Arkansas Business

This story is from the archives of ArkansasSports360.com.

Maybe we just caught the Arkansas Travelers on a good night Tuesday. Maybe they just have Springfield's number, at least this week. But catching this little slice of the Travs, in their 60th game of the season, told us there's something special about this club that's been missing for the most part since the club moved into Dickey-Stephens Park in North Little Rock.

Starting with highly touted Angels prospect Mike Trout, the team's solidly-built but speedy centerfielder, Arkansas powered past Springfield with four home runs. Trout started it with what seemed like an effortless drive into the left-field corner concourse. That spot would be a favorite for the Travs all night, and designated hitter Luis Jimenez hit a solo shot there two batters after Trout in the home half of the first, then walloped a grand slam in the fourth inning to put the host club up 8-2.

That was finally enough runs for Trevor Reckling, another highly touted Angels prospect who has battled injuries in recent years and been in and out of Arkansas in the process, seemingly stuck at the Double-A level. He carried a 1-6 mark but a respectable 3.90 earned run average into Tuesday night's game. He held up his end on the ERA, departing after allowing three runs through 7-plus innings.

Trout came in hitting .327 and improved on that, plus he's one of four Travs hitters batting over .300. Jimenez is making a move in that direction with a 3-hit night to boost a .278 average as well.

What we mainly noticed was that the Travelers played smart and mostly error-free baseball, except for one boot at shortstop early in the game. We had become so used to seeing the club run itself into outs on the basepaths the past few years, we were downright surprised to see the lead runners hold up on second or third on short hits to the outfield or, late in the game, another runner get the stop sign as he turned for second with a chance, albeit slight, to stretch a gapper into a triple.

At least for this night, the Travelers gave the opposition few if any extra at-bats and no extra outs. That, plus the power display and solid pitching, was a winning formula.

And, for the first time in several seasons, the Travelers will go into the last couple of weeks of a split season in first place. Tuesday night's win gave the 32-28 record and a two-game lead in the division of the recently dominant Northwest Arkansas Naturals.

The Travs, in the talent level, are finally on even terms again with the Naturals, it appears from recent results. Arkansas has hovered around the .500 mark most of the season until this latest four-game winning streak.

In the breezy early innings Tuesday, which made the high-90s temps tolerable, I thought I was seeing a team that could match up with one of the Travs' all-time bests, the 1989 squad that dominated the Texas League after starting the year 17-20, romping to a championship.

Minor league ball is all about developing and creating an attitude that stems from the top of the organization. In past years, the manager seemed to embrace too much to the idea that he had to run his team like the big-league club, even if he had lumbering catchers and fewer contact hitters to do it. Arkansas seems to be in excellent hands this season under new skipper Bill Mosiello, who was the one in the third base box making sure his runners didn't trot into outs.

The Travs have more than a show-up-and-play attitude this season. At least on Tuesday night, they had the looks of winners