Last night was one of the most amazing baseball experiences that you'll ever have the good fortune to be witness to. Brandon Hynick's Perfect Game was truly special to watch and anyone who was there will remember it as just amazing. I've seen quite a few special baseball achievements including several cycles (Joe Koshansky's two in 2009 and Barry Wesson of New Orleans in Nashville in 2002) and the combined no-hitter for the Sky Sox last year (Franklin Morales, Chris George, Matt Daley & Steven Register) but Hynick's perfecto is by far the best of the best.

Down on the field after the game, Hynick was mobbed by his teammates and inundated by media and fans wanting autographs. Through it all he had the biggest smile on his face that I've ever seen. Even though it probably hadn't sunken in for him yet, he seemed like he was on cloud nine the entire time.

The perfecto was the first ever in the history of Sky Sox baseball and just the ninth in the entire history of the Pacific Coast League's 100+ years.

For an encore, the Sky Sox welcome into town the Salt Lake Bees for a heated conference battle. Here's Stu Cole's lineup for tonight's game:

Eric Young Jr. - 2B

Mike McCoy - SS

Matt Miller - LF

Matt Murton - RF

Jeff Baker - DH

Dan Ortmeier - 1B

Christian Colonel - 3B

Edwin Bellorin - C

Chris Frey - CF

Jason Hirsh - SP

Three of the top four players in the lineup tonight were name to the PCL's mid-season All-Star team today. Young Jr., Miller and Murton were all elected as starters to the PCL team with the three elections being the most of any team. A few other teams have three players in the game but not all as starters. McCoy must have been one of the last guys left off the roster but when you've only got a limited number of spots to spill someone's bound to be left off that is more than deserving. McCoy could still be added before the game takes place because there are always injuries and call-ups that could open a spot up for him. For the record, McCoy is ranked among the PCL leaders in average (5th, .340), stolen bases (4th, 26), on-base percentage (2nd, .439) and runs scored (2nd, 64). Those are All-Star numbers.

The Sky Sox come into tonight's game with the Portland Beavers riding not only a season-high, five-game winning streak but also a five-game quality start streak. Alan Johnson turned in a quality start yesterday afternoon despite not factoring into the decision after working seven solid innings and giving up just two runs on a second inning homer. In the past five games, the Sox starting pitchers are a combined 4-0 with a 0.83 ERA having giving up just three earned runs in 37.2 innings pitched. Adam Eaton, who has been very impressive in his three starts with the Sox, looks to keep the momentum going tonight against the Beavers in a matchup of right-handers as Matt Buschmann (3-8, 6.48 ERA) takes the hill for Portland.

Here's Stu Cole's lineup for tonight's game:

Eric Young Jr. - 2B

Chris Frey - CF

Matt Miller - LF

Matt Murton - RF

Dan Ortmeier - 1B

Christian Colonel - 3B

Edwin Bellorin - C

Jonathan Herrera - SS

Adam Eaton - SP

Mike McCoy gets the day off today and EY returns after getting yesterday off. Cole and Young were out early today working on the young second baseman's fielding. Cole hit about 30 or so balls to him out at second as he worked on his approach to ground balls and throws to first. His defense has been pretty solid this season, he's also made many spectacular plays, but if there is one part of his game that needs to be worked on that's probably it.

Today's Sunday afternoon game sports the two rehabbing Rockies Jeff Baker and Yorvit Torrealba. Torrealba caught last night's game and went 1-for-4 with a run scored and a walk and is right back out there again today with one interesting note. Instead of setting up behind the dish today to receive the pitches he'll be stationed over at first base receiving throws from the infield. Torrealba has never played first base in the Major Leagues but has played there in winter ball. Baker did not play in last night's game.

Here's a look at Stu Cole's lineup for the first place Sky Sox:

Mike McCoy - SS

Chris Frey - CF

Matt Miller - LF

Matt Murton - RF

Jeff Baker - 2B

Yorvit Torrealba - 1B

Christian Colonel - 3B

Sal Fasano - C

Alan Johnson - P

McCoy makes his eighth start in the leadoff position as Eric Young Jr. gets the afternoon off. The Sox are 4-3 in McCoy's previous seven starts from that spot in the lineup where he is hitting.429 (12-for-28) with three doubles, six runs scored, three RBIs, six walks and five stolen bases.

By Andrew Woerpel

Matt Murton joined the Sky Sox for the second time this season after being optioned back down from the Rockies on June 5^th. A lot of players would be upset or even angry about this, but not Murton. Murton is very humble in the way he approaches life in professional baseball.

"It was a very limited opportunity that I had, but I was productive in a lot of key situations," Murton said on his time with the Rockies. "For me it's just a matter of trusting my abilities, and when I do that I think the rest will take care of itself."

"I didn't get a chance to play a whole lot when I was up there, but I'm just glad to be back and get a chance to play more." Murton explained.

Since his return, Murton didn't waste any time picking up right where he left off. He has extended his hitting streak to 29 games, a Sky Sox record, and has kept his batting average above .400; .414 to be exact. His addition has definitely helped make up for the loss of Carlos Gonzalez. Gonzalez was called up to the Rockies the same day Murton was sent back down to the Sox.

Unfortunately, the time Murton spent with the Rockies may hurt his chances at becoming a PCL all-star, but his production, considering the amount of games he has played in, speaks volumes. As mentioned before, Muton is batting .414 with a .707 slugging percentage while accumulating nine home runs to go along with 38 RBI in only 34 games.

On the thought of being named an all-star this season, Murton replied, "It's always an honor to be an all-star. I think that anytime you get an opportunity to be an all-star at any level you have to be thankful for that."

" Although that would be a special thing for me, it's more about taking care of my own personal business in terms  of getting myself better as a player and continue to do the things that I have done to be successful, and help out the team here in Colorado Springs win games."

Thus far, the Sky Sox have been winning a lot of games. At 40-30, they are in first place of the Pacific Coast League Pacific Northern division with the Salt Lake Bees trailing them by 2 ½ games.

Murton recognizes that there is something special about this team, as it might be the best team to play in Colorado Springs since the 1995 PCL championship team.

"This team has found a way to be consistent day in and day out and has found a way to win," Murton said. "The key here I think is, beyond the talent, you have a great group of guys. Whether they've been in the big leagues for five, six or seven years, or they've never played in the big leagues, the team just seems to mesh together well."

Whether the Sky Sox will keep up their spectacular play will have to wait to be seen. The fact they have Murton back, however, can only help in their run for a PCL playoff push.

By Andrew Woerpel

Sky Sox left-fielder Matt Miler is a gap buster. He lives for hitting balls to the spots the outfielders are not. Throughout his professional career, Miller has been a reliable extra base hitter, especially when it comes to racking up doubles.

"My strength as a hitter is being a gap-to-gap line drive guy," Miller said. "In that respect I'm not going to surprise anyone by hitting 30 home runs but I think that I can hit 40 doubles and drive in 100 runs and that's kind of what I view my offensive game as."

Not only does Miller knock out a lot of extra base hits and RBI, he also hits for average. Miller led the Texas League in hitting in 2008 and set a Rockies record in the process by batting .344 at Double-A Tulsa, better than the .326 Juan Pierre hit in Double-A in 2000.

"I had a really good year last year that I was proud of and I'm just trying to stay with that approach," Miller said. "Its just a matter of figuring out what works and practicing on that everyday and trying not to stray too far from what has been my success."

Currently Miller leads the Sky Sox in most offensive categories including: batting average (before Matt Murton was optioned back to Colorado Springs), total hits, doubles, triples and RBI. He is also among the league leaders in many of those categories as he is sixth in the PCL in batting average at .339, third in RBI with 58, third in total hits with 83, and second in doubles with 23.

Miller hopes to one day, sooner rather than later, be in the Major Leagues, as he feels he is more than capable of producing at that next level. The fact that the Rockies like to build their team through the farm system and not sign big time free agents really opens up the possibility of Miller getting that chance in the near future.

"I think I'm ready and am excited that I could be in contention for some big league time. That's what I'm playing for and that's been my dream for as long as I've been playing this game," Miller said.

Miller's contributions have certainly paid off in helping the Sky Sox have one of its better seasons in the past decade. The team is clicking on all cylinders as everybody from the manager and coaches to the players is contributing.  

"This is by far the best team I have ever played on in the minor leagues," Miller explained. "It's a lot of fun playing, every guy, including myself, is really enjoying it right now."

Currently the Sky Sox are in second place in the Pacific Coast League American Northern division with a record of 36-29. The Sox trail the Salt Lake Bees by 1 ½ games but have been flip flopping between first and second place with the Bees throughout the season.

Today is American Cancer Society Day at the ballpark today and in celebration of the day the entire Sky Sox team will be doning special purple and white jerseys. The purple color is the official color of the American Cancer Society and symbolizes hope. Following today's game, all the players and coaching staff will autograph their respective jeresy and each of them will be auctioned off to raise funds for the battle against cancer. The Sky Sox look very sharp in their purple and it also gives fans a small taste of what these guys might look like in Rockies purple.

Here's Stu Cole's purple lineup for the day:

Eric Young Jr. - 2B

Mike McCoy - 3B

Matt Miller - LF

Matt Murton - RF

Dan Ortmeier - 1B

Edwin Bellorin - C

Mark Bellhorn - DH

Jonathan Herrera - SS

Chris Frey - CF

Matt Belisle - SP

After splitting yesterday's doubleheader and getting shutout for the first time all season in game two (0-1, loss), the Sox look to get the offense charged once again. The familiar first four in the lineup are back out there today with Young, McCoy, Miller and Murton leading the way. McCoy has been struggling at the plate recently after being one of the hottest hitters in the minors for the first 60 games of the season and looks to get things moving again today against LH David Purcey (1-1, 4.60). Purcey is the fifth straight left-handed starter that Las Vegas has used in the series.

After an amazing come-from-behind win, and very long night, last night, the Sky Sox and Las Vegas 51s will play two today. Today's doubleheader is scheduled to make up for the snow out from April 12th between these two teams at the start of the season. Each game is scheduled for seven innings with the first pitch of game one set for 4:05 PM.

Taking a quick look at last night, the Sox pulled off yet another dazzling late-inning rally to beat the 51s 11-9. Trailing, 9-3 heading into the bottom of the eigth inning, the Sox plated eight runs and went on to close things out in the ninth. Big comebacks are not new to this year's club. In fact, this was the third time this season that the Sky Sox scored eight or more runs in the eighth inning to come from behind and win. The Sox also scored eight runs in the 8th on May 18 versus Omaha to go on and win 11-6 (were trailing 3-4) and nine runs in the 8th versus Iowa on May 12 to win 16-15 in 10 innings (were trailing 5-12). By comparison, before this season, the Sox had scored eight runs or more in the 8th inning just four times in their previous 21 seasons!

So today's DH has a lot of excitment to live up to. Game one will feature RH Adam Eaton (0-0, 0.00), who is making his first start for the Sox since signing as a minor league free agent earlier this month, against LH Brad Mills (1-7, 4.22). Game two will be RH Brandon Hynick (5-4, 4.04) for the Sox versus LH Davis Romero (1-2, 6.05). Here's a look at Stu Cole's lineup for game one:

Jonathan Herrera - SS

Chris Frey - CF

Matt Miller - LF

Matt Murton - RF

Dan Ortmeier - 1B

Mark Bellhorn - 2B

Kenny Perez - DH

Christian Colonel - 3B

Sal Fasano - C

Adam Eaton - SP

For the first time this season, neither Eric Young Jr. or Mike McCoy will be leading off for the Sox. Herrera gets the nod today with the doubleheader and will be looking to break out of a recent funk as he is hitless in his last 14 at bats. Also, Mark Bellhorn will be making his first start at second base 

It's almost half way through June and the Sky Sox are tied with Salt Lake for first in the Pacific North Divison. That's good new for Sox fans, but the team has been going through a bit of a rough patch recently especially compared to the way the team has played for most of the season. Coming into tonight, the Sox have lost three of their last four and six of their last nine. So the team is looking to right the ship and get back on the winning course in the last four games of this series with Las Vegas before they head on the road for a very long 11-game, 12-day road trip.

Here's the lineup that Stu Cole will be putting out there tonight to turn things around:

Eric Young Jr. - 2B

Mike McCoy - SS

Matt Miller - LF

Matt Murton - RF

Dan Ortmeier - 1B

Edwin Bellorin - C

Mark Bellhorn - DH

Christian Colonel - 3B

Chris Frey - CF

Alan Johnson - SP

Catcher Edwin Bellorin makes his return to the lineup tonight after being promoted up to the Rockies while Yorvit Torrealba was away on personal leave. With the Rockies, Bellorin hit .333 (2-for-8) with a run scored in two games.

Other news of the day involves reliever Franklin Nunez. Nunez, who's been out of commission since May 15, threw a simulated game today at 3:20 PM and looked good. He'll be evaluated today and his future schedule will determined after that.

After a brief four-game road trip to Sacramento, where the Sky Sox split with the River Cats, the Sox return to town tonight for a short five-game, four-day home stand with the Las Vegas 51s. Saturday will be a double header between the two clubs as they make up the game that was snowed out on April 12th.

With the return of the club, Matt Murton makes his return to Colorado Springs after spending the past several weeks with the Rockies. His name in the lineup gives the Sox an impressive M&M heart of the order as Mike McCoy, Matt Miller and Murton all bat tonight. Here's Stu Cole's lineup:

Eric Young Jr. - 2B

Mike McCoy - SS

Matt Miller - LF

Matt Murton - RF

Kenny Perez - DH

Dan Ortmeier - 1B

Christian Colonel - 3B

Chris Frey - CF

Sal Fasano - C

In this series against Las Vegas, the Sox will be facing at least four left-handed starting pitchers (one of the DH games' starters has not been announced yet). That should be good news for Colorado Springs as the team is 13-6 against lefties so far this season. The lefties they will be facing are:

Tonight: LH  Fabio Castro (2-1, 2.15)

Friday: LH Brian Burres (3-5, 4.67)

Saturday G1: LH Brad Mills (1-7, 4.22)

Saturday G2: TBA

Sunday: LH David Purcey (1-1, 4.60)

By Andrew Woerpel

The Sky Sox currently have the best record in the Pacific Coast League Pacific Northern division at 33-24, a one game lead over the second place Salt Lake Bees.

One of the reasons the Sky Sox have gotten to where they are is because of veteran leadership. The Sox have a handful of veterans on the team that are willing to lend a helping hand at any time. One of those veterans is utility infielder Mark Bellhorn.

Bellhorn is the type of teammate that is always willing to share his knowledge of the game, especially with the younger guys.

"Being an older guy that's been around a bit, I can help some of these younger guys that haven't experienced some of the things I have," Bellhorn said, "or just looking at different situations where I can help them out and show them the correct thing to do or tell them what to look for."

Bellhorn has a vast amount of big league experience. He even had the chance to play on the ultimate stage when he was a member of the Boston Red Sox 2004 championship team. Bellhorn was a big reason the Red Sox won the championship that postseason as he came up with a number of clutch hits.

Bellhorn's first clutch hit of the 2004 postseason came when he hit a three-run homer igniting Boston as they beat the Yankees 4-2 in Game 6 of the ALCS. He also homered in Game 7 in New York giving Boston a timely insurance run as they went on to win the game 10-3.

Bellhorn would come through again in game one of the World Series as he belted a two-run shot in the eighth giving the Red Sox an 11-9 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals. The home run would be Bellhorn's third consecutive homer in three games. In Game 2, Bellhorn did it yet again, when he hit a two-run double allowing the Red Sox to stretch their lead to 4-1 and eventually giving them the victory 6-2.

Boston would go on to sweep the Cardinals in route to winning its first World Series since 1918.

"It was just a really fun year. Everybody got along; that team was really there for each other," Bellhorn explained. "There were a lot of guys on the team that kept the clubhouse loose and that helped block out the bad stuff."

All of Bellhorn's heroics earned him a spot in the Boston fans' hearts as t-shirts were being made in reference to him. The t-shirts were snagged up at an alarming rate as the shirts were becoming the new fad in Beantown. One of the shirts had the saying, 'Who Died and Made You Mark Bellhorn?', the other saying 'Don't Blame me, I Voted for Mark Bellhorn.'

Bellhorn didn't think too much of all the commotion, however, as he knew the kind of passion Boston fans have for their beloved Red Sox.

"The shirts were no big deal I guess, they are crazy about their baseball in Boston," Bellhorn said. "It's funny because a couple of guys (on the Sky Sox) thought they could play a joke on me in spring training; they ordered a couple of them and wore them around in the spring."

Bellhorn's rise to popularity in New England also brought with it false rumors. One of those rumors being that he owned and operated four Dunkin Donut franchises in the greater Boston area.

"False; who ever came up with that rumor has done a pretty good job because I've heard that quite a few times. But I wish I did (own them)," Bellhorn said.

Looking ahead to this season and his time here with the Sky Sox, Bellhorn would like to see everyone succeed and achieve their goals as ball players.

"I just want to see us play good baseball," Bellhorn said. "A manager told me a long time ago that when you have a winning team everyone has a good year. It would be nice if we had a winning season and had fun, and at some point everyone in their career, even if it's not this year, has a chance to get to the big leagues."

So far, through his first 29 games with the Sky Sox this season, Bellhorn leads the team in home runs with five and is batting .293 with 19 RBI and boasting a slugging percentage of .610.