Dis & Dat

*Tonight's game in Oklahoma City has been postponed and will be made up as a double-header Wednesday. Tomorrow's game is an 11 am start.

*Rick VandenHurk has been demoted to New Orleans to make room for Reynel Pinto, who is off the DL. VandenHurk figures to slide back into the Zephyrs rotation.

*Mr.Z is off for the next few days "tending to family matters" and such. Members of the press, please be respectful.

Bring Back Maybin!

Mike Stanton is probably in Florida to stay, and if there's anyone unhappy about that aside from Zephyr fans, it's got to be former Zeph Cameron Maybin. Between Stanton, Chris Coughlan, and Cody Ross, the Marlins have a pretty good offensive outfield trio. After starting in center field for most of the year, Maybin is now riding the pine all the time. He hasn't played in a week.

And take a look at his stats. 56 Ks against 16 BBs and a .290 OBP. These are essentially the exact numbers Maybin put up in Florida last year that were deemed inadequate and landed him in New Orleans. The kid clearly has pitch recognition issues and struggles against anything that's not a fastball (outlined nicely here).

He's not doing anyone much good on a bench in Florida. Maybin needs to play, and New Orleans is the place for him to do it.

Game #61: Zephyrs 4-3

Symbolically, the Zs 4-3 win over Round Rock last night felt big. They proved they are not the worst team in the PCL South, they won 3 out of 4 against that inferior team, and they won three straight at Zephyr Field for the first time all season.

It wasn't the most thrilling game, with the Zs notching single runs through three RBI singles and one fielder's choice, but Brian Lawrence and the bullpen kept Round Rock down. Lawrence pitched into the sixth while striking out seven and the trio of Sinkbeil, Wood, and Strickland put up donuts in relief. Mike Lamb led the charge with a pair of RBI singles, netting him Game #61's HUGE Z.

Logan Morrison Offensive Analysis

You say you want more. After all, the guy almost beat out Gaby Sanchez for Florida's 1B spot. Where's the pop, where's the buzz that guys like Stanton or Gaby or Maybin or Miller generated?

Okay, so LoMo only has three HRs in 2010 in 133 minor league at bats. He's also hitting .321 with a .421 OBP and a .975 OPS. Nineteen BBs against sixteen Ks. These are superb offensive numbers, the kind that suggest a mature approach at the plate and a willingness to wait for a good pitch to hit. LoMo's pitch recognition is major league quality already, and -- unlike a lot of young left-handed power hitters -- he handles left-handed pitching excellently. This year he's hitting .294 against them with a .901 OPS. Two of three HRs have been against lefties. With runners in scoring position his OPS vaults to 1.106, his OBP to .500.

The kind of offensive numbers LoMo is putting up this year for the Zephyrs might not be the loudest (though his power output is definitely suppressed by Zephyr Field), but they're undoubtedly the type major league teams covet. Enjoy the LoMo era while you can.

Game #61: Lineups

At 6 PM Central, the Zephyrs look to take three of four from last-place Round Rock and to win three straight at home for the first time in 2010. Brian Lawrence is on the hill and Hector Luna is using a sick day again.

The Zs will trot out:

LF Raynor
RF Carroll
1B Morrison
3B Lamb
SS Murphy
2B Dawkins
CF Cousins
C Wilson
P Lawrence

Game #60: Zephyrs Win, 6-3

The Zephyrs pulled away late from Round Rock last night and jumped ahead a game in the standings, hoisting themselves out of the cellar.

Mr.Z's favorite Z Adalberto Mendez made his second start of the season and didn't disappoint, going 4 2/3 while giving up just two runs. This was only his second appearance in which the stingy righty has given up anything at all. Seems clear that they're stretching him out to get as much length as they can from him.

Round Rock struck first. After Express catcher Jason Castro (who will be in the bigs this year) lofted a two-run homer in the fourth, New Orleans charged back with a small-ball, three-run fifth capped by Danny Richar's two-run single. LoMo put it out of reach an inning later with a bases-clearing double.

HUGE Z? Duh, Mendez.