Link Report for Thursday 5/11 (Ballouli, Shoulder Tightness)

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.al.com/stars/huntsvil...amp;coll=1

 

Like weather, Stars not a hit

Doubleheader turns into single-game loss

By PAUL GATTIS

Times Sports Staff pgattis@htimes.com

 

By the clock, Thursday was not a good day for the Huntsville Stars.

 

6-6:15 a.m. - The grounds crew at Joe Davis Stadium removes the tarp shielding the infield from rain.

 

7 a.m. - An unexpected rain shower drenches the infield and turns the areas around first and third base into mudholes.

 

10:30 a.m. - The game against Montgomery began 30 minutes late.

 

10:58 a.m. - The game is stopped for the second time to improve the condition of the field. But just five batters into the game, the Biscuits have already taken the lead in what resulted in a 5-2 victory.

 

1:30 p.m. - The game resumed after a 2 1/2-hour delay to work on the field and allow it to dry while most of the 4,753 fans at the game - primarily children from area schools - were long gone.

 

1:31 p.m. - Ryan Christianson, the first batter after the delay, smacked a grand slam off Stars reliever Stephen Bray and the Biscuits led 5-0 in the top of the first inning.

 

3 p.m. - The game ended and Stars manager Don Money summoned the 12 non-pitchers on the roster into his office to discuss why virtually no one on the team is hitting.

 

3:45 p.m. - The meeting ended.

 

Not a good day.

 

"Of course, after we lost," Money joked when asked if he was sorry the game ever got played.

 

Maybe the bright spot was that it was supposed to be a doubleheader to make up for Wednesday's rainout. But Southern League president Don Mincher - who arrived at the stadium during the lengthy second delay - ruled that the seven-inning game that had already been started should be completed, but the second game was canceled.

 

In fact, the replacement umpires - filling in for the regular umps who are on strike - were prepared to call the game off after Stars third baseman Adam Heether slipped and fell as he started to chase a short pop-up into left field.

 

But then they chose to pass the problem on to Mincher.

 

And improvements to the field's condition were made more difficult because the Stars' grounds crew had exhausted its supply of dust-like material designed to remove moisture from the dirt, Money said.

 

It was just the latest chapter in a familiar story for the Stars, who are last in the league in hitting, produced only four hits Thursday and lost their third in a row, their sixth in the last eight games.

 

The only runs came on a Drew Anderson groundout in the fourth that scored Greg Sain, who had walked, and Anderson, who had doubled, scored in the seventh on a wild pitch.

 

Not a good day.

 

The Stars also had a runner at third with less than two outs in both the second and fourth innings and couldn't get him in. And Biscuits winning pitcher Mike Prochaska (1-0) lugged a 6.75 ERA into the game but held the Stars to one run in five innings.

 

"That's inexcusable," Money said of the lost opportunities. "We're not the type of team that can let chances go by."

 

The second-inning threat ended when Ron Acuna lined out to second and Anderson was doubled off at first.

 

"I know he lined out to second," an exasperated Money said of Acuna, "but line out to center (instead, and score the run on a sacrifice fly)."

 

Money said his research shows that the Stars have had just one game with 10 or more hits since April 27 and a disheartening total of four for the season.

 

"That's not anything," he said.

 

Add to the woes at the plate the concern over Thursday starting pitcher Khalid Ballouli complaining that his right shoulder tightened up after he retired just one batter before being forced from the game by the long delay. Money said Ballouli could miss a start or two.

 

9 a.m. today - The Stars bus departs for Kodak, Tenn., outside Knoxville to start a 10-game road trip.

 

Maybe a day that can't be as bad as the one before?

[Mass Haas]

David Weiser's

 

www.starsboxscore.com/

 

SHORT GAME FOR KIDS, LONG DAY FOR THE STARS

It had more starts and stops than a Paris Hilton engagement, but for hundreds of schoolkids who looked forward to this day, it was an unexpected divorce statement......... Like a double-scoop of ice cream on a cone that's fallen to the pavement, the anticipation of a day at the ballpark, a reward for thousands of schoolkids who probably looked forward to this day very much, was soured by an unusual turn of events........ Huntsville had a wet week. Tuesday's game was delayed by 89 minutes because of a heavy downpour that started at about 6 pm...... Wednesday was a total washout...... So the grounds were pretty saturated once daybreak hit Thursday.......... But the three fronts that came through were gone and no one was expecting it to rain again, so the tarp was not put on the infield....... But rain it did. At about 7 am. Not for long. Not as heavy. But enough that it would affect what would happen later.

 

Minor league baseball's recap of this game is very misleading, other than the fact their box left out Montgomery's Marcos Carvajal........ There was no rain delay and rain did not cause the cancellation of the second game........ It was windy and a bit cool, but the sun was out and shining all day, hiding only when the large white clouds above created shadows......... The grounds crew had a difficult time drying out the infield, which was soft because of the early morning rain, so things got underway a half-hour later than scheduled.

 

Elliot Johnson, Montgomery's leader in on-base pct., led off with a double to center. Matt Maniscalco sacrificed him over to third, and then protests led to a second game delay, this one for 15 minutes as the crew came out to try and dry the infield......... Once play began again, Jason Pridie, a .183 hitter in the three-hole for the Biscuits this season, singled on Khalid Ballouli's first pitch, scoring Johnson........ After a walk to Michael Coleman, Gabriel Martinez singled to left , loading the bases for Ryan Christenson, but Don Money came storming out of the dugout......... Adam Heether had slipped on the infield dirt trying to go back on Martinez's bloop hit, and the teams were taken off the field......... They would stay off or nearly 2½ hours.

 

By the time it was allowed to restart, most of the kids who came to see a game, were shuffled back to school, getting only to see the first five batters in the game come to the plate. A busful remained in the upper deck on the left field side, but for all those kids, I have to feel sorry their day was spoiled, not by rain, but by the lack of preparedness for today's game.......... The decision was made by Southern League president Don Mincher, who just happened to be at the ballpark this day, to cancel the second game because of the unsatisfactory field conditions, not as Benjamin Hill of MILB implied in the game recap, of a rainout.

 

Ryan Christianson came to the plate at 1:20 pm. On a 2-2 pitch from Steve Bray, now in for Ballouli, Christianson belted the ball solidly over the left field wall for his league-leading 9th home run of the season, the first grand-slam HR hit by an opponent this year at the Joe........ It was the first home run off Bray since April 13. Bray's string of 12 2/3 scoreless innings was gone, and Ballouli would suffer the loss, raising his ERA to 4.91.

 

Bray's pitching became more characteristic after the game-winning home run. He would retire eight straight hitters before giving way to Andy Pratt, who pitched four scoreless, scattering three hits..... The Stars, plagued by the worst offense I have seen at the start of a season ever, blew what few chances they had........ In the 1st inning after leadoff hitter Callix Crabbe reached on an error, Ozzie Chavez erased him on a double play grounder........ In the 2nd inning, the Stars put runners on 1st and 2nd with one out, but Ron Acuna hit a soft liner to Elliot Johnson at second, who backhanded the ball for the out and then turned the double play........

 

Leading off the 4th, Greg Sain and Heether both managed to reach via an uncharacteristic bout of wildness on Mike Prochaska's part, but all the Stars got out of the inning was one run on a ground ball fielder's choice by Drew Anderson....... In the 5th, Chavie doubled into the left field corner with two out, but Steve Moss struck out on Prochaska's last pitch --- an 89 mph fast ball......... Anderson doubled to the right field wall to lead off the 7th, but Carvajal retired Acuna, Jeff Eure, and Callix Crabbe in order to end the game.

 

The Stars now open a five-game series at Smokies Park in Tennessee tomorrow with Carlos Villanueva (3-2, 3.99) facing Micah Owings (3-1, 2.89), 12th among Southern League ERA leaders.

[Mass Haas]

Link for Hasan Rasheed photo while active, text follows:

 

www.floridatoday.com/apps...20341/1002

 

Manatees drop eighth straight home game

BY SCOTT BROWN

FLORIDA TODAY

 

VIERA - The Brevard County Manatees couldn't lose at the beginning of the season.

 

Now they can't seem to win, especially at Space Coast Stadium.

 

Starting pitcher Mark Rogers got an early hook, and the offense didn't come alive until late as the Manatees lost 9-5 Thursday to the visiting Clearwater Threshers before a season-high crowd of 6,106, mostly school kids.

 

Brevard County has dropped eight consecutive games at home. After winning 10 of their first 11 games, the Manatees now stand just one game over .500 (17-16) going into today's 7 p.m. game against Clearwater.

 

"When we pitch, we don't hit," Manatees manager Ramon Aviles said. "When we hit, we don't pitch."

 

Rogers, the fifth overall pick of the 2004 amateur baseball draft, failed to make it out of the first inning. Meanwhile, a late rally by the Manatees -- they scored one run in the seventh inning and three more in the eighth -- only made the final score a little more respectable.

 

Highly-regarded third base prospect Ryan Braun had three hits and a pair of RBI to lead the Manatees offensively.

 

"Education Day" at Space Coast Stadium had the ballpark teeming with elementary-school students. The children who took part in the promotion were required to answer questions including some dealing with math.

 

Simple arithmetic is all that is needed to pinpoint one of the main causes of the Manatees' current slide.

 

Brevard County has scored 27 runs in nine games this month.

 

That's an average of three per game, and even in the pitcher-friendly Florida State League, that is not enough offense to win consistently.

 

"I think the guys are trying to do too much and not stay within themselves," Aviles said.

 

What is perplexing to Aviles is the Manatees have been swinging well during batting practice and in the cages at Space Coast Stadium. In games, he said, the tendency to do too much leads to overswinging.

 

The Manatees took the FSL's second-highest batting average (.266) into Thursday's game. Brevard County pitchers lead the league in strikeouts (316), and starters Josh Wahpepah and Yovani Gallardo have ERAs of 1.31 and 1.64, respectively, ranking among the league leaders in the category.

 

After the game tonight, the teams close their four-game series Saturday at Space Coast Stadium. Fireworks will follow the contest.

 

Aviles hopes to see some from his hitters during the game as well.

[Mass Haas]

Asheville Coverage of the West Virginia Game includes a Darren Ford photo:

 

www.citizen-times.com/app...002/SPORTS

[Mass Haas]

No day games Friday; Link Report out this afternoon...

[deeswan]

This little blurb showed up in Baseball America's prospect report today.

 

MIL HiA Rogers, Mark .............. 0.1 4 4 3 1 1 8.22 - L (0-2); throws hard, gets hit harder

 

 

ouch