Link Report for Tue. 7/1 -- Narron Spins a Gem as Sounds Turn Three

[Mass Haas]

Knoxville News Photo by Saul Young
Mark Reed of Tennessee slides safely into home before Huntsville catcher Angel Salome can make a play Tuesday night at Smokies Park. The Smokies won 6-4.

http://media.knoxnews.com/kns/content/img/photos/2008/07/02/070208plate_t600.jpg

[Mass Haas]

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Smokies get it done

First win by Tennessee in seven tries against Huntsville

By Nick Gates, Knoxville News

 

SEVIERVILLE - The Huntsville Stars are beatable after all and the winning formula is no secret.

 

The Tennessee Smokies combined solid pitching, clutch hitting by newcomer Mark Reed and excellent defense to defeat their Southern League nemesis 6-4 on Tuesday night.

 

The Smokies (10-4) treated 2,896 to a rare feat - their first win over Huntsville (7-7) in seven tries at Smokies Park this season - and extended their second-half lead in the North Division to 2 1/2 games over Carolina.

 

"I told (hitting coach Barbaro) Garbey and (hitting coach Dennis) Lewallyn, 'Let's go get a bottle of champagne. We finally beat them,' " Tennessee manager Buddy Bailey said.

 

Mitch Atkins (8-6) worked seven-plus innings and yielded four runs on eight hits for his fourth consecutive win. The right-hander is 6-1 in his last eight starts to join Birmingham's Carlos Torres and Huntsville's David Welch for most wins.

 

Closer Jose Ceda struck out Cole Gillespie for the third out with a runner on third base and Tennessee clinging to a 5-4 lead in the eighth.

However, Casey Lambert got the biggest out after allowing a run-scoring double to Mat Gamel. The lefty jammed Matt LaPorta and retired the league's home run leader on an infield popup for out No. 2.

 

Ceda retired the Stars 1-2-3 in the ninth for his fourth save.

 

"He came in and shut the door," said catcher Reed, who was 3-for-4 and drove in three runs.

 

Reed replaced Welington Castillo, who went on the disabled list because of a hand injury, and has made the most of his opportunity. Reed is 4-for-11 (.364) with a home run and five RBIs in three games.

 

Castillo won't require surgery and could return as early as Saturday so Reed's stay could be a short one.

 

"It's something I can't worry about," he said. "When I'm in the lineup I have to do what I can to help the team win."

 

Tennessee roughed up Huntsville's Brae Wright (6-7) for eight hits and five runs in six innings. Sam Fuld had two hits off the lefty and two RBIs.

 

The Stars are the best hitting team in the league and a litmus test for Tennessee's revamped pitching staff.

 

Alcides Escobar, who led Huntsville with three hits, doubled in the first, stole his 22nd base and raced home when catcher Reed's sailed his throw into left field .

 

Tennessee took a 2-1 advantage in the third. Matt Matulia singled and Reed bunted for a hit. Wright fielded Atkins' bunt and fired late to third base filling the bases.

 

Fuld, hitting .200 against lefties, delivered a run-scoring single and Nate Spears added a sacrifice fly.

 

Gamel doubled with one out in the fourth and Angel Salome's comebacker struck Adkins in the foot. Atkins retrieve the ball and threw out Huntsville's cleanup hitter. Right fielder Doug Deeds scaled the fence to rob LaPorta of an extra-base hit.

 

The Smokies filled he bases with one out in the fourth and the left-handed hitting Reed yanked a two-run single. Fuld's infield hit made it 5-1.

 

"We got some guys on and got them in," Reed said. "It's been great coming up here. I've come to a good club that is winning."

[Mass Haas]

Helena's Jose Duran waits to put the tag on Missoula Osprey Rafael Hilario Tuesday as he tries to steal second base. Hilario was out on the play and the Brewers beat the Osprey, 15-8.

Photo by KURT WILSON/Missoulian

http://www.missoulian.com/content/articles/2008/07/02/sports/sports01.jpg

[Mass Haas]

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Slugfest: Teams combine for six homers as Brewers roll over Osprey

By NICK LOCKRIDGE of the Missoulian

 

The Missoula Osprey were ranked second-to-last in the Pioneer League in home runs coming into Tuesday's game with the Helena Brewers. So, naturally, they did something about it.

 

Unfortunately, so did the Brewers.

 

Helena won a 15-8 slugfest, which featured each team homering three times apiece as the ball carried farther than usual under humid, grumbling skies at Ogren-Allegiance Park.

 

"I'm not used to anything like that," said leadoff man Ollie Linton, one of Missoula's three players to homer. "Usually when you get eight runs, you have a chance. You just gotta play defense and we failed to do that. We have another chance to take it to these guys (Wednesday)."

 

The Osprey and Brewers play the second game of their three-game series Wednesday before closing the homestand with another game and pre-Fourth of July fireworks show on Thursday.

 

The Brewers upped their record to 7-8 and their league-leading home run total to 20 this summer. They finished with 15 hits compared to 11 for Missoula, which dropped its sixth game in seven outings. The Osprey (4-11) were coming off a 1-0 no-hit win over Helena the previous night. On Tuesday, hits were plentiful.

 

The Brewers had five hits in a six-run seventh inning that ended with Helena ahead 15-6. The Brew Crew batted through the order, which was punctuated by Michael Vaas starting the inning with a solo home run for a 10-6 lead, and capping it with an RBI single.

 

Helena was led by Mike Roberts, who went 2-for-3 with five runs batted in. He had a two-run triple in the fifth, when the Brewers scored three runs to break a 6-6 tie. Roberts added a three-run homer in the second and Helena's Brock Kjeldgaard tied the game 5-5 with a two-run blast in the third. Kjeldgaard was 3-for-6 and Jose Duran was 3-for-5.

 

Five of the Osprey's first eight hits were for extra bases, including triples by catcher Bill Musselman and shortstop Reynaldo Navarro in the fourth inning, which gave the Birds a 6-5 lead until the next half inning. Musselman would add a two-run homer in the eighth to help close the gap a little.

 

Missoula tallied five runs in the first, including a grand slam by Alberto Diaz. The bases were loaded with two outs on a Kyle Greene double and two walks. It was Diaz's second homer of the season. Linton homered off of starter Trey Watten to lead off the bottom of the first. It was Linton's first homer as a pro.

 

"He threw a slider that he probably wanted to bury more," Linton said. "Luckily, I ran into one."

 

The O's have 11 home runs as a team in 2008.

 

Helena's Cody Adams pitched three innings of relief to get the win, after Watten gave up six runs in the first four innings. Missoula starter Rafael Quezada had nine runs to his credit in five innings of work. He dropped to 1-2 on the season.

 

Notes: Navarro made three errors in the game, including one on the very first play, to bring his season total to 11. Greene played DH and doubled in his first at-bat to run his streak to eight of consecutive at-bats with a hit. The streak ended with an infield pop up in the third.

[biedergb]

Have the Brewers ever had an Arizona squad that wasn't horrible? Anyone ever resembling a prospect ever come out of there?

I was wondering this as well, so I looked it up. The Arizona Brewers restarted in 2001. The best season (in terms of W-L) was the first year in 2001 when they went 27-29. Yup, never had a winning record in 7 going on 8 years.

In terms of propsects, several pro players have played there, but mostly for rehab, or high draft picks who got a taste of pro ball in the desert (ie, Weeks, Hardy, Parra, Inman).

Players who played close to full time for the Baby Brewers who are legitamite prospects include:

 

2004: Iribarren, Gallardo, Salome

2005: Brantley, Cain, Periard, (Garrison - now with S.D.)

2006: Braddock, Jefferson, Periard (again), Anundsen, O. Aguilar

So in recent years the AzBrewCrew players have had some success.

 

[TheCrew07]

I don't believe Periard actually pitched for AZ in 2005, wasn't that the year he couldn't get into the country due to visa issues?

[lexi881]

From the way I've seen Gamel kick the ball around, he'll never reach "average" as a 3rd baseman.

We are all certainly entitled to our opinions. Fortunately, those whose opinions matter, feel very differently than yoda.....

[molitor fan]

With all the talk of top prospects getting traded, it must be noted that beyond the tremendous H-Ville team, the Brewers might be able to draw upon some of their organizational depth and back-up at certain positions, all the while not hampering any of their minor league clubs. Periard might actually have some surprising value to other clubs that do not need a quick fix or go solely on mph when evaluating

[Mass Haas]

Uly Snijders and Caleb Gindl in a mini-photo gallery from the Charleston Daily Mail

[JohnBriggs12]

From the way I've seen Gamel kick the ball around, he'll never reach "average" as a 3rd baseman.

We are all certainly entitled to our opinions. Fortunately, those whose opinions matter, feel very differently than yoda.....

Most of his errors this year have been throwing errors. Was he trying to kick the ball to first base?

[EbbaStClaire]

When I last checked (4-5 weeks ago) most of Gamel's errors were fielding rather than throwing errors. Actually by a wide margin. Since then I have noticed throwing errors are more frequent. In one of the newspaper accounts of the game the reporter mentioned that Gamel committed an error when he made a one-hop throw to first base that was not handled by the first baseman ( I think it was Errecart). The point is that some of Gamel's throwing errors may be the result of the lack of defense on the other end of the throws. I'm not trying to make excuses for either player but unless you see a lot of games it is hard to make the proper judgement.

[biedergb]

I don't believe Periard actually pitched for AZ in 2005, wasn't that the year he couldn't get into the country due to visa issues?

Baseball-reference, thebaseballcube and our Brewerfan.net page indicate he pitched 28.1 innings that year. I recall the visa issue, so maybe his debut was delayed.

 

[battlekow]

For the third straight day, Gamel is the Southern League Prospect of the Day in BA's Daily Dish, sharing the honor with Alcides Escobar:

Huntsville prospects Alcides Escobar and Mat Gamel (Brewers) each had a big day. Hitting back-to-back in the order, Escobar and Gamel each produced two doubles. The duo combined for three runs and an RBI, and have now combined for 43 two-baggers on the year - 30 by Gamel. Escobar, a 21-year-old signed in 2003 and known for his defensive abilities at SS, is hitting .330 for the year. While less defensively inclined at third base, Gamel, a fourth-round pick out of Chipola (Fla.) JC has gotten it done at the plate, hitting .384 this year.

[lexi881]

When I last checked (4-5 weeks ago) most of Gamel's errors were fielding rather than throwing errors. Actually by a wide margin. Since then I have noticed throwing errors are more frequent. In one of the newspaper accounts of the game the reporter mentioned that Gamel committed an error when he made a one-hop throw to first base that was not handled by the first baseman ( I think it was Errecart). The point is that some of Gamel's throwing errors may be the result of the lack of defense on the other end of the throws. I'm not trying to make excuses for either player but unless you see a lot of games it is hard to make the proper judgement.

 

You dont know how true your statement about not making a judgement unless you see it is. I am certainly not saying he does not deserve all of his errors, but some are undeserved.......and it is really hard to make the judgement unless you are there, or know someone who is. Many of his errors this season have been undeserved, and the majority of them have been FIELDING, not THROWING, as it was earlier stated.