Internet still on the fritz at home... but a sign of improvement is that my router showed a signal this morning before I left, whereas the previous days it showed none.  I'll try and give them a call this afternoon, but I'm getting bombed at work and I'm amazed I got as much of this written before lunch as I did.  I finished up the write-ups proper during lunch.

Meanwhile, today was a good day for teams not named the High Desert Mavericks.

On to the wrap-up!

VENEZUELA~!  VSL Mariners 8, VSL Cardinals 2

Jessie Nava:  3 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, walk, 2 K, 2 hit batters
Angel Raga:  3 IP, 3 walks, 3 K, wild pitch
Ricardo Pereira:  1 IP, 1 H, walk, K
Nolan Diaz:  2 IP, 2 H, 3 K
Roberto Velasquez:  3-4, double, triple, 3 R, RBI, walk
Jorge Agudelo:  2-4, RBI, 2 walks
Rigoberto Rangel:  2-4, R, 2 RBI, walk, K
Lampe:  1-3, RBI, K
Cesar Del Rio:  1-4, RBI, 2 K
Eduardo Garcia:  1-5, double, R, K

The VSLM's piled on 4 runs in the 4th to snap a 2-2 tie, to understate it nicely.  6-2 was more than enough, but the VSLM's added a run in the 5th and another in the 7th.

A:  Wisconsin 3, Burlington 1
WIS:  16-19... BUR:  15-22

Michael Pineda:  5 IP, 7 H, 1 ER, 3 walks, 6 K (7 app, 4 GS, 0.63 ERA, 28.2 IP, 1 HR, 6/26 BB/K)
Keith Meyer:  2.2 IP, 2 H, 2 walks, 3 K (9 app, 2.70 ERA, 16.2 IP, 2 HR, 6/16 BB/K)
Jose Escalona:  two outs
Justin Souza:  two outs (12 app, 4.32 ERA, 16.2 IP, 1 HR, 5/16 BB/K)
Calvin Beamon:  1-4, triple, R, K (229/302/324)
Edilio Colina:  2-4, R, RBI (309/365/404)
Alex Liddi:  1-4, RBI, 2 K (217/302/322)
Joe Dunigan:  3-4, 2 doubles, R (245/328/462)
Alex Meneses:  2-2 (250/344/321)

Pineda continues his surprising season by dueling for 5 innings with Burlington's Eduardo Paulino (8 app, 6 GS, 5.40 ERA, 36.2 IP, 2 HR, 12/30 BB/K).  His only damage came in rapid fire fashion to lead off the 3rd.  Wilson Tucker led off with a grounder to short that he beat out, and Mike Moustakas bombed Pineda with a triple to right to cash Tucker in.

Other than that, Pineda allowed no damage and finished the minimum after an effective performance with the T-Rats trailing only 1-0.

Groundballs:  9 (plus 1 bunt)
Flyballs:  1
Line Drives:  2
Pop Ups:  2
Walks:  3
Strikeouts:  6

And the T-Rats immediately got him off the hook in the bottom 5th.  Joe Dunigan led off with a double, Alex Meneses bunted him over and reached safely to boot, before Denny Almonte's sac fly cashed in Dunigan to tie the ballgame.

The T-Rats took over for good in the 8th.  Calvin Beamon, mostly quiet this past week, led off with his 3rd triple of the season.  Edilio Colina snaked a grounder up the middle to cash him in and give the T-Rats the 2-1 lead.  With one out and Colina on 2nd, Alex Liddi's grounder into LF scored Colina to make it 3-1, and that was enough for the bullpen.

A+:  Bakersfield 7, High Desert 2
Mavs:  17-23... Blaze:  25-15

Anthony Varvaro:  5 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, walk, 4 K (7 GS, 6.51 ERA, 37.1 IP, 3 HR, 29/30 BB/K)
Aaron Cotter:  two outs, 1 H, (1 R) 0 ER, walk, 2 K, wild pitch (15 app, 3.93 ERA, 18.1 IP, 2 HR, 6/18 BB/K)
Julio Santiago:  1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, walk, K (11 app, 2.76 ERA, 16.1 IP, 0 HR, 13/14 BB/K)
Bryan Harris:  1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, K, hit batter
Michael Wagner:  one out, K, wild pitch (15 app, 3.66 ERA, 19.2 IP, 0 HR, 4/15 BB/K)
Mavs' 1-4 hitters:  0-16, 8 K
Greg Halman:  1-4, solo HR (265/315/503)
Jose Yepez:  3-3 (218/267/273)
Anthony Phillips!:  1-3, RBI

The Mavs gave Anthony Varvaro some early help in the 2nd.  Two quick groundouts belied what happened next, as Greg Halman took Tommy Hunter (9 GS, 3.55 ERA, 58.1 IP, 6 HR, 8/50 BB/K) deep to make it 1-0.  Kuo Hui Lo followed with a lined single, and Jose Yepez himself lined a single to put runners at 1st and 2nd with 2 out.  The debuting 18 year old South African phenom Anthony Phillips came to the plate and smoked a grounder into RF to cash in Lo and make it 2-0 Mavs.  Welcome to the Cal League, Anthony!

But the Blaze struck back on an erratic Anthony Varvaro in the bottom 2nd.  (Not that) Chad Tracy (250/335/357) led off with a double to left, then took 3rd on a groundout.  KC Herren (237/351/258) grounded to 2nd, but Anthony Phillips, starting at 2B, muffed the grounder, and Tracy scored to cut the lead to 2-1.  JT Restko (200/250/289) grounded to 3rd, and Matt Mangini got the lead runner at 2nd for two outs.  Chris Gradoville (234/265/340) lined a single to put runners at 1st and 2nd... but Marcus Lemon (305/424/463) flew out to CF to end the threat.

Varvaro stayed out of trouble until the 5th.  Gradoville led off the 5th with a single to right, and Lemon bunted him to 2nd for one out.  Julio Borbon (321/374/428) singled to center, but Halman's cannon arm (which already led to one 8-3 double play earlier in the game) kept Gradovile at 3rd.  With Jose Vallejo (282/341/429) at the plate, Borbon stole 2nd for his 16th steal of the year, and Vallejo's eventual double cashed them both in to make it 3-2 Blaze.

Grant Gerrard (284/338/468) struck out for two outs, but Vallejo stole 3rd with Tracy at the plate, and Tracy eventually singled to cash Vallejo in and make it 4-2.  After John Whittleman (285/404/460) flew out to end the inning, that was it for Varvaro.  He did not get an unintentional groundball from the Blaze after the 2nd inning so even though he wasn't walking guys, he was getting hit pretty well.

Groundballs:  4 (plus 1 bunt)
Flyballs:  12
Line Drives:  1
Walks:  1
Strikeouts:  4

Aaron Cotter came in for the 6th and walked Herren to lead off.  He did get the next two batters on strikes, but with Lemon up, he threw to 1st on a pickoff and threw YIKES AND AWAY to give Herren 2nd, then uncorked a wild pitch to give Herren 3rd.  Lemon singled and Herren came in easily to make it 5-2.

Vallejo led off the 7th by beating out a grounder to short, then stole #16 with Gerrard at the plate.  Gerrard K'd again, but Tracy singled to right to move the runner to 3rd. 

Whittleman eventually sac flied to score Vallejo and make it 6-2 before Cotter got the hook for Bryan Harris.

Harris himself got into trouble in the 8th, plunking Gradoville to lead off and giving up a one out single to Julio Borbon before getting pulled for Michael Wagner with two outs.  Gerard, true to form, struck out on a wild pitch, which brought in the final run.

AA:  West Tenn 3, Birmingham 1
WTN:  24-16... BIR:  22-18

Ryan Ketchner:  7.2 IP, 6 H, (1 R) 0 ER, walk, 3 K (8 GS, 4.54 ERA, 39.2 IP, 2 HR, 16/24 BB/K)
Brodie Downs:  one out (13 app, 4.74 ERA, 19 IP, 1 HR, 9/14 BB/K)
Craig James:  1 IP, 1 H, K (12 app, 2.53 ERA, 10.2 IP, 0 HR, 6/11 BB/K)
Prentice Redman:  2-4, 2 run HR, 3 RBI (270/392/467)
Marshall Hubbard:  1-4, double, K (353/453/579)
Luis Oliveros:  2-3, R (422/447/511)
Jeff Dominguez:  2-3, R (233/300/315)

Ryan Ketchner pitched into the 8th, allowing very little action while pitching to contact
and giving the DIAMOND JAXX enough time to snap a 1-1 tie in the 6th on a 2 run bomb from Prentice Redman while resting the bullpen.

Groundballs:  11 (plus 1 bunt)
Flyballs:  9
Line Drives:  3
Pop Ups:  1
Walks:  1
Strikeouts:  3

Also, good for the DIAMOND JAXX to find more playing time for Luis Oliveros, who isn't great or anything but is hitting well.

AAA:  The Rainiers had the day off.  They are home to start a series with Tucson.  As they're the D'Backs AAA affiliate and the D'Backs actually like to call up and use their minor league talent, Goose can probably drop a couple names and provide more useful info than I can at the moment, as I've got to run.