Link Report for Games of Wednesday, April 15th

[Mass Haas]

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

[Mass Haas]

Wednesday's Daily Menu:

 

All times Central; pitchers subject to change --

 

Link here for the live audio choices - audio will no longer archive.

 

Sorry, no audio for this Brevard County series

 

Nashville: RHP Mike Burns at home vs. Oklahoma (Rangers), 10:45 AM pre-game; 11:00 gametime

 

Huntsville: LHP Chris Cody at home vs. Mississippi (Braves), 6:45 PM pre-game; 7:00 gametime

 

Brevard County: RHP Amaury Rivas and RHP Josh Butler at home in a doubleheader vs. Tampa (Yankees), 9:35 AM gametime; each game seven innings

 

Wisconsin: LHP Efrain Nieves at home vs. Fort Wayne (Padres), 11:45 AM pre-game, 12:05 PM gametime

[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 Tab or New Window". 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.

 

MiLB.com now has Gameday available for AA as well as AAA this season.

Nashville:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2009_04_15_orhaaa_nasaaa_1

 

Huntsville:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=t559&t=g_box&gid=2009_04_15_msbaax_hunaax_1

 

Brevard County Game One:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=t503&t=g_box&gid=2009_04_15_tbyafa_breafa_1

 

Brevard County Game Two:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2009_04_15_tbyafa_breafa_2

 

Wisconsin:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=g_box&gid=2009_04_15_ftwafx_wisafx_1&did=t572&sid=t572

[Mass Haas]

This link will be included in each daily report when the Nashville Sounds are scheduled to play. Normally it is updated a few hours prior to gametime.

 

Nashville Media Notes (Adobe .pdf format):

 

[Mass Haas]

Midwest League Standings

[Mass Haas]

 Pacific Coast League (AAA) - PCL American North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Memphis 4 1 .800 - 4-1 0-0 W3 Iowa 4 2 .667 0.5 0-0 4-2 W1 Omaha 4 2 .667 0.5 0-0 4-2 L1 Nashville 2 4 .333 2.5 2-4 0-0 L1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 Southern League (AA) - SOU North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Carolina 4 2 .667 - 0-0 4-2 W2 West Tenn 4 2 .667 - 0-0 4-2 L1 Tennessee 2 3 .400 1.5 0-0 2-3 L2 Huntsville 2 4 .333 2.0 2-4 0-0 W1 Chattanooga 1 5 .167 3.0 0-1 1-4 L3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 Florida State League (A+) - FSL North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clearwater 3 1 .750 - 1-1 2-0 W1 Daytona 3 2 .600 0.5 3-1 0-1 L1 Lakeland 2 2 .500 1.0 2-0 0-2 L1 Tampa 2 2 .500 1.0 2-0 0-2 W1 Dunedin 2 3 .400 1.5 0-2 2-1 W1 Brevard County 1 3 .250 2.0 1-0 0-3 L3 

[Mass Haas]

Rattlers Radio Blog:

 

April 15, 2009 Timber Rattler Pitchers

 

April 15, 2009 Game Notes

 

Chris also confirms that shortstop Michael Marseco is indeed a switch-hitter.

[Mass Haas]

Wow, ugly start for the Manatees -- four-run Tampa 1st, two Brevard errors plus a passed ball.

 

Eric Fryer sighting (Chase Wright trade), by the way -- he drew raves in spring training reports we saw (pay site) from the Yankees complex.

[Mass Haas]

Once again, is anybody able to get the Wisconsin audio feed? This is getting to be annoying.

 

EDIT: Working now, thanks.

[NastyTwig]

Through his first 7 innings this year, Efrain Nieves has a 12-0 groundball to flyball ratio and has 9 K's. He is also a lefty that is only 19 years old. Please, Jesus, don't let his arm get hurt.

Edit: Make that 14-0 with 10 K's through 8 innings this season... This is through the 5th (one hit given up).

2nd Edit: Bah. Jinxed him. Still a good start for the kid.

[TheCrew07]

Mercedes with 2 scoreless... I'll leave it at that. Brewer has started the year slowly again, hopefully it turns around soon for him.

 

Nieves with a tough 7th, but still a pretty ERA.

[rdf8585]

Any reason why Scarpetta, a starter, was used in relief today?

[jschris]

Wisconsin is piggy-backing their starters, at least for the early part of the year (I don't recall if it is permanent or not). Scarpetta started and Nieves came in in relief on opening night.

[trwi7]

Any reason why Scarpetta, a starter, was used in relief today?

They're going to keep flipping. Scarpetta started the first time with Nieves coming out of the bullpen, now Nieves started with Scarpetta coming out of the pen and next time Scarpetta will start with Nieves coming out of the pen.

 

Just how they keep their innings managed.

[Mass Haas]

Final: Nashville 7, Oklahoma City (Rangers) 1

 

Nashville Site Game Summary:

Link for Brendan Katin photo, text follows --

 

Katin, Burns Lead Sounds To 7-1 Victory

NASHVILLE - Brendan Katin homered and drove in four runs and Mike Burns turned in the club's first quality start of the year to lead the Nashville Sounds to a 7-1 victory over the Oklahoma City RedHawks on Wednesday afternoon at Greer Stadium in the third game of four-game set.

 

Katin (2-for-4, 4 RBIs), the Sounds' cleanup hitter, has hit safely in his last four contests and ranks second among Nashville batters with a .385 average on the young season.

 

Every Nashville batter recorded a hit in the contest, except Joe Koshansky (0-for-4).

 

Katin continued his strong start to the year by putting the home team in the board in the bottom of the first inning with a mammoth two-out, two-run homer over the guitar-shaped scoreboard in left-center. The blast, his first of the year, came off RedHawks starter Doug Mathis and also plated Tony Gwynn, who had opened the contest by reaching on an error by third baseman Esteban German.

 

AUDIO: Katin Homers Over The Guitar

 

Nashville upped the lead to 5-0 in the second with three more runs, two of which coming unearned after Oklahoma City first baseman Scott Thorman's two-out fielding error. Jason Tyner contributed an RBI single in the frame, his first hit of the year.

 

RedHawks designated hitter Ben Harrison put the visitors on the board in the top of the fourth when he slugged a one-out solo homer to left-center that careened off the scoreboard. The roundtripper, which came against Sounds starter Mike Burns, was his first of the year.

 

Burns (1-0) earned the win after allowing one run on four hits while walking three batters and striking out three in his six innings of work.

 

The Sounds padded the lead to 7-1 in the bottom of the seventh when Katin delivered a two-run single off Oklahoma City reliever Michael Ballard.

 

R.J. Swindle followed Burns to the hill for Nashville and earned his first save of the year with three innings of hitless relief, striking out seven batters in the outing.

 

Mathis (0-1) drew the loss for the visitors after giving up five runs (one earned) on six hits over his six frames of action.

 

Second baseman Hernan Iribarren singled in the second inning to extend his hitting streak to five games for Nashville.

 

The Sounds wrap up their season-opening eight-game homestand with a 7:00 PM finale on Thursday evening against Oklahoma City. It will be a battle of prospects on the hill as left-hander Chase Wright (0-0, 2.25) will man the bump for Nashville to face RedHawks right-hander Neftali Feliz (0-0, 0.00).

 

Nashville Box Score

Angel Salome on base all four plate appearances; don't gloss over the R.J. Swindle mention above -- check out that line...

 

Nashville Game Log

[Mass Haas]

Final: Fort Wayne (Padres) 6, Wisconsin 0

 

Wisconsin Site Game Summary

Rattlers drop third straight

By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

GRAND CHUTE, WI -- The Fort Wayne TinCaps are 6-0 to start the 2009 Midwest League season. They took advantage of the few opportunities presented in the Wednesday's game to defeat the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 6-0 on Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium.

The starting pitchers were locked in a scoreless duel for the first six innings. Wisconsin starter Efrain Nieves retired the first 14 batters he faced. Fort Wayne starter Anthony Bass struck out six and allowed three hits over his six innings.

It was Nieves who flinched first. The Rattler lefty retired the first two batters of the seventh inning, but issued a walk to James Darnell. Nieves got two strikes on Allan Dykstra, but the TinCap designated hitter lined a double down the line in left to drive home Darnell with the first run of the game.

Nieves looked like he would get out of the inning when Matt Clark sent a high fly ball to left, but Wisconsin oufielder Michael Vass lost the ball in the sun. The ball dropped in for an RBI double.

Brandon Ritchie replaced Nieves and allowed an RBI single to Angel Mercado to give the TinCaps a 3-0 lead.

Tom Davis and Eric Gonzalez each worked a scoreless inning out of the Fort Wayne bullpen. Then, the TinCap hitters put the game away in the top of the ninth inning. A two-out error kept the inning alive for Robert Lara and the Fort Wayne catcher delivered a two-run double. Drew Cumberland followed with an RBI double and the TinCaps were up 6-0.

Colt Hynes closed out the Rattlers with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.

Wisconsin had won the first three games of the season, but the TinCaps sweep puts the Rattler record at 3-3 after six games.

The Timber Rattlers hit the road for the first time in 2009 on Thursday. Wisconsin will take on the Clinton LumberKings in the first game of a four game series. Trey Watten is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Steven Hensley is set to go for Clinton. Game time is 6:30 PM.

 

More from the Appleton blog on the game

 

Wisconsin Box Score

Four lonely baserunners for the T-Rats; Efrain Nieves was beyond wonderful -- his pitch count allowed him to pitch deep into the7th, he was a ground ball machine, struck out five, and if not for a ball in the sun, would have allowed only one run in the 7th, not three; just guessing that Cody Scarpetta is always going to fare better on the starting side of the piggyback outings, but Nieves / Scarpetta is one exciting tandem...

 

Wisconsin Game Log

Literally, a two-out Brett Lawrie double in the 1st constituted the only Wisconsin "rally" of the day, sigh...

[Mass Haas]

Doug Melvin Q&A at the Appleton blog includes the following:

 

On making the trip to Grand Chute: "I had looked on the schedule and planned on coming here anyway. But it is good to get outside, to see a game. I saw some of the kids playing down in spring training, but now that the team is assembled it's good to come here. ... Anytime I get a chance where there's a day game (here) and a night game at our place or vice-versa, I'll come here.

On the Rattlers' pitching and defense: "The pitching and defense have been good. The bats will get going a bit later on when it gets a little bit warmer. But I think the strength of this team will be on pitching and defense."

On what he was hoping to take from the visit: "It's like a family visit is what it is. It's a little bit like your kids are away from home and you go visit them. So there's nothing specific from a standpoint of players individually. I visit with (Rattlers manager) Jeff Isom, went through the clubhouse, nodded to the kids, shook a few hands, wished them the best of luck. And then I observe from a personnel and a skill-set standpoint while I'm in the stands."

 

More at this link

[Mass Haas]

Final, Game One: Tampa (Yankees) 4, Brevard County 3

Brevard County Game One Box Score

9th inning rall comes up one run short; Eric Farris still looking for his first hit (0-for-14) now has more errors (one) than base knocks; the disastrous first inning described early in this thread proved the ultimate killer...

 

Brevard County Game One Game Log

Two-run Manatee 3rd could have been much bigger...

[Mass Haas]

Final, Game Two: Brevard County 5, Tampa (Yankees) 3

 

Brevard County Game Two Box Score

Starter Josh Butler walked four and struck out none in six innings, but was otherwise effective; ugly (final) 7th inning for Rob Wooten and the Manatee defense, but the closer hangs on; Brevard batters did not draw a walk in either game of the double-dip -- that's not good, kids; Logan Schafer now has both (and all) of the Manatee home runs on the season...

 

Brevard County Game Two Game Log

One-out Caleb Gindl triple wasted in the 3rd; a line-out double really helped Butler in the 5th...

[TheCrew07]

Lawrie has 5 hits on the season and 4 of them are for extra bases how sweet is that for his first 2 series of pro ball? Gamel is more impressive with 11 hits and 6 for extra bases, 4 2B and 2 HR, he's SLG .955 right now..

 

There are a bunch of players with SLG north of .500 thus far:

 

Infielders

Gamel

Perez

Lawrie

Kjeldgaard

Outfielders

Gindl

Miller

Schafer

Katin

Gillespie (DH right now)

[Mass Haas]

Huntsville goes to the bottom of the 9th tied at 3-3 as of 9:50 Central -- join Brett Pollock on the call.

[Mass Haas]

Chuck Caufield with a walk-off deep single to drive in Chris Errecart for the 4-3 win -- the Braves committed two big errors just prior, but the boys will take it. Details later...

[TheCrew07]

Perez with 2 more hits... this is what we were expecting when he was signed...

[Mass Haas]

Final: Huntsville 4, Mississippi (Braves) 3

 

Huntsville Site Game Summary:

 

SECOND STRAIGHT COMEBACK WIN FOR STARS

Cardiac Kids Do it Again

 

Chuck Caufield singled in the game-winning run with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Stars their second straight walk off win, a 4-3 decision over Mississippi Wednesday night in the second of a five-game set at Joe Davis Stadium. The Stars have won back-to-back games for the first time this season to improve to 3-4, while the Braves have lost three in a row to dip to 2-5. All three of the Stars wins this season have come by a run and six of their seven games have been decided by three runs or less.

 

Chris Errecart reached third base with one out in the ninth when Willie Cabrera got to his fly ball in right field but could not make the running catch, as it hit off his glove. Pitcher Mike McClendon was the next scheduled hitter and hit a tapper back to the mound that Steve Marek mishandled allowing McClendon to reach first base. Caufield then belted a fly ball over a drawn in outfield to deliver Errecart with the decisive run. McClendon threw two scoreless frames to grab his second win, as the winning pitcher figured into the winning run for a second straight night.

 

Huntsville tied the game in the eighth against Marek when Yohannis Perez led off with a single, advanced on a Freddy Parejo sacrifice bunt and scored when third baseman Eric Campbell could not handle Adam Stern's sharply hit ground ball. The Braves committed three errors over the final two innings leading directly to the tying and winning runs.

 

Kala Ka'aihue's leadoff home run off of Chris Cody in the fourth inning opened the scoring and ended a stretch of 39 2/3 consecutive frames without giving up a long ball for the Stars' southpaw. Campbell and Matt Young added scoring fly balls to stake the visitors to a 3-0 after five and a half innings. The Stars, who left the bases loaded with one out in the first, stranded runners at second and third and one out in the third and left the bases full again in the fourth against starter Deunte Heath, finally broke through in the sixth against Jeff Lyman with a run-scoring double by Parejo and a Stern sacrifice fly.

 

Cody went 4 1/3 innings, yielding two runs on five hits, walking three and fanning eight. The Stars quartet of pitchers recorded nine strikeouts, giving them 28 in the two games. Heath allowed only two hits in his four frames but issued six of the nine walks by the Braves, who have issued 15 free passes in two games.

 

The series continues on Thursday night with right-hander Mark Holliman taking the hill for Huntsville against Braves' southpaw Scott Diamond. Coverage of the game begins at 6:45 pm central time and can be heard through the internet at www.huntsvillestars.com.

 

Huntsville Box Score

Not sure if Jonathan Lucroy is getting the pitching help he needs right now, but the Braves stole six bases, five vs. southpaws; 0-for-3, but welcome back, Drew Anderson...

 

Huntsville Game Log

Thank goodness all the early wasted chances you'll see here didn't come back to haunt the Stars...

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

Brewers GM Doug Melvin pays visit to Fox Cities Stadium to see Timber Rattlers

By Brett Christopherson

Post-Crescent staff writer

 

GRAND CHUTE - A familiar face surprised Wisconsin Timber Rattlers shortstop Michael Marseco on Wednesday morning during a meet-and-greet session inside the team clubhouse.

 

And a pretty important one at that.

 

Milwaukee Brewers general manager Doug Melvin stopped by Fox Cities Stadium to catch the Rattlers' Midwest League series finale against the Fort Wayne TinCaps - a game that saw Wisconsin finish on the wrong end of a 6-0 decision to complete an unwanted three-game sweep.

 

So, did the 22-year-old Marseco find himself unnerved by the unexpected pit stop?

 

"There are constantly rovers here, higher-up people checking up on us," he said. "We're low man on the totem poll, so we can't afford to take a day off. Every day's a grind, regardless of who's here. You've just got to go out and do it.

 

"So Doug being here maybe influenced us to play a little harder. If anything, it's an incentive to just try to be your best, but we always do."

 

The visit was Melvin's first of the Rattlers-Brewers partnership as he and other Brewers officials watched from their seats - five rows behind home plate.

 

Because the game was a 12:05 p.m. start, Melvin and the others were able to scoot back to Milwaukee in time for Wednesday night's Brewers-Cincinnati Reds matchup at Miller Park.

 

"I had looked on the schedule and planned on coming here, anyway," he said. "But it's good to get outside, to see a game. I saw some of the kids playing down in spring training, but now that the team is assembled, it's good to come here. Anytime I get a chance where there's a day game (here) and a night game at our place, or vice-versa, I'll come here."

 

Off the field, Melvin said he has been pleased with the Brewers' new affiliation with the Rattlers. The two sides agreed last September on a deal that will station Milwaukee's Class A minor league talent in Grand Chute through 2012.

 

Meanwhile, local fan interest has grown - a notion underscored when a sellout crowd of 5,487 packed Fox Cities Stadium for last Thursday's season opener, the largest Opening Day attendance total in stadium history.

 

"I understand that the fans here have really embraced the affiliation," he said. "From that standpoint, I can see it only getting better."