Shea Hillenbrand seems to have this reputation as a guy who never smiles. He looks like he takes baseball pretty seriously. But on Saturday, May 22nd against the Nationals, he seemed to be having a pretty great time:

The minor league season is approximately one third complete. The half way point will come soon after the draft, a busy time for minor league followers, so this is a good time to have a quick look at how the Jays top prospects are doing. The starting point was Baseball America's top 30 list, Russ Adams and Gustavo Chacin have been excluded, leaving 28 prospects to review. Da Box's Jordan, Mike Green, Rob and yours truly have combined to deliver our report cards on the Jays top prospects.

There is one question to ask. Has the player improved, stayed at the same level, or regressed, in their prospect status? There are three possible answers, Improve, Flat, or Regress. On with the show...

Only one win on the farm. An offensive burst from the Skychiefs, a pitchers duel in Manchester, and a rough night for Danny Core.

Here, as usual, is my monthly report card for the Blue Jays.

As most of you surely know, the Big Bang Theory explains the origins of the universe. Which is no doubt a good thing to know, but the Big Bang Theory has also been proposed to explain just how baseball games are won and lost.

With the largest number of votes ever cast in a Batter's Box poll already in as we pursue an answer to the eternal quesetion, "What should be The Official Batter's Box nickname for the Blue Jay bullpen?" it will be necessary, as we originally projected, that we go to a runoff.

The top two finishers in our poll are in the new followup poll at the top left of the site. So what's it gonna be, Bauxites? Arny's Army or The GO Train?

For a look at the original story which listed and described the original six finalists, click "More." The descriptions of our two new final-finalists remain as they originally were for your edification. And the results from that original vote are in the first comment posted to this reconstituted thread.

Chad Gaudin made his Blue Jays debut tonight, and it was a winner. The Jays have never ever had a problem getting hits and runs, lots of them, against Ryan Franklin, and tonight was no exception. Strangely enough, they'd never beaten him. Until tonight. Although it did get a little too interesting at the end there.

Player of the Game? Vernon? 2 HRs, 5 RBI?

The Baltimore Orioles raise the first question of eligibility for the Lobby of Numbers.

Regular Box contributor Lugnut Fan steps up with the following interview of Blue Jay prospect Chip Cannon. Thanks, Chad!

We have a pinch-hit Photo of the Day today -- Brad Newbatt has sent us this lovely panorama of Oldsmobile Park, the home of the Lansing Lugnuts:

REMINDER: SEE NOTED AUTHOR AND RECENT BATTER'S BOX
CHAT GUEST ALAN SCHWARZ IN TORONTO THIS WEEKEND

• Read the transcript of Schwarz's June 9 chat with Batter's Box Interactive Magazine.

Note: recent media reports indicate that Vernon Wells will be with his wife during childbirth this weekend, significantly decreasing the likelihood he will appear as originally scheduled with Schwarz. And who can blame him? That's a man with his priorities in order!

Original story:
The following information is adapted from a press release by the Toronto Learning Annex.

TORONTO -- The Toronto Learning Annex Presents sports journalist Alan Schwarz, joined by Toronto fan favourite Vernon Wells, in a lecture related to Schwarz's book, The Numbers Game: Baseball's Lifelong Fascination with Statistics at the Rogers Centre, June 18 beginning at 12:00 noon ET.

A disappointing 0 – 4 night for Toronto’s affiliates featuring 3 pitching debuts and too many unearned runs.

I said this before, but I really dislike soft-tossing lefties. And thankfully, there's only one more 10:00 start on a Monday this season.

Yesterday's game got me thinking about West Coast road trips, and how the Jays always seem to suffer through the first game. Is this true? Read on to find out.

I'm half-asleep now and so, presumably, were the Blue Jays. I hate soft-tossing lefties, especially ones that take forever to throw the damn ball. 4-3 Mariners, final score.

So, what do all you night owls think? How about that O-Dog?

In choosing which letter of the alphabet to go with for today's Hall of Names entry, I thought to choose the one that would yield the best team overall. Originally, I leaned toward building a "J" team, which we will get to eventually, but finally settled on the "R" squad.

I think we have a winner.