Farmers Only: Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop in Mobile Bay

Louisville took an ill-advised cue from the big league club and got blanked by the Clippers, 5-0. Billy Hamilton had a very un-Billy night, going 0-3 with a walk and no steals. The offense as a whole had a rough night, managing only four hits, while Mike Hessman knocked a double for the Bats' only extra base hit. Armando Gallaraga had another solid outing, going 5.2 innings with 2 ER, 5 K and 2 BB. Mark Prior made his 3rd appearance for the Bats, and it was another scoreless outing. He's now thrown 4 innings, holding opposing batters to a .143 average, with 3 strikeouts, and one walk. The sample size is minuscule, but he's looked sharp so far. This will be one of my favorite story lines to follow this year, and I'd love to see him get a chance to pitch in a MLB game one more time. Up Next: The Bats head out on their first road trip of the season, taking on the Toledo Mudhens at 5pm ET. Starters TBD.

Pensacola had a rough day as well, falling 10-2 to the Mobile Bay Bears. Brodie Greene provided the only offense for the Wahoos when he Alphonse'd a two-run Mambo in the 4th. Josh "Boring Name" Smith was pulled after two innings where he gave up 6 runs (5 earned) on 6 hits. Kyle Lotzkar didn't fare much better, throwing 2.1 innings of 4 run ball. Sigh... Josh Ravin and the Flying Dutchman kept the Bay Bears off the board for the remaining 3.2 innings, but the damage was very much done. Up Next: Tim "Dungeness" Crabbe takes the hill against Mobile at 7:05pm ET.

Bakersfield lost a tough one to the Visalia Rawhides, falling 4-2. The Blaze had a 2-1 lead heading into the 8th inning on the heels of a brilliant start from Carlos Contreras, who threw 5.2 innings of 5-hit, 1-run ball with 8 Ks and no walks. El'Hajj Muhammad got the last out of the 6th, and threw a scoreless 7th, before giving way to Brooks Picknard. Picknard loaded the bases in the 8th on three straight singles, before inducing a double play that plated the tying run. Then shit got really real. The next batter reached on a fielding error by Juan Duran, and let the go ahead run score. A wild pitch advanced said runner to third, before another fielding error, this time by Juan Silviero, allowed the fourth Rawhide to cross the plate. Yuck. Up Next: The Blaze and Jon Moscot take on the Stockton Ports at 10:15pm ET.

Dayton didn't lose! They didn't win either, however. Their game at South Bend got banged due to rain. The Dragons have their home opener at Fifth Third Field tonight at 7pm ET. Ismael Guillon is scheduled to make his second start.