Colorado Springs, W 9-4: Matt Miller went 4-for-4 with two doubles and three RBI. Cory Sullivan and Humberto Cota each hit a two-run homer, and Jonathan Herrera had a solo homer. Ryan Spilborghs had a hit, an RBI, and walked twice.

Sean Smith allowed three runs in 6 2/3 innings, walked four, and struck out seven. Juan Morillo alowed two run in 1 2/3 innings on two hits and three walks before Matt Daley recorded the last two outs.

Tulsa, L 1-14: Corey Wimberly had two hits, one went for his 16th double. Alan Johnson was blasted for 11 runs (eight earned) in 4 2/3 innings. Six of the runs scored on two three-run home runs. Tomas Santiago allowed the other three runs.

Dexter Fowler and Casey Weathers were at the last home game of the season, but they'll be activated tonight. You can see the two of them with their bronze medals and find out about some of the non-baseball Olympic-related stuff they did in this Tulsa World article.

Modesto, W 10-3: Lino Garcia started the scoring with a sac fly in the top of the 1st. Then from the fourth through seventh the Nuts scored at least two runs in each inning. In the fourth, Mike McKenry stroked his 17th homer and Nelson Robledo had an RBI single. Garcia knocked in two on a double in the fifth while Anthony Jackson plated two on a triple in the sixth. Kane Simmons second Modesto homer was a three-run shot in the seventh.

Brandon Durden allowed three runs on seven hits in 5 2/3 innings. Lancaster mananged only two more hits after Durden left the game. Chris Malone, James Burok, and David Patton threw the last 3 1/3 innings.

Asheville: Cancelled due to rain. It will not be made up.

Tri-City, L 1-8: Ryan Peisel went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Kenny Durst allowed two runs (onea earned) on four hits in six innings. He struck out six. Things got out of hand one Sean Jarrett entered the game in the eighth. He saw three runs score on a double, a fielding error, and a double. Brandon Walker pitched the ninth and allowed three unearned runs. The inning started with a fielding error by Peisel but was followed by two outs. A triple, a wild pitch, and a single scored the final three runs.

Casper, W 8-7: Eliezer Mesa's RBI single in the fifth combined with Jose Gonzalez's two-run double and Carlos Martinez's RBI double in the sixth tied the game at four. Orem took a two-run lead the next inning, but Casper stormed back. Wilin Rosario had an RBI single, Orlando Sandoval doubled in a run, Carlos Martinez sac bunted in a run, and Zack Murry had an RBI single before Jose Gonzalez was thrown out at the plate on that play for the final out of the inning.

Jeff Fischer surrounded four runs in five innings, and Ronny Lopez was charged with the other three. Adam Jorgenson picked up the win, pitching 1 2/3 innings and striking out four. Kurt Yacko picked up his 10th save.

Olympics: Dexter Fowler discusses what's been going on lately with the team in his journal.

The Springs, W 9-0: Oscar Villarreal made his Sky Sox debut, walking five and striking out four in four innings. He did not allow a hit. Thirty-three of the his 66 pitches went for strikes. Mark Redman held Salt Lake to no hits, but did walk three. Matt Daley allowed a hit in the eighth, but that was the only hit Salt Lake managed in the game. Cedrick Bowers struck out two in the ninth.

Humberto Cota accounted for most of the offense last night, going 3-for-5 with two homers and five RBI. The homers were both of the two-run variety. Scott Podsednik went 2-for-3 with an RBI, a SB, and was picked off.

Tulsa, L 9-12: The Drillers had been leading 9-4 before a disaster of an eighth inning occurred. Andrew Johnston had pitched in the seventh and came back out for the eighth. He allowed three runs and Edward Valdez allowed five more in the inning.

Keith Weiser, who started, went six innings and allowed four runs.

Chris Nelson collected three hits (including a double), scored twice, and drove in two runs. He stole his sixth base, and EY Jr. (who scored three times) stole bases 40 and  41. The other Nelson, Justin, had two doubles and two RBI. Daniel Carte also recorded two hits and an RBI. Tony Blanco added three more RBI to his total, now at 84.

Tulsa begins its final homestand of the season tonight.

Modesto, L 3-5 in 10 innings: Tommy Baumgardner allowed a homer to Andrew Locke in the top of the 10th and an RBI double later in the inning to end the tie. Aneury Rodriguez went 6 1/3 innings, allowed two runs, and struck out six. Andy Graham finished the seventh inning, but David Patton wound up allowing an unearned run after a throwing error (that, had it not been, would have ended the inning) and an RBI ground-rule double.

Lino Garcia had three of Modesto's 11 hits. Kane Simmons and Mike Paulk had two hits each. Simmons stole his first base for Modesto.

Asheville, W 7-6: Shane Lindsay got one of those "quality starts" by allowing three runs in six innings. Those three runs all came in the fourth on a homer. He allowed four hits, walked two, and struck out six. Randall Taylor had a tough go last night, as he allowed two runs on four hits. He only recorded one out. Matthew Reynolds picked up his second save.

Brian Rike's RBI double in the fourth, Mike Mitchell's RBI single in the fifth, Kevin Clark's two-run double in the sixth, a run-scoring wild pitch in the sixth, and Helder Velazquez's two-run double in the eight led the Tourists to victory. Mitchell stole his 52nd base and Kevin Clark took two to reach 21.

Tri-City: Off.

Casper, L 3-7: Tyler Massey hit his first professional homer, and Zack Murry collected two hits and two RBI.

Edwar Cabrera pitched a stong five innings, allowing an unearned run on five hits and striking out five. Brandon Dill and Brandon Walker then allowed three runs each in the sixth and seventh innings. Walker allowed those three runs on two homers.

Colorado Springs, W 21-5: At least some team knows how to score runs, and lots of them. Joe Koshansky hit a three-run homer for his 26th, scored five times, and, oh, he hit for the cycle (again); Mike McCoy had two solo homers, three total hits, and drove in a total of five runs; Christian Colonel had a two-run homer for his ninth of the season and three total hits; Matt Miller had four hits and drove in six runs; Humberto Cota had two RBI; and Sean Barker, Chris Frey, and Adam Melhuse (as a PH) each had an RBI. Doug Bernier and Jeff Dragicevich were the only non-pitchers to not drive in a run. They combined for 24 hits.

Josh Hall allowed one run on seven innings, but Cedrick Bowers allowed four runs in two innings.

Tulsa: No games scheduled.

Modesto, L 6-7: The Nuts led 5-4 entering the top of the ninth, but David Patton allowed an RBI single and a two-run homer to blow the save. Esmil Rogers left after five innings and four earned runs. Chris Malone allowed only one hit over the next three innings.

Kane Simmons and Nelson Robledo combined to drive in three runs in the sixth inning, the latter with two on a double. In the bottom of the ninth, the Nuts attempted a comeback. Nick Haley scored on a Victor Ferrante RBI single (his second of the night), and it appeared Mike McKenry drove in the tying run, but the ball was ruled a double. That stopped Ferrante from scoring. Lino Garcia promptly struck out for teh third and final out.

Asheville, L 3-5: Brian Rike went 3-for-4 with a double and two RBI, but it was David Christensen who flailed four times last night. Robinson Fabian allowed five runs (two earned) over five innings. He struck out five. Matt Reynolds and Ethan Katz threw scoreless innings of relief.

Tri-City, W 12-4: Jonnathan Aristil allowed three runs (one earned) in four innings before giving way to David Parker. He allowed a run in the fifth, but Sean Jarrett for the sixth and seventh innings and struck out four.

Ryan Peisel, hitting ninth, had the biggest hit of the night. As part of a six-run fourth inning, Peisel connected with a ball for a three-run triple. From the Tri-City Herald:

"That triple was big; it's what got us going," said manager Fred Ocasio, who got his 100th win with the Dust Devils. "Of late, (Peisel's) been getting some quality at-bats; they just hadn't been hits."

Charlie Blackmon, who had three hits and stole his 11th base, doubled in Peisel. Erik Wetzel brought Blackmon home after a passed ball and a sac fly. Austin Rauch earlier scored on a fielder's choice.

The Dust Devils scored five runs in the eighth that included an Austin Rauch two-run single, a Scott Robinson RBI single, a run scored on a throwing error, and a Thomas Field RBI single.

Casper, L 3-8: Orlando Sandoval went 4-for-4 and drove in a run. Nick Valdez stole home plate. Jeff Fischer saw four runs score over his five innings on the mound, Ronny Lopez saw two runs touch home plate in his two innings, and Andres Marrero also witnessed two guys round the bases.

Colorado Springs: L 4-5

The Rockies bottom of the rotation roulette wheel continues to spin. Jorge de la Rosa got demoted to the bullpen, Glendon Rusch is getting called up as the team continues to search for an answer. Here's a hint: It's not in the bottom of the rotation. Anyway, one pitcher who's already had one shot with the 2008 Rockies, and at the rate we're going will have a couple more before the season's out, Mark Redman actually threw a decent game last night, he went seven innings allowing just six hits and a walk, with a much improved extra base hit rate. Christian Colonel and Sean Barker had three hits apiece for the Sky Sox. Colonel's .370 batting average would be good enough for fourth in the league were he to have the thirty or so additional plate appearances to qualify.

That first link mentioned Humberto Cota's suspension for violating the MLB's performance enhancer policy, but didn't go into the odd details that the suspension happened under the MLB's jurisdiction rather than the minor leagues . Cota's statement says that the positive test came as a result of what he thought was just anti-inflammatory medication prescribed by a physician in Mexico this winter.

Tulsa: L 3-6

Alan Johnson and Brandon Hynick have been having similar deep but ineffective outings this season. Typically they give up a lot of hits but not many walks, although Johnson walked five in seven innings last night. It's sort of baffling how they could so thoroughly lose the abilities to create outs that were evident in Modesto in 2007. The leap to AA is difficult, but is it typically this bad? Other clubs don't appear to be having so many growing pains. I don't intend to be accusatory these last couple of days, even though the questions probably come off that way. I just don't think we can avoid some of these legitimate concerns about the state of pitching in the upper levels of the system any longer. There are just too many good young pitchers taking steps backwards and as a fan I want to make sure that if there's a problem that it's corrected before this next talented Modesto/Asheville wave suffers the same sort of setbacks.

Justin Nelson had three hits, including a homerun and double for the Drillers.

Modesto: L 0-5

In the comments to yesterday's Pebble Report we unearthed Shane Lindsay's broken pitching hand, which will keep him out six to eight weeks. It's been six to eight weeks that Modesto's offense has been out, but there's no timetable for a return yet. The Nuts managed two hits against Clayton Tanner, a starter whose last quality start before last night was April 8, also against Modesto. In the eight games between, he's been averaging just a smidgen over four innings a start with an ERA of 6.96. It would probably help Modesto to get Cole Garner's bat back, but I also have to wonder why Travis Becktel was benched a night after carrying the team to their only runs in the last four games.

Asheville: Off

Tucson (extended spring):

Just to fill in the other news from the comments yesterday, I did report that Ricardo Ferrer, an 18 year old Venezuelan RHP the Rockies signed in 2006, pitched off the mound for the first time since an off-season surgery.

Colorado Springs: W 7-6

Ian Stewart's was the only slot in the Colorado Springs lineup to not get a hit last night, as even John Koronka made payback for Randy Johnson's two hits the night before with a single, double and two RBI. Humberto Cota had four hits and drove in three, and Omar Quintanilla a pair of doubles in the win.

Tulsa: L 15-5

If any ten run blow out could be considered not as bad as it looks on paper, this one probably qualifies. Brandon Hynick had a bad outing true and his fabled command was off, but the contact against him was weak for the most part, with a lot of bloop singles and soft liners falling in front of the outfield contributing the biggest chunk of the damage off of him last night. Offensively, Dexter Fowler was impressive, with three singles, a stolen base and a long out to left center that would likely have been a homerun in Whataburger Stadium the night before when the wind was blowing out instead of in. Chris Nelson also had a pair of hits, and Neil Wilson three, including a double. Eric Young Jr. broke up his zero for 2008 with a one for five performance. EY also stole a base for the 200th time in his professional career. Daniel Carte followed his two HR performance the night before with a three strikeout performance last night, as Corpus Christi pitchers fed him a steady diet of high heat (often too high) that he couldn't lay off of.

Modesto: L 9-1

The Stockton Ports rotation was dubbed the best in the minors by BA's Ben Badler in a chat yesterday, the performance Henry Rodriguez came up with last night against our beloved Nuts gives an indication why, as he pitched five innings, striking out eight while allowing just three hits and three walks. Our own Rodriguez, Aneury, couldn't match him -unless this was a poker game- lasting only three innings with a pair of sixes (hits and runs allowed) and a pair of jacks. Anthony Jackson continues to impress playing with the home team, walking three times, stealing two bases, and getting a single in five AB's. Mike McKenry and Jay Cox each had their first two hits of the season for Modesto. One of McKenry's was a double off Rodriguez.

Daniel Mayora played shortstop and Nick Haley second for the Nuts, as Hector Gomez was held out as a matter of precaution after x-rays on his shin came back negative according to Brian VanDerBeek at the ModBee's Nuts blog. Gomez is expected to miss a couple of games, but the good news is that it's nothing serious.

Asheville: Postponed

Rain across the Atlantic seaboard forced many games into postponement last night, the game will be made up tonight as part of a shortened double-header. Jason McGill predicts Darin Holcomb will go for the cycle.