... and on the 55th day, they passed Baltimore. Maybe for good. Maybe not.

I was originally intending to save this book for later.

A 15-hit night by Syracuse in Virginia was the highlight of the evening in the minor leagues. However, it was not the only thing to write about as the affiliates picked up three wins and Dunedin only scored one less run than the SkyChiefs. The Lugnuts couldn’t compare to either of those performances, but still scored in the first four innings of their game to deliver an early blow their opponents and never looked back.

Me, I'm still on the road
Heading for another joint

It's Bob Dylan's birthday today. He's 67 years old. I'd say this should be a global holiday, and it already is in our northern land although I believe that's supposed to be in honour of Queen Victoria, or possibly my mother, who were also born on May 24.

Somehow, I'll tie this into baseball...

The Royals bring their league worst (by a hair) offense to town for a four game set having lost four straight. The Jays will seek to capitalize, and potentially crack the elusive .500 barrier.

On to the Advance Scout!

Closing in on the end of May, let's re-visit some of Da Box's Always Entertaining, Generally Wildly Inaccurate pre-season previews and projections.

I challenge my fellow forecasters to revisit their own team-by-team features and share with us the (already) so-wildly-wrong-its-funny projections contained within. Ready? Here are mine ...

Ho hum. The Jays show what they can do with a couple of timely hits and pull out the finale against the Angels, 4-3. The Jays allowed only 10 runs during the three game set, but of course its the Jays so they scored only 7 and won just once.

 The Ottawa Rapidz played its first game in the independent Can-Am League and a former Blue Jay farmhand was the winning pitcher.

The left side of the infield helped Syracuse lose the only game of the night for the Jays' affiliates.

The 2007 draft class was on display last night - some good, some bad, and some ugly.

Same old, same old.

The first lefty had a great time, the second one had a blast, the third one fell in love and now he hopes it lasts.  The fourth lefty? Well anyway, it was a 2-for-4 night for the affiliates with three of the games decided in extra innings.  

One of the greatest-hitting catchers in the history of the Great Game, Mike Piazza, has decided to hang' em up after 16 years.

Questions for you:

• Where does Piazza rank on the list of All-Time Greatest Catchers? (Remember, that includes defense!)
• Is this the right time for him to go?
• Is there any question that he's a FBHOFer (First-ballot Hall-of-Famer)?

David Eckstein makes a rehab start in Dunedin and the D-Jays go crazy with the bats.

Hey, the guy beat cancer. Anyone surprised Jon Lester can no-hit a big league ballclub?