Johnson and others will be playing for the Sidewinders

Lefty

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Here is an update on Mantei and others. If you live in Tucson you just might want to go to the July 3 game. It looks like half the starting lineup will be Diamondbacks.

Matt Mantei joined the Sidewinders for a rehab appearance Tuesday, two days before he was scheduled to make the upcoming road trip to Las Vegas.

The Diamondbacks' closer worked a perfect seventh inning, striking out two, in the Side-winders' 8-4 loss to the Fresno Grizzlies at Tucson Electric Park.

The right-handed Mantei threw just 13 pitches - nine for strikes - in his first outing since being put on the disabled list June 1 with tendinitis in his throwing shoulder.

"It went surprisingly well," Mantei said. "It went a lot better than expected."

Mantei is scheduled to pitch for the Side-winders on Thursday and Friday in Las Vegas before rejoining the Diamondbacks on Saturday for a series in Detroit.

Sidewinders manager Al Pedrique said it will not be long before Mantei is ready to rejoin the parent club.

"He had good life on his fastball," Ped-rique said. "He kept the ball down and went after hitters."

Johnson & Co.

Randy Johnson might be bringing some of his teammates to Tucson.

Assuming their rehabilitation schedules go according to plan, Craig Counsell, Junior Spivey, Danny Bautista, Bret Prinz and Mike Koplove all could be in Side-winders uniforms when the team returns home for a four-game series that begins Monday at TEP.

All five are expected to join the club for its series against Sacramento, and could be in the lineup when Johnson makes his rehab start on July 3.

"If that's the case, they're all more than welcome,"ä Sidewinders manager Al Pedrique said. "It might happen.ä"

So far this season, Ped-rique has noted the impact that pitchers Byung-Hyun Kim and Ste-phen Randolph, and catcher Rod Barajas have had on the young Side-wind-ers.

He is expecting nothing less from the latest crop of injured D'backs.

"If they want to come down here and play, it's an honor,"ä Pedrique said. "It helps us to compete with other teams, and it shows us how to compete on the big-league level."

Sellout expected

Fewer than 1,000 reserved general admission tickets remain for Johnson's rehabilitation start.

The game against the Sacramento RiverCats is almost guaranteed to become the team's first sellout at 12,000-seat Tucson Electric Park since the 2001 season. There also will be a post-game fireworks show.

The club expects to sell an additional 1,000 general admission tickets for the outfield bleachers, general manager Rick Parr said.
 

AZCB34

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Did Dellucci do a rehab assignment down there? I don't remember hearing he had.
 

FORKTUNG

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Mantei pitched scoreless innings both Thursday and Friday.

I expect him to be activated by the big team any day now. By Monday at the latest.
 

Matrix31

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actually Mantei pitched two innings and gave up a run on 2 hits, striking out 1. Edgar Gonzalez did well though, pitching 7 innings, 5 hits 1 run, 5 strikeouts 1 walk. HIllenbrand went 2-5
 

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