Link Report for Games of Tuesday, April 22nd

[Mass Haas]

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

[Mass Haas]

Tuesday's Daily Menu: Perhaps fortunately for Nashville, most folks will miss their portion of the menu while following the big league boys...

All times Central; pitchers subject to change --

 

Nashville: RHP Mark DiFelice at Albuquerque (Marlins), 12:45 PM pre-game; 1:05 gametime

 

Audio link:

www.nashvillesounds.com/listenlive/

 

Huntsville: LHP Brae Wright at 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 Jones at Vero Beach (Devil Rays), 6:00 PM gametime

 

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

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

 

West Virginia: LHP Zach Braddock at Lexington (Astros), 5:50 PM pre-game, 6:05 gametime

 

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

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

[Mass Haas]

Zach Braddock has been activated from the West Virginia disabled list and is the starting pitcher for the Power Tuesday night in Lexington.

The game is available not only to listen to (free) but watch (small fee) for those diehard Power or prospect fans.

Now I have the MLB.TV Premium package, and it seems I can pull up an archive from MiLB.TV such as from April 20th without a prompt for a fee, just the log-in ID. So some folks may be able to tune in tonight via that route.

[Mass Haas]

Nashville's Media Notes includes this info:

 

Right-hander Mark DiFelice, who has yet to appear this season while recovering from off-season microfracture surgery on his right knee, has been activated from the disabled list and will make his season debut this afternoon. The 31-year-old hurler went 4-2 with a 3.10 ERA in 10 starts for the Sounds last season after a July promotion from Double-A Huntsville, where he was a mid-season Southern League All-Star. DiFelice is expected to throw approximately 75 pitches today and will be backed up by right-hander Richie Gardner.

[Mass Haas]

Follow Tuesday'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_22_nasaaa_albaaa_1

 

Huntsville:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_04_22_hunaax_msbaax_1

 

Brevard County:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_04_22_breafa_vbdafa_1

 

West Virginia:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_04_22_wvaafx_lexafx_1

[Mass Haas]

 Pacific Coast League (AAA) - PCL American North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Omaha 10 7 .588 - 6-4 4-3 L1 Memphis 8 11 .421 3.0 2-6 6-5 L1 Iowa 7 10 .412 3.0 2-7 5-3 L3 Nashville 3 15 .167 7.5 2-5 1-10 L4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 Southern League (AA) - SOU North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Carolina 13 5 .722 - 6-2 7-3 L1 Huntsville 11 7 .611 2.0 8-2 3-5 L1 West Tenn 10 8 .556 3.0 6-2 4-6 L1 Chattanooga 9 9 .500 4.0 4-4 5-5 W1 Tennessee 9 9 .500 4.0 5-5 4-4 W1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 Florida State League (A+) - FSL East Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Palm Beach 12 6 .667 - 7-3 5-3 W3 Brevard County 11 7 .611 1.0 5-3 6-4 W1 Daytona 10 8 .556 2.0 6-4 4-4 W3 Jupiter 10 8 .556 2.0 7-1 3-7 L3 Vero Beach 9 9 .500 3.0 6-4 3-5 L1 St. Lucie 2 16 .111 10.0 2-6 0-10 L7 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 South Atlantic League (A) - SAL Northern Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Greensboro 12 6 .667 - 5-3 7-3 W3 Lake County 11 6 .647 0.5 5-3 6-3 L1 Delmarva 9 8 .529 2.5 5-4 4-4 W1 Hickory 9 10 .474 3.5 4-4 5-6 L3 Hagerstown 8 10 .444 4.0 3-3 5-7 W2 Lakewood 7 11 .389 5.0 5-7 2-4 L2 Lexington 6 12 .333 6.0 1-7 5-5 L1 West Virginia 5 13 .278 7.0 3-7 2-6 W1 

[Mass Haas]

Thank you Gabe, Gabe, and Seth!

 

Final: Nashville 13, Albuquerque (Marlins) 3

Nashville Site Game Summary:

Link for Mark DiFelice photo, text follows --

 

DiFelice, Sounds Dominate Isotopes In 13-3 Win

ALBUQUERQUE - Right-hander Mark DiFelice turned in an outstanding outing in his 2008 debut and four Nashville home runs lifted the Sounds to a 13-3 victory over the Albuquerque Isotopes on Tuesday afternoon at Isotopes Park in the finale of a four-game series.

 

With its largest win of the season, Nashville (4-15) snapped a four-game skid and avoided a series sweep.

 

DiFelice (1-0) made his first start of the season after missing the first three weeks while recovering from off-season knee surgery. He got off to a solid start, facing the minimum 15 batters through the first five innings, including eight strikeouts. The lone batter to record a hit over that span, Paul Hoover, was caught stealing by catcher Vinny Rottino.

 

He departed after six innings due to a planned pitch count, allowing one run on three hits and fanning 11 batters over six innings of work while throwing 78 pitches, 59 for strikes.

 

Seven Sounds batters produced a multiple-hit effort on the afternoon, led by three-hit days from Hernan Iribarren and Tony Gwynn. Gwynn went 3-for-4 with one run scored in his fourth rehab contest for the Sounds and batted .538 (7-for-13) in the series.

 

The 13 runs were the most scored by the Sounds since they plated 14 last May 1 at Iowa.

 

Nashville grabbed an early lead for the fourth time in the series when Rottino belted a two-out, three-run homer off Isotopes starter Gaby Hernandez. The blast, which scored Gwynn (single) and Joe Dillon (double), was the backstop's third of the season.

 

AUDIO: Rottino Three-Run HR

 

The Sounds extended the lead to 5-0 in the third on another longball, a two-run Dillon shot to deep left. It was the veteran's first homer of the year in his second game with Nashville. Iribarren, who opened the frame with a single, also scored on the longball.

 

Right fielder Brendan Katin upped the advantage to 6-0 in the fourth when he belted his first career Triple-A home run off the scoreboard in left-center field.

 

The Sounds chased Hernandez from the contest later in the frame after Adam Heether followed Katin's homer with a double and Iribarren and Gwynn rapped back-to-back two-out singles, the second of which extended the lead to seven.

 

Hernandez (1-3) took the loss after being touched for seven runs on nine hits over just 3 2/3 innings of action.

 

Rottino turned in one of the Sounds' finest plate appearances of the season in the top of the fifth, turning a 13-pitch at-bat into a single against Albuquerque reliever Marcos Carjaval after fouling off seven two-strike offerings.

 

The Isotopes finally broke through against DiFelice in the bottom of the sixth. Hoover led off with a single and former Sound Chris Barnwell followed with an RBI double off the hill in deep center field to plate the first Albuquerque run and make it a 7-1 contest.

 

Albuquerque added a second run in the seventh in the first inning of work by Sounds reliever Richie Gardner. With one out, Dallas McPherson singled and stole second. Pinch-hitter John Gall, who took over mid at-bat due to an undetermined injury to Tagg Bozied, followed with an RBI single to center to reduce the Nashville lead to 7-2.

 

The Sounds got those two runs right back in the next half-inning as shortstop Ozzie Chavez drilled a two-run homer to right off Scott Nestor, his first roundtripper of the year.

 

Nashville put the game on ice with four runs in the top of the ninth against Isotopes reliever Chris Mobley to bring the score to its final 13-2 tally. Katin tripled and scored on a Chris Mobley wild pitch. J.R. Hopf added an RBI single and Iribarren produced a run-scoring triple before Gardner helped his own cause with an RBI single.

 

Albuquerque tacked on the game's final run in the bottom of the ninth on a Gall RBI single.

 

Gardner earned a three-inning save for the Sounds, the club's first of the year. He allowed two runs on four hits while fanning four batters in his 52-pitch outing.

 

After joining the entire Pacific Coast League for an off day on Wednesday, the Sounds continue their road trip on Thursday evening in Omaha, where they'll take on the division-rival Royals in the 6:35 p.m. CT opener of a four-game series.

 

Right-hander Nic Ungs (1-2, 10.32) will attempt to rebound from a shaky outing in Albuquerque when he mans the bump for the Sounds to face Omaha left-hander Tyler Lumsden (1-1, 6.39), who defeated Nashville last week at Greer Stadium.

 

Nashville Box Score

Tony Gwynn sure is ready to return; look at Mark DiFelice's line again in his debut -- amazing. DiFelice, you'll remember, could have signed anywhere this offseason, the Brewers enticed him to stay with a non-roster spring training invite that DiFelice couldn't really appreciate because of his knee surgery rehab. But this guy was spectacular in '07, and don't be surprised if we see him in Milwaukee first among the current Nashville starters. He'll consistently work deep into games as well...

 

Nashville Game Log

Enjoy...

[Mass Haas]

Nashville Pre-Game Chat with Albuquerque Infielder & Former Sound Chris Barnwell

Good situation for Chris, good luck...

[wvpowerblkwel]

Braddock goes 2 innings, 44 pitches, 0 runs, 0 hits, 2 BB and 3 K's.....Not a bad first go at it!

[Mass Haas]

Yowza, Brent Brewer has a three-run triple and a two-run double tonight -- we're only in the 4th inning, 5-0 Power.

[Mass Haas]

DiFelice dominates in first rehab start

Brewers right-hander fans 11 in Nashville's shellacking of Albuquerque

By Tom Cardinale / Special to MLB.com

 

Nashville's Mark DiFelice made his return to the mound for the Sounds on Tuesday. The Albuquerque Isotopes probably wish he would've taken an extra day off.

DiFelice surrendered a run on three hits and struck out 11 over six innings to pick up the win as the visiting Sounds routed the Isotopes, 13-3, in his first start since surgery on his right knee in December.

"Just wanted to basically keep the ball in the yard," the 31-year-old righty said of his goal for the game. "My knee's been feeling great. The Brewers have been great about giving me time to get ready. Just wanted to make pitches and give my team an opportunity to win."

DiFelice went above and beyond that, holding the Isotopes scoreless into the sixth inning before giving up back-to-back hits to Albuquerque's Paul Hoover and Chris Barnwell to end the shutout. He settled down though and struck out the next three batters to end the inning and his afternoon.

"I went out there expecting to pitch well, but 11 strikeouts is a lot for me," DiFelice said. "It was a good day, kept the hitters off balance throwing my cutter and fastball. I had hoped it would be a good outing, but I didn't expect it to be this good."

DiFelice, a 15th-round pick by the Colorado Rockies in 1998, had surgery on his right knee in December and was on crutches for six weeks. He reported early to Spring Training, though, and within a month and a half, he was running and began throwing soon after.

"I was three or four weeks behind everyone throwing-wise," he said.

DiFelice was coming off a successful season in 2007 in which he finished 10-3 with a 2.31 ERA in 36 appearances, including 13 starts, between Double-A Huntsville and Nashville. He struck out 123 in 124 2/3 innings.

Vinny Rottino, Joe Dillon, Brendan Katin and Ozzie Chavez all homered in support of DiFelice. Rottino knocked in a game-high three runs. Richie Gardner allowed two runs on four hits and struck out four in three innings of relief to notch his first save.

Gaby Hernandez (1-3) took the loss for Albuquerque, surrendering seven runs on nine hits over 3 2/3 innings.

 

Mark DiFelice allowed one run on three hits over six innings to pave the way for the Sounds. (2007 Photo by Tom Priddy/MLB.com)

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/images/2008/04/22/muPmaotF.jpg

[twobrewers]

Wow.
Well done DiFelice.

[Mass Haas]

Final: Vero Beach (Rays) 2, Brevard County 1

Brevard County Box Score

All four of Mike Jones' starts have gone exactly two innings -- this was his best effort; Stephen Chapman homered and doubled, accounting for half the 'Tees' hits;

 

Brevard County Game Log

Kenny Holmberg grounded out with runners on 2nd and 3rd in the 6th, Brevard's best and last chance as bats fizzled late...

[pogokat]

Chapman still flashing that power in BC, even with the 10 walks, Chappy has still k'ed 22 times...in 77 ab's, Chapman's 3TO percentage .467

 

for comparison, Branley's is .283...speaking of, Michale's ridiculous start continues...added a 2b tonight to puch that slugging percentage up a notch...just a strange prospect...but, if he can muster 5 long balls this year he'll be Daric Barton, except with a ton more versatility...as mentioned a zillion times before, it's just hard to see that walk rate continue with no power...at some point, they'll just stop throwing him balls...then again, if he hits .375, it won't really matter...at the moment he's more like Jason Tyner than anything else...

 

The weird thing, for those of you that have never seen Mike, is that he looks like a slugger... he's not a small guy at all...he's very well built at 6-2...but no power...this is why baseball america sttill thinks he's a 4th outfielder with pinch hitting skills...but man, so young...2 and a half years younger than Laporta...it's easy to lose sight of that..

[twobrewers]

Brantley has been my favorite to follow so far this year.

I am just hoping the "power stroke" hasn't developed yet.

[Mass Haas]

Final: West Virginia 8, Lexington (Astros) 2

 

West Virginia Site Game Summary:

BREWER DRIVES IN FIVE, POWER WIN

 

Brent Brewer knocked in five of West Virginia's eight runs on Tuesday night at Applebee's Park as the West Virginia Power took advantage of five Lexington errors to defeat the Legends 8-2.

 

Brewer snapped a scoreless tie in the top of the second on a clutch two-out, three-run triple. He struck again two innings later with a two-run double and scored later in the fourth on Jonathan Lucroy's sacrifice fly.

 

The Legends scored their only two runs in the bottom of the fourth. Jonathan Fixler drove in the first run on a double and scored later in the inning on Nick Moresi's base-hit.

 

The Power added two more runs. In the seventh Curt Rindal scored on Ronald Ramirez's throwing error and in the eighth Zelous Wheeler walked with the bases loaded to bring in another insurance run.

 

Zach Braddock began the game for West Virginia, making his first start since June 15th of last year. Braddock threw 44 pitches in two scoreless innings and didn't allow a hit while walking two and striking out three.

 

Nick Tyson (1-1) tossed five strong innings of relief. He gave up a pair of runs on seven hits and struck out two to get the victory. Sergio Severino (1-1) left the game after throwing 75 pitches in three innings and allowed three runs on three hits to get tagged for the loss.

 

The Power improved to 6-13 with the win and the Legends fell to 6-13 with the loss. Eight of the starting nine for West Virginia reached base more than once and all nine reached at least once. The Power are 3-1 over their last four games and they've outscored their opponents 39-17 during that stretch.

 

The Power will finish their four game series with Lexington Wednesday night. Right hander R.J. Seidel (0-1, 5.56) will get the start for the Power and the Legends will counter with right hander Colt Adams (1-1, 4.05). The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM (6:05 Central).

 

West Virginia Box Score

Looks like the box score is only going to officially credit Brent Brewer with four RBI -- fifth scored on a throwing error; Scott Houin was 0-for-5 but did steal his 6th base in as many attempts; backup infielder David Fonseca picked up his first two base hits of the season; Legends committed six errors...

 

West Virginia Game Log

[Mass Haas]

Final: Mississippi (Braves) 7, Huntsville 6

Stars score once in the 9th, but fall just short...

 

Huntsville Box Score

Brae Wright wasn't sharp in front of "his home fans" in Mississippi, but the bullpen did their job to give the offense a chance; Michael Brantley, as noted above, just an OBP machine, on four times; Mat Gamel reached three times...

 

Huntsville Game Log

We'll wait for the always detailed Huntsville Site game summary from Brett Pollock, should be available in a bit...

[Mass Haas]

Huntsville Press Release:

BRAVES TAKE ADVANTAGE OF FIELDING MISCUES IN WIN

 

Ryan Basner tossed three and a third scoreless innings of relief and Mississippi took advantage of some shoddy fielding to defeat Huntsville 7-6 Tuesday night in the fourth of a five-game set at Trustmark Park. The Stars dropped to 11-8 on the season and fell to three games behind front-running Carolina in the North Division, while the Braves won a second straight game for a second time to improve to 4-15. The Stars have suffered a third two-game losing streak on the road and dropped to 3-6 away from home.

 

Michael Brantley walked to open the ninth inning, stole second base and scored on a two-out single by Matt LaPorta to cut the Braves' lead to 7-6. Sung Ki Jung then struck out Chris Errecart to end the game and earn his second save. Former Star Jerome Gamble threw a shutout eighth inning and has now gone 11 2/3 scoreless frames in his first seven outings.

 

Brantley, Alcides Escobar and Gamel all produced run-scoring singles against Nelson Payano in the midst of a four-run rally with two outs in the fourth to give the Stars a 5-4 lead. However, an error by Escobar on a Matt Young grounder to begin the bottom half of the inning opened the door to the eventual game-winning three-run rally. Jason Perry walked with one out and both runners were on the go when Kala Ka'aihue followed with a double down the left field line to deliver them to put the Braves back on top 6-5. That hit knocked starter Brae Wright out of the game and he suffered his second loss after giving up seven runs, four earned, on seven hits. The Mississippi native walked three and struck out two pitching in front of family and friends, having grown up in both Jackson and Southaven, Mississippi. Ka'aihue scored on a Diory Hernandez sacrifice fly to make it 7-5, despite the protestations of the Stars, who thought he left early from third base.

 

Carlos Sencion made a spot start for the Braves in place of the injured Jairo Cuevas and was able to strand Brantley at third base with one out in the first inning and keep the Stars off the board in the second inning after they had placed runners at second and third with nobody out. Meanwhile, the home side scored twice in the first against Wright on a Perry sacrifice fly and a two-out, run-scoring hit by Hernandez.

 

LaPorta's sacrifice fly in the third got the Stars on the board but the Braves responded in the bottom of the inning, scoring on a Mark Jurich sacrifice fly and a base hit by Jose Camarena to push their advantage to 4-1. A throwing error by Errecart on a potential double play ball allowed Ka'aihue to remain on the bases and score the first run of the frame.

 

Sencion was taken out with two runners on base and two out in the fourth and relieved by Payano, who gave up the three straight hits and also balked in a run. Basner retired LaPorta to end the inning and set the Stars down in turn in the next two innings before retiring Cole Gillespie with two runners on to end the seventh. Basner gave up one hit, walked one and fanned a pair in his first appearance with the Braves this

season.

 

The series wraps up Wednesday morning with left-hander Sam Narron taking the hill for Huntsville against Braves' right-hander Dustin Evans. Coverage of the game begins at 10:45 am central time and can be heard locally on SportsRadio 730 WUMP and through the internet at www.huntsvillestars.com and www.730ump.com.

[Mass Haas]

Kentucky.com on the Power game -- one quote from Brent Brewer

 

Albuquerque Press Coverage -- Mark DiFelice never above 84 MPH, discusses his approach

[Mass Haas]

You'll have Huntsville audio in the office late Wednesday morning -- new Link Report will be out an hour or two before game time.