-- I had a little free time today, so I combed the MiLB portal looking at some of the Thunder's numbers this year. One that jumped at me was the 1,042 strikeouts Trenton hitters had accrued this year.

The franchise's all-time worst was 1,047 punchouts, and this year's version is just five away with 21 games left on the slate. I find that pretty darn astounding.

The mark gets even more perplexing when one realizes that the team has spent the last month and change without Cody Johnson and Brad Suttle -- windmills both -- and that Melky Mesa, another prime culprit, had played just 87 games entering Wednesday's action.

-- Another reason the Thunder have struggled down the stretch? Infield defense, or a severe lack thereof. Corban Joseph and Jose Pirela have combined for 51 errors this season at second base and shortstop, respectively.

-- Yesterday, I ran down the list of people I thought might start Friday's homestand-opening game against the Bowie Baysox. I listed Kei Igawa, Cory Arbiso and Jeff Marquez as possibilities, but apparently I didn't count on one of the more obvious choices: Josh Schmidt.

Schmidt, who is, mercifully, on the precipice of minor league free agency, has been sent back to Trenton, according to Donnie Collins of the Scranton Times-Tribune.

As is tradition, Schmidt has bounced between Trenton and Scranton this season, and has put forth a 7-4 record, a 2.20 ERA and a .199 average against. He's allowed just 40 hits in 57.1 innings this year and has fanned 62 against 24 walks.

If he starts on Friday, I wouldn't be surprised to see him stick in the rotation for the rest of the year. He's filling the shoes of Dellin Betances, who will make his first Triple-A start tomorrow, against Durham.

The difference between Schmidt and Betances is not unlike that between Joba Chamberlain and former Yankees reliever Edwar Ramirez.

-- John Brebbia, the Yankees' 30th-round selection in this year's draft, out of Elon, was assigned to Staten Island today.

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 – Dellin Betances was excellent once again, and the Thunder put together an equally impressive offensive show in a 7-1 win over the Portland Sea Dogs on a chilly night at Waterfront Park.

Betances rode a mid-90s fastball, a hammer curve and an impressive change-up to five solid innings in his best outing of 2011. He fanned five and walked none in throwing 73 pitches, 49 of which found the strike zone.

As the season gets longer, so, too, should the pitch count for Betances. For now, though, the Yankees believe 75 is a good stopping point. And although he has no problem working on such a short leash, Betances knows there’s more in the tank than what he’s using every fifth day.

“I definitely feel like I could go longer,” he said yesterday. “I mean, that’s just something they have me do all the time. I’m definitely not gassed. I feel like I could keep going. Whatever I’ve got next time, I’ll just try to make the best out of it as well.”

The lone damage off of Thunder’s starter came in the fifth, when Mitch Dening caught up with a Betances offering and punched it over the wall in right-center field.

And while excellence is expected from Betances, the same hasn’t been the case for Trenton’s offense, which has scuffled mightily for most of the season.

Cody Johnson and Corban Joseph homered in the second and fourth innings, respectively, before the bats really got cooking in the fifth inning.

After Johnson’s infield single plated one run, Jose Pirela shot a hanging breaking pitch from Tommy Hottovy into the left-center field gap for a bases-clearing three-run double. Addison Maruszak’s single through the middle shortly thereafter scored Pirela and capped a five-run frame.

The five scores in an inning marked a new high for the Thunder, and the five hits matched their output in the second inning of the first half of their doubleheader with Harrisburg on April 17.

Joseph, who also had a triple to go with his longball, knows the offense has been inconsistent to this point, but also believes it has the tools to make last night’s outburst the rule instead of the exception.

“We’re all helping other out. It’s a team-based deal. One person can’t win the whole game,” he said, before providing an interesting tidbit about a lineup goes about helping itself out of a collective slump.

“People with similar stances, similar approaches as you, a similar style of play, you’ll see a lot of connections with those guys, trying to figure out how they pitched the guy before you,” he continued. “We’ll take bits and pieces of really what everyone has seen in the at-bat and just kind of gather it and make a plan and try and produce with that.”

Josh Schmidt, the newest member of Trenton’s bullpen, took the ball from Betances in the sixth and does what he does best: get outs.

The 28-year-old, sent down from Scranton to take Brian Anderson’s spot in the bullpen, spun three one-hit innings before giving way to closer Fernando Hernandez in the ninth.

I expected Steve Garrison would be placed on the disabled list, given the obvious injury that occurred in yesterday's game. Anderson, however, is a bit of a surprise. He's been nails so far this season, and losing him is a huge blow to the Thunder's bullpen.

Getting Josh Schmidt, however, might be a bit of a boon. He's always performed well in extensive experience in the Eastern League, and is capable of doing anything from getting one out, to going multiple innings, to starting.

In Scranton this season, Schmidt was 2-1 with a 1.17 ERA. He'd allowed six hits in 7 2/3 innings, walked four and struck out 11.

He's been moderately successful at every level, but he's seen as an organizational pitcher, and shuttling back and forth between clubs.

Today marks the middle of a pretty light week, blog-wise. Sure, there was the Rafael Soriano press conference, but that was mostly it, and I really don't do the major leagues. Don't worry, though, I have a few surprises left in my bag of tricks, but you probably won't see those until next week.

For now, here are a few standouts from the Yankees class of Winter Leaguers:

1. Justin Christian: A lightning rod at the top of the Thunder lineup, Christian simply dominated with Los Caneros de los Mochis. He hit .356/.452/1.013 with 10 HRs, 32 RBIs and 24 stolen bases in 25 attempts. I guess that shoulder is fully healed now.

2. Jorge Vazquez: With his success, and the fact that Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez have placed a pretty solid block in front of him, maybe he should just return to the Mexican League and mash. He hit .346/.401/1.048 with 10 doubles, 10 longballs and 30 RBIs. Someone, however, decided it was wise for him to try to steal a base. They didn't make that mistake twice.

3. Wilkins Arias: That's right, when he wasn't causing massive labor stoppages, Wilkins Arias was dominating for Estrellas de Oriente, of the Dominican Winter League. The lefty, who takes great pride in luring reporters over to his card table for no apparent reason, put together quite an offseason for himself. In 17 appearances, Arias went 3-0 with a 3.21 ERA and 19 strikeouts against two walks over 14 innings.

4. Josh Schmidt: When he's with the Thunder, he's an oft-forgotten long man. When he's in Venezuela, however, he morphs into a pretty darn effective starter. With Aguilas de Zulia, Schmidt made 13 starts (14 appearances overall), allowed 52 hits and fanned 69 over 71 innings.

Today is the first day of the MLB Draft, which begins at 7:00 p.m. on the MLB Network. The first round and the compensation round will be televised. I wrote this story for today's Trentonian about the conflicting strategies of the Yankees and Phillies. Both World Series participants have done well over the last few years of the draft, but their approaches recently couldn't be more different.

Additionally, over the last several days covering the Thunder, I've collected brief interviews with a few players and coaches detailing what they remember from the day they got drafted. Below are clips from those conversations with (from top down) Tommy Phelps, Brandon Laird, Josh Schmidt, Lance Pendleton and Ryan Pope.

In the tradition of, well, just about every baseball writer in America, it's time to make a few predictions. Trying to forecast the outcome of a minor league team is much harder than doing so for a major league team, I believe, because there is so much inherent fluidity.

For instance, there will be two changes to the roster before tonight's game. Those will be the first many, many transactions this year. Players will go up, down, hit the disabled list or leave the organization entirely.

That said, here are the Minor Matters predictions for your 2010 Thunder:

BATTING LEADERS
HR: Brandon Laird (15)
RBIs: Austin Romine (78)
AVG: Damon Sublett (.305)
BB: Dan Brewer (75)
SB: Austin Krum (20)
PITCHING LEADERS
W: D.J. Mitchell (12)
ERA: Christian Garcia (2.11)
SO: Garcia (160)
SV: Pat Venditte (15)
IP: Garcia (142)

-- Josh Schmidt will be out of Trenton by the end of April. He will be replaced by Venditte.

-- Ryan Pope will continue last season's momentum and will earn a promotion to Scranton by June. He will be replaced by Andrew Brackman.

-- Garcia will stay healthy all season and will earn a September call-up to the Bronx.

-- There will be 10 games postponed by rain. One will feature a two-hour delay.

-- The largest crowd of the year will be for Jesus Montero bobblehead night.

-- A guess at tonight's lineup:

CF - Austin Krum
RF - Dan Brewer
C - Austin Romine
3B- Brandon Laird
2B - David Adams
LF - Damon Sublett
1B - Kevin Smith
DH - Edwar Gonzalez
SS - Luis Nunez

-- Lastly, the Thunder will go 82-60 and finish the second in the division to Portland, which will win 90 games.

Well, after many hours of furious writing, tomorrow's special Thunder section is complete. I wrote features about Austin Romine, Christian Garcia, Damon Sublett, Brandon Laird and D.J. Mitchell. There's one more page in the section, which features the Thunder schedule, dates to get your bobblehead dolls and players to watch in the Eastern League.

All pictures except those of Christian Garcia are taken by yours truly. Both Garcia shots were taken by Trentonian photographer Jackie Schear.

Until that comes out tomorrow, here's the story I wrote about Josh Schmidt coming back to Double-A:

TRENTON — Even after a season as the Thunder’s best pitcher — he posted a 1.61 ERA and was named to the Eastern League All-Star Game — Josh Schmidt is back with Trenton to begin 2010.
He obviously did all he could to prove to the Yankees’ brass that, despite underwhelming stuff, he deserved a chance to move up in the organization. That included trying his hand as a starter in the Venezuelan Winter League, where he was just as dominant as ever.
“I think it shows versatility, obviously,” Schmidt said yesterday at Thunder Media Day. “Starting is different than relieving, and if they need me to step into a different role at any time in the season, I can.”
Schmidt wouldn’t comment much on his feelings about having to return to Trenton, but what he did say spoke volumes.
“Obviously I can count,” Schmidt said. “There’s a lot of guys who can pitch up there in Triple-A right now. I can see why it happened.”
If Schmidt needs any inspiration, he needs only to look back to last year at this time.
The snub last year was George Kontos, who led the organization in strikeouts in 2008, yet lined up as the Thunder’s No. 2 starter when 2009 rolled around.
He didn’t stay in that position for long, though, moving up to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after just four starts.
Still, it seemed hard yesterday for Schmidt to wrap his head around the reality that he was still two steps away from the major leagues.
“Everybody wants to move up,” Schmidt said. “That’s the nature of the beast, it’s what we’re all here trying to do.
Roadblocks aside, Schmidt said, his key to advancement is the same as it was last year: Going out there every time and doing the best he can.
“I’m just here doing the best I can, trying to help them win ballgames. What happens happens, I don’t have a whole lot of control over it. I’ve got to just pitch, and let other people make decisions. That’s not my job, that’s their job.”

With Opening Day mere hours away, the day has come for me to slave away on the Thunder preview section, which will be on newsstands in tomorrow's Trentonian. This means I will be working on features on Austin Romine (he'll be on the cover), D.J. Mitchell, Brandon Laird, as well as previews of each team in the Eastern League.

There may also be stories on Jeremy Bleich, Josh Schmidt's experience in the Venezuelan League, and much more. Check it out tomorrow.

For now, though, take a read of my stories yesterday on Wilkin De La Rosa and Lance Pendleton moving to the bullpen, and Josh Schmidt's reaction to coming back to Trenton to begin 2010. The latter is a newspaper-only story.

Also, former Thunder pitcher Kanekoa Texeira made his major league debut last night. He got his first strikeout, but also picked up the loss.

Sorry it's taken so long, but better late than never, right? Here are a few videos I shot from today's Media Day at Waterfront Park.

That's Lance Pendleton and Wilkin De La Rosa talking about moving to the bullpen for 2010. With two starters, plus Josh Schmidt, who has proven he can start, the Thunder's pitching staff looks stacked. There are quotes from Tony Franklin and Tommy Phelps in the story, which you can find in tomorrow's edition of The Trentonian.

As the post says, I was at Media Day from 1 p.m until about 3 p.m. While there, I spoke with Lance Pendleton, Wilkin De La Rosa, Josh Schmidt, Tommy Phelps and Tony Franklin. Look in tomorrow's The Trentonian for a story about Pendleton and De La Rosa, and their transitions from starters to relievers.

I'm going to get started on that now, but to tide you over, here's a picture of the entire team. I think it sets a record for most people blinking in one shot. Enjoy.

Today, starting at 1 p.m., I'll be joining my colleagues at Waterfront Park for Media Day. For those of you who don't know, this is the day when the team makes the players and coaching staff available to reporters (and photographers/videographers) for a couple of hours before their inaugural batting practice and workout.

Normally, I'd be very hectic knowing I had only a couple of hours to round up and interview all the team's top players. This year, however, because I spent a few days down in Tampa for spring training, a good portion of my work is already done. I've already spoken with Brandon Laird, Austin Romine, David Adams, D.J. Mitchell, Jeremy Bleich, Christian Garcia, Damon Sublett and Tony Franklin (though I probably will speak to him again).

That means today I can focus on filling out my notebook by interviewing (the elusive) David Phelps, Tommy Phelps, Dan Brewer, Austin Krum, Kevin Smith, Josh Schmidt and the rest of the Thunder.

Of course, as you've seen so far on this blog, this year The Trentonian is expanding its coverage of the Thunder with videos and pictures (well, we've always taken pictures, but I'm new at it) on this blog and on the paper's Web site.

Check the blog this afternoon for full coverage, and be sure to pick up a copy of The Trentonian tomorrow for stories from the day that was. Additionally, remember to check newsstands on Thursday (Opening Day) for The Trentonian's special Thunder section. You don't want to miss it.