Link Report for Tue. 4/13 -- Brewers off, but Timber Rattlers on TV

[grandrattler]

Lasker was upper 80s with the occasional flash into the low 90s.

 

I was wondering why Fatse ended up playing second. Thanks for posting that!

[TheCrew07]

James

Jones singles on a ground ball to center fielder D' Vontrey Richardson.

Kalian Sams scores.

That was the hit where Heckathorn missed the pick off play.

[Mass Haas]

Nashville's Stu: You can't win them all!

[Mass Haas]

Lakeland scores two in eighth to top Brevard County

By Frank Longobardo / Brevard County Manatees

The Brevard County Manatees dropped game two of their series with the Lakeland Flying Tigers on Tuesday night in Viera, 3-2.

 

Down 1-0 in the bottom of the fifth, the Manatees' patience at the plate paid off as Lakeland starter Luke Putkonen walked the bases loaded.

 

With two outs in the inning, the Flying Tigers brought in Tyler Conn and he was greeted with a Sergio Miranda two-run single to score Martin Maldonado and Matt Cline to make it 2-1 Brevard County.

 

Manatees starter Michael Fiers had another strong outing as he allowed one run on five hits in six innings of work. Fiers struck out four batters and has only allowed one run in 11 innings of work this season.

 

But the Flying Tigers were able to plate two in the eighth against Manatees reliever Corey Frerichs as Ben Guez drove a one-out double to center field to make it 3-2 Lakeland.

 

Tyler Stohr and Lester Oliveros shut the door on the Manatees, as Brevard County dropped its fourth straight.

 

There will be little time to rest as the Manatees (2-4) and the Flying Tigers (3-3) will go right back at it for the finale of the three-game series at 10:35 AM (9:35 Central) on Wednesday at Space Coast Stadium.

 

***

 

1B Brock Kjeldgaard was removed from the game after striking out in the 8th, prompting several defensive switches. We'll look to see if he's in there Wednesday AM. Brock is 8-for-25 (.320), but with no walks, eight K's, and one extra-base hit (a double).

 

Through six games, the 'Tees have only eight extra-base hits. Only three errors as a team (position players), but hitting .223 as a squad, which is actually 7th in the 12-team offense-challenged FSL. The team Brevard County has lost to the past two days, Lakeland, is hitting .144 (.431 OPS) after six games.

 

***

 

Manatees reliever Corey Frerichs allowed a two-run double in the eighth inning, which was the difference in Brevard County's 3-2 loss to the Lakeland Flying Tigers on Tuesday night. (Dennis Greenblatt/Hawk-Eye Sports Photography)

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/images/2010/04/13/FxHlnpLf.jpg

[Mass Haas]

9:30 AM Central? Hope you got your Beat the Streak pick in for Wednesday.

[Mass Haas]

Brett's blog post includes quotes and such from the Rattlers' game -- a more "official" game report will likely be out later this AM when the Post-Crescent site updates for the day.

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

Errors continue to plague Timber Rattlers in loss to LumberKings

By Brett Christopherson, Post-Crescent staff writer

 

GRAND CHUTE — Not that his young club needed another reminder, but Wisconsin Timber Rattlers manager Jeff Isom thought it best to explain the situation once more.

 

"The spotlight's on them now," he said following Tuesday's error-marred 4-2 Midwest League setback to the Clinton LumberKings at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium. "It's professional baseball."

 

In this case, that means it's time to tidy up some defensive shortcomings that has the Rattlers somewhat perplexed as they prepare to hit the road for the first time this year.

 

Wisconsin committed four errors on Tuesday, all coming in an ugly sixth inning that saw the LumberKings score twice to rally from a 2-1 deficit.

 

That gives the Rattlers 15 miscues through the season's first six games — an unacceptable pace for all involved.

 

"Definitely don't want to make any excuses, but I think we're just kind of on our heels a little bit," said a subdued second baseman Scooter Gennett, who was charged with one of the errors.

 

"We're taking enough ground balls before the game, so that's definitely not it. But just staying in the game, really."

 

Two of those sixth-inning gaffes were fielding errors, while the other two were the result of bad throws.

 

Right-hander Kyle Heckathorn, opening the frame in relief as part of the Milwaukee Brewers' tandem system — he'll start the next time through the rotation — ignited the rally with a wild toss to first on an infield single. That runner later scored.

 

Two batters later, Gennett couldn't handle a grounder he tried to bare hand, which preceded an at-bat that saw first baseman Chris Dennis throw high to second on an attempted force play and Heckathorn missing the catch on the relay while covering first.

 

That pushed across what turned out to be the go-ahead run as Clinton scored one unearned run in the inning and capitalized on shoddy Rattlers fielding for the second straight game.

 

Wisconsin committed six errors in Monday's 7-4 loss.

 

"I just misplayed it," Heckathorn said of his dropped catch. "It was a good throw. It was a bang-bang play, and I just misread it and it bounced off my glove. That's on me. I take responsibility on that one."

 

Heckathorn, the losing pitcher in his season debut, called his two-inning outing disappointing.

 

"I kind of let that one slip away. I kind of blew the lead right there, so I'm not real happy about it," he said after allowing three runs and four hits overall. … "You're not going to win ballgames that way. But we're going to keep working and trying and every day, we'll continue to improve. That's why we play so many games."

 

Of the 15 errors, seven have come from the middle infield spots. Gennett has three, while shortstop Carlos George has four.

 

Gennett has started all six games at second, with George seeing action in four. He didn't play on Tuesday.

 

"It's just staying in the game, staying on our toes," Gennett said. "Physical errors are one thing, but mental errors, those another — and that's not staying focused."

 

Which is what Isom wants to hear from a player like Gennett, a late signee after being selected out of high school by the Brewers in the 16th round of the 2009 June draft.

 

The 19-year-old is in his first season of pro ball, while the 21-year-old George – also drafted out of high school in the 46th round in 2008 — is playing in his first full professional season.

 

"We need to see improvement, and we need to see improvement quick," Isom said. "We're going to go out there and continue giving them ground balls and do early work with them on drills and throwing drills. It's a situation where they need to get this quick, figure this out. It's running our pitch counts up on the pitchers.

 

"But they're capable guys. They've just got to learn to slow the game down right now. Everything's going a little bit too quick. It's a little different than high school."