The double-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays just had their first homestand of the season.  Three of the first four games were pitched in the cold (35-45 degrees F) and the rain.

Notes after the jump on:

Kyle Drabek, Zach Stewart, Brad Emaus, David Cooper, Tim Collins, Danny Farquhar, Luis Perez and more.

Near-perfect: Luis Perez pitched his second start of the season (third appearance).  You may remember his last start he went 7 innings before surrendering a hit.  This time he was almost as good.  He went 5 1/3 before giving up a solo home run down the right field line (~330 feet).  He ended up going 7 innings and allowing just the one hit and run.  That puts him at 17 innings total on the year, 2 hits allowed and 1 run.  This week he did issue 4 walks but 3 of them were 4 pitch walks to Zach Lutz (who to be fair had gone 5 for 14 with 3 DEEP home runs so far in the series).  See that as a strength or a weakness.

Not-so-good: Zachary Stewart went 4 1/3 innings and gave up 7 earned runs on 9 hits and 4 walks in his sole appearance. He is schedule to take the mound again tomorrow during an 11:05 AM EST game.  He didn't look good pretty much all night.  He didn't have a 1-2-3 inning and gave up 2 Home Runs.  He missed low a lot which put him behind in many counts and lead to hitters sitting on pitches.

OK: Kyle Drabek pitched last night and went 5 innings (98 pitches).  He allowed 3 runs on 5 hits and 5 walks while striking out only 3.  He started out strong retiring the first 7 batters he faced.  His rough spot came in the fourth and fifth innings when he seemed to tire.  He threw a lot of pitches in the dirt in the last 2 innings.  Only 1 wild pitch (which didn't lead to any runs) but he wasn't hitting his spots at all.  4 of his 5 walks came in those 2 innings and the guys he did get out worked the count (as evidenced by 98 pitches in just 5 innings).

Other Pitchers of note:

Danny Farquhar continued doing well.  Still no runs allowed.  2 innings, 2 saves, 3 k's , 2 walks and 0 hits on the homestand.  

Tim Collins also continued doing well.  3 innings, 1 save, 5 k's, 0 hits, 0 walks.  

Batters:

Brad Emaus was 3 for 3 with 3 singles and a walk in the opener.  He pulled his calf it appeared as he scored on a wild pitch.  He finished the game but was then put on the 7 Day DL.  He was hanging out in the dugout walking around ok during the other games.  No running though.

David Cooper went 6 for 23 with 4 singles and 2 doubles.  He was just 2 for 12 off lefties with 0 walks and 3 strikeouts versus 4 for 11 with 3 walks and 0 strikeouts versus righties.  He is incredibly slow on the basepath and can't score from second on a single...even a not-so-hard hit one being fielded by an average minor leaguer.

Darin Mastroianni went 4 for 19 and two of those hits were bunt singles.  He did manage to draw 5 walks.  He was good on the basepaths and is now up to 6 steals on the year, first in the Eastern League.

Former Major League Pitcher turned Minor League Outfielder Adam Loewen went just 4 for 18 but stole 2 bases and is now up to 4 on the year.  He struck out 7 times and a few of them he looked a bit silly.  This is his first taste of AA ball though.

Eric Thames has had the big bat this week.  He went 9 for 22 with a hit in each game and had 7 singles and 2 doubles.  The only downside was he also struckout 8 times while drawing only 1 walk.  Some of his strikeouts 6 of his strikeouts were swinging strikeouts and in most of them he was nowhere near the ball.  When he does hit it though it usually is a rocket.

Other notes:

Jonathan Diaz continues to have a higher OBP simply due to the fact that he is so short and his patience helps with the inaccurate pitchers of the double-a level.  I doubt that those numbers will carry into higher leagues and his hitting numbers are nothing to write home about.  He did however make some straight filthy defensive plays including a nice dive and flip with his glove to start a double-play during the Perez 1-hitter. 

Brian Jeroloman hit a home run in his first at bat and promptly followed it up with strikeouts in 6 of his next 7 plate appearances.  He did settle in eventually and hit 4 big clutch doubles.

That's about it.  The next homestand is April 30 through May 6 so expect an update around the end of that.