Link Report for Fri. 4/18 -- Nice Night Throughout

[Mass Haas]

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

[Mass Haas]

Friday's Daily Menu: TGIF!

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 Sam Narron 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 Alex Periard at home vs. Daytona (Cubs), 6:00 PM gametime

 

Audio link, Daytona's broadcast (game will also archive at this link):

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

 

West Virginia: RHP Rob Bryson 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 Friday'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_18_omaaaa_nasaaa_1

 

Huntsville:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_04_18_cngaax_hunaax_1

 

Brevard County:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_04_18_dbcafa_breafa_1

 

West Virginia:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_04_18_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 9 5 .643 - 5-2 4-3 W1 Iowa 6 7 .462 2.5 2-4 4-3 L1 Memphis 6 9 .400 3.5 2-5 4-4 L4 Nashville 3 12 .200 6.5 2-5 1-7 L1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 Southern League (AA) - SOU North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Carolina 10 4 .714 - 4-1 6-3 W1 Huntsville 8 6 .571 2.0 7-2 1-4 L1 Tennessee 8 6 .571 2.0 5-4 3-2 L2 Chattanooga 7 7 .500 3.0 2-3 5-4 W1 West Tenn 7 7 .500 3.0 4-1 3-6 L3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 Florida State League (A+) - FSL East Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brevard County 9 5 .643 - 4-2 5-3 W4 Jupiter 9 5 .643 - 6-0 3-5 L1 Palm Beach 9 5 .643 - 5-3 4-2 L1 Daytona 7 7 .500 2.0 4-4 3-3 W1 Vero Beach 6 8 .429 3.0 4-3 2-5 W1 St. Lucie 2 12 .143 7.0 2-5 0-7 L3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 South Atlantic League (A) - SAL Northern Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lake County 9 5 .643 - 3-2 6-3 W2 Greensboro 9 6 .600 0.5 5-3 4-3 L1 Delmarva 8 6 .571 1.0 5-4 3-2 W2 Hickory 8 7 .533 1.5 3-4 5-3 L3 Hagerstown 6 8 .429 3.0 2-3 4-5 L2 Lakewood 5 9 .357 4.0 3-6 2-3 L2 Lexington 5 10 .333 4.5 1-7 4-3 W3 West Virginia 3 12 .200 6.5 2-6 1-6 L7 

[TheCrew07]

For some reason that I'm unable to put my finger on WV's record really bothers me. Maybe it's that the pitching has lived up to my lofty expectations so far, but 3-12 has me pretty bitter at this time.

[Mass Haas]

Nashville Site:

Tonight's scheduled series finale between the Nashville Sounds and Omaha Royals at Greer Stadium has been postponed due to rain.

 

The game will be made up as part of a 6 p.m. CT doubleheader on Saturday, August 9th during the teams' second series in Music City.

 

The Sounds travel to Albuquerque, New Mexico tomorrow to open an eight-game, nine-day road trip that also includes a stop in Omaha. Right-hander Nic Ungs (1-1, 3.72) will start Saturday evening's 8:05 p.m. CT series opener against Albuquerque. The Isotopes will counter with right-hander Kenny Baugh (0-0, 0.00).

 

Baseball returns to Greer Stadium on Monday, April 28th, when the Sounds open an eight-game homestand that features visits by the Colorado Springs Sky Sox and the Salt Lake Bees.

[Mass Haas]

Final: West Virginia 14, Asheville (Rockies) 3

Power takes out its frustration in a big way...

 

West Virginia Site:

 

POWER SNAP SEVEN GAME SKID

 

West Virginia used a power surge on Friday night at McCormick Field to snap their seven game losing streak, as they set single game highs with 14 runs on 16 hits and defeated the Asheville Tourists 14-3 in the final game of the series.

 

West Virginia jumped ahead with four runs in the first inning to take their first lead of the series. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Caleb Gindl smacked his first of three singles. The ball went into center field and got past Michael Mitchell, allowing three runs to score and Gindl to get to third. Gindl scored later in the inning on Steffan Wilson's groundout. Michael Mitchell's RBI single in the bottom of the first plated Asheville's first run of the game. Zelous Wheeler ripped a two-out RBI single in the top of the second to make it a 5-1 Power lead. Asheville scored their final two runs on Mitchell's double in the bottom of the second.

 

Curt Rindal hit a two-run shot in the top of the fifth inning, his second of the year, to give the Power a 7-3 lead. Brent Brewer ripped an RBI single in the sixth and scored later in the inning on Gindl's second base hit of the game. The Power scored twice in the eighth inning on back-to-back singles from Gindl and Jonathan Lucroy. West Virginia tacked on three more in the ninth. Brewer knocked in the first two on his second double of the game and he scored on Lucroy's double. Brewer reached all six times up (technically five times, the sixth on an error) and scored five times.

 

Amaury Rivas (1-0) was sensational in seven and a third innings of relief. He allowed no runs on four hits and struck out eight to get the victory while Sheng-An Kuo (1-2) was tagged with the loss after allowing five runs on four hits over four innings.

 

The Power improved to 4-12 after the win and the Tourists are 10-6 after the loss. Eight of the starting nine for West Virginia hit safely and six Power players had multi-hit games, including Wheeler and Gindl who paced the Power with three hits apiece.

 

The Power will begin a four game series with the Lexington Legends at Appalachian Power Park on Saturday night. Right hander Roque Mercedes (0-1, 7.71) will get the start for the Power and the Legends will counter with right hander Leandro Cespedes (1-1, 1.29). The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM (6:05 Central).

 

West Virginia Box Score

22-year-old Amaury Rivas one to watch; starter Rob Bryson couldn't get through the 2nd inning; 24 baserunners for the Power, so as you can imagine, lots of offensive crooked numbers in the box score; Zelous Wheeler also reached five times joining Brent Brewer at the top of the order; Caleb Gindl on base four times; even with all the fireworks, those batting averages tell you many of these players have dug themselves deep statistical holes, even after only a couple of weeks...

 

West Virginia Game Log

A feast if you're up to the challenge of digesting it...

[pogokat]

Steve Chapman has 11 walks in 55 ab's this year...a drastic improvement over the 36 he had in 450 ab's last year...if this is a legit change, steve could be a top notch prospect...he's the only outfield prospect besides laporta with real power...

 

Taylor green screams "i'm not a fluke" and mashes in BC...

 

Brent Brewer with the best game of his career...

 

Mat Gamel is playing well in AA

 

Matt Lucroy is leading the offense in WV..

 

i'd love to see Chuckie Caulfield move to AA at some point this year...he's a 4th outfield prospect, but he's a well rounded player...he's probably gonna top out at AA-AAA just based on age and the fact that he doesn't have a standout skill, but i wouldn't mind seeing him pushed to see if he responds...

 

Tonight made me very happy...

 

cold starts seem to b over...hopefully we'll get a winning streak out of WV now...

[gregmag]

Really encouraging to see those games from Cain and Fermaint at Brevard and Brewer and Gindl at WV. Brewer scored five runs . . . anyone know the last time a Brewers farmhand did that?

 

Periard seems to have a lot of games like this -- decent results but lousy peripherals. I seem to recall that people have offered the "pitching to contact" explanation for his lack of Ks, but then he goes out and walks guys. Is this just noise, or could he perhaps be showing real limitations?

 

Man, Rivas just took that game right away from Bryson.

 

Greg.

[Mass Haas]

Final: Brevard County 8, Daytona (Cubs) 3

 

Steer clear of the Cubs' official site -- normally they post a decent recap, but they're attempting to infect PC's this evening...

 

Brevard County Box Score

Alex Periard uncharacteristically walks four in five innings, but he continues to pitch to contact and induce ground balls in five otherwsie efeective innings; lefty Bobby Bramhall stellar in four scoreless innings for the save, striking out seven with no walks --you get the sense the Rice University product is on the fast track; Stephen Chapman with two doubles and two walks -- an OPS of .969 after 15 games; Lorenzo Cain three hits including a double; was everybody kind of in a wait-and-see mode with Taylor Green this offseason -- what a superb start in Florida -- he's filling the box score every single night -- major mancrush alert, a reminder the kid will only be 21 years old all season, too...

 

Brevard County Game Log

Cub starter knocked out in the first inning...

[Mass Haas]

Attendance in Huntsville: 4,812, not quite 5,000, so apparently no haircut for Buck Rogers.

Final, 7.5 innings, rain: Huntsville 3, Chattanooga (Reds) 2

Huntsville Press Release:

NARRON STRONG IN SECOND HOME START

 

Sam Narron tossed six solid innings and made early offense stand up, as Huntsville downed Chattanooga in a rain-shortened seven and a half inning contest in the last of a five-game set Friday night at Joe Davis Stadium.

The Stars took three out of five to improve to 9-6 on the season and stay two games behind front-running Carolina in the North Division, while the Lookouts dropped to 7-8. The rain started falling in the fifth inning and was pretty steady throughout the next couple of innings before picking up in intensity and forcing the teams off the field prior to the home half of the eighth.

 

Alcides Escobar tripled with one out in the home first and scored when Mat Gamel followed with a single to stake the Stars to the early 1-0 lead. Escobar drew a leadoff walk in the third and came into score when Gamel doubled to push the lead to 2-0. Freddy Parejo's triple with two out in the third scored Ryan Crew, who had walked, to give Huntsville a 3-0 edge. Parejo finished with two hits in four trips and has collected 16 hits in 31 at-bats to start the season.

 

Narron blanked the Lookouts on two singles through five innings before Cody Strait led off the sixth with a home run, his second of the series and season, to get the visitors on the board. One out later Luis Bolivar, who won Thursday's game with a ninth inning long ball, launched another to cut the Stars' lead to 3-2. Chattanooga wound up hitting two home runs in each of the last four games and nine total in the series. The Lookouts also hit two home runs in an inning three different times over the last four games.

 

Narron earned the win after allowing the two runs on five hits over six frames. He struck out two and walked two and was followed by Patrick Ryan, who tossed two scoreless frames to close out the game and earn his second save. He walked one and fanned two.

 

The Stars begin a five-game series Saturday night against Mississippi with left-hander Steve Hammond taking the hill against Braves' southpaw Dan Smith 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.

 

Huntsville Box Score

Reliever Patrick Ryan, simply consistently wonderful always, now entering his 4th year in the organization; that said, fine start for Sam Narron, too; so who is Freddy Parejo? He is a 23-year-old Venezuelan right-handed bat who began his pro career in 2003 in the Brewers Dominican Academy at the time -- except for a blistering 33-game stint at Helena in 2005, he's never seen a stretch like this, heck last year in his second year-long stint as a Brevard backup, he posted an OPS of .597 in 201 AB's -- Don Money riding the very hot hand...

 

Huntsville Game Log

If you've been reading these logs, you've been seeing Mat Gamel handle more and more chances at third with greater consistency as of late...

[Mass Haas]

Huntsville Pre-Game Audio Chat with Minor League Hitting Coordinator Mike Lum

Go to the WUMP archive of April 18th, at the 19:00 minute mark; interesting comments about how much Mat Gamel has matured recently, at the plate and especially as a young man...

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

Quick start by Narron a good omen for Stars

By BILL BRYANT

Huntsville Times Sports Staff, bill.bryant@htimes.com

 

There were three sure signs Friday night that the Huntsville Stars were going to rebound from Thursday's ripped-straight-from-the-win-column loss to Chattanooga.

 

Sam Narron got out of the first inning unscathed, Alcides Escobar got on base and Mat Gamel hit the ball with authority.

 

Added together, the Stars (9-6) came out with a 3-2 victory in a game that started in front of an announced Little League Night crowd of 4,812 but ended in front of a sparse few about three hours later. Rain interrupted play for good in the bottom of the eighth inning at Joe Davis Stadium.

 

Narron, who has a history of struggling in the opening inning, needed only 11 pitches to get the Lookouts (7-8) in order to start Friday's game. He cruised through the first five innings, giving up just two hits and enticing 10 ground-ball outs.

 

"When I keep the ball down it means I've got my good stuff," said Narron, who improved to 2-1 for the season. "We have such a good defense, it'd be criminal not to use them."

 

The flashy Escobar, whose error at shortstop in the ninth inning Thursday played a part in Chattanooga's rally, quickly made amends against Lookouts starter Ben Jukich. His triple in the bottom of the first set up Gamel's first RBI, which came on a single up the middle.

 

Escobar, who entered the game with an on-base percentage of just .228, also walked in the third. Gamel's double to right sent him scurrying home, giving the Stars a 2-0 lead.

 

"It was good for (Escobar)," Huntsville manager Don Money said. "He had a rough game (Thursday)."

 

Gamel had been going through a rough stretch of his own in recent games before busting out of an 0-for-16 slide with a homer Tuesday night. His two hits Friday, plus some sterling defense - he handled five chances with no problem and made a Brooks Robinson-like stab of an Eric Eymann liner in the sixth - gave the Stars an added boost.

 

"If Escy doesn't get on, it doesn't really matter what I do," Gamel said. "I'm just glad to get the two runs in."

 

A third run, courtesy of a red-hot Freddy Parejo, proved to be the game-winner. Ryan Crew walked with one out in the fourth and scored when Parejo - batting .516 on the season - blooped a triple down the right-field line.

 

Narron needed the extra support because Chattanooga's Cody Strait and Luis Bolivar drilled solo homers in the top of the sixth to make it 3-2.

 

But Narron regrouped long enough to get out of the inning. Patrick Ryan came on to shut down the Lookouts in the last two innings to earn his second save. "Sam did a good job tonight," Money said. "He gave up a couple of homers when he left the ball up, but for most part he hit his spots. When you do that, we call it 'executing.' "

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

Power uprising offers hope of breakout

By Mike Whiteford

Charleston Gazette Staff writer

 

Baseball's high degree of unpredictability and its everyday schedule offer the constant hope of better things to come.

 

It's a hope that applies to the West Virginia Power, whose 14-3 rout of the Asheville Tourists Friday night in Asheville offered evidence that a competitive, entertaining season is still a possibility.

 

"That's the beauty of this game,'' said Power manager Jeff Isom. "You can go one week like this, and the next week you can catch fire.''

 

The Power, which opens a two-game home stand tonight at Appalachian Power Park, entered Friday's game on a seven-game losing streak and, what was even more alarming for a team that was expected to hit, its team batting average stood at .194, last in the South Atlantic League.

 

The victory at Asheville improved the Power record to a league-worst 4-12.

 

During the seven-game losing streak, the Power accumulated just 12 runs, or 1.7 a game, and 35 hits, or five a game. Against the Tourists on Friday, however, the Power pounded out 16 hits, including six for extra bases, and raised its season average to .210.

 

The big offensive night, though not necessarily bringing the slump to an end, may at least help the Power hitters relax.

 

"We're struggling to score runs. That's no secret,'' Isom said before Friday's game. "Right now, we're pressing at the plate a little too much. I'd like to see us relax. These guys swing the bat well when they're not pressing.''

 

In recent games, Isom saw what baseball people call good at-bats: a line drive to left-center caught on a diving play, a wicked smash that finds the third baseman's glove, a long drive that's run down on the warning track.

 

A few hits here and there, in addition to Friday's victory over the Tourists, said Isom, could turn things around.

 

"We lined out a handful of times [Thursday night],'' he said. "Asheville made some real good plays. And that's going to happen when you're going through something like this. And if you get a few balls that fall, all of a sudden you score some runs, and it relaxes the guys a little bit.''

 

Of the Power's 25-man roster, 19 played last year at Helena, which finished 48-28 and reached the short-season Class A Pioneer League playoffs. They're not accustomed to the problems they're facing this year.

 

"They've had success in the past. They're not used to failure,'' said Isom, who managed at Helena last year. "John Curtis, our pitching coach, has mentioned that guys will sometimes fail in this league for the first time in their lives. It's just a matter of how they respond to it. Guys are not having the success they've had in the past, and you're either going to quit and not get your work in or you're going to say, 'Enough's enough. I'm going to work my way through this and work even harder.'''

 

POWER POINTS: The Power will face Lexington Saturday night and Sunday afternoon at home and, after an off-day on Monday, play at Lexington Tuesday and Wednesday. The team will play a four-game home stand against Delmarva Thursday through Sunday, April 27. ... Catcher Jonathan Lucroy is the Power's leading hitter at .306. Second baseman Zelous Wheeler is second at .244. John Alonso leads the team with seven RBIs but is hitting .196. ... The Power's seven-game slide began after it beat Augusta 10-3 on April 10 at Appalachian Power Park.