Link Report for Thursday 4/13

[Mass Haas]

"We had a run taken away from us by the umps. It should have been a balk. That's the problem with replacement umps that are 70 years old. They can't see." ? Nashville Manager Frank Kremblas.

 

Tell us how you really feel, Frank http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

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

 

Thurman shines in Stars' loss

Pitcher throws six shutout innings in Huntsville's 2-0 loss

By PAUL GATTIS

Huntsville Times Sports Staff, pgattis@htimes.com

 

It's nights like this when you're the Huntsville Stars and your offense is muted and you lose 2-0 to Birmingham that the top priority of player development is a nice consolation.

 

Because Stars starter Corey Thurman was simply spectacular.

 

In fact, spectacular may not cover it. Outstanding might be a good adjective to add. So would marvelous.

 

In his second start of the season, Thurman pitched six shutout innings and allowed only one hit - a bunt single by Barons leadoff hitter Christopher Getz to start the fourth.

 

But Thurman - limited to 70 pitches as he recovers from rotator cuff surgery that sidelined him for the 2005 season - left a scoreless tie and an inning before Birmingham got a two-run homer from third baseman Micah Schnurstein before 1,109 at Joe Davis Stadium.

 

"Thurman did an outstanding job," Stars manager Don Money said.

 

More applause for Thurman: He allowed one walk and hit one batter - which was mostly the good fortune of Josh Henson wearing a baggy jersey that got clipped by an inside pitch than the result of a poorly thrown ball.

 

And he got through six innings on his allowance of 70 pitches.

 

"Six innings in 70 pitches, that's outstanding," pitching coach Rich Sauveur said.

 

Of course, this start maybe wasn't even as good as his first start. Against Mississippi, Thurman pitched four no-hit innings before leaving that game with a 2-0 lead. But the Braves rallied for a 6-2 win.

 

So for the season, Thurman has allowed one hit - the bunt single - and no runs in 10 innings. And his record is a cold-hearted 0-0.

 

"Everything," Sauveur said when asked what pitches were working for Thurman. "His change-up is probably his best pitch, but when he's throwing all four pitches (well), he's on."

 

All the Barons could do was wait for Thurman to leave the game.

 

"Sometimes you just have to wait it out," Barons manager Chris Cron said, "and wait for the opportunity."

 

For Birmingham, opportunity arrived in the seventh.

 

Ricardo Nanita doubled to left-center with two outs, surviving at the plate after a borderline pitch for strike three was called a ball. Then Schnurstein sent a rocket-shot deep over the fence in left field off Stars reliever Steve Bray (0-1).

 

And that was enough for the Barons, which employed four pitchers to hold the Stars to five hits and without a run for the second time in three games. Tyler Lumsden pitched five innings and Brian West (1-2) pitched two innings for the win while Ehren Wasserman got his second save.

 

In their first three games at home this season, the Stars have been shut out twice and scored four runs in the other game - and all four runs came on a Greg Sain grand slam on Wednesday. "We're getting ourselves in the hole in the count," Money said of the Stars' hitting woes. "We're swinging at a lot of first pitches."

 

But there is good news for the Stars. At least they don't have to bat against Corey Thurman.

[Mass Haas]

Brevard County Site Game Summary:

 

Manatees down Dodgers

 

Alcides Escobar singled twice and scored the eventual winning run to boost Brevard County past visiting Vero Beach, 3-2, on Thursday.

 

Ryan Braun's one-out, fielder's choice grounder to short in the seventh inning drove in Escobar for the red-hot Manatees (7-1). Braun also smacked an RBI double in the first against the struggling Dodgers (1-7).

 

Brevard County reliever Robert Hinton (1-0) struck out four in three scoreless innings to earn his first win. Josh Alliston fanned two in the ninth for his first save.

 

Brian Akin (0-1), who pitched two innings of relief for Vero Beach, suffered the loss. Starter Julio Cesar Pimentel gave up two earned runs on seven hits and three walks in five innings.

 

Ryan Carter jolted two triples to lead the Dodgers' offense, while Jimmy Rohan added two singles. Xavier Paul and Travis Denker had an RBI single apiece.

 

The teams continue their three-game series at 7:05 ET on Friday. -- Christopher Heine/MLB.com

 

***

Vero Beach Site Game Summary:

 

Still One Run Short

 

Despite coming back from a 2-0 deficit, the Vero Beach Dodgers dropped their 6th one-run loss of the season Thursday night at Brevard County. The Manatees scored an unearned 7th-inning run to down the Dodgers 3-2. The series continues Friday night with Matt Merricks getting the call for Vero Beach.

 

Brevard County (7-1) scored two runs in the 1st inning off Vero Beach starter Julio Pimentel. Alcides Escobar singled and Ryan Braun doubled him home. Braun then stole third and scored on a ground out.

 

The first Dodger run came in the 3rd. Jimmy Rohan drew a leadoff walk and Gabriel Gutierrez followed with a single. Jamie Hoffman's sacrifice advanced both runners, then Xavier Paul rolled a single between third and short to plate Rohan.

 

In the 4th, Ryan Carter hit the first of his two triples of the night and scored on Travis Denker's base hit. That tied the score at two and it remained that way until the decisive 7th.

 

Travis Ezi began that frame with a single off reliever Brian Akin. Escobar then reached on a bunt when no one covered first base. Braun grounded a ball to short that led to a force at second, but when 2B Blake DeWitt tried to turn the double play, his throw sailed past first base and allowed Ezi to score what turned out to be the winning run. It was only the second run this year Akin had allowed. The other run was also unearned and also resulted in a loss.

[brewmann04]

poor poor don money

[colbyjack]

With that lineup, Huntsville is going to struggle mightily this year. While I'm excited to follow their pitching staff with Dilliard, Villanueva, and hopefully Parra and eventually Mike Jones, that offensive lineup is just not conducive to scoring runs. Not much slugging power on that roster.

 

For the most part, Huntsville's offense is the same one that propelled Brevard County to a late season playoff push last year. They're not going to put up huge numbers, but if Heether, Palmisano, Anderson, Moss and a few others hit a little more as they have done at times in the past, the pitching staff will keep them in a lot of games. In other words, they won't be as bad as the High Desert squad from a few years ago (although that's probably not even possible).

 

I don't know what kind of gun the greensboro stadium uses...but someone in the stands (one of the of day pitchers from WV was using a stalker gun)

 

Thanks pogo. I look forward to your thoughts on Inman. It seems as though everyone was there last night.

[huntsvillefan]

I'm not going to get down on the Stars this early. There is a lot of season to go and Don Money has a lot of work to do. The highlight so far really was last night's pitching duel and I look forward to seeing some more of Corey Thurman. He and Lumsden had me entranced for 6 innings or so (though I do confess to wishing that Lumsden was ours).

 

For the most part, Huntsville's offense is the same one that propelled Brevard County to a late season playoff push last year.

 

Now I confess to not having followed my Brevard County as well as I should last year, but I think we've a bit more of a mixture than that. My guess is that our offense this year is going to be propelled by those guys who were brought in or those repeating AA. If they do well the team might just catch fire - if not, I think its going to be a loooooooooooooooong season.

 

the pitching staff will keep them in a lot of games.

 

A better rotation (and bullpen I think), found it difficult to keep a better offensive staff than this in too many games last year. Very small sample so far, but my biggest disappointment has been watching Dillard and Villanueva. It was very difficult to see what they had that might make them special eventually. Villanueva I watched last year too and I so wish he was a lefty. Having said that they both performed well in Mississippi (and if I recall correctly Villanueva did fine away from Huntsville last year), so I'm hoping that after they settle down they're going to surprize me.

 

So far, apart from Thurman the pleasant surprize has been Ozzie Chavez. Looking like he can actually play SS, ranging deep and making a few excellent throws for outs. It would be wonderful to see him have a good season. Kennard Bibbs still looks the best defensive OF in the farm system including Gwynn, Moss & Krynzel. Apart from that the cupboard has been pretty bare.

 

One small spark of interest for those of us with occasional delusions that psychology may actually have a small part in the game. Last night Callix Crabbe got furious over a safe call when he thought he had tagged the runner. He jumped up and down and waved Don Money onto the field like a particuarily demented New Yorker hailing a cab. A bit strange as if the call wasn't good it was certainly very close. Last year Crabbe would have been a lot more likely to just laugh it off. Maybe this year's team will have the 'eye of the tiger' http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

 

EDIT I just used your quotes to spark my thoughts Colby - I wasn't particuarily taking issue with them.

[hsvstarsfan]

OUR HARD LUCK HERO

We have a winner for this year's hard luck award........ The Stars have lost both games Corey Thurman has started, even though he's hurled a total of 10 scoreless innings and has still given up just one hit........ Those credentials with a more supportive offense, should by all rights give him a 2-0 record, but in his two starts, Corey has had two runs of support. He's lucky to get off with an unblemished record....... Carlos Villanueva and Tim Dillard may be the 1-2 punch in the rotation, but Thurman, a former Texas League All-Star, has outperformed them both so far, and yet nothing to show....... After eight games, it all points to the Stars' anemic start --- a .228 average, skewed by a 17-hit game in a 12-5 win over the Braves........ This has been nothing new....... They hit .216 after their first eight games last year, .193 the year before, .225 in 2003, .235 in 2002. You'd have to go back to 2001 to find the Stars hitting over .250 after the first eight games, and they barely made it that year (.251)........In fact, April has never been a strong month offensively since the Stars have been Milwaukee-affiliated, although they hit .269 in April last year, but that was after their first homestand, when they won 6 of their next 9, hitting .282 in that stretch.

The talent is there..... Drew Anderson, who is hitting .179, has been a .300 hitter every year since his first pro season in 2003, Ron Acuna is a career .285 hitter, who hit .300 in two consecutive seasons before falling to .245 last year with New Hampshire (East.), Steve Moss is a .270 hitter in 4 pro seasons and hit .281 for Brevard County last year, and Greg Sain and Jeff Eure are capable of getting hot and providing scarce power at the same time.

The only power tonight came from Lou Palmisano, who hit smacked a 5th inning one-out double that went to the wall, but Jeff Eure struck out on a 2-2 pitch and Ozzie Chavez chopped one right back to the pitcher to end the inning........ Outside of that, only Chavez in the 3rd inning and Moss in the 9th were able to get as far as 2nd base......... Tyler Lumsden, the White Sox' 18th-ranked prospect in only his 3rd pro season, has a sharp-breaking fastball that topped at 93 tonight, and a money-pitch curve that is almost unhittable when it's on. When I asked him after the game, he said, "Yeah, everything was working tonight."

But the Stars were actually out-hitting the Barons 4-1 after six innings. Thurman's only hit was a leadoff bunt single that hugged the 3rd base line in the 4th inning. He's was able to stretch a 75-pitch limit all the way to the 6th inning, giving way to Stephen Bray (0-1, 4.76 after three appearances). Bray, in the 7th, went 3-and-2 on Richard Nanita before he smacked a double to the left field wall. Micah Schnurrstein followed with a home run on a 2-2 fastball just below the belt that he just unloaded on, sending it off the right point of the big Star in left-center field...... Bray got two quick outs in the 8th, the first on a sensational leaping catch by Callix Crabbe on a soft liner by Mike Myers that probably saved a run, for Birmingham would get a pair of hits that inning. The ball stuck in his webbing like an ice cream cone.

I want to say at this point that I have seen LOADS of improvement in both Crabbe's and Chavez's defense so far, and not just what I have seen, but what I have heard over Brett Pollock's radiocasts. Crabbe has not committed an error after eight games so far. Chavez has three, but last night's was undeserved....... It came on an attempted force play on a hard-hit ball lined on a couple of hops. With Robert Valido on 1st and Chris Getz (I have this compulsion to call him Stan) on 2nd, Chavie quickly got rid of the ball, shoveling it to Crabbe, and it was close, but it looked for sure like Valido was out, but the umpire, one of the substitutes used while the real umps are on strike, demonstratively thumbed him out........ Needless to say, Crabbe was furious, pointing at the bag. Don Money came out to defuse the situation, and there was no cataclysm........ The error was -- had to be given by Don Rizzardi -- to Chavez on the throw an inning later.

It wasn't the only unhappy moment by a player in the game........ Joe Winkelsas struck Nanita out looking at a 3-2 slider that appeared to have missed the strike zone entirely. Nanita abruptly yanked off his helmet with two hands and it looked like he was going to throw it to the ground with all his force, but he just simply screamed in the ump's direction, bent down at the plate for a moment, then sulked back to the dugout.

The Stars have now lost 12 of their last 14 games to the Barons........ Friday night, hoping for a crowd to eclipse the shameful 3,965 over three nights, Jeff Housman will make his first appearance since August 9, 2004, when he beat Montgomery, 6-2........ Opposing him will be a familiar foe -- Corwin Malone........ This is Malone's 5th season with Birmingham, once a #3 prospect in the organization, who sat out all of 2004 with Tommy John surgery, and is on the comeback trail....... This will be his 11th appearance vs. the Stars dating back to August 26, 2001, and although his 3-2, 4.74 record in 43 2/3 innings is unimpressive, the Barons have won 8 of the 10 games he has pitched in......... Doesn't bode well. Housman's record may be slightly worse against Birmingham (1-2, 5.29, 32 1/3 innings), but he had a shining moment in Game 2 of the 2003 Western Division Playoffs when he beat the Barons, 3-0, holding them to 2 hits over 7 innings.

[colbyjack]

EDIT I just used your quotes to spark my thoughts Colby - I wasn't particuarily taking issue with them.

 

I didn't take it that way, and as always I enjoy your first-hand observations. Even if this year's team does struggle you can either look for some exciting midseason callups such as Fermaint, Braun, Hammond, Gallardo, etc., or look forward to next year http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif .

 

As for Huntsville's offense being the same as Brevard County's, I was largely referring to Heether, Moss, Palmisano and Anderson, a group of mid-level prospects that seem to be moving up together and once again serve as the middle of the lineup. Although I just remembered that Heether was called up to Huntsville late last year.

[And That]

Very small sample so far, but my biggest disappointment has been watching Dillard and Villanueva.

 

I can't say I'm surprised anyone would say that about either pitcher.

 

Villanueva is what he is... a control-based pitcher with a bunch of pitches, a lot of which have to be working for him to be successful. He can hit the low-90's, but he'll work in the high 80's. He has AAA stuff right now. The key for him will be getting MLB stuff at some point in the next few years.

 

Dillard is deceptive - he didn't have too many bad appearences in BC last year, and that's probably the result of A+ hitters not being able to deal well with his sinker/slider. The biggest thing for Dillard is refining his control and learning how to throw his sinker in different counts. No one thinks right now he'll be anything more than a #4 starter in the bigs - sinker ballers usually don't dominate in the rotation. I think he could be a very effective closer eventually - if he can add a few more MPH on his pitches he could be dominant for an inning or two. He has a higher upside than Villanueva, IMO, but both are fringe-rotation pitchers.

 

So far, apart from Thurman the pleasant surprize has been Ozzie Chavez. Looking like he can actually play SS, ranging deep and making a few excellent throws for outs.

 

Thurman is what he is... this is his 11th year in pro ball, and he has 83+ innings in the bigs. He should dominate AA, and I'd be surprised if he were still there in two months.

 

Chavez can play defense, there has never been a doubt about that. The question has been (and still is) about his bat. He has almost no power (career ISO of about 80, IIRC, which includes a lot of time in High Desert), and needs to develop into a complete slap-hitter. Whether or not that ever happens is questionable. He's still only 22, but I think if he has a MLB future, it is as a utiliy guy. He won't fool anyone in this organization with a Rey Ordonez type mentality. He needs to hit to advance.

[huntsvillefan]

He has AAA stuff right now.

 

I'm going to be ecstatic just to see some AA stuff out of him. The step from A to AA is a big one for a pitcher. I like control pitchers (Derek Lee - what Stars fan doesn't?), but I just wish he had an extra weapon somewhere in his arsenal. It is possible that replacement umps aren't ideal for a guy who wants to live on the margins - but the Umps in Huntsville last year were regulation issue.

I'm a bit cheered to to hear what you say about Dillard, when I watched him his sinker/slider just wasn't sinking or sliding much. At least in that case I can assume that there is something that will improve in a major way.

[plowjockey]

I thought West Virginia wasn't going to piggyback. Lluberes came in for Inman after Inman's last start on the 13th. Today it was Lluberes then Inman.