OPERATION SHUTDOWN This is the final update for the next week...ish. I might post something here and there in "Comments", but don't look for any full updates. That said, here are the updates for the past couple days of action: Columbus lost on Wednesday and split a doubleheader Thursday. The doubleheader victory was almost solely the result of Brad Halsey. The Columbus offense could only manage 2 runs, but Halsey was up for the job and went 6-4-0-0-0-5-0, which gives him his second streak of 20+ innings without allowing a run this season. The 23-year-old left-hander's ERA now sits at 2.88, which is good for 2nd in the IL. I will be very upset if Halsey is not given a spot in the '05 rotation, much less having to compete for one. On the offensive side, the last 3 games have seemed to illustrate the cream rising to the top theory. The cream, in this case, is represented by Dioner Navarro. Navarro has had a disappointing season overall, but of late he has really come on. Navarro was 2 for 4 with a single, a double on Wednesday and 1 for 2 with a single and a walk in the capper of Thursday's doubleheader. Conversely, Robinson Cano has gone 2 for 10 with a single, a double, and 3 strikeouts. Just like that, Cano's batting average is currently .264 and Navarro's is .270. Clearly, batting average is not the most telling stat, but considering where their AAA careers started it is noteworthy. Tonight was a momentous one as Sean Henn picked up a victory for the first time since July 5th. Yeah, it's been that long. The victory was not particularly pretty either as the left-hander's final line of 7-6-2-2-4-1-1 can attest. Understanding that he did get the job done by allowing only 2 runs, 4 walks and 1 strikeout in 7 innings is just deplorable. The Trenton offensive attack placed 18 runs on the board through the strength of 16 hits and 12 (!) walks. Of this, Bronson Sardinha had a single in 4 at bats and walked twice. Tampa lost Wednesday and pulled out the victory on Thursday. In the first contest, Melky Cabrera was 1 for 4 with a single and in the second he was 1 for 5 with a single and a strikeout. Cabrera's average now sits at .300 and it is becoming increasingly clear that he is magnetically attracted to that number as far as A+ is concerned, never straying too far in either direction from it. Another thing of note is that after having a ridiculously high double rate early in the year, Melky saw his doubles turn into homers for about a month and is now just hitting singles. It is probably just sample size fluke, but something to keep an eye on nonetheless. Eric Duncan was 1 for 4 with a single and 2 strikeouts on Wednesday and then had a more typical Duncan performance on Thursday by going 3 for 5 with 2 doubles, a single, and a strikeout. Of course, the "typical" aspect I am referring to is the extra base hits. Duncan is averaging an extra base hit every 7.17 at bats during his FSL stint. Rudy Guillen's season continues to be stuck in neutral. The RF was 2 for 9 with a single, a double, and 3 strikeouts. Another prospect not doing enough to enhance their status, Jose Valdez, was the starter on Thursday and could only muster 3-6-4-4-1-2-2. The Battle Creek Yankees are in the midst of their most impressive series of the season. Facing the Kane County Tigers, the team that annihilated them by the combined scores of about 40-3 in a 3-game set earlier this year; they have won 2 of the 3 games they played the past 2 days. The one game they lost was only a one-run loss and bad luck more than anything else. Tyler Clippard, who had been owned by the Kane County Tigers, producing the worst line of his pro career, came out of the gate rolling, continuing his recent stretch of dominance and through the first third of the game had compiled a line of 3-0-0-0-0-2-0...and then the game was suspended. When the game continued Wednesday afternoon, Abel Gomez, who was the lone pitcher with success against the Tigers in the earlier series, went 5.1-6-2-2-2-9-0 for his most impressive performance to date, only to have the man who relieved him allow the 2 runners he left on to score. That brought his runs and earned run totals to 4, obviously, and made his night look so-so, when it was one of his finer moments this season. T-Clip is now 9th in WHIP and 6th in strikeouts while Abel is 2 strikeouts ahead of him for the 5th spot on that list. Erold Andrus heated up a bit in the past 3 games while Made cooled off a bit, which makes sense considering how hot Made had been and how relatively mediocre Andrus was. Made was 2 for 11 with 2 singles and 2 strikeouts as his average dropped to .282, and Andrus was 4 for 12 with 3 singles, a double, and 2 strikeouts, raising his average to .277. In typical SI fashion, Jesse Hoover was at least solid, Tim Battle was inconsistent, and the team lost. To be more exact, Hoover started Wednesday's game and battled control issues, which resulted in a final line of 4-1-1-1-4-6-0. That was the game in which Estee Harris was 0 for 4 with 3 strikeouts and Tim Battle was an even worse 0 for 4 with 4 strikeouts. Then, on Thursday, Battle woke up to go 2 for 3 with a strikeout and 2 singles. Something very important to keep in mind with Battle is that despite being drafted in '03, he is the age of a typical '04 draftee. Therefore, him hitting as he has in SI is not a big negative considering that it would be similar to the Yankees sending Jon Poterson, their top high school positional pick this year, to SI. So he will require more patience as far as day-to-day performance, but it should be validated with a very good '05. In GCL news, Marcos Vechionacci has slowed somewhat, 1 for 7 with a homer and 2 strikeouts in his last couple games, but still has a lofty .320 batting average and the star pitchers continue to do well. On Wednesday, Christian Garcia went 4-0-0-0-3-6-0 in relief of Jay Stephens who went 4-2-0-0-1-5-0. BC and Tampa should be loaded next year as the system continues to work its way back to prominence. *** Questions, comments, suggestions to minoryankeeblog@hotmail.com   ¶ 12:53 AM