Sorry for the delay on this folks ...

Last week's road trip took me (Lisa) up to two old favorite parks that I had not visited in awhile, with a Tuesday trip to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and a Wednesday trek to Reading.

SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE: I don't think any re-affiliation has gotten the attention that Scranton's switch from the Phillies to the Yankees got in the nearly 20 years I've been covering the Minor Leagues.

The park and the club have always been favorites of mine, due in large part to the people who run the team. PR guru Mike Cummings has been with the club for 18 years and is one of the best in the business ... and he's certainly earned a raise this season (hint hint) with what he's been handed with the affiliation shuffle.

We'd been expecting to get to see Yankees uber-prospect Phil Hughes pitch that Tuesday (against the Ottawa Lynx, which just happens to be the Phillies' Triple-A affiliate for 2007 before they move to nearby Allentown in '08), but the announcement was made on Monday night that Hughes would be heading to the big leagues to start for the Yankees on Thursday.

When we got to the park, though, we discovered that a major press conference would be held IN THE DUGOUT two hours later where Hughes would meet with the media prior to heading to New York. NYC media types, along with the regular Scranton crew, were already en route.

Trust me, folks, when I tell you that press conferences of this magnitude don't happen a lot in the Minors, not even at Triple-A. That told me even more than I already assumed about the new regime.

The new affiliation has been an absolute godsend for the folks in Scranton. Not that their 18 years with the Phillies had not been good. They had. But ... well, the Yankees are the Yankees. And Pennsylvania postmark notwithstanding, Scranton is Yankees country (only about two hours from NYC).

The biggest change, of course, is the new field at PNC Field. Until this year, they'd played on Astroturf, to get rising Phillies ready for erstwhile Veteran Stadium. But as soon as the Yankees signed on, the turf got ripped up and now the stadium has a gorgeous new playing surface.

Couldn't happen to a better group of folks. GM Jeremy Ruby is a homegrown Scranton kid, hailing from nearby Eynon, so he can truly appreciate how much the new affiliation has helped the community. And he's also a guy who was born and bred with baseball in his blood -- his dad, Gary, is the Pittsburgh Pirates Minor League pitching coordinator, a longtime guru and mentor to countless pitchers now in the Majors (with the Angels, Indians and Phillies before the Pirates) not to mention one of the absolutely nicest people I have ever met in my years covering this game.

One of the odder aspects of that evening was how the crowd was split between cheering for their new home team and the members of the Lynx, about two-thirds of whom had played at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre the previous season.

READING: Wednesday dawned ... well, kind of crappy. Gray, drizzly and basically not baseball weather. But we forged ahead and caravaned across I-476 from Scranton to Reading in hopes that the skies would clear.

They didn't.

But it was still fun to re-visit the park at Reading (and we would love to return there later this season when, hopefully, the weather will be better).

Reading is the perfect combination of the old and the new. Built originally in 1951, FirstEnergy Stadium underwent a major renovation a few years ago which entailed a sprucing up but still maintained its old-fashioned brick-based look ... but now that "old-time baseball" mystique includes a multi-level swimming pool and party deck in the outfield. The park is also a gourmand's delight, with a wonderful mini-mall enclosed area off of first base with several stands for all sorts of goodies. (Plus there is an awesome outlet mall right nearby ... what more can you ask for?)

While we didn't get to watch any baseball, since it was freezing and wet and just downright nasty, we did get to chat with Phillies third base prospect Mike Costanzo, and watch him record a birthday greeting for his mom to be played on the jumbotron in the outfield. Costanzo grew up an hour from the park and his parents come to every home game. Talk about a built-in fanbase!

With visiting Harrisburg in town, we also chatted with closer-heir-apparent for the Nationals Zech Zinicola, as well as Montreal Expos legend Tim Raines, now the hitting coach for the Senators. As a huge Expos fan myself back in the day, it was definitely a kick to get a chance to chat with Raines and an even bigger one to discover that he is truly a wonderful, thoughtful and insightful gentleman.

Because you can't escape baseball talk ... and, really, who would want to? ... we grabbed some dinner that evening at the Macaroni Grill at a mall near the hotel (we stayed in Lancaster ... no Marriotts in Reading!) and while chatting with our very personable waiter, found out that his dad had played semi-pro baseball in Malaysia. Now, we never even knew they HAD semi-pro baseball in Malaysia. Why are there no Minor Leaguers from there? But he said they had 24 teams in the league! One of my favorite things about this job ... you truly do learn something new every day.

So my next road trip will be in Charleston and Myrtle Beach next week and I want to thank blog-reader Becca Hodges for her post cluing us into some restaurants to check out while we're down there!

Meanwhile, our trip AFTER that will entail a few days in Jupiter, Fla., where we get to double-dip a pair of games at Roger Dean Stadium, catching a night game between the Jupiter Hammerheads and Brevard County Manatees, followed by a 10:30 a.m. game (yeah, you read that right) between the Palm Beach Cardinals and Vero Beach Dodgers. I am hoping to dip into my own pocket (don't think per diem will cover this) to get some stone crab claws on that jaunt.

I know this is a little off-topic, but when I saw the news of David Halberstam's death in a car accident on Monday, I was stunned into silence. Then I felt the need to write something. So even though this isn't Minor-Legaue related, I hope you'll bear with me.

Halberstam was many things, an award-winning journalist, an historian, a social commentator, a baseball fan. He was often all of them at the same time. I had the honor to interview him on a couple of occasions in a previous lifetime when I worked at the New York Post. A man as accomplished as he was certainly could have had an air about him, a sense of intellectual superiority. Nothing could be further from the case. He was extremely accessible, both in terms of how easy it was to reach him and his language. One thing I always loved about his writing was how informative and complex it was, while being gripping and page-turning at the same time while dealing with some pretty heavy subject matter.

As a journalist who won a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the Vietnam War, he didn't write like some academics do. And his sports books -- particularly Summer of '49 and October 1964 -- combined sports and history in a way I've never seen before. In both books, his discussion of how the country was changing -- especially in regards to race relations -- and how it intertwined with the sports world is unparalleled.

I am the son of a history professor, so I always looked at Halberstam's work as the ideal, combining two of my passions. He was, without him ever knowing it, a bit of a role model, perhaps an idol of sorts. He's still what I want to be when I grow up.

There are several of his works I have yet to read. But here are the books I have read and I highly recommend them  to anyone. Feel free to weigh in with your favorite Halberstam work in the comments. Thanks for reading.

Summer of '49
October 1964
The Fifties (not a sports book)
The Teammates

-- Jonathan

Yes, it's time for our weekly "PiTY PoTY" ... and there were so many choices this week it was a tough one to narrow down. Needless to say, within nanoseconds of my e-mailing my choices to Jonathan (it was my turn to choose) he teased me about not giving enough love to HIS choices for the week. But he teases because he cares, right? ... Right?

So ... for this week's Player of the Week I went with Tucson Sidewinders (Diamondbacks) first baseman Chris Carter, who not only batted .577 in 26 at-bats but now has a 15-game hitting streak dating back to opening day ... add to that his finishing the regular 2006 campaign 7-for-13 with hits in his last three games, and that gives him an active 18-gamer going ...

On the season he's hitting .444 (my lucky number) and his last six games have been multi-hit games ... one thing that's interesting though is he has no home runs and five RBIs so far, whereas last year he had 19-97. I'm sure the power will come ...

On the pitching side, our Pitcher of the Week is Brett Smith of the Trenton Thunder (Yankees) in the Double-A Eastern League. This past Saturday, he tossed seven innings of no-hit ball to lead the team to the win over the Binghamton Mets to lower his season ERA to 1.56. In an earlier start this week he'd gone 5 1/3 innings of four-hit shutout ball with seven strikeouts.

A second-round pick in 2004, Smith reached his pitch limit after seven and had no problems with handing the ball over to the pen with the no-hitter on the line.

So tune into the show today and hear who the runners-up were!

And I'm off on the road again tomorrow, heading up to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre face the Ottawa Lynx (going to see Philip Hughes pitch tomorrow!) and then back down to Reading to see the R-Phils host the Harrisburg Senators.

This report comes from new ATM correspondent Doug, from Manchester, Conn. He writes:

I was at the Eastern League game Saturday between New Britain and Connecticut (Norwich), and the top of the 1st inning featured three walks and four stolen bases, including a straight steal of home.  Not a botched squeeze play, not a delayed steal, just flat-out swiped it.  I imagine that doesn't happen too often, especially in Double-A.  The Defenders wound up with six total SB for the game and won 10-0.  They had been having trouble scoring runs in their first few games (had a 45-inning scoreless streak early last week), so some aggressive managing on the base paths ended up working for them.

Here's the play-by-play.  Note that Requena walked to lead off the game and then stole himself all the way around.

TOP OF THE 1st 
1  Alex Requena walks. 
2  With John Bowker batting, Alex Requena steals (5) 2nd base. 
2  John Bowker flies out to right fielder Matthew Allegra. 
3  Brian Horwitz walks. 
4  With Eddy Martinez-Esteve batting, Alex Requena steals (6) 3rd base. Brian Horwitz steals (2) 2nd base.
4  Eddy Martinez-Esteve strikes out swinging. 
5  Carlos Sosa walks. 
6  With Stephen Holm batting, Alex Requena steals (7) home. 
6  Stephen Holm strikes out swinging. 

Just thought I'd pass it along as "unusual."

Amazing, I headed out to see two games in two days...and I ended up getting three! Much better than last trip for me, where I got one frozen game and one cancelled game. The best news is that on Day 2 here in Midland, home of the brand-spanking new Great Lakes Loons, it was sunny and relatively warm. In other words, it was actual, bona fide baseball weather.

But let's start in Toledo. We weren't there long enough to sample the local fare, but I was just happy to check out Fifth Third Field. We've written about the downtown Toledo stadium in the past, but it really is one of the gems of the International League (or any league). It's not just the stadium, but how it's supported by the community. To be fair, this was a morning game, a "School Day" -- with local elementary schools filling the seats, so it wasn't quite the same feel. I'd love to be there for an Opening Day or playoff game. But it was still a nice place to watch a ballgame. We got some good work done, too -- with a feature on the a.m. game phenomenon in the Minors (playing at 10:30 a.m. is not easy for these guys) featuring Buffalo outfielder Ben Francisco. We also did a nice interview with Indians top pitching prospect Adam Miller. 

From there, it was the fairly lengthy drive to Midland, Michigan. Let me start with some information about the locale. Midland's got about 40,000 people in it. The largest employer is Dow (thus the name of the park -- Dow Diamond) and you can't really separate Dow from Midland in many ways. Our first night here, we went to a local spot called Shirlene's Cuisine. It kind of felt like we were in someone's grandmother's kitchen and it was fairly clear that most of the clientele were in that age bracket as well. There was a "wall of fame" with photos of "celebrities" when you first came in. The one legitimate celeb pic was of Ernie Harwell, who should've been on his own wall, in my opinion. The rest were b-listers, at best -- Peabo Bryson, Melissa Manchester, you get the idea. That being said, the food was good in a down-home way, there was a ton of it, and the homemade pie (I had pecan) was quite tasty.

Perhaps the best thing about the restaurant is the take-out menu, which has a nice little history of Midland. Allow me to provide you with an excerpt.

...Midland became a thriving lumber camp in 1850 and reached its peak in 1880. During the spring, rivers became the chief means of transporting the logs that came from the many umber camps. It has been recorded that there was a lumber camp every four miles along the rivers...The American Fur Company established a trading post at the confluence of the Chippewa and Tittabawassee Rivers, and with this in mind Midland's founding fathers considered the post site a wise place to construct a town...

I love that history stuff. Anyway, the next day we drove to downtown Midland. Yes, there is a downtown. It's got a definite Anywhere small town U.S.A. feel to it, but there are some interesting things happening in terms of development. One is a Fifties-style diner called Daddy O's (check here for a blog review of the place), where we ate lunch. Good burgers, fries, onion rings and outstanding malts. The owner got in at the perfect time, right before the Loons craze began. He's the first in what's going to be a lot of growth in the downtown area. There are huge renovations taking place in the Ashman Court Hotel right near the park, with plans for some upscale restaurants. And there's plenty of room to add more businesses as the Loons take off (sorry, couldn't resist that one).

Now, on to the park, Dow Diamond. Amazingly, it was built in one year. To say it's beautiful doesn't do it justice. I got to hand it to HOK, they know their stuff. There's some cool stuff without trying too hard, like a fire pit in the lawn seating area for cold evenings, the main concourse can be enclosed when the weather gets bad and top-of-the-line facilities for the players (the Loons all seemed to appreciate how good they have it by playing home games here). Just a great place to watch a ballgame, though it doesn't smell like baseball yet. It's kind of like a new car smell, which is great in a new car...not so great in a ballpark. But they've only played a few games there, so that will change very soon.

Unfortunately, the Loons (am I the only one who keeps thinking about the movie, On Golden Pond?) haven't been able to win a game yet in their beautiful new park. But they did finally hit their first home run in franchise history, courtesy of Eduardo Perez. And we got to see Dodgers 2006 first-round pick Clayton Kershaw pitch. Kid knows how to throw a little bit. It was a busy day for us there, as we toured the ballpark, talked to Preston Mattingly and Scott Van Slyke and also got to interview Kershaw after his start. On top of all that, the best part of the visit, was spending a few minutes with Cubs Hall of Famer -- and Peoria Chiefs manager -- Ryne Sandberg. Keep on checking out Around the Minors on The Bottom Line every day at 3:40 p.m. ET on BaseballChannel.TV

This comes from unofficial ATM correspondent Phil Lowry:

The Clearwater Threshers' 4-1 FSL 20-inning win over the Tampa Yanks lasted 5 hours 14  minutes, and was the 165th minor league game to ever last 5 or more  hours. Current minor leagues have experienced this many such games: Appy 1,  Cal 9, Carolina 3, Eastern 11, Florida State 15, International 12, Mexican 6,  Midwest 8, NY-Penn 6, Northwest 2, Pacific Coast 11, Sally 10, Southern 12,  Texas 26.

The Tuesday night game was also the 200th minor league game to  ever last 20 or more innings. Current minor leagues have experienced this  many: Appy 1, Cal 7, Carolina 2, Eastern 10, Florida State 11, International 11,  Mexican 5, Midwest 7, NY-Penn 5, Northwest 2, Pacific Coast 15, Sally 12,  Southern 10, Texas 17. The granddaddy of all such games of course was the  Pawtucket Paw Sox, 3-2, International League, 33-inning win over Rochester Red Wings in 1981, which took 8 hours 25 minutes. Elapsed time was 8 hours 55  minutes because of a 30-minute power failure delay at McCoy Stadium in  Pawtucket.

As you see on the left, there's a link to a Pirates farm system blog. It's worth checking out. They've got a breakdown on what they think is wrong with Andrew McCutchen and a profile on Jamie Romak, the Minor Leaguer the Pirates got from the Braves in the Adam LaRoche deal. Even neater is an Indianapolis Indians photo gallery courtesy of Bill Gentry. Check it out and let us know here what you think...I'll have more on my trip to Toledo and Midland, Michigan in a few days. -- Jonathan

This comes from unofficial ATM correspondent Phil, on the Clearwater-Tampa game from last night (and early morning):

The Threshers' 4-1 FSL win over the Yanks tonight in 20 innings was an historic game. It is the 507th game in the history of the sport to ever last 20 or more innings.

GAMES LASTING 20 INNINGS OR MORE (507):
131 won by home, 166 by visitor, 64 ties, 146 unknown or neutral site.

GAMES LASTING 20 INNINGS (207):
45 won by home, 67 by visitor, 26 ties, 69 unknown or neutral  site.

This is Clearwater's third such game, and the 11th in the  history of the FSL:

20 innings – Ed Smith Stadium, Sarasota –  6/17/1993 – Sarasota White Sox 3 Clearwater Phillies 2 in 4:47 – 932 fans -  finished at 12:06 AM in the early morning of 6/18.

20 innings –  Hammond Stadium, Fort Myers – 4/13/2006 – Clearwater Threshers
4 Fort Myers  Miracle 3 in 5:02 – 1544 fans; 94 fans at end – finished at
12:07 AM in the  early morning of 4/14.

20 innings – Legends Field, Tampa –  4/17/2007 – Clearwater Threshers 4 Tampa Yankees 1 in 5:14 – 706 fans – ended at  12:14 AM in the early morning of 4/18.

It seems like the time has finally arrived for Felix Pie.

The Cubs outfield prospect is on his way to Chicago for his first taste of the big leagues. It was how long the 22-year-old center fielder would be up for, or what the call-up means in terms of Alfonso Soriano's injury, but Pie will make his long-anticipated big league debut tonight against the Padres. He'll be in center field and hitting lead off. If Soriano lands on the disabled list, it should be Pie who'll play center field every day for the Cubs.

Pie has been with the Cubs organization since signing at age 16 back in 2001. He's moved one rung at a time up the organizational ladder and carried a .294 career average, a .353 OBP and .459 SLG into this season. Repeating Triple-A again this year, Pie was off to a very hot start, going 16-for-36 (.444) over his first 11 games and had a 1.127 OPS.

Call it the Players of the first week and change...but here they are:

Player of the Week: Jamie D'Antona, Tucson Sidewinders.
The Diamondbacks third baseman (and occasional catcher) came to the organization in the same draft that brought you Conor Jackson and Carlos Quentin, but D'Antona fell behind the other two, to the point of not being protected on the 40-man roster this offseason. If he keeps this up, though, he'll find a spot. In his first 10 games, D'Antona leads Minor League Baseball with a .556 average. He also is slugging .917 which has led to a 1.512 OPS.

Pitcher of the Week: Chase Wright, Trenton Thunder.
Wright, the Florida State League Pitcher of the Year in 2006, just kept on dominating with a move up to the Eastern League. In two starts, the left-hander allowed no runs and only four hits in 14 innings. That's a .085 batting average against and with only one walk, he's got a ridiculous 0.37 WHIP for you fantasy fans. He's also struck out 19 in that span. All of that led to a promotion up to the big leagues and he'll start tonight's game for the Yankees against the Cleveland Indians.

Don't like our picks? Tell us who you would choose by leaving a comment! -- Jonathan

Just got back from my first official road trip of the year (not counting spring training which is always awesome but not technically an "in-season road trip") and had forgotten how much I LOVE the Carolinas.

There are few places I can think of that offer it all in such a great setting ... especially in spring. Even though the weather was pretty awful, at least the first day of the trip, it still somehow didn't detract from the greenery and beauty of that area. And there are few other places I can think of which offer the following: wherever you are, you're a reasonable drive from beaches, mountains and lakes, cities steeped in history and culture, fantastic food (I could live on Carolina barbecue every night though I'm especially partial to the eastern Carolina vinegar-based fare), amazingly nice people and ... drum roll ... 14 MINOR LEAGUE TEAMS! (10 in NC, covering five leagues and four clubs in South Carolina ... though technically you could argue nine and five since the Charlotte Knights are actually located IN South Carolina).

Yeah, I would TOTALLY be happy to relocate (or retire) to the Carolinas.

This trip started in less than promising fashion when my flight landed in Charlotte to, as mentioned before, absolutely miserable weather. You could barely see beyond the fog and clouds and drizzle (though I call it "frizzle" because it was so cold). Got my rental car and hit I-85 South for the 90-minute trip to Greenville, S.C., where my travel companion/producer Joe awaited.

We headed over to West End Field (getting only slightly lost on the way), home of the Greenville Drive, the Boston Red Sox' Class A affiliate. Looking at the skies, which were periodically emptying themselves, and the tarp on the field, there didn't seem to be any prayer of getting in the team's game against the visiting Columbus Catfish (Devil Rays), so we were just happy to get a chance to chat with Drive pitcher Jon Lester and Catfish ace Wade Townsend. (You can watch the interview with Lester on this Tuesday's Bottom Line at BaseballChannel.TV at 3:45, and the Townsend clip should be up on MiLB.com this week as well.)

It was great to have the chance to talk to both of them ... they have both overcome a lot this year though, needless to say, few if any players in the game have overcome what fate has thrown at Lester in the past few months. Diagnosed with lymphoma last summer, he's gone through all the treatment and emerged, thank God, cancer free.

Townsend, meanwhile, has come back from Tommy John surgery and responded to this return to the game with renewed enthusiasm and looking great on Opening Night.

Assuming that the 7 p.m. game was going to be canceled (and we weren't alone, I don't think you could have found one person in that ballpark at 5 p.m. who thought there was a chance in **** that game would be played), Joe and I ventured out in search of an Italian restaurant ...

MINOR LEAGUE TRAVELBLOGUE ALERT:  Joe, producer/editor/cameraman extraordinaire, is going to be on the road with ATM every week of this season. His trips will alternate with me every other week and Jonathan every other week. On Jonathan weeks, I'm sure they'll be on the lookout for Mexican restaurants of note ...

But on my weeks, we're trying to find the best local Italian restaurants. We especially lean towards mom-and-pop type places that are cozy with great homecooked food (with all due respect to Olive Garden, Cararrabbas and the like, which we are fine with, we'd rather go to the local-owned and home-cooked spots).

We may not always be able to work our dining schedules around our game schedules, but we're hoping to have a "go-to list" of places we can hit should weather or timing allow ...

So if any of you readers from the locales where we're headed can recommend great Italian restaurants near you, we will be eternally grateful. (Our next trip takes us to the cities of Scranton and Reading, PA, with upcoming travels in Palm Beach, FL, Charleston, SC, Myrtle Beach, SC, and the Alabama cities of Birmingham and Huntsville).

... anyway, had a nice dinner at Travinia in Greenville and headed back to surf the Minor League boxes online where I was STUNNED to discovered they had actually played the Greenville-Columbus game. The game in Charlotte, just an hour away, had indeed been postponed, which meant we needed to hustle the next morning to arrive that much earlier in anticipation of a doubleheader between the host Knights (White Sox) and visiting Syracuse Chiefs (Blue Jays).

Didn't get lost this time (don't ask me about the last time I drove Joe and Ed Randall to the Charlotte Knights' stadium from another Carolina city and accidentally took 85 instead of 77 to the South Carolina border) ... and this time the weather was gorgeous, sunny and mild.

Chatted with White Sox phenoms Ryan Sweeney and Josh Fields (you can watch the feature this Thursday on The Bottom Line!) as well as Chiefs outfielder Adam Lind.

Last year when we went to Charlotte we interviewed pitcher Charlie Haeger, who got called up to the Majors that night. This time, Lind chatted with us and was summoned to Toronto within 24 hours as well where he is now starting in their outfield (making my pre-season pick of him as AL Rookie of the Year less unlikely). So hopefully if you're a player reading this and see us coming to talk to you, you might want to welcome us with open arms! We could be your lucky charm!

Game one of the DH seemed to be cruising along as Haeger's knuckler was knuckling and he had a seemingly effortless shutout heading into the seventh (Minor League doubleheaders are seven innings each). Then suddenly, all **** broke loose. Kevin Barker hit a two-run homer. John Hattig homered. Sal Fasano homered. Had I not been watching the game live, I would have thought (and admittedly strangely did for a split second) that I was watching instant replay.

The pressbox crew quickly looked through the Knights media guide and could not find an instance of back-to-back-to-back homers allowed by a Charlotte pitcher in the team's existence dating back to 1990 when they went Triple-A.

So with the game suddenly and shockingly tied at 4-4, it went to extra innings before the hosts finally emerged victorious in nine on, of all things, a wild pitch.

And I got my barbecue that night as well thanks to a drive-thru Sonny's (though they forgot to give me a fork).

I am already looking forward to my next South Carolina trip in three weeks when I will get to visit Charleston and Myrtle Beach, both for the first times in my life ... if anyone can suggest must-see sites (and great Italian or BBQ restaurants), that would rock.

But meanwhile I look towards the more immediate road trip to Scranton/Reading, both parks I have been to in the past and really enjoy. Hoping to carve out a little extra time to check out the town hall in Wilkes-Barre where I hear they have geneological records you can check ... my ancestors lived there for several generations and I'm hoping to find out a little bit more about my roots ...

You didn't read that wrong. We're introducing a new feature here on ATM: He Said, She Said, constantly trying to mix things up, get people interested. Today, it's time to P.O.O.P.

Before you think I've completely lost my marbles, let me explain what P.O.O.P. stands for:

Pimp
Our
Own
Product

In this case, I'm referring to our multimedia features: MiLB.TV and MiLB.com Gameday Audio. The TV package costs only $29.95 for the season and the audio only costs you a MiLB.com registration, which all of you should have already anyway. At any rate, in order to P.O.O.P. the right way, I'm picking the ATM Top 5 Picks to Click, featuring five great matchups to catch today on audio or video:

Jupiter vs. Brevard County (audio): The nightcap of this twinbill features Marlins' 2006 first-round pick Brett Sinkbeil and Brewers pitching prospect Will Inman, both of whom threw well in their first starts of the year. First game starts at 5 p.m. ET.

Daytona vs. Vero Beach (audio): This 7 p.m. ET tilt has Notre Dame phenom Jeff Samardzija dueling with Devil Rays hurler Wade Davis. 

Wichita vs. Corpus Christi (audio): This Texas League matchup, starting at 8:05 p.m. ET, is a rematch of top pitching prospects. Troy Patton won the first meeting against Luke Hochevar. Tune in to see who takes Round 2.

Tacoma vs. Fresno (audio): If you're up a little later, or live out West, then this could be the game for you, starting at 10:05 p.m. ET. Giants wunderkind Tim Lincecum makes his second start of the year for the Grizzlies.  And maybe ATM favorite Kevin Frandsen will make it down (too bad he was demoted) in time to join the Fresno lineup.

VIDEO GAME OF THE DAY: Richmond-Scranton: Phil Hughes makes his second start for Scranton, weather permitting. With the injuries hitting the big-league staff hard, how long will Hughes remain a Minor Leaguer? Watch him now while you still can.

If that game gets snowed out, then shoot over to the Pawtucket-Durham contest (both games are scheduled to start at 7 p.m. ET) and watch Jeff Niemann toe the rubber for the second time in 2007. His Bulls face Pawsox starter David Pauley, who was outstanding in his 2007 debut. 

Lucas is at it again, filing this report on the Carolina Mudcats-Mississippi Braves tilt:

Listen to the call, courtesy of the Carolina Mudcats' Patrick Kinas. Download BrandonJones_WalkOffHR.mp3

It was a "going-long" day today at Trustman Park in Pearl, Mississippi.  Three home runs including the game winner.  In the bottom of the ninth Mississippi Braves left-fielder Brandon Jones crushed a full-count Chris Young pitch for a 1-on, nobody-out walk-off home run and a 3-2 win over the Carolina Mudcats.  The Mudcats had led the game since taking a 2-1 advantage in the 5th. Young only gave up two round-trips in all of last season.

The only other Mississippi run in the game was a solo shot by the Braves catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia, his third homer of the year.  Both Carolina runs were driven in by a Jai Miller dinger in the 5th, his first of the year.

As Lisa would be sure to confirm after she tried covering 55 or so Opening Day games last week, it's virtually impossible for us to cover ALL of the Minor Leagues at one time here. We do what we can and will continue to post during our travels, but we need your help. That's why I want you to consider this post an open call for ATM correspondents.

I must give credit to Lucas, who emailed me with a good tidbit (see below in our first official correspondent post) and got me thinking that we should ask more people to do this. So if you go to a game and see something interesting, be it on the field or off, send it in. If you're perusing MiLB.com, listening to Gameday Audio or watching on MiLB.TV, and you see/hear/read about something intriguing, send it along. The best way to do that is to email me (there's an email link along the left side of this page as well). Be sure to put MiLB Correspondent in the subject line so I know what it is. I'll pick out the best items to post on the blog.

So kudos to Lucas, who sent in the following information:

There was an inside the park home run tonight (Tuesday) in Salt Lake. Here are the details:

Box score

Game recap

Nathan Haynes hit a three-run inside-the-park home run in the second inning off of Tucson starter Yusmeiro Petit. In addition, Brandon Wood hit his second homer of the year for the Bees.

Lucas went above and beyond and sent in an mp3 of Salt Lake announcer Steve Klauke's call. Take a listen. Download Haynes_InsideParkHR.mp3

OK, so you get the idea now. Send in your updates early and often! -- Jonathan

Hey, folks, just a quick note...Lisa and I are going to start  ATM: He Said, She Said Player/Pitcher of the Week Awards. They'll be announced right here every Thursday or Friday. So if you have nominations for either every week, be sure to post comments and we will consider accordingly. Thanks! -- Jonathan

A while back, Lisa and I promised to use He said, She said as a travelogue during the 2007 season. We're going to be visiting Minor League ballparks all around the country and wanted to give everyone an idea of what to look for around the Minor League landscape. So be sure to check back here for updates on a regular basis.

First stop: Dayton and Akron

I wish I had more to report on these two downtown stadiums in Ohio, but the weather put a damper -- or should I say -- freezer on any real exploring. And I only saw baseball in one of the two stops, with the game in Akron being colded out. But Fifth Third Field in Dayton still is one of the best ballparks in all of the Minors. It easily could be a Double-A stadium, at least and the Dragons have sold out every game since they began -- I saw No. 497 in a row. Even with the cold weather, it was a nice crowd. One of the cooler things in this ballpark is the right-field fence, which is also a video board. With it being Passover, I can't really comment on the ballpark fare, but it looked fairly standard. There is a local bar/restaurant -- the Ice Box -- right around the corner that offers decent bar food options.

I love Canal Park in Akron. Not only does it have the right look and feel for the post-industrial city, it's helped revitalize a long-dormant downtown area. The Aeros, on paper, may have the best team in the Minors, so it's worth heading there just to watch the Indians' system's talent flow through. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see them play because of the weather. In fact, Akron's entire opening series against Binghamton was cancelled.

... and now, so can I ...

At High Desert (Mariners), the host Mavericks rallied but fell short in the end, falling to the Inland Empire 66ers (Dodgers), 9-7. Outfielder Jamie Hoffmann was 4-for-5 with three runs scored, a homer and three RBIs as well as a steal for Inland Empire. Hoffmann hit .252 with just five homers and 29 RBIs in 121 games at the Dodgers' Advanced A Florida State League club last year. The 66ers received RBIs from six different players in the win.

The Modesto Nuts (Rockies) beat the Visalia Oaks (Diamondbacks) thanks to key hits from the top of the lineup. Leadoff man Eric Young Jr. (whose dad, one of my all-time favorite players, is now doing commentary on ESPN and to think I covered him when HE was in college at Rutgers!) drove in a pair of runs, while multi-talented Dexter Fowler drove in three from the No. 2 slot.

Speaking of sons of former Major Leaguers, it was definitely a family affair at Bakersfield as the Blaze (Rangers) edged the Lancaster Jethawks (Red Sox) 9-7, enjoying a four-run ninth inning. John Mayberry Jr. was 2-for-5 with a homer and four RBIs on the night including an early three-run homer. Freddie Thon was 3-for-5 with two doubles while Jake Blalock (no, he's not Hank's son, he's his brother) was also 3-for-5 with two doubles. (I have to add that I am really REALLY looking forward to getting to see Mayberry play live and in person this season ... and I'll explain why when that day comes. Stay tuned).

Hey, the Lake Elsinore Storm (Padres) hitters just didn't have a chance for the first four innings of their game against the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (Angels).  Not with rehabbing Bartolo Colon on the mound, throwing four innings of one-hit scoreless ball. However even when Colon departed, he was followed by the slightly less known but apparently equally effective Brok Butcher who got the win with four innings of two-hit ball in the 1-0 Quakes victory. Right fielder Jordan Lenz drove in the game's lone run with a sac fly in the fourth.

And finally ... here it is ... my last blog of the night ... or the morning here on the east coast ... are you ready? Are you sure you're ready?

The San Jose Giants shut out the Stockton Ports (Oakland), 7-0. David Maroul (who my husband picked up for his rotisserie team SOLELY BASED ON reading Jonathan Mayo's item about Maroul in his Giants spring training camp notebook) made them both look good, going 3-for-4 witih two doubles. Joey Martinez got the win with five innings of two-hit ball, striking out six.

And. That. Is. All. She. Wrote.

I have only two words left ... Hot. Bath.

With 16 teams scattered over three time zones, it's never a dull moment in the Pacific Coast League ...

The Fresno Grizzlies (Giants) played some long ball including a four-run seventh to top the Portland Beavers (Padres), 9-4. Nathan Schierholtz delivered the biggest blows, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs and a homer. The Grizzlies also got home runs from Chad Santos and Justin Leone.

Mets prospect Phil Humber got the win in his Triple-A debut as the New Orleans Zephyrs topped the Nashville Sounds, 4-1. They added an insurance run in the eighth on a solo homer from second baseman Ruben Gotay. And for Brewers fans who may be wondering, it was Zach Jackson with the Opening Night start, not Yovani Gallardo.

Former first-rounder Eric Munson was 3-for-4 with a double and a homer to lead the Round Rock Express to a 6-2 victory over the Iowa Cubs. In relief, Stephen Randolph picked up the win with two innings of one-hit ball, striking out five.

The Salt Lake Bees rallied for the 4-3 win over Las Vegas scoring the winning run in the bottom of the ninth when a Nick Gorneault RBI single brought home Kendry Morales.

It was a good night for Dee Browns of the baseball world. One wielded the big bat in the Potomac Nationals' victory over Lynchburg, while this one had a pinch-hit RBI single in the top of the eighth that was the difference in the Tucson Sidewinders' 5-4 win over Colorado Springs.

Former Mets outfielder Victor Diaz may find new life in Texas if he keeps up the good work at Oklahoma, where he not only homered early in the game but also delivered the game-winning RBI double in the ninth for a 5-4 victory over Memphis. The Redhawks scored two in the top of the ninth and hung on for the win.

The Albuquerque Isotopes exploded for a seven-run fifth inning en route to a 9-3 win against Omaha. Some familiar names to long-time fans did the damage including Chad Hermansen, who was 3-for-3 with two RBIs. Todd Sears, Paul Hoover and Reggie Abercrombie also chipped in by driving in two runs apiece.

And finally, the Sacramento RiverCats (Athletics) couldn't have made it much more exciting in their 8-7 victory over the Tacoma Rainiers (Mariners). Leading 7-4 heading into the ninth, they gave up the lead when Rainiers outfielder Adam Jones hit a game-tying three run homer. But Sacramento won when Kevin Melillo drew a bases-loaded walk to score Kurt Suzuki.

I am sure you're all relieved that there are only two more roundups for me to come up with hokey little titles.

The Norfolk Tides held on to maintain their 7-5 victory over the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, conquering the elements as they did so. The parent club Orioles made some pretty savvy six-year free agent signings this past off-season, among them the inexplicably consistently overlooked power-hitting Jon Knott from the Padres. Knott showed that his 32 homers and 100-plus RBIs last season were no Pacific Coast League fluke as he homered and drove in two runs in the victory. Joining Knott among the new Orioles family members are J.R. House, Terry Tiffee and the afore-mentioned Luis Montanez, all of whom could easily see time in Baltimore before long.

Louisville needed extra innings to dispatch of the Toledo Mud Hens, picking up a 10-inning 5-4 win as Tyrell Godwin scored on a fielder's choice for the win. The game log included, in the 10th inning, this unexplained gem: onfield delay. We have no clue what that was about. Dead bird? Brawl? Potty break? And how would they it on Gameday?

The PawSox upended the Charlotte Knights, so Bomby has to wait another day for career win No. 1,557, but this blogger was sad not to see the name BOBBY SCALES in the Pawtucket boxscore. ATM fans may remember my vigil (which sadly went for naught) last year to get the then-Scranton Wilkes-Barre Red Barons infielder onto the Triple-A All-Star team. This year Scales is with the PawSox and he enjoyed an outstanding big league spring training, opening a lot of eyes with the Major League club and, in fact, lasting with them not only all spring but for the exhibition games right before the regular season started. So I am starting my campaign RIGHT NOW to get BOBBY SCALES onto that Triple-A All-Star Team (unless, of course, he's in Boston by then). But it won't work if he's not playing. Won't you help?

Yup, that San Antonio-Tulsa matchup was officially postponed which left us with just two games in the Texas League for the opener ...

In the Springfield Cardinals-Midland RockHounds contest, Midland won by a 7-1 score, as Oakland farmhand Dallas Braden was impressive in his return from injury, tossing six innings of two-hit ball for the win. Leadoff hitter and center fielder Vince Faison, a former No. 1 pick by the Padres, was 2-for-4 with three RBIs.

The Frisco RoughRiders rallied on a two-run homer in the eighth from Kevin Mahar to upend the Arkansas Travelers, 3-2.

The Carolina Mudcats started off their 2007 season with a 5-3 win over the Birmingham Barons. Johnny Raburn (yes, the brother of Ryan Raburn) was 2-for-4 with three RBIs.

The Montgomery Biscuits shut out the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx, 4-0, behind the one-hit shutout ball for seven innings of Chris Seddon. Infield duo Reid Brignac and Evan Longoria posted identical 2-for-4 nights with an RBI apiece.

The Mobile BayBears made it exciting as they topped the Chattanooga Lookouts, 5-4, in 10 innings. The Lookouts scored a run in the top of the 10th but Mobile answered with two in the bottom of the frame. The two teams combined for 29 hits on the night. Outfielder Chris Dickerson was 5-for-5 for Chattanooga whle five players (Mark Reynolds, Emilio Bonifacio, Chris Rahl, Wilkin Castillo and Javier Brito) all had multi-hit games for the BayBears.

Huntsville also needed extra innings to top Mississippi, 4-3. In the 10th, Steve Sollmann drew a leadoff walk and scored on a single by Adam Heether.

The Tennessee Smokies held on when the Jacksonville Suns scored their lone run in the bottom of the ninth, and hung on to win, 3-1. Sean Gallagher got the win with 5 2/3 scoreless innings.

Just two games to wrap up in the Eastern League and we'll be halfway through our completion of the 10 full-season leagues.

No, I'm fine, really. But thanks for asking.

The Reading Phillies held on to their lead over the Harrisburg Senators, tacking on two more runs in the bottom of the seventh for some breathing room en route to their 4-1 victory. Outfielder Javon Moran, a former Phillies farmhand who was traded to the Reds and then back to the Phillies, was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI as well as a steal. On a personal note, he's best friends with Phillies outfielder Michael Bourn, who I am sure was happy to see his buddy return to the fold during the off-season.

In one of the most exciting games of the night, the Bowie Baysox edged the Trenton Thunder, 1-0. After a scoreless battle through eight, the Baysox scratched out a run in the ninth as Val Majewski came around on a Nolan Reimold single which was misplayed in the outfield. In the bottom of the inning, Trenton native and Baysox closer Jim Hoey came on and loaded the bases but then struck out the side to preserve the victory.

And Florida State League action ...

The Dunedin-Clearwater game finally got underway after a lengthy rain delay, with the Threshers (those are the Phillies for those of you who weren't sure) emerging victorious, 9-3. Rehabbing Major League starter Freddy Garcia allowed just three hits over 3 1/3 scoreless innings, striking out seven. On offense, the Phils were led by outfielder Gregory Golson, who was 3-for-4 with three runs scored and a double and triple, and second baseman Brad Harman who homered and drove in a pair.

The Daytona Cubbies scored six runs in the last three innings, including a four-run eighth, to put an exclamation point on an 8-3 win over Brevard County as shortstop Matt Matulia was 2-for-4 with three RBIs to lead the way.

The game between the Lakeland Flying Tigers (gotta get the Flying in there) and the Tampa Yankees was called complete at five innings so Lakeland starter Andrew Miller got the complete game win with five innings of three-hit shutout ball in the 3-0 victory.

Sarasota edged Fort Myers, 2-0, behind stellar pitching from starter Carlos Fisher who allowed three hits over seven scoreless frames. He matched Miracle starter Kyle Waldrop who got a no decision, leaving after five no-hit innings.

St. Lucie Mets ace Deolis Guerra struck out five in five innings of tw-hit ball for the Mets in their rain-shortened 2-0 win against Vero Beach in seven innings.

Third baseman Allen Craig was 3-for-5 with three runs scored, a homer and two RBIs to lead the Palm Beach Cardinals to a 9-3 victory over Jupiter. The Cards posted 13 hits against Hammerheads pitchers.

To wrap up the four Carolina League games of the night (oh my gosh, a league that didn't have a cancellation! Catch me while I faint!) ...

The defending champion Kinston club got things started on the right foot with a 5-3 win over Winston-Salem in a South Division matchup. David Huff, the Indians' first-round pick last spring, allowed one hit in four innings in the start and T.J. Burton, the club's closer for much of the second half of 2006, got the win in relief with Scotty Roehl, another '06 returnee, coming on for the save.

The Potomac Nationals gave notice they would not be shut down offensively this season with a decisive 11-4 win against Lynchburg. Led by outfielder Dee Brown, who was 2-for-5 with a homer and two RBIs, four players had two RBIs apiece in the win.

The Wilmington Blue Rocks shut down the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, 2-0, behind the pitching of Carlos Rosa who got the win with five innings of three-hit shutout ball. First baseman Miguel vega was 3-for-4 with an RBI.

Frederick got started on the winning foot with a 5-4 win against Salem, as Sandy Madera was 2-for-4 with two RBIs to aid the fine start of Brandon Erbe (six innings, three hits, one run).

Wrapping up the day's Midwest League action, though we can't touch Jonathan's first-hand account of the barnburner in Dayton ...

Ryne Sandberg's managerial debut was a success as his Peoria Chiefs held off Wisconsin, 9-5. Though they saw their early 7-0 lead disappear somewhat, the Chiefs benefited from the Timber Rattlers' seven errors (amazingly enough, from seven different players) despite being outhit 11-9.

The Clinton LumberKings bea the Swing of Quad Cities, 8-4, behind the pitching of starter Omar Poveda who got the win with five innings of three-hit ball. the two teams combined for nine errors (maybe it was something in the Midwest League water!), with the Swing making five and the 'Kings four.

The Great Lakes Loons beat South Bend, 10-3, collecting 11 hits. The victory went to Douglas Brooks who came on in relief of starter Clayton Kershaw and tossed 3 2/3 hitless innings.

The Burlington Bees beat the Kane County Cougars, 6-3, with the big blows coming from second baseman Marc Maddox who was 2-for-3 with three RBIs.

Fans at the Greenville Drive-Charleston RiverDogs game certainly got more than their money's worth. Beyond the obvious starpower of new Drive manager Gabe Kapler and Drive starter Jon Lester, they also got an extra-innings pitchers' duel that lasted for almost 10 innings before Wilmer Pino's 10th-inning single scored Christopher Malec with the game's lone run as Charleston won, 1-0.

Lester tossed four innings of one-hit ball striking out five in the start but it was Travis Beazley in relief of the Major Leaguer who really sparkled with five no-hit innings, striking out four. Beazley poted a 2.39 ERA at short-season Lowell in 2006.

Meanwhile in other Sally League action:

The Hickory Crawdads held off the host Hagerstown Suns, 5-4, despite a two-out grand slam in the bottom of the eighth inning by Hagerstown second baseman Leonard Davis to put his team right back in the game.

Lakewood made things more respectable than their early 9-0 deficit would have led one to believe, but in the end they still fell to Greensboro, 11-7. The Grasshoppers were led at the plate by outfielder Scott Cousins who went 4-for-5 with two doubles and four RBIs. Almost lost in the offensive firepower was the sparkling start by Greensboro southpaw Graham Taylor who tossed six innings of one-run ball, striking out seven without walking a batter for the win.

Wade Townsend's comeback from Tommy John surgery put one in the win column for him and his Columbus Catfish as he allowed just two hits in five scoreless innings, walking one and striking out six as the 'fish beat visiting Kannapolis 6-1.

The Augusta Greenjackets edged the host Rome Braves, 3-1, thanks to yet another great pitching performance from Adam Cowart, who went five innings of four-hit ball for the win. Cowart was the Northwest League Pitcher of the Year in 2006 as he helped lead the Salem-Keizer club to that circuit's title and the best winning percentage in the Minors.

Lexington rallied to beat visiting Delmarva, 4-2, but pitching was still the name of the game in that one. For the Legends, David Qualben got the win in relief of starter Casey Hudspeth, who allowed just two hits in his six innings of work. For Delmarva, meanwhile, the loss spoiled a fine effort by Pedro Beato who allowed two hits in five scoreless innings, striking out six.

The Toastman of West Virginia had something to cheer about after all as his West Virginia Power rallied to beat Lake County, 4-3, behind the bat of outfielder Michael Brantley. Brantley was 3-for-4 with a double, triple and two RBIs.

Michael Paulk was 3-for-5 and Daniel Mayora and Bret Berglund each drove in a pair of runs as the Asheville Tourists rallied to bear host Savannah, 7-4.

Moving right along to the Pacific Coast League, the lone league that spans three time zones ...

Phil Humber's Triple-A debut was a rousing success as he allowed one run on one hit over his five innings of work, striking out four for the New Orleans Zephyrs. Okay, am I ever going to get used to say the Mets in the PCL??? Probably not ... anyway, the Z's led host Nashville (Brewers) 3-1 in the eighth ...

At Round Rock (Astros), infielder Brooks Conrad was the man with the big bat as his two-run homer was much of the difference in the Express' 5-2 lead through seven against the visiting Iowa Cubs.

The Tucson Sidewinders (Diamondbacks) were locked in a good one with the host Colorado Springs SkySox, tied at 4-4 into the bottom of the eighth as each team had 11 hits. For Tucson, the defending PCL champion, Jamie D'Antona was 4-for-4.

Seeing red? You were if you're in Memphis. The host Memphis Redbirds (Cards) were leading the visiting Oklahoma Redhawks (Rangers), 4-3, in the eighth, though it was the Redhawks playing longball. Victor Diaz and Nate Gold each had homers for Oklahoma. Gold, you may recall, hit 34 home runs last year and is off to another hot start this season.

The Albuquerque Isotopes (Marlins), who are busy preparing to host the Triple-A All-Star Game in July (can you tell I am psyched, since I'm already talking about it?) were leading the Omaha Royals, 5-2 through five innings. 'Topes outfielder Reggie Abercrombie had gone yard for his team while Billy Butler had done the same for the O-Royals.

Also going deep in his first game of the season was Las Vegas 51s first baseman James Loney, who frankly really shouldn't even be in Vegas. He knows it, we know it, the parent Dodgers know it, but without a chance to play every day behind Nomar Garciaparra, Loney is back in the Minors (where he only hit .380 last year). His 51s were tied with the host Salt Lake Bees (Angels) 3-3 in the seventh.

Meanwhile, the two remaining games in the PCL (Portland at Fresno and Tacoma at Sacramento) were just getting underway which means I'm going to be here for awhile. Have the veal.

It may have been cold here in Dayton, but the locals were able to go home happy with a 3-2 victory  and an Opening Night Fireworks display. Official attendance was 8,176, but it had cleared out by the end of the game. Sean Watson didn't get the win, but he was pleased with his outing and for good reason. He went five, allowing just the one first-inning run, walking none and striking out six. He scattered seven hits.

Drew Stubbs, for his part, went 2-for-5 with 2 RBIs and a stolen base. He had left the bases loaded earlier in the game, striking out to end that threat. But when faced with the same opportunity again in the sixth, he singled sharply to left to drive in a pair that tied the score at two. Some aggressive baserunning in the ensuing throw to the plate and then to second allowed the go-ahead run to score. From there, Travis Webb (who got the win despite giving up an opposite field homer to West Michigan's Ryan Strieby in the top of the sixth) and Marcus Mateo
shut the door to give Dayton the win. That's it for me from Dayton. Tomorrow, I'll be in Akron, where I should get to see an outstanding Chuck Lofgren-Kevin Mulvey matchup. Stay warm everyone! --  Jonathan

How quickly things can change ... one minute your team is tossing a no-hitter, the next they've lost the game ...

That was the case in Durham where the Bulls lost the no-no (see, now I can say it) and the game, 2-1, to the Syracuse Chiefs (Blue Jays).

First John-Ford Griffin broke up the no-hitter with his leadoff single in the top of the eighth inning, coming around to score to tie the game at 1-1. One inning later it was Griffin the Bull Killer again as his double brought home Mike Vento with the winning run for Da Chiefs.

in frigid Scranton (Moosic, Moosic, must remind self it's Moosic) it's a slugfest with the Norfolk Tides leading 7-5 heading into the ninth thanks to a five-run eighth inning. That frame was highlighted by a two-run homer by new Orioles farmhand Luis Montanez (always a favorite of Jonathan Mayo). Tyler Clippard, who started for Scranton, gave up two runs in five innings while Tides pitcher Hayden Penn was yet another in a line of successful Baltimore farmhand pitchers on Opening Night with his five innings of two-hit ball, striking out six.

Two-time defending International League champions the Toledo Mud Hens (Tigers) scored two runs in the top of the ninth inning at Louisville (Reds) to knot that game at 2-2. Ryan Raburn hit a two-run homer for the Hens (and let this stand as my own correction on my earlier Southern League wrapup that it was his brother, Johnny, who drove in a pair for the Mudcats. No, Ryan was not actually in two places at one time)

Bomby is back in the International League but his team was trailing late in the game ... but with his history of success that shouldn't be the case too often. Bomby, of course, is Charlotte Knights manager Marc Bombard who returns to the Minors after a year as the Phillies' first base coach with a ******** 1,556 victories as manager, by far the most of any active manager in the Minors. He replaced popular Knights skipper Razor Shines who is now the White Sox third base coach. The Knights trailed visiting Pawtucket Red Sox, 5-2, in the eighth thanks largely to a first-inning grand slam by PawSox outfielder Brandon Moss off of Knights ace Heath Phillips.

This one should be a quickie, with only eight teams in the league and one already postponed due to rain (Corpus Christi at Wichita as noted earlier).

One other game, San Antonio (Padres) at Tulsa (Rockies), has also been delayed by rain while scoreless in the third. Rockies top 2006 pick Greg Reynolds was the starter for the Drillers in that one.

At Midland, the RockHounds (Athletics) were leading the visiting Springfield Cards 7-1 in the seventh as outfielder Danny Putnam put some room between his team and the visitors with a three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh.

in a lower-scoring game, the visiting Arkansas Travelers (Angels) led the Frisco RoughRiders (Rangers), 2-1, in the sixth. The Travelers live up to their name, on the road for a week before heading back to Little Rock where they'll enjoy their new digs, Dickey-Stephens Stadium, which replaces historic (read: really old) Ray Winder Field.

Quick bulletin before getting into the first round of Southern League action ...

Durham Bulls pitchers Jason Hammel (five innings) and Tim Corcoran (two) have, so far, limited the visiting Syracuse Chiefs to NO HITS through seven innings. You see I'm not saying that hyphenated word, BUT ... you can actually go watch this game via MiLB.TV ...

Hammel, one of the many aces the Devil Rays Triple-A team has stacked up at Durham this season, had one of those combined hyphenated things last year in July, as you may recall!!!

Oh yeah, the Bulls lead, 1-0 through seven. Now go watch. I'll wait.

...

OK, in case you want to know what's happening in the Southern League in a nutshell (I guess a pecan since it's the south), there were some low-scoring affairs going on there:

In Huntsville, the host Stars (Brewers) trail the visiting Mississippi Braves, 2-1, in the fifth. Braves starter Matt Harrison had struck out four in four innings.

The Mobile BayBears (Diamondbacks) also had a 2-1 lead, this in three innings, over the visiting Chattanooga Lookouts (Reds).

The Montgomery Biscuits (Devil Rays) clung to a 1-0 lead over the visiting West Tenn Diamond Jaxx (Mariners) on a Reid Brignac run-scoring groundout in the third. Chris Seddon had allowed one hit over four innings for the Biscuits.

In Birmingham, the host Barons (White Sox) trailed visiting Carolina (Marlins), 2-1, as shortstop Ryan Raburn had a two-out two-run single in the third to give his team the lead.

And in another marquee pitching matchup, the Tennessee Smokies (Cubs) led the Jacksonville Suns (Dodgers) 3-0 in the eighth with both starters out of the game. For Tennessee, Sean Gallagher had tossed 5 2/3 scoreless innings, striking out five while southpaw ace Scott Elbert struck out nine in six innings for the Suns. Good news for Dodgers fans, though, was the return to the mound in relief of 2005 first-rounder Justin Orenduff, who missed 2006 with arm trouble. He'd tossed two scoreless innings out of the pen tonight.

With all the weather issues, there are just two games in progress in the Eastern League tonight and both have been low-scoring well-pitched affairs.

  The Bowie Baysox (Orioles) and host Trenton Thunder (Yankees) were scoreless heading into the ninth. For Trenton, starter Chase Wright continued his mastery of the opposition that he showed as the Florida State League Pitcher of the Year in 2006, with seven innings of two-hit ball, striking out nine without walking a batter. For Bowie, Beau Hale allowed one hit through six innings of work, striking out five.

  At Reading, meanwhile, the host Phillies led the visiting Harrisburg Senators (Nationals) 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh. Third base prospect Mike Costanzo went yard for the Phils in the second inning but that was one of the only blemished against Harrisburg starter T.J. Nall, a fine six-year free agent pickup for the Nationals. Nall, who led the Southern League in strikeouts last year for Jacksonville (Dodgers), fanned nine in his five innings of work. For Reading, Landon jacobsen gave up one run in six innings.

Oh sorry, was that too obvious a title?

Defending Carolina League champion Kinston Indians opened on the road at Winston-Salem (White Sox) with a nice matchup of top 2006 draft picks and both were living up to draft billing. David Huff for Kinston had allowed two runs, one earned, on one hit in four innings while White Sox pick Kyle McCulloch scattered five hits without allowing an earned run in five in the 2-2 tie mid-six.

  The Potomac Nationals scored early and often, putting a six-spot on the board en route to an 8-0 lead over Lynchburg (Pirates) in the fifth. Craig Stammen had allowed just two hits in four scoreless innings for the Nats.

  In Myrtle Beach, the Wilmington Blue Rocks (Royals) had a 1-0 lead over the host Pelicans (Braves) through three, as Wilminton mascot Mr. Celery no doubt watched at home from his La-Z-Boy recliner, nibbling on veggies as he waits for his team's home opener.

  Orioles fans were rejoicing as their young pitching prospects were doing well across the board on Thursday night, with Frederick's Brandon Erbe dazzling in his six innings of work against the host Salem Avalanche (Astros). Erbe and his Keys held a 2-1 lead heading into the seventh innings as the right-hander had allowed one run on three hits over six.

Well, right, it's night time so it wouldn't be sunny anyway but drizzly weather has two Florida State League games delayed and others just soggy ...

  At Brevard County, the Manatees (Brewers) and Daytona Cubbies were knotted at 2-2 in the sixth. For Brevard, Chris Errecart had homered and Charlie Fermaint had added an RBI triple while Ryan Norwood, who really got onto the radar screen last summer with a great season, had an RBI single to pace the Cubbies.

  The Dunedin Blue Jays' game at the Clearwater Threshers (Phillies) had yet to start due to rain, while the Lakeland Tigers were leading the Tampa Yankees, 3-0, in the fifth when they were halted. Andrew Miller was starting for Lakeland with center fielder Cameron Maybin batting third in that lineup. 

  One of the best pitchers duels of the night could be seen in the first five innings in Sarasota. Fort Myers Miracle pitcher Kyle Waldrop (Twins) was practically perfect in his five inning stint, striking out seven without allowing a hit or a walk. Only two hit batsmen marred his line. On the other side, Sarasota's Carlos Fisher, who was one of the top pitchers you never heard about last year at Dayton, tossed six innings of three-hit ball for the Reds. The Reds had a 2-0 lead in the sixth as Jay Rainville gave up a pair of runs in relief of Waldrop.

  The St. Lucie Mets and Vero Beach Devil Rays were scoreless through five in another good pitching matchup as Jacob McGee gave up two hits in three innings for the Devil Rays and Deolis Guerra had struck out five in 4 2/3 innings of two-hit ball for the Mets.

  Both teams could call the park home in the Palm Beach Cardinals-Jupiter Hammerheads (Marlins) matchup, as the two teams share Roger Dean Stadium. Chris Volstad had given up six hits over six innings for the Hammerheads but trailed Tyler Norrick and his Cards, 3-1, after 5 1/2 innings.

A look at the Midwest League games here ...

  The Great Lakes-South Bend matchup was tied at 2-2 in the fifth. Loons shortstop Preston Mattingly had driven in one of his team's runs. Starter Clayton Kershaw didn't make it out of the third inning as he had control issues, walking six, but only have up one earned run and won't factor in the decision. Brett Anderson, meanwhile, was enjoying quite an impressive pro debut with three hits and no earnies allowed in his five innings of work.

  Clinton (Rangers) still held its 3-0 lead over Quad Cities (Cards), with Mauro Gomez's three-run homer in the first the margin of difference in that one in the middle of the fourth.

  At Dayton, where Jonathan sits comfortably in the cozy warm pressbox, the Whitecaps still lead 1-0 with the lone run scored by Deik Scram. Who, may I add, really should have lasted way longer in our Moniker Madness brackets than he did ... Jonathan also shared with me a great on-field promotion where they give three babies a lemon to taste and the one who makes the best "lemonface" wins. I think they should give away Lemonface CDs to the winner but I admit to having a slight bias on that front ...

  And in one of the most eagerly anticipated games tonight, the Peoria Chiefs blasted out to a 7-0 lead against the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (Mariners) in Chiefs manager Ryne Sandberg's debut in that capacity. The Wisconsin lineup was particularly interesting as it certainly demonstrates why the Seattle system has earned such a fine reputation for spanning the globe in its quest for players:

CF Gavin Dickey (USA), SS Carlos Triunfel (Dominican Republic), RF Greg Halman (Netherlands), 1B Gerardo Avila (Venezuela), 3B Alex Liddi (Italy), LF Kuo Hui Lo (Taiwan), DH Kalian Sams (Netherlands), C Jair Fernandez (Colombia) and 2B Luis Nunez (Dominican Republic). Starting pitcher Ricky Orta hails from Venezuela by way of the University of Miami.

And the final game in the league, Kane County (Athletics) at Burlington (Royals) was just getting underway so we'll get back to that in our next trip around the MWL.

Hey, everyone,  it's  Jonathan. I have to admit I'm quite happy that I'm in the pressbox and they are playing out there...kudos to multimedia producer Joe Cronin for battling the elements to shoot video while we're here. First pitch was 7:09 with temps sitting at 35 (windchill at 27). Reds second-rounder Starter Sean Watson gave up a run in the first, but it's been zeroes since then. Drew Stubbs was showing his plus speed in the first inning. He hit a slow grounder to short and turned it into an infield single -- Dayton fans should get used to that. He then stole second. He had the chance to tie the game or give the Dragons a lead in the second, but struck out with the bases loaded to end the threat against West Michigan starter Chris Cody. For the Whitecaps, Scott Sizemore had a double in that first inning and Brennan Boesch -- both were NY-Penn League All-Stars last year for Oneonta -- drove in leadoff hitter Diek Scram with a sac fly. At this rate, the game will end sometime in mid-May.  More later, but use this as a lead-in to Lisa's Midwest League report. --  Jonathan

In an effort to try to bring some sort of form and format to this 10-ring circus, I'm going to try to divvy these posts up into league updates, starting with the Sally League ... but first I HAVE to bring you this observation from Kevin in Scranton regarding the SWB Yankees' new mascot:

The Yankees also have a new mascot, The Holy Cow. It's some dude dressed in a cow suit wearing the traditional red, white and blue Yankees top hat.

Anyway, on to a quick tour of Sally action ...

  Hickory (Pittsburgh) took a quick 1-0 lead over host Hagerstown (Nationals) on a homer by newcomer Jamie Romak. Romak was the Minor Leaguer the club acquired along with first baseman Adam LaRoche when they dealt shortstop prospect Brent Lillibridge and pitcher Mike Gonzalez to Atlanta ...

  Remember last year when the Lakewood Blueclaws (Phillies) started off 0-9 before actually going on to win the SAL championship? Well, hopefully they do too so they won't feel as badly about trailing Greensboro (Marlins) 9-0 in the first inning. Starting pitcher Carlos Monasterios, acquired from the Yankees in the Bobby Abreu deal, didn't make it out of the first, giving up seven runs on five hits and three wild pitches.

  The Columbus Catfish (Devil Rays) staked Wade Townsend to a 4-0 lead early in their game against Kannapolis (White Sox) thanks to a three-run homer from Quinn Stewart in the first ... Townsend, the Devil Ray' top pick in 2005, missed all of 2006 following Tommy John surgery but had allowed one hit and struck out five through three innings of work so far tonight.

  In Rome, Ga., the Braves trailed Augusta (Giants) 1-0 as outfielder Tyler Graham basically manufactured his team's first run, batting leadoff and singling, stealing second and third and scoring on a passed ball.

  The much anticipated matchup of the Greenville Drive (Red Sox) at Charleston RiverDogs (Yankees) got a late start due to Opening Day ceremonies. Drive manager Gabe Kapler makes his debut in that capacity tonight, while Red Sox southpaw Jon Lester takes the mound in his comeback from anaplastic large cell lymphoma.

  In Lexington (Astros), the legends trailed the Delmarva Shorebirds (Orioles) early, 1-0, as club ace Pedro Beato took the hill for the 'birds and 2005 first-rounder Brandon Snyder staked him to the lead with an RBI double in the second.

  The Savannah Sand Gnats (Mets) saw greg Veloz lace a triple in the first inning and score on a wild pitch as they took an early 1-0 lead over the visiting Asheville Tourists (Rockies).

  And finally, West Virginia Power superfan, the Toastman, no doubt had plenty to say when his team fell behind visiting Lake County (Indians) early, 1-0, as Adam Davis scored on an error.

Dayton is getting underway and Jonathan shares this ...

We're into the pre-game introductions here in Dayton and the crowd is slowly filling in despite the cold. Thanks entirely to season-ticket sales, this will be the Dragons' 497th consecutive sellout -- every game since the team was born back in 2000.

First off, this latest missive from Kevin in Scranton, where Yankees GM just threw out one of the ceremonial first snowballs, er, pitches:

The Mets are no longer affiliated with Norfolk but they seem to have a lot of old New York faces here tonight. In addition to Jesse Levis, a former Met farmhand and coach, the club's advance scout Gary LaRocque also stopped by the press box at PNC Park. Today is his 54th birthday. Happy Birthday Gary. Try and stay warm down there in the lower bowl. Though the snow has stopped for the time being, the temperature here continues to drop as the players get introduced. Wind chills could be in the teens by the end of the game. That hasn't seemed to damper the enthusiasm, though, as the sellout crowd continues to file in. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman is also in attendance tonight.

  Not all midwest games fell victim to the elements, though ... the Minors' one and only NEW team, the Great Lake Loons (Dodgers), just got started at South Bend with one of the marquee matchups of the night. Loons ace Clayton Kershaw, a first-rounder last summer who struck out 54 and walked five in 37 Gulf Coast League innings in his debut, takes the mound for the Loons while Arizona Diamondbacks prospect Brett Anderson makes his professional debut for the Silver Hawks.

  Anderson, a second-round pick last year, is the son of Oklahoma coach Frank Anderson. In his first inning he allowed a leadoff hit to speedy Trayvon Robinson before retiring the side including his first pro strikeout.

  The Loons have moved to Midland, Michigan, near Saginaw from across the state in Battle Creek where they played last year as the Southwest Michigan Devil Rays. They play at the brand new Dow Diamond.

  Two more games on the evening's slate have bitten the dust as Altoona-Erie (Eastern League) and Corpus Christi-Wichita were both postponed. I know, I didn't think we'd lose a Texas League game either but apparently it is raining in Kansas. At least it's not a tornado.

  Most of the night's games are just getting started around now so sit back and enjoy.

  And we have our first final for 2007 as the Indianapolis Indians (Pirates) beat the Columbus Clippers (Nationals), 6-1, to open Minor league and Triple-A International League play ...

  Former first-rounder Sean Burnett got the win with five innings of six-hit shutout ball while Major League vet Tim Redding took the loss for the Clippers.

  Indy combined for 14 hits on the day, four of them from center fielder Nyjer Morgan in his Triple-A debut.

  Rehabbing Pirates second baseman Freddy Sanchez was 1-for-2 with a pair of walks.

  For Columbus, outfielder Michael Restovich was 3-for-4 while first baseman Larry Broadway drove in the team's lone run with the first homer of the Minor League season.

  And with 53 games to go tonight (one more got wiped out in the cancellation of Cedar Rapids at Beloit), please don't be expecting this kind of detail on ALL of the upcoming games ...

  Meanwhile, here is the latest from Scranton courtesy of Kevin ...

First, this just in: The first home run of the 2007 Minor League season was hit by Larry Broadway, the first baseman for the Columbus Clippers. It's a good sign for Broadway, who had come into spring training with a shot at the Washington Nationals' starting first baseman's job before that was filled by veteran Dmitri Young.

So in the bottom of the sixth inning, the score stands Indianapolis Indians 3, Columbus Clippers 1, as the season is officially underway.

Meanwhile, I have on-the-road updates for you from Jonathan Mayo in Dayton, and Kevin Czerwinski in Scranton ...

JONATHAN SAYS ...

While it’s quite nippy here in southwestern

Ohio

, the plan is to play. I guess they’re not as soft here in

Dayton

as they are in other parts… There is something very wrong intrinsically about driving through snow to go to an Opening Day game, but at least I’m going to see a game, which is more than folks who wanted to see some baseball in Portland, Maine can say. A few things to look out for in this Dayton-West Michigan matchup today. First is Reds’ first-rounder Drew Stubbs. The center fielder has all the tools in the world and it will be fun watching how he puts it together in his first full season. Second,

Dayton

starter Sean Watson was the Reds’ second round pick last June. He was a closer as an amateur and came to pitching late. But unlike a lot of short relievers, he was never a maximum effort guy. With a smooth delivery and a real feel for pitching, the Reds are confident he can make the transition to starter.

One thing you can count on here is a full house, even with the cold weather. The Dragons have sold out every single game of their existence – they’ll celebrate 500 straight later this month – and today will be no different. I’ll check in with everyone later on tonight when the game gets going -- Jonathan

And from KEVIN ...

   And the first run of the 2007 Minor League season is scored by Nyjer Morgan, who leads off the third inning with a double off Columbus starter Tim Redding, moves to third on a grounder by Freddy Sanchez and scores on a single by Russ Johnson.

  Indianapolis 1, Columbus 0.

  And no, don't expect this kind of up-to-the-minute scoring update tonight when there are 50 games going on simultaneously. Unless, you know, 45 more of them are snowed out ...

  Word has it (first hand!) that it is snowing in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (well, actually, Moosic) even as we speak but they are determined to get in the game between the Yankees and the Norfolk Tides (Orioles) unless it gets to the point where the shortstop and second baseman are busy building a snowman behind the pitcher's mound ... Tyler Clippard gets the nod for the Yankees in this one with Phil Hughes slated for tomorrow's game.

  Just got word that the Binghamton Mets at Akron Aeros game was cancelled due (all together now) to weather ... anyone want to start an over/under on how many games will end up being scrapped before the day/evening is over?

  Hoping the weather clears up in Akron in a hurry since Jonathan is schedule to be there tomorrow for that match up ... the Aeros are absolutely loaded this year, maybe one of the best teams on paper at first glance with a rotation that includes southpaws Chuck Lofgren, their opening night pitcher, and Scott Lewis, who led the Minors in ERA last year, along with rehabbing prospect JD Martin and sleeper extraordinaire Aaron Laffey, plus an outfield that includes Trevor Crowe, Brian Barton and returned top Rule 5 pick Ryan Goleski. Can't wait to see that lineup/staff when they come to my neck of the woods next weekend.

  Meanwhile, the lone game of the day in Indianapolis remains scoreless in the top of the third inning. For those of you stashing Freddy Sanchez on your injured list and worrying about his health, you'll be happy to know he laced a double in his first at-bat (of course those of you who picked up Jose Castillo for $1 maybe not so happy to know that).

  One pleasant surprise for me was seeing a familiar name, Nyjer Morgan, batting leadoff for Indianapolis. As recently as two weeks ago he'd been ticketed for Double-A Altoona, where he finished up 2006, but instead won the opening day center field job for the Indians. Go Nyjer! The combination of him and Rajai Davis in left field in this lineup gives the club some serious speed.

 

 

And the answer is: VERY.

I got to cyber-see the first pitch of the 2007 Minor League Season, a ball by Indianapolis Indians (Pirates) southpaw Sean Burnett to Columbus Clippers (Nationals) second baseman Melvin Dorta, who proceeded to make the first out of the season by grounding out to second baseman Freddy Sanchez.

I know, not a name you expect to see in a Minor League blog, but he's rehabbing the knee that landed him on the DL to start the season.

The host Indians had a promotion where they guaranteed "warmth" with a game time temperature of 60 degrees or higher. At a brrrrrrrrrrrrisk 34 at game time, looks like the folks at Victory Field will all be getting a free ticket to an upcoming April home game.

And how weird is it to refer to the Columbus Clippers as a Washington Nationals affiliate? I wonder how long it will be this season before I have all the new partnerships committed to memory ...

First hit of the season, George Lombard's two out bunt single ...

Will keep you all posted on all the firsts. (This part is easy, with one game in progress until this evening.) 

  I woke up this morning to an already shortened schedule for my day, as the 59-game slate had already been reduced to 56 ... oops, make that 55 ... thanks to the cold front in the east/midwest.

  Gone from the schedule were the Richmond Braves at Buffalo Bisons, Connecticut Defenders at Portland Seadogs and Fort Wayne Wizards at Lansing Lugnuts, and the catfight between New Britain (Rock Cats) and New Hampshire (Fisher Cats) soon followed onto the snowy scrap heap.

  Buffalo will host a DH on Friday, Lansing will play two on Saturday (weather permitting of course) and the Portland and New Hampshire games will be made up this summer.

  Now, you may ask, Lisa, when the International League has teams in places like Richmond and Norfolk, why would they choose to open the season with those teams at Buffalo and Scranton (where it is currently snowing but the game has not YET been canceled) respectively?

  And the answer is ... I don't know.

  Now, in case you were wondering why there were only 59 games on the schedule instead of 60 when there are 120 full-season teams, it's because Rochester hosts Ottawa tomorrow for its home opener. And I'll let awesome longtime Red Wings beat writer Jim Mandelaro of the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle share his thoughts on that from his own blog right here. Just scroll down to April 2's "Snow Day" entry.

  But the good news for Mandelaro and his Red Wing fan readers is that the team will be loaded to start the season with a pretty much incomparable one-two-three punch of Matt Garza (MiLB.com's Minor League Pitcher of the Year for 2006), Kevin Slowey (he of the 1.90 ERA and 158 strikeouts) and homegrown southpaw Glen Perkins, the Twins' first-round pick in 2004. At least with pitchers like that the games should be quick.

  I was also sorry to see the New Hampshire game banged since they had a great promotion where they announced a special ticket offer for fans who would come out with shovels and help them clear snow from the field. Instead, if you are one of the first 1,500 fans at their 1:05 p.m. game this Saturday, you'll get a Fisher Cats fleece blanket.

Hey there everyone! Happy Opening Day!!!

Yeah, I know, that OTHER Opening Day was on Monday (or Sunday night for Mets/Cardinals fans) ... but this is OUR Opening Day and we have quite a treat in store for you (at least in my humble opinion) ...

I'll be here at my beloved laptop all day and all night, blogging away on the goings on in all (at this count) 56 Opening Day games, keeping you posted on the whos, whats and whens ...

Since I'm not a night owl, the late innings of those West Coast California and Pacific Coast League games may be a little dicey. If you see qawgtfhyjuiokpl; it just means I fell asleep on my keyboard. Don't bother looking up the unfamiliar player name ...

By the way, ID name notwithstanding, this is pretty much all SHE Said, SHE Said today/tonight. Hopefully Jonathan himself may check in from Dayton during/after his game ...

And please post your comments and thoughts ... not sure I'll be able to respond to specific questions when all of the games are going on at once but I'll do my best ... and if you're at a game yourself, PLEASE come back and share your thoughts and impressions ...

Who do you think is going to be the team to watch this year? Who is your pre-season pick for Minor League Player and Pitcher of the Year?

On Opening Day, you can't be wrong!!! (And I promise not to hold you to it later if you promise to do the same for me) ...

OK, back in a few with my take on some baffling early-season scheduling decisions ...

And the actual GAMETIME BLOGGING will get started when the first pitch is thrown in Indianapolis somewhere around 2 p.m.

We're just two days away from  Minor League Opening Day and needless to say, we're a little excited to get the ball rolling here...

Let me give you some insight into all the things we have planned for our Opening Day coverage. First, we've got our journal writers. And what a lineup we've got. On he mound, we've got a pair of southpaws. There's the Cubs' Donnie Veal and the Blue Jays' Ricky Romero. Offensively, a duo of outfielders join our squad: the Indians' Trevor Crowe and the Yankees' Jose Tabata. In addition, we'll have the unique and insightful commentary of Devil Rays' outfielder Fernando Perez.

Of course, it's not just the players themselves doing the talking on MiLB.com. Kevin Czerwinski has a column that will put everyone in the mood for baseball. Lisa Winston will bring us a Rule 5 recap and a look at some of the more intriguing names who'll be pacing dugouts as Minor League managers in 2007. Yours truly has a run-down on where all of the 2006 first-round draft picks are headed to start the season.

And that's just Wednesday.

On Opening Day itself, I'll be in Dayton to check in on Drew Stubbs and company. Kevin C. travels to Scranton to check out that absolutely loaded rotation. And Lisa will be on blog duties all Opening Day, giving you up-to-the-minute updates on what's going on all around Minor League Baseball. There are 59 Opening Day games on tap, so keep checking back here if you want the low-down on what's going on nation-wide. --  Jonathan