LYNX: HAPPY RETURN FOR HARD-HITTIN' HAMMOND

It's a dizzying thing, keeping up with all these roster moves for the local nine:

• Nights such as the one Joey Hammond had in tonight's 5-1 Lynx romp (boxscore, play-by-play) over the first-place ScranYanks will help the club with playing spoiler over the final five weeks.
  
  Hammond, who was called up from Double-A Reading, was 3-for-5 with a run scored and an RBI as the ScranYanks' lead in the International League North was cut to a half-game over the Buffalo Bisons, with Rochester just one game out in third place. True, the Lynx (42-69) aren't very good, but they can have some sway over the playoff race.
  
  Hammond's had a decent year between the R-Phils and the Lynx, with an on-base percentage that's only a handful of points away from .400.
  
  The other callup from Reading, lefty-hitting outfielder Matt Padgett, was on base his first three times up, drawing a leadoff walk in the two-run sixth which put the game away. Padgett, who was in right field, has some pop (24 homers a couple years ago in the Pacific Coast League), but he is strikeout-prone and comes with some baggage (his '05 season was cut short by a positive drug test that was for something other than a performance enhancer. Hey, everyone should get a second chance.)
  
  So who's also here for the final five weeks? Right-hander Clay Condrey, who's been up and down most of the season and shortstop Danny Sandoval cleared waivers and is back.
• Who's out?: It looks like lefty Eude Brito is being shut down for the season with a shoulder inflammation. As so often happens, coming back from one injury might have contributed to another. Brito missed much of the early part of the season and was never quite right when he did start pitching again.
• Infielder Michael Garciaparra and outfielder Shaun Boyd, who played in only one game, are returning to Reading.
• Not coming: Julio Mateo, the pitcher whom the Phillies got from Seattle in exchange for infielder Jesus Merchan. Mateo faces a domestic violence charge and can't travel outside the U.S., so the Phillies have to send him to Reading.
  
  The Mariners utterly refused let Mateo pitch in the majors after his arrest. The Phillies say he isn't guaranteed a September callup. Mateo apparently did a bad, bad thing and he's toeing a fine line, but that's exactly as it should be.
• As for seeing A.J. Burnett here next week: Reports now say the Jays right-hander won't "work under game conditions at least until next Monday, for a minor-league team to be determined." That could come with Syracuse vs. the Lynx at the Stadium, or it could not.