The Thunder won today, 13-7, over the Binghamton Mets. It was the team's 10th straight win, and provides a huge helping of momentum as the team heads into a seven-game string with division leading New Hampshire and third-place Portland, who are just a half game back of the Thunder for second in the EL East. Here is the game story.

- Brandon Laird had a grand slam and a three-run home run, totaling seven RBIs. It was the fifth multi-homer game of Laird's career. He had three with Charleston, and one with the Gulf Coast League Yankees. He also did it in front of his parents and grandparents.

- Laird's seven RBIs give him 36 for the season, best in the Eastern League.

- In addition to Laird's two bombs, Dan Brewer and Edwar Gonzalez also went deep. The four home runs mark a season high for the Thunder.

- Ryan Pope made his first appearance out of the bullpen. He was perfect for two innings, including four strikeouts. For now, it does not appear he will be used in the late innings. Those slots, manager Tony Franklin said, will be filled by Eric Wordekemper and Grant Duff. I expect Pope to assume a Josh Schmidt-esque, jack-of-all-trades type of role.

Here's some video of Pope fanning Jose Coronado yesterday:

- It was mascot Boomer's birthday today, and several mascots were in the house to help celebrate. The ones I could identify were: Scorch (Trenton Devils), the Rutgers Scarlet Knight, a Canada Goose from Wawa, Buster (Lakewood BlueClaws) and a Philadelphia Wings mascot.

- In the other big news of the day, Yankees prospect Hector Noesi was promoted to Trenton, pushing Ryan Pope out of the rotation. Noesi, who was suspended for the first 50 games of the 2007 season, was 5-2 with a 2.72 ERA. He fanned 53 in 43 innings, and walked just six.
Here's the link to that story.

Here's some postgame audio from (top down) Jeremy Bleich, Brandon Laird, Austin Romine and Tony Franklin: