Royals on the Farm 5/13 -- Adios, Trey

I'm not sad to see Trey Hillman go, but at the same time, I'm not jubilant like I was when Buddy Bell stepped down. Hillman got a shot and it didn't work out, but he was still only like 25-30 percent of the problem. Moore may have been sad to see him go, but how much of it was him hearing the ax getting sharpened for his own neck? Once the manager is gone, the heat is on the GM. And this GM can't put a roster together to save his neck. Ned Yost is a decent backup plan to get KC to tee time in October. Not a winner, necessarily, but he had his bright moments in Mil-i-wau-kay. Hopefully Trey lands on his feet, be it in the US or Japan. He'll get another chance, at least to coach, I'd think.

AAA - Omaha: game tied at 3 in the 11th

1B Betemit 2-4, BB, 2B (4), 2 RBI (14), K -- .295
3B Mertins 2-5, 2B, RS, E -- .400, 2010 AAA debut
SS Falu 2-6, RBI (5), E (7) -- .285
LF Gordon 1-4, BB, K -- .281
CF Lough 0-5, SB (3) -- .240
RF Parraz 0-2, 2 HBP -- .179

Lerew 6 1/3 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, K -- 2.89 ERA, solid, bad k rate
Holland 1 2/3 IP, UER, 2 H, BB, K -- 6.11 ERA
Marte 2 IP, H, 4 K -- 4.96 ERA

* I'm putting this one to bed early tied in the 10th after the O-Royals blew a late 3-0 lead. Neither team threatened early as Anthony Lerew and Kevin Mulvey battled. Through 5, the Royals had hit into 3 DPs. Wilson Betemit broke it open with a 2-out, 2-run double in the 6th and Irving Falu added an RBI single in the 7th. Lerew was pulled with 2 on and 1 out in the 7th and Greg Holland allowed both inherited baserunners to score to cut it to 3-2. A 2-out double in the 8th tied it off Holland and Reno stranded 2 in the 9th before Omaha stranded 2 in the 10th. This will have to be a cliffhanger...

AA - NWA: Springfield 10, Naturals 4

C Pina 2-4, RBI (18) -- .274
LF T. Smith 1-4, 2B (5), 2 RBI (7) -- .283
RF Van Stratten 0-2, HBP, BB, RBI (16), RS, E -- .302
3B Moustakas 0-3, HBP, 2 K, RS -- .377
CF D. Robinson 1-5, 3 K, OF assist at second -- .282
2B Giavotella 1-4 -- .295
1B C. Robinson 0-4, K, 2 RS -- .276

Paulino 2 IP, 6 ER, 8 H, BB, K -- L, 3-1, 4.03 ERA
Villa 2 IP, 3 ER, 4 H, BB, 5 K, WP -- 9.24 ERA
Chavez 2 1/3 IP, 2 H, K -- 7.94 ERA
R. Hardy 1 2/3 IP, ER, H, K, HRA -- 2.57 ERA

* The Cardinals riddled Eduardo Paulino and routed the Nats. The Naturals squandered a 2-on, 0-out situation in the 1st and it just got worse as Paulino gave up 4 runs in the bottom of the inning. The Cards scored 2 more runs in the 2nd and NW Arkansas struggled to get going on offense. The Naturals stranded 2 in the 4th and the Cards scored 3 in the 4th to make it 9-0. Manny Pina broke the goose egg with an RBI single in the 6th and Tim Smith added a 2-run double. Nick Van Stratten drove in the last Naturals run with an RBI groundout in the 8th. Springfield SP Gary Daley allowed 3 unearned runs over 6 IP. Five Cards had multiple hits. Rehabbing 2B Aaron Miles had 3 hits, 3 RBI and 3 RS. The Naturals are 21-11. IF Kurt Mertins got called up to Omaha and IF Anthony Seratelli was called up from Wilmington.

A-Adv. - Wilmington: Blue Rocks 4, Lynchburg 3

1B Hosmer 2-4, 2 2B (12), RBI (25) -- .402, leading minors in hitting, how 'bout that for some heat
CF Ortiz 2-4, RS, SB (13), CS (6) -- .305
SS Navarro 1-4, RBI (6) -- .206, not lighting the world on fire but carrying his weight in 2 slot
3B Alfaro 1-3, RBI (9), K, E (3) -- .207
C S. Perez 1-4, 2B (7), K, RS -- .313, batting cleanup, hey maybe somebody reads this blog

Dwyer 5 IP, 3 R (2 ER), 6 H, 4 BB, 4 K, pickoff -- 3.74 ERA
Thompson 2 IP, H, BB, K -- W, 1-3, 9.26 ERA, hey, a scoreless effort
Bowden 2 IP, 2 H, 2 K -- SV, 4, 1.20 ERA

* Both teams had 9 hits but the Rocks were 1 run better to take 3 of 4 from the Hillcats. Eric Hosmer stayed hot with an RBI double in the 1st but Chris Dwyer gave up a 2-out, 2-run double in the 3rd. Fernando Garcia led off the Rocks 3rd with a triple and scored on a Rey Navarro single to tie the game. J.D. Alfaro hit a go-ahead RBI single in the 4th but Lynchburg tied it in the 5th. Salvador Perez led off the Wilmington 6th with a double and scored on a double play to make it 4-3 Rocks. That was all they needed as James Thompson and Barry Bowden held the line. Hillcats SP Brad Boxberger allowed 3 ER over 5 IP for the no-decision and RP Sean Watson took the loss. CF Josh Fellhauer and RF Cody Puckett had 2 hits and each had a SB for the 'Cats. 1B and highly touted Reds prospect Neftali Soto drove in 3 runs (21). The Rocks are 14-20. A 3-game set at the Potomac Nationals (14-19 entering play today) starts Friday. Alex Caldera starts the opener.

A - Burlington: Peoria 7, Bees 1

1B Graterol 2-4, RBI (5) -- .351
DH Lewis 2-4, K, RS -- .252
CF Richardson 1-4, 2B (3), 2 K -- .192
C Myers 0-2, 2 BB, PB (9) -- .248
SS Hall 1-3, SB (9) -- .255

Mitchell 6 IP, 3 ER, 8 H, BB, 4 K, HRA, 2 WP -- L, 1-4, 5.61 ERA
Kelley IP, nothing -- 9.00 ERA
Lehmann 2 IP, 4 ER, 4 H, 3 K, HRA -- 5.95 ERA

* Peoria took it to Burlington once more in following SP Kenneth McNutt to the win. The Bees stranded 2 in the 3rd but the Chiefs scored a run on 3 hits off Matt Mitchell in the 4th. Peoria scored single runs in the 5th and 6th as well. Meanwhile, the Bees stranded 2 in the 3rd and got not much otherwise. The Chiefs put it on ice with a 3-run homer from DH Matt Cerda for his 2nd of the season in the 9th. Juan Graterol broke up the shutout with an RBI single in the bottom of the 9th. McNutt pitched 6 scoreless to improve to 2-0. Cerda was 3-5 with the homer and 4 RBI (19), and 3B Greg Rohan had 2 hits. The Bees are 12-22.