Link Report for Monday 5/5 -- Cinco de Mayo

[Mass Haas]

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

[Mass Haas]

Monday's Daily Menu: We all need a mental health break from the big league boys today...

All times Central; pitchers subject to change --

Nashville: LHP Lindsay Gulin at home vs. Salt Lake (Angels), 10:15 AM pre-game; 10:30 gametime

Audio link:
www.nashvillesounds.com/listenlive/

Huntsville: LHP Steve Hammond at home vs. Mobile (Diamondbacks), 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: TBD at Clearwater (Phillies), 6:00 PM gametime

Sorry, no audio for this series...

West Virginia: RHP Amaury Rivas at Delmarva (Orioles), 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]

Follow Monday'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_05_slcaaa_nasaaa_1

Huntsville:

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_05_05_mobaax_hunaax_1

Brevard County:

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_05_05_breafa_clrafa_1

West Virginia:

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_05_05_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 13 .536 - 9-5 6-8 L1 Memphis 14 17 .452 2.5 6-9 8-8 W3 Iowa 13 16 .448 2.5 6-8 7-8 L1 Nashville 10 19 .345 5.5 7-7 3-12 W3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 Southern League (AA) - SOU North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Huntsville 20 10 .667 - 13-2 7-8 W1 West Tenn 20 10 .667 - 8-2 12-8 W4 Carolina 17 13 .567 3.0 9-6 8-7 L4 Chattanooga 17 13 .567 3.0 10-5 7-8 W1 Tennessee 11 19 .367 9.0 6-9 5-10 L3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 Florida State League (A+) - FSL East Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Palm Beach 19 11 .633 - 12-4 7-7 L1 Brevard County 17 13 .567 2.0 9-5 8-8 W1 Jupiter 16 14 .533 3.0 11-3 5-11 L2 Daytona 15 15 .500 4.0 6-8 9-7 W1 Vero Beach 15 15 .500 4.0 11-5 4-10 W4 St. Lucie 7 23 .233 12.0 4-12 3-11 L2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 South Atlantic League (A) - SAL Northern Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lake County 17 11 .607 - 7-6 10-5 W1 Delmarva 17 13 .567 1.0 11-7 6-6 W3 Greensboro 15 14 .517 2.5 5-9 10-5 W1 Hagerstown 15 15 .500 3.0 6-8 9-7 L1 Hickory 15 16 .484 3.5 6-7 9-9 L3 Lakewood 14 16 .467 4.0 8-10 6-6 W1 West Virginia 11 19 .367 7.0 5-9 6-10 L3 Lexington 10 20 .333 8.0 3-11 7-9 L1 

[Mass Haas]

David Weiser's www.starsboxscore.com

 

Is this the greatest Stars team ever?

In posing this question, you'd naturally have to compare this team to other teams in the past that have been a powerhouse at the plate, and have carried a season-long energy all the way through the season into the post-season....... The most accepted comparisons would be to the 1985 team that won 78 games, had Jose Canseco for a half-season, and won the SL Championship in its inaugural season and the 1997 team that was gifted with bats up and down the lineup, won 77 games, hit .286 with a league-high 164 HRs and dominated the regular season...... After 30 games, here's a comparison...... For fun, I threw in the 1989 Stars, who were swept in the post-season, but won 82 games, more than any Huntsville team in club history.

[align=center]

	Avg.	Hits	ERA	HR	W-L
1985	.274	258	3.54	41	20-10
1989	.245	231	3.36	17	17-13
1997	.253	267	4.76	31	18-12
2008	.289	287	3.53	28	20-10

[/align]

The 1985 team wound up hitting .268, the 1997 team, .286. Just what the 2008 will hit at the end of the regular season, no one knows, but no team since the 1985 team has started with a 20-10 record and no team, except the 1986 team, had as many hits after 30 games (292-286) or a higher average (.291-.289)...... So it would actually seem that there is a closer comparison to the 1986 team that lost the SL Championship to Columbus, so let's add the 1986 team to the mix:

[align=center]

1985	.274	258	3.54	41	20-10
1986	.291	292	4.39	20	17-13
1989	.245	231	3.36	17	17-13
1997	.253	267	4.76	31	18-12
2008	.289	287	3.53	28	20-10

[/align]

None of the greatest teams had the pitching to compare to the 2008 team, except the 1985 team, which helped by Canseco, had more HRs after the first 30 games. Canseco, alone, had 11, which is still a club record, but Matt LaPorta finished with 7 and now has 9, which is fairly close...... The greatest team ever? It's a close call. Let's wait till the season is over. One of the greatest? It's on the right track.

 

Sam Narron became the first five-game winner in the league Sunday. Quite a different start from last season, when after six starts, he was 0-3 with a 4.91 ERA, but he has quite a bit more offensive support behind him...... Last year after six starts, Narron had 10 runs of support on 26 hits in 33 innings. This year, he has 35 runs of support on 53 hits in 37 innings..... Sam got it right away. Michael Brantley snapped an 0-for-10 slump with a leadoff hit in the 1st inning. Guilder Rodriguez sent a bunt back to starter Michael Wlodarczyk. He threw it wildly to first, allowing the runners to move into scoring position for Mat Gamel, who sometimes makes everyone forget about the buzz around #1 prospect LaPorta....... Gamel leads the SL in hits, is 3rd in batting (.367), 2nd in RBIs, and leads the league with five triples. He's had more hits than any other Huntsville Star in April in history...... Gamel's single up the middle scored Brantley and G. Rod to give Narron a 2-0 lead...... LaPorta, 24-for-57 (.421) in his last 15 games, and the SL's HR and RBI leader, just missed a home run on a 3-1 pitch, then after fouling off another pitch, delivered a line drive on a hop to center moving Gamel to third....... Cole Gillespie, 8-for-20 with 8 RBIs vs. Montgomery in this series, scored Gamel without a throw on a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0....... Freddy Parejo swung at the first pitch he saw and delivered a single to left, which moved LaPorta to 2nd. Mike Bell moved him to third on a ground out and Carlos Corporan snapped an 0-for-19 streak with a single inside the line toward the Montgomery bullpen, scoring LaPorta...... Corporan was thrown out trying to stretch the hit, but he did the job. Even though Montgomery came back, the Stars had enough to win....... In the bottom of the 1st, LaPorta turned a grand-slam HR by the infamous Sergio Pedroza into a sacrifice fly that brought the Biscuits within one, 4-3, with a sensational catch in right, crashing into the wall. Some measure of payback there for last year.

The Stars added a run in the 3rd inning on Bell's two-out double that made it 5-3 and then tacked on three more in the 4th when Gamel delivered a bases loaded, bases clearing double that knocked Wlodarczyk out of the game.

The Stars, who have now reached double figures in runs scored seven times...... The 1997 team scored 10 runs or more in a game 33 times that year, more than any other Stars team, but they didn't do it for the 7th time until May 16....... Already, the Stars have had as many games where they've scored 10 or more times as the 2001 team, the last team to wave a championship banner.

 

Patrick Ryan pitched another scoreless inning, giving him 15 since the start of the season, eight short of the 23 that is the record held by Luis Martinez in 2003.

 

The Stars return home Monday to open a five-game series against Mobile with southpaw Steve Hammond (3-1, 3.51), who is three behind the SL strikeout leader Daryl Thompson of Chattanooga, taking the mound against BayBears' right-hander Brooks Brown.

[Mass Haas]

Montgomery Biscuits Manager Billy Gardner said:

"(Huntsville's) Sam Narron's a good pitcher. If he sees a hitter do something, he adjusts and that's why he's effective.

"He's 5-1 with very mediocre stuff. That's a credit to him understanding his strengths and pitching to them."

[Mass Haas]

Photos from Sunday's Huntsville game all taken by Mickey Welsh of the Montgomery Advertiser

 

Biscuits secondbaseman Pat Cottrell is taken out by Stars baserunner Carlos Corporan in the fifth inning at Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery, Ala. on Sunday May 4, 2008. Corporan is out on the play, the runner at first was safe.

 

http://cmsimg.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?NewTbl=1&Avis=DS&Dato=20080504&Kategori=SPORTS01&Lopenr=805040802&Ref=PH&Item=1&Maxw=600&Maxh=500

 

Biscuits firstbaseman Gaby Martinez tags out Stars baserunner Ryan Crew on the pickoff throw from the pitcher in the fifth inning

 

http://cmsimg.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?NewTbl=1&Avis=DS&Dato=20080504&Kategori=SPORTS01&Lopenr=805040802&Ref=PH&Item=2&Maxw=600&Maxh=500

 

Biscuits' Johnny Raburn beats out the throw to first on a bunt in the fifth inning. Stars first baseman Michael Brantley makes the catch.

 

http://cmsimg.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?NewTbl=1&Avis=DS&Dato=20080504&Kategori=SPORTS01&Lopenr=805040802&Ref=PH&Item=3&Maxw=600&Maxh=500

 

Biscuits' Ronnie Merrill slides safely into third base on a triple in the first inning. Stars third baseman Mat Gamel tries to get a handle on the ball.

 

http://cmsimg.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?NewTbl=1&Avis=DS&Dato=20080504&Kategori=SPORTS01&Lopenr=805040802&Ref=PH&Item=5&Maxw=600&Maxh=500

 

Stars' pitcher Sam Narron throws against the Biscuits in the first inning.

 

http://cmsimg.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?NewTbl=1&Avis=DS&Dato=20080504&Kategori=SPORTS01&Lopenr=805040802&Ref=PH&Item=8&Maxw=600&Maxh=500

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Biscuits' shortstop Ronnie Merrill catches Star's baserunner Matt LaPorta off the bag in the third inning.

 

http://cmsimg.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?NewTbl=1&Avis=DS&Dato=20080504&Kategori=SPORTS01&Lopenr=805040802&Ref=PH&Item=9&Maxw=600&Maxh=500

[DHonks]

I still remember seeing Narron in a big league spring training game probably 3 years ago. He was warming up to start an inning, and I thought "man, he's just lobbing the ball to the catcher. He must really be loose already to not care about warmups." I was shocked when the fastest pitch he threw was around 80 mph, with his Bugs Bunny-like changeup-- three swings on one pitch!

[battlekow]

Narron looks like a Weaver brother in that picture.

[Mass Haas]

Final: Salt Lake (Angels) 5, Nashville 1

Nashville Site Game Summary:

Link for new Ozzie Chavez photo, text follows --

 

Sounds Drop Homestand Finale To Bees, 5-1

 

NASHVILLE - First baseman Kendry Morales belted a pair of home runs to lead the visiting Salt Lake Bees to a 5-1 victory over the Nashville Sounds on Monday morning in front of a season-high 10,786 fans at Greer Stadium.

 

The majority of the standing room only crowd on hand were area schoolchildren in attendance on field trips as a reward for reaching their reading goals in the Nashville Sounds Reading Club program.

 

The Sounds (10-20) wrapped up their eight-game homestand with a 5-3 record.

 

Salt Lake took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning on Morales' leadoff home run against Sounds starter Lindsay Gulin. The blast, which came on a 2-0 offering, was his fourth of the season.

 

The Bees increased the advantage to 3-0 in the fourth on Terry Evans' two-run double, which plated Matthew Brown and Morales.

 

Morales struck again in the sixth when he tattooed reliever Zach Jackson's first pitch over the batter's eye in straightaway center field for his second home run of the day, making it a 4-0 contest.

 

Nashville jumped on the board in the home half of the seventh when Eric Munson singled and was replaced by pinch-runner Adam Heether. After Heether advanced to second on a groundout, he made it a 4-1 contest by coming plateward on Ozzie Chavez's two-out RBI single to right.

 

AUDIO: Ozzie Chavez RBI Single

 

The Sounds' attempt to add another run an inning later was stifled by Evans, the Salt Lake right fielder, who threw out Brad Nelson at the plate for the final out of the frame as he attempted to score from second on a Russell Branyan single.

 

Bees catcher Bobby Wilson tacked on the game's final score with a one-out solo homer off Sounds reliever Luis Pena in the top of the ninth inning, the backstop's first tater of the season.

 

Salt Lake starter Giancarlo Alvarado (3-0) picked up the win and remained undefeated on the year after working six scoreless innings, allowing only three hits. He struck out six batters and walked two in lowering his ERA to 2.14 on the year.

 

Gulin (0-3) took the loss for Nashville after allowing three runs on five hits over five innings of action.

 

The Sounds travel west on Tuesday to begin an eight-game road trip with an 8:30 p.m. CT opener of a four-game series against the Tucson Sidewinders (AAA-Diamondbacks). Right-hander Jeff Weaver (0-1, 7.20) will make his second start for Nashville and face Tucson right-hander Yusmeiro Petit (0-1, 4.91).

 

Baseball returns to Greer Stadium on Thursday, May 15, when the Sounds open an eight-game homestand.

 

Nashville Box Score

30-year-old Salt Lake starter Carlo Alvarado was a Brewer farmhand with High Desert back in 2002; all nine spots in the Sounds order reached once, and exactly once, with just the one run scoring; Eric Munson is struggling with a leg injury, was replaced with a pinch-runner; Luis Pena was lucky to escape with one run allowed a she was hit hard (having listened to the broadcast)...

 

Nashville Game Log

[DrWood]

brantley looks like he could have gotten the guy if he stretches for that one.

[PlayerHader]

Gamel would probably field better with his eyes open.

[homer]

"brantley looks like he could have gotten the guy if he stretches for that one. "

 

It was a bunt. I'm sure the throw was from pretty close and you're not supposed to stretch until you know where the ball is going. It's rare you ever see a 1B stretch on a throw from near home plate.

[twobrewers]

That is a pretty good full image of Brantley.

 

He doesn't look that small/skinny. I have to think he is going to develop some power with that frame.

[Katuluu]

Darren Ford has 5 stolen bases through 6 innings so far. Good grief.

[Mass Haas]

Final: West Virginia 6, Delmarva (Orioles) 1

 

West Virginia Site Game Summary:

 

POWER SHUT DOWN SHOREBIRDS

 

West Virginia used home runs from Caleb Gindl and Jonathan Lucroy and six scoreless innings from Amaury Rivas to take down the Delmarva Shorebirds 6-1 on Monday night, giving the Power a chance to split the series on Tuesday.

 

Gindl's home run was a three-run shot in the top of the fourth inning to snap a scoreless tie. It was his fourth of the year and his second of the road trip. West Virginia had the bases loaded and one out in the fifth inning when Zelous Wheeler hit a groundball to third. Tyler Henson threw the ball to the plate for the out and catcher Brendan Monaghan threw the ball to first in an attempt to complete the double play but first baseman Anthony Martinez dropped the ball which allowed Lee Haydel to score.

 

Lucroy's home run was a two-run shot in the top of the ninth inning. It was his second of the season. The Shorebirds avoided the shutout in the bottom of the ninth when Henson scored on Joe Mahoney's sacrifice fly.

 

Rivas (3-1) earned the victory, holding the Shorebirds to just three hits over six scoreless innings with three strikeouts. Tony Butler (1-2) was tagged with the loss after giving up four runs on nine hits in five innings of work. Rob Bryson earned his first save of the season, fanning five over three innings while allowing just a run on one hit.

 

The Power improved to 12-19 with the win and the Shorebirds fell to 17-14 with the loss. Three Power players had multi-hit games including Steffan Wilson who paced the Power with a 3-for-4 performance. Wilson is 7-for-12 in the series.

 

The Power will finish the four game series with Delmarva at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium on Tuesday morning. Right-hander Roque Mercedes (1-1, 6.59) will get the start for the Power and the Shorebirds will counter with left hander Cole McCurry (0-3, 5.68). The first pitch is scheduled for 10:35 AM (9:35 Central).

 

West Virginia Box Score

Caleb Gindl's home run was his first hit since a couple of three-hit games last week; Brent Brewer and Lee Haydel flip-flopped in the 1-2 spots with better results tonight; Steffan Wilson has his average up to an easier-on-the-eyes .253; after a somewhat lost 2007 season with elbow problems, Amaury Rivas is ready to take the mantle of top homegrown Latin American pitcher in the chain right now -- this is the second time in four starts he's been dominant; Rob Bryson reminds us he's still special -- now with 31K's in 20 IP...

 

West Virginia Game Log

[Mass Haas]

Final: Clearwater (Phillies) 7, Brevard County 6

Manatees outhit 15-6, but still had a 6-3 lead going into the 7th...

 

Brevard County Box Score

As noted above, Darren Ford stole five bases in five attempts, what you didn't know is he did so only going 0-for-4 with a walk; Chuckie Caufield on base three times with an RBI; Stephen Chapman with another outfield assist as that position move looks to stick for a while -- the 'Tees don't really have a traditional first baseman; Mike McClendon allowed two runs in each of the 7th and 8th innings to take the loss...

 

Brevard County Game Log

Five consecutive Manatees reached in the five-run 5th after two were out (single, single, walk, single, double) -- sweet job there; Kenny Holmberg with some bad luck, lining into a key double play in the 8th...

[Mass Haas]

In progress: Huntsville 7, Mobile (Diamondbacks) 4, after seven innings

Four Stars with multiple-hit games thus far, nice start for Steve Hammond, details later this evening...

[gregmag]

Darren Ford has 5 stolen bases through 6 innings so far. Good grief.

I would love to know if anyone else in professional baseball history has ever stolen five bases on just one official reach.

Greg.

[battlekow]

gregmag1 wrote:

I would love to know if anyone else in professional baseball history has ever stolen five bases on just one official reach.

Greg, we were just remarking on the same thing over at BCB. As to your question, in MLB history the record for stolen bases with just one official time on base is four, done five times, most recently by Tony Womack on 5/15/05. Vince Coleman did it twice. Taking errors out of the equation, Coleman and Davey Lopes are the only two players to have stolen four bases with only one TOB and zero ROE.

 

[Mass Haas]

Final: Huntsville 8, Mobile (Diamondbacks) 6

 

Huntsville Press Release:

Stars Survive Shaky Ninth to Beat BayBears

 

HAMMOND GIVES STARS ANOTHER QUALITY OUTING

 

Michael Brantley collected three hits and knocked in three runs and Huntsville hung on through a shaky ninth inning to defeat Mobile 8-6 Monday in the opener of a five-game set Monday night at Joe Davis Stadium. The Stars improved to 21-10 and maintained their share of the lead in the North Division, while the BayBears dropped to 15-16 but stayed a game behind Birmingham in the South Division. The Stars improved to 14-2 at home and have started each of their four home series with a win.

 

Juan Sandoval opened the ninth on the hill for Huntsville with an 8-4 lead and ran into trouble with one out after walking Cesar Nicolas, yielding a double to Rusty Ryal and walking Frank Curreri to load the bases. Cyle Hankerd's fourth single of the game plated Nicolas to trim the Stars lead to 8-5. Pinch-hitter Brandon Burgess then bounced into a force out at second to score Ryal to make it 8-6 but Curreri rounded the bag too far at third base and was tagged out by Mat Gamel to end the game after an alert read of the play and throw by shortstop Alcides Escobar.

 

Brantley's two-out, two-run double capped a four-run sixth inning rally that gave the home side a 7-1 lead. David Johnson took over on the mound for the Stars in the seventh and yielded a two-out, run-scoring double to Bryan Byrne and a two-run, two-bagger by Ryal that cut the lead in half. Brantley's run-scoring hit in the eighth pushed the Huntsville advantage to four.

 

Stars' starter Steve Hammond walked Ryal and gave up hits to Curreri and Hankerd to load the bases with nobody out in the second before he struck out John Hester and starter Brooks Brown and got Guillermo Reyes to fly out to end the inning. Hammond went six solid innings, allowing a run, on a Ryal long ball, on six hits to earn his fourth win of the year and his first at home since Opening Day.

 

Matt LaPorta's RBI ground out, a sacrifice fly by Angel Salome and a run-scoring single by Escobar staked Hammond to a 3-0 lead after five. Salome singled home two in the sixth and picked up three of the Stars' season-high 16 hits. Brown suffered the loss after allowing five runs on nine hits over 5.2 innings of work.

 

The series continues Tuesday night with left-hander Derek Miller taking the mound against BayBears' right-hander Tony Barnette. 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

Angel Salome 3-for-3 plus a sacrifice fly, three RBI, now with an .829 OPS -- when are these Stars going to remember they play in the pitcher-friendly Southern League? Michael Brantley, Alcides Escobar, Chris Errecart, and Salome all with three hits; Steve Hammond continues to rack up the K's -- all his peripherals look fine after seven starts; Salome picked off a runner at second base, and his passed ball numbers are way down from prior years -- very exciting; Mat Gamel's error tonight was a ground ball right through the wickets...

 

Huntsville Game Log

[TheCrew07]

So I finally looked at a WV boxscore after 2 weeks... it's been killing me...

 

Brewer still has more Strike Outs than Hits on the season, in fact it's really not even close yet. 26 Hits, 35 Strike Outs. On a positive note, he's on pace for 155 if he equals last year's number of ABs, which is a slight reduction from the 170 he had a year before. The only guy with more in the entire system is Chapman with 42 who's on pace for 172, which is 35 more than last year's campaign. Following Brewer are Errecart 34, Ford 31, Branyan 27, Katin 27, Cain 27, Gindl 27, Houin 27 (in only 70 ABs), Wheeler 26, Gillespie 26, Caufield 25, Fermaint 24, and Haydel 24.

 

Certain names jump out at me by the position they play as people who have no business on this list.

 

WV as a team has 246

BC as a team has 228

HV as a team has 184

NV as a team has 196

 

This got me thinking about BABIP... min 70 ABs a very small sample to be sure at this point, but I wanted to see where the SO leaders ranked. I was going to compare them to last year's season, but I didn't want to excel spreadsheet all those numbers up for comparison's sake.

 

Also, it's been bothering me for a long time but BABIP should include HRs, the ball was put in play, it doesn't seem right to remove HRs, a Hit from the equation. I never understood the logic behind that one, Laporta's BABIP is actually lower than his BA because of this, Gindl's is as well... If a Sac Fly is included, it just seems to me that a HR should be as well.

 

Branyan .466

Parejo .433

Houin .419

Gamel .415 (21 SO)

Green .405 (19 SO)

Wheeler .389

Errecart .386

Katin .356

Brantley .354

Chapman .338

Haydel .330

Brewer .321

 

The only real surprises on this list are Gamel and Green, they've been pretty special hitters and have very reasonable SO rates around 1 for every 6 AB and BB rates better than 1 for 10. Brantley's average is so high that his lack of power actually helps him with this index. Sorry EDR, but Fermaint's BABIP didn't break .300.

 

I'm just bored and don't feel like going to bed so I thought I look up and play around with some numbers.

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

Sounds fall short of sweeping Bees

Offense struggles, ends win streak

By MAURICE PATTON

Tennessean Staff Writer

 

As the Sounds entered their four-game series with visiting Salt Lake, a sweep would have been tough to expect.

 

Following a 5-1 loss Monday to the Pacific Coast League's hottest team, Nashville wasn't content winning three of four.

 

"They're a solid team, but we can win every game we go out and play," said Sounds starting pitcher Lindsay Gulin (0-3), who allowed three runs over five innings. "It worked out better for them today.

 

"We can't be satisfied with three out of four. We've got to figure how we can improve every day."

 

After struggling through its worst April in recent memory, Nashville won 4-3 on Friday before back-to-back victories - 10-2 on Saturday and 5-1 on Sunday - to set up the possibility of a sweep.

 

On Monday, the Sounds fell behind 1-0 on the first of Kendry Morales' two home runs. The Bees scored twice more in the fourth.

 

The Sounds had multiple base runners in just three innings and didn't score until the seventh, when Ozzie Chavez singled with two outs.

 

"Our ability to make offensive adjustments against their starter (Giancarlo Alvarado) took too long," Sounds Manager Frank Kremblas said. "He was effectively wild and we helped him.

 

"We swung at a lot of balls early in the count and put ourselves in holes. They did a good job pitching."

 

The Sounds (10-20) head to Tucson having won five of their past seven games. Round Rock (10-19) is the only other PCL team with fewer than 12 wins.

 

***

 

Link while active, text follows:

 

Largest crowd of season attends Sounds game

By MAURICE PATTON

Tennessean Staff Writer

 

With both the weather and the Sounds warming up, the Greer Stadium seats are filling up.

 

A sellout crowd of 10,786 - the largest of the season - was announced for Monday's homestand finale against Salt Lake, giving the Sounds a total of 35,415 for the four-game series against the Bees. It was the second sellout of the series.

 

The four-game total attendance was the largest at Greer Stadium since 37,899 was announced for four games with Round Rock on May 4-7, 2007.

 

Coon skins Rottino: Salt Lake center fielder Brad Coon made the defensive play of the day when he sprinted into the right-center gap to flag down a seventh-inning drive by Sounds catcher Vinny Rottino. Two steps later, Coon slammed into the fence but held onto the ball.

 

Coon, who starred at Trevecca before the Angels selected him in the 15th round of the 2005 draft, leads all PCL outfielders with a 1.000 fielding percentage.

 

Game notes jinx: In the pregame notes supplied to the media, mention was made that neither Bobby Wilson nor Ryan Budde had been charged with a passed ball all season - making the Bees the only Pacific Coast League team without one.

 

Sure enough, Wilson committed a passed ball in the second inning, allowing Rottino to go from first to second after drawing a one-out walk from Salt Lake starter Giancarlo Alvarado.

 

Wilson atoned in the ninth with a solo home run off Sounds reliever Luis Pena.

 

Two by three: Salt Lake first baseman Kendry Morales became the third Sounds opponent to hit two homers in a game this season when he belted a pair of leadoff blows Monday.

 

His second, on reliever Zach Jackson's first pitch of the game, carried over the 24-foot batter's eye in center field to give the Bees a 4-0 lead in the sixth inning.

 

Previously, New Orleans infielder Fernando Tatis and Albuquerque outfielder Brett Carroll each hit a pair against the Sounds. The Florida Marlins recently called up Carroll, a former Middle Tennessee State standout.

 

Triple crown candidate: Nelson Cruz, who played for the Sounds during the 2005 and '06 seasons, leads the PCL in home runs (11), RBIs (32) and stolen bases (11) and is sixth in batting average (.375).

 

Cruz was involved in the Brewers' trade that also sent outfielder Carlos Lee to Texas - in exchange for current Nashville outfielder Laynce Nix and three other players - and is now playing with the Rangers' Triple-A affiliate in Oklahoma.

 

Photo by JOHN PARTIPILO / THE TENNESSEAN

Sounds shortstop Ozzie Chavez avoids the slide of Salt Lake's Brad Coon to turn a double play in the Sounds' 5-1 loss Monday.

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