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By Marc Katz, Staff Writer 9:36 PM Sunday, May 31, 2009

Not every promotion or demotion is made in minor-league baseball because of performance.

Some moves are made because a body is needed in a different place.

A couple of days ago, an opening appeared on the Class AA Carolina Mudcats roster for a starting pitcher, and Curtis Partch was called up from the Dayton Dragons to make the appearance Saturday night, May 30.

He won, too, but still is expected to be back with the Dragons when they begin a four-game series with South Bend on Tuesday.

Partch was 3-3 with a 5.28 ERA with the Dragons, but it was his turn to pitch Saturday, and the Reds chose him to do it in Carolina.

Sunday, another opening appeared, in high Class A Sarasota, when first baseman Yonder Alonso was promoted to Carolina. That left an opening on the Sarasota roster, and with no prime candidates at Dayton, Jose Gualdron — who is coming off the disabled list with a hamstring injury — was picked to go.

Gualdron was hitting .205 with the Dragons.

That means Yen-Wen Kuo, the Taiwanese infielder, gets to stay with the Dragons.

So far, Kuo, just 20, hasn’t been able to play much, but he does have two hits in eight at-bats (.250) and had two awesome batting-practice outings recently that would land him in the permanent starting lineup if he can transfer that ability to the games.

• West Michigan and Fort Wayne are clearly the two best teams in the Midwest League Eastern Division, while Kane County, Cedar Rapids and Peoria are the best in the Western.

The Dragons should know. They have losing records to all those teams, and all Midwest teams that have a winning record, save South Bend. Against the Silver Hawks, the Dragons are 2-2.

Against all the teams that have losing records, the Dragons have a winning record.

Contact this reporter

at (937) 225-2157 or

mkatz@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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