 31 years they have had players who started here, ended here, and even a few who were here for their entire big league careers. Now, a good question (at least in my mind) is which of those 3 groups is the strongest? Those who began their careers here, those who ended here, or those who were Jay lifers?

I'm all out of clever, so here it is in plain, brutal honesty: The pitching stank in New Hampshire and wasn't very good in Dunedin either. The pitching was excellent in Lansing but the offence was disappointing.

Have you heard about the rookie utilityman playing with the Padres? (No, that's not a leading question.) His name is -- and this is wonderful -- Callix Crabbe. There's no doubt that such a fabulously-monikered player would eventually make one or more  Hall of Names team(s), though he's only the fifth player to make the bigs with "Crab" in his surname, so there probably isn't enough for an All-Shellfish team. (But that's good -- who wants to deal with shellfish players? Har!)

All that said, young Callix Sadeaq Crabbe -- and he's the only player in the game's history with either of those given names! -- is also just the eleventh MLB player ever to have been born in the U.S. Virgin Islands. And miraculously, with only a tiny bit of juggling, those players actually fill out, not a full roster of course, but at least a regular lineup card.

The first ...

Four losses, two starting pitchers were shelled, two pitched well.  Ricky Romero continued his spiral as he allowed seventeen baserunners in 5.2 innings.  Kyle Ginley didn't get an out in the second inning as he was hit hard.  Bill Murphy took the loss for the Chiefs in a parent club-like loss despite pitching well.  Gregg Zaun homered to account for the Chiefs only run.  Trystan Magnuson pitched well for Lansing but Chi-Hung Cheng took the loss.  Lansing is still two games ahead of two teams for the first half title with four games left.

Let me give you a preview of something I'm working on, and call for suggestions!