Royals on the Farm 4/29

AAA - Omaha: O-Royals 11, Iowa 7 (6)

1B Ka'aihue 2-2, BB, 2B (4), HR (6), 4 RBI (19), 3 RS -- .304, has more HR than whole Wilmington team thus far
SS Aviles 3-4, RBI (8), K, 3 RS -- .288
CF J. Miller 2-3, 2 RBI (3), K, RS -- .162, nice organizational debut
DH Thorman 1-2, BB, 2B (4), 2 RBI (7) -- .254
LF Lough 1-2, SF, 2 RBI (8) -- .250
2B Getz 0-2, 2 BB, K, 3 RS -- .333, Gordon to be casualty of his recall?
RF Parraz 0-3, OF assist at home -- .151

G. Hernandez 4 1/3 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, 4 BB, 2 K, HRA -- 6.49 ERA
Rosa 1 2/3 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, K, HRA, WP -- W, 2-1, 3.65 ERA, he's not ready for prime time yet

* Mother Nature was the 10th man for the Royals as a big bad storm system shut down the Iowa comeback early. Gaby Hernandez stumbled out of the gate as an RBI triple made it 1-0 I-Cubs in the 1st. The O-Royals answered with 5 runs in their half on a Mike Aviles RBI single, David Lough sac fly, Jai Miller RBI single in his first Omaha AB and a 2-run Scott Thorman double. Hernandez stranded 2 in the 2nd and Kila Ka'aihue slammed a 3-run homer for his 6th of the season to make it 8-1 in the 2nd. Hernandez left 2 in scoring position in the 4th and Omaha padded the lead with their final 3 runs on a Ka'aihue RBI double, a Lough RBI groundout and Miller RBI single. Hernandez hit the wall in the 5th as he served up a 2-run homer and was pulled with 1 out for Carlos Rosa, who promptly gave up a 2-run homer and another run to cut it to 11-6. He gave up another run in the 6th before play was shut down in the middle of the inning. Iowa SP Mike Parisi took the loss with 2 IP of 8 runs (7 ER) allowed. Three Cubs had multiple hits led by a 3-hit, 3-RBI night from RF Brad Snyder. Snyder was a double shy of the cycle. Omaha is 9-11. Game 2 is tomorrow in Des Moines as Luis Mendoza makes his Omaha debut. As expected, it was OF Jose Duarte who got his walking papers with the addition of Jai Miller. I don't like it, but he wasn't doing much. Too bad he didn't make more of his shot last season. RP Victor Marte also got called up as KC RP John Parrish hit the DL with shoulder soreness. Righty Phil Humber was also placed on the DL with too-many-people-not-enough-roster-spots-itis. Why not just release Luis Mendoza? Oh, it's because Dayton Moore doesn't make mistakes. Even small ones. Damn Royals. The Cubs are stupid, maybe they'd take a hot Jose Guillen off KC's hands and a wheelbarrow of cash to pay his salary and give up SS Darwin Barney in the trade. He's only hitting .227 for Iowa, but it would free up a Kila Ka'aihue roster spot, and I think Barney is worth a shot. The Rangers don't need a DH, or I'd like SS Marcus Lemon more. I'm also trying to figure out a way to move Gil Meche to the bullpen, but haven't worked it out yet.

AA - NWA: Naturals 9, Springfield 2

DH Mejia 2-5, 2 HR (3), 4 RBI (12), K, 2 RS -- .224
1B C. Robinson 2-5, K, RS, SB (2) -- .275
3B Moustakas 1-5, 2B (5), RBI (9), K, RS -- .324
2B Giavotella 1-4, BB, RBI (8), RS -- .324
C Pina 0-3, BB, SF, RBI (13), K -- .283
RF Van Stratten 1-4, BB, K, RS, SB (3) -- .284
SS McConnell 1-1, 3 BB, 2B (4), 2 RS, SB (5) -- .256

Crow 8 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, BB, 6 K -- W, 1-1, 3.94 ERA, only 79 pitches, efficient in 1st pro win
Coleman IP, nothing -- 3.48 ERA

* A big 9th helped the Nats and Aaron Crow to the win. Crow's first professional victory was in doubt for quite a while as he gave up 2 runs in the 4th and the Nats were being shut out on 2 hits going into the 6th. They stranded 2 in that inning but Ernesto Mejia led off the 7th with his 2nd homer and Johnny Giavotella tied the game with an RBI single later in the frame. Crow escaped a jam with a double play in the 7th and the floodgates opened for NW Arkansas in the 9th. An error scored the first run of the inning before another error scored 2 more runs. Manny Pina hit a sac fly before Mejia cranked a 3-run jobber for his 2nd of the game and 3rd of the season. Louis Coleman had a quiet 9th. RP Eduardo Sanchez took the loss with 3 UER over 1/3 IP and the bullpen did SP David Kopp no favors, as he pitched 6 scoreless. RF James Rapoport had 2 hits and his 6th RBI. NWA is 12-8 and finishes the series tied for first with the Cards. A 4-game set at the Arkansas Travelers (AA Angels) starts Friday. Mike Montgomery has officially gotten the call to AA as lefty reliever Ben Swaggerty was put on the DL with oblique problems.

A-Adv. - Wilmington: off day

* The Rocks start a 3-game home set with the 14-5 Winston-Salem Dash (A-Adv. ChiSox) Friday. The Rocks have handed the Dash 2 of their 5 losses. Jairo Cuevas starts the opener for Wilmington.

A - Burlington: off day

* A 4-game set at the Quad Cities River Bandits (14-7, A Cardinals) starts Friday. Kelvin Herrera starts the opener. Dominican righty Rodolfo Encarnacion has been added to the Bees' roster. He's 24 in a couple weeks.