Mariner System Report (Games of 4/15)

SEATTLE (MAJ: 7-8, 3rd American League West): The Mariners beat Kansas City 11-6. Jose Lopez drove in four runs for the Mariners. Miguel Batista allowed four runs over five innings for the win.

TACOMA (AAA: 8-4, 2nd Pacific Coast League Pacific Northern Division): The Rainiers beat Fresno 14-6. Wladimir Balentien (’04), Jeff Clement (’05), and Bryan LaHair (’04) all homered for the Rainiers. Robert Rohrbaugh (’05) gave up six runs on four hits over 5.2IP, but it was enough to get the win.

WEST TENNESSEE (AA: 7-5, T-3rd Southern League North Division): The Diamond Jaxx lost 8-7 at Mobile. West Tennessee trailed 7-1 heading into the eighth inning. They scored three in the eighth and Mobile got a run in the bottom of the inning. The Diamond Jaxx scored three more runs in the top of the ninth, but the rally came up short.

HIGH DESERT (High-A: 8-5, T-1st California League South Division): The Mavericks lost 9-6 to Lake Elsinore. The Storm broke a 4-4 tie with three runs in the top of the eighth inning. Travis Scott (’05) drove in a pair of runs for the Mavs.

MARINER SYSTEM SCHEDULE TODAY
Seattle (Felix Hernandez 1-0) at Oakland (Joe Blanton 1-2) 9:05pm CDT
Tacoma (Justin Thomas 0-0) at Fresno (Patrick Misch 1-0) 9:05pm CDT
West Tennessee (Marwin Vega 0-1) at Mobile (Hector Ambriz 0-1) 7:05pm CDT
Lake Elsinore (Drew Miller 0-1) at High Desert (Keith Renaud 0-1) 9:05pm CDT

Seattle Minor League Report

Jim Street catches up with the minor league news at seattlemariners.com. The main part of the story is a look at the Tacoma Rainiers with plenty of quotes from former Rattler manager Daren Brown.

Brown has been helping out at the Major League camp since pitchers and catchers reported on Feb. 13, and he's not sure when he'll return to full-time duty with the Tacoma club.

He has seen several of his prospective players in Cactus League action, and three of them -- pitcher Joe Woerman, second baseman Yung Chi Chen and first baseman Bryan LaHair -- were re-assigned to Tacoma on Thursday.

The Tacoma roster also includes the following camp invitees: pitcher Robert Rohrbaugh, catcher Brant Ust, infielder Mark Kiger and outfielder Bronson Sardinha. All of them were among Thursday's roster cuts.

The Rainiers have 15 Spring Training games to get ready for the Pacific Coast League opener April 3 against the Sacramento River Cats at Cheney Stadium. The eight-game homestand includes a four-game series against Fresno before hitting the road for an eight-game road trip, starting in Colorado Springs.

Next up is the AZL M's receiving their 2007 Championship rings. The picture along with the article is of Daniel Carroll and Tyson Gillies showing off their....bling? Is that the right, hip term the kids are using these days? Bling?

That team, with a lot of potential Rattlers on it, went 37-19 and beat the Giants 8-5 in the championship game. Carroll, an outfielder selected in the 3rd round of the '07 draft, hit .323 with no homers and 24 RBI for the AZL M's.

There is a little more, but the last thing that I'll excerpt from the article is this on #1 pick Phillippe Aumont from former Rattler catcher Adam Moore ('06).

"His motion and the way he throws is just so easy," Moore said. "He's got that big body and throws the ball in the upper 90s. He's also one of the 'dirtiest' pitchers in camp.

"He's going to have a bright future. He's got a good slider, too, and his changeup isn't too far behind. I think he can make a really good run because this organization is as good as any when it comes to pushing their prospects. I think he can start at low or even high [Class] A this year and finish at a higher level. And then you never know what can happen next year."