Royals on the Farm 8/3-8/6

NOTE: I had about half of this done before a Firefox freeze did it in, so I'm just doing a truncated version with the regular reports to resume for the Aug. 7 games.

AAA - Omaha: The O-Royals went 1-3 from Thursday to Sunday, including losing 2 of the final 3 to Portland and losing the opener to the Tacoma Rainiers, 6-3, on Sunday. Omaha is 45-71. Justin Huber was activated from the DL Saturday and was 0-6 in his first 2 games back. To make room for him, IF Chris Clapinski was put on the DL and is expected to undergo season-ending shoulder surgery. I don't expect him to make a comeback in a Royals uni. C Matt Tupman was kept at AAA even with the return of Paul Phillips from KC. KC also signed former Twins P Pat Mahomes and assigned him to Omaha. He was signed out of the Atlantic League. This from the team site: "The 35-year old right-hander was 9-4 with a 3.74 ERA in 18 starts for Long Island. He led the league in complete games (4) and innings pitched (125.0), while his 9 wins were tied for 2nd. In his 125.0 innings, he allowed 128 hits, including 13 home runs (5th in the league). He walked 40 batters, striking out 64." He most recently pitched in the majors for Pittsburgh in 2003. In his Omaha debut Friday, he gave up 2 HRs but took a no-decision in a loss to Portland. Mike Sweeney finished up a rehab stint at Omaha with a couple homers and a .333 BA and is expected to join KC for the Boston series Tuesday. Jeff Keppinger had a 13-game hit streak snapped Sunday but is still hitting .412. RP Jose Diaz also made his Omaha debut Thursday and gave up 2 ER in 2 IP. He took the loss again Monday night in a 5-3 Omaha loss. More on that in the next report.

AA - Wichita: The Wranglers were 3-1 from Thursday to Sunday, including taking 3 in a row from Tulsa. Wichita is 24-19 and 4 games up on first entering play Monday. SP Tyler Lumsden made his 2nd start for Wichita last Thursday and left after taking an early line drive off the leg. According to the team site he's still slated to start Tuesday. The Wranglers lost that game despite Alex Gordon's 20th homer. Zack Greinke brought Wichita back Friday with 11 Ks over 7 IP, including striking out the first 5 Drillers he faced. He's 6-2. Gordon's 16-game hit streak ended Saturday but Billy Butler was 2-4 to help Wichita to another win. Neal Musser picked up the win in relief. Sunday, Gordon hit his 21st homer and Dee Brown cranked a grand slam as Wichita won, 11-5. Junior Herndon picked up the win with only 1 ER allowed in a nice start. Billy Buckner had a great start Monday as Wichita blanked the San Antonio Missions (24-19, AA Mariners) in the first of 3 games in SA. More on that in the next report.

High-A - High Desert: The Mavs are 20-22 following a 2-2 showing from Thursday to Sunday. HD salvaged 1 of 3 from San Jose Thursday as Dan Christensen and Justin Barnes combined on a 3-hit shutout, including no-hitting the Giants after the 1st. A 3-game series with Visalia started Friday with a loss as Blake Johnson took his first loss as a Mav with 6 ER allowed over 4 IP. The Mavs bounced back to beat Visalia Saturday as Patrick Green got his first win of the season with 5 IP of shutout ball and HD got only its 4th win of the DECADE at Visalia. Visalia finished the series Sunday with a win over John Gragg and the Mavs to drop HD a game back of first. A 4-game home set vs. the Lancaster JetHawks (20-21, High-A D'Backs) starts Monday.

Low-A - Burlington: The Bees had a 3-game losing streak entering play Monday as they finished a 4-game series with Clinton with a split and lost the first 2 of 4 to the Dayton Dragons (23-21, Low-A Reds) to move to 18-27. Dan Cortes got his first win as a Bee Thursday by taking down Clinton, 8-2. Miguel Vega had 3 RBI to move to 60 in the win. Burlington dropped the Clinton series finale, 3-2, Friday. Carlos Rosa allowed only an ER over 7 IP to drop his ERA to 2.47 and took a no-decision. For the 5th time in the last 5 losses, the Bees lost by 1 run again Saturday in the opener with Dayton. C Jeff Howell was 4-4 in the loss and Matt Kniginyzky dropped to 8-4 and boosted his ERA to 3.36. In Sunday's 5-2 loss to Dayton, Carlos Arroyo was 3-3 and Chris Nicoll took the loss despite allowing only an ER over 6 IP thanks to 3 UER. He dropped to 4-8 with a 2.76 ERA. In other news, RP Yovany Damico was sent down to the AZL after posting a 4.09 ERA over 25 appearances with the Bees this season. The Bees also extended their contract as a KC affiliate through 2010 in a Friday announcement. On a good note, Erik Cordier had a great start Monday and the Bees shut out Dayton on 2 hits to win. More on that in the next report.

Rookie - Idaho Falls: The Chukars went 1-3 from Thursday thru Sunday to drop to 3-6 on the second half. A 3-game slide started Thursday against Ogden as RP Aaron Hartsock took the loss. Ogden ran away with an 11-1 win Friday as Josh Cribb took his 2nd loss and RP Chase Vacek allowed another 5 ER over 1/3 IP to move his ERA to a whopping 29.08. The Chukars stranded 17 in the loss. A 2-game road set at Casper started Saturday with a narrow loss. Rowdy Hardy took the loss and walked his first batter of the season to drop to 3-2 with a 2.86 ERA. The Chukars turned it around Sunday with a 13-1 win. Kurt Mertins was 4-5 with a double, 2 RBI, 2 SB (11) and 4 RS to move to .386 and Marc Maddox hit his 2nd homer of the season. Tyler Chambliss got the win with 5 IP of an UER on 4 hits and 3 walks with 6 K to move to 2-2 with a 4.18 ERA. IF ran the win streak to 2 Monday with a 3-2 win over the Rockies (5-4) as the series shifts to Idaho Falls for 4 more games.

Rookie - AZL: The Royals are 7-3 and a game back of first after going 1-2 from Thursday to Sunday. The Royals crushed the A's, 9-1, Thursday as Jake McLintock got the win after Brent Fisher started with 4 IP of an ER on 3 hits, 2 walks and 7 Ks to lower his ERA to 2.18. Jarrod Dyson was 3-5 with a triple and his 7th RBI to move to .299. The Royals lost to the Padres in 12 innings Friday as P Miguel Morales took the loss. Alwin Perez was 3-5 with his 7th double and 2 RBI (18) to move to .275. Jason Taylor was also 2-5 to move to .302. After getting Saturday off, the Royals lost to the Mariners Sunday despite a 3-5 day from Nick Van Stratten that included his 2nd pro homer and 3 RBI (21) as he moved to .265. Angelo Morales took the loss. The Royals were set to play the Rangers Monday.