Hit it a Banks-ton

Your Biscuits lose 11-6 in the season opener. Andy Sonnanstine was OK in his Class AA debut, but the relief was bad. The Smokies used a five-run fifth to take the lead. Reliever Yorkin Ferreras had an off night, giving up all five runs and getting only two outs.

Wes Bankston's earlier home run was an absolute mash. There were about six of us in the press box and all of us gave an audible "whoa" as soon as he hit it.

Radio voice Jim Tocco and I were talking about if it was the longest ever at the stadium. It's definitely longer than the shot Jeff Francoeur hit in last year's opener that seared the scoreboard Biscuits' ear. Two years ago, Andy Marte of the Greenville Braves hit a line drive down the line that hit at the base of the trees past the railroad tracks in left. That one has always been my driving champion.

Considering Bankston's went over the wall at about 375 feet and that scoreboard soars about 50-60 feet above the playing field, I think I'll take Bankston's.

Two years ago, Juan Salas hit the scoreboard Biscuit in batting practice. For the next five minutes, all Dan DeMent could say was, "He hit the Biscuit. He hit the Biscuit."

Opening Day lineup

The Biscuits have already set their lineup for Thursday's season opener against the Tennessee Smokies.

Elliot Johnson, 2b
Jason Pridie, cf
Wes Bankston, 3b
Michael Coleman, dh
Ryan Christianson, c
Gabriel Martinez, 1b
Aneudi Cuevas, lf
Matthew Maniscalco, ss
Jeremy Owens, rf

Andy Sonnanstine, rhp

Special section finished

Our special section previewing the Biscuits' season is finished. Make sure to take a look at it Thursday, just in time for the season opener. Now that all the work -- much of it done by Sports Editor Ben Thomas and graphics guru Kevin VanHyning -- is done, the fun can start. Of course, I'm sitting here now getting paranoid that I've messed something up.

***
Earlier this week, I promised I was going to look back and see who was on the spring minor-league roster (the list I used was dated March 24) but wasn't listed on the travel lists. I don't know if all of these guys were released or something else. Some of the late additions to the minor-league camp (Jason Pridie, etc.) never made it to the spring roster.

Pitchers
Calvin Carpenter
Austin Coose -- former Biscuit who had arm problems last year
Jack Cressend
Richard De los Santos
Travis Driskill
Jarrad Lavergne
Joe Little
Josh Parker -- nice guy who was in Montgomery the last two years
Matt White -- 1996 loophole free agent who had a $10 million signing bonus

Position players
Ryder Mathias
Graig Merritt -- fun spirit enlivened the Biscuits last year
Carlos Ramos
Jermy Acey

***
If you look back earlier in the blog, you can see I guessed on who would come to Montgomery. Is 9-for-11 an OK performance?

I was 4-for-4 on pitchers, though two other guesses (Jeff Niemann and Jarod Matthews) are still rehabbing injuries. I was a bit worse on position players (5-for-7) with misses on Shawn Riggans and Francisco Leandro. Riggans deserved the promotion to Durham, but I thought he might get caught in a numbers crunch. I was pretty surprised the Rays sent Leandro back to Visalia.

Minor-league rosters

There were a full range of emotions. Some players shook hands soon after they had been released without knowing if they'd see those friends again. Some were happy at unexpected promotions. Some sad that they didn't land as high as they hoped.

Here are the travel lists for each of Tampa Bay's four full-season minor-league teams and the group that stays in St. Petersburg for extended spring training.

DURHAM BULLS
Pitchers
Tim Corcoran
Jason Cromer
Jason Hammel
Chad Harville
Carlos Hines
Edwin Jackson
John Miadich
Justin Miller
Chad Orvella
Chris Seddon
Jamie Shields
Brian Stokes
Jon Switzer

Position players
Brent Butler
Russell Branyan
Kevin Cash
Fernando Cortez
Elijah Dukes
Darnell McDonald
Johnny Raburn
Shawn Riggans
Michael Rose
B.J. Upton
Kevin Witt
Delmon Young

MONTGOMERY BISCUITS
Pitchers
Yorkin Ferreras
Chris Flinn
Jeremy Flanagan
Brian Henderson
Jean Machi
Jim Magrane
Tony Peguero
Mike Prochaska
Jeff Ridgway
Jose Rodriguez
Juan Salas
Andy Sonnanstine
Chuck Tiffany

Position players
Wes Bankston
Ryan Christianson
Michael Coleman
Aneudi Cuevas
Chairon Isenia
Elliot Johnson
Ryan Knox
Matthew Maniscalco
Gabriel Martinez
Jeremy Owens
Jason Pridie
Mark Schleicher

VISALIA OAKS
Pitchers
Brian Allen
Nick Debarr
Jose De La Cruz
Derek Feldkamp
Jino Gonzalez
James Houser
Brandon Mann
Chris Mason
Nick Moran
Antonio Perez
Brett Wayne

Position players
Josh Arhart
Robert Asanovich
Patrick Breen
Reid Brignac
Patrick Cottrell
Shaun Cumberland
Kris Dufner
John Jaso
Francisco Leandro
Chris Nowak
Fernando Perez
Joey Reiman
Colt Simmons
Jason St. Clair

SW MICHIGAN DEVIL RAYS
Pitchers
Drew Bigda
Jason Cayton
Wade Davis
Eduardo De La Cruz
Gregory Dupas
William Evers
Chris Kelly
Kevin Lynn
Jacob McGee
Gregory Reinhard
Aaron Walker
Michael Wlodarczyk

Position players
Ryan Bethel
David Cardona
Chris Cunningham
Matthew Devins
Edward Groce
James Hall
Rhyne Hughes
Alex Jamieson
Christian Lopez
John Matulia
Brandon Rousseve
Matt Spring
Hunter Vick
Neil Walton

EXTENDED SPRING TRAINING
Pitchers
Jonathan Barratt
Matthew Falk
Chris Fessler
Woods Fines
Jeremy Hellickson
Jeffrey Kamrath
Troy Martin
Jarod Matthews
Jeff Niemann
Matt Rico
Celso Rondon
Christopher Smith
Wade Townsend
Matt Walker

Position players
Craig Albernaz
Jairo DeLaRosa
Epi DeLeon
Ronald Edwards
Matthew Fields
Joshua Johnson
David Kennedy
Thomas Lagreid
Andrew Lopez
Craig Markel
Michael McCormick
Carnell Parker
Steve Pickerell
Ryan Royster
Cesar Suarez
Ernest Woodruff
Henry Wrigley

The teams have another light workout Monday, then head off to start the season.

Trickle down effect

The Devil Rays finalized their 25-man major-league roster today and the sifting to the minor leagues begins.

Tampa Bay have added two catchers to the minor-league rolls in the last two days -- Kevin Cash and Mike Rose -- which could complicate Shawn Riggans' deserved promotion to Class AAA Durham. It would be hard for the Bulls to carry three catchers.

Chad Orvella's demotion was a surprise, especially since he had been one of the favorites to be Tampa Bay's closer at the start of the spring (and another, Shinji Mori, suffered a season-ending shoulder injury). Ruddy Lugo stuck with the Rays, which was a stunner.

Russell Branyan and Greg Norton were sent to the minor-league camp, which could influence where Wes Bankston starts the season. Branyan is a utility guy who primarily plays first and third base. He also has played extensively in the majors the last six years. Norton is also a corner infielder who played more first this spring with Tampa Bay.

Bankston started his conversion to third base this spring. He could be the big guy in the middle of Montgomery's lineup when the season starts Thursday.

With the major-league roster set, the Rays can start settling on their minor-league rosters and making some tough decisions.

Though every player wants to start as high on the Rays' chart as possible, there are limitations to what the Rays can do.

Durham and Montgomery can open the year with only 24 active players each. Class A Visalia and Southwest Michigan have a 25-player limit. Each will surely have a few on the "phantom disabled list," but not a lot.

On Saturday, there were 66 pitchers, 19 catchers, 21 outfielders and 28 infielders on the minor-league roster. That was before the major-league moves. Some of those that don't go to a full-season team will stick around for extended spring training. Some will be released.

Either way, there will be a lot of unhappy players Sunday.