Link Report Thurs. 6/8 - Rogers Leads All of MiLB in K / IP

[Mass Haas]

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

[Mass Haas]

Thursday's Daily Menu:

 

All times Central; pitchers subject to change --

 

Nashville: LHP Dana Eveland at New Orleans (Nationals), 6:40 PM pre-game, 7:00 gametime

 

Audio link:

www.nashvillesounds.com/listenlive/

 

Huntsville: RHP Tim Dillard at Jacksonville (Dodgers), 5:50 PM pre-game, 6:05 gametime

 

Audio link:

www.espn1450.com/

 

Brevard County: RHP Mark Rogers at home vs. Jupiter (Marlins), 6:00 PM

 

Audio link (opponent's):

www.jupiterhammerheads.com/

 

West Virginia: LHP Rafael Lluberes and TBD at Hagerstown (Mets), 4:55 PM pre-game, 5:05 gametime; the teams will first pick up the April 21st game in the bottom of the fourth inning tied 0-0. The game was suspended due to rain. A regularly scheduled game will follow. I may be mistaken, but the suspended game will play until its nine-inning conclusion, and the nightcap will be a seven-inning affair.

 

Audio link:

www.sportsjuice.com/provi...e=wvpower.

[Mass Haas]

Follow Thursday's action as it happens:

Here's what you do, right click on each of the links below and choose "Open in New Window". Activate the Nashville Gameday. For the other links, choose "Log". While you're listening to your minor league game of choice (or watching/listening to the big league Crew when they are playing), simply refresh your game log browsers every so often. It's sweet!

 

Nashville:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_nozaaa_1

 

Huntsville:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...x_jaxaax_1

 

Brevard County:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_breafa_1

 

West Virginia Completion of Suspended April 21st Game:

You likely will not get a linescore or game log for this one, but the box score should get updated -- Robbie Wooley threw three shutout innings back in April...

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...x_hagafx_1

 

West Virginia Regularly Scheduled Game:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...x_hagafx_1

[Mass Haas]

This link will be included in each daily report when the Nashville Sounds and/or Huntsville Stars are scheduled to play. Normally it is updated an hour or two prior to gametime:

 

Nashville Media Notes (Adobe .pdf format):

 

www.nashvillesounds.com/pdf/notes.pdf

 

Following Nashville's lead, Huntsville now makes its media notes available as well, nice:

 

www.huntsvillestars.com/i...eNotes.pdf

[Mass Haas]

Standings through Wednesday's action:

 Pacific Coast League (AAA) - American North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [b]Nashville 33 26 .559 - 21-11 12-15 L2[/b] Iowa 25 32 .439 7.0 12-13 13-19 W1 Omaha 25 34 .424 8.0 16-15 9-19 W2 Memphis 21 37 .362 11.5 11-17 10-20 L4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Southern League (AA) - North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chattanooga 37 23 .617 - 24-11 13-12 W1 West Tenn 35 25 .583 2.0 15-16 20-9 L1 Tennessee 29 32 .475 8.5 18-12 11-20 L2 Carolina 28 33 .459 9.5 17-14 11-19 W1 [b]Huntsville 23 36 .390 13.5 9-19 14-17 L3[/b] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Florida State League (A+) - East Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- St. Lucie 35 24 .593 - 17-14 18-10 W6 [b]Brevard County 32 25 .561 2.0 16-11 16-14 W1[/b] Daytona 30 29 .508 5.0 18-11 12-18 L2 Palm Beach 29 30 .492 6.0 14-14 15-16 L3 Jupiter 26 32 .448 8.5 13-17 13-15 W2 Vero Beach 23 36 .390 12.0 13-17 10-19 L1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- South Atlantic League (A) - Northern Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lexington 36 22 .621 - 21-11 15-11 W2 Delmarva 34 23 .596 1.5 17-12 17-11 W2 [b]West Virginia 32 25 .561 3.5 17-12 15-13 L1[/b] Greensboro 32 26 .552 4.0 21-9 11-17 L2 Lakewood 29 29 .500 7.0 17-13 12-16 L2 Hickory 26 30 .464 9.0 14-11 12-19 W2 Lake County 25 34 .424 11.5 12-17 13-17 L2 Hagerstown 21 37 .362 15.0 11-14 10-23 W1

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

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

 

Trying to get out of line

A baseball prospect better create - rather than wait - his turn

By MARK McCARTER

Huntsville Times Sports Staff, markcolumn@aol.com

 

What are you going to do?

 

Sitting up there in the big leagues, playing the same position as you, there's Prince Fielder. Or J.J. Hardy. Or Rickie Weeks.

 

Or maybe down the bench from you is Randy Johnson.

 

Or coming up behind in the organization, there are Larry Bowa and Mike Schmidt. Or you were a fifth-round pick as a shortstop after the team's previous two No. 1 choices were also shortstops.

 

What chance do you have? Larry the Cable Guy will get invited to Buckingham Palace easier than you'll get to the big leagues.

 

Up ahead - or even creeping up behind - is an uber-prospect.

 

And you're not.

 

"I was that person,'' says Huntsville pitching coach Rich Sauveur, who came up alongside Johnson, then a generation later found himself behind Oakland prospects Mark Mulder and Barry Zito - but still made it to The Show.

 

"You're looking at one right now," says West Tenn manager Pat Listach.

 

He was the aforementioned No. 5 pick, after Milwaukee had earlier selected Gary Sheffield, then a skinny shortstop, and Bill Spires with No. 1 choices.

 

"I said I'd never get a chance to play," Listach admits.

 

Thing is, Sheffield got traded. Spires got hurt.

 

In 1992, Pat Listach was the American League Rookie of the Year.

 

"You've got to be lucky," he says, "but you've got to be ready."

 

Don Money is the Stars manager. He was once a Philadelphia infielder, with Bowa and Schmidt behind him on the ladder. He was swapped to Milwaukee, became one of the Brewers' immortals. That Schmidt fellow turned out OK in Philly, too.

 

"A guy asks me how do I make myself a prospect? I say, keep putting the numbers on the board," Money says. "Go out and do your job. That's it."

 

It's more than numbers, though. Nashville Sounds pitching coach Stan Kyles, previously a Stars coach, says, "a lot of guys are so result-oriented, they find themselves in a vicious cycle.

 

"Instead of guys trying to become big league pitchers, they're just trying to get to the big leagues. There's a difference. It's no secret if you have a big league guy ahead of you, or a big prospect, it puts an awful lot of pressure on you,'' Kyles says. "This game is hard enough to put up numbers that it becomes difficult if you don't have the right kind of approach.''

 

That approach, Money says, is "don't worry about things you can't control."

 

Baseball needs a version of "The Serenity Prayer," the one about accepting things that can't be changed.

 

Do your job. Don't worry about everybody else. "Make it tough," says Money, "on the people making the decision."

 

"I've got to do my own thing and worry about playing hard," says Brad Nelson. He's the Huntsville first baseman, a fourth-round pick in 2001 who has also done some time in Triple-A.

 

The year before, Milwaukee picked first baseman Corey Hart, who suddenly became a star. The next year, the Brewers grabbed Prince Fielder No. 1.

 

"Frustrating? No," Nelson says. "That's just the way the game works, I guess. Who knows what's going to happen?"

 

Nelson says he watches Fielder's stats, not selfishly but "to see if he's doing well. He's a teammate and a friend."

 

Infielder Chris Barnwell was a 25th-round pick in 2001. The same year, Milwaukee drafted Hardy No. 2. Hardy hit the fast track. Barnwell got "utility player" and "good organization man" stenciled on his forehead. Like the blind date who's a good cook and makes her own clothes.

 

"I think it'd be more difficult (with talent stacked above) for guys who have been prospects before," says Barnwell, three hours before his Triple-A Nashville Sounds take the field. "I've always been somewhere like a non-prospect.

 

"It's just like anything in baseball. You've got to take care of what you're doing. Taking care of the team standpoint. Have good at-bats. Make the right plays.''

 

The other reality, as Barnwell puts it, "You've got to look for more than just the Brewers."

 

Other teams watching

 

On any given night, you may be playing for one major league organization, but you're auditioning for 29 others. At virtually every game is a scout, checking out players for possible acquisition.

 

This week brings another reminder of the haves and have-nots, with the annual major league baseball draft.

 

Some players have been anointed prospects. Scouts have stuck their necks out to tell their bosses that certain players should become major league players. Obscene checks with long rows of zeroes have been written. Baseball America has made them celebrities, the seamheads' version of Brangelina and TomKat.

 

"If you're doing your job, I don't believe in prospect or non-prospect," Sauveur says. "Other than money. If you get a lot of money up front, that organization is going to make sure that guy has every opportunity to do well."

 

That is the economic reality of the game.

 

The other reality is that, ultimately, perseverance and talent and fortune can prevail. Chris Barnwell can be still playing where half the players drafted before him are not. Pat Listach can be rookie of the year. Be ready, as Listach suggested. And be lucky.

[Mass Haas]

Brevard County third baseman Ryan Braun has been out of the lineup this week because he's on bereavement leave. Our best to Ryan at this time.

[wibadgers23]

Here's hoping to Rogers having another solid outing. Cant wait to see what he does tonight. It will also be interesting to see if Eveland continues to dominate AAA hitters.

[DHonks]

and some love for Tim Dillard, a personal favorite since we drafted him for the 16th time

[Mass Haas]

Apparently RHP Robbie Wooley will be starting the regularly scheduled Power game tonight.

 

Now, with three no-hit innings thus far in the suspended game, is it painfully obvious that Wooley should just continue with that game, get in his six innings tonight (and potentially) make a little history?

 

Instead, as noted above, Rafael Lluberes takes over in the suspended game.

 

*sigh* (nothing against Lluberes...)

[Mass Haas]

Nashville Media Notes:

 

Right-hander Rick Helling, who spent a portion of the 2005 season with Nashville, will rejoin the Sounds tomorrow when he begins a rehabilitation stint. It is scheduled to be the first of two starts he makes for Nashville. The veteran hurler is currently on Milwaukee?s 60-day D.L. due to a sprained right elbow. Helling was initially placed on the Brewers? 15-day D.L. on April 16 and then transferred to the 60-day list on June 1. Prior to joining Nashville, his rehab included a pair of starts at the Brewers? extended spring training complex in Arizona. Helling threw 62 pitches in his most recent start, an extended spring training game at Maryvale Baseball Park in Phoenix. He is expected to get to the 80-85 pitch range in his next start.

 

Right-hander Dennis Sarfate, who was scheduled to start on Saturday, will piggy-back Helling during his Nashville starts.

[Athens Badger]

What is bereavment?

[PeaveyFury]

Grieving after losing someone.

 

Death in the family is most likely.

[TurtleRace ist]

Quote:

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Right-hander Dennis Sarfate, who was scheduled to start on Saturday, will piggy-back Helling during his Nashville starts.

---

 

Question: Why did they pick Dennis to piggy back instead of someone like Fernandez?

[1e Corbeau]

Quote:

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Question: Why did they pick Dennis to piggy back instead of someone like Fernandez?

---

 

My hunch is that they want to see how effective Dennis is out of the pen, as that is likely his best chance to get a spot on the 25-man. The biggest clue will be how long he pitches after Helling.

 

He's been walking a lot of batters this year. It'll be interesting to see if that changes. Since everyone else in AA and AAA, including the garbage man, has seemingly got a call, I don't know what else Sarfate can do to get a chance. I'd like to see him got a shot, especially with some of the guys we've thrown against the wall.

[TurtleRace ist]

Quote:

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My hunch is that they want to see how effective Dennis is out of the pen, as that is likely his best chance to get a spot on the 25-man. The biggest clue will be how long he pitches after Helling.

---

 

Well that is a good explanation. I know he has been walking more than he wants/needs to be. I want to see him in Milwaukee soon, so I hope that helps him out.

[Giraldo8]

Look at Mr Rogers. 3.2 IP 0 hits, 1 BB and 4 k's. Woohoo

[PeaveyFury]

Certainly seems like a light has gone on somewhere for Mr. Rogers.

[bcrew23]

Rogers through 5 innings with no earned runs and 7 K's. Its nice to see him turning things around. I couldnt stand it when ppl were constantly ripping on him, when he's refining his mechanics and now he's finally comfortable with them. Keep it up Mark.

[tyguy20204]

Gallardo-esque start for Rogers.

 

Could be quite the duo.

[NastyTwig]

Mark's last five starts (including one in which he gave up 6ER in 3IP)...

 

3.00 ERA

1.16 WHIP

11.1 K/9

[Trowekamp]

Looks like Rogers hit a wall in the 8th with 3 run (though he struck out 2 more).

 

I am surprised they did not shut him down after 7..

[Trowekamp]

Eveland also on a K-fest tonight through 4...

[1e Corbeau]

Quote:

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Mark's last five starts

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Looks like he hit the wall in this one. 8 IP has to be a personal best for him.

 

His last two starts he has something like a 19:5 GB:FB. Very nice http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Bigtop79]

10 k's for Rogers........looked good until the 8th