Cito Gaston and Bobby Cox face off again, the Jays' pitchers get to deal with an offensive juggernaut, and their bats run into some overachieving pitchers.

The New Hampshire offence exploded against the New Britain pitching staff to ensure that Brandon Magee would get his first win of the year, no matter how poorly he pitched. New Hampshire performance was the highlight of a 1-4 night for the affiliates, as three of the Jays farm teams were doubled-up by their opponents and the fourth just missed being double-up by one run. Two days ago I gave all three stars to pitchers, but yesterday was a day for the hitters to shine and collect all three stars.

The Jays whomped the Reds to take the series as Cito evens his record with the 2008 Jays out at 3-3. Now they just have to keep hitting for the rest of the season.

After the nice big blowout normal service is sadly resumed as the Jays lose 6-5 to the Reds. Halladay and Harang battled each other to a five-each standstill through 7 last night, with Downs stepping in handily to pick up Doc and get the last out of the 7th. It was nip and tuck from then on until Wolfe was ineffective in the top of the 10th, allowing the Reds to get a one-run lead and the Jays were unable to get it back against Cordero. Same as usual for the year, the Jays had a few chances to get the go-ahead run but couldn't cash anyone in. Only the Jays could have an Inning like the 7th, in 6 pitches they managed to load the bases with no outs and fail to score.
pitch 1 Rios single to centre
pitch 2 Wells single to left
pitch 3 Stairs single to centre
pitch 4 Rolen popup to second
pitch 5 Overbay takes a ball
pitch 6 Overbay bounces one to the pitcher. 1-2-3 DP
Under the Gary Denbo Regime it would have taken them at least, oh, 20 pitches to get all that done.

Four wins, New Hampshire won behind a very good start by Brett Cecil and a home run from JP Arencibia.  Lansing won with a good start by Marc Rzepczynski, ably supported by Edgar Estanga and Tim Collins.  Syracuse won with an average start from Davis Romero, Kevin Mench finally showed up and hit a home run.  Dunedin did not get good pitching but won anyway.  Auburn got good pitching from Joel Carreno but lost.  The GCL Jays lost, again.

The Toronto Blue Jays scored as many or more runs in the first inning yesterday as each of their minor league affiliates did during their entire games. I’ve not checked conclusively, but I believe that has to be a first for 2008. There were few noteworthy offensive performances, but Jonathan Baksh and Brad Emaus continued to swing hot bats, while Eric Eiland and Kenneth Wilson are doing well as leadoff hitters in the lower minors. However, the story on the night was pitching, with Robert Ray and Luis Perez throwing absolute gems and Michael MacDonald and Kenny Rodriguez pitching very well, too.

A special St. Jean Baptiste Day edition of the Advance Scout. The Fighting Jays take on the FIghting Reds in an epic battle between two middle eastern teams (in the context of North America). On to the Advance Scout!

Jays host the Reds tonight. A pretty big day for Dunn I'm sure, having to answer a bunch of Ricciardi questions.

The news was good on Shaun Marcum's elbow.

David Cooper hit his first pro HR last night as the affiliates went 2-3 with a rain out yesterday

Whether you like him or not, it's hard to argue that the very best baseball player active right now is playing third base for the New York Yankees -- Alex Rodriguez. Okay, you can argue it, but he's definitely Top-3.

And while "Alex" isn't one of the most common male first names in the Americas, the fact is that A-Rod is one of only five men in big league history with that first name to make an All-Star team (yes, another of those is currently roaming the TOR outfield); and in fact, though A-Rod will surely change the equation someday, not a single Alex has yet been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

Wait, that's not quite accurate; as we build an All-Alex Hall of Names team here on Da Box, we need to differentiate ...

In football the object is for the quarterback, also known as the field general, to be on target with his aerial assault, riddling the defense by hitting his receivers with deadly accuracy in spite of the blitz, even if he has to use shotgun. With short bullet passes and long bombs, he marches his troops into enemy territory, balancing this aerial assault with a sustained ground attack that punches holes in the forward wall of the enemy's defensive line.

In baseball the object is to go home! And to be safe! — I hope I'll be safe at home!

George Carlin has died at the age of 71.

The above baseball/ootball rant was just one of the many lines in one fo the great monologues (the whole bit is here) brought to us by a man who truly could lay claim to being, at least arguably, the greatest American stand-up comedian ever.

That a bit like saying "Babe Ruth is the greatest baseball player ever" ...

Oddities and Quirks ...
Last night, former Jay Frank Catalanotto and his current Ranger teammate Jarrod Saltalamacchia had back-to-back RBI at-bats for Texas. It was a history-making event (we think) as Salty has the longest last/family name in major league history (14 letters -- sorry, William "Unlucky 13" Van Landingham) while Cat, with 11 letters in his own last/family name, ain't far behind that.

So ... two at-bats, 25 combined letters in the last names, two RBI. What other weird things are going on in the major leagues these days?

No game for the home team today. Perhaps we could spend this time profitably by making "We Love Adam Dunn" banners, and bringing them out tomorrow?

In four games the affiliates combined to allow 7 runs.  Unlike their Major League counterparts, they scored a bunch as well to go a perfect 4-for-4.

Brandon Magee continues to find Double-A much harder than he found the lower minors, while the New Hampshire offence didn’t help him out by leaving nine runners on base. David Purcey went deep into the game, but didn’t have a particularly strong start. Meanwhile, in the lower minors Brad Mills and Castillo Perez turned in strong efforts, leading to a Lansing victory and Auburn taking the game into extra innings. Nonetheless, the affiliates could only manage one win on the day.