one fine day

A handful of former Mississippi Braves made significant contributions for various MLB teams on Monday. The sizzling Freddie Freeman (two hits, two RBIs) and the amazing Craig Kimbrel (35th save) helped Atlanta beat Florida. Charlie Morton stepped up as the stopper Pittsburgh so desperately needed, throwing eight shutout innings as the Pirates beat San Francisco to end their 10-game skid. Matt Harrison worked seven innings for his 10th win in Texas’ victory over Seattle. And Jarrod Saltalamacchia went 2-for-5 with his 11th homer in Boston’s win over Minnesota. “Salty” arrived in Pearl in 2006 as Atlanta’s No. 1 prospect and had a rough go of it. He made strides in 2007 and jumped to The Show. He was traded to Texas, along with Harrison, Neftali Feliz and Elvis Andrus, in the big Mark Teixeira deal, then dealt to Boston last season. The switch-hitting catcher has had his share of struggles — at the plate and behind it — the last couple years but may finally have locked in with the Red Sox. While sharing catching duties with veteran Jason Varitek, Saltalamacchia is batting .257 with 38 RBIs in 72 games. The hitting coach in Boston is former Jackson Mets star Dave Magadan.

P.S. Ole Miss product Seth Smith hit a pair of homers for Colorado on Monday, giving him 11 for the season. There were seven homers hit all told in the Rockies’ 10-7 win at Cincinnati’s Great American Ballpark.