Coming soon to a minor league park near you

You could probably make a living – at least during the summer months – as a travel agent booking trips between major league cities and their minor league affiliates for players on injury-rehab assignments.

There wouldn’t be as many cross-country trips as in the past, but part of your business could be arranging for limos to take players and their entourage from, say, Boston to Pawtucket, Baltimore to Bowie or Dallas to Frisco.

Anyway, just since the beginning this month, you would have had plenty of business. Here’s a list – might be comprehensive, might be one or two others that slipped through the cracks – of players going on rehab assignments just during that time.

Orioles – OF Ryan Freel to Double-A Bowie (limo ride)
Red Sox – RHP Diasuke Matsuzaka and OFs Rocco Baldelli and Mark Kotsay to Triple-A Pawtucket in one big limo. However, Baldelli might just stay at his home in Rhode Island.
Royals – RHP Doug Waechter to Triple-A Omaha (long limo ride); LHP John Bale to Double-A Northwest Arkansas
Angels – RHP John Lackey to Triple-A Salt Lake; RHP Ervin Santana to high Class A Rancho Cucamonga (limo)
Athletics – OF Ben Copeland to high Class A Stockton (fairly long limo ride)
Rays – C Shawn Riggans to Double-A Montgomery
Rangers – RHP Kris Benson to Double-A Frisco (limo, perhaps with a sidebar for Mrs. Benson’s, um, appendages)
Braves – C Brian McCann to Triple-A Gwinnett (limo)
Mets – RHP Tim Redding to Triple-A Buffalo
Padres – RHP Walter Silva to Triple-A Portland
Nationals – LHP Joe Beimel to high Class A Potomac (limo)

Some of those players already have returned to the major league roster. Another plane or limo ride booked by your travel agency. Cha-ching!

On Sunday, fans in Frisco got to see something major league fans haven’t seen: a game with Benson starting against Astros RHP Brandon Backe. They have been in the majors during six of the same seasons, but haven’t started against each other at that level.

Backe had the upper hand, pitching five scoreless innings in a 4-0 victory over the RoughRiders, who have been in a hitting slump. Benson allowed three runs in his five innings. The day’s best pitcher, however, was Corpus Christi Hooks LHP Polin Trinidad, who earned a save with four scoreless innings.

Originally, Texas was going to give Benson another rehab start at Frisco Friday, but now it appears that he’ll be activated for a role in the Rangers’ bullpen. Backe’s start Sunday was his second on a rehab assignment expected to last for five starts.