Midwest League notebook

Beloit Snappers (Minnesota Twins)
THE SEASON SO FAR: The Snappers are 4-6 in the second half and tied with Burlington and Quad Cities for fifth place in the Western Division, four games behind Cedar Rapids.

COACH PROMOTED: Beloit hitting coach Rich Miller was moved up to Triple-A Rochester to serve as the Red Wings' hitting coach for the remainder of the 2009 season. Miller replaces Riccardo Ingram, who is taking a leave from the team for personal reasons. Taking Miller's place as the Snappers hitting coach will be Chris Heintz.

MORE ON HEINTZ: Heintz, a former catcher, was originally taken in the 19th round of the 1996 Draft by the Chicago White Sox. He spent six seasons in the ChiSox Minor League system before he signed as a free agent with Minnesota in November 2003. He played in the Twins organization for four seasons, including parts of three years with the Major League club.

THE FUTURE IS NOW: Former Snappers OF Rene Tosoni, the Twins' 36th-round pick in the 2005 Draft, was selected to the World roster in the upcoming Futures Game in St. Louis. The native Canadian was a member of the 2007 Beloit squad. This season at Double-A New Britain, Tosoni is batting .266 with nine home runs in 66 games for the Rock Cats.

ROSTER MOVES: Snappers All-Star reliever and LHP Joe Testa was promoted to Class A Advanced Fort Myers on Thursday. In the first half of the MWL season with Beloit, Testa went 0-2 with a 2.56 ERA and struck out 63 batters in just 45 2/3 innings. ... Taking Testa's spot on the Beloit roster is C Stewart Munroe, a 22nd-round pick from this year's Draft out of the University of Florida.

Burlington Bees (Kansas City Royals)
THE SEASON SO FAR: The Bees are 4-6 in the second half and tied with Beloit and Quad Cities for fifth place in the Western Division, four games behind Cedar Rapids.

WHO'S HOT: 3B Jason Taylor is batting .292 (7-for-24) with a home run, seven RBIs and three runs scored over his last six games. ... RF Nicholas Francis went 10-for-35 with a home run, six RBIs and four runs scored in nine games.

WHO'S NOT: CF Patrick Norris is hitting a cool .207 (6-for-29) over his last nine games. ... 1B Eric Hosmer is batting just .211 (8-for-38) over his last 10 games.

DID YOU KNOW: Burlington scored 12 runs on 15 hits to cruise to a 12-5 win over Quad Cities on July 1.

ROSTER MOVES: 3B Chase Fontaine and INF Antonio Jimenez were promoted to Class A Advanced Wilmington of the Carolina League, and RHP Bryan Casey was placed on the disabled list (retroactive to June 28) last week. ... Two days later, 3B Jason Taylor was promoted to Burlington from Short-Season Idaho Falls, and INF Marc Maddox was also transferred to the Bees from the AZL Royals.

THE FUTURE IS NOW: Former Bees LHP Danny Duffy will represent the Royals in the Major League All-Star Futures Game on July 12 in St. Louis. Duffy is 6-3 with a 3.86 ERA in 15 starts at Class A Advanced Wilmington.

Cedar Rapids Kernels (Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim)
THE SEASON SO FAR: The Kernels are 8-2 in the second half and in first place in the Western Division, one game ahead of Wisconsin.

WHO'S HOT: DH Roberto Lopez is batting .323 (10-for-31) with two home runs, 10 RBIs and six runs scored over his last nine games.

WHO'S NOT: SS Adam Younger has just one hit over his last 22 at-bats spanning six games.

STRONG OUTING: Although RHP Tyler Chatwood did not figure in the decision in the Kernels' July 4 matchup, the 19-year-old flame-thrower dealt six solid innings. He limited Quad Cities to just two hits, two walks and no runs. Although he only struck out two batters, he recorded 11 outs on the ground and allowed just two runners to reach scoring position.

DID YOU KNOW: The Kernels scored five unanswered runs en route to a 5-4 win and a series sweep of Beloit on Friday at Pohlman Field. C Anel De Los Santos delivered a two-out, two-run single in the sixth inning and finished the game with three RBIs. The win marked the Kernels' fourth consecutive, and they are now 7-0 against the Snappers this season.

ROSTER MOVES: RHP Kyle Hurst joined the Kernels from Triple-A Salt Lake on Friday, and MWL All-Star Mike Kohn was promoted to Rancho Cucamonga of the Class A Advanced California League.

MORE ON HURST: The Angels selected Hurst, 23, in the 38th round of the 2008 Draft out of South Mountain Community College in Phoenix. He split time between Orem and the AZL Angels, with a combined record of 3-2 and 3.92 ERA in 16 games (five starts), including a complete game. In 39 innings, Kyle, the son of former Major League pitcher Bruce Hurst, allowed 22 runs (17 earned) on 36 hits with 45 strikeouts and just 10 walks.

Clinton LumberKings (Seattle Mariners)
THE SEASON SO FAR: The LumberKings are 5-5 in the second half and tied with Kane County for third place in the Western Division, three games behind Cedar Rapids.

WHO'S HOT: DH Kris Sanchez is hitting .308 (8-for-26) with three home runs, five RBIs and four runs scored over his last eight games. ... 2B Luis Nunez is hitting a hefty .385 (15-for-39) with eight runs scored over his last 10 games.

WHO'S NOT: LF Jacob Shaffer is hitting a mere .143 (4-for-28) over his last nine games. ... SS Ogui Diaz has just two hits in his last six games spanning 18 at-bats.

DID YOU KNOW: The July 1 game at Time Warner Cable Field proved to be a test of nerves and patience -- one the LumberKings lost. Wisconsin defeated Clinton, 4-3, in a game that featured 15 walks, 22 stranded runners, four errors and three wild pitches. The contest lasted three hours and 37 minutes. 1B/OF Brock Kjeldgaard broke a 3-3 tie with a triple in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Dayton Dragons (Cincinnati Reds)
THE SEASON SO FAR: The Dragons are 3-7 in the second half and tied with Lansing for fifth place in the Eastern Division, six games behind Fort Wayne.

WHO'S HOT: OF Byron Wiley became just the third player in Dragons franchise history to hit three home runs in one game in Dayton's 20-11 loss to West Michigan on Sunday. Wiley hit his sixth, seventh and eighth homers of the season while driving in six runs, joining Wily Mo Pena (2001) and Juan Francisco (2007) as the only players in the Dragons' 10-year history to enjoy a three-homer game.

WHO'S NOT: In the same game, West Michigan sent 17 batters to the plate in the bottom of the first inning, scoring 13 runs, then held off a middle-inning Dragons' comeback bid. ... The 13 runs in a single inning set a new record for a Dragons opponent. ... The Dragons also set a club record for most walks allowed in an inning when they issued seven free passes in the first. ... Four errors by the Dragons helped the Whitecaps grab Saturday's 5-1 victory at Fifth Third Ballpark.

WHO'S NOT II: RHP and starter J.C. Sulbaran failed to record an out while allowing two hits and four walks in Sunday's ugly 20-11 loss to West Michigan. Sulbaran (2-2, 5.36 ERA) was charged with six earned runs to drop to 2-2 with a 5.35 ERA in 11 starts this season.

DID YOU KNOW: Sunday's game featured four Dayton club records either tied or broken, including the combined 31 runs scored by the two teams. ... Dayton's four home runs also represented the team's highest one-game total since last summer (July 30), when Dragons batters combined to hit four homers at Burlington.

STREAK SNAPPED: C Kevin Coddington had two hits Thursday in a 3-1 loss at West Michigan's Fifth Third Field, extending his hitting streak to 10 consecutive games and matching the Dragons' longest streak of the year. On Friday, though, Coddington went 0-for-3 with a walk and a run scored.

ROSTER MOVES: LHP Steven Otterness was promoted to Class A Advanced Sarasota of the Florida State League, and LHP Ezequiel Infante joined Dayton from Short-Season Billings of the Pioneer League. ... Otterness went 0-0 with one save and a 2.45 ERA in 13 games with the Dragons. ... Infante, a 20-year-old native of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, has appeared in three games with Billings this season, going 1-0 with a 1.42 ERA. He has allowed only one run (a solo homer) in 6 2/3 innings. Last season, Infante pitched for the Cincinnati Reds affiliate in the Dominican Summer League and posted a record of 3-0 with 14 saves and a sensational 0.19 ERA, allowing just one earned run over 47 innings.

BY THE NUMBERS: The Dragons went 12-13 in the month of June, posting a season-high .480 winning percentage. ... The Dragons collectively hit .262 in June, fifth in the league, after posting averages that tied for ninth in both April and May. ... The Dragons team ERA of 3.71 ranked ninth in the league.

Fort Wayne TinCaps (San Diego Padres)
THE SEASON SO FAR: The TinCaps are off to an impressive 9-1 start in the second half and are in first place in the Eastern Division, two games ahead of West Michigan.

DOMINATING THE DIVISION: The TinCaps have gone 14-1 against Dayton this season and are 29-2 against the Dragons and South Bend combined.

A WILD ONE: Fort Wayne surrendered a 5-1 lead but broke a 6-6 tie thanks to OF Yefri Carvajal's two-run single in the ninth inning en route to an 8-6 win July 1 at Dayton in which RHP Brad Brach earned his 18th save. ... The game featured 19 walks and 20 strikeouts. Of the Dragons' 45 plate appearances, 24 ended in a walk or a strikeout.

SUPER-HOT: OF Blake Tekotte torched the opposition with a .538 batting average (7-for-13), two home runs, eight RBIs and six runs scored.

HE SAID IT: "We were proud to have four key players promoted to higher levels this week, and it seems like other guys like Blake have stepped it up to keep the winning going," TinCaps president Mike Nutter said on the team's website. "Blake's hitting has really come around lately, and his defense in center field has been sensational all year."

Great Lakes Loons (Los Angeles Dodgers)
THE SEASON SO FAR: The Loons are 4-6 in the second half and tied with South Bend for third place in the Eastern Division, five games behind Fort Wayne.

WHO'S HOT: OF Kyle Russell's game-tying home run in Great Lakes' 4-2 win Thursday marked his 18th of the season. Russell is batting .278 (82-for-295) and is now just one homer shy of matching the franchise career-record of 19 longballs, which is held by Eduardo Perez (2007-08).

SOLID PITCHING: RHP Bobby Blevins and RHP Chad Beck each pitched complete games in a doubleheader split between the Loons and Lugnuts on Thursday at Dow Diamond. Game One went to Great Lakes, 4-2. Lansing took the second contest, 3-1. Blevins sparkled in his start, tossing the Loons' first complete game since June 27, 2008.

CROWD CONTROL: Friday's attendance of 6,057 established a new Dow Diamond ballpark high, surpassing the 5,887 in attendance June 20. The record crowd witnessed a dramatic comeback in Great Lakes' 5-3 extra-inning win over Lansing.

STREAK SNAPPED: SS Dee Gordon extended his hitting streak to 16 games July 2 with an RBI single in the fourth inning of the Loons' 3-2 win over Lansing in front of a standing-room-only crowd of 5,717 at Dow Diamond. Gordon's streak is the second longest in Loons history, trailing only a 19-game stretch. ... Gordon's streak was snapped Thursday, when he went hitless in three at-bats.

DID YOU KNOW?: For the first time in franchise history, Great Lakes was held to only one hit in a nine-inning game, losing the series finale to West Michigan on Sunday, 8-0. The Loons were shut out for the second time in four second-half games against the 'Caps after not being blanked at all in 70 games in the first half. ... The one-hitter was the second against the Loons in franchise history, and came two years to the day since the previous occurrence on June 28, 2007 -- a 1-0 loss against Fort Wayne in a seven-inning game that was the first of a doubleheader. The Loons also pitched a one-hitter in the latter contest, the only one-hitter they've thrown in franchise history.

Kane County Cougars (Oakland A's)
THE SEASON SO FAR: The Cougars are 5-5 in the second half and tied with Clinton for third place in the Western Division, three games behind Cedar Rapids.

WHO'S HOT: RF Jeremy Barfield is batting .294 (10-for-34) with five runs scored and four RBIs over his last 10 games.

WHO'S NOT: Saturday's 5-0 loss to host Clinton at Alliant Energy Field on Saturday marked Kane County's third consecutive defeat. During the skid, the Cougars' offense has mustered just two runs on 16 hits in 27 innings. Meanwhile, the Cougars' pitching staff has yielded 15 runs during the losing streak, 11 of which have come in the first three innings of those game.

RECORD-SETTING CROWD: Kane County hosted a franchise-record 14,872 fans July 3 against Peoria at Elfstrom Stadium. The large crowd broke the previous single-game record of 14,492, which was set by the Cougars on Aug. 11, 2007. By 2 p.m. on Friday, the game was officially a first-ever Cougars sell-out.

Lansing Lugnuts (Toronto Blue Jays)
THE SEASON SO FAR: The Lugnuts are 3-7 in the second half and tied with Dayton for fifth place in the Eastern Division, six games behind Fort Wayne.

WHO'S HOT: A.J. Jimenez collected a team-high-tying six RBIs last week. ... RF Johermyn Chavez is batting .265 (9-for-34) with six RBIs over his last 10 games.

WHO'S NOT: On Saturday, the visiting Silver Hawks lost their starting pitcher to an injury after he surrendered three runs early. Lansing pitchers, however, combined to allow 17 hits in an offensive barrage by South Bend, and the Lugnuts took a 7-3 loss in front of an Independence Day crowd of 11,160 at Oldsmobile Park.

YOU'RE OUTTA HERE: Lansing manager Clayton McCullough was ejected in the bottom of the third inning Saturday following home-plate umpire Allen Alvarez's ruling that SS Tyler Pastornicky had left third base too early on OF Johermyn Chavez's would-be sacrifice fly to left field.

ERROR OF THEIR WAYS: The Lugnuts defense committed five errors in a 5-3 loss to Great Lakes on Friday night at Dow Diamond. With the defeat, Lansing fell to 0-6 in extra-innings contests this year.

Peoria Chiefs (Chicago Cubs)
THE SEASON SO FAR: The Chiefs are 3-7 in the second half and in last place in the Western Division, five games behind Cedar Rapids.

WHO'S HOT: 3B Josh Vitters, 19, entered the second half of the season batting .308 with 13 home runs, 12 doubles and 42 RBIs. He ranked second in the league in home runs and total bases and third in slugging percentage. Vitters hit .386 in May with a team-record 12 homers while driving in 27 RBIs and scoring 29 runs. He collected at least three hits in five straight games from May 14-19 and homered in four straight from May 16-19.

ROSTER MOVES: Vitters and RHP Chris Carpenter were promoted to Class A Advanced Daytona last week. In place of Vitters, the Chiefs received their first 2009 Cubs draftee as 22nd rounder Derrick "D.J." Fitzgerald joined the team during a series in Kane County.

THE FUTURE IS NOW: Vitters, one of the Cubs' top prospects, was named to the U.S. squad for the All-Star Futures Game. Vitters is one of three third basemen on the U.S. roster, along with St. Louis Cardinals prospect Brett Wallace and the Pirates' Pedro Alvarez.

HE SAID IT: "It's a huge honor, and I am really excited to go," Vitters, the Cubs' first-round selection (third overall) in the 2007 Draft, said on the team website. "I'll go out there and have fun and do the best I can."

FUTURES TRIVIA: Vitters is the second Chiefs player to ever be named to the Futures Game while playing in Peoria and the ninth player with Chiefs ties to participate in a Futures Game. OF Lou Montanez played for the World squad in the 2005 game in Detroit before being promoted from Peoria to Double-A the following week. The other seven all played in the Futures Game in seasons after leaving the Chiefs: then LHP and now OF Rick Ankiel (1999), Pablo Ozuna (1999), Jimmy Journell (2002), Chris Narveson (2003), Brad Thompson (2004), Daric Barton (2005) and Eric Patterson (2006).

POWER OUTAGE: After launching 32 home runs in 29 May games, the Chiefs managed just 14 longballs in 26 June contests.

STREAK SNAPPED: INF Junior Lake's streak of consecutive starts with a strikeout was halted at 21. The last time Lake, who leads the team with 82 whiffs, made it through a game without striking out was June 6.

MAJOR HELP: Aramis Ramirez and Reed Johnson finished their rehab assignment with Peoria on Sunday afternoon at O'Brien Field in front of 6,305 fans. The pair contributed a run in the first inning in Peoria's 4-2 loss to visiting Beloit. ... Cubs RHP Angel Guzman rehabbed with the Chiefs on June 30 in Geneva, Ill., against Kane County.

Quad Cities River Bandits (St. Louis Cardinals)
THE SEASON SO FAR: The River Bandits are 4-6 in the second half and tied with Beloit and Burlington for fifth place in the Western Division, four games behind Cedar Rapids.

SOLID MATCH-UP: RHP Arquimedes Nieto took a no-hitter into the eighth inning Saturday before a two-run homer by the Kernels' OF Angel Castillo handed Cedar Rapids a 2-0 win on Perfect Game Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

WHO'S HOT: Nieto, a 20-year-old changeup specialist from Panama, set career highs with 7 1/3 innings pitched and seven strikeouts in the July 4 loss.

IN THE DARK: The situation got so bad in Quad Cities' 12-5 loss to Burlington on July 1 that someone turned out the lights in the middle of the game. Kidding aside, there was a 20-minute delay when the lights in left field mysteriously went out in the sixth inning.

ROSTER REMAKE: As July 1 came, so did a River Bandits roster makeover that netted a crop of draftees. Already on the Quad Cities roster is 2B Jason Stidham, an eighth-round pick out of Florida State who registered five hits in his first two games over the weekend. Stidham has been joined by a pair of big hitters in 3B Matt Carpenter and OF Kyle Conley, as well as lights-out reliever Nick McCully. ... Those players assumed the roster spots vacated by INF Brett Lilley, OF Paul Cruz and RHP Andres Rosales. Rosales was transferred to Short-Season Batavia after posting a 5.53 ERA in 40 2/3 innings with Quad Cities, while Lilley and Cruz were both released from the organization. Lilley's .367 on-base percentage was the third-best mark on the team, but his batting average had fallen to .229. Cruz hit .371 in April but was unable to maintain his hot start, posting a .236 mark the rest of the way.

South Bend Silver Hawks (Arizona Diamondbacks)
THE SEASON SO FAR: The Silver Hawks are 4-6 in the second half and tied with Great Lakes for third place in the Eastern Division, five games behind Fort Wayne.

WHO'S HOT: The Silver Hawks celebrated America's birthday with some fireworks of their own Saturday, blasting a season-high 17 hits en route to a 7-3 victory over host Lansing. ... RHP Bryan Woodall (2-3) was the beneficiary of all the run support, earning a win in relief. Woodall tossed 2 1/3 scoreless innings and has lowered his ERA to 4.15 from its June 5 mark of 7.08.

WHO'S NOT: RHP Randy Rodriquez (1-6, 5.36 ERA) was roughed up for six earned runs in just two innings of work July 1 in an 11-4 loss to West Michigan at Coveleski Stadium. He dished up seven hits, walked a batter and did not record a strikeout. ... RHP Ryan Cook (5-7, 4.04 ERA) continued his frustrating slide Friday, taking his seventh consecutive loss in a game West Michigan won, 10-0.

TRAVELING MAN: RHP Victor Capellan returned to South Bend after a stint with Class A Advanced Visalia. Capellan originally joined the Silver Hawks in late May, pitching in two games for South Bend. In four innings, Capellan allowed one run on two hits with two strikeouts. But his time in South Bend was short, as he returned to extended spring training in early June when two other pitchers came off the disabled list. Capellan was soon sent to Visalia to fill a bullpen role, going 0-0 with a 9.53 ERA in five appearances.

DID YOU KNOW?: A night after staging their best game in over a month, the wheels fell off for the Silver Hawks as they committed six errors and gave up 21 hits in an 11-4 loss to West Michigan on July 1. ... The 21 hits allowed and six errors were season highs for the Silver Hawks.

HE SAID IT: "When things started going sour, they try that much harder, instead of letting the game play out," Silver Hawks manager Mark Haley told the South Bend Tribune. "That's the youth on this team. You have to go ahead and take the outs you get. But we get into a tendency to try and make the big play. There were a lot of needless errors where we really didn't have to throw it."

ROSTER MOVES: Arizona first-rounder and former Notre Dame star OF A.J. Pollock joined the club, and INF Ramon Ramirez was promoted to Class A Advanced Visalia last week.

West Michigan Whitecaps (Detroit Tigers)
THE SEASON SO FAR: The Whitecaps are 7-3 in the second half and in second place in the Eastern Division, two games behind Fort Wayne.

WHO'S HOT (HITTING): A record-setting performance by West Michigan was the story Sunday afternoon at Fifth Third Ballpark. In a 20-11 victory over Dayton, the Whitecaps tied a franchise record for runs in game and also set a new high-watermark for runs in an inning (13). Leading the way in the offensive outburst were 3B Bryan Pounds (3-for-5 with six RBIs), 2B Mike Gosse (3-for-4 with four RBIs) and OF Ben Guez (3-for-4 with five RBIs), who also tied a franchise record with three doubles in the game.

WHO'S HOT (PITCHING): RHP Luke Putkonen threw the first complete game of the season for West Michigan on Friday with a 10-0 shutout of host South Bend at Coveleski Stadium. With Putkonen cruising on the mound, every Whitecaps starter had at least one hit. Putkonen scattered five hits and just one walk while striking out five batters to earn his fifth victory of the season.

LEAGUE HONORS: Pounds and Putkonen were named the Midwest League Player and Pitcher of the Week as West Michigan swept the weekly honors. Pounds is batting .285 with two home runs and a team-leading 48 RBIs. Putkonen is 5-4 with a 3.98 ERA and 71 strikeouts in 86 1/3 innings.

DID YOU KNOW?: This is the first time a Whitecaps pitcher and batter have swept the weekly league honors in the team's 15-year history. However, three other Whitecaps have claimed the awards this season: LHP Casey Crosby was named Pitcher of the Week last week, and OF Billy Nowlin and 1B Ronnie Bourquin both claimed the hitting award earlier in the year.

ROSTER MOVES: 2B Alden Carrithers joined the team from Short-Season Oneonta last week. Carrithers, a 15th-round selection by the Tigers last season, appeared in five games for Oneonta this year, batting .182. Carrithers spent 2008 with the GCL Tigers, batting .316 with two home runs and 17 RBIs in 39 games.

Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (Milwaukee Brewers)
THE SEASON SO FAR: The Timber Rattlers are 7-3 in the second half and in second place in the Western Division, one game behind Cedar Rapids.

ONE FOR THE BOOKS: The July 1 contest at Time Warner Cable Field was a tense one. Wisconsin defeated Clinton, 4-3, in a game that lasted three hours, 37 seven minutes before 1B/OF Brock Kjeldgaard broke a 3-3 tie with a triple in the bottom of the seventh inning. RHP Wily Peralta closed out the LumberKings in style -- pitching three no-hit innings and earning his first save.

ALL-STAR CONNECTIONS: Five players with ties to Appleton professional baseball were selected to the Major League All-Star Game. Former Appleton Foxes players Raul Ibanez and Ryan Franklin were named to the NL roster. Meanwhile, former Timber Rattlers Brian Fuentes, Felix Hernandez and Adam Jones were named to the AL squad.

DID YOU KNOW?: RHP Cody Adams earned his first win since April 29 with a 10-8 win over Burlington on Sunday at Community Field. ... With the win, the Timber Rattlers moved to two games over .500 for the first time since they were 3-1 back on April 13.

WALK THIS WAY: 2B Brett Lawrie walked four times in four plate appearances Saturday. As a team, the Rattlers walked nine times in the 2-1 victory over Burlington. RHP Trey Watten threw a career-high eight innings, allowing just an unearned run in the win, and LHP Daniel Meadows pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn his first save. ... Three days earlier, Wisconsin hitters drew a season-high 10 walks in a 4-3 win over Clinton.

ROSTER MOVES: The Milwaukee Brewers sent OF Lorenzo Cain to the Rattlers last week to work his way back from injury. Cain went 1-for-4 with a walk and a run scored in his first start with the Timber Rattlers. Cain, one the Brewers' most prized prospects, was activated from Double-A Huntsville's disabled list and transferred to Wisconsin.

BY THE NUMBERS: The Timber Rattlers wrapped up the month of June with a 13-12 record after going 16-15 in May, marking the first time since 2005 the Rattlers have had two consecutive winning months. During the 2005 season, Wisconsin went 18-11 in July and 15-12 in August.