Link Report for Games of Saturday, June 14th

[Mass Haas]

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

[Mass Haas]

In honor of the 1981 horror spoof flick, "Saturday the 14th" , which co-starred then 20-year-old Kari Michaelson, who beat out Helen Hunt for the role of Katie on the sitcom "Gimme a Break!". A TV crush I'm still not over -- anyway, back to the Link Report basics...

Saturday's Daily Menu:

 

All times Central; pitchers subject to change --

 

Nashville: RHP Richie Gardner at Iowa (Cubs), 6:50 PM pre-game; 7:05 gametime

 

Audio link:

www.nashvillesounds.com/listenlive/

 

Huntsville: LHP Brae Wright at Jacksonville (Dodgers), 5:50 PM pre-game; 6:05 gametime

 

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

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

 

Brevard County: The Manatees' staff hosts the All-Star Game -- 6:15 gametime, check out the tail end of this thread for details, including box score and audio links

 

West Virginia: RHP Amaury Rivas at home vs. Greensboro (Marlins), 5:50 PM pre-game, 6:05 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]

Nashville's game at Iowa is also available for subscription viewing at MiLB.TV.

 

If receding flood waters allow, of course...

[Mass Haas]

Follow Saturday'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_06_14_nasaaa_iowaaa_1

 

Huntsville:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_06_14_hunaax_jaxaax_1

 

West Virginia:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_06_14_gboafx_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):

 

[Mass Haas]

 Pacific Coast League (AAA) - PCL American North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Iowa 37 29 .561 - 19-11 18-18 L2 Omaha 33 33 .500 4.0 15-19 18-14 W4 Memphis 34 35 .493 4.5 15-17 19-18 L1 Nashville 27 39 .409 10.0 15-16 12-23 L5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 Southern League (AA) - SOU North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Huntsville 40 28 .588 - 22-13 18-15 L2 West Tenn 40 28 .588 - 23-10 17-18 W1 Carolina 37 31 .544 3.0 19-14 18-17 W2 Chattanooga 36 32 .529 4.0 20-15 16-17 L1 Tennessee 26 42 .382 14.0 13-22 13-20 L7 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 Florida State League (A+) - FSL East Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Palm Beach 41 26 .612 - 26-11 15-15 L2 Brevard County 34 32 .515 6.5 21-14 13-18 L1 Daytona 33 34 .493 8.0 15-17 18-17 W2 Vero Beach 32 34 .485 8.5 20-12 12-22 L3 Jupiter 32 35 .478 9.0 18-12 14-23 L2 St. Lucie 18 49 .269 23.0 9-26 9-23 L2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 South Atlantic League (A) - SAL Northern Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lake County 40 27 .597 - 18-17 22-10 W1 Greensboro 38 30 .559 2.5 17-18 21-12 L1 Delmarva 37 30 .552 3.0 21-12 16-18 L1 Lakewood 37 31 .544 3.5 19-15 18-16 W1 Hagerstown 32 34 .485 7.5 16-20 16-14 L2 West Virginia 30 37 .448 10.0 11-20 19-17 W1 Hickory 29 39 .426 11.5 13-20 16-19 W1 Lexington 21 46 .313 19.0 10-24 11-22 L1 

[Mass Haas]

We think it's postponed, although the teams could play in an empty stadium...

DES MOINES, Iowa -- The Iowa Cubs vs. the Nashville Sounds Saturday night game at Principal Park has been postponed due to the evacuations of the city Des Moines and flood recovery, team officials said Saturday morning.

Andrea Breen with the I-Cubs said the two teams might play Saturday night if field conditions allow, however fans will not be admitted.

People with tickets to Saturday's game will be treated as a rainout, meaning you can exchange tickets for any home Iowa Cubs game in the 2008 regular season except for July 3.

Information about Sunday's doubleheader will be announced Sunday morning.

Breen said parking lots around Principal Park are still not accessible due to levees that were built to keep flowing water from the Des Moines and Raccoon Rivers out of downtown Des Moines.

[TheCrew07]

Nashville loses but Katin goes Yaya again, too bad he doesn't walk more... 6 BBs to 63 SOs thus far.

 

Rivas with 4Ks through 2.

 

Huntsville and Jacksonville knotted at 1.

[battlekow]

In addition to Rivas' nice start for WV, Mercedes pitched 3.3 "perfect" relief innings (there was an error) with 4 K's. Nice to see.

[uwisfan]

Update: Jaxx up 7-2 in the 8th, Stars win

 

Gamel definitely has the yips.. his 6th error in about a week now

[DHonks]

Does Mercedes have the stuff to be a closer?

[uwisfan]

Stars hang on for the win. One more road win still necessary.. hard to believer with all this hitting talent, they might still lose the division.

[battlekow]

Does Mercedes have the stuff to be a closer?

I'd love to get a first-hand report of what exactly Roque is throwing these days.

 

[TheCrew07]

Wouldn't Pogo know? Too bad he's been so busy this year.

[pogokat]

Roque wasn't throwing all that hard last year...maybe low 90's...i would describe what i've seen of him in person as awful...so maybe something has changed?

[twobrewers]

i would describe what i've seen of him in person as awful

So basically the box scores are pretty accurate representations. That is unfortunate.

[jjfanec]

Did I read somewhere that Katin has the Huntsville record with 25 home runs? LaPorta put out number 19 tonight in game 67. If he does not get moved up he will shatter that record. Braun would have easily set it but he only played 59 games and hit 15 home runs. Prince played 136 games and hit 23 home runs. I know LaPorta is old for that league but that is impressive

[Mass Haas]

Final: Huntsville 4, Jacksonville (Dodgers) 1

 

Huntsville Site Game Summary:

 

Wright Outstanding in Pitching Stars to Win

Huntsville Hangs on to Lead in Division

By Brett Pollock / Huntsville Stars

Brae Wright tossed seven strong innings and Matt LaPorta added two insurance runs with a late home run in Huntsville's crucial 4-1 win Saturday night over Jacksonville in the fourth of a five-game set at the Baseball Grounds. The Stars improved to 41-28 and held on to a share of the lead with West Tenn in the North Division with one game to go in the first half, as the Diamond Jaxx were victorious at home vs. Chattanooga 8-2. The Stars won for just a third time in their last 14 games in Jacksonville.

 

Alcides Escobar singled with one out in the first, moved to third base on a Mat Gamel single and scored on an Angel Salome groundout to give the visitors the lead against Mario Alvarez, who went one inning in his return from the disabled list in his 10th start of the season. Jacksonville tied the game in the bottom of the inning when Jamie Hoffman singled with two outs, stole second and scored on a Mark Bellhorn base hit.

 

The Stars regained the lead in the fifth when Escobar reached on a fielder's choice, moved to third on a broken bat single by Gamel and scored on a wild pitch by Marlon Arias, who took over in the fourth after two scoreless frames by Scott Elbert. The Stars received a leadoff triple from Cole Gillespie in the sixth but could not score after Mike Bell grounded out to shortstop and Freddy Parejo's bouncer was fielded at first by Bellhorn, who threw out Gillespie at the plate.

 

Arias lasted four frames, allowing a run on three hits, walking three and recording one strikeout. Brian Akin took over and worked a scoreless eighth before giving up a two-out long ball to LaPorta in the ninth. It was his league-leading 19th home run of the season and first in the series.

 

Wright allowed only a one-out single to Lucas May after the first inning and was aided by inning-ending ground ball double plays in the fourth and seventh innings. He walked four, struck out two and earned his fourth win in his last five starts to improve to 5-6. Joe Bateman worked a scoreless eighth inning before surrendering a leadoff hit to May to open the ninth. The Huntsville hurler hit Juan Gonzalez with one out to bring the potential tying run to the plate but worked out of trouble by striking out Adam Godwin and getting pinch-hitter Matthew Berezay to ground out to first to end the game. He nailed down his fourth save of the season and first since April 16.

 

The series wraps up Sunday afternoon with right-hander Donovan Hand taking the hill against Suns' right-hander Jesus Castillo. Coverage of the game begins at 1:50 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

Mat Gamel and Cole Gillespie on base four times apiece, Gamel with three hits, including a double, and Gillespie walked three times in addition to his triple; despite four walks, that's a big time performance from Brae Wright; how many HBP's is that for Matt LaPorta?

 

Huntsville Game Log

[jjfanec]

how many HBP's is that for Matt LaPorta?

 

Huntsville Game Log

I agree. I was going to post this earlier. It seems like he has been hit a ton and he has. He has been hit 13 times this years. That seems like a lot.

 

[Mass Haas]

Final: Iowa (Cubs) 5, Nashville 4

 

Nashville Site Game Summary:

 

Sounds Drop Series Opener In Iowa, 5-4

Link for Brendan Katin photo, text follows --

 

DES MOINES - In front of Iowa Cubs employees, baseball scouts, and some members of the media, the Iowa Cubs defeated the Nashville Sounds, 5-4, on Saturday evening at Principal Park in the opener of a five-game series.

 

No fans were admitted to the game because of city evacuation orders following the recent flooding in the area. With limited dates and an already packed schedule, the Cubs had little choice but to play Saturday's game in an empty stadium.

 

Nashville Pre-Game Audio Chat with Iowa Cubs General Manager Sam Bernabe

Chuck Valenches was the only announcer, as even the home Iowa crew did not go ahead with their broadcast...

 

Josh Kroeger went 2-for-2 with three RBIs to pace the Iowa offense in a game where one could hear the players calling for the ball and hear the smack of leather from their gloves.

 

Nashville (27-40) saw its losing streak extend to a season high-tying six games and fell 11.0 games behind the front-running I-Cubs in the PCL American Conference Northern Division.

 

Kroeger gave the Cubs a 1-0 lead with a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the first inning.

 

Sounds catcher Vinny Rottino extended his hitting streak to 22 games with a single to open the second and tied the contest later in the frame when he scored on Adam Heether's RBI double.

 

Nashville grabbed a 2-1 lead in the fourth on a Chris Woodward sacrifice fly before the Cubs knotted the score in the fifth. Brendan Katin put the Sounds in front for the final time in the sixth when he slugged his 11th home run of the year, a solo shot to left off Iowa reliever Jose Ascanio.

 

AUDIO: Brendan Katin Home Run

Check out Chuck -- "and the crowd goes wild"...

The Cubs responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth to reclaim the lead in the back-and-forth affair before Woodward hit his first home run as a Sound in the seventh, a leadoff solo blast to left that greeted Iowa reliever Hector Carrasco and tied the score at 4-4.

 

The Cubs plated the winning run in the bottom of the seventh when Kroeger touched Steve Bray for a two-out solo homer to right, his eighth roundtripper of the year.

 

Carrasco (3-1) picked up his third win for Iowa after allowing one run in his two innings of work. Bray (1-5) took the loss after surrendering the game-deciding run in his two innings of action.

 

The Cubs and Sounds will continue the series with a regularly-scheduled doubleheader on Sunday afternoon starting at 1:05 PM. Left-handers Sam Narron (3-1, 4.05) and Lindsay Gulin (2-4, 3.12) will start the twinbill for Nashville and face Iowa left-hander J.R. Mathes (3-3, 2.76) and right-hander Mike Burns (4-4, 2.61).

 

Friday's game that was postponed due to flood waters at and around the ballpark will be made up on Monday with a doubleheader starting at 11:05 AM.

 

Nashville Box Score

Top four in the Sounds order 0-for-15 with two walks -- Ozzie Chavez in the leadoff spot, hoping to get him going, having a trying year (.546 OPS); Richie Gardner with another pedestrian effort, rarely dazzles; I can't believe I haven't been parlaying Vinny Rottino's efforts in MiLB.com's "Beat the Streak" game...

 

Nashville Game Log

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

Gamel's fans keep cheering

By Jeff Elliott,

The Florida Times-Union

 

When opposing players get hits, it's normally not a time when fans cheer at a Jacksonville Suns home game.

 

But this hasn't been a normal series this week at the Baseball Grounds. Each of the four times that Huntsville Stars third baseman Mat Gamel reached base Saturday night - with three hits and a walk - a big turnout of family, friends and supporters on hand made their feelings known.

 

Gamel, a Bishop Kenny graduate who still calls Neptune Beach home, twisted some teammates' arms and has come up with about 50 tickets for each game of the five-game series, including Saturday's contest in which he collected half of the Stars' six hits, leading the visitors to a 4-1 victory.

 

It's been a good homecoming for Gamel, who's had the chance to spend time with his girlfriend and sleep in the comforts of his parents' house instead of a hotel.

 

"It's been fun because my family and friends haven't had a chance to see me play for a while, so it was nice to come back home and play in front of them," he said.

 

With seven hits in the first four games of the series, Gamel should be on a baseball high. He currently leads the Southern League in hitting (.383) and is the only player in all of minor league baseball this season with more than 100 hits (106). But the left-handed hitting Gamel, who's in his first year at the Double-A level, is quick to point out that he's less than pleased with his fielding effort. He was charged with another error in Saturday's game, his third miscue the last two nights.

 

"It could have been better," he said. "Happy with the hitting, but the errors aren't real good. It's real frustrating because I've been working my tail off on that. I have a tendency to be flat-footed at times. I've been doing better, but you have a series like this sometimes when you make errors."

 

Huntsville manager Don Money spent time with Gamel at third base during the team's infield practice, taking ground balls from hitting instructor Sandy Guerrero, showing Gamel the form that made Money a top fielding third baseman during his playing days in Milwaukee.

 

"He's made some great plays, diving to his right, that he just does automatically," Money said. "He doesn't have time to even think about it; he just makes those plays. It's the routine play where he thinks about it that's caused him some problems. But in my eyes, he's made enough progress to show that he can play in the big leagues some day."

 

Around the bases: Former Florida standout Matt LaPorta hit his league-leading 19th home run to give the Stars a cushion in the ninth inning. ... Suns RHP Jesus Castillo (4-3, 3.33) opposes Stars RHP Donovan Hand (0-0, 3.86) in Sunday's final game of the first half of the regular season.

[Mass Haas]

Final: West Virginia 6, Greensboro (Marlins) 5

West Virginia Press Release:

 

POWER EDGE 'HOPPERS AGAIN

 

Charleston, WV - The West Virginia Power improved their record in one-run games to 10-9 with their 2-1 victory over the Greensboro Grasshoppers at Appalachian Power Park on Saturday night. The victory officially eliminated Greensboro's bid for a first half championship.

 

West Virginia snapped a scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth. Steffan Wilson singled with one out and got to third base on Eric Fryer's double before Curt Rindal drove him in on a groundout. The Power doubled their lead in the fifth. Matt Cline, Eric Farris and Zelous Wheeler ripped back-to-back-to-back one out singles. Cline scored on Wheeler's base hit.

 

The Grasshoppers scored their lone run in the seventh inning on Jameson Smith's RBI double. The 'Hoppers left the tying run stranded in scoring position twice in the final three frames. Ryan Curry got to third base with one out in the seventh but never scored. The game ended with Smith on second base when Curry grounded out.

 

West Virginia is now 6-1 against the Grasshoppers. All seven games have been decided by two-runs or less. West Virginia has won five of those games by a run.

 

Amaury Rivas (6-2) delivered another great performance, holding Greensboro to just a run on five hits with five strikeouts over five and two-thirds to get the win. Roque Mercedes turned in one of his greatest outings in his tenure with the Power. He tossed three and a third scoreless innings, holding Greensboro hitless and fanned four to get his first save. The Marlins' Josh Johnson, (0-1) who was making a rehab start, was tagged with the loss after surrendering a pair of runs on eight hits with seven strikeouts.

 

The Power improved to 31-37 with the win and the Grasshoppers fell to 38-31 with the loss. Fryer and Wheeler paced the Power with two-hits apiece. Wheeler has now reached in his last 16 games. Caleb Gindl went 0-for-4, officially bringing his 15 game on base streak to an end.

 

The Power will finish the four game series and the first half with Greensboro Sunday night. Left hander Dan Merklinger (0-5, 7.20) will get the start for the Power and the Grasshoppers will counter with right hander Kyle Kaminska (4-2, 5.20). The first pitch is scheduled for 6:05 PM (5:05 Central).

 

West Virginia Box Score

Fortunately, none of shortstop Matt Cline's three fielding errors cost the Power -- Cline has been an offensive sparkplug with West Virginia, but defensive issues have followed him from Brevard...

 

West Virginia Game Log

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

Only Sounds of silence play at empty park

Attendance is zero after flood in Iowa

By RANDY PETERSON

The Des Moines Register

 

DES MOINES, Iowa - Matt Murton likened it to a sandlot game.

 

Brad Nelson called it amazing.

 

Both descriptions fit what the Iowa Cubs and the Sounds did Saturday afternoon at Principal Park. They played baseball with no fans in the stands.

 

The baseball game - won by Iowa 5-4 - had an official attendance of zero. The attendance was on purpose. City officials issued a mandatory evacuation of the downtown area because of flooding this week.

 

"I'm just amazed that we played. From looking at the pictures of the stadium on Friday, I didn't think there was any way," said Nelson, the Sounds first baseman and a native of Algona, Iowa.

 

"Unprecedented," said Murton, the Cubs left fielder.

 

"Even when I was 5 years old, my dad used to watch me and my brother play catch in the backyard."

 

Unprecedented? Just barely.

 

In 2002, the Class A Charleston (S.C.) Riverdogs hosted Nobody Night, during which fans were intentionally kept out of the ballpark until the fifth inning, when the game and the zero attendance became official.

 

"They (Charleston) did it for the publicity. As far as it being done out of necessity, like in Des Moines, I can't recall that ever being done," Pacific Coast League Commissioner Branch Rickey III said.

 

City officials granted permission for the game to be played Saturday. Flooding inside the ballpark and at the adjacent parking lot forced the postponement of Friday's game.

 

"We got permission from the city to play, only if we wouldn't let anyone in," Cubs GM Sam Bernabe said. "They didn't want any more people downtown than needed to be."

 

Admit one, or two

The field was dry Saturday, and one of the few sounds heard during the game was the whir of a machine cleaning mud from the once-flooded parking lot.

 

Two scouts watched from behind home plate. Cubs front office employees retrieved foul balls. There was no public address announcer or introduction music for each batter. The large video scoreboard in the outfield was turned off, and a handheld scoreboard was used instead.

 

The crack of the bat provided most of the noise, although players and umpires could be heard clearly, too.

 

"The only other time I played in front of a crowd of zero was when I was in rookie ball," said Iowa's Josh Kroeger, whose seventh-inning homer broke a 4-4 tie.

 

The game started at 4 p.m. - three hours early - so the stadium lights wouldn't attract fans to the downtown area.

 

"We were very conscious of public safety," Bernabe said. "We didn't even put the game on radio."

 

An announcement that Saturday's game was postponed was posted on the Cubs' Web site on Saturday. Callers to the team's office got a recorded message that the game was postponed.

 

So why play at all?

 

"The reason for playing is to maintain my obligation to the league to play the 144-game schedule," Bernabe said. "With sand running out of the hourglass relative to where we're at in the schedule, I don't have a whole lot of flexibility.

 

"I'm trying to respect the wishes of the City, I'm trying to respect the wishes of the league, and I'm trying to keep the players from having too many doubleheaders."

 

The teams are scheduled to play a doubleheader today at 1 p.m. Friday's postponed game was added to the Monday schedule for another doubleheader. The Sounds are scheduled to play at Iowa July 18-20.

 

"The city will inspect the area (this morning), but I'm not anticipating any problem," Bernabe said. "The evacuation was lifted and the bridges were opened, so I'm assuming fans can come to the game.

 

"I'm not doing this for grins and giggles. We were expecting around 12,000 fans. It's costing us a lot of money, but we have to play."

 

Nashville Sounds strength coach Tom Reynolds takes in Saturday's game from the outfield bleachers during the Iowa Cubs' 5-4 victory. Fans were not allowed into Principal Park in Des Moines because the area is flooded. The main video scoreboard above Reynolds was not used during the game; instead the teams relied only on the hand-operated scoreboard.

(Photo by DANIEL SATO / DES MOINES REGISTER)

 

http://cmsimg.tennessean.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=DN&Date=20080615&Category=SPORTS0401&ArtNo=806150383&Ref=AR&Profile=1002&MaxW=180&Border=0

[igor67]

With his two walks Salome pushed his walk rate past the 1bb / AB milestone. Nice to see those secondary stats keep rising because I don't think he can maintain a .340+ batting average with his K-rate.