Stars of the Day: May 23

The other day over lunch, I told my friend Jamey Newberg that he had to get out to see Frisco ASAP -- before the two -headed monster,  or even half of it, goes away.   "It's like having Josh Hamilton and Lance Berkman in the same lineup,"  I explained.

And last night, the duo marched into the old ballyard at the corner of 15th and Yale in Tulsa and simply tore it down, leading the Riders to a 12-2 victory.

Chris Davis (.335 / .379 / .626):  4-5 including his 13th and 14th doubles of the year as well as his 12th and 13th dingers, driving in three.

Max Ramirez (.399 / .473 / .728):   3-4 with his 12th double, his 12th homer, a walk and three RBIs.

Starter Michael Schlact (2-3;  4.60) took the mound in the bottom of the second, already up 8-0.  He surrendered one in that frame on a pair of singles.  He left after seven with his best start of the year on his resume, having given up just the one earned run on six hits and three walks, fanning five.  

"I just wanted to throw strikes," said Schlact, who did so on  59 of his 92 pitches. "We have the whole package, pitching, hitting and defense. With a team like this we can win a bunch of ball games."

Elvis Andrus (.275 / .330 / .319) set the table, going 1-3 with a walk, reacing on an error, stealing two bases and scoring three times from the one hole.   After hitting .260 / .302 / .310 in 100 April at-bats,  Andrus has bumped it up to .293 / .363 / .329 in 82 May at-bats.

A.J. Murray (2-2;  4.17) is rounding into form for Oklahoma.   The Pirate held the I-Cubs to just one run on six hits and a walk, ringing up seven strikeouts in eight innings,  but the RedHawks failed to put a number on the board and Murray was saddled with the loss in spite of his outstanding effort.

Julio Borbon (.321 / 374 / .409) belted his 14th double of the year while going 3-5 from the top of the order in Bakersfield's 5-1 loss to Visalia. 

In Clinton's 3-1 victory, Neftali Feliz (2.27 ERA) held Cedar Rapids to one unearned run on four hits and a walk in five innings,  strangely recording just one K.   Jorge Quintero (3-1;  5.97) got the win with three scorless innings of relief, punching out four while allowing two hits and a walk.