TRENTON – The day after the All-Star game is usually a big day for transactions, and yesterday was certainly no exception. Among other things, the Thunder welcomed back two members of their bullpen and said goodbye to an old friend.

The biggest – but sadly least surprising – news of the day was the release of reliever Alan Horne, who had spent the better part of the last four years fighting waves of injuries, the most recent being serious damage to his right rotator cuff.

Horne, the 2007 Eastern League Pitcher of the Year and a former first-round draft choice with the Angels, was simply ineffective in his brief return to the Eastern League, cobbling together an 0-2 record and a 12.79 ERA in 6 1/3 frames.

That, plus the fact that, at 28 years old, he was incapable of staying healthy, spelled the end of his tenure with the Yankees organization. Manager Tony Franklin told him the news a few hours before yesterday’s game and, as always, it was a bitter pill to deliver.

“It wasn’t pleasant, because about four years ago he was the Pitcher of the Year in this league,” Franklin said. “Unfortunately he had an arm injury that set him back, and who knows how you’re going to recover from that. He seems to have recovered from the arm injury but just wasn’t pitching well at this time.”

In his place, the Thunder received Josh Schmidt, back for his second tour of duty with Trenton this season. The curve-slinging corner-painting right-hander is the franchise’s all-time leader in appearances, and has pitched 15 times in Double-A this season.

He was 2-2 with a 1.59 ERA in 22 2/3 innings before being bumped back to Scranton on June 10. Overall, he’s 5-4 with a 2.16 ERA and 51 strikeouts against 19 walks between the levels.

Outfielder DeAngelo Mack was also placed on the disabled list yesterday with an injury to the base of his left hand which has caused him enough pain to believe that surgery may be an option in the near future.

So far, Mack’s only been looked at by trainer by Tim Lentych, but a trip to the doctor and the X-Ray machine is upcoming.

The pain started during the last road swing, and it eventually got to the point where he was struggling with everyday tasks like opening a bottle or holding a baseball bat.

“It’s a little sore right now, it’s pretty sore,” he said before the game. “Whenever the doctor gets here he’s going to check it out and kind of see what’s going on and maybe go for an X-Ray or a CT scan (Friday).”

Ryan Pope, a starter-turned-closer with Trenton last season, rejoined the team during the final road trip before the All-Star break, but didn’t get back to Waterfront Park until yesterday.

Shoulder inflammation kept the right-hander on the shelf to start the season, and when he finally returned he found himself caught in a mix of relievers at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, which has led to reduced time all season.

He had tried to pitch through the pain, but finally reached a breaking point before the season began.

“I feel like I’m healthy. You try to push through some things here and there to get to the big leagues – that’s just the way baseball is,” he admitted. “It gets to a point sometimes where you just can’t push through it anymore.”

He made his first appearance of the season – a rehab outing with Tampa – on April 23 before being bumped to Scranton on May 2. He got into his first game with Trenton on July 7, marking the first time he had pitched in three weeks.

Utilityman Addison Maruszak was returned to Trenton yesterday, catcher Austin Romine was activated from the Temporary Inactive List, and catcher Ryan Baker was placed on the Disabled List to complete the day’s paperwork.

NOTES: Graham Stoneburner, who hasn’t pitched since April, was activated from the team’s DL and assigned to High-A Tampa, where he started last night’s game. He also made four appearances in the Gulf Coast League on the rehab trail. … Phillies broadcaster was inducted into the Trenton Baseball Hall of Fame last night, joining former Thunder manager DeMarlo Hale as this year’s inductees. The team’s broadcast booth was dedicated in honor of McCarthy, who was the Trenton’s first play-by-play man.

TRENTON -- The Thunder could be getting quite a bit of reinforcements in the coming days. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman confirmed yesterday that Yankees pitcher Phil Hughes’ next rehab start would come with Trenton on Friday, when the team opens its set with the New Britain Rock Cats.

Hughes struck out seven in 4 1/3 innings with the Short-Season Staten Island Yankees on Sunday, and reached as high as 95 miles per hour with his fastball.

Also in the arms department, Alan Horne confirmed to The Trentonian that he will be joining the Thunder and is scheduled to start on Wednesday against the Portland Sea Dogs at Hadlock Field.

Horne was the 2007 Eastern League Pitcher of the Year, and last pitched for Trenton in 2009, when he went 0-3 with an 11.15 ERA in 15 1/3 innings before succumbing to a rotator cuff injury. He had surgery to remove a bone spur in his shoulder, and underwent platelet-rich plasma therapy to heal the rotator cuff.

Second baseman David Adams, who last played on May 22, 2010, with Thunder, was 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI in the Gulf Coast League yesterday, a sign that he is getting closer to returning to action.

When he is fully healed from plantar fasciitis and the aftereffects of a broken foot he suffered in that May contest, it is likely he’ll return to the Thunder.

Trenton utilityman Addison Maruszak has been promoted to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, according to Scranton Times-Tribune beat writer Donnie Collins. Maruszak has spent time at catcher, first base, third base and in right field this season, and was hitting .218/.335/.306 before the promotion.

To account for his absence, Trenton is receiving Rob Lyerly from Tampa. Lyerly was hitting .315/.363/.462 with four homers and 46 RBIs.

The team has announced its roster changes, and they are as follows:

- Manny Banuelos and Myron Leslie have been placed on the temporarily inactive list.

- Nick McCoy has been removed from the roster entirely.

That trims the roster down to the required 24, and it also leaves the team with just one catcher, Austin Romine. If necessary, Addison Maruszak will be the team's emergency catcher.

Trenton opens its season in a few hours, when it takes on Zach Stewart and the New Hampshire Fisher Cats in Manchester this evening. Steve Garrison, a Hun school graduate and a Trenton native, will oppose Stewart.

Additionally, Jeremy Bleich, David Adams, Grant Duff and Alan Horne all appear on the team's disabled list. Even before those moves were announced, it was pretty clear those four guys were good candidates to play for the Thunder this year.

The rest of the pitching matchup for the New Hampshire series are as follows:

LHP Shaeffer Hall (0 - 0, 0.00) vs. RHP Rey Gonzalez (0 - 0, 0.00)
RHP Graham Stoneburner (0 - 0, 0.00) vs. RHP B.J. LaMura (0 - 0, 0.00)
RHP Dellin Betances (0 - 0, 0.00) vs. LHP Willie Collazo (0 - 0, 0.00)

Good morning. The Thunder won last night, 3-1 over Erie. Here are links to all of Mike Ashmore's game stories that appeared in today's Trentonian. He'll be covering again tonight, and I'll be back on Sunday afternoon through the Akron series. Anyway, enough about me, here are the links.

Laird, Pope lift Thunder to 2-0

No word on Thunder's Garcia yet

Horne puts off surgery

As all who follow the team know, No. 1 starter Christian Garcia got hurt last night. It's not the first time it is happened. It's not the second, third or fourth time, either. He's already had two surgeries on his right elbow and another one to reconstruct his knee. He's also spent time on the disabled list with an elbow strain (2005), a strained oblique (2006) and elbow tendinitis (2009).

He'll have an MRI today, and should know the results before the day is out. Mike Ashmore will be handling the duties for The Trentonian for the next two nights, so he'll deliver whatever news comes of the situation.

Also, the Thunder made a flurry of moves before last night's game. They placed pitcher Cory Arbiso, infielder Neall French and outfielder Edwar Gonzalez on the disabled list, and added pitchers Alan Horne and Paul Bush to the roster. Those two were already on the DL. Those moves left the Thunder's roster shy a man until outfielder Reid Gorecki was sent down from Scranton.

Here's what Gorecki had to say about his demotion:

“I am going to handle it the way anyone who wants to keep playing this game will handle it; just another bump in the road. Over the course of my career I have had some bumps and this is just another one. I am here to play and that’s the bottom line. My job is dependent upon me putting up numbers, so if I wasn’t going to get a chance in Scranton, I am glad to have the chance to do something here.’’

Tonight's contest starts at 7:05 and pits Ryan Pope against Erie's L.J. Gagnier. Once again, Mike Ashmore will have The Trentonian's coverage.

The Thunder released their official Opening Day roster mere minutes ago, and there are more changes than even I expected. Because there were 26 men on the preliminary roster, we knew two had to be removed in some way. That happened, and then some. Here's the overall changes.

On preliminary roster, now on DL
P - Cory Arbiso
IF - Neall French
OF - Edwar Gonzalez

Added to roster, placed on DL:
P - Alan Horne
P - Paul Bush

Added to roster, active:
OF - Reid Gorecki

Once again, the injury bug has bitten Alan Horne.

The former Thunder hurler and 2007 Eastern League Pitcher of the Year was diagnosed last week with a more than 80 percent tear of his right rotator cuff, requiring what will likely be season-ending surgery. The procedure will be performed by the renowned Dr. James Andrews, at his clinic in Birmingham, Ala., on April 9.

“(It’s) obviously not something anybody wants, but it’s got to be done,” Horne said, via text message.

This marks the third surgery Horne has had performed by Dr. Andrews. The first, a Tommy John procedure, came after his freshman season in high school. He also had another partial rotator cuff tear, along with some fray along the labrum, fixed toward the end of the 2008 season.