Link Report for Wed. 5/21 -- Jeffress K's 10, Nine Swinging (99 MPH)

[Mass Haas]

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

[Mass Haas]

Wednesday's Daily Menu: With a Power twinbill, it's actually three times a lunchtime audio treat!

All times Central; pitchers subject to change --

 

Nashville: RHP Jeff Weaver at home vs. Memphis (Cardinals), 11:45 AM pre-game; 12:00 PM gametime

 

Audio link:

www.nashvillesounds.com/listenlive/

 

Huntsville: LHP Steve Hammond at home vs. Birmingham (White Sox), 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 Jeremy Jeffress at home vs. Sarasota (Reds), 6:00 PM gametime

 

Sorry, no audio for this series...

West Virginia: RHP's Evan Anundsen and Rob Bryson in a double-dip at Lake County (Indians), 10:50 AM pre-game, 11:05 gametime; both games will be seven innings; because one contest is a make-up of a rained-out game in Charleston, you'd think the Power would be the "home team" for a game, but the early linescores don't indicate that is the case...

 

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]

This is easily the most interesting collective group of starting pitchers we've seen on a single day this year, not even close, really. Here's to a productive day.

[Mass Haas]

Follow Wednesday'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_21_mrbaaa_nasaaa_1

 

Huntsville:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_05_21_biraax_hunaax_1

 

Brevard County:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_05_21_sarafa_breafa_1

 

West Virginia Game One:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_05_21_wvaafx_lcoafx_1

 

West Virginia Game Two:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_05_21_wvaafx_lcoafx_2

[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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Memphis 23 23 .500 - 9-11 14-12 W1 Iowa 22 22 .500 - 13-9 9-13 W2 Omaha 19 24 .442 2.5 11-13 8-11 L2 Nashville 19 25 .432 3.0 11-10 8-15 L1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 Southern League (AA) - SOU North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Huntsville 30 15 .667 - 18-7 12-8 L2 West Tenn 28 17 .622 2.0 15-5 13-12 L1 Carolina 26 19 .578 4.0 11-9 15-10 W2 Chattanooga 24 21 .533 6.0 14-11 10-10 W2 Tennessee 16 30 .348 14.5 6-15 10-15 L2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 Florida State League (A+) - FSL East Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Palm Beach 28 17 .622 - 17-8 11-9 W2 Brevard County 24 21 .533 4.0 15-10 9-11 W4 Daytona 23 22 .511 5.0 9-10 14-12 L1 Jupiter 22 23 .489 6.0 13-7 9-16 L1 Vero Beach 21 24 .467 7.0 14-7 7-17 L1 St. Lucie 9 36 .200 19.0 5-20 4-16 W1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 South Atlantic League (A) - SAL Northern Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lake County 28 16 .636 - 12-10 16-6 L1 Greensboro 25 20 .556 3.5 10-12 15-8 W1 Delmarva 23 20 .535 4.5 15-10 8-10 L1 Hagerstown 23 21 .523 5.0 10-11 13-10 W3 Hickory 24 22 .522 5.0 8-12 16-10 W8 Lakewood 21 24 .467 7.5 12-13 9-11 L1 West Virginia 17 26 .395 10.5 7-13 10-13 W1 Lexington 13 31 .295 15.0 5-16 8-15 L3 

[Mass Haas]

Nashville Pre-Game Audio Chat with Milwaukee Brewers GM Doug Melvin (Part 1 of 2)

 

Via the Nashville Site: "Can of Corn"

[Mass Haas]

Final, Game One: Lake County (Indians) 4, West Virginia 3, eight innings (scheduled for seven)

 

West Virginia Game One Box Score

The bullpen has been taxed as of late, so RHP Jose Garcia was brought in behind Evan Anundsen in a tight situation he may not have seen otherwise -- he pitched a scoreless 7th before a leadoff walk in the 8th led to the loss; Eric Farris two singles and a walk; Steffan Wilson ejected after arguing balls and strikes in the first inning; Evan Anundsen did not walk a batter in his six-inning, three-run effort...

 

West Virginia Game One Game Log

You'll see that overall the Power had more scoring chances, but it wasn't enough to prevail...

[Mass Haas]

Final: Memphis (Cardinals) 7, Nashville 6

Nashville Site Game Summary:
Link for Russell Branyan photo (who else?), text follows --

High-Scoring Contest Ends in 7-6 Sounds Loss

NASHVILLE - Despite plating six runs on 11 hits, the Nashville Sounds were unable to top the Memphis Redbirds in a 7-6 loss on Wednesday afternoon at Greer Stadium.

Russell Branyan homered and Brad Nelson added two RBIs for the Sounds, but the Redbirds offense proved too much for Nashville. There was back-and-forth scoring the entire game, but a four-run rally in the top of the seventh gave the final advantage to Memphis.

Redbirds starting pitcher J.P. Walters (2-0) turned in a quality start to earn his second win of the season, pitching six innings and giving up only three runs. Josh Phelps produced the first runs of the game when he hammered a two-run bomb off Sounds starter Jeff Weaver that sailed over the center field wall in the top of the first inning. It was his sixth home run of the year, with all of them coming off right-handed pitchers. Cody Haerther scored on the homer after reaching on an infield single earlier in the inning.

Nashville responded in the bottom half of the inning when Hernan Iribarren doubled to right-center field and then moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Callix Crabbe, who reached on an error by Redbirds starter P.J. Walters. Laynce Nix then collected an RBI when he hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score Iribarren. With that RBI, Nix now has six in his last six games.

Branyan gave the Sounds the lead in the bottom of the third inning when he belted his team-leading 12th home run of the year over the right field wall on the first pitch of the at-bat. The longball was a two-run shot that scored Brad Nelson from first base after he singled in the previous at-bat. With the dinger, Branyan increased his team-leading RBI total to 36.

AUDIO: Russell Branyan Two-Run HR

Not to be outdone by Branyan, Memphis right fielder Joe Mather cranked a solo home run off the guitar scoreboard in left field to tie the game up at three in the top of the fourth inning. The homer was Mather's ninth of the year and third in the last five games.

The lead-swapping continued in the bottom of the fifth inning when Nashville plated its fourth run of the game. Crabbe led off with a walk and then moved to third when Memphis first baseman Phelps sailed a throw meant for second base into center field on a ground ball from Nix that could have been a double play. Nelson followed with a sacrifice fly that scored Crabbe from third for the unearned run.

After a rare scoreless inning for both teams in the sixth, the Redbirds mounted a four-run rally in the top of the seventh inning. David Freese doubled on a line drive to left field to start things off and was followed by a Colby Rasmus walk. Nashville reliever Mitch Stetter then replaced Weaver and induced a ground ball from Bryan Anderson that forced Rasmus out at second. Steve Bray relieved Stetter after his only batter faced and had an inning he probably would like to forget.

Pinch-hitter Nick Stavinoha singled off Bray to score Freese from third with the tying run, and Anderson scored to give the visitors a 5-4 advantage when Jarret Hoffpauir reached on a fielder's choice to shortstop Adam Heether. Heether made the stab up the middle but second baseman Iribarren could not handle his backhand toss, so all runners were safe on the play. Haerther followed with a single to left that scored Stavinoha from second, and the final run of the inning was scored after Bray gave up two straight walks to Mather and Phelps, with Hoffpauir scoring on the walk to Phelps.

Weaver (1-2), who took the loss, was charged with one of the runs on the inning, bringing his line to five earned runs over 6 1/3 innings pitched with five strikeouts. Bray pitched two more scoreless innings to bring his total to two runs over 2 1/3 innings.

Nashville made things interesting in the bottom of the ninth when pinch-hitter Mel Stocker started a rally with a double to center field for the Sounds against Redbirds reliever Jason Motte. Iribarren followed with an RBI single to score Stocker and moved to second after Crabbe hit another single in the next at-bat. Nelson added another single to score Iribarren and put two men on base for the red-hot Branyan, but he popped out to third for the second out. The Sounds were unable to capitalize on the opportunity when Ron Flores was brought in to relieve Motte and struck out Vinny Rottino on a 3-2 pitch to earn the save.

For the game, Nashville left nine men on base and had their 22-game stolen base streak snapped when Eric Munson was caught at home on a double steal attempt.

The Sounds will finish their eight-game homestand on Thursday night against the Redbirds at 7:00 p.m. at Greer Stadium. Southpaw Chris Narveson (2-5, 4.26) will start for Nashville against righty Blake Hawksworth (4-1, 6.90) for Memphis.

Nashville Box Score
Doug Melvin had to come away impressed with both Russell Branyan and Brad Nelson this week; Steve Bray's mystifying 2008 troubles continue...

Nashville Game Log

[Mass Haas]

After tying Game Two 2-2 in the top of the final (7th) inning, the Power had runners on 1st and 3rd with one out when a weak David Fonseca pop-up and a Uly Snijders pickoff on the fake-throw-to-third-turn-to-first play (ugh!) ended their chance and effectively the game, as the Captains scored the winning run off Reed Dickert in the bottom of the frame. 3-2 Lake County.

 

Hardly household names mentioned above, but still a painfully frustrating dual loss for the Power today.

 

Details later on...

[Mass Haas]

West Virginia Site Doubleheader Summary:

REALINI'S HEROICS CATAPAULT CAPTAINS OVER POWER

 

Dustin Realini delivered two big hits in Wednesday's doubleheader at Classic Park. He ripped a game-winning RBI single in the eighth inning of game one to give the Captains a 4-3 victory and did the same thing in the seventh inning of game two as the Captains beat the Power 3-2.

 

The Captains plated the first run of game one on Lucas Montero's RBI single in the bottom of the third. West Virginia then scored three times with two outs in the top of the fourth to take the lead. With runners on first and third, Brent Brewer stole second base, and on the throw down to second Caleb Gindl scored to tie the game. Brewer scored on Curt Rindal's base hit and Scott Houin capped the three-run frame with an RBI double. Montero struck again with a solo homer in the fifth inning to cut the lead to one and the Captains tied the game in the sixth inning when Roman Pena scored on Realini's sacrifice fly. Realini was the hero in the bottom of the eighth as he singled into left field and brought Pena in again to win the game.

 

Mark Thompson and Ramon Hernandez ripped back-to-back RBI singles with two outs in the second inning of game two to give the Captains an early lead. West Virginia plated two runs in the seventh inning to tie the game. Vinnie Pestano's balk allowed Brent Brewer to score before Uly Snijders ripped a single into center-field to score Houin. With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the inning, Realini singled into left to score Montero.

 

In game one Dallas Cawiezell (2-1) tossed a scoreless inning of relief and got the win while Jose Garcia (1-2) was tagged with the loss after allowing a run on two hits over an inning and a third. Vinnie Pestano (1-0) got the win in game two, even though he allowed a pair of inherited runs to score. Reed Dickert (0-2) was tagged with the loss after allowing a run on two hits through an inning and a third.

 

The Power fell to 17-28 with the losses and the Captains improved to 30-16 with the wins. Eric Farris reached three times in game one, going 2-for-3 with a pair of singles and a walk. Scott Houin had West Virginia's only multi-hit game in the second contest, going 2-for-3. West Virginia had no extra base hits in game two. Steffan Wilson was ejected in the first inning of game one by home plate umpire Will Little for arguing balls and strikes and Little tossed Lake County pitching coach Ruben Niebla four innings later for the same reason.

 

The Power will continue their five game series against Lake County in Eastlake, Ohio on Thursday morning. Right hander R.J. Seidel (1-3, 5.18) will get the start for the Power and the Captains will counter with right hander Chris Archer (1-6, 5.18). The first pitch is scheduled for 11:05 AM (10:05 Central).

 

West Virginia Game Two Box Score

 

West Virginia Game Two Game Log

[Mass Haas]

Jeremy Jeffress through four innings -- no runs, four hits, no walks, eight K's (seven swinging).

 

Manatees up, 5-0, after four, Taylor Green a two-run HR in the first.

 

EDIT: Five innings, no runs, four hits, 1 BB, 10 K's, nine swinging http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

 

 

[And That]

Since when does Brad Nelson have 25 walks and 24 strikeouts? He's had a heckuva May in the plate discipline department... 18 walks and 10 Ks. That aspect of his game has flown under my radar until now.

[wcswimmer712]

Why was Jeffress removed after cruising through 5 innings? Are they trying to ease him back from suspension?

Great to see this from Jeremy.

[And That]

Great outing from Jeffress, maybe the best of his career.

 

I'm guessing he was pulled due to a pitch count. He's probably at about an 80-90 pitch limit, and 10 K's will drive up your pitch total even without a lot of walks and hits.

[twobrewers]

That is a very impressive outing for Jeffress.

We really need a pitching prospect to blossom. So far several have had difficult springs.

[And That]

My biggest problem with Brantley is now that he's not hitting in the middle .300's, he is only slugging .364 and he's only (well, "only") walked 20 times over 176 ABs so his OPS is dropping precipitously as his BA drops.

[TheCrew07]

Wow young JJ... I echo And That, this is the best outing of his career, and I must say, I'm somewhat floored by it... Nice job young man. If we were to see a line like that I would have thought it would have come much later in the year.

 

Anundsen and Bryson pitched pretty well respectively, too bad WV continues to struggle at the plate.

 

Brantley's OPS doesn't bother me all that much... not yet.

[molitor fan]

You heard it here first - Jeremy Jeffress - Brewer post-season 2008 closer

[uwisfan]

You heard it here first - Jeremy Jeffress - Brewer post-season 2008 closer

Interesting thought..like maybe since he didnt get the innings to start the season, you're thinking he could be seeing Winter League play?

 

[PlayerHader]

I'm jacked to follow Jeffress's lines again. Great job tonight. Still, looking at that lineup he faced, if he had struggled I'd have been very concerned.

[PlayerHader]

LaPorta's recent struggles continue. He's hitting under .300 as of right now.

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

You heard it here first - Jeremy Jeffress - Brewer post-season 2008 closer

Since our postseason odds are at about 10% right now, that's a long shot.

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

Interesting thought..like maybe since he didnt get the innings to start the season, you're thinking he could be seeing Winter League play?

I think that would be a great idea depending on how he's doing at the end of the year. I want Jeffress to be a starter though, not a closer. We have Pena and Aguilar with enough potential as closers. Jeffress's value as a starter would be 10 times higher.

[dadofandrew]

Brantley is very young and has a .400 OBP. He's a stud.