“It’s close to the coast, and the wind is always blowing in,” the 23-year-old DeLome said by phone last week. “That helps you to not think about hitting home runs. You’ll stay in your swing and make solid contact. That’s what (Lamar coach Jim) Gilligan preached at Lamar.

“He said, ‘Vincent-Beck will make you a great hitter because you won’t swing for the fences.’ When we leave Corpus for road games, I won’t focus on hitting it out of the park. I’ll hit line drives, and balls that are supposed to leave the park will.”

He also talked about his experience playing against the big club last week:

DeLome admits to being a bit wide-eyed at seeing big leaguers Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee. DeLome said “Hey, Pudge,” to Astros catcher Ivan Rodriguez before batting for the first time Thursday.

“To be playing against people you watch on TV; you think they’re from a totally different world,” DeLome said. “That made it special, knowing it was against them.”

Baseball America has released it’s ranking of minor league ball parks and the Dell Diamond is ranked #2.

Colin Delome had memorable debut in Salem. He homered in his first at bat in the Carolina league and then later doubled as well.

“I was teasing the guys on the bench, saying, ‘See it’s not that hard,’” Avalanche manager Jim Pankovits said.

The Avs won 7-4. The game featured a little hint of basebrawl as well.

Kinston’s manager had been thrown out for arguing a call at the plate in the fourth inning.

Salem reliever Chris Salamida hit Niuman Romero square in the back with a pitch to lead off the eighth inning, and drew a bench warning from the umpires.

In the bottom of the eighth, Pontius walked the leadoff batter and then threw behind the head of the next batter, Parraz, before striking him out. He also went high against Tim Torres before getting him to fly out, and eventually plunked Ori.

Pontius then walked toward Ori, who was walking toward first base. Players from both teams moved up the steps from the dugouts and out of the bullpens but didn’t get to the field. Pankovits stepped between Ori and Pontius, who were then ejected from the game.

“That’s baseball,” Pankovits said. “Hopefully it’s over with and we can get on with baseball.”

Round Rock

The Express had their own excitement between pitcher and batter.

Round Rock defeated host Albuquerque 7-4 on Wednesday, the second straight night the two teams engaged in a middle-of-the-infield tussle at Isotopes Park.
This one came after Round Rock Express starter Josh Muecke and Isotope Andrew Beattie were ejected in the seventh inning.
Muecke was tossed for tossing a head-high delivery that nicked Beattie’s bat as he ducked for cover. Beattie was tossed for heading toward the mound. Benches and bullpens emptied to meet in the infield, but little was exchanged except rhetoric. That is, until Round Rock reliever Ray King, who hadn’t been in the game, lingered and started up with manager Dean Treanor. Then everyone came back, patty-caking for another minute or so before order was restored.

“I guess he felt he needed to talk to me,” said Treanor of King.

Corpus Christi

The Hooks got clutch hitting and held onto a late lead to win 3-2. The Hooks are trying to get a head start on playing well heading into the second half.

“It’s been tough, because the first month of the season we probably hit more than anybody, scored more than anybody, hit more doubles than anybody,” Hooks manager Luis Pujols said. “Through my experience I knew it was going to catch up with us. It was only a matter of time.

“My concern right now is to be sure the players are still playing hard and executing when we have the opportunity to do it,” Pujols said. “When you play games like tonight and you have a chance to execute one time, like Paz did, we end up winning the game.”

Caller.com has a good piece on Tip Fairchild’s rehab and return.

“The way I thought about it last year was I was basically a year ahead of schedule being in Double-A,” Fairchild said. “I was like, ‘I’m going to miss the year and I’m going to be right back there with those guys on schedule next year.’ I won’t be as good as I’ve been in the past because I’ll be rehabbing still, but I’ll still kind of be where I’m supposed to be. That’s the (attitude) I’m taking.”

Billy Hart is on the DL due to a groin injury.

Lexington

The Legends let one slip away late to Greensboro last night. Fernando Abad only gave up one hit in 2 2/3 innings of relief but that one hit was a home run to Hunter Mense that lost the lead and allowed the Hoppers to jump by the Legends 6-5.

Draft Pick News

Our second round pick is a Braves fan?

“I was more of a Braves fan, but now I’m an Astros fan, so I bought an Astros hat,” said Austin, whose roommate could be Milton first baseman Chase Davidson, Houston’s third-round pick. “But I will always be a Braves fan.”

Maybe that should have been a point of discussion at batting practice on Wednesday.

Jimmy Van Ostrand went 1-4 in his last appearence as a Salem Avalanche for the time being. He was promoted to Corpus Christi after the Av’s 3-2 loss last night. He leaves the team hitting .304.

Brian Hallburg is making some heads turn in the Salem bullpen. He has only allowed 2 runs in his last 12 appearences. During those 18 innings, he has given up 12 hits, 4 walks and no HR while striking out 15 batters.

Lexington

Tommy Vessella had a rough outing. He didn’t get out of the 4th inning, giving up 7 earned runs in the Legends’ 13-4 loss.

After the game, Colin Delome got the call up to Salem.

Corpus Christi

The Hooks let one get away late as they lost 5-4 last night. They just can’t seem to put the pieces together to start a winning streak.

“It’s more that we’re kind of in a funk as a team, and you just try to do something to break it and you hope it comes soon,” said Bogusevic, who was denied his first victory of the season after a 0-5 start.

…”Anytime you lead off the game with a triple, we hit two triples today and Bogusevc scored on the one. But anytime you have runners on first and third with nobody out and your third through fifth hitters up, I expect to score at least one run,” Pujols said. “We were not able to do that.”

The silver lining last night?

“Bogusevic threw the ball great. He’s just having a tough time trying to find a way to win a game,” Pujols said. “He pitched well enough to win.”

Round Rock

Runelvys Hernandez was due for a bad outing. He had given 7 quality starts in his last 8. He got his bad one out of the way last night. In 5 innings, he gave up 6 earned runs. The bullpen brought their gas hoses as they fanned the flames instead of putting them out. Fernando Nieve gave up 5 runs in one inning; giving up 2 home runs. The final damage was 12-3.

Draft Signings

OregonStrosFan has updated the draft signing tracker (Bus Ride version)with 10 more names bringing the total to 22 out of 52 players drafted.

The Good

The Hitters

The Legends as a team are tied for 3rd with 14 triples. They also have been caught stealing 12 times, good for the second lowest total in the league.

Welcome to the Matt Cusick show. Cusick leads the way with a .339 batting average which is good enough for 4th in the league. He leads the league with a .427 OBP and is 3rd with a .552 slugging percentage. Those two stats combine to put him first with a .979 OPS. He is tied for 6th with 91 total bases. He is also 6th in most bases on balls (25). His 3 triples are good to put him in a tie for 6th most. Cusick is tied for 8th most doubles (14). His 56 hits are good enough for 9th best. He has the 7th most runs scored (33)

Colin Delome is 8th in slugging (.509). He is tied for 2nd with 10 HR and tied for 2nd with 4 triples.

Craig Corrado is 7th with 17 stolen bases.

Pitchers

Lexington pitchers have only walked 130 batters in 423 1/3 innings, good for 4th lowest.

Sergio Severino is 8th in most batters struck out (54)

The Crowd

The Legends fans are still coming to the park. Their average attendance of 5101 is good for 2nd in the league.

The Bad:

The Hitters

The Legends aren’t in the worst 4 in any category but are middle of the pack in most.

Colin Delome is tied for 8th most strikeouts (52).

The Pitchers

Lexington’s pitchers share a 4.44 team ERA which is the 4th worst in the league. They have surrendered the most hits and runs. However, they have only the 4th worst amount of earned runs. They also have the second worst WHIP in the league.

Leandro Cespedes has allowed 36 runs which is the 8th most in the league. His 10 home runs surrendered is second worst in the league.

Sergio Severino has plunked 6 batters which is the 3rd worst. His 24th walks issued are tied for 7th worst in the league.

Friday Night, the Legends built a lead 6-3 lead off the continued power surge of Colin Delome who hit his 6th homer this season and Steve Brown who hit his third of the season. Hickory came back with 5 in the 8th of Fernando Abad. Abad had been very effective in his first 5 outings this season allowing only one earned run in 11 innings before allowing 5 runs in the 8th last night. The Legends lost 8-6.

Saturday, the Legends were rained out.

Sunday, the Legends split the double header. The opener was an ugly 10- 9 come from behind win. Leandro Cespedes have up 8 runs but only 2 were earned. Due to the extra work caused by 3 consecutive errors, he only lasted into the 3rd inning where he faced 6 batters. After 3 it was 9-4. The bullpen held and the offense responded with 4 in the 5th and 2 in the 6th for the 10-9 win. Colin Delome hit his 4th homer in 4 games. He now leads the Sally League with 7 round trippers.

In game 2, the Legends found themselves in a 4-0 hole after 2 innings and couldn’t dig out. The final was a 6-2 loss. Delome went hitless ending his 9 game hitting streak.

The Legends are off on Monday.

Salem

Friday night, Salem pitches go hit hard in an 11-2 loss.

“It was brutal,” Salem catcher Koby Clemens said. “It was just tough. Guys had trouble locating their pitches tonight and they [Lynchburg] took advantage of hitters’ counts.”

Clemens, in his first season as a catcher, tried to shoulder some of the blame.

“I was talking to [pitching coach] Gary Ruby about it tonight,” Clemens said. “I felt like sometimes I don’t know what [pitches] to call. It seemed like whatever I’d throw down, they were hitting it. I feel like a video game player, I’m calling for the pitches.”

But Pankovits said the pitchers have the ultimate control.

“The pitcher has the ball, they have the ability to shake [off] any pitch,” Pankovits said. “And most of the time, when they shake, it isn’t a very good idea.

“It’s called taking responsibility.”

Also in Friday’s paper, there is a story on Osvaldo Fernando’s transition from player to coach.

“He understands the game,” said Astros’ farm director Ricky Bennett. “He has very good communications skills; he’s bilingual. He has all the intangibles.

“His presence helps out not just the Latin players, but all of the players.”

“And he throws good batting practice,” added Avalanche manager Jim Pankovits, who is out from throwing BP himself until he is fully recovered from offseason shoulder surgery.

Saturday, Salem committed 3 errors and left seven runners on base in the 4-3 loss. The three errors pushed the Avs total to 21 in 15 games that have resulted in 12 unearned runs.

“It’s definitely been pretty much a collective effort. We certainly work on it; we certainly emphasize it,” Avalanche manager Jim Pankovits said. “We’ve had pretty good defensive teams in the past couple of years, and that’s a big reason why we’ve been successful in the past.”

David Qualben got the start and didn’t make it through the 5th allowing 8 hits. He did have a signature pick off. Jordan Parraz was the most effective Av at the plate, going 3-5 with a triple short of the cycle.

Sunday, Polin Trinidad continued his impressive start to the 2008 season, prompting his manager to ask, “How long will he be here?” and give some rare praise.

“He does everything you ask,” said Pankovits, not a noted overpraiser of pitchers. “He’s aggressive. He has a great feel for how to pitch a game. He knows when to change speeds, he knows how to locate, he knows when to pitch around somebody.”….”He doesn’t throw 93 or 94, his breaking ball doesn’t break a foot, he doesn’t have devastating stuff,” Pankovits said. “But he knows how to win. Knock on wood, he’s as good as I’ve had here.”

The Av’s got lucky with a blown call by an umpire gave Koby Clemens credit for a home run on a ball that was obviously foul.

“Yeah, I think they missed it,” Pankovits admitted after the game. “But they’re human. That ball was a rocket and it had a lot of hook to it.”

The Avalanche’s scoring was capped by an unusual play where Jordan Parraz scored from first on a blooper by Clemens.

The second baseman was covering the bag, and the right fielder was too deep to get to the ball. By the time the ball was even picked up, Parraz was dashing home.

Corpus Christi

Friday, the Hooks could get the big hit when they needed it in their 5-2 loss.

“We had plenty of chances, we just couldn’t get those breaks,” Hooks outfielder Mitch Einertson said. “We hit a lot of balls hard that were stopped in those situations. Sometimes, that’s just how that works and other times we get those breaks. (This) just wasn’t one of those nights.

“The main thing is that everybody’s swing seems to be coming through and everybody is getting hits as the season’s going on. It’s just one of those nights and I’m sure we’ll come out (tonight) and get them.”

Chris Johnson returned to the line up going 1-4 and making a nice defensive play as well.

Saturday, Corpus Christi got crushed 15-5.

“We got whipped,” Hooks manager Luis Pujols said. “This was one of those games that happen every year. I just talked to all the pitchers and told them that I appreciated what they did because it was a tough night.

“But I also reminded them that they pitched well for 14 games, and (this) is going to happen once in a while. They just need to keep their heads up and keep pitching well. … You just hope the team goes home, doesn’t do anything crazy and regroups (today).

Sunday, the Hooks salvaged one win for the weekend. Brad James got plenty of run support starting with a 5 run first inning.

“Brad always gives us a quality outing,” Manzella said. “We’re going to get a lot of ground balls and that’s what you need at this field. To come out and jump on them early really put the pressure on them and we just leaned on (James) the rest of the game.”

Round Rock

Friday, the Express 9th inning rally fell short in their 6-4 loss. Mark Saccomanno lead the Express hitters going 3-5 with a triple.

Saturday, Round Rock also left seven runners on base in their 4-2 loss.

“It goes back to the basics,” Express manager Dave Clark said. “When you get a guy on base you’ve got to find a way to get him over. You can’t be striking out as much as we’ve been doing at the plate.

“Right now the bats are quiet, and I’m waiting for the bats to wake up. Hopefully I won’t be waiting much longer.”

Sunday, the Express got a strong outing from Chad Reineke but it wasn’t enough as Memphis scored a tie breaking run in the 9th to win 3-2.

“He came out on a mission to prove that he could go deep and he did today,” said Round Rock manager Dave Clark. “I felt that he was on top of his game today.”

Marc Saccamonno accounted for the Express runs with a 417 foot, 2 run homer in the 8th.

Transactions: The Astros announced that Tim Byrdak will be called up to take Wandy Rodriguez’s place on the roster with Wandy going on the DL. They also said that Jack Cassell will be called up later in the week to start in Wandy’s spot.

Hooks go to 5-0 with a 8-7 12 inning win over Arkansas. Rob Crosby hit a solo homer in the 9th to tie the game and Eli Iorg had the game winning hit in the 12th.

“We’ve just got a great bunch of great guys who like to play baseball hard and don’t like to lose,” Iorg said. “When that’s the feeling in the clubhouse and the dugout, you win games.”

The bullpen held the game in check for the late inning heroics. Brian Gordon, Ryan McKeller, Evan Englebrook and Chris Blazek combined for 8 innings of one run ball.

“I’ve got to give credit to the bullpen — they did a great job today,” manager Luis Pujols said. “That’s a hell of a job.

“We got some good pitching out of the bullpen and the hitters did a great job — they never gave up.”

Lexington

The Legends lost their home opener 6-3. Anthony Bello pitched pretty well but manager Greg Langbahn found plenty to be disappointed with.

“I liked the fact we were up 2-0 heading into the fifth. I didn’t like the way we played defensively,” Langbehn said. “We were really sloppy, which was disappointing. We just gave them too many extra outs.

“Offensively, I was a little disappointed. I didn’t think we competed overly well at times. Just took a lot of hittable pitches and got ourselves deep into counts and didn’t have good at-bats. … I was pleased with how Bello threw the ball.”

Colin Delome & Steve Brown had solo home runs in the game. Four of the five Legends hits went for extra bases.

Roster Move: Left-hander Jeff Icenogle (calf) is on the disabled list. Right-hander Jacob Leonhardt, up from extended spring training, takes the roster spot and is scheduled to start Wednesday.

Round Rock

Round Rock lost to Omaha 7-5. Chad Reineke gave up 6 earned runs in 3 1/3 innings for the loss.

Round Rock:

The buzz about Yordany Ramirez keeps building:

“Ramirez in center has made some plays in the last few weeks of spring training that in — my, how many years I’ve been playing? — I haven’t seen before,” said Klassen. “He’s pretty special out there.”

Corpus Christi

Roster changes lead the news with Harold Eckert being released, Brian Gordon moving down from AAA and placed on the inactive list. This move was precipitated by the Astros signing Tim Byrdak to pitch at AAA. Gordon will be on the inactive list along with Tip Fairchild (TJ surgery) and Sergio Perez (groin).

Here is the expected opening day line up.

As for the Hooks’ starting lineup, second baseman Drew Sutton, shortstop Tommy Manzella and third baseman Chris Johnson are penciled in as the first three hitters. First baseman Robert Cosby, right fielder Mitch Einertson and catcher Lou Santangelo are the 4-6 hitters, followed by center fielder Eli Iorg and left fielder Billy Hart. Right-hander Brad James is scheduled to face Tulsa right-hander Alan Johnson.

Salem

The Clemens name continues to be expected to sell tickets and papers. The local paper features Clemens move to catcher. Clemens let’s it be known he is willing to play anywhere, with one condition.

“Whatever’s going to get me to the big leagues and let me stay in the big leagues– really, I’d play anywhere as long as I get to hit.”

Lexington

Lexington’s local paper comes with a strong start to the season with a feature on Colin DeLome.

“He can run. He can hit. He can juice the ball out of the ballpark,” said Gregg Langbehn, manager of the Legends. “He’s a pretty serviceable outfielder, seems to make all the plays.”

Langbehn plans to work with the 6-foot-2, 195-pound left-handed hitter on spraying the ball to all fields. The right-field deck at Applebee’s Park can be enticing, but Langbehn says he doesn’t want DeLome to get “pull happy.”

DeLome on playing for Jim Gilligan at Lamar:

“He really helped me learn the game of baseball, the mental side of it,” said DeLome, who also played shortstop in high school. “Really come into my swing and start playing ball, and give me the chance to be here.”

DeLome on DeLome:

“I definitely need to keep working on arm strength. Make sure my defense stays steady, because this is only my fourth full season to be in the outfield,” he said. “At the plate, though, I feel great right now. Please throw me a low, inside fastball. We’ll see how far it can go over the party deck. Other than that, I’m just looking to put the ball in play, start off the season with hits. I’m not worried about hitting home runs or anything.”

Rotation News:

The plan to “piggyback” start Carlos Ladeuth and Colt Adams — each pitching half a game — is on hold. Instead, each will get a start at Asheville, plugging a hole left by Jeff Icenogle. Icenogle will skip a start as a result of taking a ball off his left calf during spring training.

Quote

“[Cooper] told me, ‘I know what you can do,’ ” Manzella said. “It’s a chance for you to show new people in the organization what you showed us last year.’ They said [to] just go out and play and be ready to step in at any point in the year if something were to come up, injury or otherwise.

On Iorg:

Quote

“We’re pretty excited about Eli,” said Tom Wiedenbauer, Minor League field coordinator. “He had such an unfortunate year last year with the injury. He was really starting to turn the corner and doing some good things when he got hurt. It’s exciting to see him get a chance to play again. He’s going to be a multidimensional player. He can steal bases, hit for power, play defense, throw. He does a lot of things.”

On Delome:

Quote

“He’s a strong kid, has some power,” Wiedenbauer said of DeLome, a native of Beaumont, Texas. “As he matures physically, he’s going to have more power. He runs well.”