Link Report for Mon. 5/17 -- Twice the Action at AAA, AA; Rare Audio Series for Brevard

[Mass Haas]

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

[Mass Haas]

Monday's Daily Menu:

Times Central; pitchers subject to change --

 

Nashville: RHP Kameron Loe and LHP Chris Waters in a doubleheader at home vs. Portland (Padres), 5:50 PM pre-game; 6:05 gametime; each contest slated for seven innings

Live Audio Link

 

Huntsville: RHP Mark Rogers and LHP Chris Cody in a doubleheader at home vs. Tennessee (Cubs), 4:45 PM pre-game; 5:00 gametime; each contest slated for seven innings

Live Audio Link

 

Brevard County: LHP Dan Merklinger at home vs. Palm Beach (Cardinals), 5:50 PM pre-game; 6:05 PM gametime

Live Audio Link (Cardinals' feed)

Wisconsin: Idle

[Mass Haas]

Not just a day off for Wisconsin, but a rare day off in the middle of a homestand. Hopefully, everyone involved in on-field activities with the club is enjoying a day away from baseball.

 

***

 

Also a note to friends and family of Manatee players, Palm Beach is among the very few Florida State League clubs that provide all-season audio, so enjoy, if even from the Cardinals' perspective.

[Mass Haas]

Follow Monday'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.

 

Nashville Game One (Gameday also available)

 

Nashville Game Two (Gameday also available)

 

Huntsville Game One (Gameday also available)

 

Huntsville Game Two (Gameday also available)

Brevard County

[Mass Haas]

Pacific Coast League (AAA) - PCL American North Division Standings
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nashville 22 13 .629 - 8-7 14-6 W1 
Iowa 18 18 .500 4.5 7-10 11-8 L1 
Memphis 18 18 .500 4.5 11-7 7-11 W2 
Omaha 17 18 .486 5.0 6-12 11-6 L1 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Southern League (AA) - SOU North Division Standings
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tennessee 22 14 .611 - 9-11 13-3 W1 
West Tenn 20 16 .556 2.0 7-12 13-4 W5 
Huntsville 18 18 .500 4.0 6-10 12-8 L1 
Carolina 17 20 .459 5.5 8-9 9-11 W5 
Chattanooga 15 21 .417 7.0 10-10 5-11 L3 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Florida State League (A+) - FSL North Division Standings
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clearwater 24 13 .649 - 14-6 10-7 W1 
Dunedin 21 16 .568 3.0 7-10 14-6 L1 
Lakeland 19 17 .528 4.5 10-9 9-8 W1 
Tampa 18 18 .500 5.5 9-11 9-7 W1 
Brevard County 14 22 .389 9.5 7-13 7-9 L1 
Daytona 14 23 .378 10.0 4-12 10-11 L2

[Mass Haas]

MID Western (click column headers to sort)
	Club	W	L	PCT	GB	Home	Away	L 10	Streak
	Beloit	22	15	.595	-	10-8	12-7	5-5	L1
	Quad Cities	22	15	.595	-	12-6	10-9	6-4	W1
	Peoria	22	16	.579	0.5	14-5	8-11	4-6	W1
	Cedar Rapids	20	17	.541	2.0	11-4	9-13	7-3	L3
	Kane County	19	18	.514	3.0	12-7	7-11	6-4	L1
	Clinton	19	19	.500	3.5	10-9	9-10	7-3	W3
	Burlington	13	24	.351	9.0	7-12	6-12	3-7	L1
	Wisconsin	12	25	.324	10.0	8-14	4-11	3-7	W1

[Mass Haas]

PDF document:

 

Nashville Media Notes

[battlekow]

McCalvy said Josh Butler was going to start today for the Manatees.

[statfan]

Butler did start tonight - 2 scoreless innings so far. Game start was delayed by weather. Can't seem to get the Cardinals audio. Anyone else able to???

[battlekow]

Final: Tennessee 9, Huntsville 2 (7 innings)

Huntsville box score

Mark Rogers tossed five erratic innings, allowing three runs (all earned) on four hits and three walks while only striking out one. He threw 75 pitches, 41 for strikes. He allowed two runs in the first but then kept Tennessee off the board until the 5th, when they put another run across to break a 2-2 tie. Still, the Stars were in the game--until Rogers' "relief" go ahold of it, anyway: Donovan Hand and Jim Henderson allowed six runs over the next two innings to give away the game. For the offense, Caleb Gindl smacked his first homer in awhile and third on the year, while Brett Lawrie and Lorenzo Cain each went 0-3; Cain remains hitless since coming off the DL. Chris Errecart also had a home run.

 

Huntsville play-by-play

[TheCrew07]

Thank goodness for BC, 1 organizational win on the books at least

[battlekow]

Final: Portland 4, Nashville 3 (7 innings)

Sounds drop twinbill opener to Beavers, 4-3

Nashville Sounds

 

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Nashville Sounds dropped the opener of their

Monday doubleheader, falling 4-3 to the visiting Portland Beavers in

seven innings.

 

Portland grabbed an early lead in the opener, plating a run against

Sounds starter Kameron Loe in the top of the first inning. Sean Kazmar

singled with one out and later scored on a Craig Cooper groundout.

 

 

Nashville rallied to take a 2-1 advantage in the third against Portland

starter Josh Geer. With one out, Ray Olmedo doubled to left then came

home to tie the contest when Trent Oeltjen followed with an RBI single

to right. After a Joe Koshansky single, Adam Heether drove in Oeltjen

with an RBI single up the middle. The knock extended Heether's hit

streak to eight games.

 

 

The Beavers took the lead right back in the top of the fourth with a

pair of home runs off Loe. Right fielder Mike Baxter, who played

collegiately at Vanderbilt, knotted the contest with a leadoff solo

homer to left, his third longball of the season. Lance Zawadazki spotted

the visitors a 3-2 lead with a two-out solo homer to left-center, his

first roundtripper of the year.

 

 

Drew Anderson, who extended his hitting streak to eight games with a

2-for-3 effort, squared the contest in the bottom of the fourth with an

RBI double to right-center that plated Luis Cruz, who singled earlier in

the frame.

 

 

Portland pulled ahead for good in the opener with an unearned run in the

top of the sixth. Baxter led off with a single, moved to second on a

Loe wild pitch, then scored to make it 4-3 when Olmedo mishandled Cruz's

feed to second on a potential inning-ending, double-play grounder off

the bat of Zawadzki.

 

 

Geer (1-3) picked up his first win of the year for Portland in the

night's first contest. The right-hander allowed three runs on nine hits

over five frames of action. Ernesto Frieri worked a scoreless seventh

for the Beavers to nail down his eighth save.

 

 

Loe (4-2) took the loss for the Sounds after giving up four runs on

seven hits in 5 2/3 innings of work.

Nashville box scoreJonathan Lucroy didn't play.http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=t556&gid=2010_05_17_poraaa_nasaaa_1&cid=556&t=g_box

Nashville play-by-play

 

[battlekow]

Final: Tennessee 8, Huntsville 3 (7 innings)

Huntsville box score

Mark Willinsky entered a 2-2 game in the 6th inning and, many batters and one out later, it was an 8-2 game. Chris Cody started and allowed two runs in five innings on six hits, striking out four and walking none. Lorenzo Cain snapped his three-game post-DL slump with two hits and a walk, but Brett Lawrie went 0-4 to take the doubleheader collar. Caleb Gindl was 0-3. Chris Errecart carried over his success from the first game, going 3-3 with a double.

 

Huntsville play-by-play

I'm going to look on the bright side and assume Lawrie made a nifty play here on a deflection:

• Marquez Smith grounds out, pitcher Chris Cody to second baseman
  Brett Lawrie to first baseman Chris Errecart.

There was an injury delay immediately following, so I'm guessing Cody was shaken up but ultimately fine.

[battlekow]

Final: Brevard County 7, Palm Beach 2

Brevard County box score

The Manatees staff has been working backwards a lot recently, first with David Riske and now Josh Butler. Butler worked the first two innings, allowing no runs on a hit and a walk, striking out none and getting four ground outs. After that, it was Dan Merklinger taking over and working the last seven innings, giving up two runs on five hits and two walks with six strikeouts. Shawn Zarraga led the charge offensively with three hits, two of them doubles, and four RBI. Kentrail Davis broke out of his hitless skid with a triple, and Erik Komatsu, Josh Prince, and Sergio Miranda all had two hits, with Komatsu adding a walk and Miranda a HBP.

 

Brevard County play-by-play

[battlekow]

Smokies pull away late to top Stars in game one

Aaron Morse/Huntsville Stars

 

The Tennessee Smokies (23-14) got a solo home run to break the tie and two-run homer along with a grand slam to put things away late as they topped the Huntsville Stars (18-19) by a final score of 9-2 in game one of Monday's double header.

 

Former first round draft pick Mark Rogers, coming off his best outing of the year, struggled out of the gate. He walked Tony Campana, which was quickly followed by a double to deep right that put runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out. Ty Wright continued his hot hitting with a single to left that drove in Campana. A sacrifice fly from Blake Lalli gave the Smokies the early 2-0 lead.

 

The Stars are not known for the long ball, but they showed they can hit them when necessary Monday against Smokies starter Craig Muschko. Caleb Gindl hit his third blast of the year in the bottom of the first to cut the deficit in half. That matched Zelous Wheeler for the team lead.

 

Not to be outdone, Chris Errecart followed that up with a homer of his own in the bottom of the second inning to tie the game.

 

But after that it was all Smokies as they scored 7-unanswered runs to take the commanding 9-2 advantage. It all started in the top of the 5th as Josh Vitters slugged a line-drive over the left field wall for a solo home run.

 

Donovan Hand entered the game in the top of the 6th and got the first two hitters he faced out. But after Wright legged out an infield single, Blake Lalli hit his second homer of the series and of the year to put Tennessee up 5-2.

 

Jim Henderson struggled in the top of the seventh. Two straight singles started the inning. A sacrifice bunt put runners on 2nd and 3rd. Henderson intentionally walked the next batter and was able to strike out Marwin Gonzalez. But Wright continued his big night with a grand slam off the left field scoreboard.

 

Rogers (2-3) got hit with the loss after pitching 5.0 innings, giving up three runs on four hits, including a home run.

[battlekow]

Final: Nashville 2, Portland 1 (7 innings)

Sounds win 2-1 over Beavers in twinbill finale

Nashville Sounds

 

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Nashville Sounds won the finale of their Monday

doubleheader, taking a 2-1 victory over the Portland Beavers in seven

innings at historic Greer Stadium.

 

Nashville moves to 23-14 with the victory, thanks to Sounds left-hander

Chris Waters (4-1). In his third consecutive quality start, the

left-hander threw six shutout frames while allowing four hits with a

walk and six strikeouts.

 

 

The Sounds jumped on the board, 2-0, in the bottom of the third inning

in the second game thanks to three consecutive hits to lead off the

frame. Shortstop Ray Olmedo doubled to center field and scored the first

run on another double from left fielder Trent Oeltjen. Joe Koshansky

then singled to right field to plate Oeltjen for the club's second run.

 

 

 

Portland's Chris Stewart jacked his third home run in the top of the

seventh inning, a solo shot that reduced the Sounds lead to 2-1. Chris

Smith then got the final two outs to earn his minor league-leading 13th

save of the season.

 

 

 

Luis Cruz went 2-for-3 with a double, lengthened his hitting streak to a

season-high nine games. Olmedo extended his hitting streak to eight

games with a 1-for-4 performance in the second contest.

 

 

 

In his second rehab start, Portland right-hander Sean Gallagher (0-1)

took the loss after allowing two runs on five hits with five strikeouts

in three innings pitched.

 

 

 

The teams wrap up their four-game series with a 7:05 p.m. finale on

Tuesday evening. Left-hander Chris Capuano (1-0, 0.00) makes his second

start of the year for the Sounds after working eight scoreless innings

against Tacoma earlier in the homestand. Portland will counter with

right-hander Cesar Carrillo (3-2, 3.35).

 

Nashville box score

The home run has been Smith's bugaboo in his time in the majors, and it's cropped up again for him at Nashville lately. At least this time he was able to preserve the lead. Jonathan Lucroy was 1-3 after sitting out the first game, and Adam Heether was 0-3.

Nashville play-by-play

[battlekow]

Doubleheader proves to be double trouble

Huntsville Stars

 

HUNTSVILLE, ALA. – The Stars took an early 2-0 lead in game two of the doubleheader tonight at Joe Davis Stadium only to see it quickly disappear when the Smokies scored two of their own in the top of the 4th.

 

Chris Errecart doubled in the bottom of the second to drive Zelous Wheeler home. Errecart made it past the plate himself three batters later when Sean McCraw grounded into a force out, making it 2-0 Stars.

 

The Smokies hot bats didn’t stay quiet for long. Matthew Spencer and Russ Canzler hit back-to-back homeruns to tie it up in the Smokies 4th.

 

Things continued to unravel in the top of the sixth inning. Relief pitcher Mark Willinsky came in for Stars starter Chris Cody and gave up a double to the first batter he faced, Ty Wright. Spencer continued his power surge, sending Wright home on a single. After stolen base, walk and wild pitch, Steve Clevenger doubled home Spencer, putting runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs. Josh Vitters singled both runners home to extend the advantage to 6-2. Willinsky hit a batter and struck out Smokies pitcher Chris Carpenter before he was replaced by left hander Casey Baron.

 

Baron retired the first batter he faced, but after that surrendered the runners he inherited and when the dust cleared it was 8-2 Smokies.

 

Huntsville got one back in the bottom half of the frame thanks to a fielders-choice RBI from Juan Sanchez.

 

Carpenter (2-1) went six strong innings for the win while Willinsky (2-1) suffered his first loss of the year.

 

With the loss, the Stars fall six games back from the Smokies. It’s their largest deficit of the season. They’ll try to get some revenge Tuesday night at 7 p.m. when they send their ace Amaury Rivas (4-2, 2.23 ERA) to the mound. You can catch all the action on huntsvillestars.com.

[Mass Haas]

Nashville center fielder Josh Anderson left the game at an odd juncture, singling in the 4th inning with one out, and then remaining stranded after a bunt pop-out and a 6-3 groundout. Just something to keep an eye on...

[Mass Haas]

Manatees rip 13 hits in win over Cardinals

By Frank Longobardo / Brevard County Manatees

 

After waiting out a 27 minute rain delay and three scoreless innings, the Brevard County Manatees' bats woke up as they pounded out 13 hits, en route to a 7-2 win over the Palm Beach Cardinals on Monday night at Space Coast Stadium.

 

The Manatees struck first with two on and one out in the bottom of the fourth, as Sean Halton ripped a pitch to left center to score Kentrail Davis, to make it 1-0. Sergio Miranda beat the throw to third and Halton beat the throw to second, to put two runners in scoring position.

 

Brock Kjeldgaard would walk to load the bases. Shawn Zarraga then drilled a pitch deep to the center field wall to score Davis and Miranda, as the Manatees took a 3-0 lead and again put runners on second and third.

 

Brevard County could not capitalize again as Michael Roberts grounded out to third and Josh Prince struck out swinging to end the Manatee threat and leave the two runners stranded in scoring position.

 

Manatees starting pitcher Josh Butler, who is on a rehab assignment from Milwaukee, threw four scoreless innings and allowed two hits.

 

Dan Merklinger relieved Butler in the fifth and after getting Thomas Pham to strikeout looking, he allowed consecutive runners to reach on a single and a walk.

 

Jose Garcia then flew out to center, but Merklinger walked Colt Sedbrook to load the bases with two outs. But Palm Beach would leave them loaded as Tony Cruz grounded into a fielder's choice to end the inning.

 

In the bottom of the fifth, a one-out single by Erik Komatsu brought Davis to the plate as he lifted one deep to the center field fence for a triple to score Komatsu and give the Manatees a 4-0 lead.

 

The Cardinals would then bring in Scott McGregor to relieve starter Jared Bradford, but he allowed Miranda to drive in Davis with a single.

 

Two batters later Kjeldgaard reached on a two-out single and that would prove costly as Zarraga ripped a double down the third baseline to score Miranda and Kjeldgaard as Brevard County took control of the game, 7-0.

 

Palm Beach would score once in the seventh and once in the ninth as the Manatees held on for a 7-2 win.

 

Zarraga was 3-for-4 with two doubles and four RBI. Prince, Komatsu and Miranda had two hits each.

 

Merklinger picked up his second win of the year as he went five innings and allowed two runs on four hits, while walking two and striking out five.

 

Brevard County and Palm Beach will continue its series on Tuesday night at 7:05 PM (6:05 Central) in Viera.

 

Manatees catcher Shawn Zarraga high-fives his teammates as Brevard County defeated Palm Beach 7-2 on Monday night at Space Coast Stadium. Zarraga led the way at the plate for the Manatees going 3-for-4 with two doubles and four RBI in the win. (Dennis Greenblatt/Hawk-Eye Sports Photography)

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/images/2010/05/17/m36Hnuq8.jpg

[Mass Haas]

We'll send a note to the Manatees to confirm -- did MiLB error or Frank, who has put together some nice home contest game stories for the Manatees?

 

Two innings or four innings (quite possible) for Josh Butler in his rehab start (maybe it was three http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif)?

 

 

[Mass Haas]

David Weiser's starsboxscore.com

 

Excruciating

Chris Errecart lone bright spot for Huntsville

 

The title above says it all as the Stars lose for the 10th time in 13 games.... They were in both games early, and playing more aggressively in Game Two, even had a lead, but Tennessee hitters exploited the Stars' pitching weaknesses, patiently getting what they wanted, and hit balls like they were coming out of rocket launchers....... Ty Wright's home run off Jim Henderson, just off the disabled list, in Game One, came off the lower portion of the scoreboard with a resounding bang........ Jason Vitters' line drive home run off Mark Rogers in the 5th came so quickly off his bat, no one sitting around me saw where it went. Only the reaction of left fielder Brent Brewer gave it away....... In both games, Smokie hitters, 3rd in the SL in home runs and slugging and tops in doubles, were hitting them off the wall, off the base of the wall, over the wall, and a few times when they weren't reaching the wall, they gave Stars outfielders a run to the warning track........

 

In the dry 78° air on this sunny day, with a west wind blowing about 10 mph or less, the Stars were reaching for distance, too. Caleb Gindl hit his 3rd HR of the year over the 1st wall in right field -- about 348', and in the 2nd inning, Chris Errecart, who went 4-for-5 in the twin bill, blasted one deep to center over all three walls -- a 405' shot or better that tied the game at 2-2....... Rogers, who had trouble finding the plate, threw only six first-pitch strikes in five innings of work. Though he settled down after a 23-pitch 1st inning, he still threw only 54% of his pitches for strikes. Of his three walks, two came on four pitches thrown, another on five.

 

Chris Cody looked like he would have better success in this game than Rogers...... While the Stars gave him an early 2-0 lead on Errecart's double off the center field wall, scoring Zelous Wheeler from first, and Sean McCraw's grounder after a sac bunt moved Errecart to third, Cody had held Tennessee to two-out hits in the 2nd and 3rd........ Cody was throwing strikes and having more success in getting the Smokies to hit the ball on the ground......... Back-to-back home runs by Matt Spencer and Russ Canzler in the 4th changed all that. The momentum of the game swung back to the Smokies. In the 6th, the Smokies drove fans away from the stadium....... Mark Willinsky (2-0, 3.37 in his prior appearances) gave up a long double off the center field wall, a single, a walk, another double to the wall, another single, and hit a batter before getting anyone out. Casey Baron came in, but the damage was done. The Smokies scored six in the 6th, and the Stars were clearly out of this game as well, much to the delight of a couple of very loud, obnoxious middle-aged Tennessee Smokie fans who apparently drove in from Knoxville and brashly cheered for each and every one of their hitters every time they came up, and their pitcher, as well, with every Huntsville at-bat. It got very old.

 

Prior to the start of Game Two, Brewers' minor league farm director Reid Nichols honored Amaury Rivas on the field with the Brewers' pitcher-of-the-month award. Rivas (4-2, 2.23) will start Tuesday's game against Smokies' right-hander Hung-Wen Chen (3-3, 2.95)....... Rivas is 9th among Southern League ERA leaders, and at the risk of jinxing him, has not given up a home run this year.........

 

The Stars are now 1-21 when they score three runs or fewer in a game........

 

Never in 15 years have seen so many players on the disabled list at once. Taylor Green was placed on the DL, May 13. Lee Haydel is still out, placed on the DL, May 10, after being pulled from a game on the 8th. Steffan Wilson has been on the DL since May 7. Patrick Arlis, who has played just once since coming down from Nashville...... Henderson came off the list today to pitch in Game One, but there are still four other pitchers out -- Evan Anundsen, Brae Wright, Bobby Bramhall, and Rob Wooten (Bramhall and Wooten will miss all of 2010) ....... At various points during the season, pitchers Baron, Willinsky, and Donovan Hand have spent time on the DL, as well as outfielder Lorenzo Cain, who is 2-for-13 since coming off the DL.........

Mike McClendon, was promoted to Nashville this past weekend, leaving behind a 0.61 ERA from the bullpen in 14 2/3 innings......... Adam Stern earned himself a promotion to Milwaukee with a .349 start for the Nashville Sounds. The Sounds, by the way, are now charging $3 to park at Greer Stadium (parking had been free in past seasons) and $10 to get into games, up from last year......... Josh Butler and Mat Gamel are doing their rehab assignments at Brevard County.

[battlekow]

We'll send a note to the Manatees to confirm -- did MiLB error or Frank, who has put together some nice home contest game stories for the Manatees?

 

Two innings or four innings (quite possible) for Josh Butler in his rehab start (maybe it was three http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif)?

The box score originally had Butler with four innings pitched, but was amended to two.

[Mass Haas]

Frank has now confirmed for us, Josh Butler went the two innings, Dan Merklinger seven. Kudos to both.