the core four

There is a special group of former Mississippi Braves playing in the big leagues. Call them the Core Four. As the M-Braves celebrate the 10th anniversary of their first season at Trustmark Park, there are four players from the team’s original 2005 roster still in The Show. Each was a star in Double-A, and each is still capable of shining moments. Saturday was such a day for all four. Brian McCann, a perennial All-Star catcher, went 2-for-5 with a home run (No. 9) as his first-place New York Yankees beat the Los Angeles Angels 8-2. Gregor Blanco, who has won two World Series rings in San Francisco, went 1-for-4 with a run to help his second-place Giants beat Philadelphia 7-5. Jeff Francoeur, who made the Phillies’ roster as a minor league free agent this spring, went 2-for-4 with a grand slam (off Madison Bumgarner); he’s at .252 with four homers for the struggling Phils. And Blaine Boyer, who has bounced around the last several years, threw 1 2/3 scoreless innings in relief for first-place Minnesota in a 4-2 loss to Milwaukee; Boyer has a 2.17 ERA. McCann was the first of this foursome to make the big leagues, promoted on June 10, 2005. Boyer and Francoeur followed that summer. Blanco didn’t get up until 2008. Two other original M-Braves, Anthony Lerew and Matt Wright, are still pitching in the independent Atlantic League. … An M-Braves alum of more recent vintage, Christian Bethancourt, hit his first career home run for Atlanta on Saturday, a ninth-inning game-winner in a 5-4 victory against Pittsburgh. P.S. Biloxi won its long-awaited first home game at MGM Park on Saturday, topping Mobile 5-4 in 14 innings. The first-place Shuckers lead the M-Braves, who lost at Montgomery, by 3½ games in the Southern League South. The teams meet in what could be a pivotal five-game series at Trustmark Park June 11-15. The first half ends June 21.