Link Report for Games of Sunday, July 27th

[Mass Haas]

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

[Mass Haas]

Sunday's Daily Menu:

 

All times Central except Arizona League; pitchers subject to change --

 

Nashville: RHP Mark DiFelice at home vs. Portland (Padres), 5:45 PM pre-game; 6:00 gametime

 

Audio link via WNSR, be sure to select the proper date (game will also archive at this link):

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/clubs/ip_index.jsp?sid=milb&cid=t556

 

Huntsville: Idle

Brevard County: Idle

 

West Virginia: RHP Roque Mercedes at Lake County (Indians), 5:55 PM pre-game, 6:05 gametime

 

Audio link via WSWW, be sure to select the proper date (game will also archive at this link):

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/clubs/ip_index.jsp?sid=milb&cid=t525

 

Helena: LHP Daniel Meadows at Missoula (Diamondbacks), 5:50 PM pre-game, 6:00 gametime

 

Audio link via KCAP, be sure to select the proper date (game will also archive at this link):

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/clubs/ip_index.jsp?sid=milb&cid=t433

 

Arizona: Idle

[Mass Haas]

Follow Sunday'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 "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_07_27_poraaa_nasaaa_1

 

West Virginia:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_07_27_wvaafx_lcoafx_1

 

Helena:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_07_27_helrok_misrok_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 63 44 .589 - 38-18 25-26 L1 Memphis 58 49 .542 5.0 28-24 30-25 L2 Omaha 48 59 .449 15.0 22-29 26-30 L4 Nashville 42 65 .393 21.0 21-30 21-35 W1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 Southern League (AA) - SOU North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Carolina 19 16 .543 - 9-6 10-10 W2 Tennessee 19 16 .543 - 10-10 9-6 L3 Huntsville 18 17 .514 1.0 8-7 10-10 L2 Chattanooga 15 20 .429 4.0 8-12 7-8 W1 West Tenn 14 21 .400 5.0 4-11 10-10 L1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 Florida State League (A+) - FSL East Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Daytona 19 13 .594 - 9-5 10-8 W1 St. Lucie 19 14 .576 0.5 9-7 10-7 W1 Jupiter 18 15 .545 1.5 9-6 9-9 L1 Palm Beach 17 17 .500 3.0 12-7 5-10 W2 Brevard County 14 21 .400 6.5 6-10 8-11 L2 Vero Beach 12 23 .343 8.5 6-14 6-9 L1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 South Atlantic League (A) - SAL Northern Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- West Virginia 26 9 .743 - 14-4 12-5 W5 Lakewood 22 13 .629 4.0 10-6 12-7 W1 Delmarva 19 16 .543 7.0 6-10 13-6 L2 Hagerstown 17 18 .486 9.0 7-10 10-8 W3 Greensboro 13 22 .371 13.0 7-11 6-11 L3 Lexington 12 22 .353 13.5 7-12 5-10 W3 Hickory 12 23 .343 14.0 3-14 9-9 W1 Lake County 12 23 .343 14.0 5-12 7-11 L7 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 Pioneer League (R+) - PIO North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Billings 23 14 .622 - 10-4 13-10 L1 Helena 19 18 .514 4.0 9-11 10-7 W1 Great Falls 18 19 .486 5.0 10-9 8-10 W1 Missoula 9 28 .243 14.0 5-16 4-12 L1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 Arizona League (R) - Arizona League Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AZL Angels 20 7 .741 - 10-4 10-3 W2 AZL Cubs 17 10 .630 3.0 12-2 5-8 W2 AZL Rangers 17 10 .630 3.0 8-6 9-4 L1 AZL Giants 15 13 .536 5.5 8-6 7-7 L1 AZL Royals 15 13 .536 5.5 10-4 5-9 W1 AZL Padres 14 14 .500 6.5 9-5 5-9 L1 AZL Athletics 10 17 .370 10.0 5-8 5-9 W1 AZL Mariners 9 18 .333 11.0 5-7 4-11 L4 AZL Brewers 6 21 .222 14.0 6-8 0-13 L3 

[Mass Haas]

Egads, Luis Pena -- details later...

[Mass Haas]

Final: Lake County (Indians) 7, West Virginia 3

West Virginia Site Game Summary:

 

CAPTAINS' BROWN SLAMS POWER

 

Matt Brown knocked in six of Lake County's seven runs against the Power at Classic Park on Sunday night and delivered the knockout punch with a grand slam in the fifth inning as the Captains ended West Virginia's five-game winning streak with a 7-3 victory.

 

The Captains struck first in the bottom of the first inning on Brown's two-out RBI single. West Virginia tied the game a half-inning later on Logan Schafer's RBI double. Lake County took their second lead of the game in the second on Cristo Arnal's solo home run.

 

The Power took their only lead of the night when Steffan Wilson extended his road hitting streak to 21 games with a two-run single in the third. Lake County tied it in the bottom of the inning on Brown's two-out RBI double. The bases were loaded with nobody out in the fifth inning when Brown struck again with a grand slam to put the game away.

 

Gary Campfield (5-3) pitched two scoreless innings of relief and got the victory. Roque Mercedes (5-5) was tagged for all seven runs on nine hits through four innings of work and got the loss. Pedro Lambertus and Rob Wooten combined to toss four scoreless innings of relief.

 

The Power fell to 58-47 on the year and 26-10 in the second half with the loss. The Captains improved to 54-52 on the year and 13-23 in the second half with the win. Every Power player reached safely and Schafer turned in the only multi-hit game with a 2-for-4 performance. Eric Farris went 1-for-4 and has hit safely in 12 straight games since his 15-game hitting streak was snapped. Caleb Gindl went 0-for-2 and walked twice, extending his on base streak to 19 games.

 

The Power will finish the four-game series against Lake County Monday night. The Power will start right hander R.J. Seidel (7-4, 5.09) and the Captains will counter with right hander Chris Archer (2-8, 3.98). The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM (6:05 Central).

 

West Virginia Box Score

Every Power in the lineup reached at least once, as West Virginia stranded three; Roque Mercedes' June and July success somewhat overshadowed by this effort; Pedro Lambertus' relief outing encouraging -- he hasn't allowed an earned run all month (12 innings); Rob Wooten allowed one hit in a scoreless inning in his West Virginia debut; Lee Haydel back in the leadoff spot for this one; former Power pitcher Rob Bryson retired all five batters he faced, as we re-capped in another thread on this forum...

 

West Virginia Game Log

[Mass Haas]

Just a bizarre game going on in Missoula tonight -- hope some of you are listening, they're in the 12th as of 9:45 Central...

[dadofandrew]

Isn't Pena the one who walks almost a guy an inning, and had a 5ish ERA before today?

 

Some are blinded by velocity, but he's not even close. There are probably 4-5 guys ahead of him at AAA alone.

[Mass Haas]

Nashville Pre-Game Audio Chat with Outfielder Laynce Nix

[Mass Haas]

Final: Portland (Padres) 10, Nashville 1, 11 innings

 

Nashville Site Game Summary:

Link for Mark DiFelice photo, text follows --

 

Sounds Give Up Nine In 11th Inning, Lose 10-1

 

NASHVILLE - The Portland Beavers erupted for nine runs with two outs in the top of the eleventh inning to hang a 10-1 defeat on the Nashville Sounds on Sunday evening at Greer Stadium.

 

With the loss, Nashville (42-66) fell to 0-5 at home in extra-inning contests this season.

 

Peter Ciofrone led off the eleventh with a walk against Sounds reliever Luis Pena, then Will Venable singled and Justin Huber was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs. Pena induced a rare 4-2-3 double play grounder from Vince Sinisi to put two outs up on the board before Brett Dowdy jumped on the first pitch he saw from the right-hander and roped a two-run single to left to give the visitors a 3-1 lead.

 

Beavers reliever Edwin Moreno stepped into the box and helped his own cause when he followed with a bouncing RBI single up the middle to plate Dowdy and extend the lead to 4-1. After a Matt Antonelli single, Portland catcher Luke Carlin crushed a mammoth three-run homer to right field that landed on Chestnut Street, well beyond the outfield wall.

 

Shortstop Adam Heether took over on the Nashville hill to make his third pitching appearance of the year and was greeted by a Craig Stansberry solo homer to right, his seventh longball of the year.

 

The inning continued as Ciofrone cheaply extended Portland's longest hitting streak of the year to 24 games with a ducksnort to left off Heether after opening the game 0-for-3 against regular Nashville pitchers. The 24-game streak matches Sounds catcher Vinny Rottino and Iowa's Andres Torres for the longest by a PCL player this season.

 

Venable - the 11th Beaver hitter of the frame - then capped the onslaught with a two-run homer to right off Heether, his tenth roundtripper of the season.

 

The nine runs in the 11th frame were the second-most allowed by Nashville in a single inning this season; the Sounds surrendered 10 to Albuquerque during the second inning on April 19 at Isotopes Park.

 

Moreno (5-2) was the beneficiary of the Portland outburst and picked up the win after working two scoreless innings.

 

Pena (1-2) was tagged with his second loss in his last five outings after giving up six runs on five hits and a walk in two-thirds of a frame.

 

Sinisi put the visitors on the board in the top of the second inning when he belted a leadoff solo homer to right off Sounds starter Mark DiFelice. The blast was his third of the season.

 

Nashville rallied to tie the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the eighth against former Sound Joe Thatcher. With one out, Tony Gwynn and Jay Gibbons put together back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners for Joe Dillon, who delivered an RBI fielder's choice grounder to plate Gwynn with the tying run.

 

Both starters left with no-decisions despite a pair of outstanding efforts.

 

DiFelice allowed one run on only two hits while walking two batters and striking out seven in eight innings of work, his longest outing of the year. He threw 96 pitches (70 strikes) and lowered his ERA to 2.63 through nine starts with Nashville.

 

Beavers starter Cesar Ramos worked 6 2/3 innings of scoreless, three-hit ball but took a no-decision for the visitors. He walked three batters and struck out seven in his 99-pitch outing. With the effort, the left-hander extended his current streak to 15 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings.

 

The teams continue their series with 7 p.m. meeting on Monday. Left-hander Lindsay Gulin (5-4, 3.48) will toe the rubber for the Sounds to face Portland southpaw Wade LeBlanc (8-7, 6.17).

 

Nashville Box Score

Mark DiFelice could conceivingly be a big part of the 2009 Milwaukee staff -- I realize it's tough to focus attention on that right now...

 

Nashville Game Log

[Mass Haas]

Final: Helena 10, Missoula (Diamondbacks) 7, 14 innings

 

Mike Roberts hit a three-run HR in the top of the 14th for the game-winner; very eventful, obviously, and we'll wait for the media report summaries in the AM...

[battlekow]

Sadly, there's the Roque Mercedes we're all used to.

[LouisEly]

Mark DiFelice could conceivingly be a big part of the 2009 Milwaukee staff

 

Agreed. He rebounded from a horrible start to post deceptively good numbers. His 0.95 WHIP surprised the heck out of me; unfortunately when he does get hit he gets hit hard (4 HRs in 13 IP), especially by leftys. He could be particularly effective against RH dominant teams, like the Cubs and Cardinals are now. I just hope he doesn't get frustrated from getting yanked around because he deserved to be in the majors more than some guys on the team, a la Steve Bray.

 

I've been particularly impressed with what Brock Kjeldgaard has been able to do, especially after not doing much hitting the last two years and not having played against top competition (Indian Hills CC) like some D-1 college players. He appears to be getting the hang of it after a rough start. Hopefully the plate discipline will improve with more experience, but I'm more excited about him than any other position player in Helena. (Edit - he has surprisingly good splits too; smallish sample, but .917 OPS vs righties and 1.003 vs leftys.)

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

Brewers outlast Osprey in extra innings

By CASEY TRANG - The Missoulian

 

The Missoula Osprey made one last try to fly North in the Pioneer League standings Sunday as the first half of the season came to a close, but Helena's Mike Roberts grounded the Birds with a three-run homer in the top of the 14th to set up a 10-7 win for the Brewers.

 

Helena's Chris Dennis helped stage the win for his team with a leadoff single in the top of the 14th, which bounced off the shoulder of Missoula first baseman Ryne White. Erik Miller then reached first off of a sacrifice bunt to give the Brewers a pair of runners at first and second and Roberts cleaned up the bases with a towering shot over left-center field.

 

Roberts' homer capped a 19-hit performance for Helena, which ended its opening half of the season in second place of the Northern Division standings with a 20-18 record.

 

The Osprey finished with a league-worst 9-29 mark, but come Monday, the Birds along with the rest of the league squads will reset their records for the second and final installment of the season.

 

Of course this bodes well for Missoula.

 

"You know it's nice to get a second start at this," said Osprey left fielder Bobby Stone, "but you know if we were in first place in the first half I probably wouldn't want to do it. We struggled a little in the first half so we are excited for the second half."

 

Missoula didn't exactly look like a cellar-dwelling squad against Helena. The Osprey came back twice in the game to force extra innings.

 

Isaias Ascencio and White each had line drives to right field in the bottom of the ninth to drive in a run apiece and lead the Osprey to their first comeback, which knotted the game up at 6-6.

 

Helena's John Delaney returned the favor in the top of the 12th with a single that drove in Derrick Alfonso and gave the Brewers a 7-6 lead.

 

The one-run cushion wasn't enough to interrupt the Osprey's extra-inning flight.

 

Missoula once again erased the Brewers lead in the bottom of the 12th, this time behind the bats of Tyrell Worthington and Bobby Stone.

 

Worthington, Missoula's No. 9 hitter, slapped a two-out single to right field to score Stone, who was sitting on third after belting a lead-off triple to center.

 

The bottom of both teams' lineups came on strong in the game.

 

Roberts, who bats in the seven spot, was 3-for-5. Helena's No. 8 hitter Alfonso had a pair of singles and Mike Marseco, who hits at the bottom of the order, doubled and finished with a team-high four hits.

 

Brock Kjeldgaard also had an impressive night for the Brewers. The cleanup hitter was a triple shy of the cycle and knocked in four runs.

 

Alberto Diaz , Kyle Green, Ascencio and White finished with three hits apiece for Missoula. White's three knocks included a home run and a double.

 

Monday is the beginning of the second half of the season for the Osprey as they once again host the Brewers.

 

"Spending as much time as we have with each other everyday we are starting to figure out what we need to do to play better baseball," Missoula third baseman Kyle Greene said. "We are definitely picking up a little bit."

Notes: Roberts' 3-run shot to end the game was just his second home run of the season and accounted for a third of his RBI on the year ... Kjeldgaard entered the game third in the league for extra-base hits and runs scored and second in doubles. He tacked on a pair of extra-base hits, a double and a run scored to his tally Sunday ... Missoula went from a record Sunday crowd of 3,194 fans two weeks ago to just 1,655 in this most recent game.

 

Helena Box Score

Mike Marseco (5'9", 145) can review the 14-year big league career of Freddie Patek here, who was actually four inches shorter, so as Marseco fills out, this comp may not be a valid; Nick Tyson proves again he has this Helena thing down; RHP Garrett Sherrill was something -- he worked out of a man-on-third, no out jam in the 11th to keep the game going, then almost did the same in the 12th...

 

Helena Game Log

[Mass Haas]

Nashville Photo Gallery from the Tennessean

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

Sounds suffer meltdown in extra-inning defeat

By STEVE SILVER

Tennessean Staff Writer

 

The Nashville Sounds and extra innings do not mix well.

 

After starting pitcher Mark DiFelice turned in an eight-inning, two-hit outing, the Sounds allowed nine runs in the 11th inning as the Portland Beavers routed the Sounds 10-1 at Greer Stadium on Sunday night.

 

The Sounds have lost all five of their home extra-inning games in large part to Luis Pena's inability to close games.

 

Pena, who allowed four runs in the ninth inning of an extra-inning loss to Tacoma last Friday, entered Sunday's game with the score tied 1-1 in the 11th. After getting two outs, he then gave up six runs on five hits, including Luke Carlin's home run onto Chestnut Street.

 

"His command was clearly off," Manager Frank Kremblas said of his closer. "It comes down to execution big time late in the game, especially with pitching. If you don't execute you are in trouble."

 

Pena, who pitched in the Triple-A All-Star Game, is 0-2 with a 29.08 ERA in his last five appearances. He is still third in the Pacific Coast League with 15 saves.

 

Following Pena's meltdown, shortstop Adam Heether took over on the mound. Heether gave up two home runs.

 

Gibbons suits up: Veteran outfielder Jay Gibbons made his first appearance in a Sounds uniform Sunday, and helped his new team score its only run.

 

In the eighth inning, he singled to advance Tony Gwynn to third. Gwynn scored on a fielder's choice.

 

Gibbons, who spent the previous seven seasons with the Baltimore Orioles, fielded just one ball while starting in right field for injured Brendan Katin.

 

"I'm glad I'm moving up and not down," Gibbons said. "It's good to be here. I'm just trying to blend in."

 

The Orioles released Gibbons, who was named in the Mitchell Report on steroids, in spring training.

 

Welcome back: The Sounds placed infielder Callix Crabbe on the disabled list because of a case of the chicken pox and called up catcher J.R. Hopf from Huntsville on Sunday.

 

Hopf batted .324 (11-for-34) in 15 games for the Sounds earlier this season, but he spent the last three weeks in Huntsville where he hit .182 (8-for-44) in 15 games.

 

July woes: The Sounds are 9-15 in July, with the worst team batting average in the PCL (.247) and a league-low 13 home runs for the month.

 

What they said: "He was effectively wild and did a nice job," - Kremblas on Portland starting pitcher Cesar Ramos, who held the Sounds scoreless in 6 2/3 innings.

[Mass Haas]

Helena Pre-Game Audio Interview with Canadian RHP Adam Arnold

Click on the KCAP archive of July 27th, then browse to the 05:00 minute mark...

[JJHardy7]

I just hope he doesn't get frustrated from getting yanked around because he deserved to be in the majors more than some guys on the team, a la Steve Bray.

 

I agree. Bray's performance in Nashville was probably the most disappointing thing to me personally so far this year in AAA. It looks like he's turned it around in Huntsville so hopefully he'll get back to AAA sooner rather than later.