IT'S NOT THE COLD, IT'S SOMETHING ELSE...

Nice timing by the Rapids: They've apparently reached agreement with centrefielder Jared Lemieux at a time when his more famous sports namesake's hockey team is beating the Senators in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Lemieux set school records for runs and hits during his run at Bowdoin College in Maine. He hasn't got a foothold in two Can-Am League stints, but his stats suggest he can draw a base on balls. He would be the third outfielder to join the team, along with Nick Trainor and Jeremy Ware, who are both Canadian.

Righty-hitting first baseman Jabe Bergeron, who was a regular with Sussex last season, is now listed on the roster. Bergeron had a decent hitting line -- .304/.367/.411 -- last season.

Bergeron ... Lemieux ... no one has to know they're actually from New England, right?

IRONPIGS GOING TO 11

The main headline on the Allentown Morning Call's webpage, "Where's the bottom?" refers to the region's economy -- not the Lehigh Valley IronPigs being 0-10.

Let's reiterate that it's not sporting for an Ottawa ball fan to take any glee whatsoever in the IronPigs (né Lynx) having the worst start by an International League team in at least 30 years. The city forsook the Lynx. Nevertheless, just the facts, ma'am: The IronPigs' team batting average, .182, and collective OPS, .502, are both dead last among the 60 Double-A and Triple-A teams by a fair margin.

Carl Kiiffner notes it's hard not to feel a little glee after being told so many times that Ottawa was too cold for the hitters in April: "...by most accounts the move to the tropical paradise of the eastern continental U.S. was in part designed to make playing the game so much easier in April and May."

Here's hoping that the beat writer, Jeff Schuler, gets to write about a victory sooner rather than later, perhaps today when J.A. Happ takes the hill vs. Richmond.

(In the course of writing this post, Happ coughed up a two-run homer to the third batter of the game, Richmond's Barbaro Canizares.)