Welcome to 2004! The minor-league baseball season got underway last night, and all four of the Blue Jays’ top farm teams saw action. We’ve got pitching duels, slugfests, extra-inning nail-biters and a brand-new fun feature to track the best prospects in the system. Batter’s Box is very happy to renew its in-depth coverage of Toronto’s minor-league system. Here we go:

A beam of light comes shining down on you,
Shining down on you.

The Jays are embarrassed, and didn't show pluck
In getting swept. I'll try and change up their luck.
So after seeing things go from bad to worse,
I'm writing the Advance Scout intro in verse.

As the Pedro-Doc matchup quickly approaches,
Be thankful we have no old bald-headed coaches.
Let's erase the taste of the Opening Day rout...
Without further ado, on to the Advance Scout!

You could argue that the Blue Jays were tripped up by the oldest canard in the sporting lexicon: caught looking ahead. With this three-game series in Boston early in the schedule, it might be understandable if Toronto had taken the Tigers for granted, contributing to their three-game SkySweep. Then again, this year's 0-3 start now makes the Jays 18-30 over their last three Aprils, and counting. Mike Barnett thinks the Jays' hitters are over-anxious and getting themselves out; less clear is how Detroit touched the top three Jay starters for 20 runs in three days. But no matter. Today is the challenge.

Mere days after the big-leaguers broke the seal on the 2004 season, baseball's minor-league players are gearing up to do the same! If this spring resembles previous ones, you can expect a lot of rainouts and snowouts in the north and east over the first month or so of the season; Syracuse lost an entire week of games last April. Here in Ottawa, unused tickets to Lynx games in April and May can be redeemed for other games in July and August. If you've ever been to Lynx Stadium in April, you'll know why.

Can make a good man
Turn bad

Can make a good man
Turn bad

Can make a good man
Turn bad

Michael Wolverton has a great new article up (in the free section) on Baseball Prospectus entitled "Not Earning Its Keep" in which he advocates ditching the concept of earned runs. This is something I've felt would be a good idea for a long time, I'm glad to see that I'm not alone.

What do people think of de-emphasizing earned runs and ERA? Obviously, from a practical point of view, it will take a while to accomplish that sort of change. I'm going to try to start by avoiding ERA in favour of RA when doing player analysis.

There is nowhere near as much written about the Expos on the net as about the Jays, especially not in English, but here are some of the recent articles I've come across.

Hockey! Getcha hockey heeeeah!

I have only one thing to contribute to this thread : 1916 1924 1930 1931 1944 1946 1953 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1965 1966 1968 1969 1971 1973 1976 1977 1978 1979 1986 1993. 2004.

It turns out that Coach, Robert and I had different thoughts when we saw Sir Sidney Ponson take the mound against the Crimson Hose on Sunday night. I thought the poor unfortunate had been stung by a bee (or possibly a hive thereof); Kent immediately wondered if someone had taken an air compressor to him and given him the Michelin treatment; Robert just thought he looked on the swollen side. As it turns out, Sir Sidney has just been enjoying the finer things in life, as befits one of his lofty station.

But there’s no place here for the mini-skirt waddle
Capital punishment, she’s last year’s model
They call her Natasha when she looks like Elsie

Betcha no one figured two days ago that that would be today's headline, huh? Nothing against the Tigers, who've given it their all, but the Blue Jays have played very poorly in dropping the first two games of the season-opening homestand. With a trip to Fenway Park following the game, the Jays can't afford an 0-3 start.

And everything is coming down on me down on me
I go crazy oh so crazy