on the power pole

Amory native and former Mississippi State star Mitch Moreland smacked his 15th home run for Texas on Thursday and holds a comfortable lead in the unofficial Mississippi Home Run Derby for 2013. Moreland, in 94 games, has matched his homer total from 2012 even though he is batting only .243 for the Rangers. His primary challengers in this faux competition figured to be Ole Miss product Seth Smith and MSU alum Tyler Moore, but neither has put up power numbers like last year. Smith (14 bombs in 2012) has six homers in 87 games for Oakland. Moore (10 homers in 156 at-bats in 2012) hasn’t gotten much opportunity with Washington and has just three homers in 42 games/106 ABs. He is currently at Triple-A Syracuse, where he is hitting .306 with six homers. Ex-Itawamba Community College standout Desmond Jennings is No. 2 on the Mississippi power chart, with 11 homers for Tampa Bay. He’s got pop (13 homers in 2012) but is considered more of a speed guy and often bats leadoff. Somewhat surprising is the power displayed by Southern Miss alum Brian Dozier, who has hit nine homers in 91 games for Minnesota. Ex-UM star Zack Cozart belted 15 home runs for Cincinnati last year and, with eight in 99 games this year, could reach that number again. P.S. MSU alum Jonathan Papelbon, seemingly unhappy with the situation in Philadelphia, has blown six saves since June 1 and has an ERA of 2.59 after Thursday’s blown save/loss against San Francisco. … Meridian CC product Cliff Lee — still a Phillie — is going to miss another start today because of a neck problem. … Zeke Spruill started for Arizona on Thursday, running to eight the number of former Mississippi Braves pitchers who have started games for MLB clubs other than Atlanta in 2013.