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Wednesday Pebble Report

I've got a ton of stuff I'll be wanting to go through today, some minor league stuff, some trade-talk, some toblogganin, some business stuff. Too much stuff altogether, actually, so I might have to do a Sickels style schedule and postpone posting a couple of these things until closer to the weekend. But for the minors today I'll do the recap first and then to follow will be three posits on three positions.

Colorado Springs: Despite pounding out fifteen hits, including five for extra bases and getting five walks, the Sky Sox somehow scored only five runs in an eight to five loss. Ryan Shealy (7) and Jeff Baker(4) both hit homeruns. So outside those two swings which accounted for three of the Sky Sox runs (Baker's was a two run shot) there were seventeen additional baserunners and only two runs scored out of them. That is some pretty bad inefficiency.

Tulsa: Just about the lone highlight was Troy Tulowitzki's two run homerun (5) in the eighth. Matt Macri also had three hits and Jentry Beckstead out of the bullpen was okay, but there weren't too many other positives for the Drillers in this seven to three loss.

Modesto: Chris Frey had three hits leading off and scored twice thanks to Matt Miller two slots down, but the tenuous lead these two helped provide slipped away in middle relief and the Nuts wound up losing six to three. It didn't help that Ryan Mattheus couldn't go very deep, pitching only five innings. Mattheus had one of those outings which will make his ERA look good despite being totally ineffective. The two runs scored off him were counted as unearned, but he walked an astonishing seven batters while he was out there, and to me, that says he should have to take some responsibility for those scores.

Asheville: The Tourists were the lone winner in the system yesterday, gaining a six to one victory. Chris Nelson, after starting the year quite slowly has raised his average to .300, and after he doubled and homered last night, is looking less like the bust we feared earlier in the season. Is he ready for the challenge of Modesto? I think we have to keep him in Asheville for at least another month so we can make sure this hot streak is a step forward and to give him enough confidence to handle the bump in skills of the opposition. One excellent sign is that his splits aren't showing any glaring discrepancies, not even the usual McCormick effect as he's been hitting better on the road. If he can keep up May's performance into the middle of June, I say move him up at the start of short-season ball.