Poythress continues offensive fireworks

Former Greenbrier High School and University of Georgia star Rich Poythress wrapped up the month of July with the best two weeks of his 2010 season when he and his Advanced-A High Desert teammates won 8 of 12 games to climb back above the .500 mark in California League play.

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Poythress recorded at least one hit in 11 of the 12 games and was named the league's player of the week for his effort. He went 22 for 46 over the 12-game stretch with 20 RBI and six home runs.

Poythress, who is in his first full season as a pro, will celebrate his 23rd birthday next week as one of the top run producers in all of minor league baseball. He entered Saturday's game with 92 RBI, second only to the 94 runs batted in by Triple-A slugger Dan Johnson .

COACHING MOVE: Poythress and his Mavericks teammates will start the weekend with a new manager leading the team.

Jim Horner , the winningest manager in High Desert Mavericks history, stepped away from the team after Friday's game to become an assistant coach at Texas Tech, according to a report on MiLB.com.

Darrin Garner , a roving instructor for the Seattle Mariners, will take over the team for the rest of the season.

TV TIME : A pair of South Atlantic League teams have received a little more publicity over the past month, thanks to ESPN.

The sports network featured the Charleston RiverDogs and Hickory Crawdads in a commercial shot at Charleston's Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park as part of ESPN's "It's Not Crazy, It's Sports" brand campaign.

The ad, which was shot June 1-4, ran several times in July on ESPN.

REPEAT BID: The 2009 South Atlantic League Champion Lakewood BlueClaws have carried their dominance well into 2010.

Entering the final full month of regular-season play, the BlueClaws boast a 65-40 overall record, five games better than any other Sally League team.

Along with its 2009 title, Lakewood has already claimed the Northern Division's first-half championship this season and holds a five-game lead in the race for a second-half title.

The Augusta GreenJackets finished a game out of first for the Southern Division's first-half title and entered the weekend two games back in the second-half pennant race.

The team boasts the Southern Division's top overall record this season with a 59-44 mark entering Saturday's play.

THEY'LL MANAGE: The Lexington Legends are scheduled to for a road trip to Augusta later this month, but they might play the four-game series at Lake Olmstead Stadium without their manager.

Lexington skipper Rodney Linares left the team last weekend for personal reasons to return to his home in the Dominican Republic.

"It's just personal leave. I'd rather leave it at that," Linares told the Lexington Herald-Leader by phone. "I'm missing Lexington. I wish I was there. But I've just got to take care of what I've got to take care of."

Houston Astros roving catching instructor Danny Sheaffer has taken over as acting manager in Linares' absence.