Link Report Thu. 4/27 - News items from starsboxscore.com

[hsvstarsfan]

BATTLE OF THE BULLPENS

 

It was the battle of the win streaks -- Tennessee's three against Huntsville's four -- and the bullpens........ Garrit Simpson pitched three no-hit innings in relief and Joe Winkelsas added two more, yielding just a 9th inning, 2-out pinch-single by Adam Haley, but just when the pen was looking nearly invincible on the night, Smokie 3rd baseman James D'Antona walloped a two-out 3-run home run off the scoreboard in the 11th to end the Stars' 4-game win streak, 9-6....... Funny thing is that D'Antona hit a 1-0 pitch, and he had been swinging on 1-and-0 nearly all night. He swung on a 2-0 pitch in the 2nd and hit into a 6-4-3 double play.

 

After both starting pitchers were knocked around for a combined 12 runs on 15 hits in the first 5 innings, both bullpens silenced their opponents to just two hits for the next five innings, until D'Antona's smash ended the deadlock at around 10 pm. Guilder Rodriguez took four pitches for a 2-out walk in the bottom of the 11th, but Mike Schultz, who led the Southern League in appearances last year, retired Callix Crabbe on a pop up near 1st base to end the game at 10:08 on a clear, but chilly night at the Joe.

 

The crowd this night was split between Adam Bass fans and Huntsville Stars fans, and guess which set made the most noise? I don't have to tell you, do I?........ The turnout wasn't nearly what I expected for the return of Adam Bass, but most of them came to see the UAH Charger pitcher who attended Madison Academy, and who left a rather strong legacy behind at UAH....... Bass holds or shares 11 different team Charger records, including strikeouts (245), and innings (282)....... No pitcher in the Gulf South Conference since 2000 has had as many as 27 career wins. Bass had 29. And he led the Chargers to their only Gulf South Conference championship in 2001. He may not be among the Diamondbacks' top 30 prospects, but he is definitely on Arizona's radar screen.

 

Bass faced the Stars twice last year, both times at Smokies Park, both times in late in the season......... On August 20, he beat Villanueva in Villanueva's debut as a Huntsville Star, 9-4, going six innings and striking out 7, then 11 days later, Bass lost 5-4, giving up Kennard Bibbs' only home run of the year........ Bass came into the game with a good track record in the early innings, only to get hit hard in the 3rd and 4th. That pattern held together on this 66° night....... In fact, both pitchers breezed through the first two innings.

 

Carlos Villanueva, brilliant at home, 0-2 now with a 9.64 ERA at the Joe, held the Smokies to one hit through the first two. Then with two out in the 3rd, Bass lines a sharp single to shallow centerfield, and Danny Richar, 7-for-13 in the Smokies' most recent series against Carolina, followed with a home run on Villanueva's second pitch to right field......... Bass, as well, gave up just one hit through the first two innings, then ran into trouble in the 3rd, just as if the 3rd inning was a jinx to him......... Ozzie Chavez grounded a hit near the 2nd base bag on the right side. Danny Richar made a game effort to make a tough play and nearly tossed the ball away to first, but Ozzie was justly given the hit...... After a failed bunt attempt by Villanueva, Callix Crabbe then lined a single to left-center and the speedy Chavez moved to third....... Bibbs' drag bunt to the right side of the mound moved both runners into scoring position......... After Steve Moss was hit trying to evade an inside pitch, Greg Sain came the plate in what now has been lately a familiar bases-loaded situation, his 5th this season, in fact. And just like the last at-bat, he walked on a 3-1 pitch, putting the Stars on the scoreboard as Chavez scored. Sain now has 10 RBIs in bases-full situations on the season........ Then came the big at-bat of the inning........ Drew Anderson, 6-for his last-12, lined a double on Bass's 2nd pitch down the left field line into the corner, scoring Crabbe and Moss, and sending Sain to third...... Adam Heether, however, .316 with runners in scoring position this season, struck out on three pitches to end the inning, but with the Stars in front now, 3-2

 

In the 4th, Lou Palmisano's hard-hit leadoff double against the wall in left field led to the Stars' 4th run, as he was moved to third by Villanueva's sacrifice and Crabbe's squeeze bunt single perfectly placed along the third base line in front of the plate....... Not many things more exciting than a squeeze....... And I have been impressed this season by Lou's power.

 

In the 5th, Steve Moss's single, extending his hit streak to 8 games was followed by a belated home run by Sain a matter of a few feet inside the left field foul pole, but it came after the Smokies scored four runs in the top of the inning to put an end to Villanueva's night....... In that inning, Villanueva walked in a run and allowed a run to score on a wild pitch....... Carlos threw 77 pitches, 45 for strikes (58.4%).

 

Tonight, Tim Dillard (2-1, 5.28) faces Garrett Mock (1-3, 4.87)........Dillard, like Villanueva, has been excellent on the road (2-0, 2.31) and just the opposite at the Joe (0-1, 7.27)........ Mock has struggled in his last two outings, giving up 14 runs, 8 earned, on 17 hits in 7 1/3 innings....... The Stars have won 9 of their last 13, though, and I can smell a win tonight......... Drew Anderson is 7-for-16 in his last four games (.438) and looking to extend his hitting streak to five games....... Steve Moss is looking to extend his to nine games, and is hitting .393 with 7 RBIs in his last 8 games....... Lou Palmisano is hitting .292 at home with 6 RBIs in 8 games at the Joe........ Callix Crabbe is 6-for-21 (.286) in his last 5 games........ Chavez is 6-for-19 in his last five (.316)........ All four leadoff hitters that Andy Pratt has allowed to reach base this season, including tonight's, have scored. Pratt has seven mound appearances this season.

 

Matt Yeatman, whose 0.79 ERA at this point ties him with Roger Smithberg (Stars '93) for the 8th best start to a season for a pitcher in Stars history, is being moved to the rotation replacing Jeff Housman, who is on the disabled list and will be out 3-4 weeks, according to our play-by-play man, Brett Pollock. Yeatman will start Sunday's game, but the weather forecast calls for a 70% chance of rain....... On the air, Brett dropped the name of Lurleen B. Wallace, the former wife of George Wallace who governed the state in the late '60s, asking if his colleague Bryan Neece had ever heard of the junior college in the state named after her. Neither knew who she was........ Things that make you go hmmmmmm........ Jerome Gamble (4-1, 6.33, 5 saves last year) is going to have arthroscopic surgery on a torn labrum and rotator cuff surgery. Not good.

 

The striking minor league umps have reached a tentative 6-year agreement.late Thursday evening........ If the agreement is ratified, the results of a vote to be known on May 1, the umps will return to work on May 8........ Wonder how much effect the recent Delmon Young incident had in that?

 

Former Huntsville Stars Glenn Woolard and catcher Jimmy Stanfield have been released by the Brewers, according to Baseball America........ I doubt few fans knew of Stanfield. He played in just three games last year, all of them at the tail end of a miserable season, and all of them on the road. His legacy is 0-for-4 with one RBI and one start against Chattanooga on the next-to-last game of the season........ Woolard is better known. He was 13-13 in 52 appearances over two seasons (2004-05), including 37 starts. Last year, he lost 11 games for the Stars and had a 4.91 ERA. He was 2-2 with a 3.52 ERA last July, his best month.

 

Josh Habel (3-7, 5.65 in 21 appearances last season) has signed with the Gary-Southshore Railcats of the independent Northern League. He joins former Stars Ryan Miller, Jason Shelley, and Scott Krause on the team.

 

After 20 games, the Stars have committed only 8 errors in the field. That's the fewest by any Stars team at that stage in their 22-year history, and that beats the previous record of 16, set last year........ Hard to imagine, but in 1991, the Stars commited 38 errors after 20 games.

[Mass Haas]

The striking minor league umps have reached a tentative 6-year agreement.late Thursday evening........ If the agreement is ratified, the results of a vote to be known on May 1, the umps will return to work on May 8........ Wonder how much effect the recent Delmon Young incident had in that?

 

Matt Yeatman, whose 0.79 ERA at this point ties him with Roger Smithberg (Stars '93) for the 8th best start to a season for a pitcher in Stars history, is being moved to the rotation replacing Jeff Housman, who is on the disabled list and will be out 3-4 weeks, according to our play-by-play man, Brett Pollock.

 

Jerome Gamble (4-1, 6.33, 5 saves last year) is going to have arthroscopic surgery on a torn labrum and rotator cuff surgery. Not good.

 

Wow, David, news on three fronts from you that we would not have known for a while otherwise, in addition to your first-hand game details and statistical tidbits. Thank you as always!