Fun Day In AA

The West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx finished out their regular season in style. The team is playoff bound, and celebrated with an entertaining finale.

First of all, Nick Franklin made his AA debut, and it was a good one. He batted second and went two for three with a walk, scoring all three times he was on base. I found it interesting that he was plugged right into the top of the order, but at least today, he seemed more than ready to handle it.

However, the real story of the game is Leury Bonilla. He probably will go down in professional baseball history as a career minor-leaguer, so today's game might be the one he tells his grandchildren about. Bonilla played all nine positions. He even hit a home run, and struck out a batter! Here is the box score. It must have been fun trying to guess what position he would play each time the Diamond Jaxx went back out to play the field.

Then, after a thoroughly enjoyable game, West Tennesee held a post-game celebration/news conference/fashion show to unveil an entire new team name for next year. In 2011, the Jaxx will be the Jackson Generals. The name has some history behind it, as this article illuminates.

The Mariners game stunk today. They were down early, and with their putrid offense, that meant the contest was over just barely after it got started. Meanwhile, the good folks over in Jackson, Tennessee got to see the debut of a hot prospect, another guy play all nine positions, a convincing win, and then the unveiling of an entire franchise re-branding.

Seriously, take whatever time you are spending watching the Mariners when Felix isn't on the mound, and devote it to the minor league affiliates. Eight of the nine teams are going to the post-season. There are some exciting youngsters, and at least in Jackson, Tennessee, a guy playing all over the field. The Jaxx game today is one that I definitely think would have been fun to be at, and I wouldn't say the same about this afternoon's effort from the Mariners.