Link Report for Thurs. April 3rd -- Play Ball! LaPorta with a Granny!

[Mass Haas]

http://www.brewerfan.net/images/store/dailylinkreport.jpg

[Mass Haas]

We're back!

 

Welcome back to yet another season of Brewerfan.net Link Reports. For nearly eight years, we've been your all-encompassing daily source for Brewer Minor League news -- from schedule info, pitching matchups, audio links, interview archives, media notes, standings, transactions, box scores, game logs, recaps, local media reports, and a partridge in a pear tree.

 

Why do we do this? Well, because we can, since after all, sleep is so overrated http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif. We continue to hear from players, friends and family over the years, along with many within the Brewer organization and some in the Brewer media (thanks Jim Powell and Adam McCalvy) who make us a daily habit, so that's a nice reward for us. And the pay is top notch!

Each day's Link Report with that day's schedule will normally kick off around lunch time. Some mornings, we'll have all the updates in from the night prior before you even wake up. Other days, it may be closer to late-morning for the updates -- we do have "real" lives, you know. And some of the newspaper sites don't update until mid-morning, anyway.

 

We will remind you that the Link Report is not an "In-Game Thread" times four (or times six this summer). While your comments are welcome, we expect any non-staff comments to be insightful and to add to the general flow of the report. We won't play Link Report Police -- except for 2008 newcomers, we think everyone knows what the "Report" is all about, so we do welcome comments similar to what we've seen in past years. You all know the drill. (We are particularly interested to have first-hand accounts, or comments from those who heard the audio live.)

 

Between Brad (pogokat), Patrick (colbyjack), and a rejuvenated Toby (And That), the staff is looking forward to making this year's Link Reports as convenient and informative as always -- perhaps imitated, but certainly never duplicated, because no one else is as insane to try.

 

Enough of the intro, to all the kids on the farm this year -- best wishes, you know we'll be listening, watching, reading.

 

One last thing -- Happy Birthday, Mom!

 

[Mass Haas]

Thursday's Daily Menu: Milwaukee day game, so it's the kids all evening!

 

All times Central; pitchers subject to change --

 

Nashville: LHP Zach Jackson at New Orleans (Mets), 6:40 PM pre-game; 7:00 gametime

 

Audio link:

www.nashvillesounds.com/listenlive/

 

Huntsville: TBD at home vs. Mississippi (Braves), 6:50 PM pre-game; 7:05 gametime

 

Audio link via WUMP (game will also archive at this link):

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/multimedia/audio.jsp?sid=t559

 

Brevard County: RHP Mike McClendon at Daytona (Cubs), 5:55 PM pre-game, 6:05 PM gametime

 

Audio link (game will also archive at this link):

web.minorleaguebaseball.c...p;sid=t503

 

West Virginia: RHP Roque Mercedes at Hickory (Pirates), 5:20 PM pre-game, 5:30 gametime

 

Audio link via WSWW, be sure to select the proper date (game will also archive at this link):

www.minorleaguebaseball.c.../audio.jsp

[Mass Haas]

While it's a bummer that Brevard County does not have its own on-air audio deal after we were spoiled for a year, it does appear that there will still be more opportunities that in past years (other than 2007, of course) to hear the Manatees, albeit via the opponents' feed without the insights we seek on Manatee players.

Daytona, tonight's opponent, has long had on-air radio. It looks as though Palm Beach, Vero Beach, and Jupiter have web-only broadcasts this season. That really is something Manatees' staff needs to look into. Costs should be minimal, especially considering there are likely dozens of aspiring college-age broadcasters in Brevard who would volunteer for the chance to gain that type of experience.

[Mass Haas]

Follow Thursday's action as it happens:

Here's what you do, right click on each of the links below and choose "Open in New Window". Open the Nashville Gameday. For the others, choose "Log" or "Recap". While you're listening to your minor league game of choice (or watching/listening to the big league Crew when they are playing), simply refresh your game log browsers every so often.

 

Nashville:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_04_03_nasaaa_nozaaa_1

 

Huntsville:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_04_03_msbaax_hunaax_1

 

Brevard County:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_04_03_breafa_dbcafa_1

 

West Virginia:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_04_03_wvaafx_hicafx_1

[Mass Haas]

This link will be included in each daily report when the Nashville Sounds are scheduled to play. Normally it is updated several hours prior to gametime.

 

Nashville Media Notes (Adobe .pdf format):

 

www.nashvillesounds.com/pdf/notes.pdf

 

We'll have to see if Huntsville continues to post theirs within the Stars' new website format.

[Mass Haas]

 Pacific Coast League (AAA) - PCL American North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Iowa 0 0 - - 0-0 0-0 - Memphis 0 0 - - 0-0 0-0 - Nashville 0 0 - - 0-0 0-0 - Omaha 0 0 - - 0-0 0-0 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 Southern League (AA) - SOU North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Carolina 0 0 - - 0-0 0-0 - Chattanooga 0 0 - - 0-0 0-0 - Huntsville 0 0 - - 0-0 0-0 - Tennessee 0 0 - - 0-0 0-0 - West Tenn 0 0 - - 0-0 0-0 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 Florida State League (A+) - FSL East Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brevard County 0 0 - - 0-0 0-0 - Daytona 0 0 - - 0-0 0-0 - Jupiter 0 0 - - 0-0 0-0 - Palm Beach 0 0 - - 0-0 0-0 - St. Lucie 0 0 - - 0-0 0-0 - Vero Beach 0 0 - - 0-0 0-0 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 South Atlantic League (A) - SAL Northern Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Delmarva 0 0 - - 0-0 0-0 - Greensboro 0 0 - - 0-0 0-0 - Hagerstown 0 0 - - 0-0 0-0 - Hickory 0 0 - - 0-0 0-0 - Lake County 0 0 - - 0-0 0-0 - Lakewood 0 0 - - 0-0 0-0 - Lexington 0 0 - - 0-0 0-0 - West Virginia 0 0 - - 0-0 0-0 - 

[TheCrew07]

One of my favorite day's of the year, the Link report has returned.

[TrueBrew]

I love this day of the year! Thanks in advance for all the hard work throughout the season.

 

I have to say the starters for this years first link report don't seem to stack up against last years. I believe we had Yo, Inman, and maybe even Manny on last years opening day. Hopefully these pitchers can make it to their level at some point.

[BrewCrewInMN]

hey guys, I don't really contribute very much anymore, but a sincere thank you to everyone involved in the Link Report. It is much appreciated and I look forward to it every single morning. It must be an incredible amount of work.

[homer]

Yep, pre-emptive kudos to Mass and Co. for putting this together every year. It's the first page I look at each morning. Viva La Link Report!

[Mass Haas]

Well, this didn't take long -- from Andy "Bull" Barch --

Tonight's game between the WV Power and Hickory Crawdads has been postponed due to rain.

 

Tomorrow night's game will be played at 7:00 PM (6:00 Central) as scheduled.

 

Tonight's game will be made up as part of a double header on Saturday night. The two teams will play a pair of seven inning games beginning at 6:00 PM (5:00 Central) on Saturday night.

[Mass Haas]

By the way, tonight's Sounds game is available via MiLB.TV.

 

The season-long subscription is $29.95 for the season (or $6.95 per month is available).

 

You can bet some in the Brewers organization will purchase to watch Yovani Gallardo Friday night.

 

Link

[Mass Haas]

LHP Steve Hammond is your Huntsville starter tonight.

[colbyjack]

As others have said, this is one of my most favorite days of the year. Thanks again and as always Jim, and be sure to send thanks to your family as well for giving you the freedom to pursue your labor of love.

[Mass Haas]

The Brevard audio from Daytona seems to be working well (nice triple, Stephen Chapman, also scored), but the Huntsville audio is giving me trouble, so here's an alternative link for Huntsville audio:

 

http://player.cumulusstreaming.com/Play.html?WUMP-AM

[Mass Haas]

Nashville @ New Orleans -- 79 degrees, partly cloudy

Mississippi @ Huntsville -- 70 degrees, clear

Brevard County @ Daytona -- 76 degrees, cloudy

FYI -- Beloit (Twins) was rained out tonight, but we can't say West Virginia made out any better on this one night.

[Mass Haas]

Listening to Brett in Huntsville - Steve Hammond's first six outs have come via the K -- he struck out 109 in 142 IP in '07. Stars lead, 3-1, bottom of the 2nd at the Joe -- Carlos Corporan just went "boom".

 

Mike McClendon cruised until the 4th for Brevard when a two-out three-run HR broke things open for the Cubbies -- 4-1 Daytona in the 5th.

 

Scoreless early in New Orleans -- the Sounds' first baseman on Opening Night is Eric Munson -- Brad Nelson sits on the bench. Adam Heether starting at third base over Russell Branyan, nice to see for Adam.

[Mass Haas]

Matt LaPorta Grand Slam, baby!

As Brett Pollock noted, LaPorta always homers in his debuts (Prince would do that, too...)

 

8-1 Stars in the 4th....

[brewmann04]

great comback by Brevard County tonight nice job by their Bull pen tonight

[wibadgers23]

I have a good feeling Gamel and LaPorta will be a pretty deadly 3-4 duo for Huntsville.

[twobrewers]

Good Lord. Huntville's line-up is just killer right now.

 

A lot of AAA teams would love that line-up!

[joshua502000]

My thanks to the guys that provide this thread. It is the filet mignon of the site. I savor every bit/bite of info.

[DannyKmilw]

I see LaPorta played RF tonight, anyone know how well he did? I was at work and didnt have access to the audio...thanks

[Mass Haas]

Final: Brevard County 8, Daytona (Cubs) 6

Link while active, text follows:

 

Daytona Cubs drop opener

By SEAN KERNAN
Daytona News-Journal Staff Writer

DAYTONA BEACH -- The threatening skies never opened up Thursday night, but the Daytona Cubs bullpen sure had a few leaks in the Florida State League season-opener for both teams.

The Brevard County Manatees scored seven runs over the last four innings, including a decisive four-run rally in the top of the ninth, for an 8-6 victory before a crowd of 4,313.

The Manatees, a farm club of the Milwaukee Brewers, trailed 6-1 when Daytona starting pitcher Esmailin Caridad left the game after completing five innings.

Daytona relievers Casey Lambert, Mike Phelps, Ryan Meyers and Jeremy Papelbon struggled in their first appearances as the Manatees scored seven runs on six hits, five walks and a hit batter from the quartet.

"I'll tell you, I know our bullpen is better than that," Cubs manager Jody Davis said. "Maybe it was because it was the first game, Opening Night jitters or something. I'm not worried. They're going to get a lot of chances."

Daytona had a four-run fourth inning highlighted by a mammoth two-run homer over the batting cage beyond left field by Yusuf Carter. James Aducci also had an RBI single to plate Jonathan Wyatt, who opened the inning with a single. Josh Lansford, who reached base on a fielder's choice, scored all the way from first base on Aducci's single after Brevard County center fielder Darren Ford misplayed the ball.

The Cubs added two more runs in the fifth after a bunt hit by Tony Thomas and a bloop double by Ty Wright fell in shallow left field to leave both runners in scoring position. Thomas came home on Steve Clevenger's fielder's choice, and Wright scored on Lansford's groundout.

But Daytona wasn't able to hold the lead after Caridad, a 22-year-old right-hander making his first official start in the United States after three minor-league seasons in Japan, allowed just one run on three hits while striking out three over five innings.

"(Caridad) threw the ball well," Davis said. "It's early in the season, and he was on a five-inning or early pitch count limit. But it was a positive night for him."

The same can't be said for the bullpen, however.

Lambert gave up one run on two hits in the sixth before the Manatees cut it to 6-4 in the seventh. Brevard County's Andy Bouchie struck out three times in the game, but the one time he put the ball in play resulted in a two-run bomb off Phelps.

Nine Manatees went to the plate in the ninth as Meyers hit a batter and walked two before Papelbon was called in with the bases loaded and one out.

"Papelbon had to come in there in a bad situation with the bases loaded," Davis said. "The second hit they got off him he about knocked the bat out of (the batter's) hands."

Taylor Green delivered a sharp two-run single to left off Papelbon to tie the game at 6 and, following an intentional walk and a pop fly for the second out, Chuck Caufield blooped a double just inside the right-field line for an 8-6 lead.

The Manatees and Cubs play at "The Jack" again tonight in a 7:05 start with prospect Jose Ceda taking the mound for Daytona.

sean.kernan@news-jrnl.com

AT HOME TONIGHT

Brevard County Manatees at Daytona Cubs

WHEN: 7:05 PM (6:05 Central)

WHERE: Jackie Robinson Ballpark.

RECORDS: Manatees 1-0, Cubs 0-1.

PROBABLE STARTERS: Manatees, LHP Rafael Lluberes; Cubs, RHP Jose Ceda.

REASON TO GO: The first 1,250 fans will receive a 2008 Daytona Cubs schedule magnet.

 

Daytona's Darwin Barney jumps over Brevard's Churck Canfield for a double play during the opening night game Thursday at Jackie Robinson Ballpark.

Daytona News-Journal Photo by Nigel Cook

http://www.news-journalonline.com/downloads/cub040408.jpg