Saturday Pebble Report:

Colorado Springs: L 5-8

Jason Hirsh had his first rehab start, and the three hits in three innings with one run allowed was good. The five walks in three innings was certainly not. Joe Koshansky hit his eleventh AAA homerun, Jayson Nix his fifth.

Tulsa: W 6-4

The three players in the Drillers lineup last night that are hitting over .300 for the season, Corey Wimberly, Matt Miller and Jeff Kindel, probably don't get as much attention from my write ups as they deserve, but all three are having solid 2008 campaigns to date. Wimberly got aboard three times and scored in each case, which is exactly the kind of result you want to see from your lead-off hitter. Miller had three hits, he just keeps smacking liners all over the field and occasionally out of it. All three are older for prospects and have other liabilities that lead me to not tout them as much, but all three seem to have bats that are ready for the jump to AAA.

Modesto: L 1-4

Modesto didn't have a really good game last night against Kevin Correia.

Asheville: W 6-3

Braves fans that follow their minor league system closely were excited about this Rome team, and pitcher Cole Rohrbaugh was supposed to be one of the reasons. A few minor league observers, Baseball America's John Manuel, for instance, had Rohrbaugh in their top 100 prospect lists heading into this season. So it gives me too much satisfaction that our prospects drove him out with six runs in three innings. Much of the damage came from the top of the order, speedsters Michael Mitchell and Everth Cabrera had two hits apiece and a couple of stolen bases. Bruce Billings did a fine job of limiting Rome's potent offense as well. John Smoltz pitches again tonight for Rome, hopefully the T's can continue their dominance of the SAL (they've got the best record in professional baseball right now) with another win.

I haven't read any reports of an injury, but Brian Rike was held out of the lineup the last couple of days. I'll try and get some info, but if anybody else knows if he's injured feel free to chime in.