Link Report for Sun. 5/25 -- Brad Nelson with a 12th inning Granny

[Mass Haas]

Final: Brevard County 7, Dunedin (Blue Jays) 4

Brevard County Box Score

Nice relief work by Casey Baron and Omar Aguilar gave the 'Tees the opportunity to come back for the win; Andy Bouchie three singles in the cleanup spot; Taylor Green's HR was a three-run blast in the first inning; that's former Brewer farmhand Brian Wolfe (Corey Koskie trade) on a rehab assignment for the Jays...

 

Brevard County Game Log

Winning rally in the top of the 9th, down 4-3 to start --

 

• - Pitcher Change: Connor Falkenbach replaces Edward Rodriguez.
• - Jimmy Mojica singles on a ground ball to second baseman Bradley Emaus.
• - Matt Cline out on a sacrifice bunt, pitcher Connor Falkenbach to first baseman Brian Dopirak. Jimmy Mojica to 2nd.
• - Yohannis Perez singles on a line drive to center fielder Sean Shoffit. Jimmy Mojica scores.
• - Darren Ford doubles (5) on a line drive to center fielder Sean Shoffit. Yohannis Perez scores.
• - Lorenzo Cain doubles (15) on a line drive to left fielder Chris Emanuele. Darren Ford scores.
• - Taylor Green doubles (12) on a line drive to center fielder Sean Shoffit. Lorenzo Cain scores.
• - Pitcher Change: Nathan Starner replaces Connor Falkenbach.
• - Andy Bouchie grounds out to first baseman Brian Dopirak. Taylor Green to 3rd.
• - Stephen Chapman grounds out, second baseman Bradley Emaus to first baseman Brian Dopirak.

[Mass Haas]

Huntsville Pre-Game Audio Interview with LHP Brae Wright

Make sure you are on the WUMP audio archive of May 25th, then go to the 03:00 minute mark...

[Mass Haas]

Final: Birmingham (White Sox) 6, Huntsville 5

 

Huntsville Site Game Summary:

 

Torres Pitches Barons Past Stars

Stars Dislodged From Top Spot in Division

By Brett Pollock / Huntsville Stars

 

Carlos Torres spun seven solid innings and Victor Mercedes and Cole Armstrong knocked in two runs to push Birmingham past Huntsville 6-5 Sunday afternoon in the last of a five-game set at Joe Davis Stadium. The Barons took four out of five in the series to improve to 29-21 and open up a five and a half game lead on Montgomery in the South, while the Stars dropped to 31-19 and into second place, a game behind victorious West Tenn in the North Division. Huntsville lost eight of ten on the home stand with seven of the defeats by either one or two runs. The Stars had been in first place since May 4.

 

Cole Gillespie led off the home ninth with a single against Jon Link and advanced to second base on a Carlos Corporan sacrifice bunt before Guilder Rodriguez struck out and Michael Brantley flied out to end the game. Huntsville stranded nine runners in each of the first four games, 41 in the series and 95 in the ten games. Link locked down his league-high 13th save of the season and second of the series.

 

Mercedes' run-scoring ground out in the third inning gave the Barons the lead before the Stars tied the game in the home half on Alcides Escobar's fielder's choice grounder. The Barons grabbed the lead right back in the top of the fourth on Armstrong's two-run double and a wild pitch by starter Mike Jones that allowed Armstrong to score. Matt LaPorta's home run in the fourth, just the second allowed all year by Torres, trimmed the lead to 4-2.

 

Jones was removed after four frames, yielding four runs on five hits, while walking four and striking out a pair. Donovan Hand, from nearby Town Creek, AL, took over in the fifth in his double-A debut and saw his second pitch hit out of the ballpark by David Cook to give the visitors a 5-2 lead. The Stars got the run back in the bottom of the inning on a run-scoring single by Rodriguez, who then advanced to third on a hit-and-run single by Brantley. However, Escobar flied out to shallow left and Mat Gamel fouled out to end the inning.

 

Mercedes doubled in Armstrong in the sixth to extend the lead to 6-3 and was taken out of the game after re-aggravating a leg injury. He knocked in seven runs in the four games he played in during the series. Hand then settled down and retired 10 of the last 11 he faced to close out his five inning performance, giving up two runs on four hits and fanning four.

 

Torres gave up three runs on seven hits and matched a season-high with seven strikeouts and was replaced by Derek Rodriguez, who gave up a two-out, two-run home run to Chris Errecart that cut the lead to 6-5.

 

The Stars open a series Monday night in Mobile with southpaw Steve Hammond getting the starting nod against BayBears right-hander Adam Howard. 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

Michael Brantley's ankle is fine -- three singles; Mike Bell 6th, Cole Gillespie 7th in the lineup -- on a day when Angel Salome was off; Mike Jones has walked 20 and struck out only 14 in 25 closely monitored innings (5.76 ERA) -- I'd love to say all the hard work is paying off, but results, at least statistically, are minimal thus far...

 

Huntsville Game Log

[Mass Haas]

Nashville Pre-Game Audio Coaches Chat with Pitching Coach Stan Kyles

Interview focus all on Derrick Turnbow, unfortunately...

[Mass Haas]

Final: Nashville 8, Memphis (Cardinals) 7, 12 innings

Nashville Site Game Summary:

Link for Brad Nelson photo, text follows --

 

12th-Inning Nelson Slam Lifts Sounds Over 'Birds

MEMPHIS - Brad Nelson belted a two-out grand slam in the top of the twelfth inning, his second home run of the evening, and the Nashville Sounds withstood a three-run Memphis rally in the bottom of the frame to post a dramatic 8-7 victory over the first-place Redbirds on Sunday evening at AutoZone Park.

 

Nelson, who hadn't homered in a month entering the contest, drilled former Sound John Wasdin's first offering over the right field wall for his eighth home run of the year and Nashville's second slam of 2008. Ozzie Chavez, who opened the twelfth with a double, and Adam Heether and Laynce Nix, who each drew a walk, all scored on the game-winning blast.

 

AUDIO: Brad Nelson's Grand Slam

 

Memphis didn't go down without a fight, however, as Josh Phelps made it a one-run contest in the bottom of the inning when he belted a towering one-out, three-run homer to left off Sounds reliever Erasmo Ramirez, his eighth longball of the season. Ramirez recovered to retire the next two hitters in order to preserve the victory.

 

The teams had exchanged a pair of tenth-inning runs earlier in the extra frames. The contest was the fourth extra-inning affair for Nashville this season (2-2).

 

The Sounds (21-28) took their second straight from the Redbirds after losing four in a row to the division frontrunners.

 

Redbirds right fielder Joe Mather gave the home team a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when he belted a two-out solo homer to left-center off Sounds starter Lindsay Gulin. The roundtripper was his team-leading 12th of the year and third in the last three games.

 

Memphis starting pitcher Anthony Reyes helped his own cause in the third when he slugged a one-out solo homer to straightaway center off Gulin, doubling the Redbirds' lead to 2-0.

 

The Sounds broke through in the fifth as an inning-opening walk to Eric Munson came back to haunt Reyes. Ozzie Chavez halved the Memphis lead to 2-1 when he plated the third baseman with a one-out RBI single to right, only the second hit in the shortstop's last 18 at-bats.

 

After recording only two hits over the first six innings against Reyes, the Sounds took immediate advantage of the right-hander's departure in the top of the seventh.

 

Nelson ended a month-long homerless drought when he led off the seventh inning with a solo blast to right that greeted Memphis reliever Ron Flores and knotted the score at 2-2. The longball was his seventh of the year.

 

The Sounds took their first lead of the evening later in the frame against Flores. Eric Munson and Vinny Rottino followed Nelson's homer with back-to-back singles before Brendan Katin ripped an RBI double off the base of the left field wall.

 

Memphis worked out of the frame with no further damage after having runners on second and third and no outs. Flores struck out Chavez before Mark Worrell took over on the hill and fanned pinch-hitter Steve Sollmann then induced an inning-ending flyout from Callix Crabbe to keep the Redbirds within a run.

 

The Redbirds tied the contest with an unearned run in the bottom of the seventh against Sounds reliever Jason Shiell, who made his first appearance since rejoining the club from Double-A Huntsville on Friday.

 

Jarrett Hoffpauir and Colby Rasmus started things with a pair of singles before Rottino, the Nashville catcher, misplayed Bryan Anderson's sacrifice bunt in front of the plate to load the bags with none out. Hoffpauir crossed home when Shiell induced a double-play grounder from pinch-hitter David Freese, knotting things at 3-3, before the right-hander retired Brian Barden on a groundout to escape the frame without further damage.

 

With one out in the tenth, Crabbe ripped a double down the right field line off Wasdin and moved to third on Hernan Iribarren's infield single before scoring the go-ahead run on Laynce Nix's RBI single.

 

Memphis quickly responded against Nashville closer Luis Pena, snapping a string of eight straight scoreless outings (7.1 IP) for the fireballer. Freese led off with a triple off the wall in right-center then scored the tying run one batter later when Crabbe couldn't handle a Barden grounder at second.

 

Pena worked out of further damage in the tenth after walking the bases full with only one out, inducing a popout from D'Angelo Jimenez before fanning Wasdin to close the frame.

 

Ben Howard (2-1) earned the win following Nelson's heroics after working a scoreless inning of relief for the Sounds.

 

Wasdin (4-5) took the loss after giving up five runs on five hits in his three innings of work for the Redbirds.

 

Neither starting pitcher factored in the decision despite a pair of solid efforts.

 

Gulin turned in his second quality start of the year, holding Memphis to two runs on four hits while walking four batters and striking out five in a season-high-tying six frames. Both of his runs allowed came via the longball.

 

Reyes took a no-decision for the Redbirds following a solid outing. He allowed one run on two hits while fanning six over his six innings of action.

 

The teams wrap up the four-game set with a 1:05 p.m. Memorial Day matinee on Monday afternoon, the last of eight consecutive meetings between the clubs. Right-hander Jeff Weaver (1-2, 6.52) will toe the rubber for the Sounds to face Memphis right-hander P.J. Walters (2-0, 4.91).

 

Nashville Box Score

Brad Nelson at third base in Russell Branyan's absence...

 

Nashville Game Log

Luis Pena was fortunate to face pitcher John Wasdin with the bases loaded in the 10th...

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

A Handy-dandy outing

Except for one mistake pitch, former Hatton standout impressive Double A debut with Stars

By Gregg Dewalt, TimesDaily.com Sports Editor

 

HUNTSVILLE - Leaning against the clubhouse wall at Joe Davis Stadium late Sunday afternoon, Donovan Hand, still wearing his Huntsville Stars uniform minus his No. 39 jersey, was smiling about his second pitch in a Double A Southern League game.

 

Birmingham's David Cook deposited the fastball more than 400 feet away, a long home run to left field.

 

"Welcome to Double A," Hand said, laughing.

 

Hand, a former Hatton High School star, was called up to Huntsville on Friday from Brevard County, the Milwaukee Brewers Single A club in Florida.

 

After packing his things in Florida, Hand made it home to Hatton in time Saturday for he and his family to attend Saturday's game. On Sunday, he was thrust into the heat of battle in relief of Mike Jones.

 

Cook's home run not withstanding, Hand acquitted himself nicely in his first appearance in Double A. He pitched the final five innings of a 6-5 loss to the Barons, and his final line was two runs, four hits, one walk and four strikeouts. He did not factor into the decision, but came close to getting the win as Huntsville rallied from a 6-3 deficit to get within 6-5 in the eighth.

 

Huntsville put the tying run on in the ninth, but couldn't get it in.

 

Hand did his good work in front of what looked like most of the Hatton community. A large turnout of between 100 and 200 family members, relatives and friends took up a large portion or the boxseats behind home plate and down the third baseline.

 

Hand got the loudest ovation of the day when he was introduced to start the fifth inning.

 

Hand's first pitch to Cook was a fastball inside. Cook launched the second offering for his home run.

 

"After the second pitch, I saw him take a deep breath," said Hand's mother, Betty, who was wearing a Huntsville Stars t-shirt. "Hopefully, all of that is behind him."

 

"I had a few butterflies the first two innings, but after that it's just baseball - 60 feet, 6 inches, throw it in there and try to help us win the game. That's what they are paying me to do."

 

Hand impressed Don Money, his new manager.

 

"He came in and did a very good job," Money said. "He gave up the home run to the first hitter. He got shortchanged on the ground ball down to first, but after that I thought he did outstanding. He kept us in the ballgame and gave us a chance to win."

 

Money said Hand will continue in his current role of splitting time with Jones, Sunday's starter.

 

"Mike will stick with his 65 pitches and Donovan will go just like he did today," Money said. "Unless something changes."

 

Hatton baseball coach Brent Gillespie was there to watch his former player make his Stars debut. He got a call from Hand on Friday.

 

"He asked me what I had planned for Sunday at 2 p.m.," Gillespie said. "I told him nothing. I asked what he had going on, and he told me he was pitching in Huntsville."

 

Gillespie said he thought Hand might get called up after having a conversation with the scout that signed him.

 

"He told me there were some roster changes coming and was bragging on how well Donovan was doing," Gillespie said.

 

Gillespie said he has noticed some changes in Hand's delivery.

 

"He made a lot of changes when he went to Jacksonville State. He's got his hands lower. And he's made some changes since he got into pro ball. But he's still got that easy delivery. That still looks the same."

 

Hand said he hopes to pitch well enough to stay with the Stars for the remainder of the season or move up another level.

 

Huntsville is his fourth stop since being drafted last summer in the 14th round by the Brewers.

 

"I'm not surprised how fast he's moved up," Gillespie said. "It's the result of a lot of hard work."

 

http://images.timesdaily.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=FT&Date=20080526&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=805260324&Ref=AR&MaxW=600&border=0&quality=100

[gregmag]

Wow -- LaVel Freeman and Steve Stanicek. I remember following those guys and thinking how much they would help the Brewers. Thanks for the blast from the past, LouisEly. Good reminder that things could be worse, and have been.

 

As one who has pimped both Brent Brewer and Brad Nelson over the past couple of years, I have mixed emotions.

 

Bumping Brewer up to Brevard . . . wow. The organization must have great faith in his underlying skills, because he has seriously been stinking up the joint.

 

What Nelson is doing this year was entirely predictable, if you believed that (a) he really was a major hitting prospect before he got hurt, and (b) the injury was the sort that would mess up his power stroke, and accordingly his whole game, for several years. He regained his footing last year, and he's moving forward this year. The part I didn't predict was that his plate discipline would mature as if he had been on track all along. He's going to help this team as a lefthanded 4C reserve, next April at the latest, and now I'm not so sure that he couldn't start for a while, somewhere else or in Milwaukee as an injury replacement.

 

Greg.

[jvrocksaz]

Brad Nelson can fill a role much like Branyon, with a few less HR's but also alot fewer K's... His plate discipline has been amazing this year!

[uwisfan]

if the Brewers do make a playoff run, I'd like to see his bat replace Kapler or Dillon. How is the defense?

[battlekow]

FYI -- don't be surprised if you read about a certain 2nd round shortstop for the Power moving up to Brevard County early this week.

How much of his struggles are being attributed to frustration with being stuck at WV for a second year?

 

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

Hand can't save Stars

Area-born pitcher has good debut as Huntsville falls 6-5

By ALAN CLEMONS

Huntsville Times Sports Staff, alan.clemons@htimes.com

 

The crowd acknowledged his appearance from the dugout in the fifth inning as he jogged to the mound, then again with his formal introduction as the Huntsville Stars' newest pitcher.

 

These weren't polite cheers and applause. A hometown boy, so to speak, was making his debut and the woo-hooing was loud and lusty.

Town Creek is about 50 miles away, a short drive for family and friends in the seats behind home plate.

 

A few warm-up tosses, a signal from the umpire and Donovan Hand's career in Double-A was set to begin Sunday afternoon.

 

First pitch? A ball.

 

Second pitch? A towering, no-doubt, jet-fueled home run that cleared the third wall and left field berm.

 

"Welcome to Double-A, right?" Hand said with a bit of a smile after the game, which the Stars lost 6-5 to the Birmingham Barons at Joe Davis Stadium.

 

It was Huntsville's seventh defeat in eight games and not the way Stars manager Don Money would have liked to end the series before starting a 10-day road trip to Mobile, Birmingham and Chattanooga.

 

"Two more runs, that's what I'd have liked to had," Money said. "They went ahead, we tied it up, they went ahead, we get a run. The most important inning is the half-inning after you score. You get out there, shut them down and don't give up the momentum. We didn't do that."

 

Birmingham took four runs on five hits from Stars starter Mike Jones (0-2), who struck out two in four innings. Three runs came in the fourth when Jones filled the bases as the Barons picked up one on a bunt and then two more on a double to go up 4-1.

 

Huntsville got one in the bottom of the fourth on Matt LaPorta's solo homer. He added a double in the eighth, his 30th extra-base hit in 50 games, and Chris Errecart followed with a two-run homer. But it wasn't enough and Jon Link closed it down for Birmingham in the ninth for his 13th save.

 

Money said Hand, for now, will be tied with Jones in a configuration in which Jones starts every fifth day and Hand comes in, with both on a pitch count. Jones was promoted from Brevard County on May 16.

 

Hand said the tandem plan is fine with him. After pitching in Montana and West Virginia this year, then Brevard to start this season, he's just glad to be up a level.

 

Money had not seen Hand in spring training but was glad his newest hurler settled down Sunday. After allowing the home run, Hand spread out three more hits the rest of the way, striking out four and walking one in five innings.

 

"He did a very good job," Money said. "He gave up that home run and, I think, got shortchanged on a groundball call at first, but he did well, kept us in the game and gave us a chance to win. He gets after them and throws strikes."

 

Friday morning, Hand was getting ready for a Florida State League game in Dunedin when he got the promotion call. He returned home, packed his car and began driving north.

 

"I got into Atlanta about 3 a.m., got up at 8 and came on over here," Hand said, noting he played with several of the Stars teammates in Brevard County and was comfortable settling in. "It's been a whirlwind. It was good to have an idea of who was here. Guys have helped show me the ins and outs, so it hasn't been too bad."