The Blue Jays beat up on the terrible Orioles but the Phillies are 30 games better than the O's. The Phighting Phils are trying to catch the Atlanta Braves and they want to beat up on the Jays to do so. Gabe Kapler was getting a lot of flack at the start of the season but the results have quieted things down. Their offense is led by Rhys Hoskins who has 25 home runs and is avoiding the sophomore slump. You might notice Odubel Herrera who is one of the slowest hitters in MLB in terms of time per pitch. He seems proud of it too.

Lourdes Gurriel is back, Richard Urena is Buffalo bound. Gurriel will try to continue his games with multiple hits streak, it's tough to do off the DL but he was hitting in Buffalo. Aaron Sanchez will return to start tomorrow, someone will have to join Urena.

Rodrigo Orozco has played over 100 games for Dunedin this season but he had to wait until Thursday to hit his first home run of the season. Dunedin won. Every other team in the system lost.

Both Buffalo and New Hampshire swept both sides of doubleheaders. Buffalo's was not a full double header, they had to finish their Tuesday game, and then play Wednesdays game. And all were wins without much to note. Dunedin lost via the walk off home run. Lansing lost easy, as did Vancouver. Bluefield won and are in the playoffs!

The #BlueJays affiliates won five of nine Tuesday. The GCL and DSL squads split their doubleheaders while Buffalo's game ended on a cliffhanger.

#BlueJays affiliates picked up just one win Monday. Buffalo and Dunedin had the night off.

Two under performing teams meet for three games.

With super-prospect Vladimir Guerrero charging through the system and kids like Danny Jansen getting here and doing well we should review some of the Jays past top prospects.

The Yankees are not as hot as they used to be and have been hurt by injuries and some inconsistent starting pitching. Can the Jays take advantage? It is the first trip to Yankee stadium for some of the kids and two of them get to be starting pitchers. In addition Billy McKinney was recalled today to cover for Luke Maile's paternity leave. Will SRF be calm enough to pitch effectively? On Sunday the Jays face their old team mate JA Happ.

In news from New York, Russ Atkins has gone on the record that Gibby will be the manager until the end of the season. Then, as always, his status will be reevaluated.

With less than three weeks left in the season, I thought it would be a good idea to check out the playoff picture for each team. On the field, Eric Pardinho was perfect through six and a third and was generally outstanding. Cavan Biggio had two home runs, including a walk off, to give him 26 for the season. I think Andy McGuire doesn't get enough attention. Shohei Ohtani gets lots of attention but McGuire is hitting over .300 while holding opposition hitters to a batting average of .100. Sounds Ohtani like to me, or is that Ohtani-light?

Today I started thinking about the Blue Jays top 30 prospects, and it's not going to be easy. We have too many prospects....to easily fit into a top 30 list. On the field Buffalo won, despite an oh-for from Vlad. Vancouver, the GCL and DSL Jays also won.

Just two wins in eight tries for the #BlueJays affiliates Tuesday.

The #BlueJays affiliates won three and lost three with one ending on a cliffhanger Monday. New Hampshire had the night off.

There are two teams in a race for the worst record in baseball and the number one draft position in 2019. Seven of the Jays next ten games are against these two teams. In case you didn't know, the teams are the KC Royals and the Baltimore Orioles. In between the Jays go to Yankee Stadium for three games.

With the Jays starting their Buffalo battery in tonight's game, an early start to the series thread seems to be in order. If you are giving a major league debut to a pitcher, having him start against the Royals is not a bad way to do it. The lineup he faces will be better than those he has seen in Buffalo, but not by that much. SRF then gets to face the Yankees in Yankee Stadium on Saturday, before facing the Phillies back home, assuming all goes to plan.

Sportsnet seems to be showing more Vladimir Guerrero Jr. highlights than Jays' highlights. I'm sure many here at Da Box will marvel how far we've come. I didn't know what hand Dustin McGowan threw with until he debuted. Nonetheless, our hope had a homerun streak that was snapped Sunday. He seems to be hitting homeruns for fun. I'm pumped. I do worry though about his weight as he looks like he's on that Pablo Sandoval spectrum, but I guess so are many of us and I was able to touch my toes yesterday.

It is the middle of August and this qualifies as a "playing out the string" game. Both the Rays and Jays were active in trading away some of their prized assets in July so the remainders will take the field tonight.

From the pre-game chatter, Marcus Stroman will test his finger today to see if he can pitch on Sunday. Giiby has gone on the record, again, as saying if there is going to be a full rebuild he needs to get out of here so he is making it easy for the front office to get rid of him, if they want to. Gibby might have been saving his major league manager money over the last few years and will be happy to go home and sit on the porch.