=== Daily Dugout Chatter - Monday, July 12th === (Games from Sunday, July 11th)

From The My Sportsbook

BACK TO THE FUTURES

Major League Baseball's All-Star Week kicked off on Sunday afternoon with the Futures Game at Houston's Minute Maid Park. Toronto Blue Jays prospect Aaron Hill (Double-A New Hampshire) was named the game's MVP and took home the Larry Doby award. Hill had a hit and drove in two runs in the USA Team's 4-3 victory over the World Team. USA took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning when Shin-soo Choo (Double-A San Antonio) mishandled a fly ball to right field off the bat of B.J. Upton (Triple-A Durham). USA tacked on two more unearned runs in the fifth on Hill's double. John Danks (Single-A Stockton) recorded the win for the USA Team. He pitched the third inning and allowed two hits. Kyle Sleeth (Double-A Erie) recorded the final out of the game and picked up the save. Wilfredo Ledezma (Double-A Erie) suffered the loss.

BAKER'S DOZEN

Travis Chick struck out 13 Capital City Bombers in the Greensboro Bats' 6-3 win in South Atlantic League action on Sunday. Chick was magnificent in six shutout innings of work. The righty yielded only one hit and picked up the win to improve to 6-3 on the year. Chick struck out six of the first seven batters he faced and fanned at least two batters in an inning in five of his six frames. Cole Seifrig drove in four runs for the victorious Bats, who improved to 9-8 on the second half of the season. Capital City dropped to 10-6.

THUNDEROUS FINISH

Aaron Rifkin's three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning gave the Trenton Thunder a 7-4 win in over the Norwich Navigators on Sunday. Trenton upped its record to 43-44 while Norwich fell to 46-42. Tommy Winrow led off the bottom of the ninth with a single and then advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Andy Cannizaro. After Bronson Sardinha was intentionally walked, Rifkin made the Navigators pay with a three-run shot to right field. Jason Grove went 2-for-3 with two RBI and one run scored while Craig Wilson scored twice for the Thunder. Tim Adkins won his first game out of the bullpen. Adkins only recorded one out in the win. Starter Chien-Ming Wang gave up 10 three earned runs on 10 hits and struck out eight in seven innings of work. Montes took the loss and fell to 5-4. He surrendered three runs on two hits and walked one in one inning. Jay Pecci collected three hits and Michael Cervanek scored a run and plated another for Norwich.

GLENN IS GRAND

Glenn Williams's grand slam in the bottom of the eighth inning lifted the Syracuse Sky Chiefs past the Toldeo Mud Hens, 10-8, on Sunday afternoon. Toledo took an 8-5 lead into the bottom of the eighth and had not trailed the game to that point, but Syracuse rallied for five runs in the inning on the strength of Williams's slam. Anthony Sanders led off the inning with a double and scored Julius Matos's base hit two outs later. Jason Karnuth walked Shawn Fagan before giving way to Eric Eckenstahler, who provided no relief as he loaded the bases by issuing a free pass to Gabe Gross, then served up Williams's slam. Matos finished the game 4-for-4 and smacked a two-run home run in the third inning off of Nate Cornejo. Gross and Sanders chipped in with two RBI each. Chad Alexander doubled, homered and knocked in two runs for the Mud Hens, who scored their runs in bunches, tallying four in the second and four in the seventh. Eric Owens collected three hits in the losing effort. Adam Peterson (2-0) picked up the win in one and 2/3rd innings of relief. Kevin Frederick chalked up his fourth save of the season. Eckenstahler suffered the loss and fell to 1-2 on the year. Syracuse wrapped up the first half of the season 12 games below .500 at 40-52. Toledo enters the all-star break with a 49-43 mark.

HIGH TIDES

Tom Wilson and Prentice Redman knocked in two runs apiece and Aaron Heilman won his third game of the season as the Norfolk Tides defeated the Scranton/W-B Red Barons, 6-2, in the International League Sunday night. Norfolk, winners of six straight, upped its record to 41-47 while Scranton fell to 52-37. Wilson hit his fourth home run of the season and finished the night 3-for-5 with two RBI and two runs scored. Redman hit his first long ball of the year and went 2- for-4. Gerlad Williams chipped in with three hits and an RBI for the Tides. Heilman (3-8) surrendered two runs on five hits and walked five in six innings of work. Bob Keppel, Tyler Yates and Pedro Feliciano combined to throw three scoreless innings to close the game out. Scranton's Josh Hancock got knocked around in his six innings of work and fell to 8-6 with the loss. Hancock allowed six runs on 12 hits and struck out four. Mark Smith hit his 9th home run of the season, knocked in two runs and walked three times for the Red Barons.

SWEENEY LOSES PERFECTO, BUT BEAVERS WIN

Jon Knott hit his 16th home run and had three RBI, while Brian Sweeney tossed seven strong innings to lead the Portland Sea Dogs to an 8-1 win over the Sacramento River Cats. Sweeney retired the first 19 batters he faced and had a perfect game through six and 1/3rd innings, but his flirtation with history ended when he issued a walk to Nick Swisher in the bottom of the seventh. The no-hitter was gone two batters later when Dan Johnson slapped an RBI single to the right side. Sweeney earned the win and improved to 8-2 on the season. He struck out eight and walked two. Leadoff hitter Freddy Guzman had four hits, one RBI and scored four runs to set the table for the Sea Dogs. Guzman fell a home run shy of the cycle. Steve Woodard (8-6) allowed six runs, five earned, on nine hits in six innings of work. Dan Johnson drove in the lone run of the game for Sacramento. Portland improved to 45-46, while Sacramento fell to 55-36.

LOOKOUTS TOP BISCUITS IN EXTRAS

Jason Stokes capped off a four-run 10th inning with a two-run double as the Carolina Mudcats beat the Montgomery Biscuits, 7-3, in Southern League action Sunday evening. Both teams are now 7-11 in the second half of the season. Charles Frazier knocked in the first run of the tenth inning with an RBI single that plated Dennis Anderson. Chip Ambres followed when he knocked in Frazier on a error by the shortstop. Stokes put the Biscuits away with his two-run double and finished the game 3-for-5. Jeff Inglin scored twice for the Mudcats. Patrick Flury got the win and improved his record to 1-3. Flury allowed one hit, one walk and struck out five in 1 2/3rd innings of work. Montgomery's Josh Parker took the loss and fell to 0-2. Parker allowed four runs, two earned, on three hits and two walks over 2/3rds of an inning pitched. Chairon Isenia went 3-for-4 with an RBI and Aaron Clark hit his 11th home run of the season for Montgomery.

HELENA OUTSLUGS BILLINGS

Tony Festa collected two doubles and drove in four runs as the Helena Brewers topped the Billings Mustangs, 15-11, in Pioneer league action on Sunday. The two teams combined for 26 runs on 25 hits in the slug fest. Grant Richardson, Adam mannon and Clay Blevins drove in three runs each for the Brewers, who improved to 14-9 with the win. Blevins finished the game 3-for-3 with three runs scored. Brandon Szymanski and Trevor Lawhorn belted back-to-back home runs in the top of the first for Billings. Bobby Mosby added a tater of his own for the Mustangs, who dropped to 10-10. The teams combined for 11 base hits, six doubles and five home runs, in the game.