Link Report for Sat. 6/28 -- Helena's Disjointed Roster Crumbling -- Where's Reid?

[Mass Haas]

Huntsville Pre-Game Audio Interview with Outfielder Cole Gillespie

Click on the WUMP archive of June 28th, interview is right off the top...

[Mass Haas]

Final: Carolina (Marlins) 5, Huntsville 4

 

Huntsville Site Game Summary:

 

Carolina Wins Another Close One

Ungs Solid in Stars' Debut

By Brett Pollock / Huntsville Stars

Kris Harvey scored the go-ahead run in the bottom half of the eighth inning in what turned into a 5-4 win for Carolina over Huntsville Saturday night in the fifth of a six-game set at Five County Stadium in Zebulon. The Mudcats won for a third time to push their second half record to 6-5, while the Stars dropped to 5-6 in the second half and to an overall mark of 46-35. The Mudcats have won seven of the 10 games between the teams, with five of the wins by either one or two runs.

 

Kris Harvey opened the eighth with a single against Patrick Ryan and advanced to third base on a one-out double by Cameron Maybin, his fourth of the series. The first pitch to Manuel Mayorson hit off the glove of catcher Angel Salome, allowing Harvey to score to give the Mudcats a 4-3 edge and Maybin to advance to third. Mayorson delivered a scoring fly ball to bring home Maybin to make it a two-run game. Chris Mobley took over in the ninth for the Mudcats and fanned the first two hitters he faced before Cole Gillespie belted a home run, his 10th of the season and first in 105 at-bats, to trim the lead to a run. Chris Errecart then struck out to end the game, as Mobley recorded his third save of the series, fifth against the Stars and 13th of the season. Ryan suffered the loss to dip to 2-4 after allowing two runs, one earned, on two hits over an inning and a third.

 

Chris Coghlan walked with one out in the seventh, stole second and scored to give Carolina a 3-2 lead on Gaby Sanchez's league-high 26th double of the season, as he fouled off three pitches at 1-2 before delivering the hit. Guilder Rodriguez, who entered the game in a double switch in the bottom of the seventh, led off the eighth with a bunt base hit and wound up at second after a throwing error by pitcher Jesus Delgado on the play. Freddy Parejo bunted for a base hit to move Rodriguez to third and the backup infielder scored to tie the game on an Alcides Escobar sacrifice fly caught in the Stars bullpen by Coghlan, the second baseman, with his back to the diamond.

 

Parejo opened the game with an infield single, stole second and scored on a one-out single by Mat Gamel, who knocked in his league-high 69th run. Salome followed with a walk but Matt LaPorta bounced into a double play to end the frame.

 

Nic Ungs, who pitched for the Mudcats from 2003-2005, walked Cameron Maybin to open the home first before Mayorson reached on an infield hit. Coghlan then reached on an infield single to second base, as Maybin rounded the bag too far at third base. Mike Bell bounced a one-hop throw to third that allowed Maybin to dash in and tie the game. Sanchez walked to load the bases but Ungs worked out of more trouble by striking out Alberto Concepcion, getting Andy Jenkins to ground into a force out at the plate and Brad Davis to bounce into a force at second.

 

Gillespie led off the fifth with a double, moved to third on an Errecart sacrifice bunt and scored when Bell followed with a base hit that gave the Stars a 2-1 lead. Ungs, pitching for the first time since April 24, worked five frames, allowing a run on four hits, walking three and striking out four and left with a 2-1 lead. Mudcats' starter Brett Sinkbeil went six innings, allowing two runs on four hits, walking two and fanning four.

 

Mike Jones took over in the sixth and walked the leadoff man Concepcion and gave up a base hit to Jenkins and another to Davis, on a sacrifice bunt attempt, that loaded the bases with nobody out. Harvey lined to shortstop for the first out before pinch-hitter Grant Psomas drew a walk to force in Concepcion to tie the game. Maybin then bounced into a double play to end the inning. Jones allowed two runs on three hits and five walks over an inning and two-thirds in his fifth relief outing of the season.

 

The series continues on Sunday afternoon with southpaw Troy Cate taking the hill against Carolina right-hander Josh Johnson. Coverage of the game begins at 12:45 pm central time and can be heard locally on SportsRadio 730 WUMP and through the internet at www.huntsvillestars.com and www.730ump.com.

 

***

 

It's not much of a defense for Angel Salome's struggles, but:

Link to Carolina Press Coverage, relevant text below --

 

ZEBULON - If you hang around enough baseball clubhouses and subscribe to enough old baseball axioms, you might believe that good pitching beats good hitting. And if you hang around Carolina Mudcats manager Matt Raleigh, you might believe that good base running beats just about everything else.

Raleigh will snap his fingers and clap his hands at least a couple of times each game, part of a series of signals for his players to drop their heads and sprint toward the next base. He is aggressive and, to this point during the season, his aggressiveness has worked.

The Mudcats beat the Huntsville Stars, 5-4, on Saturday night at Five County Stadium, in large thanks to five more stolen bases. The Mudcats failed to convert a sixth attempt, marring an otherwise perfect game, so to speak, but right fielder Kris Harvey did score the game-winning run on a passed ball in the bottom of the eighth, another high-risk, high-reward run around the bases that paid dividends for the team.

"We kind of live and die with that," Raleigh said. "We don't have a lot of power in this lineup, so we have to kind of take advantage of our speed, and I think we've been doing a good job of that."

Yes, the Mudcats (6-5 second half, 44-37 overall) have run well this season, to say the least. After five steals Saturday and five more Friday night, they lead the Southern League with 121 stolen bases. The Stars (5-6, 46-35) are second in the league with 81 steals.

The Mudcats started their sprints early Saturday night against Huntsville right-hander Nic Ungs, a former Mudcat who hurled a no-hitter for Carolina in 2005, though with little success. Shortstop Manuel Mayorson and second baseman Chris Coghlan executed a double steal in the first inning, though neither scored. Third baseman Gaby Sanchez nabbed a base in the third, but did not score, either. And Mayorson stole another base in the fifth but also failed to score.

Finally, with one out in the seventh, Coghlan stole second, then rounded the bases and scored a run to give the Mudcats a brief 3-2 lead after Sanchez doubled to the gap in left-center field.

An inning later, Harvey sprinted home on that passed ball to give the Mudcats a 4-3 lead, and the lead for good.

Huntsville Box Score

We'll try to learn more for you on Michael Brantley's leg-related injury status; Batters are hitting .298 against Mike Jones this season, but more critical is that Jones has walked 32 in 36.1 innings, while striking out only 19 -- you can praise Jones' heart and persistence, but not his numbers, sorry; Matt LaPorta was 0-for-4 with two K's here, but his OPS by month thus far -- 1.044, .916, 1.076...

 

Huntsville Game Log

[Mass Haas]

Link Report Bonus:

We appreciate Mark McCarter's work in Huntsville. Here he writes about a new book on Jose Canseco / Mark McGwire, with the key Huntsville connection to their steroid starts.

[Mass Haas]

Final: Round Rock (Astros) 10, Nashville 2

Nashville Site Game Summary:

Link for Laynce Nix photo, text follows --

 

Nix Homers Twice But Express Defeats Sounds

 

ROUND ROCK, Texas - The Round Rock Express plated nine unanswered runs to hang a 10-2 defeat on the Nashville Sounds on Saturday evening at The Dell Diamond.

 

The top of the Round Rock order did the majority of the damage as the first four Express hitters combined to go 8-for-16 with nine RBIs and eight runs scored on the evening.

 

Outfielder Laynce Nix provided all of the Nashville offense by belting a pair of home runs in the losing effort. The blasts, which give him a team-high 13 longballs on the year, were his second and third of the series. Nix's two-homer effort marked his first of the year and the fifth overall multiple-homer contest by a Sound in 2008.

 

Nix gave the Sounds a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning when he homered for the second straight night, lifting a two-out solo blast to center off Round Rock starter Josh Muecke.

 

After Ray Sadler tied the contest with a solo homer of his own in his second, Nix struck again in the third, touching Muecke for his second longball of the evening to stake the visitors to a 2-1 lead.

 

AUDIO: Laynce Nix's Second Homer

 

Sounds starter Steve Hammond ran into trouble over the next two Round Rock frames as the left-hander gave up seven combined runs as the Express jumped out to an 8-2 lead.

 

In the bottom of the third, the Express tied the contest when Muecke led off with a single and scored on a J.R. Towles RBI double. After J.R. House drew a walk, Mark Saccamanno gave the home club its first lead of the evening with a three-run homer to left-center, his 17th roundtripper of the year.

 

An inning later, the two J.R.'s connected for back-to-back homers off Hammond to extend the Express lead to 8-2. Towles drilled a two-run blast to left which scored Edwin Maysonet (single) before House followed with a solo shot to left-center. The longballs were the players' third and seventh of the year, respectively.

 

Round Rock stretched its lead to 10-2 with a pair of runs against reliever Zach Jackson in the sixth. House contributed an RBI single before Towles scored his third run of the night on a Saccamanno groundout.

 

Sounds centerfielder Tony Gwynn extended his season-best hitting streak to eight games with an eighth-inning single off former Sound Chad Paronto.

 

Muecke (6-6) picked up the win by turning in a quality start for the Express. He allowed two runs on four hits while striking out eight batters over seven innings of work.

 

Hammond (0-2) suffered his second loss in as many starts for the Sounds this season. He surrendered a season-high eight runs on eight hits, including four homers, over his four innings of work.

 

The teams wrap up the series with a 7:05 p.m. finale on Sunday evening. Left-hander Chris Narveson (2-9, 5.50) will toe the rubber for Nashville to face Round Rock right-hander Jack Cassel (5-1, 2.05).

 

Nashville Box Score

Here's pretty much why the Brewers will be big-time starting pitcher buyers before the deadline -- your 6th Milwaukee starter has to be either Mark DiFelice or Carlos Villanueva -- it's not among Chris Narveson, Lindsay Gulin, Sam Narron, Steve Hammond, or Richie Gardner, the current Nashville rotation; Zach Jackson's 40-man spot will be needed this offseason...

 

Nashville Game Log

[Mass Haas]

Helena Pre-Game Audio with 1B Brock Kjeldgaard

Click on the KCAP archive from June 28th, then browse to the 11:30 minute mark; interesting discussion with the former hurler...

[Mass Haas]

Final: Helena 8, Missoula (Diamondbacks) 7

 

Link while active, text follows:

 

Brewers outlast Osprey

By TOM STUBER - Helena Independent Record

 

The good outweighed the bad and the ugly for the Helena Brewers, who gutted out an 8-7 win over Missoula to move to .500 for the first time this season.

 

Helena (6-6) appeared to be in trouble early when No. 1 draft pick Evan Frederickson struggled through the first inning throwing over 30 pitches and committing a three-base throwing error.

 

He would be done after tossing another 30 pitches in the second. The Brewers also had to endure a lower leg injury to outfielder Chris Dennis, who stayed in the game despite a serious limp. With Helena already missing two of its five outfielders in Cutter Dykstra and Logan Schafer, there was no one left to fill in for Dennis.

 

But the Brewers, playing in front of 981 fans, had answers for all that ailed them on this night.

 

"It came down to the bullpen," temporary manager Charlie Greene said. "(Mark) Willinsky pitched out of a jam in the seventh and we made it interesting in the ninth, but held on."

 

Willinsky struck out five straight batters after allowing a solo home run to Jorge Corniel in the fifth that tied the game at 6-6.

 

"It was a little shaky at first with the home run, but I stuck to what I do best, which is go after the hitters," Willinsky said. "I just left that pitch over the plate and he got it."

 

He turned the ball over to Adam Arnold, who retired the side in order in the eighth.

 

With a two-run lead, an error and an infield single to lead off the ninth looked like it might lead to the Brewers demise.

 

Missoula pinch runner Tyrell Worthington was caught stealing, however, and Arnold struck out Nelson Gomez. He gave up a double to Victor Estevez to cut the lead in half, but coaxed an infield pop-up to end the game.

 

The ominous start saw Missoula score on a passed ball in the second, but was eased by a pair of stellar plays by shortstop Michael Marseco, who ended the first with a nice throw to second across his body and then nailed Rafael Hilano at the plate with a throw from the short outfield.

 

Helena had a two-run homer off the bat of Brock Kjeldgaard in the first and scored twice in the second to take a 5-3 lead. Corey Kemp hit a solo shot to lead off the third to put the the Brewers back ahead 6-5.

 

Helena was led by Josh Romanski's 3-for-4 game at the plate. The Brewers collected six extra-base hits in all.

Missoula's Ollie Linton got off to a great start with a single and triple in his first two at-bats, but struck out his final three trips to the plate. Helena pitchers struck out 12 Osprey.

 

The Brewers will put right-hander Michael Bowman on the mound this afternoon against Missoula's Clayton Suss.

 

***

 

More details here in the Helena site game summary:

 

The Helena Brewers defeated the Missoula Osprey Saturday night in a back-and-forth contest, 8-7. Brock Kjeldgaard hit his second home run of the season in the first inning to put the Brewers on top 3-1. Missoula would answer back with two runs of their own in the top of the second inning, thanks in part to an RBI double by Ollie Linton.

 

Helena would then re-gain the lead in the bottom half of the inning when Chris Dennis' fly ball was dropped after Missoula's center fielder and right fielder collided, allowing two runs to score. Missoula put up two more runs on four hits in the top of the third inning to tie the score before Helena jumped back into the lead when Corey Kemp drilled his second home run of the season. The Brewers would tack on two more runs in the sixth when Josh Romanski and Michael Marseco both doubled, putting the Brewers in the lead for good.

 

Mark Willinsky earned his first win of the year going three innings with three hits, one run and five strikeouts. Adam Arnold picked up his second save of the year, working two innings, allowing one run and struck out two. Pedro Rodriguez takes the loss for the Osprey as he allowed two runs in four innings of work. Romanski led the Brewers, going 3-4 with two runs scored and John Delaney went 2-5 with an RBI and a run scored. Helena improves to 6-6 on the season and Missoula drops to 2-10. The two teams will play again Sunday at Kindrick Field.

 

Helena Box Score

OK, Reid Nichols -- this is all on you and is now beyond ridiculous; let's have 19-year-old power LH bat Chris Dennis limp around for a game (or more, will he play this afternoon?) because you can't properly stock a rookie league squad; Dennis is one of the Brewers' most intriguing rookie ball prospects, but it doesn't matter which farmhand is impacted in this way; now let's say Cutter Dykstra or Logan Schafer is back in the lineup Sunday -- would they have normally been held out another day to be safe? This isn't fan second-guessing, this is bizarro management...

 

Helena Game Log

Pitcher Josh Romanski bails out this shorthanded roster with his plate performance, now we only need for Romanski to hurt himself on the basepaths somehow, right? Man, oh man...

[wvpowerblkwel]

I was actually at the Huntsville game, and it was a really strange nite. The entire team appeared a little out of sync. It was 96 degrees and very humid. Carolina pitchers were reaching 97 98 on the gun. My first view of our most dominant minor league team was just...out of sync. The fact that these guys were even in this game is a testament to how good they are. I will be posting a photo album, except my camera card was "out of sync" and I can't get the photos to my computer yet....but I will....just an odd nite all the way around!!

[MTBrew]

I've got to agree with you Mass, watching Chris Dennis hobble around out there last night was way beyond ridiculous. This "roster" has been a problem since day one and needs to be fixed.

According to the booster club (I am involved with hosting players) there is some movement in the works. No specifics, there never is just a heads up, but look for movement both up and down.

I've also caught 2 of 3 games in this homestand and the team is playing better. However this is still a very subdued and laid back ball club.

I have not seen the mental errors as in the earlier games but they are definitely not playing to their talent level.

It was nice to see Charlie Greene managing, being fired up and showing a little emotion.

Regarding Fredrickson, having watched both his Helena starts, I am impressed with his pitch arsenal and composure on the mound. But he is very hittable. Not sure if its the game calling or what.

Got to also give props to Corey Kemp, the man is a rock blocking the plate. He sets up correctly on the 3rd base side of the dish and is unmoveable! No fear either. The kid comes to play.