25 Jun

there and here

Baseball weaves a web of connections that never fails to surprise. Take a trip to Vancouver. Go to a Canadians game at Nat Bailey Stadium. Who’s managing the home team? Rich Miller, a member of the original Jackson Mets team of 1975. Miller played parts of four seasons for the JaxMets. He is in his second stint with the Canadians, a short-season Class A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays. He won a championship with the team in 2011. … Minnesota Twins fans should be pumped today. Former Southern Miss star Brian Dozier hit a tie-breaking home run — his 13th of the year — in the eighth inning as the Twins beat Cleveland 4-2 on Saturday and moved within a half-game of the first-place Indians in the American League Central. Dozier told The Associated Press it was “the most high energy game we’ve had in a while.” Meanwhile, down in rookie ball, Mississippi State product Brent Rooker hit his first pro home run in a 4-for-5 game for Elizabethton. Rooker, the 35th overall pick by the Twins in the recent draft, is 5-for-11 in three games as a pro. “The hard work went in this past season at school,” Rooker told milb.com. An advanced player at age 22, Rooker could move up quickly in the Twins’ system. … Ex-Meridian Community College star Corey Dickerson, bidding for an All-Star Game berth, belted his 17th homer for Tampa Bay; he leads the All-Mississippi Home Run Derby. Former State standout Mitch Moreland got his 10th dinger for Boston. … Ole Miss alum Lance Lynn surrendered seven runs for the second straight game as St. Louis lost to Pittsburgh 7-3. Lynn (5-5) has yielded 20 home runs this season.