setting a course

Even though most of the highly rated prospects once on the roster are gone, the Mississippi Braves are showing signs of a finishing kick. They've won four in a row — their longest winning streak of the season — and are 13-8 in August. They haven't had a winning month yet. That might be a nice goal for a team that's not going to the postseason for the third straight year. The patched-up rotation has fared relatively well. Ernesto Mejia, who set the club's season home run record during the last homestand, added the RBI mark to his ledger on Sunday at Montgomery. He's now got 21 and 84. And Mycal Jones and Cory Harrilchak have heated up. Jones has a six-game hitting streak going during which he is 12-for-24. Harrilchak has a five-gamer and is 8-for-22. The last homestand of the year starts Friday night.
P.S. Former M-Braves standout Jordan Schafer, traded by Atlanta last month, made his Houston Astros debut on Monday night. Batting leadoff, he went 0-for-4.

armed and dangerous

Belhaven's prospects for 2012 got brighter today with the announcement that Geoffrey Thomas and Jonathan Thompson have transferred in from Southern Miss. Hill Denson's Blazers went to the NAIA World Series in 2010 and were back in the regionals this past spring. With the addition of these two NCAA Division I arms, the Blazers will be a major force again. Thomas went 10-3 with a 3.09 ERA for USM in 2011, while Thompson was 7-1, 3.49. Both were declared academically ineligible before the start of the Conference USA Tournament in May. They will be eligible to play for Belhaven next spring. BU already had added a pitcher from USM, Matthew Shaw, for next season, along with a Louisiana-Monroe transfer, infielder Jason Hicks. Denson also signed some top junior college players. Old Smith-Wills Stadium, the Blazers' home, figures to be buzzing next season.

so weird

Somewhere, there's a Mississippi State fan sticking pins in a Colonel Rebel doll. How else to explain this? It has been reported that Drew Pomeranz, a key piece in the Cleveland-Colorado trade that sent Ubaldo Jimenez to the Indians, had an emergency appendectomy and may miss the rest of the season. The former Ole Miss left-hander, after two weeks in limbo because of trade rules, threw seven shutout innings in Double-A last week in his first outing as Rockies property. He figured to get a September call-up. But that's unlikely now. Pomeranz joins Chris Coghlan, Alex Presley, Zack Cozart, Matt Maloney and Lance Lynn as former Ole Miss players who've spent time on the disabled list because of injuries this season. The others were in the big leagues when they were hurt. Pomeranz was cut down before he could even get there. It's just so weird.

like old times

Good news for the Philadelphia Phillies, bad news for the rest of baseball. Roy Oswalt pitched his best game of the season for the Phils on Saturday, throwing eight shutout innings and fanning nine in a 5-0 win over Washington. The former Weir High and Holmes Community College star, who has made two trips to the disabled list with back problems, was still hitting 93 mph in his final inning. "The velocity is coming back for me pretty nice," Oswalt (6-7, 3.51 ERA) told mlb.com. "It's coming back for me. I should feel better and better as I go." If that's true, the Phillies, who have maintained the best record in baseball for some time now, are going to be that much tougher to beat in the postseason.
P.S. On the always active injury front, San Francisco put Delta State alum Eli Whiteside (concussion) on the DL in the wake of the awkward, face-first slide he took against Atlanta last week, and Florida finally activated Ole Miss alum Chris Coghlan from his rehab stint and then sent him to Triple-A New Orleans. As bad as the Marlins are, does that make any sense?

spotlight on ...

Billy Hamilton, the former Taylorsville High two-sport star, is putting up some nice numbers at Class A Dayton in the Cincinnati organization. In fact, one of the numbers he has put up is downright amazing: 81 stolen bases. Yes, 81, which leads all of minor league baseball. His other numbers aren't too shabby: .258, two home runs, 41 RBIs, nine triples, 81 runs in 118 games in the low-A Midwest League. He has struck out 113 times, too high for a leadoff batter, but he's only 20. He's learning. Hamilton, 6 feet 1, 160 pounds, has played both shortstop and second base at Dayton. Some reports indicate his arm is better suited to second; his range his unquestioned. Hamilton was a second-round pick by the Reds in 2009 and spurned a football offer from Mississippi State to start his pro baseball career. He was called a "high-risk, high-reward" draftee, code for a player needing a lot of polish. He's certainly begun to shine. He was the rookie Pioneer League player of the year in 2010 and entered this season as the Reds' No. 2 prospect (ahead of Ole Miss alum Zack Cozart, who has already made The Show). Hamilton might make Double-A sometime next season — we might see him at Trustmark Park as a Carolina Mudcat — and that'll be the big test. He's got the speed to play in the majors. It's just a matter of whether the rest of his game catches up.

touch of irony

See where the Kansas City Royals have signed Jeff Francoeur to a two-year contract extension worth a reported $13.5 million. The former Mississippi Braves star, who is making $2.5 million for 2011, is having a good year for the also-ran Royals, batting .277 with 15 homers and 66 RBIs. Francoeur is a good guy with a vibrant personality. He never gives less than his best. Even when he's not hitting, he plays right field as well as anyone in the game right now. (Since 2005, his break-in year with Atlanta, has an amazing 93 assists.) It's more than a little ironic, don't you think, that the Braves' biggest need today is right-handed hitting outfielder with some pop. Like, say, Jeff Francoeur, the guy Atlanta essentially gave away a couple of years ago. (Ryan Church? Really?) Still think Francoeur will come back to the Braves before he's done and have a happy ending in his hometown.

dog days

Jonathan Papelbon, who'll be a free agent after this season, is certainly making himself attractive to potential suitors. The former Mississippi State pitcher notched his 23rd consecutive save for Boston on Tuesday night and now has 28 in 29 chances this season. Papelbon, who has been known for hair-raising escapes in the past, has been more efficient of late. He hasn't allowed a run since July 16. On Tuesday, protecting a 3-1 lead against Tampa Bay, he retired all three batters he faced on just 10 pitches, nine of them strikes. Another former Bulldogs star, Mitch Moreland, playing for another playoff contender in Texas, has had six hits in two games, both wins, against the Los Angeles Angels, who are chasing the Rangers in American League West. Moreland has boosted his average to .277. The Angels are now 6 games back heading into Game 3 of this big series tonight. Meanwhile, former MSU ace Paul Maholm starts tonight for Pittsburgh looking for something to smile about. The left-hander is 0-4 with a 5.80 ERA in his last six starts for the fading Pirates. Maholm (6-13, 3.60) faces a desperate St. Louis club that has dropped 7 games back of first-place Milwaukee in the National League Central.
P.S. Pascagoula's Senquez Golson is rolling the dice. He reportedly turned down a $1.4 million signing offer from the Boston Red Sox to enroll at Ole Miss and play football for the Rebels. That's a lot of money, and it may never be there for Golson again. He must really like football.