Monday's notebook

This blog is really going to get long if I have to keep doing this. I've noticed my game story and notebook from Monday's game never made it to montgomeryadvertiser.com.

So, belatedly, here are the notes. (And I'm told that though the notes look fine on my computer, they're garbled on the office computers. Maybe this will work now.)

Passport application
Biscuits pitcher Jeremy Flanagan, one day after he couldn’t be promoted to Class AAA Durham because he doesn’t have a passport, said it was his fault.

And he knows what he’s doing today.

“It was a miscommunication,” Flanagan said. “I’m going to go down there tomorrow and apply for it.”

Flanagan said he was told in spring training to get a passport. Because he doesn’t have a birth certificate, he needed other paperwork to go through the process. By the time he got that paperwork, he was assigned to Montgomery, the season was starting and he never applied.

It wasn’t an issue until Sunday.

The Bulls needed a pitcher but also start a series today at Ottawa. Richard De Los Santos had the necessary paperwork.

“When it came up, I didn’t even think about them being in Ottawa,” Flanagan said. “There was a miscommunication and I’m still a Montgomery Biscuit.”

Right as Raburn
Johnny Raburn has his Biscuits championship ring from last year at home while he’s playing with another organization.

Raburn signed with the Florida Marlins in the offseason and is playing with the Carolina Mudcats. He’s already been promoted to Class AAA Albuquerque and sent back down when the Marlins added another middle infielder.

“That’s how it works,” Raburn said. “But I’ll go anywhere to get playing time. That’s all that matters.”

Raburn, who started at shortstop Monday after playing in right field and at second base, played for the Biscuits the last two seasons. He hit .295 in 93 games last year.

“I love playing here,” Raburn said. “Any time you come back to a place you enjoy, it’s a good time. It’s a great ballpark with great fans and a great organization.”

New journal
Center fielder Fernando Perez has a new journal entry at minorleaguebaseball.com about his time at extended spring training.

He even mentioned how the players wait to “play for a team with a hat that has a crosseyed (sic) Egg McMuffin.”

The majority of Perez’s message was about Latin-born players who are chasing their dream of a better life and how his family snuck out of Cuba. He could easily have been one of the Latin-born players.

“I woke up not in a Third World country, as perhaps I should have, but here in the American middle class that’s virtually impossible to fall from if you make a modest effort,” Perez wrote. “These kids, most of whom look like they could be my brother, awoke somewhere else.”

Perez was in Florida rehabbing a knee injury.

Rays applaud Jaso’s May
Tampa Bay picked Biscuits catcher John Jaso as the organization’s hitter of the month for May. Jaso hit .374 with 24 RBIs and 15 runs scored in 25 games during May.

“We have a lot of good players in this organization, so winning this award is definitely an honor,” said Jaso, who had a .162 average on April 25 and entered Monday at .336. “May was a big step up from the beginning of the season. Hopefully, I can keep it going.”

The Rays picked Columbus right-hander Heath Rollins as May’s top pitcher. Rollins was 4-0 with an 0.23 ERA, five walks and 35 strikeouts in six May starts. He’s 6-0 with a 1.09 ERA this year.

League two-times Mason
Montgomery’s Chris Mason won the Southern League’s weekly pitching award for the second time Monday.

Mason threw seven shutout innings to beat Huntsville last Tuesday. On Sunday, he was shaky but gave up only one run over six innings to beat Carolina.

“It was a rough outing, but it looked good on paper,” said Mason, who also won the award April 30. “The first week, I had two pretty good outings. This time, the first one was really well and the second one was shaky.”

Mobile outfielder Justin Upton, the younger brother of former Biscuits shortstop B.J., was the league’s top hitter. He was 14-of-27 with eight runs scored, seven RBIs and five extra-base hits.

Wellman suspended
The Atlanta Braves suspended Mississippi manager Phillip Wellman for Wellman’s well-publicized tantrum Friday at Chattanooga.

Wellman will sit out three games, unless the Southern League metes out additional punishment, for piling dirt on home plate, pulling up third and second base, and for crawling behind the mound and heaving the rosin bag at home-plate umpire Brent Rice like it was a grenade.

Wellman, who piled dirt on home plate May 6 at Riverwalk, grabbed national attention for his latest feat.