Link Report for Games of Saturday, April 25th

[Mass Haas]

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

[Mass Haas]

Saturday'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. Iowa (Cubs), 5:35 PM pre-game; 6:00 gametime

 

Huntsville: RHP Jeremy Jeffress at Chattanooga (Dodgers), 6:00 PM pre-game; 6:15 gametime

 

Brevard County: RHP Amaury Rivas at Dunedin (Blue Jays), 6:00 PM gametime

 

Wisconsin: RHP Michael Bowman at Quad Cities (Cardinals), 5:45 PM pre-game, 6:00 gametime

[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 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_25_iowaaa_nasaaa_1

 

Huntsville:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=t559&t=g_box&gid=2009_04_25_hunaax_cngaax_1

 

Brevard County:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=t503&t=g_box&gid=2009_04_25_breafa_dunafa_1

 

Wisconsin:

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=g_box&gid=2009_04_25_wisafx_qcsafx_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):

***

Similarly, here is the link to Chris Mehring's Rattler Radio Blog -- look for his game notes, pitcher bio's, and opening lineup info prior to each TimberRattler game.

[Mass Haas]

 Pacific Coast League (AAA) - PCL American North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Iowa 11 5 .688 - 6-2 5-3 W3 Memphis 9 6 .600 1.5 7-4 2-2 W1 Nashville 9 7 .563 2.0 3-5 6-2 L1 Omaha 9 7 .563 2.0 2-2 7-5 W1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 Southern League (AA) - SOU North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Huntsville 8 7 .533 - 5-5 3-2 W2 Tennessee 7 7 .500 0.5 2-2 5-5 L1 Carolina 6 9 .400 2.0 2-3 4-6 L2 West Tenn 6 9 .400 2.0 2-3 4-6 W1 Chattanooga 3 12 .200 5.0 2-3 1-9 L6 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

 Florida State League (A+) - FSL North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brevard County 9 5 .643 - 6-1 3-4 W1 Clearwater 8 6 .571 1.0 4-4 4-2 L1 Lakeland 7 7 .500 2.0 5-3 2-4 W1 Tampa 7 7 .500 2.0 4-2 3-5 W2 Daytona 6 8 .429 3.0 3-4 3-4 L2 Dunedin 5 9 .357 4.0 1-5 4-4 L1 

[Mass Haas]

Midwest League Standings

[twobrewers]

Did we ever find out why Mark Rogers didn't make his start a few days ago?

[TheCrew07]

Salome can't buy a hit this season, very strange... though Errecart continues to struggle and has had a worse season thus far.

 

Wheeler hasn't had a hit since the 21st and still is batting over .300, Gindl continues to rake.

 

Kemp is quietly having a nice season in limited opportunities.

 

If Bowman quits walking people he'll be alright. Rivas with an excellent effort tonight, but Jeffress' night may have been better.

[battlekow]

8/2 K/BB is nice, but Jeffress still threw way too many balls. Way too many pitches, period. 91 pitches in 5 innings, only 55 for strikes.

[twobrewers]

Gamel hits another HR.

 

Lawrie hits one too. (Lawrie has 6 stolen bases already)

 

Chris Smith with 3 innings and 4K for Nashville. At this point, I think I would take Smith over Jorrible Julio...

[And That]

Pedro Lambertus gets demoted while Liam Ohlmann and his Manzanillo-esque walk rate gets to stay in Wisconsin? Hmm.

 

I'd like to know what pictures Brett Whiteside has of Reid Nichols. If Santo Manzanillo had those pictures, he'd be in Nashville by now.

 

I'd be all for Kevin Melillo's promotion to AAA, if it didn't mean Heether getting that many fewer AB's. Heether is getting seriously screwed.

 

Mat Gamel is sick, and so is Chris Smith. I helped start the Gamel bandwagon when he was drafted, and I'm getting the Smith bandwagon rolling right now. New DiFelice, same as the old DiFelice.

[Mass Haas]

Final: Quad Cities (Cardinals) 9, Wisconsin 8

 

Wisconsin Site Game Summary

 

River Bandit rally ends Rattler win streak

By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

DAVENPORT, IA - The Quad Cities River Bandits scored twice in the ninth inning to complete a 9-8 come-from-behind victory over the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Saturday night at Modern Woodmen Park. Niko Vasquez drove in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth. The loss ended Wisconsin's four-game winning streak.

 

The Timber Rattlers (7-7) scored twice in the second inning. Corey Kemp reached on an error to start the inning, Juan Sanchez lined a double down the line in left and Kemp scored from first. After an infield single by Erik Miller moved Sanchez to third, Shawn Zarraga knocked in Sanchez with a sacrifice fly to right.

 

An RBI grounder by Brock Kjeldgaard in the third inning made it 3-0 Rattlers.

 

Quad Cities (7-7) cut the Rattler lead to one in the bottom of the third. A sacrifice fly by Brett Lilley plated the first run. Rattler starter Michael Bowman appeared to be on his way out of the inning, but a two-out walk, a double, and another walk loaded the bases. Then, Bowman walked Charles Cutler to force in a run.

 

Wisconsin got one of those runs back in the top of the fourth. Erik Miller doubled to start the frame. Zarraga drove in Miller with a single for a 4-2 advantage.

 

Michael Marseco hustled home from second on throwing error to first after a Brett Lawrie grounder in the sixth to give Wisconsin a 5-2 lead. Then, walks finally caught up to the Rattlers.

 

Liam Ohlmann walked the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth, but escaped without damage. However, Brian Meadows could not pull a similar escape act in the seventh. The first three Quad Cities hitters reached on a single, a walk, and another single. Meadows forced home a run by walking Alex Castellanos to make the score 5-3.

 

Meadows got the next batter, but Ryde Rodriguez put the Bandits in front 6-5 with a three-run double to left-center.

 

River Bandit pitcher George Brown retired the first two Rattlers he faced in the top of the eighth. But, his walks hurt him much more quickly.

Cutter Dykstra and Michael Vass drew back-to-back two-out walks to set up Lawrie. The Rattler second baseman launched a 2-0 pitch from Miller over the fence in right for a three-run homer and an 8-6 Wisconsin lead.

 

Rattler reliever Kris Dabrowiecki made his professional debut in the bottom of the eighth inning and gave up a lead-off triple to Vasquez and an RBI single by Chris Swauger to see the lead drop to one run. But, the rookie out of Northeastern University got a 5-4-3 double play and -- after another walk -- a pop out to end the inning.

 

However, Dabrowiecki fell behind Domnit Bolivar 2-0 to lead off the bottom of the ninth. Then, Bolivar hit a game-tying homer to right-center. Rodriguez followed with a single to put the winning run at first. Dabrowiecki got the second out, but issued one more walk -- the eleventh of the night by Wisconsin pitchers -- to push Rodriguez to second. Bolivar lined the next pitch to the wall in centerfield to drive in Rodriguez with the winning run.

 

Game two of the series is scheduled for Sunday afternoon. Trey Watten (1-1, 2.45) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Quad Cities will send Adam Veres (1-0, 0.00) to the mound. Game time is 1:00 PM.

 

Wisconsin Box Score

Throw in six combined errors (five by Quad Cities) and this is one ugly three hours and thirteen minutes; Chris Mehring points out that the Cardinals have only one of their Baseball America top 30 prospects at low-A -- that seems unthinkable...

 

Wisconsin Game Log

John Delaney started the game in left field, he grounded out to lead off the 3rd inning, and then was replaced in left in the bottom of the inning -- hopefully just a tweak...

[Mass Haas]

Final: Brevard County 3, Dunedin (Blue Jays) 0

Dunedin Site Game Summary

 

Jays lose to Manatees for fifth straight time, 3-0

By Tim Livingston / Dunedin Blue Jays

 

Whatever the Dunedin Blue Jays have tried to do against the Brevard County Manatees just hasn't been working.

 

After being swept last weekend in Viera, the Blue Jays are in danger of being swept out of Dunedin Stadium this weekend after dropping the second game of their three game series with the first place Manatees, 3-0.

 

The Jays bats went cold again, as their seven hits yielded no runs, and another night of decent pitching went by the wayside.

 

Starter Andrew Liebel (0-3) got touched for three runs in his five innings of work while taking the loss, but he didn't get much help from the offensive side of things outside of right fielder Moises Sierra, who continued his hot homestand with a 3-for-4 performance.

 

Sierra is 8-for-18 (.444) during the five games so far on this homestand and has smashed two home runs and two doubles.

 

Manatees Starter Amaury Rivas (1-1) got his first win of the year for Brevard County, going the minimum of five innings, scattering three hits while striking out five.

 

The Blue Jays bullpen once again had a solid showing, giving up only one hit in three innings, but the Jays bats just couldn't get going at all.

 

Their best scoring chance was in the bottom of the sixth inning, as Sierra laced his second double of the game down the left field line. First baseman Manny Rodriguez was given the go-ahead from manager Omar Malave to head home, but a great relay throw from Manatees shortstop Brent Brewer cut Rodriguez down at the plate to keep the Jays scoreless.

 

Dunedin will try to break their five-game skid against Brevard County on Sunday afternoon when they host the Manatees for a 1:00 PM (noon Central) start.

 

Brevard County Box Score

Yes, it's the pitcher-friendly Florida State League, but how fantastic is a 2.46 team ERA through 15 games -- check out the Manatees' pitching lines here; by the way, the Manatees' .289 team batting average also leads the league; ho-hum, Caleb Gindl two more hits and an RBI; two hour, six minute event even with 17 combined hits (no walks in this one for either team) -- even more impressive when you consider the home team batted in the 9th...

 

Brevard County Game Log

Every tidbit from a game story, even from the opponent's point-of-view, helps -- without it, we may be focusing on Brent Brewer's sixth error instead of his big relay throw...

 

Man, what's with guys getting hurt (apparently) on the basepaths tonight -- hot-hitting Steffan Wilson leaves after his second base hit, a double --

 

Brevard County Top 4th

• Lee Haydel grounds out to first baseman Manuel Rodriguez.
• Brent Brewer flies out to left fielder Eric Thames.
• Steffan Wilson doubles (1) on a fly ball to center fielder Darin Mastroianni.
• Offensive Substitution: Pinch runner Brett Whiteside replaces Steffan Wilson.
• Sergio Miranda singles on a ground ball to center fielder Darin Mastroianni. Brett Whiteside scores.
• Martin Maldonado pops out to first baseman Manuel Rodriguez in foul territory.

[Mass Haas]

Final: Huntsville 5, Chattanooga (Dodgers) 4

 

Huntsville Site Game Summary

 

Hinton Slams the Door in the Ninth

One More One-Run Win for Stars

By Brett Pollock / MiLB.com

 

Jeremy Jeffress worked five strong innings and the bullpen survived a shaky ninth inning to preserve Huntsville's 5-4 victory in the opener of a five-game set Saturday night at AT&T Field. The Stars won their third straight to improve to 9-7 and remain in first place in the North, while the Lookouts lost a seventh straight to fall to 3-13 and six games behind in the division. Eight of the Stars' nine wins have come by one run and 14 of their 16 games have been decided by three runs or less.

 

Omar Aguilar took the hill in the bottom of the ninth with a 5-1 lead but managed to record only one out. He gave up a two-run double to Josh Bell and was lifted after walking J.D. Closser with one out. Robert Hinton took over and walked Victor Mercedes to load the bases before pinch-hitter Gabriel Martinez flied out to shallow center field for the second out. It looked like Hinton would get out of trouble when James Tomlin lifted a pop up behind the mound but the ball landed between Hinton, second baseman Shane Justis and first baseman Chris Errecart for a base hit that brought Bell home to cut the lead to one. Hinton then ended the game by getting Justin Sellers to bounce into a force play at second base and earned his second save in as many days.

 

Drew Anderson led off the fifth inning with a walk, moved to second base when Errecart was hit by a pitch, advanced to third base on a wild pitch and scored to tie the game at one on a Freddy Parejo sacrifice fly that also moved Errecart to third base. Yohannis Perez was then intentionally passed for Jeffress, who dropped down a sacrifice bunt to move Perez to second base. Adam Stern singled into right to deliver Errecart with the go-ahead run but Perez was thrown out at the plate to end the inning.

 

Justis started the sixth inning with a double, stayed put when Kevin Melillo walked and they both came into score when Jonathan Lucroy followed with a double that pushed the visitors' lead to 4-1. Lucroy moved to third base on a groundout and came into score on a single by Errecart that knocked starter Jesus Castillo out of the game. The right-hander was tagged with the loss after yielding five runs on six hits, walking three and fanning a pair over 5.1 innings.

 

Jeffress put together his longest outing of the season, allowing a run on three hits, while walking two and matching a season-high with eight strikeouts. Mike McClendon worked three shutout innings and retired nine of the ten hitters he faced in his longest outing. The win by Jeffress was just the second for a Stars' starting pitcher this season.

 

The series continues Sunday afternoon with southpaw Chris Cody taking the hill against Lookouts' right-hander Tim Corcoran. Coverage of the game begins at 1:00 PM central time and can be heard through the internet at www.huntsvillestars.com.

 

Huntsville Box Score

Infielder Shane Justis shares the team lead in slugging with Kevin Melillo at .500 -- nine of his 14 hits have gone for extra bases; Jonathan Lucroy throws out the only Lookout attempting to steal; Omar Aguilar still shaking off the rust is all, hopefully; quibbling over 91 Jeremy Jeffress pitches through five innings? -- if every 91 pitches he throws produces that pitching line, we'll all enjoy; Mike McClendon (his individual game log here) has been awfully busy this week -- that was a studly pitching line tonight...

 

Huntsville Game Log

When Johnny Raburn replaced Yohannis Perez in the 6th, thought it might be another baserunning injury -- no, just a double switch; Jeffress struck out the side in order in the 3rd...

[Mass Haas]

Nashville Pre-Game Audio Chat with Catcher Carlos Corporan

Discusses his new batting philosophy (remember, he is a switch-hitter -- that part's not new), his throw-from-the-knees arm strength, and his Tony Pena-like catching stance -- the 25-year-old Puerto Rican product (another with perfect English, by the way) is the most uniquely talented "backup" player in the system, and to our poster Mr. Briggs, you're right -- an oversight from most of the Power 50 editors (not Toby) on Carlos...

[Mass Haas]

Final: Nashville 6, Iowa (Cubs) 3

Nashville Site Game Summary

Sounds Open Homestand With 6-3 Victory

NASHVILLE - The Nashville Sounds opened their homestand with a 6-3 victory over the division-leading Iowa Cubs in front of a season-high 8,091 fans on Saturday evening at Greer Stadium.

Mat Gamel belted a two-run homer and Brendan Katin added a three-run double to fuel the offense for Nashville (10-7), which has won seven of its last nine contests.

Sounds center fielder Tony Gwynn singled in the eighth inning to extend his hitting streak to 15 games, the longest by a Pacific Coast League player this season.

Iowa jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning against Sounds starter Mike Burns. With one out, Nate Spears and Doug Deeds singled before PCL RBI leader Jake Fox (2-for-3) ripped a run-scoring double down the right field line to bring in the game's first run. The two-bagger was his league-best seventh of the year and produced his 26th RBI. Brad Snyder followed with an RBI groundout.

Katin, the Sounds' cleanup hitter, pulled the home team ahead, 3-2, with one swing of the bat in the bottom of the fifth inning, lifting a bases-loaded, three-run double to left-center off Iowa reliever Jesse Estrada. The two-bagger plated Burns, who had singled, along with Gwynn and Gamel, who each walked.

AUDIO: Brendan Katin Three-Run Double

Fox evened the game in the top of the sixth when he slugged his PCL-leading ninth home run of the year, a leadoff solo shot to center off Burns.

Nashville pulled back in front in the seventh with a three-run frame. Jason Bourgeois greeted Cubs reliever Jason Waddell with a double to center and scored two batters later on an Alcides Escobar RBI single to give the Sounds a 4-3 advantage. Gamel capped off the rally with a two-run homer to left, his sixth roundtripper of the year.

Sounds reliever Chris Smith (1-0) picked up his first victory of the year after working three scoreless frames.

Burns, who took a no-decision in the contest, turned in his third straight quality start for the Sounds. He allowed three runs on seven hits over six innings. Waddell (0-1) drew the loss for Iowa after giving up three runs in his 1 2/3 frames of action.

The teams continue the series with a 2:00 PM meeting on Sunday afternoon. Left-hander Chase Wright (1-1, 4.02) will toe the rubber for the Sounds to face I-Cubs righty Esmailin Caridad (2-1, 6.14).

Nashville Box Score
We've exhausted all the superlatives on Mat Gamel's bat -- dude, you are awesome; two stolen bases for Alcides Escobar, now with eight -- it's only April 25th, folks...

Nashville Game Log
Hernan Iribarren popped out to end the 4th, then was replaced by Adam Heether -- reason for the early swap other than to get Adam some AB's? We'll see if Hernan starts Sunday...wonder if he ran out that pop-up, Don Money...

[Mass Haas]

For those of you clicking on the MiLB.com links in the middle of the night, it appears the site is down again (never an occurrance in past years)...

[Mass Haas]

David Weiser's starsboxscore.com

 

Marginal Marvels

Eight one-run victories in April now a record

Coming into this game, the Stars had won 7 of the 8 games by a single run, sometimes doing it in the final inning.

[align=center]

April 10 vs. Mobile	Won 2-1, leaving bases loaded in the 9th
April 14 vs. Mississippi	Won 5-4 in the bottom of the 13th w/2 out
April 15 vs. Mississippi	Caufield single, bottom of the 9th w/1 out
April 16 vs. Mississippi	Errecart 2-run single, bottom of the 9th, 2 out
April 17 vs. Mississippi	7-6. Anderson sac fly caps 2-run 9th inning
April 21 vs. Carolina	Mudcats leave tying run on 1st in the 9th
April 23 vs. Carolina	Mudcats leave two on in the bottom of 9th

[/align]

Robert Hinton had a situation like this last Wednesday and failed, allowing three Carolina runs to score in the bottom of the 9th, the winning run scoring on a wild pitch. It looked like Hinton would be a hard luck loser again. Needing one out, Hinton got James Tomlin to pop up on the infield, but it fell Chris Errecart, Robert Hinton, and Kevin Melillo to load the bases, allowing Josh Bell to score Chattanooga's 4th run. You could almost say to yourself, "this was destined to happen"..... The Stars had a one-run lead, as such was the case with 7 of their last 8 victories...... This time, the karma was right for Hinton. Justin Sellers pulled his second pitch, low and over the plate to 3rd baseman Melillo, who threw to 2nd baseman Shane Justis for the force out and final out of the ballgame...... For a record 8th time this month, the Stars had won by a single run. With five games to go in a short April, the Stars need four one-run margin victories to tie the 2006 club record for most one-run victories in a single month. I think the record's safe...... The Stars, 9-7 and in 1st place in the Northern Division, are 8-2 in one-run games. This is quite a reversal over last year, when they finished 16-31 in one-run margin affairs, including a 2-8 stretch month.

Among the 5,200 at AT&T Park were GM Buck Rogers and a contingent of boosters and staffers, who saw a good game and Jeremy Jeffress's best performance to date.

[align=center]

	IP	H	R	ER	Pitches/Strikes	Pct. of Strikes
April 9	3	3	2	2	65/31	47.6%
April 14	4	2	2	1	78/44	56.4%
April 20	4	3	4	0	82/43	52.4%
April 25	5	3	1	1	91/55	60.4%

[/align]

For the season, Jeffress has held Southern League hitters to a .193 average and struck out 22 hitters in 16 innings. He's 3rd in the league in strikeouts, but on the flip side, has walked a league-leading 12 hitters as well.

Sunday, Chris Cody, who has held his opponents scoreless in 2 of his 3 starts, will face Tim Corcoran, who was 1-1 with a 4.79 ERA in four appearances against the Stars last year........ Cody is 6th among Southern League ERA leaders (1.20), a notch ahead of reliever Mike McClendon.

After his initial 8-game hitting streak was broken up, Adam Stern is working on another one -- 7 games and counting. He leads the SL in stolen bases (9) and has struck out just 6 times in 65 at-bats, and only 3 times with the bases empty. He's 7th among SL batting leaders with a .354 average...... Yohannis Perez, who was hitting .406 after the first day of this road trip, is in an 0-for-9 slump...... Shane Justis is 4-for-11 with 3 doubles in his last three games, and has pumped up his average to .259......

Brendan Katin doubled and drove in 3 runs while Mat Gamel hit his 6th home run of the season as the Sounds beat Iowa, 6-3. Gamel is off to a .397 start...... Brevard County, like Huntsville, is leading their division in the Florida State League. They're off to a 10-5 start after shutting out Dunedin, 3-0 on 7 hits......

[Mass Haas]

Looks like if you drag over David's charts, pasted above, you'll be able to view them, at least that's the case in my Internet Explorer browser.

[Mass Haas]

Quad Cities Online:

Adams enjoys trip home: While he won't pitchduring this visit to Modern Woodmen Park, Wisconsin Timber Rattlers pitcher Cody Adams was happy to be home. Adams, a second-round pick in the 2008 draft, is a former Sherrard High School standout from Viola, Ill. He said he expects quite a few hometown visitors this week. While he said he really would have liked to pitch this series, he got to pitch Friday night in front of 20,000 fans at Miller Park, which wasn't too bad either.

 

The ball skips away from Timber Rattlers' shortstop Michael Marseco as the Quad City River Bandits' Ryde Rodriguez slides back to the bag on Saturday night, April 25, in Davenport. Rodriguez's lead-off double in the top of the third inning prompted the Timber Rattlers to try and throw him out at second base.

Photo: Paul Colletti

http://photos.qconline.com/bignails/04-19-09_04-25-09/04-25-09/bandits25/bandits25_01a.jpg?TB_iframe=true&height=1250&width=400

[igor67]

Just some fun with paces for Gamel at 16 games and 58 ABs, you can just multiply by 10 to see how blistering this pace would be over the course of a season, 60 HRs, 60 doubles, 230 hits, and 110 BBs. Even in the PCL you gotta figure he's going to slow down a bit.