By JAY DUNN
jdunn@trentonian.com

Corban Joseph and the Thunder beat Reading Monday night at Waterfront Park. Trentonian File Photo

TRENTON -- Thunder pitcher Dellin Betances didn’t think he pitched particularly well last night. His manager, Tony Franklin, didn’t think so either.

Try explaining that to the Reading Phillies.

The Eastern League’s strongest franchise was brought to its knees by Betances last night. The six-foot-eight right-hander limited the Phillies to just one hit over the first five innings and paved the way for the Thunder to come away with a 2-0 victory.

“He didn’t have great control tonight,” Franklin observed. “He wasn’t very sharp but he made some pitches when he needed to. That’s the mark of a good pitcher.”

Betances’ lack of control was evident early when he walked two of the first three batters he faced. He then fanned Cody Overbeck, the league’s leading home run hitter, and Carlos Rivero to end the threat. Those two whiffs touched off a streak of nine straight batters retired -- seven of them on strikeouts.

Overbeck reached him for the one hit he allowed -- a liner that fell one bounce in front of left fielder Austin Krum -- with one out in the fourth. Overbeck was caught stealing by catcher Jose Gil, before Betances again became wild, walking two hitters in a row. The inning ended when second baseman Corban Joseph snared a liner off the bat of Michael Spidale.

Betances worked a perfect fifth (although two of the outs were line drives) before giving way to the bullpen.

“It was one of those days,” Betances said. “I was flying open. That’s why I had a couple of walks early and a couple of walks later.”

The Brooklyn-born hurler said he considered his fastball his best pitch even though he logged at least three of his strikeouts with a sharp, biting curve.

The decision to limit his outing to a maximum of five innings was made before the game started. When he left he had thrown 76 pitches, with only 41 of them strikes.

Cory Arbiso and Josh Schmidt followed with a pair of two-inning stints, with Schmidt picking up his first save of the season.

Trenton’s bats weren’t exactly on fire, but they didn’t have to be.

Joseph, leading off the third, picked up Trenton’s first hit. He moved to second on an infield single by Addison Maruszak and came around on fly balls by Ray Kruml and Krum.

An inning later Gil smoked a one-out double off the right field wall. He moved to third on an infield grounder and scored Trenton’s second run on Melky Mesa’s single to right -- a flair off the end of the bat that happened to drop in.

With the luxury of the victory, Franklin was in the enviable position of being able to contemplate what-if.

What if Betances ever refines his raw talent?

“He’s got such good stuff,” the manager wowed. “When he’s in the strike zone with command he can be fantastic.”

The Reading Phillies probably don’t want to be around the day that happens.

This afternoon, the Thunder start their biggest series of the season, three games with the Reading Phillies the Eastern Division leaders. Fortunately, they'll send their three best starters to the hill: Dellin Betances, Manny Banuelos and Shaeffer Hall.

As it happens, the R-Phils will counter with their top trio: Josh Zeid, JC Ramirez and Austin Hyatt.

The Thunder are 4 1/2 games behind Reading in the EL East, and a sweep would obviously go a long way to re-establishing themselves as something more than a team that will fight to keep its head above the .500 mark.

To do so, Trenton will have to navigate around a fearsome Reading lineup that houses two of the league's best hitters: Cody Overbeck and Matt Rizzotti. To properly illustrate just how that pair has dominated the EL, here's a list of categories currently led by one or the other:

Home runs - Overbeck (9)
RBIs - Overbeck (24)
Doubles - Rizzotti (13)
Extra-base hits - Rizzotti (18)
Total bases - Rizzotti (63)

Today, in Baseball America's latest round of minor league transactions, a number of notable names were optioned to the Eastern League. And although the assignments aren't final, they allow an approximate glimpse at some of the prospects that the Thunder should face this season.

Here's what BA reported this afternoon:

Baltimore Orioles
Optioned to Triple-A: RHP Brandon Erbe, RHP Chorye Spoone, LHP Troy Patton, LHP Pedro Viola, 1B Joe Mahoney

Optioned to Double-A: RHP Luis Lebron, SS Pedro Florimon

Boston Red Sox
Signed: C Matt Spring
Released: RHP Doug Wogee
Optioned to Double-A: RHP Stolmy Pimentel, 2B Oscar Tejeda

Cleveland Indians
Signed: 1B Nick Johnson
Released: 1B Chris Kersten
Voluntarily retired: 1B Andrew Kinney
Optioned to Triple-A: RHP Corey Kluber, RHP Zach McAllister, RHP Hector Rondon, 3B Jared Goedert, OF Nick Weglarz
Optioned to Double-A: LHP Kelvin de la Cruz, LHP Nick Hagadone

Detroit Tigers
Optioned to Triple-A: RHP Lester Oliveros, RHP Jose Ortega, LHP Duane Below, LHP Andy Oliver, 3B Audy Ciriaco, SS Cale Iorg, OF Ryan Strieby
Optioned to Double-A: RHP Jacob Turner

Minnesota Twins
Signed: RHP Gerardo Ramirez, RHP Gonzalo Sanudo, LHP Andrew Albers (Quebec (Can-Am))
Optioned to Triple-A: RHP David Bromberg, RHP Eric Hacker, RHP Anthony Swarzak, OF Rene Tosoni
Optioned to Double-A: RHP Deolis Guerra, 1B Chris Parmelee, OF Joe Benson

New York Mets
Signed: RHP Manny Alvarez*
Optioned to Triple-A: RHP Manny Alvarez, RHP Josh Stinson, 3B Zach Lutz, SS Ruben Tejada, OF Fernando Martinez
Optioned to Double-A: 2B Jordany Valdespin
Optioned to high Class A: RHP Armando Rodriguez

Philadelphia Phillies
Released: C Ryan Gugel, 1B Robb Quinlan
Optioned to Triple-A: RHP Drew Naylor
Optioned to Double-A: RHP Justin De Fratus, RHP J.C. Ramirez, 1B Matt Rizzotti, 2B Harold Garcia, SS Carlos Rivero
Optioned to high Class A: 2B Cesar Hernandez

Pittsburgh Pirates
Optioned to Triple-A: RHP Bryan Morris, LHP Daniel Moskos, LHP Tony Watson, OF Gorkys Hernandez, OF Alex Presley
Optioned to Double-A: RHP Ramon Aguero, LHP Jeff Locke, LHP Aaron Thompson
Optioned to high Class A: RHP Kyle McPherson

San Francisco Giants
Optioned to Triple-A: RHP Henry Sosa, LHP Alex Hinshaw, LHP Clayton Tanner, 3B Conor Gillaspie, OF Thomas Neal
Optioned to Double-A: SS Ehire Adrianza, OF Francisco Peguero
Optioned to high Class A: RHP Jose Casilla

Washington Nationals
Signed: RHP Garrett Mock*, LHP Atahualpa Severino*, C Lou Santangelo
Released: RHP Cla Meredith
Optioned to Triple-A: RHP Adam Carr, RHP Garrett Mock, LHP Atahualpa Severino
Optioned to low Class A: OF Bryce Harper

Every Thursday, Minor Matters will unveil its Top 10 opposing players for the 2011 season. Yes, the Thunder are clearly the most interesting topic on this blog, but wouldn't be nice to hear about the next Matt Wieters, Carlos Santana or Stephen Strasburg to come through the Eastern League. Yeah, I thought so too.

No. 2 - Austin Hyatt

Bio: The Phillies' 15th-round choice from 2009, Hyatt was selected out of the University of Alabama, one choice after the Brewers took teammate Paul Howell. He earned the Florida State League Pitcher of the Year last season, and earned two Pitcher of the Week honors.

2010: Coming in with absolutely no fanfare. Hyatt tore up the Florida State League. He went 11-5 with Clearwater, posting a 3.77 ERA and fanning 156 against 35 walks. He was promoted to Reading late, and fanned 25 more over 22 innings.

What People Are Saying:

"He's a little more seasoned, and he looks a lot more comfortable. Last year he was going from game-to-game, but this year he seems to have more of a plan." -- Reading pitching coach Bob Milacki

When You Can See Him: Hyatt and Phillies come to town twice, May 9-11 and July 14-17.

Every Monday, Minor Matters will run down the top 10 games of the Thunder's 2010 season. In a year that saw eight of Baseball America's 16 pitchers (excluding Mike Dunn and Arodys Vizcaino, who were out of the organization) in their top 30, not to mention Austin Romine and Brandon Laird, there are plenty of good choices to go around.

Recap: While in Reading, the Thunder were cruising. Lance Pendleton had locked up the R-Phils for six innings before Cody Overbeck's three-run blast highlighted a four-run, game-tying frame.

Reading threatened again in the eighth, but a great throw from Dan Brewer and a sensational catch by Austin Krum ended the inning and kept the score tied. Matt Cusick's laser to left gave the Thunder a slim 5-4 edge.

They asked Kevin Whelan to finish things in the ninth, and behind another spectacular grab from Krum, that's exactly what he did.

With two outs and the winning run on first, Michael Spidale blooped a ball into shallow center. Krum closed fast, though, and scooped the ball off the grass for the final out in a heart-stopping road win that kept the team tied for first in E.L. East.

Link to original game story

Reaction: “That was a heck of a play, but that’s what center fielders do – they make the plays. That’s what good baseball players do when the game is on the line and the ballgame rests on, maybe, a couple of plays, a couple of hits – you make the plays, and (Krum) certainly did that tonight.” -- Tony Franklin

“It’s what’s going to happen. It’s what you have to do in close games like that. Both teams fought hard. You’re never out of a game, especially in this park.” -- Austin Krum

“Spidale’s a good hitter. He lives up the middle away. I got a pretty good jump on it, and it carried just enough to me so I could make the catch.” -- Krum

Afterward: For all his defensive efforts, Krum was positively putrid in August and September, hitting .188/.293/.543 after the All-Star break. Center field in Trenton next season will probably be taken by Melky Mesa, so Krum's role in the organization is up in the air.

READING, Pa. – After dropping three of four games to the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, the Thunder needed badly to get back on track. After a heartbreaking loss in the first game, they used the nightcap of their doubleheader with the Reading Phillies to do just that.

In a game that featured a team-record four triples, including three in the third inning and two from left fielder Justin Christian (also a team record), the Thunder ransacked Reading, 12-2, and clawed their way back into a tie for first place with New Hampshire.

‘They stole that last one from us,“ Christian said. ‘Guys came out a little more focused, a little bit more determined, and it showed in the play today.

‘I am, personally, still a little bit upset with that New Hampshire series,“ Christian continued. ’A bunch of guys probably feel adamant about going out and performing well after that.“

Matt Cusick – who swatted a two-run double in game one – Christian and Marcos Vechionacci in the big third against a combination of starter Jason Anderson and reliever Tyson Brummett.

Rene Rivera swatted a three-run jack in the sixth to pad Trenton’s lead and give spot starter Cory Arbiso more than enough support to earn his fourth win.

Game one, however, wasn’t so rosy.

Reliever Ryan Pope allowed three runs in the seventh to turn what looked like a win into a devastating and costly 6-5 loss.

He allowed the first three men to reach on two solid singles and a beautiful drag bunt from Harold Garcia. Timo Perez then bounced into a double play that brought home the fourth score and briefly gave Trenton hope.

Any thoughts of extrication, however, were squelched when Matt Rizzotti, Tagg Bozied and Kevin Mahar strung together the successive singles that drove home the tying and winning runs.

The outing was Pope’s worst since July 9, when he allowed five runs – four earned – on four hits in three innings against the Bowie Baysox.

Before the meltdown, Corban Joseph let everyone still mourning the loss of Brandon Laird to Triple-A know that the drop in production wouldn’t exactly be precipitous.

The left-hander in his first Double-A game swatted a two-run triple into the right-field corner, bringing home Christian and Austin Krum with the first runs against Naylor, who had looked brilliant until that point.

Overall, Joseph finished 2-for-3 with a double, the triple, two runs and two RBIs, picking right up where Laird left off before he was promoted.

For five innings, Trenton starter D.J. Mitchell was dazzling, allowing just one run on five hits and a walk. He allowed back-to-back longballs to Bozied and Mahar in the sixth.

The effort was just another in a solid streak that the skinny Clemson alum has put together since the All-Star break. Since returning from Harrisburg, Mitchell has allowed no more than three earned runs in any of his four starts, and has struck out 18 against just five walks.

NOTES: Last night was Ryan Howard Garden Gnome night at FirstEnergy Stadium. The figurines drew lines of fans at the stadium’s gates as early as 2 p.m.

It also drew an announced crowd of 8,508, most of whom actually stayed for the game after collecting their ceramic bounty. At press time, these gnomes were going for as much as $150 on eBay.

Here I am at the beautiful new Metro Bank Park in Harrisburg, a brisk 2.5 hour drive from home. Still, Stephen Strasburg is slated for his third professional start this morning, so it's all worth it. The opponent is the Reading Phillies, but the big guns -- Tyson Gillies and Domonic Brown - are not in the starting lineup, so that's a bit of a bummer. They'll get their crack at the phenom in a few days, when Harrisburg takes a trip to FirstEnergy Stadium.

Reading
Michael Spidale - CF
Freddy Galvis - SS
Tagg Bozied - LF
Brian Stavisky - 1B
Kevin Mahar - RF
Brandon Pinckney - 3B
Tuffy Gosewich - C
Keoni DeRenne - 2B
Yohan Flande - P

Harrisburg
Bradley Coon - CF
Adam Fox - 3B
Danny Espinosa -SS
Jesus Valdez - RF
Leonard Davis - LF
Chris Marrero - 1B
Sean Rooney - C
Pedro Lopez - 2B
Stephen Strasburg - P

First inning: Strasburg does what he's supposed to do: mow 'em down. Spidale, Galvis and Bozied go down on a pair of groundouts to left side and a foul pop.

Flande, meanwhile, who enters with an ERA of 0.00, puts a couple of men on before wiggling out of trouble.

Second inning: Strasburg gets his first two Ks of the day, one on a 97 mph fastball at the letters, the other on an 81 mph breaking pitch in the dirt. He is a very, very nasty man.


Third inning: Strasburg looks mortal. He gives up a one-out hit to Keoni De Renne, then, after Yohan Flande strikes out on a bunt, Michael Spidale reached on an error by shortstop Danny Espinosa. Never fear, though, Nats fans, Strasburg got the next man to bounce into a fielder's choice.

One thing I found curious, however, was that, after Flande, Strasburg's velocity dipped from sitting 96-98 into the 93-94 range.

Fourth inning: I just shot some videos and am uploading them as I type. Anyway, in this inning, Strasburg fanned Tagg Bozied looking, walked Brian Stavisky, then got the next two men in fairly short order. Fastball back up to 96 this time.

Also, the Senators finally cracked Flande when Bradley Coon laid down a perfect squeeze bunt that hugged the third-base line. 1-0, Senators.

Fifth inning: Strasburg sets down the R-Phils in order, including Tuffy Gosewich on strikes. That marked the end of the afternoon for the ace-in-waiting. His final line: 5 IP, H, 0 R, BB, 6 SO, 67 pitches, 48 strikes.

As I said, Strasburg is out of the game, but I would be remiss if I didn't also praise the job Yohan Flande is doing out there. He has managed to give up just one run -- on 11 hits. The only run came on Coon's perfect squeeze bunt in the fourth.

After leaving the Waterfront Park at around 2:00, I wrote my game story and sidebar, got in the car and headed toward the Pennsylvania Turnpike to watch Phillippe Aumont and the Reading Phillies take on Kyle Drabek and the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.

I got lots of pics and video before the game, which I will post when I get chance. For now, I'll just treat this like a standard live blog. That said, here are your lineups:

Fisher Cats
CF - Mastroianni
LF - Calderone
1B - Cooper
3B - Emaus
DH - Thames
RF - Loewen
SS - Diaz
C - Jeroloman
2B -Sanchez

R-Phils
CF - Gillies
SS - Galvis
RF - Brown
DH - Bozied
1B - Mahar
3B - Pinckney
2B - Dorta
LF - Spidale
C - Nelson

First inning: Aumont gives up back-to-back singles to Darin Mastroianni and Adam Calderone. Mastroianni stole a base in the middle and scored on Calderone's hit. Brad Emaus gave a ball a ride that was caught at the wall in left field. All in all, Aumont looked a little shaky.
Fisher Cats 1, R-Phils 0

In the bottom half, Tyson Gillies, who can absolutely fly, tripled off of Drabek.
Freddy Galvis promptly drove him home with a single.
Fisher Cats 1, R-Phils 1

Second inning: This is not turning out to be the pitchers' duel one would have hoped for. Aumont gave up another run in the second, this one coming courtesy of three straight hits from Adam Loewen, Jonathan Diaz and Brian Jeroloman.

Drabek gives the lead right back though, on a sacrifice fly to center from Michael Spidale.
Fisher Cats 2, R-Phils 2

Third inning: Now this is more like it. Aumont fanned two men in the top of the inning. The pitch was so nasty on David Cooper that, after the ump rang him up, he complained a little too loudly and got ejected.

In the bottom half, Drabek dispatched of Tyson Gillies on three pitches, then got Freddy Galvis and Domonic Brown to pop to shortstop.

Fourth inning: Aumont appears to be settling in. He got Thames, Loewen and Diaz quickly on a fly to center and groundouts to second and short.

Drabek gave up a two-out bomb to Brandon Pinckney, but coaxed a flyout from Melvin Dorta to end the inning.
Fisher Cats 3, R-Phils 2

Fifth inning: Phew! That was a long one. Aumont caught a case of wildness and allowed the tying run to score on a wild pitch after getting two quick outs.

Drabek retired the Phillies 1-2-3 in the bottom half.
Fisher Cats 3, R-Phils 3

Sixth inning: Aumont got the first two outs, then lost the strike zone and was replaced by Matt German, who fanned the only man he faced.

Drabek, however, lost it. He gave up a long sacrifice fly to Kevin Mahar and then allowed a three-run double to Michael Spidale.
R-Phils 7, Fisher Cats 3

Both pitchers are out now, so I'm going to focus on uploading video. Thanks for playing along.

Just got off the phone with the Yankees Player Development Complex in Tampa, and was told that they probably won't be ready to release the final roster until Thursday. Of course, Media Day is tomorrow, so we should probably have a pretty darn good idea of what that roster is going to look like based on which players are in attendance.

Still, some EL clubs have released their rosters, and there are some pretty darn nice names to anticipate seeing this season.

We'll start with Erie, which plays Trenton on Opening Day, April 8.

The Seawolves announced their rotation will be:
LHP Jon Kibler

RHP L.J. Gagnier
LHP Duane Below
RHP Thad Weber
LHP Andy Oliver

Three lefties in one rotation is pretty rare, and pretty nasty.

As for position players, Erie features returnee Cale Iorg, outfielders Deik Scram and Wilkin Ramirez. Amazingly, 17 of the SeaWolves' 24 players spent time in Double-A last season.

PORTLAND: The Sea Dogs' roster is stocked, period. Confirmed players include super-prospects Casey Kelly, Jose Iglesias, Lars Anderson, Luis Exposito and Ryan Kalish. For those counting, that's one pitcher, two infielders, a catcher and an outfielder. So, yeah, Portland manager Arnie Beyeler has a few names to play with.

Felix Doubront, Ryne Miller, Stephen Fife and Kyle Weiland join Kelly in the starting rotation.

Che-Hsuan Lin, the 2008 Futures Game MVP, will also roam with Kalish in the Sea Dogs outfield.

READING: With the R-Phils now in the Thunder's division (the EL East), there should be some concern over how flush with talent they are. Their roster includes two of the three players acquired in the Cliff Lee trade -Phillippe Aumont and Tyson Gillies - outfield stud Domonic Brown, as well as 20-year-old shortstop Freddy Galvis.

Yohan Flande (and his wonderfully childish hair), Drew Naylor, Mike Cisco and Vance Worley finish the rotation.

NEW HAMPSHIRE: The biggest surprise, to me at least, is that Kyle Drabek is back in Double-A. This is especially shocking when you consider he made it to Triple-A last season with the Phillies. Maybe they just want to keep him away from Las Vegas.

Robert Bell, Zach Stewart (the Jays' top prospect before the Halladay trade), Luis Perez and Marty McLeary join Drabek in the starting five.

Also joining the Fisher Cats are slugging first baseman David Cooper, center fielder Darin Mastroianni, second baseman Brad Emaus and pitcher-turned-outfielder Adam Loewen. For what it's worth, I think Loewen's story is just as interesting as Pat Venditte's.

RICHMOND: The team formerly known as the Defenders boasts a cadre of position players, especially on the infield, in its inaugural season. Shortstop Brandon Crawford, second baseman Nick Noonan and third baseman Conor Gillaspie - their ninth, eleventh and seventeenth best prospects, according to Baseball America - will ply their trade with the Flying Squirrels (I love that name) in 2010.

Their outfield is even better, with Thomas Neal (No. 4 according to BA), Roger Kieschnick (No. 7) and Darren Ford (No. 13, and a Vineland native) slated to start.

Even though they don't have nearly the pitching of a year ago, the Flying Squirrels could make some noise in 2010.

Oh, I would be remiss if I didn't report that Richmond has Tony Pena Jr, son of the Yankees bench coach, on its roster.

HARRISBURG: Let's see, who are some big names you might like to see with the Senators this season. Well, there's Drew Storen, the closer and son of former XM host Mark Patrick. There's also Danny Espinosa, a slick fielding shortstop, as well as slugging first baseman Chris Marrero.

Oh, yeah, Stephen Strasburg, he's probably worth seeing. He'll make his first home start on April 16 against New Britain. His first overall start is April 11 at Blair County Ballpark in Altoona. Those might be your best chances to see him if you're a Thunder fan. I can't imagine he'll still be in Double-A when the Senators come calling on July 1.

ALTOONA: Although the final roster doesn't appear to be released yet, Jim Lane reports that prospects Tim Alderson and Gorkys Hernandez will start with the Curve. He also adds that Tony Sanchez, expected to start in Double-A, will begin with High-A West Virginia. Disappointing for sure, but don't be surprised to see him on June 15, when Altoona come to Waterfront Park for a three-game set.