Thursday Pebble Report:

Colorado Springs: L 4-3

Seth Smith homered, scored twice and stole his sixth base of the season in the loss, but the Sky Sox offense seemed to be lacking the flair it had with Herrera and Quintanilla leading things off. Let's hope they bring the same to the Rockies. Ian Stewart went zero for four and was hitless in thirteen at bats in the three game series, dropping his batting average to .269 on the season.

Tulsa: W 1-0

Alan Johnson took a few starts to adjust to AA, but he seems to be catching up rapidly. Johnson pitched one out into the eighth inning and allowed just four baserunners, two hits and two walks. It's a good thing, too, as Tulsa mustered just two hits of their own. Matt Miller had one of those hits and scored the only run, but they were separate events. The run, in fact, was completely manufactured by the opposing team rather than the Drillers. Miller reached on a fielding error in the fourth, advanced from first to third on a wild pitch, and then got Lincecummed in on a balk.

Modesto: L 2-1

Aneury Rodriguez didn't have quite the dominant start he had the previous two outings, and allowing two runs on nine hits was just enough to earn him the L. Anthony Jackson had two hits, but Modesto's bats still seem to be otherwise slumbering.

Asheville: W 4-2

Lately I've sort of come to expect that the Tourists will have a W when I write these things, it's just usually a question of how dominant they're going to be. Yesterday Jhoulys Chacin was his usual  exceptional self, with seven innings, six hits and a walk allowed, and eight strikeouts. Ten of twelve outs on balls put in play were registered on the ground. Nice. The offense, meanwhile slowed a bit, but had enough to back Jhoulys up. Everth Cabrera continues to be a powder keg, coming a homerun short of the cycle with his three hits and he stole his fifteenth base of the season as well. I think he's got a twelve game hit streak, but what's most impressive is that he's got multiple hits in the last seven.

I've been thinking over what's made him so successful. I think part of it is that because his strike zone's so small and his reflexes so quick that anything in the zone is all but certain to also be in his wheelhouse. Meanwhile, his refined plate judgment prevents pitchers from inducing him to go fishing for junk. With a hole at second base at the MLB level and EY2 on the shelf, this might have been a good time to see what this sparkplug could do right now against better quality pitching at the AA or AAA level. That's just my opinion, anyway.