Royals on the Farm 6/7 -- Hey, the Royals draft a SS!

The last 24 hours have been frustrating from a Pipeline perspective. Got most of yesterday's post done, minus AA, then went to my 8-year-old's softball game, which for the second time in a row went late, this time past 11 p.m.(!!) But hey, they won. Anyway, I get home, finish the report, click publish post....and get a Blogger unavailable screen. Repeatedly. So I figure I'll get up this morning, publish it and we're cool. Nope, still unavailable. So I go to work, where I can't get on Blogger because it's a corporate workplace, etc. So...yesterday's post went up at 6 p.m. tonight, which is old school Pipeline, not 2010 Pipeline style.

Getting back to the world of the Royals, I suppose I should be excited about them picking a college SS in the draft tonight. I mean, I bitched enough about them passing up Grant Green for Aaron Crow last year. I'm trying to stay on the positive tip about Christian Colon (Cal State Fullerton SS). But there's that little voice in the back of my brain saying "of course, typically the Royals pick the SS who people are already saying will end up at 2B". And there's the Boras standpoint, where every year we're psyched about getting the guy signed and in house and it never happens that way. One side or the other drags ass to the point it's an 11th hour deal. So Colon will end up getting maybe a month in at Wilmington or NW Arkansas, if they don't just stick him at extended ST in Arizona and then plug him in the Arizona Fall League. For now, I'm trying hard to hope he signs within a month or so and rakes like '09 Wil Myers.

AAA - Omaha: O-Royals 3, Oklahoma City 2 (11)

LF Gordon 3-5, BB, GW RBI (27), K, RS -- .381
SS Falu 2-6, 3B (2), RS -- .313
CF Miller 1-4, SF, 2B (13), RBI (24), RS -- .235
3B Maddox 1-5, RBI (20), K -- .241
DH Ka'aihue 1-3, 2 BB -- .326
RF Parraz 0-4, BB, K -- .258
Omaha stranded 14! That makes it 46 in 3 games...

Bullington 3 2/3 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 4 BB, 5 K, HRA -- 1.92 ERA
Castaneda 4 1/3 IP, 3 H, 2 BB -- 2.73 ERA
B. Hardy 2 IP, H, BB, 2 K -- 0.00 ERA
Herges IP, nothing -- W, 2-2, 4.68 ERA

* The teams battled through 7 scoreless innings until Omaha finally ended it in the 11th. Oklahoma City got all it was gonna get with a 2-run homer off Bryan Bullington in the 1st. Omaha stranded 2 in the 1st but got a Marc Maddox RBI single and stranded 2 more in the 2nd. Bullington stranded 2 in the 3rd and Omaha tied it on a Jai Miller sac fly but stranded more runners. Federico Castaneda entered the game with 2 out and 2 on in the 4th and left the bases loaded as the teams combined to strand 25 in the game. Omaha left the bases loaded in the 9th but the Royals got 3 straight singles punctuated by an Alex Gordon walkoff base hit in the 11th. RP Elizardo Ramirez took the loss with an ER over 1/3 IP to drop to 4-2. SP Geoff Geary allowed 2 ER over 4 IP. 3B Chris Davis was 4-4 with a walk, double, HR (6) and 2 RBI (33). 1B Ryan Garko also had 2 hits. Omaha is 31-26. Lefty John Parrish makes a rehab start with Anthony Lerew to follow in Tuesday's series finale. OF Rick Ankiel is also slated to begin rehabbing in Omaha Tuesday. OF David Lough is still out of the lineup and I have a funny feeling may stay so until Ankiel is back in KC.

AA - NWA: Midland 2, Naturals 1

3B Moustakas 2-5, 2 K -- .368
1B C. Robinson 2-5, 2 E (7) -- .274
SS Seratelli 1-3, BB, RBI (12) -- .267
CF D. Robinson 0-4, E (6) -- .282
2B Giavotella 0-2, 3 BB -- .267
The Naturals stranded 12.

Santiago 6 IP, 2 R (1 ER), 7 H, BB, 3 K -- L, 4-5, 2.43 ERA
R. Hardy 2 IP, 2 BB, K -- 6.20 ERA
Chavez IP, 2 K -- 7.62 ERA

* The Naturals couldn't overcome 2 1st inning RockHound runs as Midland averted the sweep. It wasn't a good defensive night for the Robinsons as Clint and Derrick combined for 3 errors on the night. Clint's 1st of 2 in the inning scored a run in the 1st but the second one didn't end up costing Wilmington a run. NWA stranded 2 in the 1st and then left 'em loaded in the 5th. The Naturals stranded 2 more in the 8th but rallied in the 9th as Anthony Seratelli hit an RBI single but Mike Moustakas struck out and Clint Robinson lined out with the bases loaded to end the game. Starter Travis Banwart pitched 6 scoreless to improve to 5-3 for Midland. 3B Alex Valdez and CF Corey Brown had 2 hits for the 'Hounds. NWA is 32-23. They have Tuesday off.

A-Adv. - Wilmington: Blue Rocks 5, Kinston 0 (2-hitter)

3B Romak 3-4, 2B (12), RBI (33), RS -- .267
SS Navarro 2-4, RBI (12), RS, SB -- .216
1B Hosmer 1-3, BB, RBI (34), RS, SB (9) -- .360
RF Francis 1-4, 2B (4), RBI (6) -- .231
C S. Perez 0-4, K -- .300

Melville 6 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, 7 K -- W, 2-6, 5.86 ERA, that's what we're looking for
Baumann 3 IP, 2 K -- SV, 4, 2.48 ERA

* Tim Melville was, at least for one night, the pitcher the Royals went after in last year's draft as he continued a run of solid starts with a standout outing Monday. Eric Hosmer singled home a run in the 1st and the Rocks scored on an error in the 2nd before Jamie Romak singled in a run in the 3rd. Melville had only two 1-2-3 innings on the night but was never in serious trouble. Nick Francis doubled in a run in the 7th and Rey Navarro singled in a run in the 8th to make it 5-0. Buddy Baumann pitched 3 hitless innings to close it out. Starter T.J. House allowed 3 runs (1 ER) over 6 IP to fall to 2-4. No offensive stars for Kinston on Monday thanks to Melville. The Rocks are 27-31. Chris Dwyer starts Tuesday's game 2. C Travis Jones has been added to the roster from extended ST. Sigh.

A - Burlington: off day

* The Bees are 20-37. A 3-game home set with the Great Lakes Loons (35-22, A Dodgers) starts Tuesday with Bryan Paukovits starting for Burlington.