Link Report for Wed. 8/5 -- Reeling Rattlers and Falling Stars Drop Matinees

[Mass Haas]

David Weiser's starsboxscore.com

 

A lot of grateful to go around

Stars happy to forget 2-8 road trip... Jeff Allison just happy

 

"I'm very, very grateful to be given this opportunity," said Jacksonville starting and winning pitcher Jeff Allison.

 

I usually don't write at length about players of opposing teams. It's enough to write about the game itself, but Jeff Allison warrants an exception.

 

Allison, on just a few hours sleep, helped pitch the Suns to an 8-2 victory in his Double-A debut. A case of nerves maybe allowed the Stars to take a 2-0 lead after the 1st inning. But Allison is just grateful. Grateful for the second chance in baseball. Grateful for the Mariners for giving him the second chance in life.

 

Maybe baseball has another Josh Hamilton story in the making. Hopefully, he sees his story as inspiration........ He was the 7th overall pick in the 2003 amateur draft, heralded with a fastball that touched 98 mph. He had pitched 63 1/3 innings with a 0.00 ERA to show the scouts.

 

The reward was a $1.85 million bonus -- a lot to handle for an 18-year old. Too much, apparently....... But between then and now, Allison missed the 2006 and 2007 seasons with serious drug problems - oxycontin. The highly addictive painkiller was carving the lives out of his high school friends back in Massachusetts, and now it was taking a piece of him. He spent a lot of time in drug counseling, but couldn't stay clean. From oxycontin, he went from marijuana to heroin -- and overdosed. It looked like rock-bottom, but in 2005, he was assigned to Class A-Greensboro (SAL). After a 5-4, 4.18 season, he was arrested in October and charged with felony possession of an automobile in North Carolina, his off-season home, and felony possession of heroin, after telling the Marlins back in April he was clean........ In August 2006, police found him unconscious on the floor of a house after his second heroin OD. It was finally a wake-up call..... Thanks to a baseball clinic in Middleton, Massachusetts, he's stayed clean and sober while staying in shape to pitch. He's stayed that way for 15 months.

 

Too much money, a lot of talent, a lack of brains, but not resiliency. Allison has so far learned his lesson, and he is grateful. The Marlins would love to see him make it to the majors, but they are not rushing him. It was back to Class A-Jupiter (Fla. State) after throwing 44 of his 59 pitches for strikes....... Hours away from making his debut with Jacksonville, Allison said, "I'm very, very grateful to be given this opportunity," he said. "It was good to get up there, help the team win. I'm very proud, and they were so nice to me and so welcoming. They took me in with open arms."

 

Robert Hinton received the only good news any Huntsville Star got that day..... Hinton, 0-6 with a 4.20 ERA, and a 6.23 ERA in July, was promoted to Nashville. The Stars will welcome the return of Nick Green, who started a game against the Smokies on July 6, then went back up to Nashville four days later....... If Hinton does not come back to Huntsville, which would surprise me, he leaves after 112 appearances for the Stars, tying him with Steve Phoenix for 3rd on the Stars' all-time list, and 3rd in relief innings, behind Scott Whaley (200 1/3 IP) and Dave Latter (171 1/3)...... Hinton has 163 1/3 --- and counting.

 

The Stars got all their runs on a partly cloudy 90° afternoon at The Baseball Grounds after a two-out single by Drew Anderson. A triple to the wall in left-center by Jonathan Lucroy, and a wild pitch with Taylor Green at the plate followed....... Scott Cousins, who went 6-for-19 in the series, hitting safely in every game, and driving in five runs, capped a five-run 5th inning with a two-run HR deep to right field off losing pitcher David Welch. The Suns added another run to make it 6-2 in the 6th on a fielding error by Freddy Parejo.

 

The Stars hit into four double plays........ They have lost eight of their last nine games and had leads in five of those eight losses...... After a ten-hour trip home, the Stars will start a five-game home series with the M'Braves, Friday...... Mike Jones is scheduled to get the nod against All-Star Scott Diamond (4-10, 3.65), who is 0-1 with a 6.10 ERA in two starts this year against Huntsville....... Somewhat of a hard-luck pitcher, Diamond, the Braves' #26 pitching prospect according to Baseball America, was 3-9 with a 3.47 ERA in 17 starts before the All-Star break...... Jonesy had a fairly good July with a 2-1 record and a 3.60 ERA in 30 innings of work. 64% of his 413 pitches crossed the plate for strikes -- the highest percentage for Jones in any month this year.

 

The Stars are perilously close to 10th in team ERA in the Southern League with a 4.25 mark. Montgomery is on the bottom at 4.30.

 

There will be a Bobblehead Giveaway night on August 10, but the bobble head person is a closely guarded secret.

[Mass Haas]

Adam McCalvy of MLB.com:

 

Right-hander Nick Bucci was named the Brewers' Minor League pitcher of the month for July after going 5-0 with a 2.13 ERA for rookie-level Class A Helena. Outfielder Logan Schafer was the player of the month. He hit .346 with three home runs and 14 RBIs in 27 games. Both players were 2008 Draft picks.

[LouisEly]

Surprised that no one mentioned Chad Robinson with his first appearance in over a month. Heck, he's been off the radar so long no one even noticed that he didn't pitch for a month.

[Mass Haas]

Surprised that no one mentioned Chad Robinson with his first appearance in over a month. Heck, he's been off the radar so long no one even noticed that he didn't pitch for a month.

Actually, he had appeared a couple of days prior, on August 2nd, at which point we noted it was his return. There was also a reference to him earlier as being "absent" during his month away, although we had no specifics.

[TheCrew07]

I might not have mentioned why he was shutdown but Steve said it was because he had some lingering shoulder discomfort, which of course doesn't give me a warm and fuzzy about his future.