Link Report for Games of Thursday, April 17th

[Mass Haas]

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

[Mass Haas]

Thursday's Daily Menu: The big league boys are sure to salvage a game in St. Louis this afternoon, a nice appetizer to this evening audio feast!

All times Central; pitchers subject to change --

 

Nashville: RHP Nic Ungs at home vs. Omaha (Royals), 6:40 PM pre-game; 7:00 gametime

 

Audio link:

www.nashvillesounds.com/listenlive/

 

Huntsville: LHP Brae Wright at home vs. Chattanooga (Reds), 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 Jones at home vs. St. Lucie (Mets), 6:00 PM gametime

 

Sorry, no audio available for this Manatee series...

West Virginia: LHP Mike Ramlow at Asheville (Rockies), 5:50 PM pre-game, 6:05 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]

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_17_omaaaa_nasaaa_1

 

Huntsville:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_04_17_cngaax_hunaax_1

 

Brevard County:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_04_17_sluafa_breafa_1

 

West Virginia:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_04_17_wvaafx_ashafx_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

[Mass Haas]

 Pacific Coast League (AAA) - PCL American North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Omaha 8 5 .615 - 5-2 3-3 L1 Iowa 6 6 .500 1.5 2-4 4-2 W1 Memphis 6 8 .429 2.5 2-4 4-4 L3 Nashville 3 11 .214 5.5 2-4 1-7 W1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 Southern League (AA) - SOU North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Carolina 9 4 .692 - 4-1 5-3 L1 Huntsville 8 5 .615 1.0 7-1 1-4 W1 Tennessee 8 5 .615 1.0 5-3 3-2 L1 West Tenn 7 6 .538 2.0 4-1 3-5 L2 Chattanooga 6 7 .462 3.0 2-3 4-4 L1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 Florida State League (A+) - FSL East Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jupiter 9 4 .692 - 6-0 3-4 W1 Palm Beach 9 4 .692 - 5-2 4-2 W2 Brevard County 8 5 .615 1.0 3-2 5-3 W3 Daytona 6 7 .462 3.0 4-4 2-3 L3 Vero Beach 5 8 .385 4.0 3-3 2-5 L1 St. Lucie 2 11 .154 7.0 2-5 0-6 L2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 South Atlantic League (A) - SAL Northern Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Greensboro 9 5 .643 - 5-3 4-2 W1 Lake County 8 5 .615 0.5 3-2 5-3 W1 Hickory 8 6 .571 1.0 3-3 5-3 L2 Delmarva 7 6 .538 1.5 5-4 2-2 W1 Hagerstown 6 7 .462 2.5 2-2 4-5 L1 Lakewood 5 8 .385 3.5 3-5 2-3 L1 Lexington 4 10 .286 5.0 1-7 3-3 W2 West Virginia 3 11 .214 6.0 2-6 1-5 L6 

[TheCrew07]

I was really excited about the WV staff, they haven't been so fun to listen to thus far.

[Mass Haas]

Final: Asheville (Rockies) 6, West Virginia 3

 

West Virginia Box Score

This club kind of deserves what it gets right now -- after tieng the game up in the top of the 7th, two outfield errors (Kurt Crowell, Lee Haydel) lead to a two-out three-run rally for the Tourists; again reliever Corey Frerichs doesn't get help from his defense, although he contributed to the failed inning; Power have more errors (four) than hits (three); starter Mike Ramlow limited Asheville to three runs (one earned) in six innings despite allowing ten base hits, nine of them singles;

 

West Virginia Game Log

Caleb Gindl left the game after grounding out to first base in the 4th inning...

[Mass Haas]

I'm not sure if Andy Barch followd up with news on Caleb Gindl's exit later in the game, but I just listened to the groundout and Gindl's exit the following inning, and there was no indication that Caleb was injured at all.

[Mass Haas]

Final: Brevard County 8, St. Lucie (Mets) 6

Hey, this team is fun...

 

Brevard County Box Score

Four-run bottom of the 8th pushed the 'Tees ahead; Mike Jones continues with his two-inning starts, induced five ground balls, but walked three while allowing one run; Taylor Green continues to impress; Stephen Chapman with a game-tieing two-run HR in the 5th, already his 3rd bomb in the heavy Florida air; Jimmy Mojica, the independent league signee prior to the '07 season, is on fire in '08, at least in his first 22 ultra-impressive AB's -- pinball numbers; Matt Cline continues to get time at SS over Yohannis Perez, and deservedly so; this speedy club still has too many adventures on the basepaths -- two picked off tonight...

 

Brevard County Game Log

Omar Aguilar managed to strike out the side while stranding two for the save...

[Mass Haas]

From the Power:

POWER HAUNTED BY FOUR ERRORS IN LOSS TO ASHEVILLE

 

Asheville, NC - The West Virginia Power committed four errors in Thursday night's game against the Asheville Tourists, including a pair of costly ones in the seventh inning as they dropped their seventh game in a row in a 6-3 loss at McCormick Field.

 

Power starter Mike Ramlow flirted with danger in the first two innings, but still held the Tourists scoreless in those two frames, while leaving three runners stranded in scoring position. With two outs in the third inning, Jeffrey Cunningham singled into left field to bring in Brian Rike. Caleb Gindl booted the ball in right field which allowed Darin Holcomb to score on the play as well. Michael Mitchell ripped an RBI single in the fourth inning to give Asheville a 3-0 lead.

 

The Power began their comeback in the sixth inning when Zelous Wheeler scored on Jonathan Lucroy's two-out double. West Virginia tied the game with a pair of runs in the seventh. Brent Brewer was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to bring in the first run and Lee Haydel reached on a fielder's choice to bring in Curt Rindal to tie the game.

 

In the bottom of the seventh, Asheville took advantage of two Power errors to regain the lead. With two outs and Holcomb on first base, Cunningham hit a fly ball down the left field line that Kurt Crowell dropped which allowed Holcomb to score. Lars Davis ripped an RBI single later in the inning to bring Cunningham in. On the play, Lee Haydel's errant throw allowed David Christiansen to score as well.

 

Joey Williamson (1-0) allowed a pair of unearned runs on one hit through one inning of relief to get the win while Corey Frerichs (0-3) was tagged with the loss after allowing three unearned runs on two hits with four strikeouts in two innings of relief. It was the second time this season that Frerichs didn't allow an earned run and still got the loss. Ramlow allowed three runs, one earned, on ten hits through six innings and didn't get the decision.

 

The Power are 3-12 after the loss and the Tourists are 10-5 after the victory. West Virginia had committed just 11 errors in their first 12 games, but have committed 10 in the first three games of this series. They've been held to five runs on 12 hits against the Tourists.

 

The Power will finish their four game series with Asheville Friday night. Right hander Rob Bryson (0-1, 1.23) will get the start for the Power and the Tourists will counter with right hander Sheng-An Kuo (1-1, 10.29). The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM (6:05 Central).

[Mass Haas]

Yikes, Huntsville just coughed up a two-run 9th inning lead on an Alcides Escobar error (his second of the game) and two gopher balls served up by Joe Bateman -- they'll try to come back in the bottom half if you're listening (10:15 Central).

[Mass Haas]

Final: Omaha (Royals) 6, Nashville 5

 

Nashville Site Game Summary:

Link, text follows --

 

NASHVILLE - Laynce Nix homered for the second straight contest but his three-run shot wasn't enough to lift the Sounds to victory as Nashville dropped a 6-5 decision to the Omaha Royals on Thursday evening at Greer Stadium.

 

Shane Costa paced the Omaha offense by going 3-for-5 with a pair of RBIs and finishing a triple short of the cycle.

 

Omaha took a 3-0 lead against Sounds starter Lindsay Gulin in the top of the second inning. Chris Lubanski got things started with a run-scoring seeing-eye grounder through the right side of the infield to plate Brian Buchanan, who had opened the frame with a walk. Costa and Mike Aviles added RBI singles later in the frame to up the advantage to three.

 

The Royals upped the lead to 4-0 in the third on Matt Tupman's two-out RBI double that scored Angel Berroa, who preceded him with a single.

 

Costa made it a 5-0 Omaha advantage in the fourth when he led off the frame with a solo homer to right-center off Gulin, the outfielder's second longball of the year.

 

The Sounds got on the board in the bottom of the fourth when Vinny Rottino and Russell Branyan ripped back-to-back doubles against Omaha starter Tyler Lumsden, making it a 5-1 contest. Branyan's two-bagger was his team-leading seventh of the year and pushed the veteran's hitting streak to six games.

 

Nix (2-for-4) pulled the home team within a run at 5-4 in the fifth with a mammoth two-out, three-run homer to right off Lumsden, his third roundtripper of the year and second in as many nights. Steve Sollmann and Abraham Nunez, who had both singled earlier in the frame, scored on the blast. The home run extended Nix's hit streak to a season-best five games.

 

AUDIO: Nix Three-Run Homer

 

Omaha third baseman Jason Smith provided an insurance run in the seventh with a solo homer to left off Sounds reliever Jason Shiell, his fifth jack of the year and second in as many games. Nashville answered that run in the bottom of the frame when Adam Heether scored on an Ozzie Chavez sacrifice fly.

 

Lumsden (1-1) earned his first win in four career starts against Nashville despite surrendering four runs in his five innings of work. Jeff Fulchino worked the final two innings in scoreless fashion to notch his first save of the year.

 

Gulin (0-2) took the loss after he allowed five runs on nine hits over his five frames of action.

 

The teams wrap up the series with a 7 p.m. meeting on Friday evening. Right-hander Nic Ungs (1-1, 3.72) will man the bump for the Sounds to face Omaha right-hander Matt Wright (0-0, 5.40).

 

Nashville Box Score

Sorry Brendan, we are contractually obligated to point out "golden sombreros" -- Katin the with four K's...

 

Nashville Game Log

[Mass Haas]

Stars fall, 6-4, details shortly...

[Mass Haas]

Nashville Pre-Game Audio Chat with Reliever Mitch Stetter

Congratulation discussion -- Mitch to Milwaukee...

[Mass Haas]

The Latest from Buck Rogers -- we'll watch Friday's attendance...

Final: Chattanooga (Reds) 6, Huntsville 4

 

Huntsville Box Score

As mentioned above, brutal 9th inning loss; hasn't Brae Wright been a pleasant surprise since his bump from West Virginia to Brevard County last season; Angel Salome with his first AA home run; Cole Gillespie on base three times, continues to shake his opening slump; the uncanny Freddy Parejo tried to rally the club in the 9th with a pinch-hit single -- wasn't to be...

 

Huntsville Game Log

[Mass Haas]

Huntsville Press Release:

LONG BALLS LEAD TO HUNTSVILLE LOSS

 

Luis Bolivar's three-run home run capped the game-winning four-run ninth inning rally, as Chattanooga came from behind to down Huntsville 6-4 Thursday night in the fourth of a five-game set at Joe Davis Stadium. The Stars dropped to 8-6 on the season and fell two games behind front-running Carolina in the North Division, while the Lookouts climbed to 7-6 overall and improved to 5-4 on the road. The Stars lost for the first time in 67 regular season games since the start of last season when carrying a lead into the ninth inning.

 

Stars' closer Joe Bateman allowed his first run of the season on a leadoff home run in the ninth by Drew Anderson (not the former Brewer, he's in AAA - Jim) that drew the visitors to within 4-3. B.J. Szymanski reached on an Alcides Escobar error and Shaun Cumberland walked with one out before Bateman retired Cody Strait on an infield pop up for the second out. Bolivar then launched a 1-0 offering over all three tiers of signage in left field to give Chattanooga its' first lead since the third inning. Freddy Parejo led off the home ninth with a pinch-hit single before Josh Roenicke retired the next three hitters to sew up his third win of the season.

 

Cole Gillespie's two-run double in the fourth inning gave the Stars a 3-1 lead but the rally was squelched when starting pitcher Brae Wright grounded into a double play with the bases loaded to end the frame. Lookouts' starter James Avery was taken out after six innings, giving up three runs on five hits, while walking three and fanning four.

 

Wright gave up a two-out, run-scoring double to Eric Eymann in the seventh that trimmed the Stars' lead to 3-2. The southpaw was removed after seven frames, in the longest outing by a Huntsville starter this season, allowing three hits, walking three and striking out two. David Johnson stranded Bolivar at third with one out in the eighth before Mat Gamel led off the bottom of the inning with a triple and scored one out later on a Matt LaPorta base hit to push the home team's lead to two.

 

The series wraps up Friday night with left-hander Sam Narron taking the hill for Huntsville against Lookouts' southpaw Ben Jukich. Coverage of the game begins at 6:50 pm central time and can be heard locally on SportsRadio 730 WUMP and through the internet at www.huntsvillestars.com and www.730ump.com.

[wibadgers23]

Green and Ford continue to impress in BC. I'm looking forward to following these two all year.

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

Stars can't hold 9th-inning lead over Lookouts

Chattanooga HRs sink Bateman in visitors' 6-4 rally

By BRAD SHEPARD

For The Huntsville Times

Joe Bateman took a couple of steps toward home plate before even looking up. He knew the ball hit by Chattanooga's Luis Bolivar was gone.

 

The Huntsville Stars closer had played the role of door-slammer to perfection this year, owning an earned-run average of 0.00 through his first five games. But that was abruptly erased in the ninth inning along with a two-run Stars lead. Following Drew Anderson's leadoff home run, Bolivar launched a three-run homer to left field with two outs to send the Chattanooga Lookouts to a 6-4 comeback win.

 

The 1,693 fans at Joe Davis Stadium could only stare in disbelief as Huntsville's top reliever blew his first save of the year. In fairness to Bateman, the Stars should have been out of the jam if not for the uncharacteristic second error of the game by slick-fielding shortstop Alcides Escobar.

 

"We shouldn't have even been in that situation," Stars manager Don Money said. "We made three errors tonight, and two of them really hurt us."

 

Just how much of a sure thing are the Stars with a lead going into the ninth inning? They were 66-0 in the regular season dating back to the beginning of last year.

 

The only loss in the ninth for Huntsville during that span came in the decisive Game 5 of the Southern League championship series against Montgomery last year when Sergio Pedroza delivered a crushing three-run blow to seize the trophy from the Stars.

 

"That's a pretty good streak there," Money said. "That means the ninth-inning guys are going out there and doing their job."

 

The Stars flirted with surrendering the lead in each of the final three innings. After a solid start by Brae Wright, the left-hander ran into some trouble in the seventh when he allowed a run and stranded another runner on second to maintain a 3-2 lead.

 

Setup man David Johnson should have had two out and none on in the eighth, but Escobar let a ground ball fool him, putting a runner on first with one out.

 

After Michael Griffin's single put Chattanooga runners on the corners, Johnson struck out Sean Henry, and Tatum grounded to third on a nice short-hop pickup by Mat Gamel.

 

Gamel led off the bottom half with a triple and scored on Matt LaPorta's single to give Huntsville a two-run advantage with its bullpen ace entering. But it wasn't enough thanks to Bolivar's heroics.

 

"If every pitcher went out there and got them 1-2-3, it wouldn't be fun," left fielder Cole Gillespie said. "It happens."

 

One silver lining for the Stars was Gillespie ending his early-season slump. He entered the game hitting .171, but went 2-for-3 with a two-run single, raising his average 30 points.

 

"It's nice to finally get it going," Gillespie said. "It's early in the season so I wasn't trying to put the pressure on or anything. Eventually, they were going to start dropping."

[Mass Haas]

Asheville Citizen-Times Photo by John Coutlakis

Asheville's Darin Holcomb slides home to beat a throw to West Virginia's Jonathan Lucroy on Thursday night.

 

http://cmsimg.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=B0&Date=20080418&Category=SPORTS05&ArtNo=80417131&Ref=AR&Profile=1002&maxW=313&border=1

 

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

Sounds drop to 0-12 in night games

Nashville trails Omaha early, falls short with rally

By TOM KREAGER

Tennessean Staff Writer

 

The Sounds night struggles continued Thursday night.

 

Omaha defeated Nashville 6-5 at Greer Stadium in front of a crowd of 4,618 to make the Sounds 0-12 in games started after 6 p.m.

 

"I think if we can just win one night game we might get on track," Sounds center fielder Laynce Nix said. "We just need that first one."

 

Omaha third baseman Jason Smith's seventh-inning solo home run gave the Royals a 6-4 cushion.

 

The Sounds cut the deficit to 6-5 in the bottom of the inning after Adam Heether singled and scored on Ozzie Chavez's sacrifice fly.

 

Nashville, which plays Omaha at 7 p.m. today in the final game of the four-game series, had a chance to tie the game in the eighth inning when Vinny Rottino walked with two outs.

 

But Russell Branyan struck out to end the inning.

 

"He's a guy that can hit it out or hit it strong in the gap," Sounds Manager Frank Kremblas said. "They pitched him well there."

 

The Sounds didn't hit the ball out of the infield in the ninth.

 

Omaha starter Tyler Lumsden (1-1) yielded four earned runs in five innings to pick up the win.

 

Reliever Jeff Fulchino picked up his first save.

 

Omaha scored three second-inning runs off a walk and three groundball singles for an early 3-0 lead against Lindsay Gulin (0-2).

 

The Royals added runs in both the third and fourth, the final coming on Shane Costa's home run.

 

"They just hit some well-placed ground balls early," Kremblas said. "But then Costa hit one well."

 

But the Sounds chipped away at the deficit.

 

Rottino doubled and scored on Branyan's double to cut the deficit to 5-1 in the bottom of the fourth.

 

Nix's three-run home run in the fifth cut it to 5-4. Nix's homer came a day after the center fielder hit a grand slam.

 

What they said: "We're playing better now. Our defense is better overall. They are starting to get mad now and that may be good," said Kremblas.

 

Another set of photos by Jae S. Lee from the Tennessean, including this one of Lindsay Gulin:

 

http://cmsimg.tennessean.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?NewTbl=1&Avis=DN&Dato=20080418&Kategori=SPORTS0401&Lopenr=804180804&Ref=PH&Item=1&Maxw=560&Maxh=500

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

Gwynn will join Sounds for rehab stint

By TOM KREAGER

Tennessean Staff Writer

 

Milwaukee Brewers center fielder Tony Gwynn Jr. has been sent to Nashville to start a rehabilitation assignment after straining his left hamstring earlier this season.

 

Gwynn will be in uniform for the Sounds' game tonight at Greer Stadium in the final contest of a four-game series with Omaha.

 

Gwynn has been in Nashville for parts of the past two seasons. He was a Pacific Coast League All-Star in 2006. He hit .300 in 112 games with the Sounds that season.

 

The Brewers put Gwynn on the disabled list on April 4. He was hitting .571 with an RBI in three games.

 

Also coming back to Nashville is outfielder Hernan Iribarren, who was optioned to the Sounds from the Brewers after Milwaukee's game Thursday.

 

Iribarren started the season with the Sounds and was hitting .368 prior to being called up. Iribarren was 2-for-6 in his stint with the Brewers and had a pinch-hit RBI double in the Brewers' 5-3 win at St. Louis on Thursday.

 

Sounds relief pitcher Mitch Stetter has been called up to Milwaukee, taking Iribarren's roster spot. Stetter, a lefty, did not allow an earned run in 6 2/3 innings for Nashville with five strikeouts and one walk.

 

Streak extension: Sounds center fielder Laynce Nix extended his hitting streak to five with a first-inning single.

 

Extra, extra: Sounds third baseman Russell Branyan hit an RBI double in the fourth inning for his ninth extra base hit of the season. The double was his team-best seventh of the season.

 

Lost glove: Sounds left fielder Adam Heether had to be given a new glove during the seventh inning.

 

The reason? It fell over the left-field fence while he jumped for Jason Smith's home run.

 

A couple of Sounds pitchers left the bullpen to retrieve the glove, but Heether finished the inning with the new one.

 

Efficient running: Heether's third-inning stolen base was the Sounds 13th of the season. Sounds runners have been caught just four times this year.

 

Spotted: Vanderbilt baseball Coach Tim Corbin was at Thursday's game.