As it stands, the American League doesn't even look very interesting in 2007.

A generally good day on the farm.  Michael MacDonald and Kyle Yates pitched very well, and both were supported by the offense.  Dunedin's bullpen lost a game for the second day in a row.  Lansing won easily and Josh Bell homered for both Lansing and Great Lakes.

The Jays top two relievers coughed up the lead last night, not Janssen and Accardo but Daryl Harang and Seth Overbey, both of whom lost their zero ERA's.  Syracuse had a nice "come back from the dead" win as Russ Adams had four hits and Lansing had an easy win as Yuber Rodriguez stayed red-hot.

Over the past two days, we've met Hall of Names squads made of birthday boys from May 24 and May 25 -- and frankly, neither team was all that impressive. Neither roster boasted a single player in the Hall of Fame for his exploits in the majors (the 5/25 squad did have Negro League legend Martin Dihigo) and Box Hall pundit Mike Green projected that, if placed in the 2007 AL East, the two day-teams would combine for 111 wins.

So an All-May 26 team (today's) can't be any worse than that, right? Right? Um ...

Okay, first, let's start with a little brain-teasing Hall of Names challenge ...

It's not the pitching. Which you knew already, no doubt.

It was a bleak Friday on the farm. Every affiliate lost and collectively they were outscored 39-17. There were few noteworthy performances and it was a night best forgotten, especially for a couple of Toronto starters.

The Jays dodge their opposition's ace for the third consecutive series...

While most organizations will take the 'best player available' in the draft, it can't hurt to see what are the positions of need down the line.

Accardo and Janssen both have ERAs under 1 now.

Yesterday, we met a team composed of players born on May 24; perhaps the less said of that team, the better. Reader comments ranged from the (admittedly quite charitable) "This is like a collection of bench players" to "Hello, shutout." The most positive thing written, and this should tell you something -- was Mike Green's claim that the team "would be a load of laughs, especially when they lost." Of course, he projected the team would have lost 121 times in the '07 AL East, so that is a LOAD of laughs.

Could a team made up of the 53 players born today fare better than that? Hey, at least this team has a Hall of Famer on its roster, though ...

It's a pitchers week. The farm affiliates split four games on Thursday

No less than 49 big league ballplayers, including several currently active, share a May 24 birthday. That's almost two rosters full of candidates for an All-5/24 team, and though not a single one has yet been named to Baseball's Hall of Fame -- Bartolo Colon is the active player with the best chance, so odds are the number will stay "nil" indefinitely -- it seems like we might be able to build a pretty good squad.

Er, maybe not. Anyway, let's find out, as we meet ...

The Lugnuts provided the power display on the farm, as the affiliates went 1-2 on the evening.

Yesterday's Minor League Update thread contained a discussion on the chances of Ottawa possibly becoming the Triple "A" affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays in 2009.   Late last week, the Ottawa Lynx were featured in a National Post article by Joe O'Connor and to say it doesn't paint a pretty picture is an understatement.

AJ Wideman had the best performance of the night as the affiliates went 1-3.