Link Report for Sun. 5/4 - DiFelice Shines Again, Leaves with Oblique Strain

[Mass Haas]

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

[Mass Haas]

Sunday's Daily Menu:

All times Central; pitchers subject to change --

 

Nashville: RHP Mark DiFelice at home vs. Salt Lake (Angels), 1:45 PM pre-game; 2:00 gametime

 

Audio link:

www.nashvillesounds.com/listenlive/

 

Huntsville: LHP Sam Narron at Montgomery (Rays), 1:50 PM pre-game; 2:05 gametime

 

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

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

 

Brevard County: TBD (probably RHP Alex Periard) at Clearwater (Phillies), 12:00 PM gametime

 

Sorry, no audio for this series...

 

West Virginia: RHP R.J. Seidel at Delmarva (Orioles), 12:50 PM pre-game, 1:05 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]

Follow Sunday'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_05_04_slcaaa_nasaaa_1

Huntsville:

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_05_04_hunaax_monaax_1

Brevard County:

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_05_04_breafa_clrafa_1

West Virginia:

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_05_04_wvaafx_delafx_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 15 12 .556 - 9-5 6-7 W1 Iowa 13 15 .464 2.5 6-8 7-7 W2 Memphis 12 17 .414 4.0 4-9 8-8 W1 Nashville 9 19 .321 6.5 6-7 3-12 W2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 Southern League (AA) - SOU North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- West Tenn 20 10 .667 - 8-2 12-8 W4 Huntsville 19 10 .655 0.5 13-2 6-8 L2 Carolina 17 13 .567 3.0 9-6 8-7 L4 Chattanooga 16 13 .552 3.5 10-5 6-8 L3 Tennessee 11 18 .379 8.5 6-9 5-9 L2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 Florida State League (A+) - FSL East Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Palm Beach 19 10 .655 - 12-3 7-7 W1 Brevard County 16 13 .552 3.0 9-5 7-8 L3 Jupiter 16 13 .552 3.0 11-3 5-10 L1 Daytona 14 15 .483 5.0 6-8 8-7 L6 Vero Beach 14 15 .483 5.0 10-5 4-10 W3 St. Lucie 7 22 .241 12.0 4-11 3-11 L1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 South Atlantic League (A) - SAL Northern Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lake County 16 10 .615 - 6-5 10-5 L2 Delmarva 16 13 .552 1.5 10-7 6-6 W2 Hagerstown 15 14 .517 2.5 6-7 9-7 W2 Hickory 15 15 .500 3.0 6-6 9-9 L2 Greensboro 14 14 .500 3.0 5-9 9-5 L1 Lakewood 13 16 .448 4.5 7-10 6-6 L3 West Virginia 11 18 .379 6.5 5-9 6-9 L2 Lexington 10 19 .345 7.5 3-11 7-8 W1 

[Mass Haas]

From Adam McCalvy of MLB.com:

 

General Manager Doug Melvin had been with the Brewers on their road trip, but left Saturday morning for Clearwater, Fla., to check in with the Brevard County Manatees, Milwaukee's Class A affiliate in the Florida State League. He will rejoin the Brewers later in the week in Miami.

 

This is when any media coverage of the Brevard squad would come in handy. The Manatees are in Clearwater, another dry outpost for newspaper and audio coverage, right through Tuesday night, so don't expect any tidbits from Doug this week.

[BoKnowsBall]

Branyon wants to be that left handed power bat off the bench

[uwisfan]

5 ribbies already for Gamel thru 6

[battlekow]

Guilder Rodriguez is 0-0 with 3 runs scored.

[Mass Haas]

Mark DiFelice walked zero and struck out nine in five innings today, allowing one run on a home run.

 

64 of his 82 pitches were for strikes.

 

His Brewer organization career -- 148 K's, 15 walks in 141.2 IP.

 

Not a misprint.

[Mass Haas]

Huntsville Pre-Game Audio Interview with LHP Derek Miller

Make sure you're pointing to the WUMP audio archive of May 4th, then go to the 04:30 minute mark...

[Mass Haas]

Final: Huntsville 11, Montgomery (Rays) 3

 

Huntsville Site game Summary:

High-Powered Offense Back on Track in Sunday Win

By Brett Pollock / Huntsville Stars

Mat Gamel knocked in five runs and Sam Narron overcame a bumpy start to pitch Huntsville past Montgomery 11-3 Sunday afternoon in a series-clinching victory at Riverwalk Stadium. The Stars took three out of five from their post-season nemesis to improve to 20-10 on the season and move into a first place tie with West Tenn in the North Division, while the Biscuits dropped to 11-19 overall and 4-11 at home. The Stars have won five of their first six series of the season and each of the last two on the road.

 

The Stars, the highest scoring team in the league, who had been blanked last night until there were two outs in the ninth, wasted no time jumping on starter Mike Wlodarczyk for four runs in the top half of the first. Michael Brantley led off with a single and advanced to third base on a Guilder Rodriguez sacrifice bunt and Wlodarczyk throwing error that also allowed Rodriguez to reach. Gamel then singled to center field to drive in both runners before moving to second on the throw home, to third on a Matt LaPorta single and scoring on a Cole Gillespie sacrifice fly. LaPorta then scored on a two-out single by Carlos Coporan, who broke a 17 at-bat hitless drought and drove in his first run since April 11, to finish the rally.

 

However, the Biscuits responded with three of their own in the home half of the inning against Narron. Former Brewer farmhand Johnny Raburn singled and scored on a triple by Ronnie Merrill, who then came home on a John Jaso base hit. Chris Nowak reached on a fielding error by Ryan Crew and Gabriel Martinez walked to load the bases before Narron struck out Erold Andrus for the first out. Sergio Pedroza hit a fly ball to right field that was caught up against the wall by LaPorta to score Jaso to make it 4-3. Narron then retired Pat Cottrell to end the inning and set down the next 10 batters before Raburn and Merrill singled with one out in the fifth. The left-hander worked out of further trouble by striking out Jaso and getting Nowak to pop up.

 

The Stars added a run in the third inning on Mike Bell's two-out, run-scoring double that made it 5-3 and then tacked on three more in the fourth when Gamel delivered a bases loaded, bases clearing double that knocked Wlodarczyk out of the game. The Biscuits southpaw suffered the loss to fall to 0-4 after yielding eight runs, five earned, on 10 hits and a pair of walks. Cole Gillespie doubled in two runs in the sixth for the Stars, who have now reached double figures in runs scored seven times.

 

Narron went six innings, giving up two earned runs on six hits to become the first five game winner in the league. He matched a season-high with five strikeouts, walked one in his fourth straight win. Narron did not earn his fifth victory last season until July 15. Patrick Ryan and Joe Bateman combined to toss three scoreless innings in relief.

 

The Stars return home Monday to open a five-game series against Mobile with southpaw Steve Hammond taking the mound against BayBears' right-hander Brooks Brown. 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

Day off for Alcides Escobar and Chris Errecart; Mat gamel with a 1.066 OPS in 120 AB's, as the sample sizes begin to grow; Matt LaPorta on base four times (three singles and a walk); RHP Patrick Ryan has now allowed four hits in 15 scoreless innings this season -- interestingly, LH batters are 0-for-22 against Ryan with five walks...

 

Huntsville Game Log

Lots to enjoy...

[Mass Haas]

Final: Brevard County 4, Clearwater (Phillies) 1

Brevard County Box Score

Alex Periard back to what he does best -- pitching to contact, inducing ground balls (11 in 5 1/3 IP), and showing good control (one walk); Donovan Hand, coming in for one batter on his "throw day", strands two of Periard's runners in the 6th; Omar Aguilar, statistically one of the most dominant closers in all of minor league baseball thus far, with a walk, double play grounder, and a comebacker for his 10th save; Stephen Chapman with an outfield assist today, as he gets to roam left field while Kenny Holmberg dons a first baseman's mitt for a day; Darren Ford (0-for-5) all the way down to a .611 OPS; Lorenzo Cain with his first home run (115 AB's), an opposite field shot; Taylor Green (.420 OBP) on base three more times...

 

Brevard County Game Log

Proper respect has to go to the Player of the Game, catcher Martin Maldonado, with two clutch RBI base hits, one a double, both coming with two men out...

[Mass Haas]

Final: Delmarva (Orioles) 4, West Virginia 2

West Virginia Site Game Summary:

 

POWER LOSE THIRD IN A ROW

 

The Delmarva Shorebirds held the Power to a pair of runs on just four hits during Sunday's game at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium as the Shorebirds earned their third straight victory 4-2 and handed West Virginia their third straight loss.

 

Joe Nowicki scored the first run of the game with two outs in the bottom of the second. Pedro Silveren hit a ground ball down the first base line and a diving stop was made by Curt Rindal. Rindal flipped the ball to R.J. Seidel but Seidel couldn't handle the flip, allowing Nowicki to score. In the bottom of the third Tyler Henson smacked a one-out triple and scored on Joe Mahoney's sacrifice fly.

 

The Shorebirds took a 3-0 lead in the fourth when Silveren singled in Nowicki. West Virginia got on the board in the top of the fifth inning on Steffan Wilson's solo home run. It was his second hit of the game and his fourth homer of the season. The Power cut the deficit to one in the top of the seventh. With runners at the corners and one out, Brent Brewer hit a ground ball to Delmarva shortstop Ryan Adams who tagged second for the force out but then threw the ball into the Power dugout which allowed Uly Snijders to score. Delmarva scored their final run in the eighth on Adams's RBI triple.

 

Luis Noel (2-0) surrendered just a run on three hits over five innings and struck out six to get the victory. Seidel (1-3) took the loss after allowing three runs on five hits over four innings. Brian Parker worked a scoreless ninth inning to get his first save of the season.

 

The Power fell to 11-19 with the loss and the Shorebirds improved to 17-13 with the win. Snijders and Wilson both had multi-hit games for the Power and they were the only Power players that hit safely. Snijders went 2-for-4 with a pair of singles and Wilson went 2-for-4 as well with a base hit and a homer.

 

The Power will continue the four game series with Delmarva Monday night. Right-hander Amaury Rivas (2-1, 3.33) will get the start for the Power and the Shorebirds will counter with left hander Tony Butler (1-1, 3.41). The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM (6:05 Central).

 

West Virginia Box Score

Second consecutive 0-for-10 combo effort for Lee Haydel and Brent Brewer at the top of the order; an overlooked aspect of young pitchers -- R.J. Seidel has committed four errors during his 24.1 IP thus far; Mike Ramlow was fine during the middle innings (one earned run); Seidel didn't strike anyone out, but 11 of his 12 outs came on the ground, and he got a big first-inning DP with a man on third base..

 

West Virginia Game Log

Utility infielder David Fonseca left the game after flying out in the 5th -- odd time for a departure, unless he tweaked something on the play...

[Mass Haas]

Nashville Pre-Game Audio Coaches Chat with Manager Frank Kremblas

Discussion includes why Mark DiFelice has been able to be so effective...

[Mass Haas]

Final: Nashville 5, Salt Lake (Angels) 1

 

Nashville Site Game Summary:

Link for Mark DiFelice photo, text follows --

 

Sounds Take Third Straight From Salt Lake, 5-1

NASHVILLE - Sounds starter Mark DiFelice shut down the league-leading Salt Lake offense to give Nashville its third consecutive win, a 5-1 victory over the visiting Bees on a beautiful Sunday afternoon at Greer Stadium in front of 7,946 fans on Teacher Appreciation Day.

 

DiFelice (3-0) - who earned his third win in as many starts this season - lowered his ERA to 2.65 on the year after allowing one run on four hits and fanning nine over five innings. He has struck out 25 batters in only 17 innings and has yet to give up a walk.

The Nashville bats stayed hot and posted a crooked number on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth inning, plating three runs on a bases loaded-double from third baseman Adam Heether. He is in his hottest hitting stretch of the year, batting .375 (12-for-30) while hitting safely in nine of his last 10 games. Laynce Nix and Brad Nelson singled and Vinny Rottino walked before all three came around to score on the bases-clearing double off Salt Lake starter Kasey Olenberger.

 

AUDIO: Heether Bases-Loaded Double

 

The Sounds' three-run inning came after Russell Branyan crushed a fastball from Olenberger (1-2) well beyond the right field wall in the bottom of the second inning to start the scoring. The homer was Branyan's second in the last two games and sixth on the year, tying him for the team lead with Nelson.

 

DiFelice was lights out until Bees outfielder Dee Brown continued his 11-game hit streak with a home run to right-center in the top of the fifth inning. With his three hits on the day, Brown has now reached base in 16 consecutive road games. Prior to that roundtripper, DiFelice had struck out seven of the first 11 batters he faced and only gave up one hit, a single to Brown in the second inning.

 

The Bees threatened to add to the tally with a single from Bobby Wilson and a double to left-center from Gary Patchett, but Nix cut Patchett's line drive off in the gap and made a strong relay throw to hold Wilson at third. DiFelice then pitched himself out of the jam by striking out Brad Coon, who went 0-for-4. Coon snapped his 26-game on-base streak, the longest on-base streak in the Pacific Coast League to start the season.

 

Heether scored the Sounds' final run when he knocked another double to start off the bottom of the seventh inning and moved to third when Ozzie Chavez followed with a single. Hernan Iribarren then scored him on a groundout to second in the next at-bat.

 

Nashville relievers Steve Bray, Erasmo Ramirez, and Tim Dillard combined to pitch four innings of scoreless relief, lowering the Sounds bullpen ERA to 0.38 over the last seven games.

 

The teams will finish out their four-game series bright and early tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. at Greer Stadium. Southpaw Lindsay Gulin (0-2, 3.77) will man the bump for the Sounds and go against right-hander and former Brewer farmhand Giancarlo Alvarado (2-0, 2.60) for the Bees.

 

A capacity crowd is expected at Greer Stadium tomorrow with the Sounds hosting a Reading Club Day where area students who participate in the reading club get to attend the game as a reward for reaching their reading goals.

 

Nashville Box Score

Russell Branyan's OPS after 91 AB's - 1.096; Adam Heether with the prettiest line; yeah, you're going to get tired of reading about Mark DiFelice -- should the Brewers try and grab lightning in a bottle? What's the harm? And no, that shouldn't be considered a Joe Winkelsas or Chris Demaria-type move...

 

Nashville Game Log

[TheCrew07]

If I wouldn't have burned on Balfour and now Thatcher (X you were right about him, my apologies, he's had a forgettable year to this point) I would be pinping the hell out of DiFelice like I did those 2 and Dillon in the past. However given my recent experience I'll keep my mouth shut for a change and hope it works out for the best. Parra should come back down so he remembers that he can pitch effectively, and it wouldn't hurt my feelings if he learned to throw a fastball with some movement either... that 4 seamer looks real fat for some reason...

[Never Outhustled]

If I wouldn't have burned on Balfour and now Thatcher (X you were right about him, my apologies, he's had a forgettable year to this point) I would be pinping the hell out of DiFelice like I did those 2 and Dillon in the past. However given my recent experience I'll keep my mouth shut for a change and hope it works out for the best

Don't let Balfour and Thatcher gety you down (Balfour burned me too), theres plenty of stories of relievers who develop late and come from nowhere. The Brewers may have found 1 in the somewhat unherald Mitch Stetter.

 

As for DiFelice, I see no reason why he couldn't match what Nelson Figueroa has done this year. Is there any other righthanded who gets as much milage out of a cutter?

[Mass Haas]

Sounds show Salt Lake who's great

Surging Nashville takes its first series against PCL's finest

By MAURICE PATTON

Tennessean Staff Writer

 

It took the Nashville Sounds - losers of 19 of their first 26 games - to do what the rest of the Pacific Coast League hadn't done through the opening month of the season.

 

Slow down Salt Lake.

 

Nashville clinched its first series win of the season Sunday, defeating Salt Lake 5-1 for its first three-game winning streak of the season. For the Bees, the three losses are one more than they had through their first 26 games; their 24-2 start coming into the weekend was the best in the history of minor league baseball.

 

"I think it's obvious we have a good team," said third baseman Adam Heether, whose two-out, bases-loaded double in the fourth inning gave the Sounds a 4-0 lead following Russell Branyan's second-inning solo home run. "I don't think anybody was pressing too much; we were waiting for things to go our way, and it was a matter of time before that happened."

 

The Sounds improved to 10-19 with their fifth win in six games; it took Nashville 21 games to get its first five wins of the season.

 

"We were scuffling a little bit, but we've regrouped," Sounds pitcher Mark DiFelice said. "The team we have now is pretty solid. It took time for everybody to jell."

 

DiFelice pitched five innings of four-hit ball, struck out nine and allowed only a leadoff homer to Dee Brown in the fifth inning.

 

What they said: "We're getting much more consistent pitching, offense and defense." - Sounds Manager Frank Kremblas after his team won for the fifth time in its last six games.

 

***

 

DiFelice keeps his walks total low

By MAURICE PATTON

Tennessean Staff Writer

 

Mark DiFelice is at it again.

 

The Nashville Sounds starter pitched five innings without issuing a walk in Sunday's 5-1 win over Salt Lake. It was his third start of the season in which he has not given up a base on balls, a stretch of 17 innings.

 

It's nothing new for the 31-year-old right-hander, though. Last season, he compiled a string of 56+ innings without a walk between Double-A Huntsville and the Sounds.

 

"It is a pride thing," DiFelice said. "When you walk the first hitter, 80 percent of the time they score. The hitter didn't beat you; you beat yourself. So, if you can eliminate walks, ..."

 

DiFelice left Sunday's game after five innings with a right oblique strain.

 

"I threw a pitch to (Terry) Evans and it grabbed me a little, but I was able to get through the inning," he said.

 

Walk of shame: Evans, a Salt Lake outfielder, was the first player to be ejected since the new clubhouses were completed beyond the center-field fence. Evans slammed his bat following a called third strike to end the sixth inning and was immediately tossed by home plate umpire Travis Reininger.

 

Instead of making the long walk across the outfield grass, though, Evans took a less obvious walk along the warning track adjacent to the right-field foul line and exited the field at the corner.

 

Heether hot: With two doubles Sunday, Nashville's Adam Heether has hit safely in nine of his last 10 games. Vinny Rottino has hits in 13 of his last 15 games, and Laynce Nix has hits in 12 of his last 14.

 

Two-out magic: Nashville entered Sunday's game hitting .305 (32-for-105) with runners in scoring position and two outs. Heether's fourth-inning bases-loaded double was the team's only hit in five such situations, dropping the Sounds to a still-respectable .300.

 

Albuquerque leads the Pacific Coast League with a .352 average in that situation.

 

See the light: Sunday's win was the Sounds' sixth in 10 day games. Nashville is 4-16 in games beginning at or after 6 p.m. local time.

 

Teachers appreciated: As part of Teacher Appreciation Day at Greer Stadium, all teachers, school staff and administrators were offered up to four complimentary tickets for Sunday's game. More than 1,100 participated, contributing to a crowd of 7,946.

 

For the series, the Sounds have drawn 24,629, and could have a second near-sellout for this morning's game.

 

Tennessean Photo by Larry McCormack

Nashville's Ozzie Chavez, left, is late with the tag as Dee Brown slides into second during the Sounds' 5-1 win Sunday. The Sounds clinched their first series of the season after losing 19 of their first 26 games.

 

http://cmsimg.tennessean.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=DN&Date=20080505&Category=SPORTS0401&ArtNo=805050331&Ref=AR&Profile=1002&MaxW=550&MaxH=650&title=0

[And That]

Oblique strains can be long term, worrisome injuries. Hopefully it isn't too serious. I get the distinct feeling that barring a long-term injury or melt down, we'll see DiFelice in Milwaukee sometime this year.

 

Now all we have to do is trade for Mike DiFelice...

[LouisEly]

DiFelice needs to find his way to Milwaukee. Parra, CV, and Bush aren't getting it done and they have options so they can be sent down to find their groove while they give DiFelice a shot to see if he is for real or just a AAAA player. Can't be much worse than Parra, CV, or Bush has been this year so why not give him a shot?

 

I think it's time for a little roster overhaul. They need to see if DiFelice and Branyan can give them a shot in the arm and get the ship turned back in the right direction.

[piccione88]

Would we have to expose Bush to waivers again, or is that a one time thing?