After not getting to Alliance Bank Stadium in our baseball travels last season, my girlfriend and I made sure we got there this season as we spent our week-end in sunny Syracuse, New York to catch a pair of Chiefs games against the Yankees new Triple-A affliate, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.  The trip was also an attempt  to take our minds off the struggling and all of a sudden, less than truthful, big club.  However, Saturday's game at the Bank didn't help matters.  Here's a rundown of what went on during the week-end along with some pictures too.

Update:  I had some earlier problems with the photos link but it appears to be fine now!!

It has been that kind of season.  When the good guys rally, they fall just short.  When the guys in the business suits, as Willie Nelson calls them, rally, they come out ahead.  The farm affiliates ended up 1-3 on the night.

With the Chambers of Horror now squarely in their rearview mirror, the Jays return to friendly pastures to take on Boston.

The Jays are in a slump right now and with yesterday being an off-day it gave me the opportunity to think about what I have seen in this team.  With apologies to all those who have done this before me, here are then things I think about the Blue Jays.

A contender for the lame title of the year award!!  Dunedin managed to split a doubleheader on the road and that was the only win of the night for the affliates.

Yesterday, former Batter's Box author and University of Waterloo math student Rob Pettapiece inexplicably found himself at Opening Day for the Intercounty Baseball League's Kitchener Panthers. Was he bored with the Jays? Really hard-core about baseball? Just happened to be in the area? I guess you'll have to read on to find out. Take it away, Rob!

Photographs courtesy of Brock McNichols.

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Apparently the press box at Jack Couch Park is "usually unbearably hot and humid" but you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who wasn't shivering up there yesterday. During the third inning, the smell of fried onions from the concession stand below drifted up, leading one reporter to remark not that he was hungry, but that those onions could be used for warmth.

Outside yesterday in the 14-degree sun, the Kitchener Panthers of the Intercounty Baseball League played their home opener against the Guelph Royals. Kitchener lost the first game of the home-and-home in Guelph on Saturday by a score of 10-0, so they were looking to at least push one across and keep the other team in single digits. Or win, I suppose.

The draft will be on ESPN2 this year. Baseball now has moved into the 21st century - thanks for joining the rest of us!

June 7th is the big day (a month from today!?!) beginning at 2 pm and each team will get 5 minutes to make a pick. (Under the current format teams typically made their pick within one minute over a conference call).

I've always wondered how hockey could televise their draft but baseball couldn't. Aren't the two sports pretty similar in terms of player development? You draft a player at 18 or 20, and it takes a few years to make it to the Big Show.

Nowhere to go but up, right?

Three wins and no losses for the affiliates, all wins were come from behind efforts.  Syracuse had to tie the game in the ninth and win it in the twelfth.  New Hampshire went ahead in the seventh while Lansing scored seven runs in the fifth to turn around a 3-0 deficit.  Michael MacDonald and Orlando Trias each made their first starts since being promoted and each had some learning to do.

Rotation got problems? Easy solution: sign a Hall of Famer!

Roger Clemens, owner of 348 career wins, has decided to return to the American League and to Bronx pinstripes, after three years (and a 38-18 record) with his "hometown" Houston Astros.

Clemens announced he has agreed to a minor league contract with the Yankees and most likely will join the Bombers after several minor league starts help him get into game shape.

Your thoughts, Bauxites?

In honor of yesterday's 133rd running of the Kentucky Derby, let's see if we can have the "Sweet Sense" to piece together a Hall of (Place) Names team made up entirely of MLB alumni who were born in the Bluegrass State.

There have been 260 such men so far -- frankly, more than I thought there would be ...

One win in four attempts for the affiliates.  New Hampshire behind outstanding pitching from Jesse Litsch won 3-1.  Aaron Mathews and Dustin Majewski led the offense for the Fisher Cats.  Elsewhere Ty Taubenheim feels like Roy Halladay, AJ Wideman pitched well for Dunedin while Travis Snider continued his education in Lansing.

The Blue Jays are stumbling. Call for the Doctor.

The affiliates split the four games as Mike MacDonald earns a well-deserve promotion to Syracuse. None of the Jays organization’s starting pitchers pitched well last night, although Josh Banks remains undefeated. However, some of the bats came to play, including Sergio Santos who is trying to prove that his demotion to Double-A was a mistake and that he's overcome his struggles at Syracuse.

Ok, enough with the Indians.

Bring on the Rangers!