PCL POINTERS

Lest anyone think I care more for the lower levels than the upper, here are some Triple-A thoughts as the week winds down. Let's start in Oklahoma City where Jarrod Saltalamacchia is off to a hot start with the RedHawks, apparently showing no signs of brooding after his demotion last month. Salty got another hit Wednesday night in a 3-2 loss to Round Rock and is hitting .325 overall in 11 games with a pair of homers and nine RBIs. He's hit safely in nine of those 11 games and is, at least for the moment, producing the way the Rangers hoped he would when they sent him back to Triple-A. He also hasn't had to break out the first baseman's mitt yet, catching all 11 games.

Salty's teammate Nelson Cruz saw his six-game hitting streak snapped Wednesday night. Still, he's hitting .313 and has just four strikeouts in 32 at-bats. In case you're checking, that's a big improvement from the 121 whiffs he had last year while splitting time between Texas and Oklahoma City.

Let's stay in the Pacific Coast League since that venerable circuit gets so little love in these parts [I live in New York]. Memphis' Colby Rasmus is off to a putrid start after getting a ton of Spring Training hype, from me and just about everyone else. He's hitting .087 [three-for-37] in his last 10 games and is hitting .179 overall. His OBP is .288 and he has only four RBIs. Rasmus was pretty much an all-everything last season at Springfield but doesn't seem to have found a groove yet in the PCL. It's still very early but we're coming up on the end of the first month of the season and it would be nice to see him at The Mendoza Line at the very least.

Right-handed reliever and former catcher Jason Motte is off to a great start for Memphis, picking up right where he left off a year ago. Motte hasn't allowed a run in 6 2/3 innings over six appearances, struck out 10 and limited the opposition to a .130 batting average. He was 4-3 with 11 saves and a 1.98 ERA while splitting time last year between Palm Beach and Springfield so this was expected. I'm curious to see how long it will be before the parent club comes calling.

Sacramento blanked Tucson again Wednesday for its second consecutive shutout. River Cat pitchers have now thrown 23 consecutive shutout innings. Dan Meyer was the big arm this time around, going six innings at Raley Field. Meyer is still working on a pitch count (80) because this was only his second start after having his appendix removed near the end of Spring Training. If he keeps pitching like that, perhaps he'll consider having another organ removed.

There was also a real pitcher's duel last night in Salt Lake City with the Bees squeaking by Las Vegas, 1-0. Shane Loux earned the win and is 3-0 with a 0.46 ERA in three starts. He hasn't allowed a run in 14 innings and has now beaten Vegas twice this season. Loux is a former second-round pick by the Tigers (1997) who hasn't pitched since 2006 when he was with Omaha. He has 14 games of big-league experience with Detroit. He missed all of 2005 after Tommy John surgery and didn't pitch anywhere last year, serving instead as a high school baseball coach after he couldn't come to terms on a contract with the Mariners. He has journeyman written all over him but hey, it could prove to be a nice story and he might be able to help the Angels at some point if he keeps pitching like this. FYI, Salt Lake won its fourth straight.

One last PCL point, Portland's Chase Headley isn't off to a rousing start but things are looking up. He's hitting .245 after Wednesday's game against Colorado Springs, during which he extended his hitting streak to five games. He's hitting .318 [seven-for-22] during the streak. Teammate Max Venable started out hot and has remained that way, hitting .356 with eight RBIs in 12 games.

Catch up with you later in the week.