Each Friday, Minor Matters will publish the Top Ten numbers from the season. These can be stats, players' numbers, whatever. As long as it's a number, it counts. The Thunder were just two wins from the Eastern League championship, so there's no shortage of material for this section.

No. 10 ...













What it means: Number 23, other than being Don Mattingly's number, was Brandon Laird's home run total with the Thunder last season.

Why it's significant: To say Brandon Laird had a killer stint in the Eastern League is to the sun has had a good run as a star. The Thunder's third baseman, in addition to those 23 bombs, hit 22 doubles, drove in 90 runs and walked 38 times.

He also won (deep breath) the league's Rookie of the Year, Most Valuable Player, Player of the Week and Player of the Month awards, and was named to both Mid-Season and Postseason All-Star teams.

Pretty damn good for a guy who played 107 games with the Thunder before moving to Scranton.

Other meanings: Jose Gil's strikeouts, the number of games D.J. Mitchell and Lance Pendleton each started for the Thunder, the number of walks David Phelps issued in 88 1/3 innings, the number of games in which Eric Wordekemper appeared and J.B. Cox's strikeout total.