The C's tried to avoid a five-game sweep by the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes at The Nat Monday night.


Andrew Guillotte tries to lay down a bunt to advance a leadoff double by Lane Thomas in the first inning. He got to Thomas to third with a fly ball instead.

Only two games in the system on All-Star Tuesday and the affiliates won both!

The affiliates won two out of five Monday that included a one-run loss and a pair of six-run setbacks. New Hampshire's game was cancelled due to a flooded field in New Britian and Bluefield's game was rained out in Princeton.

It looked like the Vancouver Canadians were going to end a seven-game losing streak but a meltdown in the late innings gave Salem-Keizer a fourth straight win at the Nat Sunday afternoon.

Starter Jon Wandling throws back to first base to check on a runner in the first inning. He plunked the leadoff hitter but wound up retiring the eight of the next nine hitters he faced.

The Vancouver Canadians had another tough night at The Nat against the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes as they lost for the seventh straight time on a soggy Saturday night.

Andrew Guillotte was hit by a pitch in the first inning but did not advance any further as he watches an inning-ending ground out.

The Sunday slate featured two wins and four losses, including two extra inning losses. New Hampshire tallied one win behind good pitching by Austin Bibens-Dirkx. Dunedin also won behind Jeff Hoffman who had his best professional start. Daniel Norris had a bad day as the Bisons were dominated. Vancouver also suffered a resounding loss. Lansing and Bluefield took the extra innings losses. Ryan McBroom was 6-6 in a losing cause and the Bluefield loss wasted a good start from Juliandry Higuera.

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.