Mark Maloney on Kentucky sports

A pair of Legends Hall of Famers attended the home opener: Charley Taylor (left), long-time pitching coach; and J.J. Cannon, manager the team's first two seasons, including the championship year of 2001. (Photo by Mark Maloney.)

Jose Cisnero

Waking up from a furlough* week. (* — A week off the job, not to be mistaken for vacation.)

The Lexington Legends still have two games left in a four-game series at Greenville, Monday and Tuesday nights at 7. Probable pitching matchups have Lexington RH Jose Cisnero (1-0, 7.11) vs. RH Roman Mendez (0-1, 15.26) Monday, and a Legend “to be announced” vs. RH Ryan Pressly (0-0, 3.00) on Tuesday.

The bigger – and encouraging – news comes from Legends Hall of Fame pitching coach Charley Taylor, who is sitting out a second season as he battles cancer.

Taylor, was on hand for the team’s April 16 home opener, has since been checked by doctors in Houston. In an e-mail, Taylor said he was told “the scan looked really good and that there isn’t any new cancer at this time, and some of the previous spots that were seen had either gotten smaller or were gone. He also said that some of those could have been scar tissue from surgery, but the bottom line is the scan looks good.”

Taylor, who overcame prostate cancer before coming to Lexington in 2001, writes that he knows he is not “out of the woods by any means, but tis is someting to certainly celebrate and feel good about.” He thanks all who have prayed for and offered support to him and his family.

University of Kentucky basketball standout Patrick Patterson was captured on the new video board at Applebee's Park when he threw a ceremonial first pitch during the Legends' opening homestand of the season. (Photo courtesy of Gary Durbin, Lexington Legends.)

• Speaking of the Legends, here’s a “two thumbs up” for the new video board in left-center field. How many big-league teams, let alone minor-league clubs, have two video boards?
• Former Legends RHP Sammy Gervacio was activated from the Houston Astros’ 15-day disabled list over the weekend. Gervacio, 25, had been on the DL due to an inflamed rotator cuff in his throwing shoulder. In three rehab appearances with Triple-A Round Rock, Gervacio worked three innings with a 3.00 ERA. Before going on the DL, Gervacio pitched 1 1/3 innings over two relief appearances for the Astros (0-1, 6.75).
• Can’t get too much lowdown on Astros prospects, including Legends and former Legends? Super blogger Mike Tauser is on the spot again this season at: 
  http://farmstros.blogspot.com.
  His “Farmstros Five” Players of the Week include a pair of Legends (Robert Donovan and Jonathan Meyer) and three former Legends (Doug Arguello, Kyle Greenwalt and Tauser’s Top Performer, Jordan Lyles). Legends catcher Jonathan Fixler is an occasional contributor with diary entries labeled the “Fixler Files.”
• The South Atlantic League Hall of Fame will induct three new members June 21 as part of the 51st SAL All-Star Game festivities. The game will be played June 22 at Greenville, S.C. The HOF inductees: Mike Dunn, general manager of the Rome Braves and the team’s predecessor in Macon; John Purdin, who pitched the only perfect game in SAL/Western Carolinas League history, for the Salisbury (N.C.) Dodgers on Aug. 8, 1964, and who went 14-3 with a 1.91 ERA and 182 strikeouts over 137 innings; and three-time World Series champion Curt Schilling, who led the SAL in 1987 with a still-standing club-record 189 strikeouts for the Greensboro Hornets.