Durham 17, Richmond 3. Mitch Talbot is starting to reeastablish himself as a prospect with his third lights-out performance in his last 5 starts. He went 8 scoreless for the Bulls, striking out 7 and walking none. He gave up 5 hits...Chris Richard was 4-6 with 7 RBI. That included a Grand Slam in the 9th inning...Joel Guzman added a solo home run and 2 RBI on 3-6 hitting...Reid Brignac had his 5th multi-hit game of his last 8 starts, going 3-5 with 2 doubles. He now has 16 doubles on the year...Mike DiFelice was 4-5 with a double and 3 RBI.

Mobile 8, Montgomery 2. Wade Davis struggled, allowing 3 runs in 5.1 innings...Ronnie Merrill was 2-4 with 2 doubles.

Vero Beach 2, Clearwater 0. David Price made his professional debut, throwing 5 shutout innings. He struck out 4 and walked 1 and allowed 3 hits...Another first round pick relieved price, as Wade Townsend came on and faced 8 batters. In 1.2 innings he allowed 3 hits but did not allow a run as struck out 2...Ryan Reid recorded the last 7 outs for his 7th save. He struck out 1 and now has struck out 40 in 26 innings with only 3 walks. He has allowed 1 earned run...Joey Callender drove in both Rays runs with a single in the 4th.

Hickory 2, Columbus 1. Alex Cobb dropped to 6-3 after giving up 2 runs in 6 innings. He struck out 5 and walked 2.

NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM...

• David Price said his command was better in his last extended spring start in which he faced Alex Rodriguez. [Yahoo! Sports]

“My fastball command just felt a lot better the other day, but other than that, my slider felt good,” Price said. “… It was probably a little bit too much emotion on this one. It was my debut, so there was a lot of stuff riding on it.”

• Chris Richard has 5 home runs and 19 RBI in his last 10 games. [MiLB]
  
• Buster Olney spoke to a couple of people from "rival teams" and they believe the Rays are leaning towards selecting either Buster Posey or Pedro Alvarez with the top pick in the draft. [ESPN]
• Jonathan Mayo believes the Rays are going to take Tim Beckham, although he admits that he is just guessing. [MLB]

It's the same five names in consideration as last week: Buster Posey, the FSU catcher; Vanderbilt's Pedro Alvarez; San Diego lefty Brian Matusz; Southern California high school catcher Kyle Skipworth, and Beckham, the toolsy high school shortstop in Georgia. For some reason, the growing sentiment is that it's between Posey and Beckham, but I'm told that isn't the case. In any event, I'm switching up the pick [from Posey last week] mostly to show a different scenario as well as to indicate it's still very much up in the air.

• DRays Bay is taking a poll of who you think will be the Rays' pick in the draft. [DRays Bay]
  

David Price made what should be his last extended spring training start today, with a twist. He faced the New York Yankees extended spring squad which featured a rehabbing Alex Rodriguez.

In 5 innings, Price faced A-Rod 5 times. Rodriguez went 1-4 with a home run, a walk and 2 strike outs. Price allowed 4 hits and 2 runs in those 5 innings, striking out 10.

Price is scheduled to make his pro debut on Thursday for Vero Beach, nearly one year after he was drafted by the Rays with the #1 overall pick in the 2007 draft.

And according to commenter Diana, Thursday night is also $1 beer night in Vero Beach. Road Trip anyone?

Price dazzles vs. A-Rod, Yanks [Rays Report]