Good afternoon. 

After last night's 5-3 loss, the Thunder are back at it for the second of three with the Fisher Cats. While we wait for the lineups, here are a few videos from last night, including a little pre-game batting practice.










Speak of the devil, here are the lineups:

THUNDER
Abraham Almonte - LF
Ronnier Mustelier - 3B
David Adams - 2B
Zoilo Almonte - RF
Rob Lyerly - 1B
Melky Mesa - CF
Cody Johnson - DH
Gustavo Molina - C
Walter Ibarra - SS
Graham Stoneburner - SP

NEW HAMPSHIRE
Kevin Howard - DH
Jonathan Diaz - 2B
A.J. Jimenez - C
Brad Glenn - RF
Mike McDade - 1B
Brian Van Kirk - LF
Mark Sobolewski - 3B
Ryan Goins - SS
Justin Jackson - CF
Chad Jenkins - SP

NOTES: Tony Franklin said last night that Craig Heyer, he of 4 1/3 scoreless innings in Scranton, will start on Tuesday. The game notes, however, still list the starter as TBA. ... First baseman Rob Lyerly took extra grounders at first this afternoon and also worked on his scoops.

Update: 5:59: To get Heyer back on the roster, catcher Mitch Abeita was released. A little surprising that they would flat-out release a guy this early in a season, especially considering the way the paper DL gets abused in these leagues. If they didn't expect him to get playing time, however, it might be for the better for him in the long run.

Spoke with Tony for a bit about his brief stint as a manager in Venezuela. Using that for a larger piece, probably to run on Monday, about how the Wilson Ramos kidnapping affected players' attitudes toward playing there. I've also spoken about that to Gustavo Molina, Jose Gil and Dan Brewer. I hope to speak with Ronald Uviedo and Luis Dorante on that topic.

Mike Ashmore and I spoke at length with Brett Marshall in advance of his Double-A debut tomorrow afternoon. He a had a lot of good stuff, including details about why he struggled last April, why he wasn't promoted last year, the benefit to adding a curveball, and why he preferred to maintain his own field in high school.

From Molina and Marshall and a scout today, I've also discussed what they believe is the ideal velocity when it comes to velocity, and what kind of difference there is between, say, a 97 to 98 mile per hour heater, and one that comes in at 93 to 94 miles per hour.

That's a lot of stuff, and I'll be back with more later.