Link Report for Sun. 7/8

[Mass Haas]

Mondesi’s grand slam lifts Brewers

By Amber Kuehn, Helena Independent Record

 

Redemption was on Raul Mondesi Jr.’s mind the second the ball sailed over the left-field fence.

 

But don’t think for a second he was going to get caught up in the moment prematurely.

 

The Helena Brewers’ right fielder remained focused on one thing as he made the 360-foot trot around the bases following his go-ahead grand slam in a 6-2 win over Missoula Sunday afternoon at Kindrick Legion Field. As Mondesi turned the corner at third, he kept his eyes fixed on home and emphatically touched the plate with both feet as he crossed, a smile crossing his face. Only then, when his first professional home run was officially in the books, did he raise two fingers to the sky and embrace his teammates.

 

“That was great, not like the other one,” Mondesi said, referencing his gaffe last month against the Osprey, when he mistakenly missed home plate on what would have been his first homer as a pro. Perhaps drawing a bit more attention due to the name on his jersey — his father was a well known big-leaguer — news and video of the incident spread across the Internet.

 

“I just forgot to keep my eyes on home plate,” he said.

 

Not this time.

 

Helena manager Jeff Isom was happy to see the .208-hitter finally get his homer — and even more pleased that his team won back-to-back games for the first time this season.

 

“It’s nice getting W’s and it’s good we can get two in a row, hopefully we can make it three now,” Isom said. “As for Mondesi, he got a pitch he could handle inside and hit it out, and that broke the game open for us.

 

“It’s good because I know he’s been trying to redeem himself, and he’s kind of taken himself out of his approach trying to do too much to get that home run. ... The way I look at it with that mistake is, people know he can hit home runs. A lot of people have seen it on YouTube or the Internet and I keep telling him, ‘hey, they know how good you can hit.’”

 

Mondesi came to the plate in the sixth inning with two outs and the bases loaded and Missoula leading 2-1. He took the 1-0 delivery, a curveball from Ross Gerdeman, and knocked it out of the park for his first hit of the game after striking out in both of his previous at-bats.

 

Up until that point, Mondesi said he wasn’t pleased with his production as of late.

 

“I’m having a rough time right now with my timing and my batting,” he said. “I’m not in my stuff right now.”

 

The grand slam gave the Brewers their first lead of the game and Chris McFarland’s RBI single an inning later made it 6-2 in favor of the hosts. Helena closer Connor Whalen, among the Pioneer League leaders in saves, kept the Osprey off the board the rest of the way, ensuring Michael Francisco his first win.

 

“Our pitching was outstanding again today,” Isom said. “Will West (starter) had some situations where he got into trouble, but he found a way to get out of it. That was good to see.”

 

Although the young southpaw gave up a pair of earned runs in the first and third innings, Isom noted the Brewers have been better about avoiding the big inning — something that was a problem earlier this season.

 

Helena finished with seven hits in the contest, despite striking out 13 times, and left just four men on base.

 

The Brewers will go for their first sweep of the season tonight when they host Missoula at 7:05 PM (8:05 Central). Right-hander Michael Schaub will be on the bump for Helena, with Chris Pack scheduled to start for the Osprey.

 

NOTES: Milwaukee’s second-round draft pick, Tyrone Taylor, was added to the Helena roster on Sunday. The 6-foot-0, 185-pound outfielder was promoted after playing in seven games for the Arizona League Brewers, where he hit .400 with five doubles and three triples ... Yonki Hernandez is now 8 for 8 in steals following his stolen base on Sunday.

[Mass Haas]

MLB.com: Big things in store for diminutive Gennett

[Tedaldtada]

'Tees trounced by Threshers, 9-2

07/08/2012 9:29 PM ET

By Frank Longobardo / Brevard County Manatees

 

http://www.milb.com/images/2012/07/08/fwO89OlI.jpg

Manatees starting pitcher Brandon Williamson allowed four earned runs in four innings as Brevard County was defeated 9-2 by the Clearwater Threshers on Sunday. (Dennis Greenblatt/Hawk-Eye Sports Photography)

 

VIERA, Fla. - The Brevard County Manatees fell behind 5-0 after two innings and never recovered as they were defeated 9-2 by the Clearwater Threshers on Sunday night at Space Coast Stadium.

 

Brandon Williamson (1-6, 6.99) made his first start since June 28 and allowed five runs - four earned - in four innings of work. He yielded six hits and walked two, while striking out four. Williamson has not made it past the fourth inning in five of his ten starts with the Manatees (10-7 second half, 39-46 overall) and Brevard's streak of five straight quality starts by its pitching staff was snapped.

 

All five runs that Williamson allowed to the Threshers (10-8, 46-38) came in the first two innings and was capped off by a two-run homer by Zach Collier with one out in the second. Brian Garman relieved Williamson in the fifth and threw three scoreless innings, while striking out four.

 

Clearwater starter Brody Colvin held the 'Tees scoreless through six innings, but Brevard finally got on the board in the seventh. Colvin hit Brock Kjeldgaard with a pitch to lead-off the inning and then Hector Gomez singled to put runners on first and second.

 

Mike Walker then grounded a ball right back to Colvin, who turned to throw the ball to second but it ended up in center as Kjeldgaard scored. Colvin was then lifted for Colton Murray who gave up a sacrifice fly to Parker Berberet that scored Hector Gomez to cut Clearwater's lead to 5-2.

 

Eric Arnett relieved Garman in the eighth and ran into trouble immediately as he allowed a lead-off single to Anthony Hewitt and then a double to Cameron Rupp that plated Hewitt. After two strikeouts, Rupp came home on a double to left to make it a 7-2 game in favor of the Threshers. Clearwater padded their lead in the ninth with a two-run homer by Jim Murphy off of Arnett.

 

Offensively for Brevard, Berberet was the only Manatee with a multi-hit effort as he was 2-for-3 and had Brevard County's lone RBI. In 11 games against the Threshers in 2012, the Manatees are hitting just .187.

 

Brevard County and Clearwater will face off in the rubber match of their three-game set on Monday at 6:35 p.m.

 

For the Manatees, Andy Moye (4-0, 4.35) will be looking to improve to 5-0. Moye has had a quality start in each of his last three outings.

 

The Threshers will counter with Perci Garner (3-5, 4.86). Garner has been a road warrior for Clearwater this season as he is 3-1 with a 3.86 ERA in 11 road starts.

 

Box Score

 

That really got out of hand, and fast. Brandon Williamson never really gave the 'Tees a chance as he could not make it past the 2nd inning. Brian Garman was very good but Eric Arnett allowed the flood gates to open in the final few frames.

 

Reggie Keen (1-3 BB) and Parker Berberet (2-3) has notable games. That is all, which is strange because last I checked, Jason Rogers was in this lineup.

 

Game Log

[TooLiveBrew]

Just a guess that we'll be notifying folks on Monday that Hunter Morris is the Southern League Player of the Week.

 

I am really, really hoping for a league MVP acceptance speech at some point.

 

Is there anyone that still doubts Morris will be an .825-.875 OPS 1B at this point? Mixing in solid defense as well will make him a 3-4 WAR kind of guy.

Mat Gamel is basically going to have to ouplay himself the next few years. They're such similar players it's kind of eerie.

[DHonks]

Arnett struck out the world, but also gave up lots of runs.

[brewmann04]

Nice outing by mark tonight best line no walks .

[TheCrew07]

Why take Rogers out after 74 pitches? What am I missing? Fantastic outing though.

I was listening to the game, Jeff threw out a couple of possible reasons, the most logical was the staff wanting to get other pitchers some work before the all-star break, I wouldn't read anything into it.

[TheCrew07]

I was waiting for the audio to pop, but it hasn't yet, sorry MH

Rogers Tosses Gem As Sounds Shut Out Memphis, 2-0

Nashville Enters Break With Ninth Win In Last 12 Contests

 

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Right-hander Mark Rogers worked seven outstanding innings and combined with three reliever on a four-hit, 2-0 shutout of the Memphis Redbirds on Sunday evening at AutoZone Park in the finale of a five-game series.

 

With their league-leading 10th shutout victory, the red-hot Sounds (40-51) recorded a 4-1 series win against the cross-state rival Redbirds. Nashville enters the All-Star break with wins in nine of its last 12 contests.

 

Rogers (4-6) faced just two batters over the minimum and struck out a season-high seven batters during his fourth quality start of the year, matching a personal and Sounds season best with his seven scoreless innings.

 

Juan Perez and Amaury Rivas combined on a scoreless eighth frame. In the ninth, Rob Wooten surrendered a triple to Adron Chambers before ceding to All-Star closer Jim Henderson, who induced a game-ending flyout from Mark Hamilton to nail down his 11th save of the season.

 

Rogers' gem continued a recent hot spell by Sounds starting pitchers, who have combined to post a stellar 2.44 ERA (18er/66.1ip) over Nashville's last 12 games. Over that stretch, Nashville starters have held the opposition scoreless on six occasions.

 

Nashville broke a scoreless tie by plating a pair of runs in the top of the fifth inning, chasing Memphis starter Scott Gorgen (0-1) from the contest in the process.

 

Jordan Brown (2-for-4) put the Sounds in front when he drove an opposite-field RBI double off the left field wall to plate Jeff Bianchi (2-for-4), who had opened the frame with a single. The go-ahead two-bagger marked Brown's seventh extra-base knock in his past 10 games.

 

Two batters later, Dayton Buller (2-for-3) made it a 2-0 game with an RBI single to left and Rogers followed with a single of his own to knock the opposing hurler out of the game. Left-hander Nick Greenwood took over on the Memphis hill and retired the next two batters to escape the jam without further damage.

 

The Sounds have the next three days off during the Triple-A All-Star break. Reliever Jim Henderson will represent Nashville on Wednesday in the 25th Annual Triple-A All-Star Game in Buffalo, New York. The 6:00 p.m. CT contest will be aired live on 102.5 FM "The Game" as well as on the MLB Network.

 

Nashville returns to action on Thursday at Greer Stadium, where the Sounds will open a four-game series against the Albuquerque Isotopes (AAA-Dodgers). Right-hander Tyler Thornburg (1-0, 3.60), who was victorious in his Triple-A debut earlier this week in Memphis, will make his second start and face right-hander Fernando Nieve (4-6, 6.62).

 

Nashville Box Score

I love it when the Mark Rogers who doesn't walk anyone shows up, he's really fun to listen to when he's on. The stadium gun here is 4-5 MPH slow but it registered a 93 from Mark in the 6th inning, if he would just command the zone... well we don't have another SP with that kind of talent right now. I'm completely biased towards Mark, I still "hope" for him, he's already overcome so much... the flip side of course is the reality I posted after his last start regarding BB rates and BA against. I guess the simple truth is that I just want to believe in him until there's no chance left.

 

Somehow this has gotten past me but Rob Wooten is sporting an ERA over 5 right now, and his last 10 games were a 4.73, he's been very average, hopefully he picks it up in the second half, I always had him pegged as a nice 1 inning middle relief candidate.

 

Here's another tidbit, Eric Farris has a BA 20ish points higher than Caleb Gindl but an OPS 70ish points lower and we've talked about how poor Gindl has been all season... Eric did make a great play in the 5th to get Rogers out of the inning.

 

Nashville Play By Play

[TheCrew07]

Stars' Morris finding the sweet spot

Brewers prospect extends homer streak with pair of blasts

By Jonathan Raymond / Special to MLB.com

 

http://www.milb.com/images/2012/07/08/LGTCVzVz.jpg

Hunter Morris is hitting .314 with a .551 slugging percentage in 85 games. (Huntsville Stars)

 

When hitters get on a hot streak, they often talk about how much more relaxed they feel at the plate. If Hunter Morris' last few games are any indication, he must not have a care in the world.

 

The Brewers' No. 9 prospect extend his home run streak to three games with a pair of longballs Sunday, adding a triple and driving in four in Double-A Huntsville's 10-5 victory over Jacksonville.

 

In his last three games, Morris is 8-for-13 with four homers, two triples and eight RBIs.

 

"When you're staying within yourself at the plate, not trying to force things, it tends to get a little easier," he said. "Right now, I've simplified things. I can pick out the right pitches, focus on finding solid contact. The rest takes care of itself."

 

The 2010 fourth-round Draft pick added that, especially over the last week or so, his comfort level at the plate has allowed him to elevate his production. In eight games this month, he's hitting .469 while slugging 1.000.

 

"It's a different confidence level. You're not as worried about getting behind in counts, don't tend to be as aggressive. You just kind of let the at-bat come to you," Morris said. "It sounds like it'd be easy to do that day in and day out, but every player puts more pressure on himself one at-bat to the next, tries to do more than they should."

 

This season, Morris has also been able to redefine himself in a sense, batting .314 -- well beyond what he hit in 2011 with Class A Advanced Brevard County (.271) or in 2010 with Class A Wisconsin (.251).

 

"That's something I expect from myself," he said. "There's been a lot of adjustments to make in my swing, to learn how to use the whole field, go deeper into counts. Sometimes you have to go for the base hit and not try to hit it out of the park. You can find holes you weren't finding before."

 

It's also helped that he's drawn more walks and appears to be more selective. Last season, he had 4.72 strikeouts for every walk, a figure that's down to 3.36 this year. After posting .306 and .301 on-base percentages his first two seasons in the Minors, his OBP sits at .365.

 

His slugging percentage also has spiked, with a 54-point rise since the Fourth of July to .551.

 

Morris credited a lot of his improved production to that willingness to change his approach at the plate.

 

"You kind of get set in your ways over time," he said. "I don't know if it's a pride thing, where it's, 'Oh, I've been doing this my whole life, why would I change?' But you realize you have to make adjustments as you move up. I don't want to ever be satisfied with numbers or accomplishments. There's always improvements I can make."

 

T.J. Mittlestaedt also homered twice Sunday, while No. 9 Brewers prospect Kentrail Davis was 3-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs.

[BrewersAA]

Just thought I would point this out because I havent heard anyone mention him or talk about him at all. Kentrail Davis had three hits tonight, I know his ba is still probably under 260 for the year, but he has to be arounnd 290 for the last two months! I think hes a guy that most people have just decided has failed so we stop paying attention to him. For his third year in pro ball hitting 290ish for a two month stretch in AA is something to get encouraged about. Heres to hope that he can still pan out.

[Mass Haas]

Wisconsin Video Highlights

[JohnBriggs12]

The last time Rogers went 7 shutout innings early June, he gave up 10 runs in his next start. Let's hope he takes some confidence from this one into his next.

[igor67]

There seem to be a large number of Brewers this year who had unusually poor batting averages to start the season all the way up and down the system, and not a lot that stand out as maybe going the other way on the high side (maybe Morris).

[WV Brew]

Gamel at Huntsville (age 23): .329/.395/.537/.933

Morris: .314/.365/.551/.916

 

Career Minors: Gamel .304/.376/.498/.873

Morris .280/.321/.484/.805

 

Hunter is going to have to keep it up for a while to be mentioned with Gamel. That said, he is having a great year.

[DHonks]

I don't know how similar they are, since Morris has more raw power and Gamel draws more walks. But still a good thing to see Morris turning a corner

[TooLiveBrew]

Aside from his latest HR binge, Morris hasn't shown much more raw power than Gamel yet. And the difference between their season BB totals will get smaller & smaller imo as Morris progresses more. I think they look like pretty similar players overall right now, especially when you factor in their defense at 1B. If Morris does indeed have more raw power than Gamel, then I think the Brewers are going to have a very good prospect on their hands.