CATCHING UP WITH SOME LATE INDEPENDENT DEVELOPMENTS, INCLUDING FALL LEAGUE ASSIGNMENTS

The transaction wire has been quiet so far on this last day of August, but some of the major league roster additions will start coming through soon with the September 1 expansion at hand. Unless the players are extremely urgent for postseason-contending teams, most of those called up will not be announced until most of the higher affiliated leagues close things out on Monday. Even then, some of the players may be involved in playoffs. We have no reason to back off of the suggestions we made of Indy players deserving of a big-league chance in yesterday's Independent Baseball Insider column.

CAN-AM LEAGUE STILL WANTS A TEAM IN WORCESTER

It has to be reasurring to fans in Worcester that the Can-Am League still wants to have a team in that Massachusetts community if it can find suitable ownership. The Can-Am pulled the membership from Streamlined Sports, Inc. Friday, where charges of unpaid bills have become much greater in recent days. The Tornadoes will finish the season as scheduled Saturday-Monday in Newark, NJ.

ARIZONA FALL LEAGUE NEXT FOR THIS TRIO

Three former American Association players are included in rosters announced so far for the Arizona Fall League, where a very solid ranking is vital before a major league team will commit a roster spot.

James Paxton (Grand Prairie, TX), who we still believe could pitch for the parent Seattle Mariners in September, will be on the pitching staff of the Peoria Javelinas along with fellow southpaw Caleb Thielbar (St. Paul, MN). Thielbar is in Triple-A for Minnesota while Paxton has been working in Class AA. Right-hander Kevin Johnson, who was drafted by the Los Angeles Angels while he was at Pensacola, FL, will be with the Scottsdale Scorpions. Johnson has been working in Double-A.

Both Paxton and Johnson got their professional start in the American Association.

ERIC JUNGE GETS A NEW OPPORTUNITY

Onetime Lancaster (PA) Barnstormer and Bridgeport (CT) Bluefish pitcher Eric Junge, who was in the Atlanta farm system until recently, has now been signed by Colorado and is with the Rockies' top farm club in Colorado Springs.

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WHILE PREDICTION IS COMING ON POSSIBLE SEPTEMBER RECALLS, FIRST TEAM CHAMP HAS BEEN CROWNED

The first end-of-season champion has been crowned with the first-year San Rafael (CA) Pacifics taking two-of-three from Maui to win the North American League's North Division title.

Edinburg, TX has all but wrapped up the South Division (or United League) title with a four and one half-game advantage over Rio Grande Valley (Harlingen, TX). Fort Worth is another one-half game behind with the season ending this week.

TRACKING SOME ELITE INDY GRADUATES

It may be a long shot in most of the cases to follow with regard to a major league call-up, but we wanted to track how the season has gone for several players who have major league time or have been on the brink and are playing in Triple-A.

1B-3B Mike Cervenak is having another outstanding season with the bat for Miami's New Orleans club (we hope it stays reasonably dry this hurricane week), hitting .345 with 13 homers and 55 RBI. Not a youngster anymore, Cervenak has only a few major league games (Philadelphia) for his otherwise distinguished career that started at Chillicothe, OH in the Frontier League in 1999 and 2000.

RHP Brian Sweeney, who started at Lafayette, IN in the Heartland League way back in '96 and has some major league time with the Padres and Mariners, is 6-3 with a save and a 4.57 ERA for the M's Tacoma farm club. Sweeney has 54 strikeouts in 88.2 innings.

INF Michael Hollimon (Grand Prairie, TX, American Association), who toiled with the Minnesota Twins to the very end of spring training, has been bothered by injuries at Rochester, NY and has but a .213 average with five homers and 13 batted in for his 155 at-bats.

C Rene Rivera (Camden, NJ, Atlantic League), who spent much of the '11 season with the parent Twins and is better known for his defense, has a .215-8-29 season in 265 at-bats for Rochester.

RHP Eric Hamren (Joliet, IL and Kansas City, KS when both were in the Northern League) logged quite a bit of time with San Diego one year ago, and this season he has nine saves, a 2-5 record and a 3.88 ERA with Triple-A Tucson. Hamren has fanned 54 in only 46.1 innings.

LHP Mike O'Connor (Southern Maryland, Atlantic) went to spring training hoping to be one of the portside options in the Yankees' bullpen. He has logged a lot of innings (100) at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, PA and has a 3-6 record and 3.78 ERA.

FORECAST COMING ON SOLID CANDIDATES FOR SEPTEMBER IN MAJORS

We plan to devote a portion of Thursday's Independent Baseball Insider to predicting for subscribers the former Independent players we believe deserve an opportunity in the major leagues before the season ends. We feel several players could be in the mix based on their history, season performance and their team's needs.

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MATCH THIS ROGER. SPACEMAN BILL LEE HURLS COMPLETE GAME AT AGE 65

Roger Clemens's task of making an impressive comeback as a 50-year-old when he pitches for the Sugar Land (TX) Skeeters in a nationally-televised Atlantic League game Saturday night (ESPN Classic)may be a little tougher today thanks to a sterling performance by 65-year-old Bill (Spaceman) Lee Thursday night.

While the second-year North American League isn't likely to strike fear in the more established Atlantic League anytime soon, Lee's performance deserves attention.

The lefty went all nine innings in pitching host San Rafael, CA to a 9-4 victory over rival Maui, HA before a capacity crowd of 1,265 at Albert Park. Those two teams are now tied for the North Division lead heading into a pre-arranged three-game playoff series starting Friday night.

"One of the greatest performances I've ever seen on a baseball field," proclaimed San Rafael manager and longtime major league outfielder Mike Marshall. "I feel like Jack Buck, 'I can't believe what I just saw', said Marshall in quoting the late, legendary Buck's comment after Kirk Gibson's dramatic pinch-hit home run in the 1988 World Series.

Lee allowed eight hits and did not walk or strike out a single hitter.

Lee had high praise for his batterymate, D. J. Dixon, who was born in December of 1982, the same year the pitcher finished his major league career. "We worked fast," Lee said, "and the guys played well. (Maui) thought they had a walk in the park, and now they gotta scramble for the next three games." Dixon gave the Pacifics their final lead with a bases-clearing extra base hit.

Lee also hit ninth and drove in San Rafael's first run with a line single to right in the fifth inning.

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ROGER CLEMENS TO PITCH AT LEAST ONCE FOR SUGAR LAND IN ATLANTIC LEAGUE

The debut season of the Atlantic League's lone team (so far) in the southwest, Sugar Land, TX, very likely is going to end up with the Skeeters on the outside during the playoffs, but that does not mean Gary Gaetti's team will merely be playing out the string in the final five weeks of the season.

They made their biggest splash to date on Monday when news broke that seven-time Cy Young Award winner Roger Clemens is ending nearly five years on the sidelines to join the star-studded Skeeters rotation that also includes former major leaguers Scott Kazmir, Tim Redding and outfielder-turned-pitcher Jason Lane.

Clemens will be available to answer questions at a media conference at Constellation Field at 11 a.m. CDT Tuesday, the Skeeters said on their website, and will be in uniform Friday and start Saturday.

"He had great command of all his pitches (during a workout Monday), and we couldn't be more excited about this signing," said special team advisor and longtime major league executive Tal Smith, the team reported on www.sugarlandskeeters.com. Clemens reached 87 miles per hour on the radar gun Monday, Mark Berman of Fox26 in Houston reported.

"It is at this point a fun, local one time kind of thing," Clemens' agent, Randy Hendricks, told USA Today. "If he does well, he will probably make at least one more home start."

Sugar Land is averaging an Independent Baseball-high 6,649 fans per game this season, with the season total at 359,027. The Skeeters say limited tickets are available for Saturday's game against the Bridgeport (CT) Bluefish.

Clemens, 50, last pitched for the New York Yankees in 2007. He was acquitted on all charges this summer that he obstructed justice and lied to Congress. Clemens was subject to a federal investigation after telling Congress he never used steroids or human growth hormone.

Sugar Land has a 47-60 record for the 140-game season, and currently is five and a half games out of the second half Freedom Division lead and nine games out of a possible wild card playoff berth.

HOORELBEKE NEW INDEPENDENT HOME RUN KING

It took a move such as the signing of Roger Clemens to take the spotlight away from first baseman Jesse Hoorelbeke, who became Independent Baseball's all-time home run king with his 164th and 165th round-trippers during the weekend.

Hoorelbeke broke the mark held by outfielder Glenn Murray, who hit 163 homers between 1999 and 2006 with Nashua, NH when that city was in the Atlantic and Can-Am Leagues.

We will flush out more details for this week's Independent Baseball Insider, which reaches subscribers Thursday evening.

PRIOR, PATTERSON RELEASED

Former major league standout Mark Prior, who once played Independent Baseball in the Golden League (Orange County, Fullerton, CA) in his attempt to get back to the majors, has been released by Boston's Triple-A farm club in Pawtucket, RI. While Prior's work at Pawtucket had been encouraging in June and much of July, his control weakened and he had a 6.75 ERA for 6.2 innings this month. The onetime Chicago Cubs star was 1-0 with a 3.96 ERA in 19 relief appearances with the Pawsox.

Meanwhile, another right-hander, Scott Patterson, was released out of Buffalo, NY only weeks after the New York Mets signed him. Patterson, who pitched briefly in the majors, started his professional career in the Indy ranks with the Gateway Grizzlies at Sauget, IL (Frontier League) and started relieving during stints with Lancaster, PA in the Atlantic League.

One prediction from this corner came true when outfielder Justin Christian re-joined the San Francisco Giants after the 50-game suspension of Melky Cabrera. Christian is in his second stint of the season with playoff-contending San Francisco. He also started his pro career in the Frontier League (River City, O'Fallon, MO) and later worked in the Atlantic League for Southern Maryland (Waldorf). Christian went 0-for-7 in three weekend games against San Diego.

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THINKING ABOUT JUSTIN CHRISTIAN, AUSTIN BIBENS-DIRKX AND OTHERS ON 'INSIDER' DAY

A few thoughts while gearing up for today's Independent Baseball Insider column:

I cannot help but wonder if Justin Christian (Southern Maryland, Atlantic League, and River City, Frontier League) may get another look from the San Francisco Giants because of the 50-game ban handed out to Melky Cabrera. It did not help that Christian hit less than .200 in his last stint with the Giants although sporadic play is much more difficult than being in the lineup on a regular basis.

The Giants have two openings on the roster. Christian is at a lofty .343 in 72 games for Triple-A Fresno, but has only hit .250 (11-for-44) with four doubles, a triple and three RBI over the last 10 games.

GOLDEN LEAGUER GETS A NEW JOB

Right-hander Austin Bibens-Dirkx (Victoria, BC, Golden League) was idle only a very short time after being released by Washington before Colorado signed the 27-year-old.

The Oregonian had been a non-roster invitee to the Nationals' spring training camp, but he struggled to a 5.59 ERA for 29 appearances (two starts) with Triple-A Syracuse. The Rockies have Bibens-Dirkx with their top farm club in Colorado Springs where he gave up three runs in his first inning of work for the team Wednesday.

FARGO TOPS 3,000,000

Congratulations to the Fargo (ND) RedHawks for reaching the 3,000,000 mark in attendance for 17 years of Independent play this week. They have been a very steady draw in a rather isolated community, and Doug Simunic's constant contending teams have built a lot of equity for the American Association club.

A GOOD READ

Anyone who wants a nice look at life on the road with an Independent team should search out the August 11 Winnipeg Free Pressfor the lengthy story Randy Turner filed while on the road with the American Association's Winnipeg Goldeyes.

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PATTERSON IN NEW UNIFORM; THIS TIME AT BUFFALO

Scott Patterson's latest opportunity did not get off to a great start this week when he gave up three hits and two runs and took a loss in a one-inning stint for the New York Mets' Buffalo, NY farm club.

Patterson, whose first four and a half years were in Independent Baseball (Gateway, Sauget, IL, Frontier League, and Lancaster, PA, Atlantic League), started the season with Seattle's top farm club in Tacoma, WA, where he had a 2.89 ERA (1-3, four saves) in 26 relief outings.

The big right-hander (6-7), now 33, got into his only four major league games with San Diego and the New York Yankees back in 2008. He has been in Triple-A since except for a brief refresher at Lancaster in 2010 and time at Jackson, TN last season.

FOLLOWING RECENT OUTINGS IN AFFILIATED LEAGUES

We checked up on several players who recently had their contracts purchased by major league organizations and are doing well, but could not fit them into yesterday's Independent Baseball Insidercolumn.

Lanky lefty Mike Tarsi, taken away from Bridgeport, CT (Atlantic League), has won his only decision and has a 2.16 ERA for Atlanta's Double-A farm (Mississippi). He has 11 strikeouts in 8.1 innings.

RHP Andrew Aizenstadt, who went from Wichita, KS of the American Association to the Philadelphia system, has a perfect ERA for his first 8.1 innings at Williamsport, PA and has allowed only three hits and no walks while fanning 10.

Infielder Terry Tiffee (Lancaster) is hitting .317 for Atlanta's top club at Gwinnett, GA, but only has 63 at-bats. He has homered twice with 10 RBI.

Somerset, NJ (Atlantic League) right-hander Mike Solbach hurled 7.2 scoreless innings at Modesto, CA before Colorado jumped him to Double-A Tulsa, OK, where his two appearances and innings have been scoreless.

Third baseman Chris Curley, signed by the White Sox from Florence, KY of the Frontier League earlier this season, has driven in 19 runs and homered eight times in only 104 times at bat for Kannapolis, NC. He is hitting .240 for the Class A team.

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BRANDON KINTZLER PART OF AN 11-WALK NO-HITTER

A few odds and ends while getting ready for this week's Independent Baseball Insider
column on Thursday:

Brandon Kintzler's season has not been what he expected because of early-season injuries, but he will have one oddball game--a no-hitter, no less--to talk about when he looks back on the year.

Now closing games for Milwaukee's Double-A farm club in Huntsville, AL, the righty finished up a 3-1 no-hit win against Chattanooga, TN (Dodgers) over the weekend.

He was the last of five hurlers who worked for the Stars, and the stars in the sky must have had an unusual alignment because the four who appeared ahead of Kintzler walked 11 batters. Yes, 11 walks and still a no-no. Kintzler, whose Independent experience came at St. Paul, MN (American Association) and Winnipeg (before the Goldeyes left the Northern League for the Association), struck out one in a perfect ninth inning to earn his seventh save.

SAD TO SEE CHRISTIAN SENT DOWN

With San Francisco still very much in the thick of a postseason berth and also continuing to tinker with its roster, Justin Christian was a victim, going back to Triple-A Fresno, CA. But since the outfielder is still on the 40-man roster one would have to believe he will be back to the National League team, at least come September 1.

Christian started in pro baseball in the Frontier League (River City, O'Fallon, MO) and later played for Southrn Maryland (Waldorf) in the Atlantic League.

BASEBALL TAKES BACK SEAT TO MOM, EDUCATION

Defending Frontier League champion Joliet, IL probably will not make this year’s playoffs, but the Slammers took a body blow nevertheless recently when all-star second baseman Hector Pellot left for home in Puerto Rico for the remainder of the season for two noble reasons. He is an only child and his mother, Nivea, has been diagnosed with cancer and has other medical issues and Pellot, who spent five years in the New York Mets chain, plans to start studying physics at the University of Puerto Rico.

“I was a good student all my life,” the 25-year-old told The Chicago Sun-Times. “I would like to go to medical school. That’s going to be my goal.” Pellot’s .319 regular season average and a .500 batting average along with two homers and five RBI were key to Joliet’s first-year playoff run.

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