a fall report

Three weeks into the Arizona Fall League season, three candidates for the 2012 Mississippi Braves' roster are faring quite well. First baseman Joey Terdoslavich is hitting .373 with a home run and seven RBIs for the Surprise Saguaros, catcher Christian Bethancourt is at .350 with two homers and eight RBIs (in 11 games) and switch-hitting outfielder Todd Cunningham is batting .326 with 11 RBIs. Also of note: Lefty Sean Gilmartin, Atlanta's top pick in June from Florida State, is 2-0 with a 3.43 ERA in five starts. Gilmartin isn't likely to make Double-A next season but it may not be long thereafter. Southern Miss product Brian Dozier, a rising prospect with Minnesota, is hitting .294 with a homer, 14 RBIs and 14 runs for the Mesa Solar Sox.
P.S. Former Southwest Mississippi Community College standout Jarrod Dyson, a Kansas City Royals outfielder, has left the Venezuelan Winter League because of a minor shoulder injury. He was hitting just .227.

scatter shots

Lance Berkman, the former Jackson Generals star who has been in the big leagues since 1999, earned his first World Series ring on Friday night. Ole Miss alumnus Lance Lynn, in the big leagues since, oh, mid-summer, also got one. Berkman (.423 in the Series) had another hit and scored twice and Lynn threw a perfect inning in relief as St. Louis beat Texas 6-2 in Game 7 for the championship. ... Ex-Mississippi Braves standout Matt Harrison wasn't sharp in his start for Texas, allowing three runs in four innings and taking his second loss of the Fall Classic. You gotta think Harrison and the Rangers have the talent to get back to the Series, but it's no given. ... Mississippi State product Craig Tatum was claimed on waivers by Houston and becomes, for the moment, the fourth catcher on the Astros' 40-man roster. Tatum, a defensive specialist, came up with Cincinnati and played this season with Baltimore, batting .195 in 31 games. ... Ex-Ole Miss standout Matt Tolbert, who hit .198 in 87 games with Minnesota in 2011, has become a free agent. The versatile infielder is a .230 career hitter in 247 games. ... Keep an eye on former Oak Grove star Taiwan Easterling, the state's Mr. Baseball in 2008. A 27th-round pick by the Chicago Cubs in June, Easterling, an outfielder, advanced three levels this summer, hitting .307 overall with two homers, 17 RBIs and 10 steals. Easterling, a two-sport star at Florida State, passed on his last year of football eligibility to launch his baseball career. He caught 43 passes in 2010 at FSU.

seventh heaven

Maybe the best thing about Game 6, which will go down as one of the most exciting World Series games ever, is that it sends us to a Game 7. Nothing like a Game 7. Former Mississippi Braves standout Matt Harrison will get the start for Texas; it's only the biggest game of his life. Mississippi State alumnus Mitch Moreland, the lefty-hitting first baseman, might get a start tonight, too, with St. Louis throwing right-hander Chris Carpenter. It'll be interesting to see where the Rangers' heads are. As Texas pitcher Derek Holland said in a postgame TV interview, "The mood swings were ridiculous." And the Rangers, so tantalizingly close to the championship, came out on the wrong end of the 10-9, 11-inning contest. The Cardinals, on the other hand, should be pumped. They were one strike away from losing the Series in the ninth; former Ole Miss hurler Lance Lynn, rocked for two homers in Texas' three-run seventh, stood to get the loss. Then David Freese tripled to tie it. Again in the 10th, the Cards were one strike away from being done when former Jackson Generals star Lance Berkman, who's having a tremendous postseason (.435 in the Series alone), swatted a game-tying single. Then Mr. Freese strikes again with a homer in the 11th. Game 7 is on.

old times here

With the announcement that Game 6 of the World Series has been postponed by weather from tonight to Thursday, there was no immediate word as to whether Matt Harrison would still draw the Game 7 (if necessary) start for Texas. The former Mississippi Braves left-hander had gotten the nod on Tuesday from manager Ron Washington, who said then that it didn't matter whether the series was pushed back, Harrison would still be the guy. He's 1-1 with a 5.02 ERA this postseason. We'll see. Surely it would be a dream come true for Harrison to start a Game 7 of the Fall Classic, but there has to be some butterflies, too. It seems like only yesterday that Harrison was making his M-Braves debut. That was on June 25, 2006, the day he was promoted from A-ball with an 8-4 record, a 3.10 ERA and some hype. He was a third-round draft pick out of high school in 2003 and already was showing up on Atlanta's prospect lists. He lost his first start at Trustmark Park to Huntsville but pitched well enough. He went six innings, yielding seven hits and four runs with six strikeouts and a walk. Harrison didn't get his first Double-A win until his fourth start, when he threw seven shutout innings at Huntsville on July 15 of '06. On Aug. 1, he threw five hitless innings in relief to notch his second win. He finished the season 3-4, 3.61, and he returned to the TeePee in 2007, going 5-7, 3.39 and helping the M-Braves win a first-half championship. On July 31, he was traded, along with Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Neftali Feliz and Elvis Andrus in the Mark Teixeira deal. Harrison made his big league debut the next year. ... To be fair, here's a note on the other former JADAP (Jackson area Double-A player) in the Series, Lance Berkman. Berkman also was in the news Tuesday, when it was announced that he would hit cleanup (instead of fifth) for St. Louis in Game 6. Berkman's debut as a Jackson General at Smith-Wills Stadium isn't as easily recalled, but it was worth looking up. On April 8, 1998, on the first pitch Berkman saw at Smith-Wills, he homered. He hit it left-handed off Shreveport righty Jason Grilli, another future big leaguer. Berkman went on to hit .306 with 24 homers for the Gens and was in The Show with Houston a year later. Old times are not forgotten.

caribbean cruising

An interesting name popped up during a surf of the box scores from the Caribbean Leagues. Vicksburg native Dmitri Young, believed to be retired for a couple of years now, is playing for Caribes de Anzoategui in the Venezuelan Winter League. Young, now 38, hit 171 homers in his big league career, which ended in 2008. He's hitting .158 for Caribes. Also in Venezuela is Jarrod Dyson, the McComb native and Southwest Mississippi Community College product who has been up and down with Kansas City the last two seasons. The speedy Dyson, with Caracas, had a typical game last Friday: 1-for-3, 2 walks, 2 runs and a stolen base. Fred Lewis, the former Mississippi Gulf Coast CC star from Wiggins, is playing for Hermosillo in the Mexican Pacific League. The veteran big leaguer finished the 2011 campaign in the minors and is now a free agent. Expected to play in the Puerto Rican League, which starts next week, is Taylorsville's Billy Hamilton, who stole 103 bases in A-ball this season. He'll face some good competition in Puerto Rico.

attention grabbers

Both of the Mississippi college alums in the World Series got noticed in Game 5 tonight. First, Mississippi State product Mitch Moreland launched a tape measure home run in the third inning, providing Texas with its first run in what would be a 4-2, come-from-behind win. Much later, in the decisive eighth, ex-Ole Miss standout Lance Lynn came on in relief for St. Louis — to intentionally walk the Rangers' Ian Kinsler. This came after Mike Napoli had delivered his tiebreaking two-run double. Very odd. Through some kind of bizarre miscommunication between Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa and his bullpen, Lynn warmed up even though he wasn't supposed to. He had worked 2 1/3 innings on Saturday, earning the win in Game 3, and LaRussa wasn't going to use him tonight. LaRussa had wanted another right-hander, Jason Motte, to get ready to face the right-handed hitting Napoli but had to stick with lefty Marc Rzepczynski when he saw that Motte wasn't warm. After Napoli's big hit and a strikeout by the lefty-swinging Moreland, LaRussa brought in Lynn to walk Kinsler because, apparently, Motte still wasn't ready. Motte did finally come on to get the third out. LaRussa blamed the communication problems on the noise at the Texas ballpark. Very odd, indeed.

oh, to be young

Three former Mississippi Braves made Baseball America's All-Rookie team for 2011, a group headed by closer Craig Kimbrel, who stands a good chance of winning the National League's rookie of the year award. Kimbrel had 46 saves and a 2.10 ERA, despite some well-chronicled late-season hiccups. The Braves' collapse had more to do with their lack of offensive punch than bullpen breakdowns, which are always magnified. Freddie Freeman made the BA team at first base. He hit .282 with 20 homers and played outstanding defense, though he, too, seemed to tire down the stretch. Right-hander Brandon Beachy, picked for one of the five rotations spots on BA's team, was a revelation, going 7-3 with a 3.68 ERA in 25 starts. With better run support, he would easily have won in double figures. Also on the BA chart is ex-Itawamba Community College outfielder Desmond Jennings, a late July call-up by Tampa Bay who hit .259 with 10 homers and 20 steals. Atlanta may have more rookies — and ex-M-Braves — in key spots in 2012, with Tyler Pastornicky a viable option at shortstop, Julio Teheran and Randall Delgado up for jobs in the rotation and Arodys Vizcaino a strong bullpen candidate.
P.S. The Philadelphia Phillies will not pick up the option on Roy Oswalt's contract for 2012, but, according to mlb.com's story, will consider re-signing the former Holmes CC right-hander. Oswalt had a tough, injury-marred 2011 campaign, going 9-10 with a 3.69 ERA. He also got roughed up in the postseason by St. Louis as the Phils fell in the division series.

ode to '46

You don’t have to watch the TV broadcast of the World Series for very long before Fox starts hitting you with historical nuggets. “This is the first time since … .” “The last player to do that … .” The World Series brings out the history buff in all of us. So, on that note, let’s revisit what is arguably the best Mississippi-flavored World Series of all time. It was 65 years ago, 1946. Boston vs. St. Louis, Ted Williams vs. Stan Musial — one of the greatest Fall Classic matchups. Naturally, it went seven games. And it’s remembered mainly for Cardinals star Enos Slaughter’s going from first base to home plate with the Series-deciding run in the bottom of the eighth inning of Game 7. Two Mississippians also had a profound impact on this World Series. Shaw’s Dave “Boo” Ferriss, in just his second season, was an emerging ace on the Red Sox’s staff, posting a 25-6 record with a 3.25 ERA. And Pascagoula’s Harry “The Hat” Walker was the Cardinals’ starting left fielder most of that season, batting .327. Ferriss started Game 3 and beat the Cardinals 4-0 on a six-hitter to give Boston a 2-1 edge. It was Ferriss’ 14th straight win at Fenway Park. St. Louis rebounded to win Game 4 12-3, with Walker picking up his first RBI. The series was tied 2-2. Walker drove in three more runs in Game 5, but Boston won 6-3. Back at Sportsman’s Park for Game 6, St. Louis stayed alive with a 4-1 win. Game 7 on Oct. 15, 1946, saw Ferriss return to the hill for Red Sox. But the big right-hander couldn’t match his Game 3 success and was knocked out in the fifth inning when St. Louis jumped ahead 3-1. Boston rallied, and the game went to the eighth tied 3-3. Slaughter led off the St. Louis half with a single but was still at first with two outs. Walker, a left-handed hitter, came to the plate to face Boston’s Bob Klinger. The Cardinals had Slaughter running with the pitch, and when Walker lashed it into left-center, Slaughter just kept running, apparently catching the Red Sox’s fielders off guard. He scored easily, and St. Louis held in the ninth to take the championship. The RBI was the sixth of the series for Walker, who hit .412. Slaughter’s “mad dash” gets top billing in the history books, but the contributions of Walker — and Ferriss, too — in making the ’46 World Series such a great one should also be recognized.

wait for it ...

Lance Lynn got into the World Series on Thursday night, getting the last two outs in the ninth inning as his St. Louis team lost to Texas 2-1. The former Ole Miss standout, the third of three pitchers to work the ninth for the Cardinals, yielded the sac fly by Michael Young that put the Rangers ahead. Amory native and former Mississippi State star Mitch Moreland hasn't played yet for Texas; he was on deck as a possible pinch hitter in the eighth Thursday but was called back. Still think we'll see a Lynn-Moreland confrontation before this one's over. ... On Saturday, in Game 3, we'll definitely see a matchup between former M-Braves left-hander Matt Harrison and ex-Jackson Generals star Lance Berkman. The switch-hitting Berkman, 3-for-8 in the series for the Cards, will have to bat from his least favorite side, right-handed, against Harrison, who has made two solid postseason starts for the Rangers (1-0, five runs in 10 2/3 innings). But Berkman did get a big two-run hit against lefty C.J. Wilson in Game 1.
P.S. Southern Miss' recruiting class was ranked No. 3 in the nation by Baseball America. Ole Miss checked in at No. 5 and Mississippi State at No. 14. All three schools ranked in the top 20 of Collegiate Baseball's recruiting rankings released last month.

winds of change

Aaron Holbert is the fifth manager of the Mississippi Braves — and the first to come from outside the organization. Brian Snitker, Jeff Blauser, Phillip Wellman and Rocket Wheeler all played, coached and/or managed in the Atlanta organization before arriving in Pearl. Holbert, who had a brief major league career, came up with St. Louis as a first-round draft pick — old Smith-Wills Stadium denizens will remember him as a shortstop for the Arkansas Travelers in 1994 — and managed the last four years in the Cleveland Indians' system. He was the Carolina League manager of the year this past season. The Braves did not announce the Double-A coaches on Tuesday but did make several other appointments. Don Long will be the new roving hitting instructor, Luis Lopez the infield instructor and Doug Dascenzo the outfield and baserunning instructor. Atlanta's minor league operations department is under new management since mid-September, when Kurt Kemp resigned. Bruce Manno, an assistant general manager in Atlanta, took the minor league department under his wing, and Ronnie Richardson, a former Kemp assistant, became the new director of player development. Change seems to be a theme for the system, which might be a good thing for the Double-A club. The M-Braves went 61-79 (36-34 in the second half) last season under Wheeler, who will manage the rookie Gulf Coast League club in 2012. In seven years in Pearl, the M-Braves have sent 57 players to the majors but won just two (of 14 possible) half-season titles and one Southern League pennant.

local spice

Remember the 2007 World Series? Boston wrapped up the championship when Jonathan Papelbon, a Mississippi State alumnus, struck out Ole Miss product Seth Smith of Colorado for the final out. Well, we've got alums from both schools in the World Series again, and they're on opposite sides again. Former MSU star Mitch Moreland, a left-handed hitting first baseman for Texas, and ex-Ole Miss standout Lance Lynn, a right-handed reliever for St. Louis, played against each other in college and there's a fair chance they'll face off in the series, which starts Wednesday in St. Louis. Moreland is just 2-for-19 in the postseason, and with no DH available for the first two games, he may be limited to pinch-hitting opportunities before the series shifts to Texas. Lynn, who made five scoreless appearances in the National League Championship Series, will get plenty of work for the Cardinals. A Lynn-Moreland showdown would certainly be fun to watch.

legends of the fall

Though football is the main course this time of year for fans of college athletics, baseball devotees still have something to chew on. Especially in Mississippi. Fall ball is in full swing, and the state’s Big 3 Division I schools are busily tinkering with the recipe for a 2012 season that holds much promise for each. All three landed recruiting classes that were ranked in the top 20 in the nation by Collegiate Baseball magazine last month, and those players are now on campus. Ole Miss was No. 3, Southern Miss No. 13 and Mississippi State No. 20. The Rebels may have needed stronger reinforcements. Their 2011 season ended with a doubleheader loss to Arkansas that cost them a berth in the Southeastern Conference Tournament and an NCAA regional bid. Matt Snyder, Alex Yarbrough and Bobby Wahl return to the fold for Ole Miss (30-25), and there is much buzz about incoming freshmen like Pascagoula outfielder Senquez Golson (currently playing football), Sumrall catcher Austin Knight, Biloxi pitcher Hawtin Buchanan and Madison Central pitcher Josh Laxer. Golson, drafted in the eighth round of the major league draft by Boston, turned down a healthy signing bonus to play two sports at Ole Miss. All told, 11 members of the Rebels’ recruiting class were drafted, and nine are on campus. Southern Miss, which posted a 39-19 mark last season and made its ninth straight NCAA appearance, must replace five position players, three starting pitchers and its closer. A stout recruiting class will help. The Golden Eagles brought in, among others, George County outfielder/pitcher Mason Robbins (the state’s Mr. Baseball for 2011), Sumrall shortstop Connor Barron, Sumrall outfielder/pitcher Luke Lowery, Ridgeland pitcher Nick Johnson, Northwest Rankin pitcher Cody Livingston and Jones County Junior College pitcher Andrew Pierce. Barron was a third-round MLB draft pick by Florida. The newcomers join a group of returnees that includes outfielder Kameron Brunty, shortstop Ashley Graeter and catcher Jared Bales. Mississippi State went 38-25 last season and advanced to a Super Regional. The Bulldogs welcomed back outfielder C.T. Bradford (MVP of the Atlanta Regional last spring) and weekend starters Nick Routt and Chris Stratton and brought in a freshman crop that includes prized in-staters Brandon Woodruff, a pitcher/outfielder from Wheeler, and pitcher Jacob Lindgren from St. Stanislaus. The centerpiece of the class might be infielder Nick Flair of Belle Chasse, La., a prep All-American who batted .619 with 12 homers last season. Fall ball concludes with a showcase event at each school: Ole Miss’ Fall World Series is set for Oct. 26-28, State’s Bulldog World Series for Oct. 26-30. USM’s Black and Gold Game will be played on Oct. 30. Then they put the equipment away for a while. But not too long. Practice for 2012 begins shortly after the turn of the year, the games in mid-February.

the lynn watch

St. Louis' bullpen in general — and Lance Lynn in particular — has been a major factor in the Cardinals' success in the National League Championship Series. Lynn, a rookie and onetime Ole Miss ace, has appeared in four of the five games and worked 4 1/3 scoreless innings. The 6-foot-5, 250-pound right-hander, wearing the odd No. 62, has allowed three hits and two walks but induced three ground-ball double plays from Milwaukee hitters. He pitched 1 1/3 innings on Friday, coming on in the seventh when the Cards' lead was 5-1. They won 7-1 to take a 3-2 lead in the series that resumes Sunday in Milwaukee. Lynn posted a 3.12 ERA in 34 2/3 innings in the regular season. He went to the disabled list late with an oblique injury and was activated just before the NLCS. He has not disappointed.

futures market

There are no big surprises in Baseball America's annual league-by-league prospect rankings, which appear in the Oct. 17-30 issue. Four 2011 Mississippi Braves made the Southern League Top 20, and three of them already have worn a big league uniform. Pitchers Arodys Vizcaino (No. 6) and Randall Delgado (7) played with Atlanta down the stretch, and shortstop Tyler Pastornicky (17) was promoted from Triple-A for the final game, though he didn't get in. The other prospect, No. 19 Brett Oberholtzer, a lefty starter, was traded to Houston in the Michael Bourn deal. Andrelton Simmons, a shortstop, and Christian Bethancourt, a catcher, were the Nos. 4 and 10 prospects in the Class A Carolina League and figure to play in Pearl at some point next season. Right-hander Zeke Spruill cracked the CL list at No. 11, and he's already an M-Braves alum, going 3-2 with a 3.20 ERA in seven starts at the end of 2011. Ole Miss product Drew Pomeranz, who made his big league debut with Colorado in September, was rated the CL's No. 2 prospect. Former Taylorsville High star Billy Hamilton checked in at No. 2 on the Class A Midwest League chart after stealing 103 bases this season. He's playing shortstop in the Cincinnati system now but apparently doesn't have the arm for that position and may wind up at second base. The Reds already have Ole Miss product Zack Cozart in line to play short in the big leagues for the foreseeable future. Another former Rebels standout, right-hander David Goforth, went 0-4 with two saves and a 4.43 ERA in his debut season as a Milwaukee farmhand. But he was rated the No. 15 prospect in the rookie level Pioneer League. Former Meridian Community College and Mississippi State star Tyler Moore, who hit 31 homers this year, was on the "just missed" list in the Double-A Eastern League. He is in the Washington Nationals system.
P.S. Props to Southern Miss product Brian Dozier for earning the minor league player of the year honor in the Minnesota organization and to ex-Jackson Generals star Lance Berkman of the St. Louis Cardinals for being named National League comeback player of the year. ... Saw where former Jackson Mets standout Mookie Wilson was not retained as first-base coach by the New York Mets. Yeah, that'll sure make a big difference for them next season.

swing shift

Texas, looking to recapture the momentum in the American League Championship Series, sends former Mississippi Braves left-hander Matt Harrison to the bump today in Game 4 at Comerica Park. Detroit cut the Rangers' series lead to 2-1 with a 5-2 win on Tuesday night. Harrison won 14 games for the Rangers this season, working primarily as their No. 4 starter. He's been in some big games before, and this qualifies as one. Harrison helped the M-Braves win a first-half title in the Southern League South Division back in 2007, before he was traded to the Rangers in the blockbuster Mark Teixeira deal. Harrison was just 8-11 in his two-season stint in Pearl, but he was much better than his record. In fact, he was dominant at times. A hard thrower with good command, he posted an ERA of 3.61 in 2006 as a midseason promotion and put up a 3.39 in '07. In 194 innings with the M-Braves, he had 132 strikeouts and 51 walks.
P.S. A week into the Arizona Fall League season, ex-Southern Miss star Brian Dozier, a Minnesota prospect, is batting .368 for the Mesa Solar Sox. Atlanta prospects — and possible 2012 M-Braves — Christian Bethancourt (.500) and Todd Cunningham (.417) are off to good starts for Surprise.

nice work

One pitch was all it took Monday night for Lance Lynn to get his first career postseason win. The Ole Miss product came on in the fifth inning and got Milwaukee's Rickie Weeks to hit into a double play — albeit on a questionable call at first base. That was the only pitch Lynn threw. He watched the rest of the game as St. Louis took a 12-3 victory and evened the National League Championship Series at 1-all. The score was 7-2 with the bases loaded and one out when Lynn got the call. The double play snuffed a potential Brewers rally. Since starter Edwin Jackson didn't go five innings, Lynn was in line for the W. ... Lance Berkman, the former Jackson Generals standout, had one of St. Louis' 17 hits and scored one of the Cards' 12 runs. Berkman is a .304 career hitter in 148 at-bats in the postseason. ... Mitch Moreland, the Mississippi State alumnus from Amory, had a tough night for Texas. He hit into a double play with the winning run at third base in the ninth inning and finished Game 2 of the ALCS 0-for-4. He also made an error. But Nelson Cruz picked him up with that towering, game-winning grand slam in the 11th inning. The Rangers' 7-3 win gives them a 2-0 lead in the series. Game 3 is tonight in Detroit.
P.S. Nettleton's Bill Hall and Wiggins' Fred Lewis, both of whom finished disappointing 2011 seasons in the minors, have become free agents. Lewis, a left-handed hitting outfielder with speed, will surely attract some interest. Hall, a right-handed hitting infielder with eroding skills, may find it tougher to land another major league job.

pinch hits

St. Louis activated former Ole Miss pitcher Lance Lynn for the National League Championship Series, and he pitched a scoreless sixth inning in Game 1 today. His stint came just after the Cardinals surrendered six runs in a game-changing fifth inning of the 9-6 loss to Milwaukee. Maybe they should have gone to Lynn sooner. ... Lance Berkman, the former Jackson Generals standout, went 2-for-4 with an RBI in the losing cause for St. Louis. ... Detroit did not activate former Generals infielder Carlos Guillen for the ALCS when Delmon Young was put on the disabled list. Guillen apparently is still unable to play because of a calf injury suffered late in the regular season. ... In case you missed it, Mississippi State product Mitch Moreland was 1-for-3 on Saturday night in Game 1 of the ALCS, helping Texas beat the Tigers 3-2 in a rain-delayed contest. The second-year first baseman also had a hand in two double plays.

7.50!

Allow 10 earned runs in 12 innings of work, which Cliff Lee and Roy Oswalt combined to do in the National League Division Series for Philadelphia, and that's what you get: a 7.50 ERA. And that's bad. The Mississippi junior college products lost their starts — Lee in Game 2 and Oswalt in Wednesday's Game 4 — and the Phillies now face a decisive Game 5 against St. Louis on Friday. Oswalt was given a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning but couldn't hold it. He allowed a run in the first, two in the fourth and two more in the sixth in the 5-3 loss, his first as a starter in postseason play. The squirrel incident occurred in the fifth inning and, though it generated a lot of buzz, was really a non-factor. As Lance Berkman told mlb.com: "Where he's from (Weir), that's par for the course." However, it's safe to assume the Phillies don't want to see any squirrels running across the field on Friday.
P.S. Joey Terdoslavich, a first baseman who hit 52 doubles and 20 homers in A-ball this season, has replaced second baseman Phil Gosselin as an Atlanta Braves representative in the Arizona Fall League. Terdoslavich is a good bet to play first for the Mississippi Braves in 2012.

in the center ring

Roy Oswalt goes to the mound today for Philadelphia in a potential National League Division Series clincher at St. Louis. Though Oswalt's 2011 season was a bit shaky, he has been a horse in the postseason over his career. The ex-Holmes Community College standout from Weir is 5-1 with a 3.39 ERA in 12 playoff appearances; the one defeat came in relief (last year in the Phillies' NLCS loss to San Francisco). Among Oswalt's postseason W's is a victory over St. Louis in Game 6 of the 2005 NLCS, a win that sent Houston to its first World Series. In his career, Oswalt is 9-10 with a 3.69 ERA in the regular season and 2-0, 3.27 in the postseason against the Cardinals, who will trot out some hitters who have good numbers against the 34-year-old right-hander. Albert Pujols has hit .316 against Oswalt with seven homers, according to MLB Network. Rafael Furcal is a .333 hitter against Oswalt, Yadier Molina .364. And Lance Berkman, the former Jackson Generals star, knows Oswalt well from their many years together as Astros. Oswalt has battled a bad back all year, but remember, in his last outing, in the next-to-last game of the regular season, he beat Atlanta in what was a critical game for the Braves. It's all about starting pitching in the postseason, and this is Oswalt's moment. You never know if another will come along.
P.S. Thumbs up to former Mississippi Braves lefty Matt Harrison, who got his first postseason win in Texas' ALDS clinching victory over Tampa Bay on Tuesday. Harrison struck out nine in five innings. ... Thumbs down to former M-Braves outfielder Jordan Schafer, who was arrested on marijuana possession charges in Florida. Schafer, now with Houston, has been in trouble before. M-Braves fans will recall his 2008 suspension for a violation of MLB's minor league drug policy. The Atlanta Braves may be happy that the enigmatic Schafer is someone else's problem now.

bombs away

Itawamba Community College product Desmond Jennings hit two home runs for Tampa Bay on Monday, but the blasts came in a losing cause against Texas in Game 3 of the American League Division Series. There was another homer from a player with Mississippi ties that was more meaningful. Delmon Young's blast was the go-ahead run in Detroit's 5-4 win over the New York Yankees in the other ALDS. Mississippi Braves fans might remember Young for the monstrous home run he hit over the center-field screen in 2005 as a member of the Montgomery Biscuits. But Young has an even more relevant Mississippi connection. His father, Larry, and brother, retired big leaguer Dmitri, were born in Vicksburg. Larry Young, who grew up as the son of a sharecropper in the 1960s, became a Navy fighter pilot and flight instructor and Delta pilot. Dmitri Young, a two-time All-Star, played 13 years in the majors and spent five of those with the Tigers, including their 2006 World Series year. Delmon Young was born in Montgomery, Ala., but went to high school in California, as did Dmitri. The Rays made Delmon the No. 1 overall pick in the draft in 2003. He has been traded twice, moving to Detroit this summer.

eye on ...

Brian Dozier will get a taste of October baseball — in the Arizona Fall League, a proving ground for major league prospects that starts its season on Tuesday. Southern Miss product Dozier, who will play for the Mesa Solar Sox, is coming off an excellent season at the high Class A and Double-A levels in the Minnesota system. An eighth-round draft pick in 2009, he hit .322 at Fort Myers and .318 (with seven homers) at New Britain this season. The 5-foot-11, 190-pound second baseman-shortstop was rated the Twins' 30th-best prospect entering 2011 by Baseball America. He surely has moved up the ranks. If he plays well in the AFL, he should get a long look from the big league club next spring. ... Among the players Atlanta is shipping to the AFL are four who could be in Mississippi in 2012: reliever Billy Bullock, catcher Christian Bethancourt, second baseman Phil Gosselin and outfielder Todd Cunningham.
P.S. Cliff Lee, who once seemed unbeatable in the playoffs, has had his aura tarnished. The former Meridian Community College star, now Philadelphia's No. 2 starter, was knocked out in the seventh inning of Sunday's 5-4 loss to St. Louis, leaving him 0-3 with a 7.13 ERA in his last three postseason appearances. "They got 12 hits," Lee told mlb.com. "Anytime they do that, they're hitting good pitches, they're hitting bad pitches, they're hitting." If there is a decisive fifth game in this series, and Lee gets the call, it'll be interesting to see how he responds.

check your schedule

In case anyone was wondering, the Mississippi Braves will open the 2012 season in the new-look Southern League at home on April 5. The M-Braves will play a five-game series with Mobile from April 5-9, then a five-game home series with Montgomery from April 10-14. The SL divisions have done a minor shuffle: With the Carolina franchise relocating to Pensacola, the new Blue Wahoos (some kind of fish) will play in the South Division. Birmingham shifts to the North. Pensacola, still a Cincinnati affiliate for 2012, will make its first visit to Trustmark Park on May 6. The M-Braves' final home game of 2012 — unless they make the playoffs — will be against Pensacola on Aug. 28. The SL All-Star Game is set for June 19 at Tennessee. The full schedule is on the Southern League web site.

faith rewarded

After enduring a mostly dismal September, Mitch Moreland got his October off to a nice start on Saturday. The former Mississippi State standout from Amory drove in two runs, one with a home run, in Texas' 8-6 victory over Tampa Bay in the American League Division Series, which is now squared at 1-1. Rangers manager Ron Washington had said he still had faith in Moreland despite his late-season slump, and Washington put his lefty-swinging first baseman in the lineup for the crucial Game 2 against Rays right-hander James Shields. Moreland got an RBI goundout in the pivotal five-run fourth inning against Shields and blasted his homer, his first in Arlington since June 21, off Brandon Gomes in the eighth. "This game is going to be full of ups and downs and you can't dwell on the downs," Moreland told espn.go.com. Moreland batted .348 with a homer and seven RBIs in the 2010 postseason, helping the Rangers reach their first World Series. Meanwhile, Rays outfielder and ex-Itawamba Community College star Desmond Jennings, who finished the regular season in an awful skid at the plate, is 2-for-7 in the ALDS with a hit in each game.
P.S. Lance Berkman's home run off Roy Halladay on Saturday was his second against the Philadelphia ace in two weeks and the eighth postseason homer for Berkman in his career. Alas, St. Louis lost Game 1 of the NLDS 11-6. ... Terry Francona's departure as manager in Boston leaves former Jackson Mets Dave Magadan (the Red Sox's hitting coach) and Tim Bogar (third-base coach) in an uncomfortable limbo until a new manager is hired. Of course, they could follow Francona to his next job, possibly with the Chicago White Sox.