Castillo, who is a Cubs prospect (of course) was found guilty of felonious assault for chucking a high hard one that was intended for an opponent's dugout, but ended up hitting a fan in the stands. The incident happened during a Peoria Chiefs-Dayton Dragons game that started with two managers shoving each other and ended with all-out war. (The video is still here, amazingly.) He was found not guilty of "assault with a deadly weapon" because I guess his velocity was a little off.

Sentencing will be August 3, and on September 1 he will be called up to hurl t-shirts into the Wrigley Field bleachers.

Pitcher guilty of felonious assault [Dayton Daily News]

In order to work around our current economic meltdown, the Class A Cubs affiliate has launched a new "Naming Rights For A Game" promotion. For six grand, they will rename the stadium whatever you want for one day. You get signage, advertising, a spot on the video scoreboard, plus free tickets and food. They get some spending cash, you get a gigantic ego boost, and everyone goes home happy. The first taker: a lawn care company.

Interestingly enough, the stadium is currently known as O'Brien Field, thanks to a deal with a local car dealership. Their naming rights contract expired last season, but the team couldn't find a new sponsor (for more than a day) so they haven't bothered to change it.

I nominate "Baby Mangino Field at Denton Yards." Hey, I'm not the one writing that check.

Peoria Chiefs selling ballpark naming rights on daily basis [Pantagraph]
Your name here: Chiefs selling game-by-game naming rights for park [Peoria Journal Star]
[Picture via]

Then comes this oddity: 17 players were ejected, but those ejections were reversed by the parent clubs — the Cubs and Reds — due to the fact that each team would have had to finish the game with two pitchers playing in the outfield. Here again is the video, which begins with managers Donnie Scott of the Dragons and Carmelo Martinez of the Chiefs arguing over hard slides and hit batsmen. Then suddenly Mr. Castillo flies into frame and throws a vicious haymaker at someone ... or is that where he throws the ball? Hard to tell.

As for the fan Castillo hit; he was reportedly struck in the head so hard that the ball caromed five rows behind him and landed in another fan's lap. Also, somewhere in there, Peoria second baseman Gian Guzman suffered a broken leg.

Telling note: Midwest League president George Spelius was called at home following the fight, and had to check with his overlords with the Cubs and Reds who "advised" him to temporarily lift the suspensions so that pitchers wouldn't have to be used in the outfield. Suspending the game was out of the question, I suppose. In the MLB, the bottom line rules.

Brawl Erupts At Dragons Game, Fan Struck By Ball [Dayton News]

''I think it will be very cool,'' Sandberg said. ''It's probably a chance of a lifetime for some of these players to come to here and actually play a game at Wrigley Field. I can't imagine what that will be like for them. I'm excited about it and I know the fans will have some fun with the game. It's bringing minor-league baseball to Wrigley for one night.''

So this is kind of a big deal; like when the Bad News Bears played in the Astrodome. I'll be interested to see what kind of attendance this draws. I had jokes all ready to go about how playing a minor league game at Wrigley would be redundant, but the Cubs are in first place, so I threw them out. Dammit. Instead, once again enjoy this fat guy stuck in the outfield screen.

Sandberg's Chiefs To Host Cougars At Wrigley [Chicago Sun-Times]