No Chance for Tulsa; Huff's Pee-Pee Hurts

AAA: Oklahoma 3, Round Rock 2 - The Express' lead dropped to 6.5 games after another loss to the RedHawks. Wandy Rodriguez was decent, allowing four hits, four walks and two runs over six innings. Octogenarian uber-prospect Alan Zinter was 2-4 with a home run, and white-hot Eric Bruntlett went 1-4 to skyrocket his batting average 17% from .107 to .125. Times are tough in Round Rock, to say the least. JR House was 0-2 and committed an error that led to the game-deciding run, and the Express had runners picked off at first (Mike Rodriguez), second (Hector Gimenez) and third base (Charlton Jimerson) to complete the Hat Trick of Baserunning Ineptitude.

AA: Corpus Christi 3, Tulsa 0 - Chance Douglass was studly, firing a two-hit shutout in just over two hours. Josh Anderson had another three-hit night for the Hooks. Douglass retired the side in order in eight out of nine innings, according to Greg Rajan.

High A: Kinston 12, Salem 11 - Salem rallied from a 6-1 deficit, but then blew a 10-7 lead by allowing five runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. The Indians crept within a single game of the Avalanche in the second half standings. Ole Sheldon was 4-5 with three RBI to lead a 15-hit Avalanche attack.

Low A: Lakewood 8, Lexington 2 - The Legends, who won the first-half divisional title, are now just one game out of the basement in the second half standings and 12 games below .500.

Short Season A: Mahoning Valley 6, Tri-City 5 - The Scrappers rallied for a run in the ninth and a run in the eleventh to defeat the Valley Cats. Tri-City leadoff man Andrew Smith was 0-5 with five strikeouts, apparently an attempt to honor ex-Astro Preston "Big Whiff" Wilson. No word as to whether or not Smith was wearing idiotic headgear.

Rookie: Johnson City 5, Greenville 0 - Nothing good here. The Astros were outhit 16 to 3.

Zobrist/Talbot Watch: The Rays were off last night. Aubrey Huff was 1-2 with a bloop single to left field and a walk, and he also took a 97 mph fastball in the ribs. Huff then proceeded to humiliate himself, the Astros organization, the sport of baseball, the city of Houston and the State of Texas by flopping around on the ground like a fish out of water and failing to impale Carlos Zambrano with his bat in retaliation for what was clearly an intentional beanball.

It is fair to note that the Huffster played in zero meaningful games for the Rays, so Memo to Huffster: when you are desperately fighting for life in the wildcard race and a pitcher who owns you (read: Carlos Zambrano) belts you with a ball in the ribs on purpose, it is your solemn vow as a man and as a teammate to take that man out. Instead, Huff made a laughingstock out of himself, as if his .587 OPS with RISP was not enough.