I lie in wait with open eyes
I carry on thru' stormy skies

Folks, I'm sorry to do this twice in such short order, but real life again precludes a full Advance Scout (and I had some good stuff this week!) I'll try and supplement it and/or re-post it this week. In the meantime, here are the pitching probables and lineups for the Jays' first interleague series of the season.

Stay tuned Friday for a pinch-hit Scout from the lovely and talented Robert Dudek.

Here's a clean thread to discuss the flurry of picks that are almost upon us. I feel like I'm in a great restaurant after I've ordered, just waiting for the food to come.

The Blue Jays first round selection is David Purcey, LHP, Oklahoma University

Thanks to my front-running Toronto Walrus coming abruptly back to the pack the last couple of weeks, there are now eight teams within 10 games of first place in the BBFL Alomar division. Actually, my Delgado-less, Wagner-less club wasn't so bad this week; Scott's Austin Senators were simply better. The 8-2 final could have been worse — it was 11-1 for a while — so I'm grateful for "halving" two categories.

AGF, after trailing the SABR Magicians most of the week, pulled out a 6-6 tie on Sunday and is now looming large in my rear-view mirror, a mere two games back. The Eastern Shore Birds are third, only 4.5 games off the lead, after defeating the Thunderbirds 7-5. With a 12-0 whitewash of the melting-down Springfield Isotopes, the Moscow Rats made by far the biggest move of the week, from ninth to fourth. Red Mosquitos beat hannibal's cannibals 7-2 and are now tied for fifth with Mebion Glyndwr, who won a 7-5 decision over gashouse gorillas. Six more teams are within just four games of the final spot in the championship playoff bracket.

Syracuse had a big finish and David Bush had his second straight strong start.

No thank you or please no regard for the time
We never cry we never retreat
We have no conception of love or defeat

Tim Hudson threw a complete game against the Jays patchwork lineup yesterday afternoon in the Jays 4-0 loss to Oakland.

The farm affiliates won 3 of 4 on Saturday, with only New Hampshire ending up on the short end of the stick.

I won't attempt to make any pithy comments since I'm running short of time. Toronto tries to beat finesse lefty Mark Redman to salvage a split in Oakland.

Toronto's minor-league teams combined for just nine runs and one win yesterday, but the win was dramatic.

Eric Hinske's home run was the beginning of the end for the A's. Jays win 6-1.

The A's send the senior representative of their starting rotation against arguably Toronto's weakest starter.

Question of the day: How many homeruns will the Athletics hit off Pat Hentgen today?

This is the May edition of my minor league starting pitchers review. I have been tracking start by start statistics for all minor league starting pitchers. I have been adding this information to our prospect pages, such as this one for David Bush, scroll down to the bottom of the page. My April pitcher report is here. Many of the numbers in this page are based on game scores as developed by Bill James. The methodology is described in the April story.

The following are composite statistical rankings of draft-eligible college pitchers. Only 2004 Division 1 stats were considered and only pitchers with at least 40 innings pitched were included. The composite ranking is based of 4 relatively evenly weighted categories: 1) Runs Saved Above Average, 2) FIP Run Average, 3) Component Performance Rating, 4) Component Performance Points Above Average.