Link report for Sunday May 11th -- Hi, Mom!

[Mass Haas]

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

[Mass Haas]

Sunday's Daily Menu: Mom, this menu's our treat...

 

All times Central; pitchers subject to change --

 

Nashville: RHP Jeff Weaver at Las Vegas (Dodgers), 1:50 PM pre-game; 2:05 gametime

 

Audio link:

www.nashvillesounds.com/listenlive/

 

Huntsville: LHP Derek Miller at Tennessee (Cubs), 3:45 PM pre-game; 4:00 gametime

 

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

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

 

Brevard County: Idle

 

West Virginia: RHP Rob Bryson at home vs. Hagerstown (Nationals), 12:50 PM pre-game, 1:05 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 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_11_nasaaa_lvgaaa_1

Huntsville:

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_05_11_hunaax_tenaax_1

West Virginia:

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_05_11_hagafx_wvaafx_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 17 16 .515 - 11-7 6-9 W1 Iowa 16 18 .471 1.5 9-9 7-9 W3 Memphis 17 20 .459 2.0 6-10 11-10 W1 Nashville 13 22 .371 5.0 7-8 6-14 L2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 Southern League (AA) - SOU North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Huntsville 25 11 .694 - 17-3 8-8 W2 West Tenn 23 13 .639 2.0 11-4 12-9 L1 Carolina 20 16 .556 5.0 9-7 11-9 L1 Chattanooga 19 17 .528 6.0 11-9 8-8 W1 Tennessee 15 21 .417 10.0 6-10 9-11 L1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 Florida State League (A+) - FSL East Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Palm Beach 22 14 .611 - 15-7 7-7 W1 Brevard County 18 18 .500 4.0 10-8 8-10 W1 Jupiter 18 18 .500 4.0 11-3 7-15 W2 Daytona 17 19 .472 5.0 6-8 11-11 L1 Vero Beach 16 20 .444 6.0 11-7 5-13 L1 St. Lucie 8 27 .229 13.5 5-16 3-11 L3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 South Atlantic League (A) - SAL Northern Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lake County 22 13 .629 - 9-8 13-5 W5 Delmarva 20 15 .571 2.0 12-8 8-7 L1 Greensboro 18 17 .514 4.0 5-12 13-5 L3 Lakewood 18 17 .514 4.0 10-10 8-7 W2 Hagerstown 16 19 .457 6.0 6-10 10-9 L1 Hickory 16 21 .432 7.0 7-12 9-9 L2 West Virginia 14 21 .400 8.0 7-10 7-11 W1 Lexington 11 24 .314 11.0 4-13 7-11 W1 

[Mass Haas]

West Virginia Press Release:

 

Today's game between the Power and Hagerstown Suns has been cancelled because of rain. The game will not be made up because the two teams do not meet again in the first half of the season. West Virginia is in action against the Lake County Captains at Appalachian Power Park on Monday night. Right-hander Rob Bryson (0-1, 5.40) will be on the mound for the Power and the Captains will counter with left-hander Ryan Miller (5-0, 1.09). The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM (6:05 Central).

 

If the game had been played, it was Eric Farris at 2B, Zelous Wheeler at 3B, and Steffan Wilson at DH today.

[battlekow]

Weaver imploded in the fifth. Final line: 4.7 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 6 K, 1 HR.

[Mass Haas]

Check out the batting averages between the two teams in the pre-game lineups just posted in the Huntsville - Tennessee box score -- but, you still have to play the game, we'll see...

 

Russell Branyan goes deep again in Vegas -- so tempting...

[wibadgers23]

With the wind blowing out to right field at 30 mph, I kind of expected Huntsville to hit about 7 homeruns and score 22 runs. But it is only the 3rd inning...

[gregmag]

What's weirder about the Nashville game -- that Nix walked twice, or that Nelson tripled and stole two bases?

 

Huntsville is romping with Gamel, LaPorta, and Brantley 2 for 12. Man, that team is stacked.

 

Greg.

[Brily0204]

Good day: Brad Nelson with a single, a double, a triple, and two steals.

 

Bad day: Eric Munson 0-for-7 with three strikeouts, three passed balls, and a throwing error.

[jjfanec]

Is Salome not getting love because he is being overshadowed by Gamel and LaPorta or because people are slow to warm up to him because of his suspension? He has 3 more hits today pushing his average over .400.

[homer]

I mentioned something along those lines in another thread (maybe yesterday's game thread). Guys like Errecart, Gillespie, and Salome are being overshadowed because of the kooky numbers LaGamel is putting up. Another reason might be that Salome hasn't had enough ABs to qualify for the league leaders yet.

[JohnBriggs12]

Is Salome not getting love because he is being overshadowed by Gamel and LaPorta or because people are slow to warm up to him because of his suspension? He has 3 more hits today pushing his average over .400.

 

Not really. He's only has about half the ABs as the other two guys, so even though's he now at .403 which is amazing, it's just 72 ABs. He's certainly going to be getting a lot of attention.

[jjfanec]

Small sample size does make some sense, but people were loving Braddock (rightfully so) after his first couple starts this year. I just figure since he is a catcher people should be jumping all over his hype-machine. 72 at -bats is enough to get excited about with his track record in the minors. If he can learn to walk a little more and become an adequate defender he could be quite the prospect.

[uwisfan]

I'm more concerned about his ability to work with the pitchers than his bat based on the report here. Next year should provide some interesting options behind the plate for the Crew.

[wvpowerblkwel]

I think the answer to that question is that Angel seemed to suffer some image damage, especially to many of you here on the board over his suspension. He has picked up this year, pretty much where he left off last year. I still contend that the Brewers view Angel as the catcher of the near future, and thus the signing of Kendall for this year. Kendall has been a pleasant surprise, as an understatement, but I think Angel progressing as he is at AA, is also a surprise to many. Let's hope that Angel has the opportunity to learn how to handle pitchers from someone like Kendall. I say Angel is a late year injury call-up if that happens this year, otherwise 2009 should be his year! I think he will begin to get some love soon, especially if the BB's and the power numbers go up!

[twobrewers]

Salome has an OPS of over 1.000, but it is still a smaller sample size.

 

He has done much better than "picking up where he left off". I wasn't too high on him before. (Largely because of the suspension) But I am significantly impressed thus far.

[Never Outhustled]

The reason I'm not geeked about Salome is because he is presently a DH, and the Brewers play in the NL. If he ever becomes a tollerable catcher, I'll start to get excited. Unfortunately, he's miles away defensively. Think Johny Estrada without blocking balls in the dirt.

[wvpowerblkwel]

I've watched Angel play, he is an extremely hard working , young (doesn't turn 22 until next month) guy with a cannon of an arm. I think he will be just fine defensively given time. I would expect the PT time at catcher to pick up as well as the season progresses....just my 2 cents.

[colbyjack]

When hasn't Salome hit? It's great to see him pick up where he left off, and his bat is the big reason why he's been so high on the P50 for the last year +.

 

But I too have concerns about his D'. The tools are there as wvpowerblkwel pointed out, but he needs time in the minors to hone those skills. I don't see him getting called up this year, especially with a couple of able bodied catchers in Munson and Rottino at AAA. My guess is that Salome spends all of '08 in AA and all of '09 in AAA, which should give him a heck of a lot of time with some fairly polished/advanced arms.

 

If his defense wasn't a concern he would probably not only be #1 on the P50 but would also be one of the best catching prospects in all of the minors, and we also wouldn't be talking about how the catching position remains an organizational need.

 

I also agree that it would be nice for him to spend some time with Kendall, and that should happen next year during spring training, assuming the team keeps Kendall around for another year, which at this point in time I don't see why they wouldn't.

[Mass Haas]

Final: Nashville 7, Las Vegas (Dodgers) 5, 13 innings

Nashville Site Game Summary:

Link for Brad Nelson photo, text follows --

 

Sounds Rally From Five Down, Beat 51s In 13

LAS VEGAS - The Nashville Sounds scored a pair of runs in the top of the 13th inning to score a dramatic 7-5 victory over the Las Vegas 51s on Sunday afternoon at Cashman Field in the club's longest game of the season.

 

Mel Stocker led off the thirteenth with a single against 51s reliever Mike Koplove, who had allowed only two runs in 20 1/3 innings on the year before Sunday's game. After a Tim Dillard sacrifice bunt, Steve Sollmann drew a walk before Stocker stole third base, his fifth swipe of the year.

 

Laynce Nix followed with a fielder's choice RBI groundout that plated Stocker with the go-ahead run. Brad Nelson provided the Sounds with some breathing room when he stepped into the box and delivered an RBI double to center that brought home Nix from first. It was the first baseman's second big hit of the day after tying the contest with a ninth-inning triple.

 

Nashville (14-22) rallied from a five-run deficit in the game, including scoring a pair of runs in the top of the ninth inning to send the contest to extra frames.

 

The win was the Sounds' first in their last 77 games in which they trailed entering the ninth inning, dating back to a victory on July 25, 2006 against Colorado Springs.

 

Sounds relievers were outstanding in the game as four hurlers combined for 8 1/3 scoreless innings behind starter Jeff Weaver, including a solid 3 1/3 inning outing by lefty Zach Jackson.

 

Dillard (2-0) picked up the win following three scoreless frames and Erasmo Ramirez retired the 51s in order in the bottom of the 13th to notch his first save in his first opportunity of the year.

 

The 51s took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning without the benefit of a hit. Weaver walked the first three batters of the frame to load the bases. The veteran limited the damage sustained, however, allowing only a John-Ford Griffin sacrifice fly before striking out catcher Kelly Gulledge and pitcher Jason Johnson to escape the jam with only one run crossing home.

 

Las Vegas increased its advantage to 5-0 in the fifth with four two-out runs off Weaver. After Johnson and Luis Maza each singled, Terry Tiffee drove in both runners with his 20th double of the season, which extended his hitting streak to 18 games. 51s third baseman Andy LaRoche followed by chasing Weaver with his second home run in two games against Sounds pitching, a two-run shot to left that was his fourth roundtripper of the year.

 

Russell Branyan put the Sounds on the board in the top of the sixth inning with a two-run homer to right off Johnson, the veteran's team-leading eighth longball of the year. Nix, who drew an inning-opening walk, scored on the blast, which chased Johnson from the contest.

 

Brendan Katin pulled the visitors within 5-3 later in the inning when he slugged a two-out solo homer to left-center off 51s reliever Dwayne Pollok, the outfielder's sixth tater of the season.

 

The Sounds rallied to tie the score in the top of the ninth with a pair of two-out runs against Las Vegas closer Brian Falkenborg, who suffered his third blown save of the year.

 

Pinch-hitter Abraham Nunez led off with a single and advanced to third on a pair of wild pitches before scoring on a Sollmann sacrifice fly. Nix followed with a single to right to extend his hitting streak to a season-best six games, then moved into scoring position on Falkenborg's third wild pitch of the inning. Nelson made it a 5-5 game when he ripped a 3-1 offering to center for an RBI triple, his first three-bagger of the year.

 

AUDIO: Brad Nelson Game-Tying Triple

 

Sounds reliever Luis Pena worked into and out of trouble in the bottom of the frame to push the contest to extras. After walking Gulledge to open the inning, catcher Eric Munson committed a pair of passed balls to move the potential winning run to third with two down before Pena fanned Xavier Paul for the final out.

 

Nashville missed a chance to take its first lead of the afternoon in the tenth when they placed runners on second and third with two outs via Adam Heether and Hernan Iribarren walks and stolen bases before 51s reliever Greg Jones induced an inning-ending grounder from Sollmann.

 

Dillard kept the Sounds in it in the bottom of the tenth, working out of a one-out bases loaded jam unscathed. After Tiffee led off with his second double of the contest, intentional walks to LaRoche and Jason Repko sandwiched around a sacrifice bunt filled the bags. Dillard induced a shallow flyout to center from Griffin before punching out Gulledge on a 2-2 offering to escape the jam.

 

Weaver took a no-decision in his third start for Nashville after surrendering five runs on four hits while walking four and striking out six batters in 4 2/3 innings of action. He left on the short end of a 5-0 deficit before the Sounds rallied to tie the contest in the ninth.

 

The teams continue the series with a 9:05 p.m. CT matinee on Monday evening. Left-hander Chris Narveson (2-4, 4.50), a winner in each of his last two starts, will man the bump for the Sounds to face right-hander Jon Meloan (2-3, 4.11).

 

Nashville Box Score

Tim Dillard continues to impress and is a real option for the Brewers' now mixed-up middle/long relief situation; coming into the game, Russell Branyan was 6th in the PCL in OPS with his 1.069 mark, Brad Nelson was 23rd at .925 -- love the PCL, huh? Brad probably moved up a few notches after this one; 51's catcher Kelly Gulledge was briefly Brewer property in the spring of 2005 but never played in a game for the organization -- he's toiled in the independent ranks the past three years; if you like lots of lines in your box score, then this one's for you...

 

Nashville Game Log

[Mass Haas]

Final: Huntsville 7, Tennessee (Cubs) 2

Huntsville Site Game Summary:

Stars Score Early, Bullpen Does the Rest

HOMERS HELP CARRY HUNTSVILLE TO ANOTHER WIN

By Brett Pollock / Huntsville Stars

Chris Errecart and Cole Gillespie hit home runs early on and the bullpen threw four scoreless frames to preserve Huntsville's 7-2 win over Tennessee in windy, rainy and cold conditions Sunday evening in the second of a five-game set at Smokies' Park. The Stars improved to 26-11 overall and climbed over the break even mark, at 9-8, for the first time this season on the road to move three games in front of West Tenn in the North Division, while the Smokies fell to 15-22. Huntsville has totaled 15 hits in each of the first two games of the series and has now gathered at least ten hits in a game 20 times.

 

Errecart hit a wind-aided home run to right field in the second inning to give the Stars a 2-0 lead. It was his fourth of the season and hit into winds ranging anywhere from 25 to 45 miles per hour. Gillespie's three-run home run with two outs in the third pushed the visitors' advantage to 5-0. It was his sixth of the season and second in the last three games.

 

Stars' starter Derek Miller stranded runners at the corners with one out in the second before Tennessee rallied for a pair of runs in the home half of third. Jake Fox and Ryan Harvey delivered back-to-back run-scoring hits with two outs to trim the lead to 5-2.

 

The Stars loaded the bases with nobody out in the fifth on singles by Alcides Escobar and Mat Gamel and a walk to Matt LaPorta but starter Donnie Veal battled back to fan Gillespie and Errecart and was then taken out of the game. Tanner Watson came on to get Mike Bell to ground into a fielder's choice to end the inning. Veal was charged with the loss after allowing five runs, two earned, on eight hits and two walks. The highly-touted left-hander has lost all five of his starts against Huntsville dating back to last season and has allowed 21 runs, 17 earned, over 17 2/3 innings. Michael Brantley and Escobar added run-producing hits in the sixth against Watson to close the scoring.

 

Miller was removed after five innings and earned his fourth win of the season after giving up two runs on five hits, while walking three and striking out five. Patrick Ryan tossed two shutout frames to extend his scoreless innings streak to 18 2/3 and was followed to the hill by Melqui Torres and Robert Hinton, who each threw a scoreless frame. The game time temperature dropped from the upper 60's to 52 degrees by the time the game ended.

 

The series continues Monday night with left-hander David Welch taking the mound against Smokies' right-hander Mark Holliman. Coverage of the game begins at 6:00 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

Alcides Escobar was 2-for-22 prior to his four-hit game here; if Angel Salome is doing his best Geovany Soto impression in two years, we'll all be quite pleased; batters are hitting .102 against Patrick Ryan, and he's getting 3.5 ground ball outs for every out in the air -- LH batters are 1-for-29 against the righty; Derek Miller never dominant, just always very solid...

 

Huntsville Game Log

[Mass Haas]

David Weiser's www.starsboxscore.com

 

Another Veal Meal

Blustery winds blowing in from the north at 30 mph kept the crowd down at Smokies Park, customarily cool given its geographical nature, but definitely blew in the Stars' favor this cool 63° afternoon...... By the time the game ended, the temperature had plunged to an unseasonable 52°

What more can you ask for?........ Coming into the game, the Stars had won 14 of their last 17 games and here they are facing Donnie Veal again........ On July 19 of last year, Veal became the 7th pitcher to lose four times to the Stars in a season -- five when you include a Game Four 6-0 loss on Lindsay Gulin's three-hitter....... Of the four-game losers during the regular season, Veal had he worst ERA (10.38). Add the playoffs and this loss and you have this line for Veal in six straight losses against the Stars:

[align=center]

IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
21 2/3	32	21	20	21	21	3	8.31

[/align]

By the 3rd inning, Veal had already thrown 40 pitches........ Derek Miller, a 47th round draft pick in 2003, is now 10-3 with a 2.95 ERA in 19 starts since joining the Stars last year...... He gave up all five hits to the Smokies, before Patrick Ryan came in in the 6th and extended his string of scoreless innings since the start of the season to 18 1/3 innings. That's the longest for a Stars reliever since Joe Klink started the 1988 season with 16 scoreless innings. That's still short of the club record of 23 (without allowing an earned run) by Luis Martinez. Luis was unscored upon in his first four starts of the 2003 season, going 21 2/3 innings without having a run scored against him at all until a fielding error in his 5th start by Corey Hart on a double-steal by Birmingham broke the string...... Melqui Torres and Robert Hinton followed with scoreless innings to close the game.

Chris Errecart gave the Stars a 2-0 jump in the 2nd inning with a wind-assisted home run onto the grassy berm area in right field with Cole Gillespie aboard. Gillespie had reached on a leadoff single....... Then it was Gillespie's turn in the 3rd inning, sending another wind-blown fly ball over the centerfield wall out of the park on a 3-1 pitch for a three-run HR for a 5-0 lead...... All five runs came with two outs.

The win makes Don Money two wins shy of tying him with Brad Fischer as the winningest manager in Stars history. See the standings link for details.

Monday, the Stars send lefty David Welch (4-1, 4.12) to the mound against Mark Holliman, who was sent down from Iowa (PCL) last Tuesday...... Holliman pitched a seven-inning no-hitter last year (June 21) against the Stars, then lost his next two starts against the Stars, giving up a combined nine runs in 13 innings before winning Game 1 of the Northern Division playoffs, 6-3.

 

The Stars have won 14 of their last 17 games -- a team ERA of 3.79 that ranks 6th and a team batting average that has 2nd place West Tennessee beat by almost a quarter-point........ Huntsville's defense is the weakest in four years, but they're still 4th with a .976 percentage. Mat Gamel leads in errors (10), but it's still fewer than what he had at the end of April 2007 at Brevard County (11). Alcides Escobar leads Southern League shortstops in assists (107) and is tied for 2nd in double plays with Mark Kiger of the Diamond Jaxx. Sam Narron leads SL pitchers in fielding with Birmingham's Clayton Richard.

Mike Bell is 13-for-28 (.464) while working on an eight-game hitting streak after starting the month 2-for-12. He's already hit more doubles in 10 games this month than all of April.......Cole Gillespie is on a nine-game hitting streak (13-for-36), raising his average from .235 to .273. He's scored 10 times during the streak and driven in eight...... Michael Brantley is hitting .289 for May after finished April at .348...... Alcides Escobar put an end to a 2-for-18 slump with his first four-hit game of the season. It's his first four-hit game since going 5-for-5 last year (August 16) vs. West Tennessee....... Matt LaPorta is hitting .390 this month after finishing April at .299...... Chris Errecart is hitting .447 in May, while walking just once this month in 40 plate appearances....... Angel Salome has brushed off the inactivity of a suspension and has gone on a six-game tear, going 14-for-20 (.700), raising his average from .288 to .403. Five of his six games have been multi-hit.

[DrWood]

The reason I'm not geeked about Salome is because he is presently a DH, and the Brewers play in the NL.

Negatory, unless you know something baseball.reference doesn't know. They have him at catcher in 21 games, and the other two catchers that have played at huntsville show 15 and 1 games played at catcher, and stars have only played 37 games. And last time I looked, he hadn't made an error.