Link Report for Mon. 6/26 -- Yo! It's Gallardo Time in AA

[wibadgers23]

Well, so much for Gallardo getting his first win tonight. Huntsville bullpen blows it. This team just seems to be snakebit.

[Mass Haas]

Final: Chattanooga (Reds) 4, Huntsville 2, ten innings

 

Huntsville Site Game Summary:

Link, text follows --

 

www.huntsvillestars.com/n...newsId=895

 

Herr Hands Stars Heartbreaking Loss

 

Aaron Herr?s two-out, two-run double in the tenth inning vaulted Chattanooga past Huntsville 4-2 Monday night in the middle game of a five-game set at Joe Davis Stadium. The Lookouts have won two of the first three games to improve to 5-3 in the second half, while the Stars slipped to 3-5 in the second half and fell for the 19th time in their last 21 home contests. Huntsville has won only one of the nine extra innings games it has played in this season.

 

Gerrit Simpson, the winner in Sunday?s game, opened the tenth inning on the hill for the Stars and yielded one out singles to Javon Moran and Anderson Machado before Joey Votto flied out to left field for the second out and advanced Moran to third base. With Machado breaking on a 2-2 pitch, Herr lined a double to left to chase home both runners to put the Lookouts on top for the first time in the game. Calvin Medlock allowed a Drew Anderson single and struck out the side in the bottom of the inning to record his first save in four chances.

 

Yovani Gallardo worked seven scoreless frames for Huntsville in his double-A debut, striking out six, walking one and allowing four singles. He was 6-3 with a 2.09 earned run average in 13 starts at high class-A Brevard County in the Florida State League before his promotion. Steve Bray took over in the eighth inning and allowed a run-scoring double to Moran that cut the Stars lead to 2-1 and ended a 23 inning scoreless drought for the visitors.

 

Brett Evert took over for Bray in the ninth and Votto belted his first pitch over the wall in left-center field for an opposite field home run that tied the game. It was the third round tripper allowed by Evert and the second on the first pitch of an inning. Votto clubbed his league-leading 15th long ball and he has knocked in runs in six of the eight games against the Stars.

 

Ryan Braun clocked a solo home run off of Eddy Valdez in the second inning to give the Stars a 2-0 lead. Valdez lasted seven innings, allowing eight hits and striking out six. He stranded a runner at third with less than two outs in the fourth, sixth and seventh innings. Jim Abbott worked two scoreless frames in relief to earn the win in his second outing with the Lookouts.

 

The series continues Tuesday evening with Stars? right-hander Corey Thurman taking the hill against Lookouts right-hander Homer Bailey, the top rated prospect in the Reds organization. Coverage of the game begins at 6:50 p.m. central time and can be heard locally on ESPN Radio 1450 AM and via the internet at www.huntsvillestars.com.

 

Huntsville Box Score:

Three relievers, none do the job -- Jow Winkelsas is missed badly, despite his results in Nashville tonight (see below)...

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...x_hunaax_1

 

Huntsville Game Log:

Valdez stranded a runner at third with less than two outs in the fourth, sixth and seventh innings - just wanted to repeat that for effect, terrible, boys, terrible...

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...x_hunaax_1

[Mass Haas]

Monday's Helena KCAP Pre-Game Audio Chat with 2006 7th round catcher Andy Bouchie out of Oral Roberts (Select date for June 26th, skip to the 11:00 minute mark):

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c.../audio.jsp

[Mass Haas]

Final: Great Falls (White Sox) 5, Helena 3

 

Helena Box Score:

No word on the status of outfielder Zach Clem yet (outfield collision last weekend); Eric Newton, a 33rd round middle infielder, is your cleanup hitter at DH -- that about summarizes things at the moment; Brewers strand nine...

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...k_helrok_1

 

Helena Game Log:

Four singles lead to two runs off Brock Kjeldgaard in the 2nd; J.R. Hopf picked off 2nd with no outs in the 2nd -- ugh; David Parker picked off first in the 3rd -- a double followed later in the inning; Kjeldgaard strands the bases loaded in the 5th; J.T. King strands two inherited runners in the 6th, but takes the loss in the 7th; neither team covered itself in defensive glory...

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...k_helrok_1

[Mass Haas]

Nashville Pre-Game Audio Chat with Starting Pitcher Jared Fernandez:

 

www.nashvillesounds.com/a...206-26.wma

[Mass Haas]

Final: Memphis (Cardinals) 2, Nashville 1, ten innings

 

Nashville Site Game Summary:

Link for new Dana Eveland photo, text follows --

 

www.nashvillesounds.com/n...ewsId=2022

 

NASHVILLE, Tenn. ? The Nashville Sounds opened their homestand with a close loss to the cross-state rival Memphis Redbirds, falling 2-1 in 10 innings on Monday night at Greer Stadium.

 

With the game tied at 1-1, Memphis plated the eventual game-winning run in the top of the 10th inning. With one out, John Gall and Junior Spivey (4-for-5) hit back-to-back singles off Sounds reliever Joe Winkelsas, leaving runners at the corners. Skip Schumaker followed with a hard grounder to Brent Abernathy at second base. The potential inning-ending double play ball bounced off Abernathy?s glove, allowing Gall to reach home and give the Redbirds their final 2-1 lead.

 

The 10-inning affair was the 8th extra-inning game of the season for Nashville (41-35) and the defeat was the team?s 20th one-run loss of the season, a total that leads the Pacific Coast League.

 

Nashville starting pitchers enjoyed another solid night on the mound as Dana Eveland threw six innings and allowed one runner to cross home on seven hits while striking out a season-high eight batters. With Eveland?s performance, Sounds starters have logged a miniscule 1.66 ERA over their past 11 contests.

 

Missed opportunities were the name of the game early on. Neither team was able to plate a run before the fourth inning despite both teams combining for nine baserunners. The Sounds left the bases loaded in the third and the Redbirds left five ducks on the pond through the first three innings.

 

Graham Koonce led off the Nashville second with a single to extend his hitting streak to four games, which ties his longest this season.

 

The game broke open in the visiting half of the fourth. Redbirds left fielder John Gall started the inning off with a walk and stole second. Spivey, a former Milwaukee Brewer, followed up with a single that moved Gall 90 feet closer to home. With runners on the corners, Spivey attempted to steal second but got caught in a rundown. As the Sounds were preoccupied with Spivey, Gall crossed home before the out was made at first base to give the Redbirds a one-run lead.

 

The Sounds bounced right back, plating a run in the bottom half of the fourth. With one out, Memphis starter Travis Smith walked Abernathy, who then proceeded to second on a Zach Sorensen groundball that was misplayed by shortstop John Nelson. Smith then walked Mark Johnson to load the bases.

 

With the bases juiced, Jermaine Clark took one for the team as Smith hit the Nashville shortstop square in the hip, allowing Abernathy to walk across home and knot the game up at one.

 

After the Sounds tied the game, the pitching staffs took over. Nashville relievers Mike Meyers and Allan Simpson combined for three innings of one-hit baseball. Winkelsas (1-2) came into the game in the 10th inning and allowed one run as he recorded the loss.

 

Smith allowed only one unearned run over 6 1/3 innings for Memphis but received a no-decision. The Memphis bullpen worked 3 2/3 scoreless frames the rest of the way including one scoreless inning by Rich Scalamandre (2-0), who picked up his second win of the season. Brian Falkenborg worked a perfect bottom of the tenth to notch his 12th save of the campaign.

 

Nashville right fielder Nelson Cruz broke out of an 0-for-18 slump with a 2-for-5 evening to pace all Sounds batters.

 

The Sounds and Redbirds will play game two of the series on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. Nashville will send right-hander Ben Hendrickson (5-2, 2.00) to the bump and Memphis will counter with right-hander Dennis Tankersley (3-8, 3.83).

 

Nashville Box Score:

Tony Gwynn and David Krynzel (.234) each go 0-for-5 at the top of the order; catcher Mark Johnson just helpless offensively...

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_nasaaa_1

 

Nashville Game Log:

Dana Eveland with a fine effort, but really hurt himself at the plate; batting coach Gary Pettis ejected in the 7th; Sounds strand eight, but the game log details seem like it was so many more...

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_nasaaa_1

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.nashvillecitypaper.co...s_id=50660

 

Sounds continue to stumble offensively

By Nate Rau, Nashville City Paper Sports Correspondent

 

Frustration hasn?t set in just yet and Nashville Sounds manager Frank Kremblas said he?s confident his team will find a way out of its month-long hitting slump.

 

But Kremblas still was pretty straightforward when asked what his team needs to do to get out of its current cold streak. Nashville is batting just .223 in the month of June. The Sounds haven?t scored more than three runs in nine games and the end result on Monday night was another loss as Nashville fell to the Memphis Redbirds 2-1 in 10 innings at Greer Stadium.

 

?We?ve just got to get out heads out of our (expletive), offensively,? Kremblas said. ?We can?t hit. We?re not hitting the ball hard.?

 

Nashville (41-35) is going cold at the plate the same time its starting pitching is catching fire. Nashville got a strong performance from Dana Eveland, who went six innings and allowed just one run on seven hits. Eveland extended an 11-game streak in which Nashville starters have registered an ERA of just 1.66.

 

?It?s good, because it?s keeping us in the game, giving us a chance,? Kremblas said of the starting pitching.

 

Eveland also matched his season-high with eight strikeouts, but he didn?t get much help from the Sounds? offense. Nashville couldn?t figure out Memphis starter (and long-ago Milwaukee Brewer) Travis Smith. The Sounds registered just a run off Smith when shortstop Jermaine Clark was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

 

?Offense is a group thing and we?ve just got to do better,? Kremblas said. ?When you?re not swinging the bat well and you?re trying to get a two-out hit all the time, it ain?t gonna happen.

 

?[The slump] is one of those things that?s going to happen. The key is to not let it get into your head and worry about it. You understand you?re going to go through these things as a team and as hitters. The more you let it bother you, the longer it?s going to last.?

 

Sounds first base coach Gary Pettis was ejected in the bottom of the seventh for arguing with first base umpire Angel Campos. Pettis was upset after Nashville pinch hitter Kennard Bibbs was ruled out on a fielder?s interference call on a ball bunted to second base by Tony Gwynn. Initially Bibbs was ruled safe, but the umpires met and changed the call, which infuriated Pettis.

 

?I think [Pettis] is probably a little upset with the offense overall,? Kremblas said.

 

Sounds reliever Joe Winkelsas had a forgettable return to Music City. After being demoted by Milwaukee last week, Winkelsas took the loss by allowing two hits and the game-winning run in the tenth inning.

 

Umpires Brian Kennedy, Shawn Rakos and Angel Campo jaw with Sounds first base coach Gary Pettis, before the coach was ejected after a heated exchange over a close call.

Nashville City Paper Photo by Mike Strasinger.

 

http://www.nashvillecitypaper.com/uploaded/062606sounds.jpg

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

tennessean.com/apps/pbcs....328/SPORTS

 

Round Rock, Memphis bring familiar feeling

JEFF LOCKRIDGE, the Tennessean

 

Call it a scheduling quirk.

 

In reality, the Nashville Sounds got caught up in their own version of the movie "Groundhog Day."

 

The Sounds recently concluded a series at Round Rock that kicked off a repetitious span of playing the Express and the Memphis Redbirds 23 consecutive games. The stretch began June 21 and runs through July 16.

 

Memphis is in Nashville through Thursday, after which Round Rock visits.

 

During the 23-game stretch the Sounds play three series with each club and get three days off for the all-star break July 10-12.

 

Close calls: The Sounds have been involved in 31 games decided by one run ? tied for the most in the PCL with Iowa this season.

 

Results have been less than desirable. The Sounds have 20 one-run losses, easily the most of the 16 teams in the PCL.

 

They are 3-16 in one-run games on the road, having dropped three games by a single run during their latest trip to Round Rock.

 

In games decided by more than one run, the Sounds win twice as much as their opponents, going 30-15 before Monday.

 

More Hart: Former St. Louis second baseman Bo Hart was re-signed by the Cardinals organization over the weekend and assigned to Memphis.

 

Hart, recently released by the Colorado Rockies organization, played in 39 games for the Triple-A Colorado Springs Sky Sox this season, batting .252 with one homer before being let go June 17.

 

Hart played with Memphis for parts of 2003-05 and was up with the Cardinals for a long stint in '03, during which time the 5-foot-11 player made national headlines for his hot start at the plate.

 

Familiar names: Brian Daubach and Junior Spivey are Memphis Redbird names that baseball fans will recognize.

 

Daubach, 34, has eight years of big-league service and was a regular in the Boston Red Sox lineup from 1999-2002.

 

Spivey, 31, had a great year with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2002 and spent the 2003-04 seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers.

 

Scout here: Tom Flanagan, the Brewers' director of administration/player development and scouting, is in Nashville for the second of two games tonight to get a closer look at the Sounds.

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.al.com/sports/huntsvi...amp;coll=1

 

Chattanooga drops Stars

Gallardo's first outing impressive in Stars' 4-2 loss to Lookouts

By MARK McCARTER

Huntsville Times Sports Staff, markcolumn@aol.com

 

Somebody spray-painted a mustache on the "Mona Lisa." Somebody carved a snake tattoo on Michelangelo's "David."

 

A lovely piece of art was ruined Monday night at Joe W. Davis Stadium.

 

Yovani Gallardo, a precocious 20-year-old right-hander from Michoacan, Mexico by way of Fort Worth, Texas, made pitching look both easy and elegant in his first Double-A start.

 

In seven shutout innings, Gallardo allowed only four hits and struck out six. He even - more to come on this - delivered a base hit in his first at-bat.

 

Alas, Huntsville's bullpen yielded four runs and eight hits in only three innings, handing a 4-2 victory to Chattanooga and spoiling a chance for the Stars to win consecutive games for the first time since June 3-4.

 

Nonetheless, it was an evening that the announced crowd of 1,328 might be advised to file away, perhaps to tell the grandchildren they were there for Yovani Gallardo's first Double-A game.

 

The 2004 second-round draft pick lived up to some pregame hype from pitching coach Rich Sauveur, who, asked about Gallardo, first only shook his head with the sort of look used when asked to describe a sunset.

 

"The kid's got four good pitches and he's got command of all of them,'' said Sauveur. "He just goes about his business.''

 

What has those in the Milwaukee system most atwitter about Gallardo is his poise, not merely his pitching. Milwaukee manager Ned Yost spoke two weeks ago about Brewers pitching coach Mike Maddux being eager to yank him all the way to the majors.

 

"He's 19 (actually 20 now) but he's more polished than half of my staff,'' Sauveur said.

 

"I guess I've always been like that," Gallardo said. "Whenever I'm on the mound, I just try not to show emotions. I've always been like that. Even around the clubhouse I'm quiet."

 

Minutes after wrapping up his seven innings of work, he was sending a quiet message. Gallardo was at his locker, pecking a text message into his cell phone. It was to his wife, Patricia, who was outside in the stands.

 

Earlier in the evening, she had teased him about his hitting. His previous leagues used full-time designated hitters, so Patricia said, "Let's see if you can really hit."

 

He can. He rifled a single to lead off the third.

 

For all that aforementioned poise, "To tell you the truth, in the first inning I was nervous," he confessed. "Because it's a new level. But you've got to go out and do what you can do."

 

Gallardo was born in Michoacan, in the southern part of Mexico, but his family moved to Fort Worth when he was three. A year or two later, he discovered baseball.

 

Now, baseball is discovering him.

 

He was 6-3 with a 2.09 ERA at Class A Brevard County, with 103 strikeouts in 77 2/3 innings. In his penultimate start, he had a no-hitter through 8 1/3 innings. He was not, however, consumed with when - never an "if" in this case - he might be promoted.

 

"I'm not the type of guy who goes into the office and asks when am I going up," he said. "I wait for it to happen."

 

Ryan Braun, Gallardo's fellow-brand-new-promotee, blasted a second-inning homer to give Huntsville a 2-0 lead, after Steve Moss had led off the first with a double and scored on a wild pitch by Lookouts starter Eddy Valdez.

 

Things bogged down after that. Three times the Stars left a runner on third and another potential runner was thrown out trying to score.

 

After going 23 consecutive scoreless innings against Huntsville, Chattanooga finally awoke. Facing Steve Bray in the eighth, Luis Bolivar beat out an infield single, stole second and took third on a bad throw by catcher J.C. Boscan. Javon Moran then doubled home Bolivar.

 

In the ninth, Joey Votto socked reliever Brett Evert's first pitch over the wall for his league-leading 15th homer - and a 2-all tie. Then, in the 10th, Aaron Herr hit a two-run double off reliever Gerrit Simpson for the 4-2 win.

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.helenair.com/articles...706_04.txt

 

White Sox slide past Brewers

By KEVIN SHIVELY - IR Sports Writer

 

The Helena Brewers had no problem getting runners into scoring position Monday night. Their problem was doing something with those runners.

 

The Helena baseball club stranded runners in scoring position in every inning but one, losing to the Great Falls White Sox 5-3.

 

"That's kind of our thing right now," said Helena skipper Ed Sedar. "We get the runners there but then can't get the hits we need to clear them out."

 

Sedar is confident that this is a problem that will correct itself.

 

"Those key hits will come," said the manager. "Its a long season and they'll start to come."

 

The win tied the White Sox with Billings and Missoula for first in the Pioneer League.

 

Brock Kjeldgaard pitched 5 1/3 innings for the Brewers, allowing only two runs. The right hander improved his ERA from 27.00 to 6.00 in the game.

 

"Our pitching is a very strong part of our team right now," said Sedar. "They've kept us within range of a win in every game but one."

 

Kjeldgaard gave up two runs in the second on a series of four hits, but then racked up four scoreless innings.

 

After J.T. King put in a stint on the mound, Zach Braddock took the mound and was looking to close out the game when a batted ball hit him hard in the left shin.

 

"He said he was alright so we left him in for a couple batters," said Sedar. "But I started to notice a limp so we pulled him out. He was hit in the arm last week so now we're just hoping he can get an appearance without getting nailed."

 

Helena scored their first run on an error, but in the sixth they recorded an earned run when catcher Andy Bouchie doubled off the right field wall and Jordan Swaydan drove him in with a single to left.

 

Logan Williamson started on the mound for the White Sox, pitching five complete innings and allowing no earned runs. Justin Cassel came in in the sixth, blew the save, but picked up the win in the end.

 

The two clubs will square off again tonight at 7:05 (8:05 Central) with Brae Wright (0-1, 7.71) pitching for the Brewers and Ramon Sanchez (1-0, 3.18) taking the mound for the Sox.