Link Report for Games of Thursday 4/8 -- Play Ball! (T-Rats postponed; doubleheader Friday)

[Mass Haas]

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

 

Welcome back to Link Report season, everyone!

If you've been with us in previous seasons, you know the drill. If you're new, welcome, we're very glad to have you.

 

Here's a quick Link Report primer -- in other words, ways that you can help us out and take part.

 

We welcome your comments within the Link Reports, but please try to be insightful or ask worthwhile questions. The Link Report is not an "In-Game-Thread". We realize there will be some congratulatory "in-game type" posts (maybe after a grand slam, or seven shutout innings, etc.). We know early in the season, especially here on Opening Night, we'll probably see a few more posts than usual, simply from the excitement of a new season.

 

We fully expect and look forward to the comments from our Link Report regular commentators, please come back for another season. At the same time, newcomers are welcome to jump in. And as always, if you've attended a game in Grand Chute (Appleton) or anywhere in the system, please, please, pass along your insights, photos, etc.

 

In terms of game content, we expect the Link Report to be available to you with the Daily Menu by mid-afternoon each day. Our goal, although there will be a stray evening when we don't quite make it, is to have linked to all the game summaries, box scores, and game logs, before we "go to bed" for the night (so within a few hours of the games concluding). Importantly, we fully expect to have the next-day newspaper reports linked for you by the time you get up in the AM (or at least by the time you get to your office to read it there).

 

Our new staff member battlekow will be a big help to me again this year. There were other key posters here who really bailed me out last season (the Crew07 in particular), and we'll let you know when we need to recruit a "guest Link Reporter" from time to time. We'll even recruit old friend colbyjack occasionally.

 

For the most part, you'll see my posts to set things up and then in the AM, with battlekow providing evening recap and commentary.

 

Here's to an awesome Link Report season! Health and productivity to all the young men, and wins for all the local fans in the seats!

[Mass Haas]

How convenient of the parent club to have the day off to let the kids shine Thursday night!

 

We wish Stu (new in Nashville), Chad (new in Huntsville), Stephen with Brevard, and Chris with Wisconsin the very best for a fantastic season in their booths...

 

Thursday's Daily Menu:

 

All times Central; pitchers subject to change --

 

Click here for MiLB.com's audio page, then click "Affiliation" to group the Brewer choices together

 

Nashville: RHP Kameron Loe at Iowa (Cubs), 6:15 PM pre-game; 6:35 gametime

 

Huntsville: RHP Amaury Rivas at Chattanooga (Dodgers), 5:00 PM pre-game; 5:15 gametime

 

Brevard County: TBD at home vs. Daytona (Cubs), 5:55 PM pre-game, 6:05 gametime

 

Wisconsin: RHP Nick Bucci in a tandem with LHP Del Howell at home vs. Kane County (Athletics), 6:25 pre-game, 6:35 gametime

[Mass Haas]

Sports32 is a channel available to Time Warner Cable customers in eastern Wisconsin. They will be telecasting at least 12 games this season, the first is tonight, Opening Night.

 

With any of the TV games, feel free to chime in with your best insightful observations -- many of us, including yours truly, won't have access to these viewings, so thanks!

 

[Mass Haas]

Follow Thursday'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:

 

 

Huntsville:

 

 

Brevard County:

 

 

Wisconsin:

[battlekow]

Manatees hit it off tonight

Mark DeCotis/Florida Today

 

The Brevard County Manatees open their 17th Florida State League baseball season at home against Daytona Beach tonight with the franchise's mission the same as it was the day it was born: To develop Major League-quality talent.

The responsibility for shepherding the talent for the Milwaukee Brewers affiliate through the 140-game grind falls to Bob Miscik, the 13th manager in the Manatees' history.

Miscik is no stranger to the FSL, having managed the then-Texas Rangers-affiliated Port Charlotte team to a 78-61 record in 2000. He also managed the Brewers' Class AA team in Huntsville, Ala., to a 63-75 record last season before swapping jobs with Mike Guerrero, who managed the Manatees for two campaigns.

Under Guerrero, the Manatees had the best season statistically in their existence in 2009, won the first-half championship and reached the first round of the playoffs. Also, two of their stars, outfielder Logan Schafer and right-handed pitcher Amaury Rivas, were honored with the Brewers' Minor League Player and Pitcher of the Year awards respectively.

In the process, they and their teammates set the bar high for the 2010 Manatees, and regardless of past accomplishments, the baseball goals remain the same: Prepare players for the next level, and beyond.

Ten players who wore the Manatees red, white and blue in 2009 -- infielders Brent Brewer, Sergio Miranda, Matthew Cline and Juan Sanchez, pitchers Michael Fiers, Ruben Flores, Lucas Luetge and Dan Merklinger, and catchers Martin Maldonado and Anderson De La Rosa -- are on the 2010 roster. Also returning is pitching coach Fred Dabney.

On the business side, ownership led by Orlando orthopedic surgeon Dr. Thomas F. Winters Jr., faces the same hurdles of its peers: convincing fans and sponsors to spend money on minor league baseball.

Manatees attendance last season was 68,741, up from 66,256 in 2009 but on an average basis good enough only for the middle of the pack in the 12-team league.

 

Brevard County Manatees manager Bob Miscik, left, instructs his minor league baseball team during practice Wednesday. (Photo by Christina Stuart, FLORIDA TODAY)

http://cmsimg.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=A9&Date=20100408&Category=SPORTS&ArtNo=4080308&Ref=AR&Profile=1002&MaxW=550&MaxH=650&title=0

[Mass Haas]

Video report (from two weeks ago) on what Timber Rattlers fans can expect to see "new" at the stadium.

 

More from Brett Christopherson of the Post-Crescent --

 

All done

 

The renovation project at Grand Chute’s Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium is complete. So says Rattlers president Rob Zerjav, who said the construction process never impeded plans for Thursday’s opener.

“I never really worried that it wouldn’t get done on time,” he said. “The construction company always said, ‘We’re on time, we’re on time.’ And once the weather was so great, we were ahead of schedule. So we never really got to crunch time where we had to get this done and this done.”

 

Blueprints called for the bullpens to be moved to beyond the center field fence, adding new seating areas to the first- and third-base sides in place of where the bullpens used to be completed, the construction of a 2,250 square-foot sand beach beyond the right- center field fence and the extension of a walkway that now encircles 75 percent of the stadium.

 

The project cost $400,000 and was funded by the Fox Cities Amateur Sports Authority, a non-profit group that owns the ballpark and leases it to the Rattlers.

 

“I think it looks great,” Zerjav said. “It’s pretty much exactly what we wanted and really looks like the way we drew it up.”

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

Rivas on mound for Stars opener

By Mark McCarter, Huntsville Times Sports Staff

 

For Huntsville Stars pitcher Amaury Rivas, "it's just the same game."

 

Maybe that's the best philosophy for a pitcher's perspective. But for baseball romanticists, Opening Day is never just the same game.

 

The Huntsville Stars, with grand hopes built upon the past success of rising young prospects, begin their 2010 season tonight in Chattanooga. Game time is 6:15 and it can be heard on WTKI-AM (1450) and sister station WEKI-AM (1490) in Decatur as well as WTKI's FM signal at 92.9.

 

The Stars' home opener is April 14 against Jacksonville.

 

Among those prospects is Rivas, a 24-year-old righthander from the Dominican Republic who went 13-7 with a 2.98 ERA last season at Single A Brevard County, earning himself the Brewers' Minor League Pitcher of the Year award and a spot on Milwaukee's 40-man major league roster.

 

It showed he was clearly back at full-strength after undergoing "Tommy John surgery" on his right elbow in 2007. "His trail back from injury has been successful has been successful health-wise and in getting hitters out," said Huntsville pitching coach John Curtis.

 

He has a full assortment of pitches, relying on a two-seam fastball, slider and change-up.

 

"He's our opening day pitcher both on merit and because he represents what the Brewers want our pitchers to be: quick tempo, he's a bulldog out there," Curtis said.

 

The Lookouts, the Double-A farm club of the Dodgers, counter with Chris Withrow, who was 2-2 with a 3.95 ERA at Chattanooga last year in six starts. The Lookouts have 15 players returning from last year's roster.

 

Rivas is one of five starters in the Huntsville rotation who have a total of eight Double-A starts, though the bullpen is loaded with veterans. Mark Rogers, Alex Periard, Evan Anundsen (starting the season the DL with a mild shoulder strain) and Michael Bowman join Rivas in the rotation. Only Periard, with Huntsville late in 2008, has been at this level.

 

"In experience they come up short, but we're not hesitant about what they can do here," Curtis said.

[Mass Haas]

Our friend David Weiser has a roster summary on his starsboxscore.com web site. We'll often copy and paste David's first-hand game accounts into our Link Reports.

[Mass Haas]

The Post-Crescent's Brett Christopherson does a great job following the Timber Rattlers.

 

***

 

The Rattlers will hand the ball to Nick Bucci – and Del Howell – for Thursday’s home-and season-opener against Kane County.

 

Milwaukee likes to use a tandem pitching system within its minor league affiliates in which two pitchers are scheduled to throw in the same game. In this case, Bucci, a 19-year-old with what Wisconsin pitching coach Chris Hook describes as a “power” right arm, will be on a pitch count of between 75 to 80 pitches to begin the season before giving way to Howell.

 

The two hurlers will reverse roles the next time their spot arrives in the rotation.

 

Bucci was selected by the Brewers in the 18th round of the 2008 June draft and is rated by Baseball America as the 29th-best minor league prospect in Milwaukee’s minor league system. He went 6-3 with 66 strikeouts and a 4.41 ERA through 69 1/3 innings and 13 appearances last season at Helena.

 

Howell is a 22-year-old lefty who was drafted by the Crew in the 15th round in 2009. He’s rated as the 22nd-best prospect in the system and threw just 11 2/3 innings over five appearances between rookie level Arizona and Helena.

 

Wisconsin manager Jeff Isom said Bucci and Howell will be part of three pitching tandems this season, with right-handers Kyle Heckathorn and Maverick Lasker and righties Jake Odorizzi and Damon Krestalude scheduled to work together.

 

Isom said Arnett, another right-hander, and lefty Efrain Nieves will also start but won’t be part of the tandem set-up.

[Mass Haas]

Notice that you will need Adobe Flash player to listen to any of the broadcasts (we believe). Stephen has a link at his Space Coast (Manatee) site.

[TheCrew07]

WOOHOO! The link report returns! My favorite baseball day of the year.

[colbyjack]

Agreed. You'll get a much bigger thanks for your efforts at the end of the season, but a big thanks to Mass on day one of link report season. Thanks to battlekow as well!

 

Very exciting that the first day of the season starts with a TW Cable Sports broadcast of the T-Rats game. I checked the schedule this morning and noticed Tuesday's game (4/13) is going to be televised as well. Assuming the rotation(s) holds as-is, we'll probably see Bucci and Howell again that day, although likely switching their piggy back roles. Seeing Scooter Gennett in action may very well be my highlight of the day.

[battlekow]

From Chris Mehring:

The Wisconsin

Timber Rattlers have announced that tonight’s game with the Kane County

Cougars has been postponed due to snow. The details regarding the

rescheduling

of the festivities around noon today in a more detailed release.

[homer]

1 - wake up

2 - make coffee

3 - check link report

[TheCrew07]

From Chris Mehring:

The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers have announced that tonight’s game with the Kane County Cougars has been postponed due to snow. The details regarding the rescheduling of the festivities around noon today in a more detailed release.

Jeff Isom was on the radio up here as I was between accounts and mentioned that he believes they will play a twin bill tomorrow if possible starting at 6:05 PM. He guess Suppan would pitch the first game but had to confirm that with Melvin and Ash prior to making it official.

 

I'm not sure they will get the game in tomorrow either, I would guess we have around 2 inches of snow on the ground and it's still falling though not anywhere near as heavy as last night. It's supposed to be sunny and in the mid 50s tomorrow, hopefully the field will dry fast once the snow melts.

 

 

[battlekow]

Jeff Isom was on the radio up here as I was between accounts and mentioned that he believes they will play a twin bill tomorrow if possible starting at 6:05 PM. He guess Suppan would pitch the first game but had to confirm that with Melvin and Ash prior to making it official.

Yep. Update from Mehring:

The

game

will be made up as part of a doubleheader on Friday at Time Warner Cable

Field. Game one of the doubleheader will begin at 6:00pm. There will

be a 30

minute break between the pair of seven inning games.

 

 

 

The all fan

giveaway that was scheduled for Opening Day will not be rescheduled.

Ticket

holders for Opening Day may pick up their Fang & Bernie Bobblehead

at the

Timber Rattlers business office during regular business hours starting

Friday,

April 9. Fans will need to show their ticket to pick up their

bobblehead.

 

 

 

Milwaukee

Brewers pitcher Jeff Suppan will make his scheduled rehabilitation start

in

game one of the doubleheader.

 

[CheezWizHed]

Well, I suppose it helps to have an extra arm for a double header...

[TheCrew07]

Mass,

I'm unable to send or read PMs from work or I would have sent you a PM on this but did you ever find out if Nashville will be archiving their pre-game audio like in years past? I've been so busy that I've slacked horribly and haven't contacted any of the affiliates yet (I'll do that when I get home) to get permission to archive independently. It didn't occur to me till just now that I don't even have my new pc setup to archive yet.

 

Sometimes real life is a royal pain to my Brewer fanhood.

[pitchleague]

just wanted to say thanks again for this.

 

In years past, I would casually glance at these threads maybe once or twice a week (at best) but I made it a New Year's Resolution this year to read it every day for the first time.

 

Not sure how much I'll contribute, but I'll enjoy reading, checking links, and learning more about our minor league system.

[Ando Calrissian]

I'd like to add my thanks as well. Throughout the summer there is something to look forward to (Brewers baseball related), literally, everyday. 'Tis a rare day indeed, when all teams in the organization have a bad day. Many thanks!

[BoKnowsBall]

Interesting to hear Bucci being described as having a "power" arm as I thought that he usually sat around 90

[battlekow]

Awesome photos from the Timber Rattlers' Facebook page:

 

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs406.snc3/24600_382231629175_264627419175_3605234_6020103_n.jpg

 

http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs426.snc3/24600_382231624175_264627419175_3605233_3547102_n.jpg

 

That's Scooter Gennett taking down the snowman.

[Mass Haas]

PDF documents:

 

Nashville Media Notes

 

Huntsville Media Notes

[Teatoe993]

Funny stuff. A lot of those guys have probably never experienced snow before.

[Mass Haas]

Mass,

Did you ever find out if Nashville will be archiving their pre-game audio like in years past? I've been so busy that I've slacked horribly and haven't contacted any of the affiliates yet (I'll do that when I get home) to get permission to archive independently.

 

From Doug Scopel, Director of Baseball Operations & Communications (Nashville Sounds)

 

We are planning to post pregame interviews and audio clips on our site. I'm not sure if we'll have them with any sort of regularity from this first road trip. At worst, we'll be banging on all cylinders beginning with our home opener on Friday, April 16.

 

Thanks for everything you do to promote our site and the organization as a whole.

 

***

 

Doug is incredibly thorough and helpful with us, so thank you, sir.