LONG TIME COMING Columbus emerged victorious in their contest Sunday afternoon by a score of 8 to 1. Offensively, Robinson Cano had another poor effort, going 0 for 3 with a walk, and Dioner Navarro was solid with a single in 3 at bats to go along with a walk. Cano has really struggled overall since his promotion to AAA, especially considering how hot he was to begin the stint and his average now sits at .247. The struggles have led to my finding some merit in Baseball Prospectus' statement that any team interested in Cano would be sure to find "Yankee Fool's Gold". Navarro, despite being in a bit of slump that dropped his average to .254, has gotten more comfortable as his time in AAA has increased. With that in mind, I would say he is a better bet going forward than Cano, though because of the big league team's needs, I would still like to see Robinson have a shot at platooning at 2B. The starting pitcher for the game was Chien-Ming Wang. The start was Wang's first since returning from a very good Olympic performance and he continued to roll at AAA, as he went 6-3-1-1-2-6-0 (IP-H-R-ER-BB-SO-HR). After being in my doghouse since midway through the '03 season, he is really starting to make me rethink my view of him. Such is the case when you combine great stuff and a 31.1-24-9-9-6-27-3 start to your AAA career. Coming on to relieve Wang was Brad Halsey. The reason the lefty was pitching in relief was in hopes of getting properly slotted for the soon-to-start IL playoffs. The left-hander went 2-0-0-0-1-2-0 as he lowered his ERA to 2.74. Any discussion of top pitching prospects in the Yankee organization has to include Halsey, regardless of his lack of overwhelming stuff. Moving down to AA, the Thunder actually managed a victory on Sunday. They defeated the Binghamton Mets 6-3. Bronson Sardinha, who had been in a slump that saw him lose .060 odd points of average and get dropped from 3rd in the order to bottom of the lineup, had a good offensive game. The 3B was 2 for 4 with a single, a double, and a strikeout, getting his average back up to .282. On the negative side, he also made an error, which was his 19th in 53 games at 3B in Trenton. This is after he made 23 errors in 61 games at 3B in Tampa. If you feel like being REALLY optimistic, there is some improvement there. Battle Creek lost their Sunday game, but Erold Andrus continued to roll. Andrus seems to be firmly entrenched in the 3-hole now, and with good reason. The CF was 2 for 5 with 2 singles on Sunday and now has his average all the way up to .283. Hector Made was given the day off, which usually happens about once a week. The SI Yankees produced an exciting extra-innings victory in their Sunday contest. They scored a run in the bottom of the 10th to close a game that starred Jesse Hoover, as is usually the case whenever he starts. The hard-throwing right-hander went 5-2-0-0-1-5-0. For the season his line is now 52-26-13-10-23-83-0. To say that I am expecting a big 2005 from him would be an understatement. Estee Harris had a productive day and Tim Battle not so much. Harris was 2 for 4 with a single and his fourth home run while striking out twice. Battle was 0 for 3 with a walk and 3 strikeouts. For the NYPL season, Battle's average stands at .236 and Harris' is at .235. Neither has been great at SI, which could be said about almost any position player on that team, but Harris' superior control of the strike zone and greater power has him ahead of Battle in regards to productivity. Tampa did not have a Sunday game and the GCL Yankees start their GCL Championship Series today. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com   ¶ 12:54 PM