Link Report for Games of Wednesday, May 28th

[Mass Haas]

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

[Mass Haas]

Wednesday's Daily Menu:

 

All times Central; pitchers subject to change --

 

Nashville: RHP Richie Gardner at Albuquerque (Marlins), 7:50 PM pre-game; 8:05 gametime

 

Audio link:

www.nashvillesounds.com/listenlive/

 

Huntsville: LHP David Welch at 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: RHP Alex Periard at home vs. Daytona (Cubs), 6:00 PM gametime

 

Audio link via Cubs' broadcast (game will also archive at this link):

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/multimedia/audio.jsp?cid=503&sid=t503

 

West Virginia: Idle

[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_28_nasaaa_albaaa_1

 

Huntsville:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_05_28_hunaax_mobaax_1

 

Brevard County:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_05_28_dbcafa_breafa_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 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Iowa 26 25 .510 - 17-10 9-15 W3 Memphis 27 26 .509 - 11-13 16-13 L1 Omaha 25 25 .500 0.5 14-13 11-12 W2 Nashville 21 30 .412 5.0 11-12 10-18 L2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 Southern League (AA) - SOU North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- West Tenn 33 19 .635 - 19-6 14-13 W1 Huntsville 32 20 .615 1.0 19-11 13-9 W1 Carolina 29 23 .558 4.0 14-11 15-12 L3 Chattanooga 25 27 .481 8.0 14-13 11-14 L4 Tennessee 20 32 .385 13.0 10-17 10-15 W4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 Florida State League (A+) - FSL East Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Palm Beach 31 20 .608 - 18-8 13-12 W1 Brevard County 26 25 .510 5.0 16-10 10-15 L1 Daytona 25 26 .490 6.0 11-14 14-12 W1 Vero Beach 25 26 .490 6.0 16-9 9-17 W2 Jupiter 24 27 .471 7.0 15-10 9-17 L1 St. Lucie 11 40 .216 20.0 5-21 6-19 L1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 South Atlantic League (A) - SAL Northern Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lake County 33 19 .635 - 14-12 19-7 W3 Greensboro 28 24 .538 5.0 13-13 15-11 W3 Lakewood 28 24 .538 5.0 15-13 13-11 W7 Delmarva 27 24 .529 5.5 18-11 9-13 L3 Hagerstown 27 24 .529 5.5 12-12 15-12 L1 Hickory 27 26 .509 6.5 11-16 16-10 L1 West Virginia 19 32 .373 13.5 7-17 12-15 L4 Lexington 15 36 .294 17.5 6-19 9-17 L3 

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

Power baseball sinking toward its worst half-season

by Jacob Messer

Charleston Daily Mail sportswriter

 

A highly successful streak likely will end for the West Virginia Power next month when the team takes a three-day break for the South Atlantic League All-Star Game festivities.

 

Charleston's Class A club hasn't had a losing record in seven of the last eight half-seasons, including five in a row.

 

Here is a year-by-year, half-by-half breakdown of West Virginia's winning ways:

 

2007 -- 48-20 in the first half; 34-34 in the second half.

2006 -- 39-30; 35-30.

2005 -- 25-45; 35-33 (first year as a Brewer affiliate).

2004 -- 41-29; 43-27.

Extending its streak is improbable if not impossible for the Power (19-32), which must go 16-2 in its final 18 games in the first half to avoid its first losing record in three years.

 

The last time that occurred was 2005, the team's first season in the Milwaukee Brewers' farm system. The Power lost 13 of its first 15 games, including its first seven, to finish the first half 20 games under .500 that year.

 

Incidentally, the Charleston-based franchise (then the Alley Cats) had only one winning record in 12 halves -- six seasons -- from 1998 through 2003.

 

"It's a confidence thing," said West Virginia Manager Jeff Isom, whose team was swept by the visiting Lakewood (N.J.) BlueClaws in a four-game series that ended Tuesday afternoon with a 6-5 loss in front of a Grand Slam School Day crowd of 9,140 at Appalachian Power Park. "You start winning a couple of games in a row and it builds confidence with the club."

 

The Power has had only four modest winning streaks this year -- one three-game stretch and three two-game stretches.

 

The team needs an attitude adjustment, Isom said. The problem, he believes, is the players are trying not to lose instead of trying to win.

 

"Once you are in a game, you should expect to win it," Isom said. "Right now, it feels like we just want to try to hang on and keep the game close."

 

The Power has lost nine games by one run and seven games by two runs.

 

"At the beginning of the season, we were losing games by three, four or more runs," Isom said. "Now, there are a lot of one- and two-run games.

 

"It's a credit to our players, but we have to turn that corner and we have to learn how to win games. We're close, but we're a little ways off right now. It's just a matter of finding a will and finding a way to get it done."

 

The Power led only once in the series -- 1-0 in the bottom of the first inning Tuesday -- against the BlueClaws, who scored 30 runs on 51 hits.

 

"When you put a couple of guys together and they are all hitting good at the same time, it does become contagious," said Lakewood left fielder Michael Taylor, who was 9-for-14 with two runs, three doubles, five walks and five RBI in four games against the Power.

 

"It makes it that much more difficult for the pitcher. If he has to get out six or seven guys in the lineup as opposed to one or two, it puts more pressure on him. Also, he will make more mistakes and leave more balls up, which makes it easier to hit.

 

"And this is a great hitter's ballpark. The infield is fast and the ball carries here, too. I think we had a good approach. I don't know if there was something we picked up on or not. I think we were just focused on having our plan. That was to see the ball up.

 

"They have a couple of right-handers with good sinkers, and they have a couple of left-handers who have good off-speed pitches. What we wanted to do as a unit was see balls up and then try and put our swings on them. I think the 51 hits demonstrate we were able to do that on a consistent basis."

 

T.J. Warren collected a one-out single in the top of the ninth, and Dennis Winn delivered a double to score the game-winning run, helping the BlueClaws (28-24) extend their winning streak to seven games.

[TheCrew07]

Come on Periard, tonight's the night you get on track.

 

edit. A quality start at least, he gave up 3 doubles and they all came around to score, not many SO though.

[Bambis Bombers]

It's Derrick Turnbow getting the start for Nashville. Women and children, avert your eyes...

[TheCrew07]

Normally I don't have much sympathy for guys like Turnbow, guys who I think don't have much mental toughness (ya I know mental toughness is not a popular sentiment around here). However I feel absolutely horrible for the guy, today's line....

 

1.2 IP 1 H, 6 BB, 1 SO, 2 ER

 

His ERA now stands at 13.5 in AAA for a guy that once converted 51 of 55 (or something very close) save opportunities in the bigs.

[SoCalBrewfan]

I think it's easy to forget that these guys are human beings...it must truly stink to have lost it the way Turnbow has. Someone might point to the money, but he's got to be just shredded mentally right now.

 

Meanwhile, after 7 HR in 1600 previous minor league at bats, Alcides Escobar has 5 in about 200 this year. Something must be leaking out of the NASA facility into the city water in Huntsville.

[twobrewers]

Gamel has been on base in 42 straight games. He is 1-3 tonight with another HR. (Thus lowering his average!)

 

Aguilar pitches two scoreless. Very nice debut.

 

I actually think Turnbow might just retire after this year. This has to take a toll.

[And That]

The Brewers might be close to cutting bait on Turnbow. I sure don't see him turning it around this year. Too bad.

 

Edit: Periard with 16 (!) ground ball outs tonight vs 2 fly ball outs. Good stuff.

[TheCrew07]

You know I've always been high on him too, but only 2 Strike Outs, which worries me some as he's difficult to project. He doesn't walk anyone, but he doesn't strike anyone out either. He's got plenty of potential though.

[Mass Haas]

Wow, that is a brutal loss in the bottom of the 9th for Huntsville, details in a bit.

 

Juan Sandoval, meet your new closer, Omar Aguilar. Tough night for Juan.

[Mass Haas]

Final: Mobile (Diamondbacks) 4, Huntsville 2

 

Huntsville Press Release:

 

Mercado Belts BayBears Past Stars

HUNTSVILLE'S STRUGGLES CONTINUE IN LATE LOSS

 

Orlando Mercado blasted the game-winning home run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, as Mobile came back to stun Huntsville 4-2 Wednesday night in the middle of a five-game set at Hank Aaron Stadium. The BayBears won for a second time in the series to improve to 22-31, while the Stars dropped to 32-21 and missed an opportunity to move into a first place tie with West Tenn in the North Division. Huntsville lost for a third time this year, and second time in the last six games, when taking a lead into the ninth inning.

 

Omar Aguilar retired all six batters he faced in his double-A debut and was followed to the hill in the ninth by Juan Sandoval, who inherited a 2-0 lead. The Stars closer walked Yunesky Sanchez to start the inning and put Cesar Nicolas on with a free pass with one out before Cyle Hankerd flied out for the second out. Frank Curreri doubled into right field on an 0-2 pitch to deliver Sanchez and move Nicolas to third. Mercado then launched a 2-2 pitch over the wall in left for the decisive blow and his second home run of the year. Sandoval was tagged with his second loss of the season, both coming in the last six games and both in blown save situations.

 

Mat Gamel's leadoff home run in the fourth, a titanic blast over the clubhouse building and batting cage beyond the wall in right field, staked the Stars to a 1-0 lead. The Stars have scored first in all three games in the series and have done so twice with a long ball. Alcides Escobar led off the sixth with a home run, his fifth of the season, to give the visitors a 2-0 lead. It marked the third time this season, all at home, that BayBears starter Tony Barnette had yielded a pair of long balls in a game. Barnette was lifted after seven innings, giving up two runs on five hits, walking one and fanning three.

 

Stars' starter David Welch tossed six shutout frames, allowing three hits, while walking three and fanning two. The Stars had Michael Brantley at third base with nobody out in the eighth inning and could not push him across for an insurance run. Huntsville has dropped ten of its last 13 games, with nine of the losses coming by either one or two runs.

 

The series continues Thursday night with southpaw Brae Wright taking the hill for Huntsville against BayBears' right-hander Hector Ambriz. 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

Outstanding efforts by David Welch and Omar Aguilar; Matt LaPorta only 9-for-his-last-46; this lineup is so much more fun when Angel Salome and Mike Bell aren't given a night off -- love to see when they have the 1-through-8 thunder scorecard...

 

Huntsville Game Log

Carlos Corporan did have a nice game behind the plate, however, gunning down two runners; Steve Hammond an odd pinch-hit choice in the 7th -- I guess it was truly a "night off" for some; Michael Brantley caught stealing home to end what turned out to be a disastrous 8th inning...

[Mass Haas]

Final: Brevard County 7, Daytona (Cubs) 4

Brevard County Box Score

Alex Periard faced 30 batters in his 6 2/3 innings, in an eventful outing which, as discussed above, featured 16 ground ball outs (nine hits, three runs, three walks, two K's); Cubs reliever Jeremy Papelbon is not Jonathan's clone, fortunate for the Manatees on this night; Yohannis Perez 2-for-4 on the eve of Brent Brewer's arrival in Melbourne; Lorenzo Cain in center as Darren Ford is your DH for the night; despite the seven runs in this game, note the precipitous drops in a few of the Manatee batting averages as of late...

 

Brevard County Game Log

[Mass Haas]

Continuing the series via the Nashville site -- Hardball Mysteries: Ducks On The Pond

[Mass Haas]

Brevard County Game Summary from the Cubs Site:

[VIERA, FL] After a blowout win and a day off the Daytona Cubs were eager to get back to .500 and bring the Brevard County Manatees to that mark as well. However, after a fifth inning rally by the Manatees gave the lead, Daytona found itself in the "L" column with a 7-4 loss.

 

For the second game in a row, Cubs manager Jody Davis placed Tony Thomas at the top of the lineup and once again Thomas made Davis look good. He led off the game with a double down the leftfield line against Alexandre Periard. After an infield single moved him to third, Ty Wright grounded into a fielder's choice to plate Thomas and give the Cubs a 1-0 lead.

 

In the second the Manatees were ready to strike back… with patience. Cubs starter Jose Ceda struggled with his control loading the bases with a hit batsman and two walks. Kenny Holmberg had a chance to give Brevard County the lead, but grounded into a 5-3-2 double play to keep a run off of the board. One batter later, Ceda walked another batter to load the bases again. In the high pressure situation, Ceda bore down to strike out Yohannis Perez to end the inning and preserve the one-run lead.

 

In the fourth the Cubs had plans to extend their lead. With one out, Blake Lalli roped a double to put a man in scoring position. Welington Castillo's strikeout to follow forced Daytona into two-out rally mode. After a walk, the Cubs got the clutch hit. Jonathan Wyatt hit a seeing -eye single through the infield to score Lalli and give Daytona a 2-0 lead after three and a half innings.

 

Daytona continued to inch away from Brevard County in the fifth. Thomas hit his second double of the game on fly ball to right field. Chuck Caufield couldn't find the ball until it landed, allowing Thomas to get to second. After advancing to third on a groundout, Ty Wright put down a rare, two-out bunt down. The play caught the Manatees defense off guard and allowed Thomas to score on the base hit. The Cubs led 3-0 after the top of the fifth.

 

In the fifth, Brevard County reached the scoreboard. With two strikes, Ceda hit Martin Maldonado with a pitch. Next, Perez got the first Manatees hit of the game to put runners on the corners. Leadoff man Darren Ford followed with a deep blast to centerfield. It did not leave the park, but was far enough away to bring in Maldonado. After another walk to Lorenzo Cain, Davis brought in Jeremy Papelbon from the bullpen.

 

Taylor Green was the first to challenge Papelbon and smoked two balls down the line. The first had home run distance, but was foul down the rightfield line. The very next pitch was a rope down the leftfield line for an RBI double to put the Manatees within one. Cleanup man Chuck Caufield singled to tie the game at three. During Stephen Chapman's at bat, a Papelbon wild pitch allowed Green to score and gave Brevard County a 4-3 lead.

 

In the sixth, the Manatees started to pull away against Papelbon. With two outs, Perez squeaked a single past Thomas for his second hit of the game. After a wild pitch moved him to third, Ford knocked single to the outfield. The hit scored Perez and gave Brevard County a two run lead. After a third consecutive single, Davis brought in Mike Phelps to finish the inning. He did after just one pitch, but Brevard County held a 5-3 lead.

 

Stephen Chapman put immediate pressure on Phelps in the seventh with a one out triple to rightfield. After a walk, a wild pitch scored Chapman and gave Brevard County a 6-3 advantage. Charlie Fermaint moved to third on the play. Fermaint could not score as he was thrown out on a fielder's choice, but the Cubs hole was three runs after the seventh inning.

 

In the eighth the Cubs needed runs in a hurry with just six outs to go in the game. After Castillo struckout, Yusuf Carter struck hard. He smoked a solo shot to leftfield to put the Cubs within two runs. Daytona, however, would not score again in the eighth or the ninth while the Manatees added an insurance run to win 7-4.

 

The Daytona Cubs finish their three-game set against the Brevard County Manatees on Thursday night from Space Coast Stadium at 7:00 PM (6:00 Central).

[LouisEly]

And despite Turnbow's struggles, the Isotopes only score three all night. Nelson decided to get back on track after an 0-4 yesterday, going 2-3 with a double and two walks - on base 4 of 5 plate attempts. The sample size keeps getting bigger.

 

One guy who's been quietly struggling has been Stephen Chapman. He's really struggled with finding hits and getting on base. Amazingly he has six triples already this year - perhaps his HRs in a tougher park/league are going for triples instead.

[TuesdaysWithRillo]

Nice start by David Welch. Looks like we're going to have some decent pitching in AAA next year.

[Mass Haas]

Final: Nashville 11, Albuquerque (Marlins) 3

 

Nashville Site Game Summary:

Link for Vinny Rottino photo, text follows --

 

Sounds Return Favor, Hammer Isotopes 11-3

ALBUQUERQUE - The Nashville Sounds cranked out 11 runs on 14 hits to hang an 11-3 loss on Albuquerque on Wednesday night at Isotopes Park, evening the series at one game apiece.

 

The final score was reversed from Tuesday's series opener, which saw the Isotopes net an 11-3 victory.

 

The Sounds took an early 1-0 lead when Callix Crabbe (3-for-5) led off the contest with a single to extend his hit streak to eight straight games and scored two batters later on a Laynce Nix RBI single.

 

Albuquerque responded with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the frame against Derrick Turnbow, who got the start for the Sounds. After walking the bases loaded with one out, Turnbow surrendered a two-run double to Tagg Bozied, which gave the Isotopes a 2-1 lead.

 

In his 1 2/3 inning stint, Turnbow allowed two runs on one hit while walking six batters and fanning one. He threw only 21 of his 52 pitches for strikes.

 

Richie Gardner (4-1), the scheduled Nashville starter, took over following Turnbow's departure and turned in his finest outing of the year, allowing five hits over 5 1/3 scoreless innings while striking out five batters to earn the win.

 

Nashville knotted the score at 2-2 in the second when Vinny Rottino delivered a bases-loaded, one-out RBI single to plate Crabbe after Albuquerque elected to intentionally walk the red-hot Brad Nelson in front of him. The Sounds missed a chance to do further damage in the frame as Isotopes starter Dallas Trahern retired the next two batters in order.

 

The Sounds grabbed a 5-2 lead in the fifth with a two-out rally against Trahern. Nelson (2-for-3) ripped a ground-rule double to left-center and scored the go-ahead run when Rottino followed with an RBI single to center. J.R. Hopf followed with his first home run of the season, a two-run shot to left, to increase the visitors' advantage to three.

 

AUDIO: J.R. Hopf Home Run

 

Nashville made it an 10-2 contest in the top of the eighth with yet another two-out rally, putting the game out of reach with five runs in the frame against Jesus Delgado.

 

After the first two batters were retired, Brendan Katin and Ozzie Chavez reached on back-to-back singles before Adam Heether, hitting for Gardner, slugged the Sounds' first pinch-hit homer of the year, a three-run shot to left. The roundtripper was Heether's fifth of the campaign.

 

The rally didn't stop there as Crabbe singled, his second hit of the night, and Tony Gwynn drew a walk before Nix cleared the bases with a two-run double to right that chased Delgado.

 

Zach Jackson followed Gardner to the hill for Nashville and allowed one run over two innings in his first outing since being optioned back to the club from Milwaukee.

 

Crabbe wrapped up the evening's scoring in the top of the ninth when his two-out RBI single off Marcus Gwyn plated Hopf to bring the score to its final 11-3.

 

Trahern (0-5) remained winless on the year after he surrendered five runs on seven hits while striking out six batters in his five frames of action.

The teams continue the series with another 8:05 p.m. CT meeting on Thursday. Left-hander Sam Narron (2-0, 3.46), a winner in his first two starts with the Sounds, will man the bump for Nashville to face Albuquerque right-hander Bobby Keppel (6-3, 5.58).

 

Nashville Box Score

Not only couldn't Derrick Turnbow find the plate, Vinny Rottino's defensive stats take a hit as the Isotopes were 6-for-6 in stolen bases during Turnbow's brief stint; Callix Crabbe on base four times, matching Brad Nelson; from left-to-right -- Katin, Gwynn, Nix upon Tony's arrival; Adam Heether's 9-for-29 with seven walks in his last ten games -- nice...

 

Nashville Game Log

[Mass Haas]

Nashville Pre-Game Audio Chat with Reliever Luis Pena

Cool, the first time we've heard the Venezuelan righty over the years...

[Mass Haas]

Mini-note from Mobile:

BATS FLY AT THE HANK: Wednesday night's game was full of flying objects.

Mat Gamel broke the third bat of the series for Huntsville, and BayBears third baseman Cesar Nicolas lost control of his bat and watched as it went sailing into the stands behind the Stars' dugout in the opening inning.

Huntsville's Matt LaPorta let the bat get away from him twice in the top of the eighth, nearly hitting teammate Chris Errecart in the on-deck circle.

[JohnBriggs12]

"I actually think Turnbow might retire after this year."

 

I don't think it's going to be his choice.

 

Yeah it's tough for a guy who could once do it to no longer be able to, but in the big scheme of things, it just brings Turnbow back to the level of people like us who can't pitch professionally either. Turnbow was lucky in that it happened after he signed a hefty contract. It happens to other guys before they ever get to the big leagues.

 

It's not like it hasn't happened before. I urge all of you (if you never read it), to pick up a book by Pat Jordan, a phenom pitcher in the Milwaukee Braves organization circa 1960, called "A False Spring". Jordan was a hard throwing guy who completely lost the ability to throw strikes while in the minor leagues. It documents what he went through mentally and how he was able to handle it and go on to a new career in writing (he ended up writing for Sports Illustrated at one time).

[JJHardy7]

Not only couldn't Derrick Turnbow find the plate, Vinny Rottino's defensive stats take a hit as the Isotopes were 6-for-6 in stolen bases during Turnbow's brief stint;

 

That is a shocking statistic. I wish the best for Turnbow, but it just doesn't look like he's going to get it together.

 

Is there any word on why Turnbow made the start?