Link Report for Games of Friday, April 21st

[Mass Haas]

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

[Mass Haas]

Friday's Daily Menu:

 

All times Central; pitchers subject to change --

 

Nashville: LHP Justin Thompson at home vs. Omaha (Royals), 6:40 PM pre-game, 7:00 gametime

 

Audio link:

www.nashvillesounds.com/listenlive/

 

Nashville Game Day Feature from MILB.com:

Please note that GameDay links will not become active until approximately 1-2 hours before game time

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_nasaaa_1

 

Huntsville: RHP Carlos Villanueva at home vs. Mobile (Padres), 6:50 PM pre-game, 7:05 gametime

 

Audio link:

www.espn1450.com/

 

Brevard County: RHP Mike Jones at Jupiter (Marlins), 6:05 PM

 

Audio link (opponent's):

www.jupiterhammerheads.com/

 

West Virginia: RHP Robbie Wooley at Hagerstown (Mets), 5:35 PM

 

Audio link:

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

[Mass Haas]

Follow Friday'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_nasaaa_1

 

Huntsville:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...x_hunaax_1

 

Brevard County:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_jupafa_1

 

West Virginia:

 

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]

We read the report from the Nashville City Paper that LHP Zach Jackson, not LHP Justin Thompson, will pitch Friday night for the Sounds, so keep that in mind.

[Mass Haas]

Standings through Thursday's action:

 Pacific Coast League (AAA) - American North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [b]Nashville 9 6 .600 - 6-1 3-5 W2[/b] Omaha 9 6 .600 - 5-3 4-3 L2 Iowa 7 8 .467 2.0 5-3 2-5 L3 Memphis 3 12 .200 6.0 3-4 0-8 W1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Southern League (AA) - North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chattanooga 10 5 .667 - 4-1 6-4 L1 West Tenn 10 5 .667 - 3-2 7-3 L1 [b]Huntsville 8 7 .533 2.0 2-3 6-4 L1[/b] Carolina 6 9 .400 4.0 2-3 4-6 L2 Tennessee 5 10 .333 5.0 2-3 3-7 W1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Florida State League (A+) - East Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [b]Brevard County 11 3 .786 - 5-1 6-2 W1[/b] Palm Beach 9 5 .643 2.0 3-2 6-3 W3 St. Lucie 9 5 .643 2.0 4-2 5-3 L3 Daytona 5 9 .357 6.0 3-7 2-2 W3 Jupiter 5 9 .357 6.0 3-6 2-3 L2 Vero Beach 3 11 .214 8.0 3-3 0-8 L1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- South Atlantic League (A) - Northern Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lexington 10 4 .714 - 6-2 4-2 L1 Delmarva 8 5 .615 1.5 3-3 5-2 L1 Greensboro 7 7 .500 3.0 5-3 2-4 L3 Hagerstown 7 7 .500 3.0 5-1 2-6 W1 Lake County 7 7 .500 3.0 3-4 4-3 W1 Hickory 6 8 .429 4.0 2-5 4-3 W1 [b]West Virginia 6 8 .429 4.0 2-5 4-3 L1[/b] Lakewood 4 9 .308 5.5 4-2 0-7 W4

[Mass Haas]

Hi everyone -- I'll be taking my first Link Report season break this weekend with a little Cape Cod getaway. Too bad Cape Cod League college-ball season isn't underway yet, right colbyjack?

 

You'll see my moniker on the initial posts for Saturday and Sunday, which have been pre-staged for other Brewerfan staff members.

 

While staff members will fill in more than capably, moderators or others are invited to post updates as they become available as well. Don't worry about fancy formatting or such, let's just get the info out there.

 

Here's to a fun and productive weekend for all, thanks.

[bork]

We read the report from the Nashville City Paper that LHP Zach Jackson, not LHP Justin Thompson, will pitch Friday night for the Sounds, so keep that in mind.

 

McCalvy is reporting that Jackson will swap with Hendrickson. Jackson will start Saturday and Hendrickson will get bumped to Sunday.

 

McCalvy Notes

[DKM4Boston]

Here's a quick and informal rundown of today's action. I'm sure more details will be coming later.

 

Final: Nashville 9 Omaha 4

 

Nashville Box Score:

Mike Rivera, Brent Abernathy, and Enrique Cruz each with a home run in this game. Gwynn and Hart reached base three times. Sounds defense definitely lacking today with 5 miscues. Jared Fernandez gets the W with 5 1/3 innings of relief work, allowing just 2 unearned runs.

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_nasaaa_1

 

Nashville Game Log:

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_nasaaa_1

 

Huntsville vs. Mobile:

Rained out.

 

Final: Brevard County 9 Jupiter 4

 

Brevard County Box Score:

Freddy Parejo a homer shy of the cycle. Braun, Iribarren, Fermaint, Ezi, and Corredor each with 2 hits. Carlos De La Cruz with a 2-run home run. Mike Jones threw 2 2/3 innings, allowing 2 runs. Ben Stanczyk picks up the W with 2 1/3 scoreless innings.

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_jupafa_1

 

Brevard County G

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_jupafa_1

 

West Virginia @ Hagerstown:

Suspended due to rain after 3 1/2 innings. The game was scoreless.

 

Thanks DKM4Boston. I cleaned up some of the coding to make it look pretty like Mass Haas' efforts http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif .

[colbyjack]

Nashville Site Game Summary:

Link, text follows --

 

www.nashvillesounds.com/n...ewsId=1914

 

Sounds Complete Homestand With 9-4 Victory

 

NASHVILLE, Tenn. ? The Nashville Sounds belted a season-high three home runs and took sole possession of first place with a 9-4 victory over the division-rival Omaha Royals in the finale of a four-game series on Friday evening at Greer Stadium.

 

Nashville (10-6), which has won nine of its last 11 games, finished a stellar opening homestand with a 7-1 record and has taken a one-game lead in the PCL American Conference Northern Division. The 7-1 mark was the best posted in a two-series homestand since the Sounds went 8-1 against Iowa and Colorado Springs from June 17-24, 2003.

 

Every Sounds player recorded at least one hit in the contest except Jermaine Clark (0-for-4). Tony Gwynn (2-for-4) and Mike Rivera (2-for-4) both extended their hitting streaks to eight games as two of the five Nashville players with multiple-hit evenings. Chris Barnwell went 1-for-4 to run the Sounds? longest hit streak of the year to nine games.

 

The usually-superb Nashville defense had an off night, committing five errors after making only eight in the club?s first 15 games of the season. The five gaffs resulted in three unearned runs for Omaha.

 

Jared Fernandez (1-0), who earned a save in his Sounds debut on Wednesday, picked up a victory in his second Nashville appearance after allowing only two unearned runs over 5 1/3 innings in relief of starter Justin Thompson.

 

Both teams jumped on the board early with unearned runs. Omaha scored in the top of the first inning to grab a 1-0 lead. Kerry Robinson led off with a double to center then stole third and scored when Rivera?s throw bounded into left field.

 

Nashville answered in the bottom of the frame with a two-out rally. Corey Hart singled to left, stole second, and scored on a two-base fielding error by Omaha shortstop Andres Blanco on a Nelson Cruz grounder. Hart became the twelfth different Sounds player to record a stolen base this season.

 

The Sounds jumped out to a 5-1 lead with four runs off Omaha starter Kyle Snyder in the bottom of the second inning. Rivera extended his hitting streak to eight games with a single to lead off the frame. Brent Abernathy (2-for-4, 3 RBIs) followed with his first home run of the season, a two-run shot to left that gave Nashville a 3-1 lead. One out later, Enrique Cruz belted his first roundtripper of the year off the guitar-shaped scoreboard in left-center. Clark, who had reached on a fielder?s choice, scored the inning?s final run on a Hart RBI single.

 

Omaha got a run back in the fourth on a Blanco two-out RBI single off Thompson, who worked 3 2/3 innings and allowed two runs (one earned) before being removed due to a pitch count. The left-hander tossed 63 pitches, 40 for strikes.

 

Nashville tacked on three two-out runs in the bottom of the fifth against Snyder to up the lead to 8-2. The Sounds ripped three doubles in the frame, including RBI two-baggers by Barnwell and Enrique Cruz. Barnwell?s knock extended his team-best hitting streak to nine games.

 

After Omaha plated an unearned run in the top of the seventh following a dropped fly by Gwynn in center field, Rivera got the run right back in the bottom of the frame when he slugged his second longball of the season, a one-out solo shot to left off Royals reliever Eddie Yarnall to push the score to 9-3.

 

The Royals plated the final run of the contest in the eighth when Blanco (3-for-4) hit a single to right off Fernandez that rolled under the glove of Nelson Cruz and allowed Mike Aviles to score unearned.

 

Snyder (0-1) took the loss after allowing eight runs (seven earned) on 11 hits in 4 2/3 innings.

 

The Sounds hit the road on Saturday to open an eight-game road trip with a 7:05 p.m. CT series opener in Oklahoma City, Okla., where they?ll take on the Oklahoma RedHawks in the clubs? second series of the season. Nashville swept a four-game set at Greer Stadium earlier this week.

 

Left-hander Zach Jackson (0-1, 1.64) makes his third start of the season for the Sounds in Saturday?s series opener. The RedHawks will counter with southpaw John Rheinecker (0-1, 5.87).

[Mass Haas]

Just some text to note that RHP Robbie Wooley threw very well Friday night before the rains came:

 

In the case of Eric Brown, his immediate future may have been decided by the width of a fingernail.

 

The Hagerstown Suns relief pitcher stepped out of the bullpen and into an emergency start Friday when scheduled pitcher Jacobo Neguilis was scratched because of an ingrown nail.

 

By the end of his four-inning stint, Brown had the West Virginia Power chewing their nails.

 

Brown rolled through 13 hitters - one over the minimum - with a speedy, yet hitless performance before the game was suspended in a 0-0 tie after three innings by rain. Meanwhile, West Virginia's Robbie Wooley held the Suns hitless through three innings. Both pitchers allowed two walks.

 

"Eric had good stuff and he kept the ball down in the zone," Hagerstown manager Frank Cacciatore said. "That's a good sign. Pitchers set the pace of the game. Their guy threw strikes and Eric did, too. That's a pretty good hitting team that we have had some close battles with, so he did a good job."

 

The game opened with the threat of rain, maybe encouraging Brown and Wooley to work quickly to get the game in. Despite the late call, Brown looked fluid and kept West Virginia at bay with four strikeouts.

 

He issued a walk to Tony Festa to start the third, but the Power runner was caught stealing, and Angel Salome drew a two-out walk in the fourth during the downpour.

 

The game is scheduled to be completed June 7, when West Virginia returns to Municipal Stadium. The game will pick up in the bottom of the fourth and will be a nine-inning game, with the regularly scheduled game - now a seven-inning contest - to follow.

 

-- Hagerstown Herald-Mail

[Mass Haas]

Sounds finally show their homer power

Hit three in win over Omaha

By MAURICE PATTON

Tennessean Staff Writer

 

After going three full games without a home run, the Nashville Sounds clubbed two in one inning last night.

 

Brent Abernathy's two-run drive in the second inning was followed an out later by Enrique Cruz's solo shot off the guitar scoreboard in left field, and the Sounds powered their way to a 9-4 win over Omaha.

 

"I just went up there with the mentality of swinging hard in case I hit it," said Abernathy, a 10-year veteran who spent part of the 2003 season with Omaha and played with Royals starter Kyle Snyder.

 

"I'd been scuffling the last few days. Sometimes you have to throw the mechanics out and just see it and hit it."

 

Mike Rivera added a solo homer in the seventh, capping the Sounds' first three-homer game of the season.

 

"Enrique's got power; Rivera's got power," Nashville Manager Frank Kremblas said. "Abernathy's a good hitter. He has an idea what he's doing up there."

 

The victory closed out a 7-1 homestand for Nashville, the best Greer Stadium performance since the team went 8-1against Iowa and Colorado Springs on June 17-24, 2003.

 

Additionally, the win gave the Sounds a 3-1 series win over Omaha ? which took three of four from Nashville to open the season ? as they took a one-game lead over the Royals in the PCL's American Northern Division.

 

"We played well on the road," Abernathy said. "To come away with just three (wins) was pretty difficult. We felt like we gave away most of those (losses)."

 

Nashville won despite a season-high five errors.

 

Snyder came into Friday's game with an 0.73 earned run average, having allowed just one earned run in 12 1/3 innings. The Sounds got to him for eight runs ? seven earned ? in 4 2/3 innings, ballooning his ERA to 4.24.

 

"He's a good pitcher," Abernathy said. "But he usually works down in the (strike) zone, and I think he was a little up. We just happened to make him pay for some mistakes."

 

Sounds keep stealing wins: With three stolen bases in the first two innings of their 9-4 win last night over visiting Omaha, the Nashville Sounds continued their dominance of that statistical category in the Pacific Coast League.

 

Nashville has been successful on 34-of-42 attempts, and with Corey Hart's first-inning steal, every active non-pitcher on the Sounds roster has already recorded at least one theft.

 

Last season, the Sounds stole 174 bases in 242 attempts. The team record for steals is 205, set by the 1981 team that featured Otis Nixon. The 17-year major league veteran set single-game (four) and single-season (74) franchise records that year that still stand.

 

The Pacific Coast League single-season record for steals by a team is 422, set by the 1903 Sacramento team.

 

Streakin': Chris Barnwell, Mike Rivera and Tony Gwynn each extended significant hitting streaks last night. Barnwell raised his to nine straight games ? a team high for the season ? with his fifth-inning RBI double, while Rivera and Gwynn have hit in eight consecutive games apiece following second-inning singles.

 

Barnwell's season-high hit streak last year, between Nashville and Class AA Huntsville, was six straight games.

 

Sweet music: Enrique Cruz became the first Sounds player of the season to earn a Copley guitar, with his second-inning solo home run off the guitar-shaped scoreboard beyond the left-field fence. Cruz is scheduled to receive his guitar during the May 1-8 homestand.

 

Hitting shoes: For the eight-game homestand, the Sounds had 95 hits ? 56 in the four-game sweep of Oklahoma and 39 against Omaha.

 

"It was a good homestand," Kremblas said.

 

"Our offense was much better here at home than on the road. That gives you a little wiggle room, as far as your pitching and defense."

 

The Sounds averaged 8.3 runs in the eight Greer Stadium games, outscoring the opposition by an average of 4.4 runs per game.

 

Breaking through: Last night marked just the fourth time all year that the Sounds didn't score first. Nashville has split those four games.

 

Web gem: Despite the loss last night, Omaha's keystone combination of second baseman Ruben Gotay and shortstop Andres Blanco teamed for a highlight play to retire Jermaine Clark.

 

Gotay ranged to his right, going nearly behind the bag to get Clark's groundball, then flipped the ball out of his glove to Blanco. Moving toward first base, Blanco gunned Clark out.

 

What they said: ?It?s frustrating to not be able to stay in, especially with a lead like that. But as long as I can keep them in the game ? I?m just trying to make quality pitches and keep them in the game as long as possible.? ? LHP Justin Thompson, who threw 63 pitches in 3 2/3 innings before yielding to Fernandez.