But enough about the Jays - on to the Advance Scout!

The Blue Jays are looking at some more bats, adding Kevin Mench and Brad Wilkerson to the lineup. Mench was obtained from Texas for "cash considerations." Wilkerson was signed off the scrap heap. Joe Inglett has been optioned back to Syracuse.

To make room on the 40-man roster, Gustavo Chacin and Sergio Santos have been designated for assignment. After they clear waivers, which seems probable, they can be outrighted to Syracuse.

The Jays stormed back to tie the game in the bottom of the 9th against the resurgent Troy Pervical, only to see an Alex Rios leadoff triple in the bottom of the 10th go uncashed. A sac fly from Bossman Junior and a Dioner Navarro grand slam later and that was all she wrote. Those with a need to see the gruesome details can do so, here.

Seriously. It was a bloodbath. The Jays just can't hit right now... from the majors right on down.

This website was born at around the time the Blue Jays introduced new General Manager J.P. Ricciardi. Most of us remember the dark times of the Ash regime, particularly how the team spun its wheels with overpaid veterans and mostly disappointing young players. J.P.'s arrival from the Oakland Athletics front office lifted our hopes. We believed that J.P. would rebuild the organisation utilizing "sabermetric"-inspired ideas, as his mentor Billy Beane had done in Oakland. The immediate future would be a tough transition due to budget cuts, but the following years would be glorious.

I attended three Lansing Lugnuts games from Sunday through Tuesday in downtown Lansing, the home of never ending construction.  Oldsmobile Park is the lovely home for the Lugnuts and as always in a minor league park there was lots of entertainment for the fans.  Lansing is two hours from the border at Sarnia so it is easily driveable in a half day.

... the great Jim "Catfish" Hunter spun a perfect game for the Oakland A's, topping the powerful (Carew/Killebrew/Oliva) Minnesota Twins, 4-0.

So, it's story time here at Batter's Box. Have you ever seen a perfect game? Or even a no-hitter? That means, live -- not "Oh, yeah, I saw Lenny Barker's perfecto on TV" (which I did, but that don't count here!) ... 

No-hitters have always fascinated me. So tell your story of seeing one, or sometimes just as interesting, almost seeing one (Dave Stieb fans out there?) ... My own painful story of almost seeing one is a bit different ...

Five runs in one Inning ? I'm a bit perturbed, these things are precious this year, five is practically a weeks worth, they shouldn't go using them all up at once.

A rain-out and a day off led to a 1-1 day.  Dunedin won with ten runs but three of the runs scored on bases-loaded walks, two on bases-loaded hit batters and two on wild pitches.  New Hampshire were blasted, they had one hit and gave up ten runs. 

Well, at least the Jays banged out 10 hits last night - only the third time since April 20th.

Kyle Ginley's first start in the Florida State League was one to remember, Marc Rzepczynski's Midwest League debut wasn't too shabby either and Kane Davis had nothing to be ashamed of.  However, the affiliates only managed to win just one of four on the evening.

A 3-1 night in the minors.

I go away for a week and come back and the Jays have something like a 1 ERA over the last week or so. Last night was a 1-0 victory over the White Sox for the first 4 game sweep in 5 years.

It's early days yet, but that Evil Ghost that haunted 2005 seems to have risen from the old crypt and is loose in the Rogers Centre again.

You know what makes you feel like an idiot?  When you accidentally delete a Minor League Report, mere seconds before publishing it.  No, I hadn't saved a draft.  Yes, I know how important it is to do so.  Thanks for mentioning it.