With travel making this trip interesting to say the least - here’s an early look at the story that will run in the Beacon Thursday.

TRENTON, N.J. - Wyatt Toregas lay on the trainers table clutching his stomach, his face twisted in pain, a half-empty plastic bottle of grape Pedialyte sitting next to him.

While his teammates and coaches ate their post-game meals in dead silence in the visitor’s lockerroom at Waterfront Stadium minutes after a controversial play at the plate ended in a 3-2 loss to Trenton, the Aeros catcher writhed on the table, struggling to keep the fluid down.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t talk right now,” was all Toregas could manage, not even opening his eyes.

Despite being exhausted and still fighting a flu-like virus that had him sidelined during the first game of the Eastern League Championship Series the previous night, Toregas told Aeros manager Tim Bogar he wanted to play in Wednesday.

As baseball irony would have it, Toregas was at center stage of the game’s final play - the 5-foot-11, 200-pound catcher receiving a right-on-the-money throw from right fielder Cirilo Cumberbatch before quickly moving into position to block the plate and tag out a charging Colin Curtis trying to score the winning run from second base.

As Curtis approached the plate, Toregas went to tag him high. Curtis slid in an attempt to avoid the tag, trying to sneak his left hand under Toregas’ outstretched glove in an effort to catch the corner of home plate.

Right on top of the play, home plate umpire Cory Blaser quickly called Curtis safe - handing the Thunder a commanding 2-0 lead as the series shifts to Akron Friday.

“It was obviously a close play, and from Wyatt’s reaction, I’d say we have a pretty good argument,” Bogar said. “But the umpire said (Curtis) made a great slide.”

As Blaser signaled Curtis safe, Toregas reacted angrily. He spun around to plead his case to Blaser, then pounded the ball into the ground, followed by his glove and then helmet before collapsing a few feet away, his head bowed in his hands.

After arguing briefly with Blaser, Bogar and center fielder Trevor Crowe came over to check on Toregas. Finally, they pulled him up to his feet and helped him off the field.

”The bottom line is we didn’t lose the game on that play, we didn’t execute all game long,” said Bogar, whose team went 0-for-16 with runners in scoring position. “We had plenty of opportunities to score runs, we should have scored five or six.”

The Aeros took an early 2-0 lead with a pair of fourth-inning runs. Jordan Brown led off with a single and scored on Michael Aubrey’s RBI-double. Aubrey soon came around to score on an error.

But Trenton chipped away at the lead with a run in the fifth inning, Curtis reaching on one of six walks by Aeros starter Chuck Lofgren, before scoring on P.J. Plittere’s RBI-single. Gabe Lopez tied the game three innings later with a run-scoring double.

After practically crawling into the playoffs, the Aeros have come up with one heck of a turnaround the last two weeks in finshing the last week of the regular season strong and now knocking off Southern-Divison winner Erie 3 games to 1 with an 8-6 win Saturday night at Canal Park.

The Aeros overcame a rough start by starter Bobby Brownlie and a pair of early errors, using three home runs - including a pair of two-run shots by Michael Aubrey - to charge back for the win.

The Aeros have two days off before heading to Trenton for the start of the Championship Series Tuesday in New Jersey - a well deserved rest.

As players sprayed bottles of champaign at each other under the clear plastic tent that was the team’s clubhouse Saturday night, Aeros manager Tim Bogar called the media into his office. After a few quick words about his team’s achievements, he spent some more time talking about how impressed he was with Erie.

A lot of managers will throw comments in like that to sound good.

But it was obvious Bogar meant what he was syaing about how the SeaWolves were the best team the Aeros played all year. He also talked about how impressed he was with Erie Manager Matt Wallbeck. Perhaps Bogar was referring to Wallbeck’s class for not making too big of a deal out of the Indians sending Jeremy Sowers to Akron to pitch a pivitol Game Three.

As unfair as the move may have been, neither Bogar nor Wallbeck had anything to do with it, and both handed it professionally. The message they sent to their respective players was clear: You can’t worry about things out of your control.

Not long after left-handed picther Aaron laffey was pulled from his start after 48 pitches at Triple-A Buffalo Sunday, a post popped up in this blog from one our faithful readers wondering what was up. Props to Roger for being so on top of things - especially with just a week left before the trading deadline, when these kind of things happen regularly.

Yet, a few days later, we’re still trying to figure it out. The Beacon’s Indians beat reporter Sheldon Ocker reported in Tuesday’s paper that Tribe manager Eric Wedge denied anything is going on with Laffey - which in baseball terms almost always means something is absolutely going on.

The question is what?

I don’t think it’s that Laffey was involved in a trade gone bad, as many are speculating. Because if that were the case, the Indians wouldn’t have let him pitch at all Sunday instead of limiting him to 50 pitches (a sure sign to me that’s he’s being readied for the bullpen).

My guess is that the Indians finally have had it with struggling Fernando Cabrera (a solid starter with the Aeros a few years ago before he was converted to a reliever) and have plans to call up Laffey to join the Indians bullpen. Because Cabrera is out of options, he will likely be claimed on waivers (other teams also think they can fix a guy). With the open roster spot, Laffey can slide right in.

So what’s taking so long? If the Indians didn’t start the process with Cabrerra until Monday, they have to wait until the end of Wednesday to see if he was claimed or can be sent to Buffalo to begin the rebuilding process.

So hang on. There’s more to this story coming in the next few days. Fun, isn’t it?

You know a win is huge when it snaps a four-game losing streak.

But at Canal Park, you know an Aeros win is really big when manager Tim Bogar busts out his cowboy boots.

I don’t mean once he’s out of uniform and dressed in street clothes. Nope, Bogar’s big-game statement is always made while still in his uniform, parading around the clubhouse with his old out-of-style brown cowboy boots.

Bogar doesn’t care how goofy he looks. The boots were a gift from teammates when he first made it to the big leagues, and Bogar reserves wearing them now only for his team’s big wins.

It didn’t take Bogar long to put them on Wednesday night after shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera hit a three-run, walk-off home run in the ninth inning that not only won the game 9-7, but also snapped the team’s losing streak AND prevented a sweep by lowly Harrisburg.

But before the boots came out, former Aeros catcher Javi Herrera blasted a three-run home run in the fifth that handed visiting Harrisburg an early 6-0 advantage.

Few Aeros fans would ever openly root for an opponent, but here’s betting there were plently of people doing it quietly for one of Akron’s former favorite players.

Brian Barton missed by pitch - you don’t hear that very often.

Usually it’s Barton hit by pitch. And another pitch. And yet one more time…

In fact, it’s happened a Minor-League leading 22 times this year as the Aeros right-fielder is way ahead of last year’s pace when he was plunked 25 times.

Barton has a propensity for getting nailed despite not owning a stance that particularly crowds the plate. This knack, if you will, came into strong focus duing the Aeros just concluded four-game series with Bowie at Canal Park.

Bear with me here, as I’ll get back to the missed by pitch part soon. But first, some background:

It began at the beginning of Saturday’s game when Barton was hit by a pitch in the first inning by former Aeros pitcher Oscar Alvarez. Barton says it usually doesn’t hurt when he gets hit, but this one obviously did. In a rarity, Barton took plenty of time trying to walk it off before finally taking his base.

Two at-bats later, a grouchy and probably achy Barton was called out on strikes. Soon, he’d been tossed by the home plate umpire after an act that included flipping his bat and leaving it at home plate, tossing his arm guard on the field as he walked away, and finally punctuated by throwing his batting gloves - one by one - over the dugout railing onto the field before exiting down the tunnel and into the lockerroom.

It was a rare show of emotion for the laid back Barton, so out of character, Aeros manager Tim Bogar called it Barton’s “out-of-body experience.”

Still, after the game, Bogar had a closed door meeting with Barton, in essence explaining that while he has a right to disagree with the call, he should have handled it more professionally by showing respect for the game.

“I told him, ‘I’m not telling you not to be Brian Barton. Be Brian Barton. But understand that the world might not understand Brian Barton.’ Sometimes, you have to be sensitive to what other people think.”

Espeically in a game where one scout, coach or front office person’s perception can mean all the difference between a career in the big leagues and one spent scuffling in the minors.

So, on we move to Monday’s game. With two outs in the first inning, Barton slams a two-run home run to give the Aeros an early lead. During his next at-bat, the first pitch from Bowie ace Radhames Liz whizzes behind Barton. Liz, obviously throwing a purpose pitch, is immediatley tossed by the home plate umpire for throwing at Barton.

For the next 10 minutes, Bowie’s manager comes out to argue, another pitcher in the Bowie dugout (Rosman Garcia) gets ejected as well for throwing a folding chair onto the field from the dugout and finally another pitcher is summoned to begin warming up.

While all this is going on, Barton is quietly standing in front of the Aeros dugout, waiting for order to be restored and the new pitcher to get ready.

If it were me, I’d probably (O.K., I would) have a few choice words for Liz and any other idiot in the dugout acting like a jerk. But Barton just stood there, waiting. Lesson learned.

In the meantime, Bogar got steamed while talking to the umpires, wondering why the Bowie manager (Bien Figueroa) wasn’t tossed as well, as the orders to go after Barton most likely came from him.

“My question to the home plate umpire was - we do nothing wrong, and we get in trouble? (the rule states that the benches must be warned and if it a guy gets hit again, not only the pitcher but the manger would be automatically ejected). So I asked him, can’t you just throw him (Figueroa) out, too?”

Barton handled it well, and so did Bogar, despite having a very valid point.

Yet, by the end of the night’s action, I found it rather ironic that all the fuss of the evening was made over the one time Barton was actually missed by a pitch - and not hit by one.

* Can you believe Randy Newsom is 7-for-7 in save opportunities? Truthfully, I can. He is one special kid, and I don’t mean baseball-wise. Heck, he probably has the least real “baseball” talent of any of the Aeros, but is such a superior human being. His sharp mental state and fun-loving way of looking at the game more than makes up for anything he lacks in skills. I am glad to see a non-drafted kid getting a legimate shot.

* Before talking to reporters after earning his first win as a astarting pitcher at Akron this season on Thursday, Jake Dittler took a minute to retrieve his new baby from his wife to show around the lockerroom. The look on his face as showed off little Andrew was precious. What do you want to bet becoming a father goes a long way in helping Dittler “grow up” on the mound? He’s always had decent stuff, it’s just been a matter of maturely handling himself on the mound and not letting his emotions get the best of him.

* I’ve always liked catcher Armando Camacaro. But that’s always been because he always has a smile on his face - win or loss, having played - or as he does most of the time, whether just sitting the bench. With all the moves at the catching position since Javier Herrera was traded, Camacaro has had a chance to play and show off what he can do. In his first game of the year (two months into the season), he hit a home run and had a career-night in RBI. Yesterday, he tagged out a pair of runners at the plate on throws to the plate. Odds are he’ll become the odd man out again now that starter Wyatt Toregas is healthy, but here’s hoping we still get to see a little of Camcaro here and there.

* Lastly, it doesn’t take a baseball purist to see that injury-magnet first baseman Michael Aubrey is probably hurt again. Aubrey’s only been with the Aeros two weeks, and already he’s hobbling around so much, it’s a liability to put him on the bases in a close game. Recently, he’s had Sunday, Monday and now Thursday off to help his sore legs/back - whatever it is this time. Aubrey has always been a professional guy to deal with, but he has got to find a way to stay healthy and play. There’s no doubt in my mind the Indians patience is wearing thin.

True story:

I was at the bank this afternoon and ran into Aeros hitting coach Lee May Jr. He was obviously tired, having just gotten off the team bus a few hours earlier after a long bus ride back to Akron from Portland, Maine. Thank goodness they had Monday off.

He asked if I’d heard about the Aeros near-brawl at Hadlock Field on Saturday. I had, but I let him give me some more detail anyway. His version was worth a few laughs.

Here’s the account of the story from the Portland PR guy who writes the game recaps. It’s pretty accurate, but remember he’s working for Portland, so it’s likely to be a bit slanted as one would expect:

SEA DOGS RALLY FALLS JUST SHORT, LOSE 9-6 TO AKRON
Benches empty in the seventh inning causing a 10-minute delay

(Portland, ME) – Akron rallied from a 4-1 deficit, scoring eight unanswered runs and held on to beat the Portland Sea Dogs, 9-6 in front of a sellout crowd of 7,368 fans on Saturday night at Hadlock Field.

Akron tied the game at four in the fifth inning on Ryan Goleski’s 3-run triple off Portland starter Tommy Hottovy. In the seventh inning off Lincoln Holdzkom (3-1), Trevor Crowe singled home the go ahead run and David Wallace followed with a grand slam. Holdzkom, who suffered his first loss in the Red Sox Organization, threw the next pitch behind Rodney Choy Foo - leading to his ejection.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Portland scored the game’s final two runs on Bryan Pritz’s RBI triple and Jeff Natale’s sacrifice fly. Jay Johnson followed Natale and watches a Stevens’s fastball sail over his left shoulder, leading to the ejection of Stevens and Akron Manager Tim Bogar.

As Bogar was leaving the field, he shouted into Portland’s dugout, causing both benches to clear and delaying the game 10 minutes. There were was no brawl on the field but Portland Hitting Coach Russ Morman was ejected for leaving the dugout and yelling at Bogar.

The Sea Dogs had one final chance in the ninth inning, loading the bases against Randy Newsom but Johnson and Andrew Pinckney were retired to end the game. Newsom, a former Red Sox farmhand, picked up his fifth save of the year.

Some thoughts:

* I like to see Bogar get fired up every once in a while. But of course it happened on the road again, and home fans didn’t get to enjoy it.

* Perhaps a new budding rivalry with someone other than Altoona is a good thing. Remember, these two teams played each other in the playoffs the last two years with Akron winning its second championship in 2005 and Portland grabbing its first title last year.

* Good to see Crowe, Goleski and Wallace hitting. For Crowe and Goleski - it’s about time. A slam by Wallace is a nice surprise.

* With Jensen Lewis promoted to Triple-A Buffalo last week, it’d good to see Newsom doing well in the closer’s role.

People ask me all the time why the Aeros continue to do well year after year. This is my fifth season covering the team for the Beacon Journal and I always say the same thing:

1) The parent-club Indians continually stock the team with a bulk of its minor-league prospects. It used to be all organizations did this at the Double-A level. But one look at the veteran Curve roster, and you can see they have as many, if not more, free-agent veterans than there are at the Tribe’s Triple-A Buffalo level.

2) Like other Double-A teams each season, the Aeros tend to lose their best first-half players to promotion - like they did with Kevin Kouzmanoff last season (once he was healthy). However, the players at high Class-A Kinston come up to Akron and take over without losing much (last year it was outfielder Trevor Crowe).

That doesn’t usually happen in a lot of other organizations, as the Double-A level is such a separator for eventual major league talent. But year after year the Kinston Kids (I’m old enought to call them that) come to town ready to play, and like Crowe did last year, often bring an infusion of energy with them that boasts the team.

A common theme among reader emails recently has been - beleive it or not - about the bright pink backpack the relievers tote out to the bullpen before every game. And yes, it does indeed have wings.

Why do they it? Honestly, because they’re boys. Boys, with a lot of time on their hands.

You see, every bullpen needs to be stocked with enough gum and sunflower seeds to make it through a long game - espeically when it goes into extra innings. Thus, the backback is stocked with the goodies and lugged out to the bullpen by a different player before each game. That’s a lot easier than having to run back and forth to the dugout to get fresh supplies. Saves the legs, you know?

Why didn’t they pick out say a nice, green camouflage G.I. Joe backpack? I don’t know. Maybe they figured it would blend in too much. The pink one with fairy wings not only stands out, it gets them lots of attention, to boot.

Another email came from a concerned fan regarding the status of Erie catcher Steve Torrealba. In Friday night’s game he was hit in the face by a splintered bat. It looked pretty bad, with a piece of the bat coming straight down into his face as he looked up towards the night sky for the ball. Believe it or not, Torealba only suffered a spilt lip and was back in action by Monday.

Candace emailed Monday concerned about third baseman Pat Osborn. Number One - was he alright after getting hit in the left elbow by a pitch Sunday?

Yes, Pat is O.K. He’s wearing a wrap on it and will be out for a few days, but has yet to be placed on the DL, which makes me think it can’t be too bad.

Number Two - What’s been wrong with him lately? He just hasn’t seemed like himself in letting too many balls go by him without much of an effort.

I agee with Candace. I can’t quite put my finger on it. But Pat has seemed rather lackluster out there. I don’t think there’s anything physically wrong with him. He just doesn’t seem to have the range anymore you want out of a third baseman.

Got more question? Send more for future mailbags.

Can the Indians be hindering their minor league players instead of helping them by sending so many roving instructors and front office personel to Akron?

Certainly these former players and managers and enlightened specialists are here to help, their knowledge chuck full of experienced wisdom. But six at one time? Isn’t that a litle much?

Take Thursday’s game with Altoona for example. Between the ususal Aeros manager Tim Bogar, pitching coach Greg Hibbard and hitting coach Lee May Jr. were the Indians Ross Atkins (director of player deveoplment), Ellis Burkes (special assistant to Baseball Operations), Buck Showalter (senior advisor of baseball operations), Dave Hudgens (field coordinator), Dave Miller (pitching coordinator) and Ted Kubiak (defensive coordinator).

All but Atkins were in the home dugout, elbowing for position at the top of the fence - forcing players to fend for themselves for good views of the field - of the game THEY were playing.

Perhaps there was a scheduling conflict or mishap that put everyone in Akron on the same day. But most likely, the Aeros home games just fit in well with their schedules considering the parent-club Indians and low Class-A Lake County were on the road and high Class-A Kinston is just returning from a road trip.

Still six extra sets of eyes? Most times, one or two are enough. Any more must be very distracting.