With the Hillcats out of town and my time split on all-area teams, prep phone calls and various other duties, the blog has been a bit silent of late. But the Cats are back at City Stadium after 13 straight road games, and if you want to catch a game, May’s the month for you. They’ll be here for 20 of the 31 days in May, including three of the four weekends in the month, along with Memorial Day.

Let’s get to the lineups tonight first. Neither team is taking batting practice today.

POTOMAC (9-11)

Steve Lombardozzi 2b (.253, 0 HR, 3 RBI, 3 SB)

Wilberto Ortiz 3b (.355, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 0 SB)

Edgardo Baez cf (.364, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 1 SB)

Tyler Moore 1b (.169, 2 HR, 11 RBI, 0 SB)

Dan Nelson rf (.265, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 1 SB)

Robby Jacobsen lf (.242, 0 HR, 3 RBI, 3 SB)

Tim Pahuta dh (.290, 6 HR, 14 RBI, 0 SB)

Brian Peacock c (.268, 1 HR, 8 RBI, 1 SB)

Jose Lozada ss (.286, 2 HR, 9 RBI, 0 SB)

Marcos Frias RHP (0-0, 3.92 ERA, 4 APP, 4 GS, 20 2/3 IP, 6 BB, 5 K)

LYNCHBURG (8-12)

Josh Fellhauer cf (.269, 3 HR, 11 RBI, 1 SB)

Cody Puckett 2b (.255, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 2 SB)

Neftali Soto 1b (.236, 1 HR, 8 RBI, 0 SB)

Carlos Mendez dh (.288, 0 HR, 4 RBI, 2 SB)

Devin Mesoraco c (.300, 4 HR, 12 RBI, 2 SB)

Alex Buchholz 3b (.232, 0 HR, 6 RBI, 1 SB)

Kyle Day lf (.275, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 2 SB)

Miguel Rojas ss (.222, 0 HR, 3 RBI, 5 SB)

Justin Reed rf (.114, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 SB)

Matt Fairel LHP (2-0, 3.60 ERA, 4 APP, 4 GS, 20 IP, 6 BB, 14 K)

Some lineup notes:

* Fellhauer appears to be the team’s everyday center fielder going forward, as the Reds promoted Dave Sappelt (.282, 0 HR, 4 RBI, 6 SB) to Double-A Carolina today. The Reds promoted Byron Wiley, an outfielder at Low-A Dayton, to Lynchburg. He’s not in the lineup but he’s arrived in town and is in the clubhouse. Wiley hit .209 with 4 HR and 9 RBI with 2 SB in Dayton. This is his first trip to Advanced-A ball.

Hillcats manager Pat Kelly on Wiley: “We had him for most of the spring and he had a very good offensive year last year in Dayton. We expect him to come in here and be able to swing the bat. He’s really been highly thought of as far as being an offensive player. We’re looking forward to seeing him.“

* Potomac’s Lombardozzi is the son of the former major leaguer with the same name. Steve Sr. helped the Minnesota Twins to a thrilling seven-game World Series victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in 1987. The younger Lombardozzi was born the following September.

* LHP Mace Thurman was placed on the disabled list last week after breaking his left ankle running in the outfield at Salem. He’ll be in a cast for six weeks and is out in Arizona now at the team’s training facility in Goodyear. Don’t look for him to come back any time soon.

AROUND THE ORGANIZATION
Thursday’s results
MLB—Cincinnati 4, Houston 2
Joey Votto’s two-run homer, Jay Bruce’s solo shot lift Reds, who get 6 2/3 strong innings from Bronson Arroyo

AAA—Scranton-Wilkes Barre (Yankees) 3, Louisville (Reds) 2
Chad Huffman leads off the bottom of the ninth with a solo homer to sink the Bats.

AA—Mobile (Diamondbacks) 5, Carolina (Reds) 0
Wes Roemer throws a five-hit shutout; no Mudcat has more than one hit

HiA—Lynchburg (Reds) 7, Kinston (Indians) 6
The Hillcats survive despite another shaky bullpen effort, as the K-Tribe scored four in the bottom of the ninth

LoA—Lake County (Indians) 4, Dayton (Reds) 1
Didi Gregorious triples and drives in Dayton’s only run

****

Moving on, as always, when a new team comes to town, we like to take a look at where the prospects stand in the team’s organization, with some help from Baseball America’s prospect handbook. Let’s take a peek at the Potomac players that crack the Top 30 in the Washington Nationals’ organization:

—No. 2, Derek Norris, C. Ranked second in the organization behind some Double-A pitcher (ha!), Norris is on the seven-day DL right now and is in Florida rehabbing. He broke a hamate bone in his hand during instructional league ball last fall and has some lingering scar tissue issues. He’ll be back in a week and will probably still be with Potomac June 10-13 when the Nationals make their second visit to Lynchburg. Norris can flat-out rake. He hit 23 home runs in 437 at-bats last season for Low-A Hagerstown. He has all-star potential if he can become at least an average defender behind the plate. Fourth-round draft pick in 2007.

—No. 9 Michael Burgess, OF. On his third tour of Potomac, Burgess has power but has struggled to hit for average, batting below .250 in each of the last two seasons. He did hit 19 homers last year for the P-Nats and has one of the best throwing arms in the league.

—No. 16 Brad Peacock, RHP. He has an interesting mix of pitches, a two-seam fastball that tops out at 94 mph and an above average knuckle curve.

—No. 28 Steve Lombardozzi, 2B. As mentioned, he’s the son of former major leaguer Steve Lombardozzi. Possesses above-average instincts and does “all of the little things” well.

That’s it for today. Check for a story on the progress of top catching prospect Devin Mesoraco in tomorrow’s N&A.