confounding

The 2011 Southern League schedule is out. Finally. And it's just as messed up as in years past. The Mississippi Braves open the season at home (they also play at home on Memorial Day and July 4) against West Tenn. They'll play the Diamond Jaxx 24 times. West Tenn is in the North Division. The M-Braves, who are in the South, play South rivals Jacksonville and Montgomery a combined 25 times. They have only five home games against Montgomery, arguably Mississippi's main rival. This makes no sense. This year, the M-Braves played Jacksonville, the best team in the South, only eight times. That makes the so-called division race a farce. Is there no way to create a more balanced schedule?
P.S. Still looking ahead, here's a guess at the 2011 M-Braves lineup: C - Jesus Sucre; 1B - Mauro Gomez; 2B - Jordan Kreke or Cole Miles; SS - Tyler Pastornicky; 3B - Mycal Jones; OF - Cody Johnson, Adam Milligan, Cory Harrilchak or L.V. Ware. Pitchers - Julio Teheran, Randall Delgado, J.J. Hoover, Jacob Thompson, Juan Abreu ... who knows? The position players are actually harder to pick. There are no players at Class A Myrtle Beach having breakout seasons. And considering how many free agents the Braves brought in this year to fill holes at the Double-A level, it's very likely they'll do it again. The ranks seem to be thin again.

drawing close

The Mississippi Braves' single-season record for home runs is 19, set by Matt Esquivel in 2007. Mauro Gomez has a real shot at the mark. The slugging first baseman has 16 bombs with 11 games to play — and it might help that seven of those are on the road. Trustmark Park isn't kind to mashers. Gomez, a Dominican who turns 26 in September, might be a little past the prospect stage. But he has no doubt opened some eyes in his first Double-A season. He's hitting .280 with 76 RBIs. His strikeout total is high (113 in 457 at-bats). He doesn't run well, and he's not a graceful first baseman. But he does have pop. He hit 28 home runs in the Class A California League in 2009, his last of six seasons in the Texas system. Gomez's future might lie with an American League club, which would enable him to DH on a regular basis.
P.S. In Baseball America's annual tools survey, former M-Brave Martin Prado is rated (by scouts) the second-best defensive second baseman in the National League. So why is it that, in Chipper Jones' absence, Prado is playing third base and Omar Infante is playing second? Wouldn't it make a lot more sense to leave Prado at his best position? Infante plays third as well as Prado does.

it's so true

Wondering when was the last time Roy Oswalt took the field at a position other than pitcher? Until he was forced into action in left field for Philadelphia on Tuesday night, he had never done it in pro ball. Surely he didn't play the field at Holmes Community College. Maybe at Weir High on the field that his father carved out of the woods. Well, Oswalt looked like a natural out there, at least on the one play that he had to make. There's an old truism in the game about the ball always finding a player trying to hide from it. And it found Oswalt. The first Houston hitter in the top of the 15th inning smacked a fly ball right to him; he caught it cleanly. And then in the bottom of the 16th, with the Phillies down 4-2 and the tying runs on, Oswalt, filling the ejected Ryan Howard's cleanup spot, came to the plate. He worked the count to 2-2 before grounding to third base to end the game. Only in baseball.

positive-negative

Cody Johnson's trip down to Class A Myrtle Beach apparently has helped the erstwhile Mississippi Brave find his stroke. In 12 games with the Pelicans, the 2006 first-round pick is hitting .286 with three homers and 13 RBIs. In 42 at-bats, he has 12 strikeouts and eight walks. Johnson was a mess when he was sent down (see previous posts). Maybe he's regained some confidence, too. Look for him back in Pearl next spring. ... Meanwhile, Jordan Schafer's return to the disabled list — for a second stint here — is more bad news for the former top prospect (see previous posts). His left wrist and hand are reportedly hurting again. In 18 games for the M-Braves, he is hitting .175 with three extra-base hits, all doubles. It seems unlikely he will play again this season, and his career may truly be in jeopardy.
P.S. Yasser Gomez, who has taken over in left field for the M-Braves with the departure of Schafer (who followed Johnson), has performed well. The veteran former Cuban star is hitting .333 and plays with a lot of energy. He might nudge his way into Atlanta's plans next year.

countdown

The Mississippi Braves have seven home games left, starting tonight against Jacksonville. Their playoff hopes are pretty much crushed. Players are still trying to put up numbers to secure spots for next season, either with the Braves or someone else. And the M-Braves' front office is watching its numbers, too, mainly this one: 2,609. That's the season attendance average at Trustmark Park, the $30-million stadium that can accommodate 7,000-plus. Attendance is down more than 300 per game from last year and more than 1,200 from the inaugural season of 2005. And keep in mind, the 2,609 represents tickets sold, not fannies in the seats. The real average is much lower, possibly under 2,000. And crowds for these last few games don't figure to help the average. Is this a troubling trend? One would think so. Here are some other numbers to chew on: In 1996, the Jackson Generals' average attendance peaked at 1,866 per game in 5,000-seat Smith-Wills Stadium. The Generals, who had a sweetheart lease agreement, were losing money even then. Their average attendance dropped in each of their last three seasons, hitting 1,416 (an actual crowd count!) in 1999. The Texas League franchise, sold by local owner Con Maloney in 1998, moved in 2000 to Texas. The independent Senators' best average in their four years at Smith-Wills was 1,991 per game (tickets sold) in 2003, their championship season. The Senators averaged an announced 1,500 in their last season, 2005, when they were essentially driven out of business by the arrival of the M-Braves in Pearl. There was so much hullabaloo about landing Atlanta's Double-A club, but all of that seems to have died down. Way down. Truth is, the M-Braves aren't drawing much better than the Generals or Senators did. And neither of those clubs survived. That's interesting, to say the least.
P.S. Weir's Roy Oswalt has certainly delivered for Philadelphia, which pried the right-hander away from Houston to help it chase down Atlanta in the National League East. Oswalt won again Sunday, his third straight victory. Of course, Atlanta may have made a counter move by promoting former M-Braves lefty Mike Minor, who also won on Sunday while striking out 12 Chicago hitters. Minor is 2-0 in three starts.

the frontrunner

Lots of games left, of course, but Fred Lewis, the former Stone County High and Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College star, may have moved to the front of the pack in the competition for the second Cool Papa Bell Award. Lewis, found wanting in San Francisco after a poor 2009 season, has blossomed as Toronto's leadoff batter. He's hitting .275 with 31 doubles and eight home runs for a team that might yet make a playoff run. Hot on Lewis' heels is Texas lefty Cliff Lee, the Meridian CC product who is 10-6 with a 2.77 ERA for the playoff-bound Rangers. Edge goes to the position player.
P.S. Former Jackson General Billy Wagner has tied former JaxMet Jesse Orosco for No. 1 on the all-time strikeouts list for lefty relievers with 1,169. ... If the New York Mets make a managerial change in the off-season — a pretty safe bet — a strong candidate might be former Jackson Mets infielder Wally Backman. The feisty Backman is currently managing the Mets' short-season Class A Brooklyn club. He'd be a good fit in Queens. ... Former Mississippi State standout Mitch Moreland is showing some staying power with the Rangers. The lefty-hitting first baseman belted his third home run Friday night and is batting .292 since Texas called him up a couple weeks back; he might make the postseason roster.

standing by

If Cincinnati is looking to add a little juice to its lineup for the last few weeks of the playoff push, Zack Cozart appears to be primed for duty. The former Ole Miss star is hitting .263 with 16 home runs, 60 RBIs and 29 stolen bases for the Reds' Triple-A Louisville club. The surprising Reds, currently in first place in the National League Central, have Orlando Cabrera (on the disabled list) and Paul Janish at shortstop, but neither is having a great season with the bat. Cozart could provide a nice change of pace there. Wonder if Tampa Bay might be considering Desmond Jennings for much the same purpose. The former Itawamba Community College standout is hitting .290 with 32 steals at Triple-A Durham. Center fielder B.J. Upton has struggled much of the year for the Rays; it couldn't hurt to give Jennings a shot there as Tampa tries to keep pace in the AL East.
P.S. Drew Pomeranz is going to play in a bright spotlight for Cleveland whenever his pro career gets started. The Ole Miss product, signed for $2.65 million late Monday as the fifth overall pick in the draft, was the Indians' highest draft selection since 1992, when they took pitcher Paul Shuey No. 2 overall. Cleveland is in a rebuilding mode, and Pomeranz, a left-handed power thrower, may be a big part of that project.

a step back

Cody Johnson homered Saturday. For Class A Myrtle Beach, where the erstwhile Mississippi Braves left fielder is now playing. Atlanta's No. 9 prospect was a disaster during his stay in Double-A. He hit 10 homers, but the last of those was on May 15. When he departed on Monday, he was hitting .189 with 114 strikeouts in 233 at-bats. And he spent a long time on the shelf with a hamstring injury. With Jordan Schafer — another scuffling one-time prospect — back (from a sore wrist) to man left field, there really was no place for Johnson in Pearl. Besides, he needed to go somewhere else. "It was time," said M-Braves manager Phillip Wellman. "He wasn't making progress. You can't keep running into a brick wall. He was as frustrated as anybody. I told him sometimes you have to take a step back to get moving forward again. He understood. Hopefully, he'll get back on track. He was going to have to repeat here next year anyway." Johnson had some success (.242, 32 homers) at Myrtle Beach in 2009, and through four games there he is hitting .308 with five K's in 13 ABs.
P.S. Happened to see where Hattiesburg native Joey Gathright, who had been in Triple-A with Baltimore much of the season, is now in independent ball, playing for the Long Island Ducks in the Atlantic League.

trouble ahead

The shelf life of a big league closer can be short, the careers of Mariano Rivera and Billy Wagner notwithstanding. Maybe the once-dominant Jonathan Papelbon really is showing signs of decline. He blew a save Thursday night as Boston melted down in the ninth inning and lost at Toronto. (Former Mississippi Gulf Coast CC standout Fred Lewis, having a heckuva year with the Blue Jays, got the game-winning sac fly.) Former Mississippi State star Papelbon has six blown saves this year, already matching his career-high from 2006. His ERA has ballooned to 3.26. He posted a 1.85 in 2009. He has nine decisions (4-5), way too many for a closer. Boston has withstood all kinds of injuries to stay in the American League playoff race, but they won't get into the postseason if Papelbon's struggles continue. Worst of all, he seems to have lost his fearsome aura; it might be hard to get that back.

eyes on linares

The news about Chipper Jones — possible torn ACL, maybe done for the year, maybe done forever — suddenly shifts more attention to Mississippi Braves third baseman Donell Linares. Is he the Atlanta third baseman of the future? Tough call. He has handled himself well in his first Double-A season, as a 26-year-old who'll be 27 in October. The Cuba native is hitting .253 with 11 homers and 44 RBIs, but he lacks speed. Doesn't strike out a lot, but doesn't walk much. He makes the routine plays at third and has a good arm. He's made 14 errors in 96 games at the hot corner. It's been a good season, not a great one. Consistent, but not a breakthrough. The M-Braves are home tonight; check out Linares. See what you think.

homey hurrah

What a big Wednesday it was for Mississippians in the majors. ... Louisville's Marcus Thames homered and smacked the game-winning hit in the ninth inning as the New York Yankees beat Texas in a battle of American League division leaders. Meridian CC alumnus Cliff Lee started for the Rangers and left in the seventh with the lead, but his bullpen couldn't hold on. Former Mississippi State standout Mitch Moreland, the pride of Amory, drove in two runs for Texas. ... Weir's Roy Oswalt threw seven shutout innings for his first win with Philadelphia, helping the Phillies keep pace with Atlanta in the National League East. ... Nettleton's Bill Hall belted a pair of homers — he's got 15 for the year — to help Boston, still kicking in the AL playoff race, notch a big win. ... And former MSU star Buck Showalter improved to 8-1 as the new skipper of the Baltimore Orioles. ... And there's more: Former Jackson General Bobby Abreu hit a walk-off homer for the L.A. Angels, ex-Gen Melvin Mora a grand slam for Colorado and former M-Brave Brian McCann a slam for Atlanta, which got a strong start from M-Braves alum Tommy Hanson and another sharp relief appearance from 2009 M-Brave Jonny Venters. Plus, ex-M-Brave Jarrod Saltalamacchia returned to The Show when his new club, Boston, called him up. ... And then there was Chris Coghlan. The ex-Ole Miss standout had knee surgery Wednesday; Florida hopes he'll be able to return before season's end. Coghlan's taken a lot of flak for injuring himself during a celebration, but, hey, he was just having some fun. There's a place in baseball for fun; that's why we like it so much. Besides, players get hurt in all sorts of weird ways: punching water coolers, sneezing, arguing with umpires. Remember Marcus Thames went on the DL earlier this season after stepping on his own bat following a base hit. Stuff happens.

worried about wags?

He blew another save today. An fluky infield hit, a line drive single and a deep fly ball cost Billy Wagner against Houston, though the Atlanta closer got the win (his sixth!) when the Braves scored six in the 10th. That's seven blown saves for the year, two (plus a loss) in seven appearances this month. Should Braves fans be worried about the former Jackson General? No. Not yet. He's allowed only four hits and two runs in seven innings in August. He's nailed down four saves (28 for the year). Saw him against San Francisco at Turner Field on Saturday when the flame-throwing lefty was as scary good as ever, fanning the side on 11 pitches. It's still in him. His season ERA is 1.78, well below his career average of 2.35. Sure, he's had some problems, but some of those might have been alleviated had the Braves scored a few more runs. That remains this club's biggest issue. They've got to score more, put some games away. That's the mark of a championship club, not winning by 2-1 or 3-2 scores.

climbing the chart

Cliff Lee's 100th career win on Friday night wasn't cause for great celebration among his latest batch of teammates, the Texas Rangers. It's a nice milestone but nothing more, really. The former Meridian Community College standout has seen his career take off in recent years (22 wins in 2008, 14 in '09, 10 so far this year) and will likely win a lot more before he's done. A relevant target for the 31-year-old left-hander is 176. That's Aberdeen native Guy Bush's career win total, which is the highest for any Mississippi-connected pitcher. Claude Passeau (Waynesboro) is next in line at 162, then Roy Oswalt (Weir) with 143 (and counting). Oswalt has indicated he might not play much longer, so Bush's mark may withstand his rise.
P.S. Matt Tolbert, who seemingly dropped off the radar, will begin a rehab assignment in rookie ball this week. The Ole Miss alumnus has been on the disabled list for Minnesota since July 3 with a finger injury. The Twins, hot on the heels of the Chicago White Sox in the American League East, might need the versatile infielder for the stretch run.

minor details

Mike Minor is penciled in to start Monday night for the Atlanta Braves, which will make the left-hander the 46th Mississippi Braves alumnus to advance to the major leagues. Minor, just a year removed from Vanderbilt, pitched well here, going 2-6 with a 4.03 ERA for a team that struggled — and still does — to score. More indicative of his stuff, he had 109 strikeouts in 87 innings. He pitched well at Triple-A Gwinnett, too. Maybe the Braves are going out on a limb moving him up so quickly, but in the heat of the division battle, it's a risk worth taking.

not so cheery O's

Men of a certain age — OK, and women, too — remember the Baltimore Orioles as a model franchise. Perennial contenders. The Robinson Boys. Jim Palmer. Boog Powell. Dave McNally. Eddie Murray. Cal Ripken. The Oriole Way. But that was a generation ago. The Orioles have been irrelevant for most of the SportsCenter Era, which is just about the worst thing that can happen to a team. New manager Buck Showalter, the former Mississippi State All-American, takes his turn, starting tonight at Camden Yards, at rebuilding the fallen O's. He talked at his Monday press conference about sifting through personnel to find the right pieces. "When you get 25 nuggets, you get to play in October," he said. "It's as simple as that." Obviously, that's not simple. He has a few nuggets on the current club — Matt Wieters, Adam Jones, a couple of young arms — but not many. On top of everything else, the Orioles play in the brutal American League East. He's got a tough row to hoe. Known for his attention to detail, Showalter has a winning record as a big league manager. But obsessiveness isn't necessarily a good trait in that profession. It's hard to overlook the fact that Showalter has worn out his welcome relatively quickly at each of his previous three stops: New York Yankees (1992-95), Arizona (1998-2000) and Texas (2003-06).
P.S. Belhaven's hopes of making a repeat run to the NAIA World Series were significantly enhanced with the recent addition of Southern Miss transfer Anthony Doss, an outfielder, and Mississippi State transfer Jared Miller, a pitcher. Both were highly decorated high school players in the state. ... Also on the move for this fall: Hinds Community College slugger Zach Polzin, who signed with NAIA Trevecca Nazarene. Polzin hit 11 homers for the Eagles last spring.

good stuff

There was a questionable call, yes, but the Mississippi Braves tag team of Julio Teheran and Tyrelle Harris was unquestionably dominant in Monday night's combo no-hitter at Trustmark Park. The M-Braves beat Mobile 2-0. Teheran, Atlanta's No. 3 prospect, had an electric fastball that registered at 91-92 on the stadium gun but had to be coming in harder than that. The 19-year-old Colombian, in his second Double-A start, went 5 2/3 innings, departing after 95 pitches. (Atlanta is very strict on its pitch counts for minor leaguers.) He struck out seven and walked two. Mobile managed only one batted ball that was close to being a hit off Teheran. The 6-foot-2, 160-pounder needs polish, obviously, but demonstrated in this outing what all the hoopla was about when Atlanta signed him in 2007. Harris, a 6-foot-4, 235-pounder making his Double-A debut in his second pro season, threw some jaw-dropping breaking stuff. He retired 10 of the 12 batters he faced, six via strikeout. A hard-hit ball that bounced away from first baseman Mauro Gomez in the eighth was ruled an error, but that was the only hard-hit ball against Harris.
P.S. The fact that outfielder Jordan Schafer had to have an injection in his surgically repaired left wrist on Monday is not good news for the onetime top prospect. It'll be interesting to see how quickly he is able to get back in the M-Braves' lineup. Or should that be, IF he is able to get back in the lineup.