Sweet

Triple-A: Rick Sweet was named International League Manager of the Year, and the Bats lost 3-2. Sweet is really a pretty amazing manager whom the players love (and he's won MOY twice, including in '94 after back-to-back title seasons with Tucson), and the only question mark might be why he's not a major league manager. I really hope Walt Jocketty is taking notice.

High A: Yonder Alonso was 1 for 3 with a double in his pro debut and Juan Francisco was 2 for 4 in Sarasota's 4-1 loss. Zach Stewart threw a perfect inning and struck out 2.

Buchholz

Low A: Neftali Soto had 2 hits and 2 RBIs in Dayton's 6-3 win. Devin Mesoraco was 1 for for the 3rd straight day and the 4th time in 6 games. Mace Thurman struck out 6 (!) in his 3 innings, and he's kind of a stud. The 21-year-old Texan has struck out 42 in his 31.1 innings since being drafted in the 19th round out of Baylor. Still, he's given up 9 runs in his 15 innings for Dayton, which is not so studly.

Rookies leagues: Alex Buchholz was 5 for 5 (!!), improving to .407 on the season for Billings, in the Mustangs' 8-7 win. He's only played 24 games and has been out for a month with some sort of injury. Michael Konstanty had a 3-run homer, his 10th in 44 games, and Buchholz scored the winning run in the bottom of the 9th on a throwing error.