Ex-Star Hajek returns to LV with Sky Sox

Dave Hajek didn't have any trouble finding the visitors locker room at Cashman Field on Monday night.

"It wasn't that strange," Hajek, a triple-A All-Star for the Las Vegas Stars in 1998 but now a second baseman with the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, said. "I'd been coming here for three years before (as a member of the Tucson Toros) I came here to play (in 1997). It's fun coming back here again."

Hajek had a season to remember for the Stars in 1998, batting .328 with 45 doubles, 63 RBIs and 14 stolen bases. But despite those glossy stats and some solid defense, Hajek didn't get a callup by the parent club San Diego Padres in September.

So despite another offer from the Padres to return to Las Vegas again this year, the 31-year-old Hajek decided to give another organization a try in his quest to return to the big leagues.

He picked the Colorado Rockies, in part because that team's triple-A franchise resides in Colorado Springs, where Hajek lives in the off-season.

"All the situations look the same really in the wintertime, so you just have to try something new," Hajek said. "I played well here last year and didn't get a chance (at the big leagues). There really wasn't more that I could do at this level to get a chance up there. So I had to explore other opportunities."

"We made him an offer," Jim Skaalen, the Padres' director of player development, said. "But we also told him that he had the year of his life last year and didn't get called up, that he might be better off going to someplace else. It wasn't because we didn't love him or want him back. That's why we called him to begin with."

Hajek, who went 0-for-4 in a 5-1 loss to Las Vegas on Monday night, knew the chances of making it up to San Diego were slim if he returned to the Stars.

"They had a lot of second basemen for spring training this year," he said. "And the main factor you play the game is to get a chance to play in the big leagues."

New he hopes that chance will come an hour from home in Denver where Mike Lansing currently starts at second base for the Rockies.

"It was a tough decision," Hajek said. "I loved playing in Las Vegas. But my family and friends are (in Colorado Springs). It's going to be nice to play in front of them."

* GOOD TIMING: New Stars second baseman David Newhan, who was batting just .167 entering Monday night's game, picked a good time to break out of his early slump.

Newhan clobbered two home runs, his first ever at the triple-A level, and drove in three runs in the Stars' victory over Colorado Springs. Among those in the stands watching were his father Ross, a longtime baseball writer for the Los Angeles Times, and his sister, Sara. Both had made the four-hour drive from their Yorba Linda, Calif., home.

"It was exciting to have them here," Newhan said afterward.

He wasn't just talking about having them cheering in the stands, either.

"I need my pots and pans and sheets, man," Newhan said with a smile. "They were bringing up a lot of stuff for me."

* LIGHTS OUT: There was a 14-minute delay in the eighth inning when a brief storm caused a power failure which suddenly sent Cashman Field into darkness.

Actually, the timing probably couldn't have been better for the delay.

Sky Sox lefty Mike Porzio had just been summoned to replace Lariel Gonzalez on the mound. Gonzalez apparently pulled a groin muscle when he slipped on the muddy mound on his first pitch of the inning.

By the time the power and lights came back on, the rain had stopped and Porzio was nearly warmed up.

* BUDDY SYSTEM: Right-hander Buddy Carlyle, obtained in a trade with the Cincinnati Reds last year for erratic reliever Marc Kroon, pitched seven innings of shutout baseball in his triple-A debut on Monday night.

Carlyle, who led the double-A Southern League in innings pitched (188.2) en route to a 14-6 record, scattered six singles and walked just one while striking out eight.

"He was pretty impressive," Stars manager Mike Ramsey, who had Carlyle last year at Mobile, said. "He doesn't light the gun up but he knows how to pitch. I know it's a new league and everything, but I knew that when I gave him the ball tonight that I wouldn't have to worry about the (bull)pen until the seventh inning."

Ramsey said Carlyle was on a pitch count and he decided to replace him before the eighth inning after he had thrown 95 pitches.

* NEVIN PLAYS: Catcher Phil Nevin, on a three-day injury rehab assignment with the Stars, played six innings before giving way to Ben Davis.

Nevin, obtained in a trade with the California Angels to give San Diego backstop depth following a season-ending Achilles' tendon injury to starter Carlos Hernandez, will rejoin the Padres in Colorado on Wednesday night after playing for the Stars on Wednesday afternoon against Colorado Springs.

"I've already got my ticket," Nevin, who went 0-for-3 on Monday, said.

Nevin strained his hamstring while playing first base in an exhibition game against the Cubs in Mesa, Ariz., just one day after joining the Padres.

"It was frustrating," he said. "You just want to get in the mix with the guys right away and then something like this happens. I'd almost rather have done it in June or July and missed 15 days then than to have it happen at the start of the season like this."

Nevin is expected to catch again tonight and then play in the infield on Wednesday afternoon.

"I just needed to come down here and get some at-bats," Nevin said. "It feels like I've been out for two months instead of just two weeks."

* UP NEXT: The Stars continue their series with Colorado Springs at Cashman Field tonight with right-hander Brian Tollberg (0-0, 2.57 ERA) facing Sky Sox righty Mark Brownson (0-0, 2.70). The series and homestand conclude with a Wednesday afternoon (12:15) contest with lefty Heath Murray (1-0, 1.50) going for the Stars against right-hander Scott Randall (1-0, 1.50).

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