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Second blog announcement

Will be made public at this evening's ballgame!

Hammond coming back? - UPDATED

Sorry, but this is going to be quick - will fan fave, Joey Hammond be called up to replace the now departed Chris Coste? (scroll down to the bottom)

This may be it for today as I'm "on assignment". More later...

*** UPDATE ***

Joey's most definitely back, going 2-5 in today's ugly 10-15 loss to Indy. I blogged about Joey way back in November. In other former Lynx player type news, according to Baseball America, Luis Terrero has been called up by the Chicago White Sox and Howie Clark is making a return to the Blue Jays (I'm still looking for confirmation of both moves).

Injury rehabs, or in the case of Roger Clemens, "rust rehabs" are in the news. Apparently the SWB Yankees are hoping the Rocket will touch down in Pennsylvania - "We’ll just sell a billion tickets,” Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre general manager Jeremy Ruby said. “We’re crossing our fingers and hoping it happens."

Don't hold your breath though, it's highly unlikely he'll visit anything but a "home" park. Another former MLBer of Canadian renown who might stick for a while with his new AAA club is Rheal Cormier. Cormier is pitching for the Richmond Braves who, as coincidence would have it, will make a stop in Ottawa at the beginning of June.

Finally, while I'm not often a fan of the editorial commentary, one of the Phillies leading bloggers, Beerleaguer, turns it's attention today to the minor leagues as a possible partial solution for the problems in Philadelphia:

"Around baseball – from Jack Cust in Oakland to Willie Harris in Atlanta – teams are finding outfield production off the scrap heap, AAAA players with less pedigree than Werth. I don’t know whether dipping into the dry farm system is the answer (Gary Burnham and Lou Collier are both hitting). The point is, the time has arrived when teams can accurately assess what they have and what they don’t..."

The Coste is clear - UPDATED

Sorry about that, but what can you expect on short notice. Chris Coste has been recalled by the Phillies.

More later.

*** UPDATE ***

Not that anyone in the Lynxfan household saw it, but last night was probably the biggest win in the other Ottawa franchise's history. I will confess that I was flipping back and forth between the hockey game and other shows, and managed to catch Buffalo's tying goal with about 5.8 seconds remaining. Consensus on the ride this morning was that the "old" Senators would have packed their tent at that point and gone home.

Which is a nice segue to the subject of the title of this post. Chris Coste has indeed gone back to Philadelphia, ostensibly due to Ryan Howard's placement on the DL. The question on Chris' mind though must be: "Will I be sent back down when Howard returns?". Two schools of thought on this one - one camp says he will, the other that the Phillies and Charlie Manuel will find a spot for him as a pinch hitter. The Phillies have indicated that they are in the second camp:

But the Phillies hope Dobbs, who went a career-best 4 for 4 with a triple, two runs scored and two RBIs, Wes Helms and Coste, who primarily will be used as a pinch-hitter, can hold the fort while Howard recovers.

"There's no way I'd ever want to lose Howard," manager Charlie Manuel said. "Not for one day or two weeks. But at the same time, I think we've definitely got to get him well where he can feel comfortable playing. I'm selfish. If I could have him on the bench, I would definitely want that."

At the risk of sounding negative, I was a little underwhelmed by Coste. I certainly expected him to be disappointed at being sent down, but it stung a little how he threw Ottawa under the bus (read: "facilities leave something to be desired"*). Honestly, I think a guy like Chris Roberson with his "I'm gonna bounce back" demeanor had the more mature attitude between the two of them - and yes, I know: at 34 years old, Coste's clock is ticking much louder than Chris Roberson's. In any event, best wishes to Chris Coste, I never thought he should have been here in the first place.

* Blogger's note: Chris updated his website at some point and removed the references about Ottawa. The original version was noted by myself and the Ottawa Sun.

Then and now

Like most Saturdays, it's been busy (and I still haven't mowed the lawn). The regular ride in the Gatineau Park was followed by Zak's Little League Picture Day out at the Sportsplex, then a two hour practice at the Eagles Nest. I was surprised (pleasantly) to run into the dynamic duo that is "Bryan and Ryan" from the Lynx while we were out at the Sportsplex. Apparently, Skratch and Trash Monster were out at another baseball function in Orleans, but it didn't matter - a more approachable, at ease pair of guys you won't find anywhere.

As promised, some of the roster changes from March 31 to present.

Here's how things looked on March 31, 2007:

CATCHERS:

Jason Jaramillo - still in Ottawa.

Dusty Wathan - still in Ottawa, but was sent to Reading temporarily before rejoining the Lynx last month.


INFIELDERS:

Brent Abernathy - traded to the Washington Nationals around April 9.

Gary Burnham - still playing here, but for how much longer?

Brennan King - still patrolling 3B.

Carlos Leon - still in Ottawa.

Danny Sandoval - still in Ottawa.


OUTFIELDERS:

Ron Calloway - still with the Lynx.

Lou Collier - still with the Lynx.

Chris Roberson - thankfully, still in Ottawa. Flyballs have no chance with Chris.

Jim Rushford - still local.

Pedro Swann - sent to AA Reading.


PITCHERS:

Joe Bisenius - still in Ottawa.

Eude Brito - local, but on the DL.

Fabio Castro - called up by Philadelphia.

Matt Childers - solid starter, still here.

Jim Crowell - released, now playing for Syracuse.

Kane Davis - in Ottawa.

John Ennis - playing for the Lynx, currently on the DL.

J.A. Happ - solid LHP, still in Ottawa.

Yoel Hernandez - called up by Philadelphia.

Brian Mazone - release granted, playing in Korea. This one hurts.

Justin Miller - released.

Brian Sanches - solid closer, still local.

NOW:

CATCHERS:

Chris Coste - sent down by Philadelphia. Solid, versatile (1B, catcher, 3B) player.

INFIELDERS:

Joe Thurston - as close to certain as you can get; every ground ball is a "routine" out with Joe.

OUTFIELDERS:

Since Pedro was sent down, there have been no other changes.

PITCHERS:

Zach Segovia - reliable SP, a little snake-bit on the run support.

J.D. Durbin - recent acquisition, assigned to Ottawa on May 4.

Rick Bauer - sent down from Philly on April 23.

Matt Smith - optioned to Ottawa by the Phillies on April 26.

Ryan Cameron - called up to Ottawa from Reading on May 6. I profiled Ryan back in March.

Heath Totten - called up from Reading.

Jason Anderson - sent down by Philadelphia a couple of days ago.

The more things change...

At some point this weekend I'm going to try (heavy emphasis on "try") to post the changes in the Lynx lineup since Opening Day. Another change this week: reliever John Ennis has been moved to the DL with Heath Totten coming up from Reading to replace him. As Doug Bird notes in his report over on PhuturePhillies, from a scheduling/travel perspective the team is on an absolutely brutal road trip. Fortunately, they've not had to dip too deep into the bullpen on too many occasions. Tough loss last night against Louisville in a well pitched game all around - newcomer J.D. Durbin went five innings, giving up six hits and two earned runs.

When the team gets back to Ottawa, they're likely going to note some changes to the local scenery; the leaves have come out, the flowers are in full bloom and the smell of lilac is in the air. This is definitely my favorite time of year - caught the scent of gasoline and a freshly mowed lawn last night on our way home from Zak's Little League game... spring in Ottawa has truly arrived. "The boy" is having an absolute blast playing baseball this spring and I can see the effect of his studying various Blue Jays players; he's adopted Paul Molitor's batting stance and bat "waggle" (he's still working on the swing part of it). During tryouts a couple of weeks ago, the coaches evaluated the kids skills in order to seed the teams evenly. In the hitting portion, a coach threw him ten wiffle balls - after the first five, Zak put up his hand to delay the next pitch, then turned to hit left handed in his best John Olerud stance. Bekah asked me what her older brother was doing.

"Showing off", I replied. The coach turned and gave me a "is this kid for real?" look. I shrugged and acted as if I was someone else's Dad...

Quick little video from last night - nice steal of home on a passed ball at the end. (Youtube should have it ready by 2.30 p.m. at the latest).

Mystery man - UPDATED again

A pair of tickets to any game to the first person who can identify the mystery Philadelphia employee in the Lynx dugout last week. Hopefully he wasn’t scouting Brian Mazone – the news that Neate Sager broke yesterday, has now been confirmed: Brian’s going to try his luck in Korea (presumably, South Korea). It probably shouldn’t come as a complete surprise though; last year he was apparently talked out of jumping to the Korean peninsula by none other than Chris Coste. Perhaps the advice was different this spring…

Nice win in Louisville yesterday afternoon, including Danny Sandoval hitting one out – we’re on a home run hitting tear! If they can win today, they’ll have taken 3 of 4 from Louisville and will be well positioned to take their shot at division leader Buffalo. And there’s a strange bit of timing – both Ottawa teams will be in Buffalo this weekend. The Sens finished the regular season in third place behind Buffalo – exactly where the Lynx currently sit relative to the Bisons. Cue the “Twilight Zone” theme….

*** UPDATE ***

Stop with the email. Ottawa's in Indy this weekend, followed by Buffalo here in Ottawa starting on Tuesday. Secondly, the "mystery man" has been identified. Just gotta confirm I can reveal his ID before I post it.

*** UPDATE II ***

The mystery man is none other than minor league catching coordinator Mike Compton.

Mike Compton during his playing days


Hat tip (and two tickets): "Educated" Lynx fan.


*** UPDATE III ***

A little more about the Korea deal and Brian's replacement, Jason Anderson.