Link Report for Mon. 5/7 -- 'Tees and Sounds fall early; Thornburg not spectacular, but solid

[TheCrew07]

Final Game 2: Wisconsin 3, Cedar Rapids 2 (7 Innings)

 

Rattlers sweep Kernels with 3-2 win in game two

Doubleheader sweep pushes Wisconsin's win streak to eight games

By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

 

GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers got three runs in the fourth inning in game two of their doubleheader against the Cedar Rapids Kernels on Monday night at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium. It was enough. Wisconsin moved their winning streak to eight games with a 3-2 win over the Kernels.

 

Jason Rogers broke the scoreless tie and almost broke the scoreboard on the same swing in the bottom of the fourth inning. Max Walla reached with a leadoff single. Rogers took the first two pitches from Kernels pitcher Austin Wood for balls and was sitting on a 2-0 pitch. Rogers crushed the next offering off the scoreboard above the wall in left-center.

 

Rafael Neda made it 3-0 in favor of the Rattlers (20-11) later in the frame. His two-out RBI single scored Ben McMahan from second base.

 

Wisconsin starting pitcher Matt Miller worked 5-2/3 scoreless innings, but one mistake cost him a clean sheet. Miller gave up a solo home run to Kaleb Cowart with two outs in the top of the sixth to cut the Wisconsin lead to 3-1. Miller allowed that one runs on four hits, walked two, and struck out four in six innings before turning the game over to the bullpen.

Seth Harvey entered the game in the top of the seventh and allowed a leadoff single and a stolen base by Andy Workman. Harvey got a strikeout for the first out, but Gary Mitchell singled to drive in Workman to make the score 3-2.

 

Harvey got Cedar Rapids catcher Carlos Lugo to ground into a force play at second for the second out. The Kernels (13-18) brought in Trevor Hairgrove to pinch run. Hairgrove took off on a 1-1 pitch to Wendell Soto, but Neda threw a strike to second to catch Hairgrove for the final out of the game.

 

The last time the Timber Rattlers won eight games in a row was in 2003. The Rattlers won eight in a row twice during that season. The first time was from April 22 through May 1. The second eight game winning streak that year was May 29 through June 5.

 

The final game of the series is Tuesday afternoon. Drew Gagnon (3-1, 1.02) is the scheduled starting pitcher for Wisconsin. Cedar Rapids sends Eswarlin Jimenez (0-2, 5.00) to the mound. Game time is 12:05pm.

 

A Tuesday day game means a Baker Tilly Business Persons Special. Show your business card when you purchase a ticket and for $11.50 you will receive a box seat ticket, a beverage and your choice of brat or hot dog. The offer is also available to senior citizens.

 

Tuesday is also an American TV Tuesday. One fan will win a 32" flat-screen TV.

 

If you can't make it out to the game, tune in for the broadcast on AM1280, WNAM or timberrattlers.com starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 11:45am. The game is also available to MiLB.TV subscribers.

 

HOME RUNS:

CR:

Kaleb Cowart (5th, 0 on in 6th inning off Matt Miller, 2 out)

 

WIS:

Jason Rogers (3rd, 2 on in 3rd inning off Austin Wood, 0 out)

 

WP: Matt Miller (2-3)

LP: Austin Wood (2-3)

SAVE: Seth Harvey (5)

 

TIME: 2:01

ATTN: 2,308

 

Wisconsin Game 2 Box Score

Matt Miller has enough movement on his pitches that if he ever learns to locate consistently he might quiet some of the Big Ten haters (myself included). Matt's final line 6IP, 4H, 1ER, 2BB, 1HR, and 4SO, and was very efficient for him, getting 54 strikes out of 84 pitches (64%). His K:BB ratio and his K/9 are fantastic thus far, the hits and walks are really the only thing holding him back as a prospect. Miller also picked off Cowart at 1B.

 

Speaking of Kaleb Cowart, after a impressive start (he really impressed me as well) to the season which had much of the league talking about him, he cooled off and had been hitting under .200 in his last 10 games until game 2 tonight, but his shot off Miller was such a no doubter that you could tell it was out off the bat from Chris' call.

 

Ben McMahan and Adrian Williams had 2 hits a piece, and Jason Rogers had that huge HR which was discussed above. I hope Chris talks about it in his blog, but Yadiel Rivera can absolutely pick it and Chadwin Stang is right there with him. Unfortunately both players have really been slumping lately as Yadiel is only hitting .147 over his last 10 games and Chadwin .171 over that same span. On the plus side Max Walla continues to take his walks and now has 13 on season in 69 ABs, I'd have to wait for one of the other sites to update to give you his PAs on the season, but he's well above 10%. Once again the rattlers played clean defense and Rafael Neda went 2-4 gunning down would be base stealers including that game ending job.

 

Wisconsin Game 2 Play By Play

[TheCrew07]

Final: Huntsville 6, Jackson 5

 

Huntsville Box Score

The Stars carried a 6-2 lead into the 9th and just barely held on the for the win. Tyler Thornburg was uncharacteristically wild in this one and unfortunately Jackson doesn't appear to have anyone keeping track of pitches so there is no Gameday or pitch counts for this series. Tyler went 6IP allowing 4H, 2ER, 4BB, and 1HR against 7SO. The 4 walks are a season high for him and he only had 2 clean innings but the good news is that he scattered the hits and walks enough to limit the damage to the 2 runs. Jesus Sanchez was again impressive in relief striking out 3 over his 2 clean innings. Eric Marzec is really struggling and Rob Wooten didn't do him any favors by giving up a double to the first batter he faced allowing 2 of Marzec's inherited runners to score.

 

The Stars pounded out 12 hits and Josh Prince had a banner day going 3-4 with a double while Juan Sanchez went 2-3 with a HR. Speaking long balls, Matt Cline also hit a HR, talk about 2 unlikely candidates... and finally Hunter Morris added a double. Every player in the order had at least 1 hit as there is a DH for this series. On the base paths Kentrail Davis stole a base while Sanchez was caught stealing. Domnit Bolivar committed the only error which was his 5th on a throw, those 5 errors have come in just 17 games.

 

Huntsville Play By Play

The Stars scored at least 1 run in every inning from the 3rd through the 7th inning including the 2 run 4th.

Huntsville Top of the 4th

• Jay Gibbons flies out to left fielder Chris Pettit.
  Jason Jaramillo singles on a ground ball to center fielder Denny Almonte.
  Hunter Morris doubles (15) on a line drive to left fielder Chris Pettit. Jason Jaramillo to 3rd.
  Domnit Bolivar singles on a line drive to left fielder Chris Pettit. Jason Jaramillo scores. Hunter Morris scores. Domnit Bolivar out at 2nd, left fielder Chris Pettit to second baseman Gabriel Noriega.
  Juan Sanchez strikes out swinging.

 

It was awfully dicey at the end...

Jackson Bottom of the 9th

• Pitcher Change: Eric Marzec replaces Jesus Sanchez.
  Eric Campbell strikes out swinging.
  Jesus Sucre flies out to center fielder Josh Prince.
  Kalian Sams walks.
  Gabriel Noriega singles on a fly ball to right fielder Kentrail Davis. Kalian Sams to 3rd.
  Francisco Martinez doubles (7) on a ground ball to left fielder Juan Sanchez. Kalian Sams scores. Gabriel Noriega to 3rd.
  Pitcher Change: Robert Wooten replaces Eric Marzec.
  Nick Franklin doubles (10) on a fly ball to right fielder Kentrail Davis. Gabriel Noriega scores. Francisco Martinez scores.
  Robert Wooten intentionally walks Joseph Dunigan.
  Chris Pettit grounds into a force out, shortstop Matt Cline to second baseman Scooter Gennett. Joseph Dunigan out at 2nd.

[TooLiveBrew]

Top Batting Performances Over The Weekend, May 4-6

 

Another Reds prospect is listed and this time it's Henry Rodriguez a switch hitting 2B. He's one little dude at 5' 10" 150lbs and is rated as the #17 for the organization.

Crew, I just wanted to applaud you for keeping such good tabs on divisional prospect mentions. Really an awesome addition to the L.R.

[TheCrew07]

Mehrings' 9 After 9 for 5/7/2012, the double header edition.

[TheCrew07]

Top Batting Performances Over The Weekend, May 4-6

 

Another Reds prospect is listed and this time it's Henry Rodriguez a switch hitting 2B. He's one little dude at 5' 10" 150lbs and is rated as the #17 for the organization.

Crew, I just wanted to applaud you for keeping such good tabs on divisional prospect mentions. Really an awesome addition to the L.R.

 

Thanks, but honestly I should have thought of it sooner as for years I've been posting that there is a wealth of information out on the internet about any number of subjects; from the injury nexus to peak performance training. Instead of suggesting that people go do the research themselves with simple Google searches I should have been linking and sharing the information all along.

[Mass Haas]

Nick Franklin doubles (10) on a fly ball to right fielder Kentrail Davis. Gabriel Noriega scores. Francisco Martinez scores.

 

Generals short stop Nick Franklin missed a game tying home run in the ninth inning by mere inches, settling for a 2-run double.

 

***

 

That close...

[Mass Haas]

STARS SQUEAK OUT VICTORY AGAINST GENERALS

 

JACKSON, Tenn.- After being in complete control for most of the game, the Huntsville Stars edged out the Jackson Generals by a score of 6-5 on Monday night at Pringles Park.

 

To begin the scoring, the Stars got a solo-home run from an unlikely source in third baseman Juan Sanchez in the third inning and then a two-run single by third baseman Domnit Bolivar in the fourth inning to take an early 3-0 lead.

 

After a sacrifice fly by Generals first basemen Eric Campbell cut the Stars lead to two in the fourth, the Stars got another solo-home run by shortstop Matt Cline in the fifth inning to increase their lead to 4-1. Then, following a solo shot from Generals left fielder Kalian Sams, an RBI single by Sanchez in the sixth put the Stars back up by three.

 

In the seventh inning, the Stars added what they thought was an insurance run as first baseman Hunter Morris drew a bases-loaded walk to make the score 6-2.

 

The Generals, however, had other ideas. After Stars RHP Eric Marzec retired the first two batters in the ninth inning, he allowed the next three to reach base, including an RBI double by third basemen Franklin Martinez that made the score 6-4. Then, after Marzec left the game with two runners aboard, RHP Rob Wooten let up a two-run double to shortstop Nick Franklin to score both, cutting the Stars lead to just one run.

 

Fortunately for Huntsville, Wooten would buckle down. After intentionally walking designated hitter Joe Dunigan, the 26-year-old righty got Jackson’s Chris Pettit to ground out to Matt Cline to end the game.

 

For most of the night, the story for the Stars was RHP Tyler Thornburg once again, who ultimately improved to 4-0 on the season after giving up just two runs and four hits through 6.0 innings and striking out seven. Wooten also notched his seventh save of the season by closing out the game.

 

Besides Thornburg and Wooten, Stars RHP Jesus Sanchez also pitched two innings of scoreless baseball. Sanchez now hasn’t given up a run in his last ten appearances, and leads the Stars with a paltry 0.78 ERA.

 

On offense, everybody in the Huntsville starting lineup had at least one hit. Center fielder Josh Prince led the way with three hits, and Juan Sanchez added two with two runs batted in.

 

Game three of a five-game series will take place on Tuesday as the Stars will send RHP Evan Anundsen (1-1, 2.63 ERA) to the mound to square off against Generals LHP James Paxton (3-0. 2.51 ERA). First pitch is at 7:05 PM.

[TheCrew07]

Game's top two pitching prospects may be igniting a revolution

 

This is a pretty fascinating article on a topic that we've discussed many times. I am a huge proponent of long toss, It's one of many pitching concepts I've stolen and modified for use with my QBs in football. It's always seemed like a no brainer to me to increase strength and range of motion everywhere (basically become more athletic) which is why I've so fiercely combated the notion that "weight lifting" is bad for baseball players. Power lifting and body building are for sure, but that's not athletic training. In fact at a double header last weekend our trainer and I were toying with the idea of stealing a football concept for the baseball team, having pitchers do heavy reps of light weight after they start to get the lactic acid out of the muscles in the arm and speed recovery.

 

There just has to be a better way than what has been traditionally done, especially recently with the arbitrary 100 pitch count limit in the majors.