Link Report for Wed. 9/3 - It's Playoff Time for the Timber Rattlers!

[Mass Haas]

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

[Mass Haas]

Wednesday's Daily Menu:

 

All times are Central

 

Nashville: Season complete - Finished 77-67, but out of the postseason

 

**********

 

Huntsville: Idle; Southern League semi-finals begin Thursday evening in Huntsville; read a preview below

 

**********

 

Brevard County: Season complete - Finished 73-62, but out of the postseason

 

**********

 

Wisconsin: LHP Clint Terry at home vs. Kane County (Cubs), 6:20 PM pre-game, 6:35 gametime; it's Game One of a Best-of-Three Series, next two games on the road

 

Free Live Audio Link - 1280 AM WNAM

 

Chris Mehring is back to do his customary fantastic work as the Voice of the Rattlers. Follow him on Twitter @CMehring; we'll link to Chris' infamous blog often -- Rattler Radio.

 

It does not appear that tonight's Rattlers game will be televised locally.

 

**********

 

Helena: RHP Brandon Woodruff at Billings (Reds), 7:45 PM pre-game, 8:05 gametime

 

Free Live Audio Link

 

There's a new Voice of the Helena Brewers in 2014, as Dustin Daniel (@dustin__daniel on Twitter) takes over for legendary Steve Wendt. We look forward to Dustin building his own legacy moving forward.

 

**********

 

Arizona Rookie (Maryvale): Season complete - Finished 24-31, out of the postseason

 

**********

 

DSL Brewers: Season complete - summary post here

[Mass Haas]

It does not appear that tonight's Rattlers game will be televised locally.

 

But you can still get fired up -- Clint Terry is (tweet).

 

[Mass Haas]

Via MiLB.com --

 

Kane County Cougars (91-46, Western Division first-half champions) vs. Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (Western Division second-half Wild Card)

 

Kane County won series, 12-6

 

Game 1 at Wisconsin, Sept. 3 at 7:35 p.m. ET

Game 2 at Kane County, Sept. 4 at 7 p.m. ET

Game 3 at Kane County (if necessary), Sept. 5 at 7 p.m ET

 

Kane County has dealt with a revolving door of player moves but was able to craft the best record in the Minor Leagues.

 

"We always talk about the Cubs way, and I think each manager and each coach has their own style and the way they present that message, but I think as an overall organization, we're definitely on the same page with what we want to see on the field," Kane County skipper Mark Johnson said.

 

"Our starting pitching has been intact all season; that's one thing that hasn't changed for us. They've done a great job all season long. Our pitching overall has been really good. They locate down in the zone. Our starters are getting us through five or six innings every night. On top of that, we're really good up the middle. Defense, pitching, and we always seem to have some timely hitting."

 

Daury Torrez was 4-0 with a 1.78 ERA and 19 strikeouts against three walks against Wisconsin during the regular season, allowing five runs on 17 hits over 25 1/3 innings.

 

Kane County reeled off 13 straight wins down the stretch, despite losing 11 players to Class A Advanced Daytona.

 

Right-handed hitting catcher Will Remillard tore up Wisconsin, batting .571 (12-for-21) with 13 RBIs in seven games.

 

The Cougars hit .283 as a team and compiled a 2.78 ERA against Wisconsin, while the Timber Rattlers batted .209 and had a 4.81 ERA vs. Kane County.

 

Wisconsin catcher Clint Coulter hit .287, shared the league lead with 22 homers and drove in 89 runs. He also topped the circuit with a .410 on-base percentage, thanks to getting hit 21 times, and batted .279 against Kane County. Left fielder Omar Garcia hit .280 with eight steals vs. the Cougars.

[Mass Haas]

To see tweets as to when the Link Report has been technically "completed" with available links, as well as to know when the new day's Report has been posted, please follow @Mass_Haas on Twitter.

 

***

 

Look for this just prior to game time --

 

Wisconsin Media Notes - Linked on the Rattler Radio blog

 

***

 

STANDINGS: (For split-season leagues, 2nd half standings are shown as the default, although overall standings are also available at the link.)

 

AAA - Pacific Coast League American Southern Division

 

AA - Southern League North Division

 

High-A - Florida State League North Division

 

A - Midwest League Western Division

 

Rookie Advanced - Pioneer League North Division

 

Rookie - Arizona Summer League Central Division

 

DSL - Dominican Summer League San Pedro de Macoris

 

***

 

Sortable individual stat pages:

 

Nashville

 

Huntsville

 

Brevard County

 

Wisconsin

 

Helena

 

Maryvale

 

Dominican Summer League Brewers

 

***

 

Weather.com:

 

Grand Chute, WI (Appleton)

 

Billings, MT

[Mass Haas]

Huntsville RH reliever Greg Holle indicated on Twitter today that he'll be playing winter ball in Venezuela.

[Mass Haas]

Thursday preview:

 

Stars catch charging Chattanooga in Southern League playoffs

Mark McCarter, Huntsville Times

 

The matchup is intriguing, especially to flip the calendar back two months. In those days, one of the teams was – at least in one player's confession – "the worst team in baseball" and the other could boast one of the best records in the minors.

 

Now the worst is the best – at least the hottest – and the other is in the position of having to shrug off late-season doldrums.

 

But despite the Huntsville Stars' tepid play of late, "I don't think anybody wants to play us in the playoffs," said outfielder Josh Prince. "We've got some older guys and we've got a lot of talent on this team. Yeah, we haven't been playing well, but at the same time there's not much difference in the team that was the best team in minor league baseball in the first half."

 

The Stars will host the Chattanooga Lookouts Thursday and Friday at 6:30 p.m. in the first two games of the best-of-five Southern League North playoffs, with the winner to advance to the best-of-five championship series against the Jacksonville-Mobile winner in the South playoffs.

 

This is the Stars' first playoff appearance since 2009. Huntsville has won three Southern League titles, in the inaugural season of 1985, in 1994 and with a shared title in 2001 when the championship series was cancelled after 9/11.

 

There is a tremendous difference in Chattanooga. The Lookouts, a Dodgers' affiliate, have gone 21-7 since August 1, a torrid streak reminiscent of Huntsville's run to the championship series in 2006. Chattanooga was a feeble 26-44 in the first half, 20 games behind the Stars, who were 46-24.

 

"It was a huge turnaround, and that's a big deal to us," Lookouts catcher Chris O'Brien told David Paschall of The Chattanooga Times-Free Press. "To go from the worst team in baseball to second-half champs is a pretty funny feeling, but it feels good. We never lost sight of what we wanted to do, and here we are. Everyone wants to peak late, and we're starting to hit our stride right now. Once you hit the playoffs, everyone is 0-0 and anything goes."

 

It's an axiom of minor league baseball that few teams can sustain excellence through the course of the season because of constantly changing rosters. The irony this season is that the Mississippi Braves had the best overall record, at 83-56 – and they're not going to the playoffs. They neglected to win either half in the Southern League South, trailing Mobile by three games in the first, Jacksonville by one in the second.

 

The Stars, at 77-63 on the year, owned the second-best record and were one of just four teams above .500. But that was built on a foundation of that terrific first half.

 

"The second half has brought some new faces and taken a while for adjustments with injuries and promotions," said Huntsville manager Carlos Subero, a former Lookouts' skipper. "It's taken us a while to play consistent baseball (in the second half). I think for the playoffs, it's experience that we've got (that will help). That's one thing you want to have in playoffs. We haven't been consistent, but once playoff time comes, we'll see another level of play."

 

"We have a lot of experience of guys that have been in playoff situations," coach Sandy Guerrero said. "I think that's going to help us, taking a little pressure off the younger kids. As you know, the playoff is a different type of animal. Younger kids tend to be under too much pressure."

 

In the same period in which the Lookouts have gone 21-7, during which Chattanooga won 11 in a row, Huntsville has gone 12 -17

 

"When you talk about turning on a light switch maybe that's the right terminology. I don't know," Prince said. "But I think when we click we're a scary team."

[Mass Haas]

Follow Wednesday's action as it happens with box score / game log links:

 

Wisconsin

 

Helena

 

MiLB.com feature -- organizational scoreboard, Brewers

[Mass Haas]

Let's hope it's a happy 24th birthday for the Timber Rattlers' Paul Eshleman!

[Mass Haas]

Interesting T-Rats lineup tonight.

 

Too bad the big leaguers are opposite this game tonight (and all series).

[TheCrew07]

The freaking Cubs have Mike Olt, yes that Mike Olt, playing against the T-Rats in this play-off series on a rehab assignment, that's just garbage. Predictably he hit a 3 run HR against the T-Rats last inning.

[TheCrew07]

Posted a 2 part summary of the Sounds season starting here.

[TheCrew07]

Cougars grab game one 7-3

Timber Rattlers held to five hits

By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

 

http://www.milb.com/assets/images/3/5/0/93019350/cuts/Sept3Game1_fq1ycg0v_rdlyqdl4.jpg

The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers and Kane County Cougars pause for a moment of silence for Bruce Seid before Wednesday's playoff opener. (Ann Mollica/Wisconsin Timber Rattlers)

 

GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Kane County Cougars defeated the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 7-3 on Wednesday night at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. The game was Game One of the first round, best-of-three series in the Midwest League Playoffs. Jen-Ho Tseng, who was 6-1 during the regular season, picked up the win for Kane County.

 

Kane County took the lead in the top of the second inning. Jacob Rogers and Cael Brockmeyer singled to start the inning and each moved on a base on a wild pitch. Carlos Penalver drove in Rogers with a sacrifice fly for a 1-0 lead.

 

The Cougars got consecutive singles from Shawon Dunston, Jr. and Mark Zagunis to start the third inning. Yasiel Balaguert singled with one out to drive in Dunston for a 2-0 lead.

 

Johnny Davis cut Kane County's lead to a run. The Wisconsin centerfielder reached on a bunt single to start the bottom of the third. He stole second and went to third on a grounder. A pitch from Tseng trickled past the Kane County catcher and Davis raced home with the run.

 

The Rattlers kept the game at 2-1 until the top of the fifth inning. Wisconsin starting pitcher Clint Terry issued a walk and gave up an single with one out to bring Olt to the plate. Olt, on a major league rehabilitation assignment for the Chicago Cubs, hit a 3-2 pitch to the Cougars bullpen in left-center for a 5-1 lead.

 

David Denson hit an opposite field solo home run to left in the bottom of the sixth for the Rattlers final run off Tseng. The Taiwanese right-hander allowed two runs on two hits over six innings to earn the win.

 

Kane County tacked on two more runs in the top of the eighth inning. Trey Martin singled with runners at second and third and one out to drive in both runners for a 7-2 advantage.

 

Wisconsin managed a rally in the ninth. Clint Coulter drew a walk against reliever Tyler Ihrig to start the inning. Rafael Neda singled with one out. Michael Ratterree followed with a single to left to score Coulter for a 7-3 lead. But, Ihrig closed out the game by getting the next two batters looking at strike three.

 

Game two of the best-of-three series is Thursday night at Kane County. Preston Gainey (5-9, 4.18) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. The Cougars have named Duane Underwood (6-4, 2.50) as their starter. Game time on Thursday is 6:00pm. If the Rattlers win, they force game three at Kane County on Friday night. If the Cougars win, Wisconsin's season comes to an end. Tune in for the broadcast on AM1280, WNAM or IHeartRadio starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 5:40pm.

 

HOME RUNS:

KC:

Mike Olt (1st, 2 on in 5th inning off Clint Terry, 1 out)

 

WIS:

David Denson (1st, 0 on in 6th inning off Jen-Ho Tseng, 1 out)

 

WP: Jen-Ho Tseng (1-0)

LP: Clint Terry (0-1)

SAVE: Tyler Ihrig (1)

 

TIME: 2:50

ATTN: 1,070

 

Wisconsin Boxscore

This Kane County pitching staff has been far and away the best pitching staff in the league all season. The team ERA ended at 2.85 and the WHIP 1.17, all done without the aid of a high strike out total. In fact there wasn't a single Cub pitcher in the top 20 in Strike Outs.

 

Clint Terry isn't a stuff guy and Mike Olt isn't really good match-up for him, Chris said later in the broadcast that the commissioner had to approve MLB postseason rehab assignments to MiLB teams but that doesn't make me feel any better about it.

 

The Rattlers managed just 5 hits but Johnny Davis (2-3) did put up the Rattler's only multi-hit game.

 

Wisconsin Recap

 

Wisconsin Gameday

[Eye Black]

Final: Billings 8, Helena 1

 

Brewers 2-hit in loss

By Dustin Daniel / Helena Brewers

 

The Billings Mustangs (24-13) pitched their way to an 8-1 win over the Helena Brewers (13-24) on Wednesday at Dehler Park.

 

The Mustangs used a monster first inning to cruise to the win, scoring six runs on four hits, aided by three Helena errors in their first trip to the plate.

 

Corey Thompson hit a 2-RBI triple in the inning on his way to a 3-for-4 performance which included two runs scored and two stolen bases.

 

After a shaky first, Brandon Woodruff (1-2) closed out his start with strong pitching. He would retire the final eight batters he faced and struck out five consecutive to end his day on the rubber.

 

Devin Williams added six strikeouts of his own for 13 on the game for the Brewers' pitching staff.

 

The lone Helena run came in the sixth when Edgardo Rivera scored on a wild pitch. He reached earlier in the inning on a fielder's choice.

 

The Brewers set a new season-low with just two hits in the game.

 

The Brewers and the Mustangs will face off in the second game of their series Thursday at Dehler Park. It will be the final game of the season for Helena. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m.

 

Helena Box Score

 

With a strong finish, Devin Williams finishes his season with 66 strike outs in 66.1 innings pitched.

 

Helena Game Log

[Mass Haas]

Miller Park Prospects - Timber Rattler Playoff Photo Gallery

[Mass Haas]

Rattler Radio Blog - Postgame Entry

 

Audio interviews, photos, video...

 

***

 

This was the Post-Crescent series preview, still with good info and quotes even if read after Game One.

[Mass Haas]

VIDEO: Huntsville TV news report, playoff preview

[Mass Haas]

David Denson video interview within the Post-Crescent's postgame coverage

[Mass Haas]

Traded farmhand LHP Anthony Banda got the playoff-opening starting assignment and wasn't as sharp as he's been recently allowing 3 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks over 5 innings, with one costly balk, in South Bend's opening Midwest League playoff loss (box score).