Our opponents over the weekend, the Mets, will have a different look in the dugout as Jerry Manuel became the interim manager over the night for the fired Willie Randolph. Pitching coach Rick Peterson was also fired. As the article indicates, Peterson claimed he would fix Victor Zambrano after he arrived in New York in a trade for Scott Kazmir. Zambrano, as we all know, is with the Sky Sox this season.

His Sunday performance earned Jorge De La Rosa at least one more start. Jorge De La Rosa or Glendon Rusch? Not that hard of a decision after De La Rosa's last start. But then when you reach the end of the article, "In six career starts against the Indians, De La Rosa is 1-3 with a 7.67 ERA." He also walked 22 Indians in those games.

Clint Hurdle explains what went wrong:

"One of the things I learned from personal experience is that the enemy of good is great. You start doing good and you think if you turn it up a notch you will be great, and it turns into a struggle."

So . . . does he know how to skip the struggle and actually become great?

Colorado Springs, W 12-1 - Mark Redman, Josh Newman, and Victor Zambrano combined for a four-hitter. Redman allowed three of the hits and the lone Sacramento run. He struck out seven.

Eight of the runs scored via the home run: Dustan Mohr's solo shot in the fourth, Joe Koshansky's grand slam in the sixth (13), and Doug Bernier's two-run shot in the second and solo shot in the eighth (4). Koshansky added two doubles (22) and another RBI for five on the night.

The Rockies signed independent league York Revolution infielder Kenny Perez, previously of the Red Sox, D'Backs, and White Sox. When the Rockies called yesterday morning, Perez failed to answer the team twice.

Tulsa, W 7-1 - Wow. Alan Johnson struck out 12 batters last night. He also threw seven shutout innings and surrendered only five hits. Tony Blanco went 3-for-5 with a double and two RBI, and Matt Miller went 2-for-5 with a double and two RBI. Justin Nelson had a triple and an RBI. Corey Wimberly stole his 25th base.

Modesto, W 1-0 - In the top of the first, Daniel Mayora singled. He moved to second after Mike Paulk singled. Victor Ferrante followed those two singles with an RBI single. That was all the runs scored last night.

It was enough as Aneury Rodriguez threw his second nine-inning complete game shutout of the season. It was two-hitter (two singles) and he struck out 10 batters. He faced only 28 batters and used 103 pitches to do it.

Asheville, W 5-2 - Darin Holcomb went 3-for-5 with two double (23) and three RBI. Mike Mitchell also had three hits and an RBI. Lars Davis hit his first triple, and Everth Cabrera stole two bases (40). Cory Riordan allowed ten hits in six inning but surrendered only two runs. He struck out seven. Craig Baker recorded his second save by striking out three in the ninth.

Seven Tourists were named SAL Southern Division all-stars yesterday: starters Jhoulys Chacin, Everth Cabrera, Darin Holcomb, Brian Rike, Mike Mitchell, and reserves Joey Williamson and Randall Taylor.

Colorado Springs, W 11-5 - Ian Stewart hit his 10th and 11th homers, his fifth and sixth on the road. The second one came in the eighth inning and was a grand slam. Jayson Nix had a solo homer in the first inning. Joe Koshansky hit his seventh in the third inning. Cory Sullivan drove in two runs, and Seth Smith had his second triple of the season and stole his ninth base.

Cedrick Bowers held Fresno to two hits in five innings. He struck out eight. Victor Zambrano allowed three runs in 2/3 IP. Juan Morillo pitched a clean ninth inning.

Tulsa, L 4-6 in 12 innings - Justin Nelson had his fourth homer of the season in this extra-inning affair, but it came in the fifth inning. Corey Wimberly went 3-for-5 with an RBI and two stolen bases (16). Matt Miller drove in two runs. Chris Nelson had his 16th error of the season.  The Tulsa World can tell you how the Drillers failed to win in the ninth, and how the game ended in the 12th.

Tomas Santiago didn't find the strike zone, as he walked six. He allowed three runs (one earned) on four hits in 5 1/3 IP. Casey Weathers walked two but did not allow a run in his one inning of work. Ryan Mattheus struck out two in the ninth.

Modesto, L 2-8 - Esmil Rogers allowed eight runs in four innings. He allowed seven hits, walked three, and struck out six. Tommy Baumgardner and Will Harris held San Jose hitless for the next three innings, while Andrew Johnston allowed the only hit after Rogers left the game.

Matt Repec and Travis Becktel had two hits each, but Victor Ferrante had a double, the only extra-base hit. He also walked twice. Cole Garner had the other hit.

Asheville, L 3-4 - Jeff Cunningham's two-run double and Brian Lapin's RBI single in the sixth inning put the Tourists ahead 3-1, but it was not to last. A bunch of singles and a fielding error by Brian Lapin in the bottom of the inning put Savannah ahead for good with a one-run lead. David Christensen had two hits and stole his sixth base, Brian Rike stole his ninth base, and Everth Cabrera swiped his 20th base. Cabrera also struck out three times, but Beau Seabury struck out in all four ABs.

In addition to Lapin's error, starter Sheng-An Kuo, Warren Schaeffer, and Jeff Cunningham each committed and error.

Sheng-An Kuo allowed four runs (two earned) on eight hits and two walks in 5 1/3 IP. Edgmer Escalona pitched a scoreless 2 2/3 innings.

Colorado Springs, L 8- 13 - . . . And the next night, the Sky Sox allowed their opponent to score in seven of nine innings. Albuquerque scored at least one run in each of the first seven innings of the game. Valerio De Los Santos allowed nine of those runs in 4 1/3 IP. Matt Daley finished the fifth and allowed one of the two inherited runners from De Los Santos to score. Juan Morillo allowed three runs in the sixth inning. Victor Zambrano allowed the last run (unearned, it was), went two innings, and struck out three. Josh Newman pitched the last inning for the Sky Sox and struck out one.

It was a night for doubles as Cory Sullivan (3-for-4, 1 RBI, 1 SB), Seth Smith (2-for-5, 1 RBI), and Rick Guarno (2-for-5, 1 RBI) each had two doubles. Ian Stewart hit his fifth triple and drove in a run.

Tulsa, W 7-3 - Monday was a good night for both Chris Nelson and Neil Wilson. Nelson started the night with a two-run homer (3) in the first inning (he also had a sac fly in the seventh), and Wilson banged a three-run homer (1) in the seventh inning to make it 7-2 game in favor of the Drillers. Tony Blanco hit his first homer for the Drillers to complete the scoring. It was also a good night for Dexter Fowler. He had a bunt single in the first (and scored on Nelson's homer), and then tripled (4) in the seventh (and scored on Nelson's sac fly).

Brandon Hynick turned in seven solid innings. He allowed two runs on eight hits (one run came off a homer). He walked one and struck out two. Casey Weathers allowed one run on two hits and a walk in the eighth inning. He struck out two.

Modesto, L 0-4 - Victor Ferrante and Cole Garner both had three hits in four at-bats last night. One of Ferrante's hits went for his fifth double.

Simon Ferrer allowed four runs on eights and  four walks in five innings. He also struck out three. Brandon Durden pitched the last three innings and did not allow a base runner.

Asheville, W 3-2 - The sixth inning was the decisive once in last night's contest. In the top half of the inning, Beau Seabury and Everth Cabrera led off the inning with walks. Mike Mitchell put down a sac bunt, but made it to first after catcher Jordan Abruzzo committed a throwing error. Brian Rike and Darin Holcomb got out in the next two ABs. Jeff Cunningham hit a three-run triple to give the Tourists the 3-0 lead. Brian lapin hit a triple in the ninth, but nothing came of it.

In the bottom of the sixth, Cory Riordan allowed a lead off triple, and that guy scored on a double in the next AB. A sac fly scored the second run that inning. That was all Savannah was able to score. Riordan wound up going 7 2/3 innings and allowed those two runs on six hits. He also struck out six. Craig Rodriguez struck out the one batter he faced to end the eighth inning. Randall Taylor picked up his 10th save.

Colorado Springs, L 1-6 - The Sky Sox had eight hits with three coming off Seth Smith's bat. Joe Koshansky drove in the love Sky Sox run. Ian Stewart's fifth double was the only extra base hit the team had last night.

Josh Towers lasted seven innings, allowed six runs on 11 hits, and struck out six. Victor Zambrano threw two clean innings and struck out three.

Tulsa, L 5-9 - Justin Nelson led the offense with three hits and two RBI. The two RBI came on his third homer of the season. Jeff Kindel had two hits and one of the three doubles Tulsa had. Jeff Dragicevich and Justin Nelson had the other ones. Daniel Carte, Dragicevich, and Neil Wilson drove in the other three runs.

The Tulsa defense committed five errors: Chris Nelson had two fielding ones for 15 on the season, Dexter Fowler committed his second on a missed catch, Neil Wilson erred on a throw, and Tony Blanco committed a fielding error. The Tulsa World says the wind takes some blame for the miscues.

Alan Johnson allowed eight runs on 12 hits to fall to 1-5 on the season. Hainley Statia's three-run triple in the sixth was part of a five-run inning. Adam Bright allowed two hits and struck out two in two innings of relief.

Modesto, W 7-5 - Anthony Jackson hit a two-run homer for his first of the season as part of his 3-for-5, two-RBI, two-run, two stolen base (11) night. Jay Cox fell a homer short of the cycle and drove in one run. Cole Garner hit his eighth double and stole his fourth base.

Esmil Rogers allowed one run on five hits and two walks over six innings. Tommy Baumgardner (2/3 IP) and Will Harris (1 1/3 IP) relieved for Rogers, and Baumgardner allowed a run. James Burok allowed a three-run homer and did not record an out in the ninth inning. Andrew Johnston came in and recorded his eighth save.

Brian VanderBeek sat down with Simon Ferrer and discussed his transition to the mound.

Asheville, W 8-0 - Jhoulys Chacin improved to 5-1 after last night's performance. He allowed no runs on four hits in seven innings pitched. He walked two and struck out five. Edgmer Escalona preserved the shutout by pitching the final two innings.

David Christensen hit his first two homers of the season, both were solo shots. His first came in the first inning right after Jeff Cunningham hit a three-run shot. The other came in the third inning. Everth Cabrera stole his 18th base, and Rike his eighth.

I'm going to post some of the positive highlights of the first month of the season from each affiliate later this evening, but in the meantime, here are the recaps from last night. My new Farm Report at the Rocky talks about the oddity of Casey Weathers' groundball tendencies thus far.

Colorado Springs: L 10-5

For the first four innings, it looked like things were finally turning around for ol' Vic Zambrano. Yep. He was cruising along with a shutout, just three walks and three hits allowed, things were finally going his way. He'd be in Denver in no time, especially considering what Mark Redman was doing just up the road. Of course, reality had to hit sometime, in Zambrano's case it was with the nine runs he gave up in the fifth and sixth. The Sky Sox scored five in the last two innings to halve the margin, starting with an Ian Stewart solo shot, but the comeback was too little, too late.

Tulsa: L 5-4

Tough luck for Brandon Hynick in this one, Brandon pitched into the seventh and allowed just a pair of runs on seven hits and six strikeouts. As David Ohno mentioned in yesterday's comments, in his last four starts Hynick has gone at least six innings each time and he has a 19/1 K/BB margin. The two runs both were solo homeruns, which is a little troubling, but overall it looks like Hynick's adjusted to AA. Corey Wimberly had a pair of hits, and he and Dexter Fowler each stole two more bases, but the Drillers offense is otherwise still slumping.

Modesto: L 8-5

Aneury Rodriguez apparently took off for the week and left his less effective twin as a replacement. This Rodriguez couldn't get through the third inning and gave up five runs on six hits, two walks and a wild pitch. Cole Garner and Geoff Strickland hit well for the Nuts, but otherwise the offense was still flat. Speaking of, Jay Cox is hoping a different uniform brings him better luck.

Asheville: W 11-7

A solid start by Cory Riordan and a nine run sixth inning fueled the Tourists win last night. David Christensen had his second straight three for four game -including two two run hits in that big inning. He told Jason McGill that he's changed his stance over the past week. We can all hope that the solution to his hitting woes is that simple, because the kid has a ton of talent.

Colorado Springs, L 4-11 - Ooof! Victor Zambrano got lit up last night. Through the first two innings of the game, Zambrano allowed only a homer and a walk. Then came the third inning. He pitched to eight batters without recording an out. He surrendered two doubles, a triple, a homer, and a wild pitch that inning. All together, he allowed eight runs (seven earned). Omar Quintanilla had a fielding error during the second at-bat in that long frame. Juan Morillo pitched the next two innings, allowed three runs on three hits, two walks, and two wild pitches. He struck out three. Chris George, Matt Daley, and Steven Register held Sacramento scoreless over the remaining innings. Daley struck out four during his two innings of relief.

Edwin Bellorin (2) and Ian Stewart (6) had homers last night. Seth Smith doubled in Omar Quintanilla for his only hit of the night. Q had three hits to go along with his error.

Tulsa, W 8-3 - Chris Nelson drove in four runs last night on a ground out, a single, and a two-run single. The other Nelson, Justin, went 3-for-3 with two doubles and two runs scored. Dexter Fowler drove in two runs while Daniel Carte had a double and three strikeouts. EY Jr. (8), Corey Wimberly (8), and Chris Nelson (2) each stole a base.

Tomas Santiago limited his opponents to one run on three hits over five innings. He struck out seven, walked two, and threw two wild pitches. Luis Gonzalez walked two and allowed no hits, but gave up two runs (one earned). Adam Bright and Jarrett Grube had clean sheets last night.

Modesto, W 5-1 - Esmil Rogers turned in a great start for the win by the time he reached his pitch limit in the sixth inning (51/3 IP). He allowed one run on four hits and three walks. He struck out eight batters. Brandon Durden made his second appearance of the season and pitched a clean frame. David Patton and Tommy Baumgardner combined to strike out four batters over the last 2 2/3 IP.

Every Nuts batter had at least one hit last night. Jay Cox, Matt Repec, and newcomer Tony Blanco had two-hit nights (a double each for Blanco and Repec). Anthony Jackson, Jason Van Kooten, Victor Ferrante (on a triple), Nelson Robledo, and Cox drove in the runs. Jackson stole his seventh base.

Asheville, W 11-6 - It was a good night for Asheville homers tonight. Jeff Cunningham hit his second of the season (two-run), Kevin Clark his third (two-run), Helder Velazquez his second (solo), and Lars Davis his third (three-run). Cunningham had two more RBI in the ninth off a single, and Velazquez had an RBI triple in the game. Brian Rike, though he did not have a hit, walked three times, and Clark walked twice and scored three times. David Christensen stole his third base after getting to first via the walk in the ninth.

Sheng-An Kuo didn't have the best of  starts. He allowed five runs (three earned) on ten hits over 4 2/3 IP. He walked two and struck out two. Joey Williamson went out for 1 2/3 IP and struck out five batters. He allowed one of the two inherited runners to score. Craig Rodriguez allowed the runner he inherited from Williamson to score and blow the lead. He struck out three in 1 2/3 IP. Randall Taylor struck out two to end the game.

Colorado Springs, L 2-6 - A Seth Smith sac fly in the first to score Q and Sean Barker's moving around the bases in the ninth on wild pitches after a double to start the inning were all the runs the Sky Sox got last night. Q walked three times and had his first stolen base.

Victor Zambrano went 4 2/3 IP, walked four, and allowed four runs on seven hits. Josh Newman allowed the other two runs in 2/3 IP. Matt Daley, Juan Morillo, and Steven Register held their opponent hitless for the rest of the game. Register struck out all three batters he faced.

Tulsa, W 4-3 - The balls soared out of the park last night during the Drillers' home opener, as the two teams combined for four home runs. Dexter Fowler had two of them (two-run and solo), his first two of the season. Matt Miller had his first homer of the season.

It was a quality outing for Brandon Hynick after he pitched six innings and allowed three runs over six innings. He struck out five and walked only one. The three runs came off a two-run homer in the third and a solo blast in the sixth. Kaz Matsui collected two doubles off of Hynick. Ryan Mattheus threw two shutout innings of relief before giving way to Pedro Strop in the ninth. Strop struck out one on the way to his first save of the season.

The Tulsa World has some quotes from Fowler and by Bo McLaughlin on Brandon Hynick.

Modesto, L 1-9 - Except for Andy Graham, three other Modesto pitchers had trouble finding the strike zone last night. Starter Simon Ferrer walked seven in three-plus innings. He walked four in the two-run first, none in the second, two in the third, and one in the fourth before giving way to Zach Simons, who walked three batters in that inning. Simons settled down over the next  three innings by not walking another batter, but he gave up two runs to go along with Ferrer's three. James Burok allowed four runs in the eighth, three coming off Sean Doolittle's second homer of the night (he had a two-run shot the previous inning off Simons). He also walked two. Graham struck out one in the ninth inning.

The Nuts had three hits last night. Anthony Jackson had a triple in the eighth and then scored on a wild pitch.

Brian VanderBeek has an interesting interview with Daniel Mayora in his latest entry.

Asheville, L 1-3 - Brian Rike has taken well to the Sally League. After eight games, Rike has four homers, his latest coming last night and accounting for the only Tourist run last night. Darin Holcomb had his fourth double in the losing effort. Everth Cabrera stole his sixth base of the season.

Cory Riodran made his second start and lasted 6 1/3 innings. Three runs crossed home plate on eight hits. He struck out four and walked two. Craig Rodriguez pitched a hitless 1 2/3 innings to finish out the game

Colorado Springs, W 7-5 - Victor Zambrano did what you'd expect out of him: 5 IP, 9 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 4 K, and 1 HR. Steven Register made his Sky Sox debut in the eigth inning, went 1 1/3 IP, and allowed a run. Josh Newman came in for the last two outs in the ninth to pick up his first save.

Seth Smith drove in two more runs on a single in the ninth, the second runner proving to be the game-winner. He also struck out three times. Ian Stewart had his third RBI of the season when he drove in Seth Smith on a double in the first. He had his first stolen base also.

Tulsa, L 1-5 - Corey Wimberly went 4-for-4 last night with his first stolen base. He scored the only Tulsa run when Justin Nelson doubled him in during the eighth inning. Chris Nelson committed a throwing error.

Ching Lung Lo went three innings and allowed the five runs (three earned). He walked two and struck out none. Jarrett Grube threw two innings of no-hit relief. Pedro Strop had a better outing this time, though by no means great. In one inning he allowed two hits and walked a batter, but did not allow any runs to score.

Modesto, L 2-4 - It was not a good night for knuckleballer Simon Ferrer last night. In five innings, he allowed four runs (three earned) on eight hits and walked four. Will Harris, however, pitched two innings and struck out four.

Matt Repec drove in both runs in the seventh inning on a double. Victor Ferrante reached base that inning on a double also before scoring. Geoff Strickland had two singles, but also committed two fielding errors. The Nuts struck out a combined 12 times last night.

Asheville, W 2-0, L 1-7 - In a seven-inning complete game, Cory Riordan shutout Lexington in the first game of the doubleheader. He struck out six. Brian Rike hit his first home run of the season (which was to the short right-field porch at McCormick FIeld). Everth Cabrera walked twice.

Fellow 2007 draftee Connor Graham didn't fare as well as Riordan. He went 3 2/3 IP in the second game and allowed six runs (three earned). He walked four and struck out three. Everth Cabrera had two more walks in this game, but didn't have a hit in this game either.