You're lucky if, during your lifetime, you have the privilege of watching one of the greatest talents of all time don your team's colors.  

Oh, and Ian Kinsler is everything anyone could have ever dreamed he'd be, and a lot more.     

Clinton improved to 27-10 as they fought through a rough outing by starter Blake Beavan and overcame deficits of 3-0 and 6-2 to post a comeback 7-6 victory in  the 10th inning when Engel Beltre (.259 / .294 / .401) tripled and scored on a single by the phenomenally hot Renny Osuna (.361 / .434 / .533), who finished up 4-6 with a triple and three RBIs.

Osuna has now produced multi-hit performances in seven of his last nine games.

After Cedar Rapids chased Beavan (4.50 ERA), who surrendered six runs on six hits -- including three homers -- in just three innings without recording a single strikeout, Ryan Tatusko (3.91 ERA) gave  the L-Kings a chance with three scoreless frames of relief, allowing just one hit and fanning four.

Fabio Castillo (3.52 ERA) followed Tatusko with two hitless frames and Hector Nelo (1-1;  2.70) (pictured)  finished the job, holding the Kernels scoreless over the final two, punching out two along the way.

Bakersfield was trounced by Lancaster as Zach Phillips (3-3; 5.98) had his second absolutely horrendous start -- mixed  in among several very good ones.   The lefty surrendered nine runs on a dozen hits and three walks in five.

The good news  is  that Jose Vallejo (.292 / .347 / .444) seems to have emerged from his late-April / early-May slump.   Vallejo was hitting .347 / .390 / .510 on April 26 and then saw his line dip all the way down to .277 / .329 / .405 by May 10.   Yesterday, the exciting Vallejo went 3-4 with his 11th double of the year and drove in two runs.

Oklahoma got another disappointing outing from starter Eric Hurley (6.80 ERA) who gave up seven runs, five earned, on five hits -- two of which left the yard -- and two walks as the RedHawks fell, 13-8 at Memphis. 

Hurley fanned just two and needed 101 pitches to get through his five.    In 47.2 innings of work, Hurley has surrendered 11 home runs, worst in the PCL.     Lefties are hitting .304 / .363 / .598 against Hurley and they've taken him downtown seven times in just 93 at-bats.

Check this out:    Oklahoma's first baseman Junior Mayberry (.328 / .366 / .657) homered and took one for the team in a 2-3 outing.

Frisco completed the Rangers Farm ofer by losing 8-4 to San Antonio at Dr. Pepper Ballpark.   Steve Murphy (.318 / .353 / .541) belted his sixth homer of the year in a 2-5 outing, while Max Ramirez, Craig Gentry and  Emerson Frostad each went 2-4.   Frosty doubled and allegedly stole home. 

Continuing to prove my theory that he can do whatever he wants to do, Chris Davis (.340 / .384 / .607) went 4-4 with three doubles and drew a walk as the Frisco juggernaut beat the snot out of Midland,  16-9.

It's worth noting at this juncture that there is a paucidy of southpaws in the Texas League this year, so only 21 of his 150 at-bats this year have come against lefties (.238 average).   In 94 at-bats against lefties in the Cal League last year, he hit .351 / .408 / .585.   After moving up to the Texas League for the final month of the season, he hit .229 / .308 / .543 against them in 35 at-bats.

Ben Harrison (.354 / .444 / .659) went 3-4 with a grand slam to drive in six runs.  He's a few at-bats short of qualifying for the leader board, but if he did qualify, Harrison would be second in the league, behind Max Ramirez, with a 1.103 OPS.

Starter Michael Ballard (3-2;  5.73)  bounced back from a couple of very rough outings to hold the Rockhounds to a pair of runs in five innings to earn the victory. 

Time to take a hard look at what appears to be the arrival of Clinton's Renny Osuna as a true prospect.   After going 3-5 with a double and two RBIs in yesterday's 4-2 LumberKings victory over Beloit, Osuna is hitting a robust .345 / .423 / .509 while seeing time at both second base and shortstop.

Osuna, a native of Venezuela, was a coveted prospect as a teenager, but was never signed because of visa problems.   Eventually, he made his way to America, graduated from a Houston area high school, and signed to play at New Mexico Junior College where he teamed with former Rangers pitching prospect Johnny Lujan, who was traded to the White Sox last year.

Osuna led New Mexico JC to the JUCO World Series title in 2005 (he was the tournament MVP), hitting .435 with four homers and 60 RBIs during the season and coming  within one hit of breaking Kirby Puckett's JUCO World Series record of a .688 batting average.  

Pre-draft scouting reports suggested that Osuna had plus bat speed, a plus glove and solid arm strength.  Texas took him  in the 32nd round, but couldn't get him a visa and deposited him in the Dominican.

In 2006, Osuna hit .333 / .470 / .439 in 22 games (drawing 15 walks while fanning just 5 times) for the DSL club before getting his visa and moving to the Arizona Rookie League club for the final 21 games, hitting .234 / .289 / .312.    Assigned to Spokane in 2007, Osuna hit .274 / .336 / .349 in 252 at-bats while once again exhibiting fine strike zone judgment and bat control with 33 strikeouts and 21 walks.  The right-handed Osuna is especially adept at taking the ball the other way.

On April 23 -- the day before his 23rd birthday -- Osuna was hitting .241 / .333 / .352, and then he went on a tear that has continued through last night.   In the 16 games since he turned 23, Osuna has hit safely in 15 of them and collected multiple hits in eight of them.

With Marcus Lemon and Jose Vallejo ahead of him in Bakersfield (and Elvis Andrus installed as the shortstop in Frisco, giving Lemon nowhere to go), it appears that it will take a Vallejo promotion to Frisco before Osuna will get his first crack at the Cal League.

Southpaw Derek Holland (3-0;  2.61) continued to shine for the L-Kings, holding the Snappers to a pair of runs on seven hits while fanning six in five innings as Clinton improved to 26-10.

Jason Botts homered and walked in a 2-5 outing and 4-A (.345 / .480 / .707)  went 3-6 with a triple as Oklahoma fell 6-4 to Memphis in a dozen innings.

Taylor Teagarden (.289 / .449 / .368) has righted his ship since his promotion from Frisco where he started the season in a horrible slump.   After going 1-4 with a pair of walks yesterday, Teagarden has an enviable 11 / 10 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 38 at-bats with Oklahoma. 

Wow.   Oklahoma was off, so there were only three games but the array of stars from yesterday was astounding.

Trey Hodges (5-2;  3.40) was the beneficiary as the big red train from Frisco got back on track and rolled through Midland with an 11-5 victory, improving to 25-13 and increasing their lead in the Texas League South to 4.5 games.

A rehabbing Luis Mendoza got the start and allowed a run on two hits and two walks in 1.1 frames before turning it over to Hodges who posted the victory after limiting the RockHounds to a run on three hits and four walks over the next 5.2 innings.

Shortstop Elvis Andrus (.281 / .337 / .333)  set the table with a huge game from the top of the order going 3-4 with two doubles, a walk, three stolen bases and three  run scored.   Andrus came into the game hitting  .171 / .171 / .244  from the one hole.

Chris Davis (.322 / .365 / .575) ended a nine game homerless streak with his league-leading 10th bomb of the year and added his seventh double of the year in a 2-5 outing.  

Both Ben Harrison (.333 / .426 / .615), and Max Ramirez (.383 / .453 / .672) went 2-4 with a pair of RBIs.  Harrison hit his sixth homer of the year while Ramirez executed on a sac fly opportunity.

Finally,  Steve Murphy (.313 / .250 / .510) turned in another strong outing, going 2-3 with a sac fly, driving in two and scoring twice.

In Bakersfield -- where the 25-15 Blaze have won nine of their last ten -- big Tommy Hunter (5-4;  3.55)  continued to build his case for a ticket to Frisco with eight strong innings, holding High Desert to two runs on six hits and no walks, punching out eight.   The University of Alabama alum  is averaging better than seven innings per outing over his last five starts.   He leads the league in innings pitched (58.1) and has a stellar 50 / 8 K/BB ratio.

Jose Vallejo (.282 / .341 / .429) continues to emerge from a two-week megaslump, going 3-4 with a double, a walk, two RBIs, his 15th and 16th stolen bases of the year and two runs scored.

Julio Borbon (.321 / .374 / .418) went 2-5 from the top of the order, stole his 16th bag of the year and scored a run.   Johnny Whittleman (.285 / .404 / .460) doubled and executed on a sac fly in a 1-3 outing to drive in one.

First off, let me say that this is a freakin' beautiful game.  It's especially so when your team is playing it the right way.   Baseball, played well, is magical.   David Murphy's catch.  Ian Kinsler executing the sac fly to right.  Gabbard efficiently giving the club 5+ innings on a strict pitch count.  Laird taking the extra base when Ibanez let him have it.  Eddie G thowin' like it's 2002.

Way to go Rangers.

Congrats to old friend Edinson Volquez, who became the third pitcher in MLB history to allow one or fewer earned runs in each of his first eight starts.   Here at the Farm Report, we honor our alumni.

Here's how nasty Volquez is right now:   "He's got good stuff, man," said Florida second baseman Dan Uggla, who struck out with the bases loaded to end the fifth inning. "I was sitting on a slider, and that's what he threw me, but it was almost impossible to hit. I could've been more patient."

"It was a changeup," Volquez said. "That might have been the best pitch I threw the whole game."

Good hitters like Uggla are so baffled, they don't even know what it is that they are unable to hit.

"I couldn't recognize the rotation [of the ball],"  outfielder Alfredo Amezaga said. "His arm was the same on every pitch. Nothing was straight."

"His arm speed, you can't tell," said Jeff Brantley, a former Reds & Rangers pitcher and current broadcaster for Cincy. "I have to look at the gun. I've never had to do that. That's how good it is.

"I know when Pedro's throwing the changeup."

__________________________________________________

On to the important stuff.......

Kasey Kiker (2-0;  5.57) held the High Desert Mavs to two runs on two hits -- both solo homers -- and one walk while punching out three in seven frames as Bakersfield improved to 24-15 with an 8-2 victory.

Julio Borbon's 17-game hitting streak came to an end, but he walked, took one  for the team, drove in a run, stole three bags and scored once.    Borbon (.318 / .373 / .419) is one of those guys who is going to make a significant impact on the game every day, somehow, some way.

Grant Gerrard (.294 / .349 / .485) drove in five of Bakersfield's runs with a fifth inning grand slam and a walk in four trips and Johnny Whittleman (.284 / .407 / .455) remained hot, going 2-4.   

Marcus Lemon (.304 / .431 / .468)  homered, singled and drew a pair of walks.   

Matt Harrison (2-1;  3.95) delivered another solid start in Frisco's 8-4 victory,  holding Midland to a run on five hits and a walk, setting five down on striked in 5.1 frames while Ben Harrison (.324 / .422 / .581) homered and walked in a 2-3 outing to drive in a pair.

Max doubled for his only hit in four trips while CD went 0-3 but drew another walk.

The DMN's  Evan Grant  reports that "the club has had catching prospect Max Ramirez, who began the week second in the Texas League in hitting, start taking ground balls at first base.   I saw Ramirez take some balls at first during spring training as well.   Don't be surprised to see him on the bag in Arlington before the season is over.

Elvis Andrus (.26.8 / .323 / .309) went 1-5 from the top of the order, driving in two.   Here's an interesting fact about Andrus that may or may not be meaningful:   the shortstop is hitting .171 / .171 / .244 from the top of the order and .326 / .402 / .360 in the two hole.  He's hitting .147 / .171 / .265 when leading off an inning and .313 / .361 / .343 with runners on base. 

If they can just get Joaquin Arias back to the other side of second base, he just might salvage his career.   The tantalizingly gifted shortstop has seen virtually all of his action at second base this year as he continues to nurse a shoulder injury that cost him the entire 2007 season.   After last night's 3-4 outing that included a double, a triple and three RBIs, Arias is hitting .324 / .350 / .400 for Oklahoma.   He's even drawn five walks in 120 plate appearances.

Clinton prevented a system-wide sweep but you can't blame starter Neftali Feliz (2.70 ERA) who dominated Beloit for five innings, blanking the Snappers on two hits and a walk over five frames, punching out four.   The L-Kings bullpen struggled and Beloit posted a 7-5 victory.    White hot middle infielder Renny Osuna (.324 / .406 / .491) went 3-5 with a double.  

Edinson Volquez:         (5-1, 1.06 ERA)

John Danks:                (3-3, 3.18 ERA)

Justin Duchscherer:     (3-1, 2.45 ERA)

Armando Galarraga:     (2-1, 3.07 ERA)

Chris Young:               (3-3,  3.94 ERA)

Scott Feldman:           (1-1,  4.07 ERA)

A.J. Murray:                (1-0,  3.38 ERA)

Just saying....

Out of nowhere, Junior Mayberry (.370 / .404 / .722) is suddenly looking like the prospect the Rangers have hoped he'd become since selecting him in the first round of the 2005 amateur draft with a plan to rebuild his "aluminum bat" swing.

Yesterday's 2-4 outing that included his third homer of the year in Oklahoma's 7-6 victory over Fresno brought Mayberry up to 54 Triple-A at-bats.  After striking out at a 25% clip at each and every stop along the way, he's below 10%.    Though he has only two walks to his credit, I find myself shocked that his contact rate has improved so much.

In Bakersfield, Julio Borbon (.325 / .372 / .429) ran his hitting streak to 17 games by going 2-4 with his 13th double of the year in support of starter Evan Reed (3-1;  5.59) who struck out eight while holding High Desert to a run on five hits in six innings of work.

Craig Gentry is having a nice year for the RoughRiders, but I don't think the Rangers are going to allow him to stand in Borbon's way for much longer.

Jose Vallejo (.280 / .329 / .427) seems to be getting back on track after enduring a horrible start to the month.  With his fifth homer of the year in a 1-4 outing yesterday, he's 6-43 since May Baskets were handed out.  

I continue to like what I'm seeing from Johnny Whittleman (.277 / .405 / .454) lately after seeing the third baseman go 1-3 with a walk.  He's hitting .316 / .500 / .447 in 38 May at-bats.

Frisco lost to Midland by a 4-1 count after traversing southern Texas to get from Corpus to the Permian Basin on Sunday.   Michael Schlact came within one out of a quality start.

Chris Davis (.326 / .367 / .565) went 1-3 with...a WALK.  ("There.  You happy now?  Mind too much if I go back to driving 500 footers into the atmosphere?")

Clinton starter Kennil Gomez (6-0;  2.31) worked his way around two LumberKings errors to hold Beloit to two runs, one earned, on three hits and and three walks, punching out seven in five innings of work.    A struggling Jonathan Greene (.225 / .333 / .402) went deep, doubled and took one for the team in a 2-3 outing to propel the 25-8 L-Kings to a 6-5 victory.

Engel Beltre (.277 / .300 / .403), who has been pulled from a game at least once this year when swinging at the first pitch,  went 2-5 with a double. 

I was  WRONG about Junior Mayberry. 

It appears he's going to be a player, and quite possibly exactly the player the Rangers need.

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Mayberry%20%20RF&pos=&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=460055

I simply did not see this coming.

That is all.

The highest concentration of stars aligned themselves in Clinton where Blake Beavan (2-1;  2.65) held Peoria to a run on six hits and a walk, fanning five along the way as the mighty LumberKings improved to 24-8 with 12-4 victory.

Ian Gac (.364 / .479 / .788) went deep twice -- giving him an incredible 14 bombs on the year -- and drew a walk in five trips while Cristian Santana (.261 / .340 / .455) showed signs of pulling out of a horrendous slump, going 2-3 with a walk, an  HBP and his fourth homer of the year.

In Bakersfield, first baseman Mauro Gomez (.268 / .311 / .362) hit his second homer of the year and then drove in the winning run as the Blaze scored a 7-6 victory over Stockton in extra innings.

Get this:   Thirteen games ago, Johnny Whittleman was hitting .225 / .303 / .375.   After going 2-3 with a pair of walks last night, he's up to .276 / .403 / .457 and headed north.   During the run, he's drawn 18 walks and fanned 10 times.

An old problem isn't getting better, however.  Whittleman is hitting .309 / .412 / .536 against righties and .167 / .375 / .200 against lefties.  

Part of what interests me about those numbers is that it really underscored his selectivity.  That .375 OBP against lefties -- who, you would think, know very well that he's highly unlikely to do much damage against them (given the .167 batting average and .200 slugging percentage) -- demonstrates that Whittleman is simply not going to swing at a pitch that he doesn't think he can do something with.   He's drawn walks in 25% of his plate appearances against lefties this year.

The 23-12 RoughRiders saw their Texas League South division lead shrink to 2.5 games with a 6-4 loss at Corpus Christi in spite of a big effort from Chris Davis (.326 / .363 / .570)  who extended a five-game hitting streak, going 4-4 with a double and an RBI sac fly, driving in two overall.  

In spite of his perfect evening, I'm becoming somewhat concerned about Davis as he has regressed to his Cal League numbers in one significant way:   he's striking out in more than 27% of his at-bats without drawing many walks.   Last year, Davis fanned in 32% of his at-bats for Bakersfield before cutting that down to 25% after his promotion to Frisco when he made a deliberate effort to shrink his strike zone.  

More important than the reduction in strikeout percentage, however, is the fact that he has regressed to his Bakersfield walk numbers after seeing significant improvements in those categories in Frisco last summer.

Davis' BB/K improved from 0.18 with Bakersfield to 0.48 with Frisco.    His BB/PA with Bakersfield in 2007 was 0.052, but improved immensely to 0.105 in Frisco.

This year, Davis's BB/K has regressed to 0.24 (Ryan Braun's BB/K with Milwaukee is 0.23)and his BB/PA has regressed to 0.062 (the same as Ian Kinsler).  

The MLB player with the most similar combo of BB/K and BB/PA is Houston's Hunter Pence  (0.27 / 0.058) who has regressed horribly in his second big league season (.258 / .299 / .412) after a sensational rookie season in which he hit .322 / .360 / .539 in 456 at-bats.

When Davis arrived in Frisco last summer, I had pictured an unabashed hacker who just ran into a lot of mistake pitches in the hitter-friendly Cal League, but I changed my opinion after watching him play.  

It seemed to me that, more often than not, Davis struck out not because he was hacking at balls out of the strike zone or because  his stroke was too long, but because he swings under balls from time to time trying to drive them into the stratosphere 

This year, I have seen a bit more hacking than I saw last year and he'll still miss balls because he's trying to drive them to Oklahoma.   Certainly, that could account for the regression to some degree.   And I'm not exactly down on the guy:  anybody who ranks eighth in his league in OPS, and second in both homers and RBI's certainly sort of owes it to himself to keep doing what he's doing, but I worry that this regression in statistical categories that measure plate discipline will catch up to him.

Having said that, I have enormous trust that Davis -- who I sometimes feel can do anything he wants in the batters box (if they asked him to hit  .420 with no power, he could do that) --  will make the necessary adjustments to ensure that he'll never slide into a prolonged slump. 

Oddly enough for a power hitter with these peripheral numbers, he's really not streaky.    His longest hitless streak this year is one game (and he's gone hitless just four times in 33 games). 

In Bakersfield, shortstop  Marcus Lemon (.300 / .424 / .443) doubled and tripled in a 2-4 outing as the Blaze posted an 8-2 victory over Stockton.

Julio Borbon (.325 / .375 / .427)  ran his hitting streak to 15 games with his 12th double of the year and Johnny Whittleman (.266 / .389 / .452) went deep for the fourth time this year in a 1-3 outing, drawing two walks, driving in two and scoring twice.

Whittleman, whose minor league statistical profile is very similar to Brandon Boggs', leads Bakersfield in both OBP and OPS.   He's the kind of hitter who is a pretty solid bet to explode when he gets to Frisco and sees better, more consistent pitchers on a daily basis.

John Bannister returned to Bakersfield after a month in Frisco and held the Ports to a run on two hits and six walks over the first 4.2 frames before turning the ball over to Ryan  Falcon (3-2;  2.95)  who yielded one single and fanned five in 3.2 scoreless frames to get the W.

Southpaw starter Derek Holland (2.45 ERA)  (pictured-left) was outstanding for Clinton once again, holding Peoria to two runs while scattering seven hits and two walks over 8.2 innings, punching out six along the way. 

Holland got 13 ground ball outs against just six in the air.  His G/F ratio for the season is 1.91 and he's averaging almost a strikeout per inning.    

And get this:  

RH Hitters vs. Holland:   .239 / .302 / .330

LH Hitters vs. Holland:   .222 / .317 / .333

Strong K rates, grounders aplenty, dead-even splits:   this is a special package folks.

In Oklahoma's 3-1 loss to Fresno, Bottsy went deep again, and drew another walk.  But you could have guessed that.

Rob Tejeda was solid, if not terribly efficient, allowing a run on  two hits and three walks, punching out five.  It took him 91 pitches to get through 5.1 frames.     

Oklahoma starter Eric Hurley (1-3;  6.54) righted his ship with a tough seven-inning performance, holding Sacramento to three runs, two earned, on five hits, a walk and an HBP while setting eight down on strikes, but it wasn't enough as the RedHawks fell by a 5-2 count.

One of the hits Hurley surrendered was a homer to Travis Buck, who was Oakland's top rookie last year, but who has battled shin splints this year and finds himself on rehab assignment with the Rivercats. 

After the game, Buck told the Daily Oklahoman's Matt Patterson:  "Hurley is an unbelievable pitcher. He's got a bright future. So it was finally good to have some quality at-bats against a good pitcher."

In Bakersfield, two young men less than a year from their last collegiate appearances continued their excellent seasons.  

The Rangers third first round pick in the 2007 draft,  Julio Borbon (.327 / .374 / .425)  extrended his 14-game hitting streak with another outstanding game, doubling twice in four trips from the top of the order.    When Borbon sustained a minor injury to his foot a month ago, he was hitting  .214 / .207 / .250.  In spite of missing that time,  Borbon ranks fifth in the Cal League with 11 two-baggers and sixth on the circuit with 11 thefts.

Starter Tommy Hunter (4-4;  3.75), the Rangers  fifth and final  first rounder in the 2007 draft,  scattered nine hits and three walks over seven innings for the Blaze, holding Stockton to just two runs while batterymate Manny Pina (.288 / .337 / .338) went 1-2.  The 20 year old Pina has now hit safely in ten of his last eleven games.

Clinton's co-MWL Players of the Week -- Renny Osuna (.305 / .395 / .442) and Engel Beltre (.273 / .304 / .402) -- delivered multi-hit performances in Clinton's 7-6 win over Peoria at Alliant Energy Field.    

The 23 year old Osuna doubled, tripled and walked in a 3-4 outing to drive in three runs while Beltre singled twice from the one hole, joining  the consistent Tim Smith (.327 / .379 / .491)  with a 2-5 outing.  Smith hit his third triple of the year and drove in three.

Finally, in a rare blowout loss, the RoughRiders got another ho-hum 2-3 outing from the great Maxamiliano Ramirez, who bumped his batting average above .400 and smacked his eighth double of the year.    

Ramirez -- the league leader in OBP, slugging percentage and, of course, OPS -- has collected multiple hits in eight of his last ten games and 12 of his last 16.

A postscript: I can't help myself, but you heard it here first:   http://rangersfarmreport.mlblogs.com/archives/2007/07/shhh_brandon_bo.html