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.

When was the last time the Jays faced a Canadian starting pitcher? Unless I'm very much mistaken, it was Chris Mears on September 7th, 2003.

Toronto beat Harden in his first and only start against them 8-5 on August 15th of last year.

Last weekend, this Associated Press article referred to some Jays of whom I had never heard. Apparently, the previous evening’s game turned on a home run by slugger Carlos Deluged. The lead generated by Deluged was protected by reliever Jason Friseur. Rookie outfielder Alexis Rio and recent acquisition Frank Mention were there too.

Justin Speier and Chris Woodward stood out in the wrong way in A ball yesterday. Speier gave up a home run to the first batter he faced. In the fifth inning, seven of the first eight Dunedin hitters reached base, the exception...Chris Woodward. Welcome to A ball guys.