Stars start long road trip in Salt Lake City

The theme song for the Las Vegas Stars these days should be "On The Road Again."

The Stars (28-27), who trail first-place Fresno by five games in the Pacific Coast League's South Division, left this morning for Salt Lake City where they will begin a grueling 13-day, 12-game road trip against the Minnesota Twins' triple-A affliate, the Salt Lake Buzz, tonight.

Las Vegas, which doesn't return to Cashman Field until June 22, also will visit Oklahoma and New Orleans before returning home to host the Omaha Royals. Twenty-four of the team's next 32 games will be on the road.

"No doubt about it, this is a key road stretch for us," second baseman Dave Hajek said. "We'll be playing in some new parks in this league and against some new teams."

The Stars actually own a better road record (11-9) than home mark (17-18) so far this season.

"It is a long road trip," Stars manager Jerry Royster said. "But with this team I don't think it matters whether we're playing at home or on the road."

The Stars, who have struggled offensively recently, could be getting help from the Padres as early as today. With infielder Archi Cianfrocco due to be activated from the disabled list today, the word in San Diego is outfielder Ruben Rivera could be headed back to Las Vegas.

Rivera, who struggled with a woeful .144 batting average with the Stars before being recalled by the injury-plagued Padres on May 16, seems to have found his batting stroke in the big leagues. He is batting .300 with San Diego and also has starred on defense. But with the recent return of James Mouton from the disabled list, he figures to be the likely candidate to return to Las Vegas when Cianfrocco is activated.

Meanwhile, there also have been rumors that the Padres are about to trade left-handed starter Pete Smith to the Baltimore Orioles. If so, speculation is that Stars lefty reliever Roberto Ramirez could be promoted to San Diego.

* EYE SURGERY FOR GUIEL: Outfielder Aaron Guiel is headed to San Diego but not to join the Padres. Guiel, who is hitting .260 with zero homers and eight RBIs in 100 at-bats, said he will have eye surgery to correct stigmatism in both eyes. Best-case scenario is that Guiel could be back with the Stars in two weeks. Worst case is his career could be over. The stigmatism, according to Guiel, makes his contact lenses slide off his pupils. "I'm glad to finally get this resolved," Guiel said. "I'm lucky I have this option. If everything goes OK, I could have 20-20 or 20-15 vision. If I didn't have this surgery, I probably wouldn't play again." Guiel, who hit .329 with 22 home runs and 85 RBIs at double-A Midland last year, said his vision problem has gotten progressively worse since last season.

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