After four days in sometimes rainy, sometimes sunny Virginia, I'm back in action. Not much happened while I was gone, did it? Oh, right, some stuff did occur.

For instance ...

Dellin Betances was promoted to Scranton. This makes sense. He pitched very well his last time out, and his velocity was hitting the upper-90s. He had been throwing a much higher percentage of fastballs in recent days, an indicator, I think, that the Yankees may use him as a reliever in the near future.

With his promotion, the Thunder's rotation is left with a 6-foot, 8-inch hole to fill. As it stands, here are Trenton's five starters:

1. Shaeffer Hall
2. Graham Stoneburner
3. Steve Garrison
4. Craig Heyer
5. ????

There are two in-house candidates for the elusive Four Question marks Of Doom spot -- Cory Arbiso and Kei Igawa. Arbiso is starting tonight in the second game of the doubleheader with Erie, so you can probably count him out at least for Friday.

Igawa just came off the shelf, where he'd been since June 23, so he'd be fresh as a daisy on Friday. That said, he's been markedly better as a reliever with the Thunder this season -- not that it really matters to the guys who make these types of decisions.

The other, more interesting candidate is Jeff Marquez, who was with the team way back in 2008, my first year of coverage. He's working his way back from injury, and is currently with the Tampa Yankees. He last pitched on the 13th, so he'd be on five days' rest.

Because Marquez is on the 40-man roster, no move would be needed to get him on the Thunder's roster on Friday. This is key, because the team is currently carrying the maximum 24 players.

Additionally, Austin Romine was activated off the team's disabled list this afternoon. Inflamed disks in his back put him out on August 3rd. Tonight's game will be the first he's played in exactly two weeks. Don't expect him here for long, however. He'll get the bump to Scranton once Jesus Montero is ready to take the first car up to the Bronx.

Corban Joseph missed three consecutive games after having a stye on his eye taken care of. My sister dealt with one of those at one point, and I remember her saying that they were no fun at all. Though he wouldn't admit, I'd bet it hindered his performance some.

The Thunder also dropped two of three to the Harrisburg Senators over the weekend, including one that was lost when Bryce Harper hit a 480-foot walkoff home run off of Ryan Pope on Friday.

As it stands, Trenton is, at 60-60, in a tie for second place in the Eastern Division with the Reading Phillies. Lurking just a half-game back is New Britain, who also could overtake both Reading and the Thunder for the wild card.

If the Thunder are going to make the playoffs, they're going to have to beat some of the best competition the circuit has to offer. After their quartet with Erie, they have seven games with division leader New Hampshire, three with Western Division frontrunner Bowie and eight with the Rock Cats.

UPDATE: Welp, I missed on that one, folks. Jeff Marquez was placed on the 60-Day DL and most certainly not be starting against the Baysox on Friday. Igawa leads the race.

Today: RHP Graham Stoneburner (1-1, 1.86) vs. RHP Collin McHugh (4-2, 3.75)
Tomorrow: LHP Shaeffer Hall (10-5, 4.23) vs. RHP Matt Harvey (3-8, 6.33)
Thursday: LHP Steve Garrison (3-8, 6.33) vs. RHP Brandon Moore (9-7, 3.93)

Pregame stuff: On the way in Trenton was hit with quite possibly the biggest storm since I've been here (four years). The streets were flash-flooding to a degree I've never witnessed. That said, it seems to have slowed, and the tarp was on, so I wouldn't bank on a postponement just yet.

Austin Romine is still on the shelf with what his agent called "inflammation in a couple of disks in his back." Jose Gil and Ryan Baker will be the catching duo in his stead, with Addison Maruszak filling the role of emergency catcher.

Dellin Betances is scheduled to spin on Friday in Harrisburg, where he'll face one Bryce Harper, a prospect of note and enthusiast of terrible mustaches.

Good news for the Thunder on a couple of fronts. They are facing the B-Mets, who are a league-worst 47-68, and who are underwhelming against southpaws as a whole. On the season, Binghamton hits just .248/.328/.386 against lefties, which is good news for both Shaeffer Hall and Steve Garrison.

The Thunder haven't been caught stealing in seven attempts in August. The last Thunder runner to get caught was Melky Mesa, who was nabbed by Akron catcher Raul Padron on July 27 at Canal Park.

In sporadic playing time, utilityman Yadil Mujica has a modest five-game hitting streak, the longest of any hitter on the team.

Tonight is the first of the final four games before the trading deadline, and the big (radar) guns are in the house. Scouts from both the Rockies and Mariners are here, which may ring a few bells to those who follow the scuttlebutt.

That said, there are obviously other things going on around the team, notably:

- Mark Newman, Nardi Contreras and Julio Mosquera are in the house

- Outfielder DeAngelo Mack is back from the disabled list, where he's been since July 10 with a sore hand.

- Grant Duff's season is over. He'll begin the rehab process down in Tampa shortly, Tony Franklin said, which leads me to believe he had some sort of surgery. Franklin wouldn't tell us.

- Graham Stoneburner, who's been out since April, is scheduled to start on Friday. He was in the clubhouse before the game, and had ticket requests in, so he's feeling better, obviously.

- Franklin said before the game that Romine was "not playing" for the two consecutive games was based on the stress incurred from the sweltering heat in Bowie.

- There is a 75 percent chance of thunderstorms around 8 p.m. tonight

With trade season upon us, a prospect's omission from a lineup is sure to cause a stir. So when the Thunder's lineup was posted earlier, sans Corban Joseph and Austin Romine, more than a few bells went off in the head of yours truly.

Romine's absence is particularly interesting, considering he also didn't play on Sunday and there'd been no report of any injury. He normally is slotted in as the designated hitter when he gets a day off behind the plate, but he's been totally inactive over the last two evenings.

As for Joseph, he's raised his prospect status quite a bit over the summer, and would be a fine piece to a trade package. He last had a day off on Monday in Erie, so it's not like he's gone a month without a breather.

Both players would fit will in a deal, but then again, this could simply be a case of heightened sensitivity due to the time of year.

TRENTON — Against some of the circuit’s top talent and with a horde of scouts watching and recording his every pitch, Manny Banuelos finally put together a signature moment for the 2011 season.

For the first half of the year, the Thunder starter had put forth results that mostly resided toward the upper end of middling. The stuff’s been there, but the command has not, and that’s what has kept him from achieving the truly elite status.

After Zach Stewart started and Princeton native Erik Arnesen pitched a frame, Banuelos entered the proceedings and blew away the competition in rather impressive and efficient fashion.

He struck out all three men he faced — Bowie’s Xavier Avery, Altoona’s Starling Marte and Akron’s Juan Diaz — on just 13 pitches, all but two of which were strikes. He threw almost exclusively fastballs and topped out at 94 miles per hour, according to one scout’s gun.

“I haven’t felt that way throughout the year. If I’m able to throw like that, good things are going to happen. That’s the way I want to throw. It’s a good thing to take forward,” Banuelos said afterward, with the help of teammate and fellow All-Star Dellin Betances.

“I’m going to try to take this outing into the second half. I feel like the way I commanded out there and the way I felt, it’s something I (would) definitely take in the second half.”

Betances, who has struggled with efficiency problems all year, got into the game in the fifth and quickly put his struggles in the rear-view. He cut through the Western Division in just seven pitches, including a strikeout of Bowie catcher Caleb Joseph.

He also got a popout from Roger Kieschnick and finished a stress-free frame on Avery’s fly ball to the left-field warning track.

“It was a quick outing, seven pitches, I can’t complain,” he said. “Last time I pitched was six days ago, so it’s one of those things. I just had to go after these guys and throw strikes, and I got some good defense.”

On the offensive side, second baseman Corban Joseph was the star, scoring a pair of hard-hit singles, including a screamer through the box against Tigers stud hurler and Futures Game alumnus Jacob Turner.

Joseph has turned his stock around since his Trenton debut, when a barking wrist veiled his true offensive potential. Now, with everything long healed, he’s putting his sweet left-handed stroke to good use, culminating in a fan selection to Wednesday night’s action in the All-Star Game.

“I enjoyed it,” Joseph said. “I got lucky and got two hits. I swung through in my first at-bat, and that’s something I’ve never done before. They encourage that here. I thought, what’s a better time to do that than at the All-Star Game?”

Catcher Austin Romine, fresh off a two-hit effort at the Futures Game at Chase Field, rolled a single to right field in his first trip, putting a cap on a very fruitful effort for Trenton’s quartet of All-Stars.

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.

MANNY BANUELOS

MONKEYS ON DOGS HERDING GOATS

DELLIN BETANCES

CORBAN JOSEPH

AUSTIN ROMINE

DeAngelo Mack doubles home the go-ahead runs



Damon Sublett singles home the game-tying score



Rob Lyerly's first Double-A at-bat at home



Jose Pirela singles off of Henderson Alvarez



Adeiny Hechavarria robs Austin Romine of a knock

I e-mailed Mark Newman about an hour ago regarding injury recovery for Steve Garrison, Austin Romine and Graham Stoneburner. Here's what he said.

Austin Romine - "to play tonight"

Steve Garrison - "to start tomorrow in Trenton"

Graham Stoneburner - "is in Tampa and will have rehab starts in the GCL"

Romine has been out since June 2 with a mild concussion he suffered on a play at the plate against Altoona. He was named to the Futures Game roster yesterday (his second trip). Before the injury, he was hitting .298/.362/.421 with four homers and 31 RBIs.

Garrison, a native of Trenton, had been out since a hamstring injury forced him out of his May 3 start after just one inning. He made a rehab start with Staten Island on June 21, going five shutout innings against the Hudson Valley Renegades. He allowed four hits, a walk and struck out four.

Stoneburner last pitched for the Thunder on April 21. Neck problems made him a late scratch from his next scheduled start, which would have come in his hometown of Richmond, Va. He threw two innings in the GCL today, striking out four. His only baserunner came on a hit by pitch.

Additionally, David Adams has been rehabbing with the GCL Yankees. In three contests, he is 6-for-9 with a double and three runs scored. He has been removed around the sixth inning in each game, usually replaced by Taylor Anderson.

Someone with knowledge of the situation said that he expected Adams' rehab to be on the longer side. I would imagine that the next step is to play full games.

Austin Romine was eligible to come off the disabled list today, but he did not. He may begin activities soon, but nothing too strenuous. Sounds like stretching would be the beginning of his road back. He went on the disabled list with a "mild" concussion last week after Travis Scott's hit on him toward the end of the Thunder's loss on June 2 against Altoona.

Melky Mesa has begun physical activities to rehab his lower-back issue. He was throwing a medicine ball with trainer Tim Lentych before the game. He last played on May 26.

Per the notes on the wall, Cory Arbiso is your starter on the 18th.

Cody Johnson was sent home today with flu-like symptoms.

TRENTON – Thunder catcher Austin Romine has a “mild” concussion, Yankees head of player development Mark Newman told The Trentonian, and will be out “a minimum of 7 days from the time of the injury.”

The injury occurred last Thursday, when Altoona designated hitter Travis Scott barreled over Romine toward the end of Trenton’s loss to the Curve. Romine stayed in the game at the time, but sat out the rest of the series before being placed on the disabled list on Monday.

When he spoke to the media on Saturday, he said his back and neck felt stiff but that he wasn’t worried about a concussion, even with the knowledge that the team and its medical staff hadn’t ruled it out as a possibility.

He is eligible to come off the shelf on Monday, when the team has an off day before a three-game set against Harrisburg at Waterfront Park.

Because concussions have such a wide spectrum of severity, it is difficult to say when Romine will likely make his return. Justin Morneau was concussed last July and missed the rest of the season. On the other hand, Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett didn’t miss any of the regular year after being hit in the head during spring training and experiencing symptoms of a concussion.

In other Thunder news, ace reliever Tim Norton has been promoted to Triple-A Scranton, leaving a gaping hole in the back of the team’s bullpen. Over his last 10 games, Norton, 29, had allowed just four hits over 12 1/3 innings, and had struck out 20 against just two walks.

Overall, the right-hander leaves Trenton with a 1-0 record, a 1.55 ERA and an astounding 44 strikeouts in 29 innings. He leads Eastern League relievers in batting average against (.124), strikeouts per nine innings (13.66) and fewest baserunners per nine innings (7.14).

TRENTON – Thunder catcher Austin Romine missed his second straight game last night, a direct result of his collision with Altoona designated hitter Travis Scott at home plate on Thursday evening.

Romine told trainer Tim Lentych and manager Tony Franklin that he was experiencing soreness in back and neck, and the team has decided to take the cautious approach. He has already seen Dr. Lou Fares, the team’s physician, and his return to the lineup is uncertain.

The possibility of a concussion hasn’t been ruled out, but it’s not necessarily something the team suspects. For his part, Romine doesn’t seem worried about his status in the long term, but he also understands the need for a careful approach given recent events around the sport.

“With everything going on with collisions right now, on TV and all that, they thought they’d be a little cautious,” he said before last night’s game with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. “They gave me the night off (on Friday), and (now) the stiffness is still kind of there. It makes it hard to swing and stuff like that, so they’re being real cautious about it and they’re giving me a couple of days off.”

No decision has been made as to whether Romine will go on the disabled list, and it may be a few days before that decision comes. The catcher still has to undergo a few evaluations, especially to make sure that he hasn’t experienced a concussion.

“It’s hard to say right now where he’s going to end up,” Franklin said, “but I do know this: He’s not going to play (Saturday), probably won’t play (Sunday), and won’t play we hear from the doctors, the front-office people as to what and how we should proceed.”

If Romine did sustain a concussion on the hit, the timetable grows murkier. The effects of concussions can be extremely long-lasting, just ask Twins first baseman Justin Morneau. He was concussed in July of last year, and missed the rest of the season.

On the other hand, Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett missed just a few days after being struck in the head with a line drive during spring training. His symptoms came and went in a matter of days, and he has pitched without problems this season.

So when the team refers to Romine’s timetable as indefinite, that truly is the case.

As for the play that caused the injury, neither manager nor catcher holds any ill will toward Scott for his aggressive approach. In the same vein, Romine says he has no regrets about blocking the plate the way he did. If he had to repeat his actions, he would.

“Human nature takes over,” he said. “You don’t want him to score at all. You’re going to do whatever you can to block him from getting to the plate. Sometimes you’re going to get hung out to dry because of your positioning. We’re taught to give a little bit of the plate unless it’s the game on the line, then you take the plate away.”

TRENTON – On September 11, 2001, Dellin Betances was a 13-year-old living and going to school in Manhattan. He was in history class that morning, when terrorists hijacked and piloted jets into both towers of the World Trade Center.

“When that happened, it was kind of surreal,” the Thunder pitcher recounted a day after the United States killed Osama bin Laden, the terrorist mastermind behind that day’s attacks. “I didn’t believe what was going on.”

Because of the maelstrom that shrouded the rest of that day, bus service to and from school was halted, and Betances had to walk home with his family. From his route back to his home on the Lower East Side, he could see the billows coming from the wreckage where the twin towers were smoldering.

“You could definitely see the smoke. It was kind of hard to breathe a little bit. I mean, it wasn’t too far from where I lived. It was probably like 3 to 5 miles away, so it’s not too far away.”

When news broke late last night that bin Laden was dead, Betances was on his way back from New York with teammates Jose Pirela and Melky Mesa. A girlfriend sent him the news via text message.

Like most throughout the country, New Yorkers or otherwise, there was a mix of emotions when it was finally confirmed that Navy SEALs had taken out bin Laden in a brief firefight in his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

The foremost feeling was relief but, just like that day nearly a decade ago, it was tinged with an anxious anticipation about what would come next.

“It was just one of things, like, finally. You still don’t know. Hopefully nothing bad happens now, but they definitely got the top guy. It’s something that’s good for the U.S. It’s something that people are proud of the people that got to him.”

Betances is the only New Yorker in the Thunder clubhouse, but he was far from the only one affected by Sunday’s events and the War on Terror as a whole.

Catcher Austin Romine lost his cousin and best friend Jordan Stanton in combat operations in Afghanistan. The story was written recently by Jack Curry of the YES Network, and Romine declined yesterday to rehash the events with reporters.

While his killing obviously brings to an end bin Laden’s reign, whether it brings closure is an issue on which Betances remains uncertain.

“I hope so. I hope nothing bad happens now, but it’s just one of those things that you’ve got to always be careful. Hopefully there’s nothing wrong, and there’s no terrorist attacks in our near future.”

NOTES: Reliever Naoya Okamoto was placed on the disabled list yesterday with an undisclosed injury. He was replaced on the roster by left-hander Wilkins Arias, who had been on the shelf. … Because of bin Laden’s death, the Thunder changed their pregame routing just a little. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited, and on-field members of the team’s staff wore patriotic jerseys normally reserved for Fourth of July games.

TRENTON – Catcher Austin Romine continued a torrid stretch at home and starter Shaeffer Hall went seven tremendous innings in the 6-3 Thunder win that completed a sweep against the Richmond Flying Squirrels and finished off a 5-2 opening homestand before the team heads on the road to Harrisburg.

Romine slugged two long home runs, one to left field and one to dead center, which put the finishing touches on a 9-for-19 stretch with nine RBIs over the last seven games.

“I’m staying with my plan that I have from the beginning,” Romine said afterward. “I’m not going away from it, and it seems to be working well.”

Romine’s home runs accounted for three of the team’s six runs, and he also drew a walk with the bases loaded in the third inning. He’s drawn six walks in his last 10 games, nearly one sixth of season total for last season (37).

The increased patience at the plate, his manager says, is one of the key reasons that he’s starting to bust out as the season’s first month winds down.

“He is really swinging really well right now. His swings are very compact. Even his misses are (good). He’s putting some good swings on it,” Tony Franklin said. “More than that, he’s had some very good at-bats. I don’t know how many walks he’s gotten in this series, but it’s probably more than he’s had in a while.

Aside from Romine’s power show, the offense early on was handled by the speedsters who bookend Trenton’s starting nine.

Ninth hitter Ray Kruml started the second with a four-pitch walk against Squirrels starter Eric Surkamp, then swiped second easily. Leadoff man Austin Krum followed with a push bunt that moved Kruml to third, and appeared to rattle Surkamp, whose control had already looked spotty.

Jose Pirela and Romine followed with walks, pushing across the first run. The next man, Brad Suttle, then bounced into a 5-3 twin killing that doubled the advantage.

On the season so far, Krum leads the team with a .302 average, a stellar .434 on-base percentage and has walked eight times against nine strikeouts. He’s also a perfect 3-for-3 in stolen base tries.

While his offense scratched across support for him, Hall silenced the Squirrels with near effortless efficiency. Over seven shutout innings, the southpaw scattered five hits, walked none and fanned three. Of his 77 pitches, an astounding 55 went for strikes.

“My goal is to just build off every performance, and that’s what I’ve told myself.” Hall said. “In the first game, I got hit around a little bit. My second outing was a little better, and I was fortunate to have the type of success I had tonight, going seven and helping out the bullpen a little bit.

After allowing singles to the first two hitters he faced, Hall set down 21 of the next 24 Squirrels, including a stretch of seven in a row between the third and fifth innings.

Brad Suttle’s ringing double in the seventh inning tacked on the fourth run. The double also came a few pitches after he’d lost control of his bat and sent it flying into the first-base stands.

NOTES: Cody Johnson was on the bench Wednesday in favor of Myron Leslie. Entering the afternoon, Johnson had whiffed in 21 of his last 38 at-bats, including 10 of his most recent 14. He also coached first base on Wednesday. … Melky Mesa’s first-inning marked the third time he’d walked in his last three games. He accomplished that feat just twice last season with Tampa. … Reliever Tim Norton has struck out 11 men in his last 5 2/3 innings.

TRENTON — Whether intentional or not, the position of Austin Romine’s locker within the Thunder clubhouse comes with a bit of symbolism.

As you enter, the 22-year-old’s stall is in the near right corner of the room. Before Romine, in 2009, that area belonged to Chris Malec, the first baseman who, in his second season with the Thunder, took on the role of the team’s unofficial captain.

There’s no “C” stitched on his jersey, but Romine — entering his sequel season in the Eastern League — is unquestionably the captain of the defending Eastern division champions.

“I feel like a little more responsibility falls on me now, being my second time here” he said during the team’s media session on Tuesday. “I’m in a better position to handle my staff off the bat, I guess you could say, because I’ve caught a lot of these guys and we have that relationship. I’m looking to build more relationships with the new pitchers we have.”

With the Thunder last season, Romine put together a slash line of .268/.324/.402 with 31 doubles, 10 home runs and 69 RBIs. That’s a fine output no doubt, but fatigue seemed to set in toward the end of year, and understandably so.

For the first time in his young career, Romine was free of Jesus Montero, with whom he had split backstopping duties over the first two season of his career. After catching 80 games in 2009 with High-A Tampa, Romine’s workload exploded. Including the playoffs and the Arizona Fall League, he caught 120 games.

With the all the extra innings behind the plate, one could understand if that’s where he wanted to put the onus for his second-half struggles.

Not happening.

“It falls on me,” he said. “I wasn’t adamant about my lifting program last year, and it kind of kicked my butt toward the end. I wasn’t eating the way I should be eating. I talked to some of the Yankees’ trainers and stuff like that, and I think we’ve got a handle on that.”

For his part, manager Tony Franklin, back for his fifth season with the Thunder, has seen his catcher grow by leaps and bounds since the beginning of 2010.

“I went to our catching instructor (Julio Mosquera) and told him that I thought Romine was doing an excellent job in spring training, and I didn’t even know he was back there (when he caught).

“Generally when your catcher is handling your pitching staff really well, the game is going along at a very smooth pace and it’s up-tempo. That’s a direct result of, probably, your catcher and your pitcher communicating quite well,” Franklin finished.

For the most part, the staff he will work with in 2011 is familiar to Romine; even if he hasn’t shared a team with a pitcher, he’s more than likely caught him extensively in spring training.

The one exception is Steve Garrison, the Hun alumnus and Trenton’s Opening Day starter. Aside from a few games here and there this spring, Romine hasn’t had much work with his new teammate.

That means he’s got to begin establishing a rapport with Garrison, and he’ll do that the best way he knows how.

“Show him you’re hard-working,” Romine explained. “I’m a big guy on blocking balls. If you’re blocking balls with no guys on, you’re framing pitches, you’re talking to him, you’re getting in his head, and they see you doing that, they’re going to be like ‘OK, this guy wants to work with me. You’re going to get that respect. I’m a big respect guy.”

And with the work he puts in, he’ll get that big respect right back.

Good morning.

According to the local weather station, Tampa exceeded its predicted 1.8 inches of rainfall and instead got 3 inches of rain yesterday. In 15 years of living in Oregon, I don't think I've ever seen anything like what happened outside my window over the last 12 hours or so.

Anyway, on to the baseball stuff and what I (hopefully) have on tap for today. The Yankees play their last spring training game this afternoon, and there's still one big decision to be made. Steve Garrison, a product of the Hun School and a Ewing native, is battling Luis Ayala to be the second left-hander in Joe Girardi's bullpen.

Given that the team leaves for the Bronx this evening, that decision should be made today. I'm going to be over there to try to get Garrison's reaction one way or the other.

Across the street, the Double-A and Triple-A work groups are scheduled to play the Phllies' minor leaguers this afternoon. Mariano Rivera and Curtis Granderson are slated to get in some work in those games, so that should be pretty fun to watch.

Also, today should mark the first appearance from Austin Romine in minor league camp, given that he was officially named the Thunder's catcher yesterday. Jesus Montero should also be at the Himes Avenue complex, only this time as an official minor leaguer. He was there yesterday, but he hadn't been cut at that point.

I expect to see Manny Banuelos tomorrow.

If you've missed any of my coverage from the last two days, you can catch up over at The Trentonian's Thunder page, which will be updated throughout the season as well. You can as also find me on Twitter under the name @jnorris427.

TAMPA, Fla. – With the time remaining in spring training dwindling from weeks into days, the shape of the Thunder’s opening day roster is beginning to gain clarity. Almost nothing is set in stone, but there are a few obvious pieces that will be at manager Tony Franklin’s disposal come April 7 in New Hampshire.

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First and foremost is the pitching staff. It’s been clear for weeks that Manny Banuelos and Dellin Betances, the system’s two brightest prospects, will front Trenton’s rotation at the outset.

“It’s always been the pitching with us.” Franklin said “Over the last four years, it’s always been pitching, and we hope to have another good staff. We saw remnants of it last year, with Banuelos and Betances and some of the other guys down there in the bullpen. Even with that, we’re not exactly sure who else is going to fit in there.”

Two of the more likely candidates to join Betances and Banuelos are Graham Stoneburner and Shaeffer Hall, two members of the 2009 draft class who spent last season with Low-A Charleston and High-A Tampa.

Combined, Stoneburner and Hall were 21-9 last season with 240 strikeouts in 279 innings. The former’s individual total of 137 punchouts was good for third in the organization, trailing just Hector Noesi and David Phelps.

As for that final spot in the rotation, there are a number of names in play. The likely and most obvious choices are Cory Arbiso and Craig Heyer, with the latter being more suited for the role. A soft-tossing control specialist, Heyer made 12 starts out of his 26 appearances with Tampa. In all, he walked just six hitters in 92 innings.

Before late this month, those were the only two names that seemed to be in play. With Kevin Millwood’s addition to the Triple-A rotation, however, there’s a slight chance Adam Warren, a star in the 2010 Eastern League playoffs, might return to Trenton for the first month or so of the season.

Notably, Warren fanned a team-record 15 batters in an August game against Bowie, and he struck out 10 hitters in six innings in relief of Andy Pettitte during Game 2 of the EL Division Series against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.

What is absolutely certain, however, is that Austin Romine will be catching the Thunder staff, no matter what it looks like.

Gustavo Molina was officially named the Yankees’ backup catcher yesterday, setting off a domino effect that sent Jesus Montero to Triple-A Scranton and Romine back to Waterfront Park to begin 2011. The unquestioned team leader last season, Romine hit .268/.324/.402 with 31 doubles, 10 home runs and 69 RBis in 115 games.

On the other side of the coin, two players you definitely will not see with the Thunder, or any Yankees team, this season are infielder Justin Snyder and right-handed reliever Phil Bartleski. Both players were released yesterday as part of the traditional end-of-spring paring of the rosters.

With the Thunder last year, Snyder hit .245 with three home runs and 27 RBIs in 90 games. He also pitched an inning in relief during a blowout loss, and was very proud that one of his fastballs hit 90 miles per hour.

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With free-agent signee Pedro Feliciano scheduled to start the season on the disabled list, the race to join Boone Logan as the Yankees’ second left-hander has been trimmed to two: Ewing native and Hun graduate Steve Garrison, and Luis Ayala, who spent last season in Triple-A for the Arizona Diamondbacks

This spring, Garrison, picked up on waivers from the Padres last season, has a 5.59 ERA over 9 2/3 innings. He’s struck out four men and walked two.

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Because of heavy rain in the area, the scheduled minor league game between Trenton and Toronto’s Double-A work group was called off. Instead, the teams played intrasquad games for the second day in a row.

Also for the second day in a row, the Double-A vs. Triple-A game had a little extra star power. Montero, who hadn’t yet been sent to Scranton, and Robinson Cano each came over to get some extra at-bats. Cano joined the Triple-A team, while Montero hit for the Double-A squad.

Each man batted second every inning and was immediately and was immediately removed for a pinch runner if he got on base. Montero homered in his third at-bat, a massive bomb to left-center field on the first pitch he saw from former Thunder reliever Amauri Sanit.

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As with Sunday and yesterday, it appears the minor league complex will get a little major league flavor tomorrow and Wednesday.

Manager Joe Girardi announced after yesterday’s rainout that Mariano Rivera will pitch in a minor league game tomorrow, weather permitting. He also noted that outfielder Curtis Granderson would probably play in minor league games tomorrow and Wednesday.

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Romulo Sanchez, a reliever the Yankees got from the Pirates in exchange for Eric Hacker two seasons ago, was sold to a Japanese team yesterday. The departure of Sanchez, who was out of options and could not be sent to the minor leagues, clears space in what is becoming an increasingly cluttered-looking Triple-A bullpen.

Per the Yankees beat writers, what seemed obvious became final today. Gustavo Molina was kept by the big club, and Jesus Montero was sent to Triple-A Scranton. That means Austin Romine, who spent all of the 2010 season with Thunder, will begin the season with them as well.

With Trenton last year, Romine hit .268/.324/.402 with 31 doubles, 10 homers and 69 RBIs. It was his first season with the full starter's role behind the plate. He and Montero had previously split time in Tampa and Charleston.

TAMPA, Fla. – The Thunder found themselves with a nice offensive boost yesterday, even if it was only in an intrasquad game against the Triple-A work group.

Yankees designated hitter Jorge Posada didn’t make the trip to Fort Myers with the rest of his teammates. Instead, he found his way across the street to the minor league complex, where he took his hacks against some of his former Grapefruit League teammates.

He collected a single against Kei Igawa before the game was called off after six innings.

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Lance Pendleton, at times the ace of last season’s Thunder staff, was returned to the Yankees yesterday. The Astros chose Pendleton with the 17^th pick of the most recent Rule 5 draft. He has already been assigned to Triple-A Scranton, where he will most likely work out of the bullpen.

With Trenton last season, the right-hander went 10-4 with a 3.61 ERA and 133 strikeouts. He also allowed just 95 hits and 45 walks over 120 2/3 Double-A frames before being promoted to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in early August.

With the Astros in the Grapefruit League, Pendleton was battling for a spot toward the back of Houston’s already shaky starting five. Ultimately, though, spotty control earned him a trip back the Yankees.

Pendleton walked eight men in 7 2/3 spring innings, including a bases-loaded free pass to Russell Martin on March 2 that gave the Yankees a walk-off win.

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Austin Romine, who is looking more and more like the probable Thunder catcher on April 7 in New Hampshire, poked his first home run of the spring yesterday, a solo shot off of Minnesota’s Chuck James in an eventual 7-6 Twins win.

Austin Krum, another player likely to open the season with Trenton, collected three hits yesterday, including a double off of former Yankees hurler Carl Pavano. Krum also made two errors on one play in center field, a missed catch followed by a bad throw to the plate.

Thunder alumni Wilkins Arias, Josh Schmidt, Eric Wordekemper and Pat Venditte also saw action out of the bullpen in the loss.

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During yesterday’s action at the complex, Yankees principal owner Hank Steinbrenner made a cameo. George’s son, clad in a suit, walked between the four fields and into the team offices. He did not speak to the media.

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The White Sox yesterday waived pitcher Jeff Marquez, a member of the 2007 Eastern League champion Thunder and, along with Jhonny Nunez and Wilson Betemit and a part of the deal that sent outfielder Nick Swisher to the Yankees.