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For the second straight night, the Scrappers fell in walk-off fashion as the Batavia Muckdogs used a 2-1 extra inning victory to finish off their sweep Thursday night.

This week in Minor Happenings, Tony takes a look at the conservative approach used by the Indians with Danny Salazar and why he has been impressive this season, the strides at the plate made by shortstop Ronny Rodriguez and why he has solidified himself as a top prospect, provide quotes from the front office on players at the rookie level Arizona level, and lots of insight and info on other players like T.J. McFarland, Preston Guilmet, Bo Greenwell, Jake Lowery, Aaron Siliga, Hector Rondon and many more.

Short season Single-A Mahoning Valley catcher/first baseman Charlie Valerio has had a breakout season as a prospect this year. He's proven to be a good performer and as a switch-hitter he offers up something unique as a prospect in the Indians' system. He is still learning all the nuances that go into catching, and he shares how that is going and more in Stephanie Metzger's latest.

The Scrappers just keep finding new ways to lose. After dropping the first in their series against Batavia Monday, it looked like they would squeak by in the second as they carried a 2-1 lead into the bottom of the ninth. It wasn’t to be, however, as a Muckdog rally aided by a costly error was enough to propel them past the Scrappers 3-2.

Tony chimes in with a new edition of the IPI Hot List, a piece that will become a weekly staple next season and ranks the top 20 performances in the Indians' system from the past seven days. In no way does it rank or list players based on value; it is simply a snapshot of the top 20 performances from the past week without any discrimination regarding whether a player is a prospect or not. In this week's list Tony provides insight and updates on players like Cord Phelps, Danny Salazar, Dorssys Paulino, Mitch Brown, Mason Radeke, Rob Nixon, Ronny Rodriguez, David Huff, Anthony Santander, and lots of others.

A four run second inning was all the Muckdogs needed Tuesday, winning 4-1 and delivering the Scrappers their fifth loss in six days. Luis Morel got the start for the Scrappers, and pitched well were it not for the disastrous second inning.

The IPI has learned that the Indians have promoted rookie level Arizona shortstop Dorssys Paulino to short season Single-A Mahoning Valley. The move has not yet been made official by the Indians, he supposedly left Arizona yesterday and should join Mahoning Valley this week, likely in Batavia today or tomorrow.

Just a night after the Scrappers emerged walk off winners in a fourteen inning half-marathon, the Scrappers delivered a decidedly lackluster outing, losing 8-4 to the Jamestown Jammers The fan of zany stats could have had a field day with this one. The Scrappers had five hits on the night, which is also the number of errors they committed.

Juan Romero hit a bases loaded single to score the winning run in the bottom of the fourteenth inning, giving the Scrappers a 2-1 victory over the Jamestown Jammers.

If last night was a heartbreaker, tonight was a backbreaker. It was just a night ago that the Scrappers fell behind to Batavia, regained the lead, and lost it late. Tonight wasn’t much different, as they battled back from a 3-0 hole to tie the game before eventually falling, 4-3.

When the Indians drafted Joe Sever, few knew that his uncle was none other than John Elway. Talk about being behind the eight-ball in Cleveland. That hasn't stopped Sever from starting his career off in grand fashion at Mahoning Valley, as he's hitting over .300, and recently finished second in the NY/Penn home run derby. The only question remaining is whether or not Sever can make it to Cleveland, and change Cleveland opinions on the Elway family.

For a while, it seemed like an otherwise mundane Friday night was going to be a special night. Maybe even a perfect night. The weather was near perfect; mid-seventies, clear with a nice breeze. The atmosphere was near perfect, helped by a small but vibrant Eastwood Field crowd. And the game was…near perfect, at least for one man.

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers are fresh out of the All Star break and looking to finish the season on a high note. Site columnist Andrew Zajac chimes in with his weekly notebook "The Scrapperbook" and recaps the week that was and gives out some mid-season awards.

In this week’s second edition of Minor Happenings, Tony takes a look at the outstanding season to date from shortstop Dorssys Paulino and ponders if he should be the Indians #1 rated prospect. In addition to that he runs down a gauntlet of injuries in the system with updates on LeVon Washington, Clayton Cook, Hector Rondon and others, plus a look at Matt LaPorta’s fade, Giovanny Urshela’s improved power, Matt Lawson’s future, the overlooked but impressive debut of Anthony Santander, and lots more!

If you like offense, Eastwood Field was the place to be Thursday Night. At least for the first few innings it was, as the Scrappers and Doubledays engaged in an offensivedogfight in the first four frames. In the end, it was the Scrappers plane that was shot from the skies, as Auburn capitalized on walks and errors to win 12-5.

In today's Q&A coaches session, Tony sits down and talks with short season Single-A Mahoning Valley pitching coach Greg Hibbard about an assortment of pitchers on the current roster, discusses how they are doing, what adjustments they are making, how their development is coming along, and lots more. Hibbard also discusses how he works with all the new pitchers from the recent draft.