A return home did not result in a return to the win column for the Vancouver Canadians against the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes Thursday night.


The bewildered look on the face of Lane Thomas says it all as the C's dropped their fifth in a row. Thomas had two hits in a losing effort.

Justin Shafer pitched seven shutout innings as Lansing won with a rare 1-0 score. New Hampshire and Dunedin stayed hot with Dalton Pompey, Anthony Alford, Rowdy Tellez, Christian Lopes and Mitch Nay recording multi-hit games. The GCL Jays split a pair of extra inning games. The Jays fifth round pick, Jose Espada pitched well again.

Buffalo took a lead to the ninth but Gregory Infante blew it. Bluefield lost, Nick Wells had a rough start. Vancouver also lost but the Dominicans did what the parent club did not.

The affiliates won just three of eight games that included a couple of one-run losses and three two-run losses Tuesday. However, there were some promising developments on the pitching front as three rehabbing pitchers made their way back to the mound in Dunedin.

The affiliates won five out of nine Monday. The highlights were a walk-off win, a come-from-behind victory and a slugfest in the Dominican. The low points were a doubleheader sweep and a come-from-ahead loss.

Sean Reid-Foley made his Dunedin debut and even 16 innings couldn't deliver a winner. Anthony Alford and Rowdy Tellez led the offense. New Hampshire won behind Murphy Smith and Ryan Schimpf. Buffalo split a doubleheader, Joel Pineiro pitched in game one and Miguel Castro conceded a three run home run in game two. The Bisons won that second game. Lansing lost with three ninth inning runs breaking a tie. Vancouver's hitters took the night off. Matt Morgan had a bad day as Bluefield lost wasting seven good innings from 18 year old Dalton Rodriguez.

Daniel Norris pitched in from of Alex Anthopoulos on Wednesday and the results were mixed. Norris was victimized somewhat by his teammates but he only had one strikeout. AA could have gone to AA to see John Anderson and two relievers shutout Portland. Dalton Pompey had two hits. AA could have gone to Lansing to see Chris Carlson hit a tenth inning go ahead and game winning home run.

Dunedin and Jairo Labourt were beaten up, Vancouver had no offense, Angel Perdomo had a Jekyll and Hyde start for Bluefield and the GCL Jays came out on the wrong end of a walk-off.

The affiliates won three of eight on Canada Day Eve with two losses in extra innings. So, Kessel got traded!

Only two wins out of six for the affiliates on Monday. Two losses were by one run and three were by two. The game I was at involved a converted touchdown spread.

Does a team deserve to win when it gets just two hits? It does when the other team makes five errors.


Austin Davis bears down on Hillsboro second baseman Fernery Ozuna, who cannot handle an errant throw from third base on a ground ball from Christian Vazquez. Davis advanced to third but was stranded to end the second inning.

The Vancouver Canadians were able to make it two straight wins over Hillsboro with a come-from-behind victory at Nat Bailey Stadium Saturday night.

Daniel Lietz got the start Saturday and pitched three shutout innings before giving up three runs in the fourth.

Such days it's tough to find something to headline, not on Sunday. First all the affiliates won. Bluefield were without a base runner through eight innings but scored seven runs in the ninth and won in the tenth. Vancouver had just two hits but scored six runs for the win. DJ Davis doubled in two runs in the bottom of the eighth to break a tie. Rowdy Tellez had his third straight home run game on Sunday and had a total of four RBI's on three hits. Casey Lawrence and Feliex Doubront were strong for the top two teams.

The Vancouver Canadians won a home opener for the first time since 2011 as they beat the defending Northwest League champion Hillsboro Hops, an affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Four years ago, the C's beat the Yakima Bears in their first game as a Blue Jays affiliate. Yakima relocated to Hillsboro in 2013.


Blue Jays 2015 first round pick Jon Harris throws his first strike on his second pitch of the game at 93 miles per hour.

Your affiliates were 3-5 on the night as the full minor league roster is underway.  Anthony Alford and Rowdy Tellez made debuts at High A and Richard Urena continues to hit homeruns.  Brad Glenn collected five RBIs in Buffalo.

Seven games on the schedule on Wednesday, the affiliates won four and lost three. KC Hobson homered behind good pitching from Joel Pineiro in the New Hampshire win. Dunedin split a double header with no hitting in a game one loss and lots of hits in the game two win. Bluefield scored late for a walk off win. Jacob Brentz had a good start. The GCL Jays won a pitching duel 1-0, just like the big club.

Daniel Norris didn't like facing Russ Canzler and he lost, despite nine punch-outs. Vancouver had bad defense and bad baserunning in their loss. lansing are on their all star break.

Just one win out of six for the affiliates on Tuesday night. However, the Lansing Lugnuts made an impact on this year's Midwest League All-Star Game. Dunedin's game was rained out.