After being named the Red Sox Minor League Player of the Year, Lomasney went into the 2000 season with lofty expectations. Baseball America considered him the number one prospect in the entire Red Sox organization and he seemed to be in line for another September call-up at the very least. But injuries ended his season two months early, so that call-up would have to wait.

In 2001, the Peabody, Mass. native was up with Triple-A Pawtucket, an injury away from getting another chance at wearing the uniform of his hometown team. But it was another injury of his own that altered the course of his season and ultimately his career. Lomasney was struck in the eye with a line drive during batting practice, fracturing his orbital bone and damaging his cornea.

As a result, the call-up he was waiting for never came, and the chance of wearing a Red Sox uniform again went away with it after not re-signing with the organization following his fourth straight season in Double-A in 2002.

He caught on with the Orioles organization in 2003 and with the Reds for 2004 and 2005, spending all three seasons with their Triple-A teams. But Baltimore and Cincinnati didn't see anything from him that warranted a big league call-up either, his struggles being capped by a meager .160 batting average in limited action with the Louisville Bats last season.

Lomasney only played for a few innings in his only big league appearance in Camden Yards, but it served as a microcosm of the reason why he‘s never been able to stick in the show. He threw out both base runners who tried to steal against him, but also struck out in both of his plate appearances.

"Three-two counts both times," Lomasney said. "I was swinging hard, but I had a little bit of the jitters in me."

Always known more for his glove than his bat, Lomasney entered the 2006 season with 2,790 professional at-bats. He'd struck out in 961 of them, an alarming rate of one strikeout per 2.9 at-bats.

Numbers like that won't get you anywhere, especially the big leagues, and that's why the 28 year-old Lomasney finds himself in the visiting dugout of Trenton's Waterfront Park, spending his fifth season at the Double-A level.

Now with the New Britain Rock Cats, the Eastern League affiliate of the Minnesota Twins, Lomasney is again struggling, hitting just .194 with no home runs and three RBI. Having gone from the next Carlton Fisk to the next Crash Davis, he returns to the site of that breakout 1999 season at a very different stage of his career.

"When I first got here, I said I'd never been on this side of the field before," Lomasney said, across the diamond from the home dugout he spent four seasons in.

"We had great fans and great players here, it was a great organization to be with."

Even with his slow start, his teammates and coaches seem to be behind him.

"He's a veteran presence behind the plate," said Rock Cats manager Riccardo Ingram, who noted that Lomasney was working well with his other catcher, Jose Morales.

"Steve knows his role here, and his role is basically to be a veteran leader. I think he's fitting the bill well."

Lomasney, who's already accumulated seven strikeouts in thirty-one at-bats this season said he'd been contacted by several independent league teams over the past few seasons, but feels his best chance to get back is by staying in the minors.

With his chances in affiliated baseball quickly diminishing, this is one opportunity where Steve Lomasney can't afford to strike out.

Thunder Notes: The Thunder signed controversial first baseman/designated hitter Randy Ruiz to a contract last week. Ruiz twice tested positive for the steroid stanozolol, which is also used as an appetite stimulant for cats. He told reporters last year that the only thing he had taken was Viagra, however it turns out those comments were made during the appeal process for his second suspension, which was announced just days later and lasted 30 games. Catcher Kevin Nelson was sent down to Single-A Staten Island to make room for Ruiz.

Around the Eastern League: Binghamton Mets outfielder Jorge Padilla and Akron Aeros starting pitcher Adam Miller were named the Player and Pitcher of the Week, respectively.