Travis Snider went 5-5 including hitting for the cycle.  Lyle Overbay hit a grand slam and a double and looks to be ready for the big leagues.  Brett Cecil is human, he gave up a couple of runs.  Yohermyn Chavez hit a big home run, Shawn Scobee also hit a grand slam.

OK, this doesn't really have much to do with baseball. Any possible connection is welcome!

But it was on this day fifty years ago (fifty? fifty?) when John Lennon first met Paul McCartney, at Woolton Village fete. Lennon and his Quarryman were playing; McCartney was on hand to check them out.

Five of the six games on the farm were decided by one run last night. The other was decided by two. That’s your teaser. If that isn’t enough to convince you to read the update, I don’t know what is. Here are the minor headlines: Blue Jays farmhand goes 4-4; no Jays hurt; triple-A contest goes to extra innings and several strong pitching performances in the low minors.

It is quite possible that Reed Johnson, with his frankly incredible diving catch to rob Victor Martinez of a double in the ninth inning tonight, may have saved the Blue Jays' season.

Presented here, without (much) comment, are the would-be All Star rosters as contructed using 2007 Win Probability Added.

The Jays get one last chance to head into the all-star break above .500. But to do so, they'll have to sweep the powerhouse Indians, who will likely be in a foul mood after absorbing two straight beatings at the hands of the Tigers.

This series features one favorable pitching matchup (tonight's) followed by two very intriguing ones on the weekend.

• Glaus appears to be ok after fouling a ball off of his foot. He should be back after the All Star break.
• Reed Johnson should be in the lineup for the Jays tonight
• Overbay is set to start a rehab assignment in NH this weekend. Hopefully Seth Overbey gets in the game to cause confusion.
  

Jays vs. Indians tonight. Doc takes the hill.

We put the mid-season hitting prospect poll results to use in our weekly summary, but first, we have nothing but good news from the farm affiliates last night. Swee-ee-eep. 6-0 as some of the pitching prospects whose names are being mentioned in our mid-season prospect poll turned in excellent performances, and John-ford Griffin, Kevin Barker, and Ryan Patterson hit dramatic homers.

What happened?

That's a question asked frequently of a number of players who were, at least in some eyes, seen as "potential Hall of Famers" during their playing days.

Consider -- teammates Doc Gooden and Darryl Strawberry were both mortal locks for Cooperstown once upon a time, but had ... issues. Albert Belle and Carlos Baerga, another pair of teammates, once played at Hall-worthy levels, at least for a time; they had issues, too, though not of the same sort as the vagabond Mets of yore.

Dave Kingman was never really a Hall-worthy player, though he hit home runs like one for a while. Don Mattingly -- nothing wrong with Donnie Baseball, he just plain hasn't been deemed worthy by voters thus far.

So there appear to be five "true outcomes" for those who fell by the HOF wayside ...

Maldoff gives us the latest from JP on the FAN

Relax, it's just the New York-Penn League. The farm affiliates split 6 games.

Same rules as with the hitters. Players currently with the club, or who were drafted but have not yet pitched are ineligible. Davis Romero is ineligible because he last pitched with the big club. Here are my choices:

1. Brett Cecil
2. Ricky Romero
3. David Purcey
4. Chi-hung Cheng
5. Josh Banks
6. Kyle Yates
7. Eric Fowler
8. Paul Phillips
9. Ty Taubenheim
10. Tracy Thorpe

What do you think? The results will be posted on Monday.

Several players had their first pro home runs in the GCL yesterday as the affiliates went 4-2 on the day.

Thanks to regular minor league-watchers for your contributions. We had 19 ballots, with votes tabulated on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. The #1 hitting prospect was unanimous, Travis Snider, but after that, the votes were spread widely. There was an interesting cleavage between the #7 and #8 prospects.

You want line drives, we got line drives. The farm affiliates' bats finally woke up and the result was a 4-2 record on the evening.