Link Report for Tuesday 4/13

[Mass Haas]

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[Mass Haas]

Tuesday's Daily Menu:

 

All times are Central

 

Colorado Springs: RHP Tyler Cravy at Memphis (Cardinals), 6:35 PM pre-game, 7:05 gametime

 

Free Live Audio Link

 

We welcome Dan Karcher, who is the longtime play-by-play voice of the Sky Sox; follow him on Twitter @SkySoxKarch

 

MiLB.TV -- for subscribers; all Colorado Springs games, home and away, will be available to watch via MiLB.TV's $49.99 season-long package ($12.99 to pay for a single month). The audio feed is from the home team. The video of each game is archived online, which is a nice feature. All MiLB.TV details available at the link.

 

NOTE: Notice that on MiLB.TV's page, you can click on "Filter", then "Milwaukee Brewers", and you'll see just the Crew's organizational TV lineup.

 

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Biloxi: Idle (Well-Deserved!)

 

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Brevard County: RHP Javier Salas at Clearwater (Phillies), 6:00 gametime

 

Free Live Audio Link (Clearwater Feed Only)

 

No Florida State League games are available via MiLB.TV.

 

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Wisconsin: RHP Orlando Torrez at home vs. Cedar Rapids (Twins), 6:15 PM pre-game, 6:35 gametime; expect RHP Angel Ventura to pitch in a tandem role

 

Free Live Audio Link - 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.

 

NOTE: Forty-two (!) of the Rattlers' 70 home games will be broadcast on TV this season. Time Warner Cable SportsChannel (9) and WACY-TV My NEW32 (34) will split duties. We'll let you know when and who, and remember to refer to the Rattlers' full TV schedule so you can coordinate your DVR activity.

 

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So, for the $49.95 season-long package, fans in Brewer Nation can watch all Sky Sox games, most Shuckers games, and all Timber Rattlers home games and some road games.

[Mass Haas]

DVR Alert!

 

Tonight's Timber Rattlers game airs on Time Warner Cable, 6:30 airtime.

[Mass Haas]

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

 

Colorado Springs

 

Brevard County

 

Wisconsin

 

MiLB.com feature -- organizational scoreboard, Brewers

[Mass Haas]

Look for these just prior to the respective game times --

 

Biloxi Media Notes - Linked on the Shuck Dynasty blog

 

Wisconsin Media Notes - Linked on the Rattler Radio blog

 

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STANDINGS:

 

AAA - Pacific Coast League American Northern Division

 

AA - Southern League South Division

 

High-A - Florida State League North Division

 

A - Midwest League Western Division

 

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Sortable individual stat pages:

 

Colorado Springs

 

Biloxi

 

Brevard County

 

Wisconsin

 

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Weather.com:

 

Memphis, TN

 

Clearwater, FL

 

Grand Chute, WI

[Mass Haas]

Via the Brewers --

 

Minor League Pitcher of the Month for April -- RHP Brooks Hall

 

Minor League Player of the Month for April -- RF Clint Coulter

[Mass Haas]

VIDEO INTERVIEW included at link --

 

Gennett completes injury rehab with Timber Rattlers

Tim Froberg, Post-Crescent Media

 

Apparently Scooter game down with a serious case of "red eye" during his Appleton stay...

[Mass Haas]

VIDEO (Sunday): Colorado Springs' Matt Long hits a triple in the Sky Sox's 4-2 loss to the Omaha Storm Chasers

 

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VIDEO (Monday): Shane Peterson records an outfield assist in the Sky Sox's 5-4 loss to the Memphis Redbirds

 

Greg Garcia singles on a fly ball to right fielder Shane Peterson. Scott Moore scores. Greg Garcia out at 2nd on the throw, right fielder Shane Peterson to third baseman Donnie Murphy to second baseman Pete Orr.

[Mass Haas]

PHOTO via Bob Brainerd: The eyes have it. Tucker_Neuhaus sporting his new eyewear, seeing the ball clearly now for TimberRattlers.

[Mass Haas]

Tweet via Adam McCalvy: On rehab, Scooter Gennett was impressed by #Brewers No. 3 prospect. “[Monte] Harrison looks like the Under Armour mannequin."

[TheCrew07]

I was thinking about this as I'm watching tonight's game and I thought I'd include this in a separate post from my summary since I already know what I want to discuss in that post.

 

Here is how the T-Rats stack up against the rest of the 16 team Midwest League after the first 25 games. I've provided enough commentary in the individual daily Link Reports, this is intended to be a summary.

 

Batting Rank by Stat

AVE - 14th at .221, Bowling Green(Rays) is best at .273

OBP - 15th at .290, Quad Cities(Houston) is best at .356

SLG - 15th at .315, Once again Quad Cities at .399

OPS - 15th at .605, Quad Cities with an impressive .755

SO - 16th at 273, Bowling Green has the fewest at 171.

BB - 12th at 64, Quad Cities with leads with 121.

SB - 9th at 22, Peoria(Cards) leads with 45.

 

Pitching Rank by Stat

ERA - 14th at 4.18, Quad Cities leads with 2.09

H - 12th with 208, Great Lakes(Dodgers) leads with 180 but has played 3 fewer games.

R - 14th with 123, Great Lakes once again leads with 71.

ER - 14th with 100, Quad Cities leads with just 54

HR - 3rd! with just 4, both South Bend(Cubs) and Quad Cities have allowed 3.

HBP - 7th with 11, some how Kane County(DBacks) has hit 23 batters already, no one else is close.

BB - 12th with 96, Dayton(Reds) and Bowling Green have issued just 53 free passes a piece.

SO - 14th with 186, Cedar Rapids leads with 258.

WHIP - 14th with 1.41, Quad Cities leads with 1.09

 

Batting wise WI is the 3rd youngest team with an average age of 21.0 years. From the pitching perspective the team is right in the middle as #8 with an average age of 21.9 years.

 

Fielding wise the Rattlers are 15th having committed 40 errors already on the season, Lansing(Jays) is the best defensive club with just 20 errors thus far.

[MrTPlush]

Tweet via Adam McCalvy: On rehab, Scooter Gennett was impressed by #Brewers No. 3 prospect. “[Monte] Harrison looks like the Under Armour mannequin."

 

Got a good laugh after I looked up to see what it looked like.

[WV Brew]

Brevard County 2, Clearwater 1

 

Javi Salas made it through 5 1/3 innings tonight when he tired in the 6th. Preston Gainey and Kaleb Earls closed out the game with scoreless performances. Victor Roache is struggling badly in this series. He had a golden sombrero yesterday and a hat trick today. Yesterday was somewhat understandable with Mark Leiter in for the Thrashers, who is a big strike out pitcher. Today, though, Victor had 3 of the 5 Manatees strikeouts. In the key bottom of the 6th, Clint Coulter overthrew the cutoff man, allowing a runner to go to second. The very next hitter hit a fly to right field and Clint threw out the runner from 3rd with what would have been the tying run.

 

Pitching Dominates in 2-1 Manatees Win

Salas, Gainey, Earls Shutdown Threshers

By Dave Walkovic / Brevard County Manatees

05/05/2015 10:40 PM ET

 

http://www.milb.com/assets/images/5/5/0/121645550/cuts/IMG_3176_1fns03sk_y8swfq0u.JPG

 

Brevard County starter Javi Salas, seen here from a game from earlier this season, recorded his second win of the season on Tuesday. (Dennis Greenblatt/Hawk-Eye Sports Photography)

 

Clearwater, Fla. - The pitching of the Brevard County Manatees (12-13) dominated in a 2-1 victory over the Clearwater Threshers (12-14) on Tuesday night at Bright House Field.

 

Javier Salas (2-2, 2.08 ERA), Preston Gainey and Kaleb Earls allowed just four men to reach scoring position the entire night and never relinquished the lead the Manatees took in the fourth inning.

 

Brevard County plated two runs in the fourth. Steven Halcomb singled on a liner to right to lead off the frame. Angel Ortega then hit a ground-rule double over the left field fence. Omar Garcia recorded an RBI on a groundout to second. Halcomb scored and Ortega moved to third. Chris McFarland stepped up a doubled to left to plate Ortega. It was McFarland's 10th double of the season and gave the Manatees a 2-0 lead.

 

Clearwater was able to cut the lead in half in the sixth against Salas. Drew Stankiewicz walked with nobody out. Andrew Pullin doubled to left to move Stankiewicz to third. Andrew Knapp grounded out to short, but Stankiewicz scored. Dylan Cozens then singled on a liner to right to put runners on the corners and end Salas' evening. Gainey entered from the bullpen. Willians Astudillo hit a fly ball to right field. Coulter hauled it in and gunned down Pullin at the plate to end the inning and preserve the lead.

 

Salas allowed one run on five hits over 5.1 innings. He walked one and struck out four.

 

Gainey surrendered just one hit and one walk over 2.1 scoreless frames.

 

Earls allowed a one-out walk in the ninth to Angelo Mora, but struck out Zach Green and retired Devin Lohman on a grounder to close the game out. The four-out save was Earls' first save of the season and fourth of his career.

 

Colin Kleven (2-2, 4.82 ERA) was hit with the loss. He allowed two runs on six hits and three walks. He struck out three.

 

The Manatees will go for the sweep tomorrow at Bright House Field. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. Jorge Ortega (3-1, 2.57 ERA) will get the start for Brevard County. The Threshers will send David Whitehead (1-3, 3.03 ERA) to the hill.

 

Brevard County Box Score

 

Brevard County Game Log

[TheCrew07]

Wisconsin drops fifth straight with a 7-3 loss to Cedar Rapids

By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

 

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Mitch Meyer slides into second base after his fifth inning double on Tuesday night against the Cedar Rapids Kernels. (Wisconsin Timber Rattlers/Jake Hansel)

 

GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers lost their fifth straight game as the Cedar Rapids Kernels beat them 7-3 at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium on Tuesday night.

 

For the fourth straight game, Wisconsin (8-18) fell behind in the first inning. An error on a grounder to short with runners at first and second allowed the Kernels (15-11) to score their first run and put runners on the corners. TJ White's slow roller to short was enough to get the second run of the inning home.

 

Wisconsin fought back to tie the game in the bottom of the second inning. The Rattlers had runners at second and third with one out when Monte Harrison doubled to right. The extra-base hit drove in both runners and tied the game 2-2.

 

Rattlers starting pitcher Orlando Torrez struggled in the top of the third inning. A leadoff walk, a strikeout, a single, and another walk loaded the bases with one out. Torrez got the second out by striking out White on a 3-2 pitch. But, Jorge Fernandez jumped on the first pitch of his at bat an lined a base-clearing double to center to give the Kernels a 5-2 lead.

 

Cedar Rapids added a run in the fourth inning against Torrez when Nick Gordon cracked a two-out RBI single.

 

The score moved to 7-2 in the top of the sixth as Gordon, the son of former Appleton Fox Tom Gordon, knocked in another run with a two-out single. The younger Gordon has 20 RBI this season.

 

Tucker Neuhaus plated the final run of the game with a two-out RBU single in the bottom of the sixth inning off eventual winning pitcher Mat Batts.

 

Batts allowed three runs on five hits and struck out four while walking one. Batts is 3-1 on the season and 2-0 against the Timber Rattlers.

 

Torrez was charged with the loss. He gave up just three hits, but walked six batters in his four innings of work and fell to 0-2 on the year.

 

Wisconsin left fielder Mitch Meyer had a double and a single as he extended his hitting streak to eight games. Meyer's hitting streak is the longest by a Timber Rattlers player in 2015. He is 10-for-30 during the streak.

 

The Rattlers are 0-5 on this homestand and 0-5 against the Kernels this season. Wisconsin is 5-12 at home this season.

 

The final game of the series is Wednesday night. Victor Diaz (0-1, 1.93) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. John Curtiss (1-2, 5.17) is set to start for the Kernels. Game time is 6:35pm.

 

Fans may enjoy Cher-Make hotdogs, Pepsi products, and Miller beer for $1 during the game as part of WIXX Bang for Your Buck Night on Wednesday.

 

If you can't make it out to the stadium, the radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:15pm. The broadcast may also be heard on Tune In Radio and IHeartRadio. Subscribers may watch the game on MiLB.tv.

 

WP: Mat Batts (3-1)

LP: Orlando Torrez (0-2)

 

TIME: 2:46

ATTN: 1,093

 

Wisconsin Boxscore

In addition to Mitch Meyer's hit streak mentioned above, Carlos Leal and Tucker Neuhaus both extended their streaks as well.

 

Monte Harrison was so mad at himself after an AB that he literally ripped a jewelry chain off his neck, the TV crew caught it and replayed in slow motion for everyone to see... I wasn't exactly sure how to feel about that.

 

Orlando Torrez has more moving parts in his delivery than anyone else to come through WI, it's almost Dontrelle Willis complicated. He starts with hands behind his head, then lifts his knee up way past 90 degrees, then he drops his throwing hand and makes a great circle through 3, to 6, to 9 o'clock, and then comes forward. It's the slowest, most awkward, most difficult to repeat delivery I've seen in some time. Out of the stretch he's basically the same except his hands don't go behind his head, predictably he's all over the place with the baseball, and about the time Woodall started bemoaning how slow his delivery was I had moved back to an old issue I have with baseball people in general. Coaches and teams are so afraid to tinker and simplify deliveries for fear of being blamed for injuries that they will literally let a player fall flat on his face performance wise before trying to coach him, because then he's more receptive to coaching.

 

I get that people like "character" in a delivery, that's not specific to fans at all... I mentioned Willis earlier and many people would still watch him pitch even though he's no good because he's so funky. I'd rather be good than look good so my problem is that you have a young pitcher, who's got some talent, but he's doing everything he can to keep himself from being successful, and yet nothing is really being done about it. This isn't a Brewer issue, well it is in this specific case, but it's bigger than that, it's a baseball issue. There's no consensus on good mechanics, no good understanding of physics, don't seem to grasp the importance of balance or bio mechanics... it's just a good ole boys club where most people continually pass useless information down to the next person. I find it disheartening because I see potential that's never going to be fulfilled. Essentially what's done in baseball is you practice something 10,000 times so you can gain 50-60% efficiency when they could simplify and get to 70-80% proficiency in 5000 repetitions.

 

As he is now Orlando can't find the plate, doesn't have any prayer of consistency in his pitches, and is so slow to home plate that even Leal doesn't have a chance, but that's not all he's got in him from a true talent standpoint.

 

I mentioned before how Angel Ventura falls off so hard towards 1B he reminds me of K-Rod, but his secondary stuff is only bested by Medeiros on this club, he's got the workings of a plus hammer curve and change up... both flash plus on a regular basis and his change has nice arm side fade. The problem is that he's so out of balance he's never in the same place, so he's not releasing the ball from the same point, so he has problems finding the plate as well. Why not get him balanced and moving towards home plate so his talent can shine through? He'll get in a groove for a while where he's right around the spot the catcher sets but then it deserts him literally in an instant and he'll throw a bunch of balls that aren't close right in a row. With that talent and some simplification we'd have something there. Just look at this inning...

 

Cedar Rapids Top of the 8th

• Tanner English walks.
  Nick Gordon reaches on catcher interference by Carlos Leal. Tanner English to 2nd. Nick Gordon to 1st.
  Trey Vavra walks. Tanner English to 3rd. Nick Gordon to 2nd.
  Max Murphy grounds into a force out, shortstop Luis Aviles to catcher Carlos Leal. Tanner English out at home. Nick Gordon to 3rd. Trey Vavra to 2nd. Max Murphy to 1st.
  T. J. White pops out to second baseman Gregory Munoz on the infield fly rule.
  Jorge Fernandez strikes out swinging.

 

Angel somehow flipped the switch and went from all over the place back to filthy and got out of a bases loaded jam like it was nothing. Right now he'll never be more than a reliever, but there's a starting pitcher in there with some basic and very simple mechanical fixes. This is another kid who's doing everything he can to fight himself but still had an ERA of just .56 coming into the game.

 

Wisconsin Recap

[Mass Haas]

Final: Colorado Springs 6, Memphis 4

 

Cravy, Four-Run Second Power Sky Sox In 6-4 Win

Starter Allows One Run on HR Over Six IP, Gets Run Back With Own HR

By Ed Pearsall / Colorado Springs Sky Sox

 

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Tyler Cravy hit his first career HR while tossing six innings of one-run ball in the Sky Sox 6-4 win. (File Photo by Paat Kelly)

 

Sky Sox starter Tyler Cravy did it all on Tuesday night in Memphis, leading his team to a 6-4 win over the Redbirds with his right arm and his bat in front of 2,361 fans at AutoZone Park.

 

Cravy (2-3, 4.18) tossed six extremely strong innings of three hit, one-run baseball and though he walked five Redbirds batters, he struck out seven of them to limit damage. Tuesday marked the third consecutive start in which Cravy has pitched six innings (fourth overall) and it was by far his most impressive of the 2015 season.

 

The right-hander would not only electrify on the mound, but would strike opponents in an unexpected fashion in the top of the second inning. With his team already leading 3-0 on the strength of a Matt Clark solo shot, a Ben Guez RBI double to score Nevin Ashley and a Donnie Murphy RBI groundout, Cravy would come to the plate with two outs. He would drill the first pitch he saw from Cardinals starter Tim Cooney (2-2, 4.44) over the left field wall for his first career professional home run, extending Colorado Springs early lead to 4-0.

 

The home run gave Cravy his first career RBI and was just his second hit recorded in six minor league seasons. His last came in 2014 while a member of the Double-A Huntsville Stars.

 

The Sky Sox offense put another run on the scoreboard in the very next inning as Ashley's two-out RBI double to left-centerfield plated Pete Orr who lead off the frame with a walk.

 

Cravy would make his lone mistake in the home fourth, serving up Redbirds leftfielder Xavier Scruggs' sixth long ball of the young season. The solo cut the Memphis deficit to four after four innings. Trailing by four would become a theme for Memphis as the Sky Sox held four-run leads three separate times through the course of the ballgame.

 

Ariel Peńa would take over for Cravy after his 102 pitch count would take him from the game. Peńa allowed one run on two hits while striking out one in his lone inning of work.

 

Colorado Springs would get the run back in the top half of the eighth off of Redbirds reliever Tyler Waldron on Bryan Petersen's two-out double and a clutch RBI single by the hot-hitting Murphy. Cooney would go seven innings and pitch well outside of the rocky four-run second, allowing five total runs on seven hits and a walk.

 

Memphis would make their final push at a comeback in the home eighth, scoring two runs on consecutive doubles and a wild pitch with Brandon Kintzler having taken over to start the frame for the Sox. Kintzler would work out of further trouble and send the Sox into the ninth with a slightly slimmer 6-4 lead.

 

The Sky Sox would go down quietly to start the ninth before Corey Knebel took the mound in a save situation in the bottom of the inning. Knebel would nail down the win, walking a batter while striking out two to earn his fourth save of the season and give his team a 6-4 victory.

 

The win improves Colorado Springs to a 9-16 record, identical to that of the Redbirds through 25 games played.

 

The Sky Sox will look to build on the win on Wednesday evening in game three of this four-game set in Memphis. Coming off his best start of 2015, Taylor Jungmann (1-1, 8.74) gets the call for the Sox as he is set to face off with Redbirds lefty John Gast (1-2, 6.75) with first pitch set for 6:05 PM MDT at AutoZone Park.

 

Colorado Springs Box Score

 

Catcher Nevin Ashley and his .987 OPS now batting 5th...

 

Colorado Springs Game Log

[Mass Haas]

Noontime (Central) matinee for the Manatees Wednesday with Clearwater audio available.

 

Link Report will be available shortly before game time.