Link Report for Games of Thursday, April 20th

[Mass Haas]

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

[Mass Haas]

Thursday's Daily Menu:

 

All times Central; pitchers subject to change --

 

Nashville: RHP Dennis Sarfate 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 Khalid Ballouli at Montgomery (Devil Rays), 6:50 PM pre-game, 7:05 gametime

 

Audio link:

www.espn1450.com/

 

Brevard County: RHP Josh Wahpepah at Jupiter (Marlins), 6:05 PM

 

Audio link (opponent's):

www.jupiterhammerheads.com/

 

West Virginia: RHP Ryan Marion at Hagerstown (Mets), 5:35 PM

 

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_nasaaa_1

 

Huntsville:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...x_monaax_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]

Standings through Wednesday's action:

 Pacific Coast League (AAA) - American North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Omaha 9 5 .643 - 5-3 4-2 L1 [b]Nashville 8 6 .571 1.0 5-1 3-5 W1[/b] Iowa 7 7 .500 2.0 5-3 2-4 L2 Memphis 2 12 .143 7.0 2-4 0-8 L1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Southern League (AA) - North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chattanooga 10 4 .714 - 4-1 6-3 W3 West Tenn 10 4 .714 - 3-1 7-3 W1 [b]Huntsville 8 6 .571 2.0 2-3 6-3 W1[/b] Carolina 6 8 .429 4.0 2-2 4-6 L1 Tennessee 4 10 .286 6.0 2-3 2-7 L3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Florida State League (A+) - East Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [b]Brevard County 10 3 .769 - 5-1 5-2 L2[/b] St. Lucie 9 4 .692 1.0 4-1 5-3 L2 Palm Beach 8 5 .615 2.0 3-2 5-3 W2 Jupiter 5 8 .385 5.0 3-5 2-3 L1 Daytona 4 9 .308 6.0 3-7 1-2 W2 Vero Beach 3 10 .231 7.0 3-2 0-8 W1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- South Atlantic League (A) - Northern Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lexington 10 3 .769 - 6-2 4-1 W2 Delmarva 8 4 .667 1.5 3-2 5-2 W1 Greensboro 7 6 .538 3.0 5-3 2-3 L2 Hagerstown 6 7 .462 4.0 4-1 2-6 L1 Lake County 6 7 .462 4.0 2-4 4-3 L4 [b]West Virginia 6 7 .462 4.0 2-5 4-2 W1[/b] Hickory 5 8 .385 5.0 2-5 3-3 L1 Lakewood 3 9 .250 6.5 3-2 0-7 W3

[Team Canada]

Who's really pitching for BC today? I'm betting Yo doesn't get two games in a row. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[bork]

Who's really pitching for BC today? I'm betting Yo doesn't get two games in a row.

 

He was lights out after the first yesterday, so why not?

 

It should be Wahpepah if the rotation holds.

[pogokat]

Sarfate with unhittable stuff...just wish he'd keep the walks down...

 

Ryan Braun has 6 stolen bases...man. he's fast..I'd like to see some homers after talking about his power all winter, but i'm impressed so far...

[DHonks]

just clicked on Salome's stats...anyone else notice he's got 5 BB vs a whopping 3 K's! Not bad for a kid in his first full year in full season ball

[Mass Haas]

Final: Hagerstown (Mets) 6, West Virginia 5

The Power rally for two in the top of the 9th to take the lead, and then give the game away after the first two Suns batters are retired in the bottom of the 9th -- ugh...

 

West Virginia Site Game Summary:

Link, then text --

 

www.wvpower.com/news/deta...?newsID=63

 

Suns Beat Power in Final At Bat

 

The West Virginia Power took a 5-4 lead over the Hagerstown Suns after scoring twice in the top of the ninth inning of Thursday night?s game at Municipal Stadium in Hagerstown, Maryland. The Suns answered the call, and scored two times in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat the Power 6-5.

 

The Suns jumped out to an early 4-0 lead after two innings. They plated three runs in the bottom of the first inning, on Leivi Ventura?s sacrifice fly, Jonel Pacheco?s RBI single, and Drew Butera walked with the bases loaded to bring in the final run of the inning. In the second, Hagerstown scored again on an RBI double from Nick Evans to go up 4-0.

 

The Power started their comeback in the top of the sixth inning when Mat Gamel reached on shortstop Jose Castro?s error which allowed Angel Salome and Lorenzo Cain to score. In the seventh inning Cain delivered a run-scoring single to bring the Power within a run. The Power entered the top of the ninth inning down 4-3, and they plated two runs to take their only lead of the game. Cain struck again with an RBI single to tie the game and Ryan Crew reached on a fielder?s choice three batters later, knocking in Cain in the process.

 

In the bottom of the ninth inning, with two outs Elvis Cruz hit a solo homer to tie the game at 4-4. With Jose Castro on first base, Hector Pellot singled into center field. Darren Ford bobbled the ball in center field, and Castro broke for home plate as the throw was coming in to Gamel at third base. Gamel threw the ball by catcher Salome and Castro scored the winning run.

 

Marcelo Perez (1-0) earned the victory, and Joe Thatcher (0-1) obtained the loss. The Power are 6-8 after the loss and the Suns improved to 7-7 with the win.

 

The Power will conclude the four game series against the Suns on Friday night. Right hander Robbie Wooley (0-1, 5.00) will start for the Power and the Suns will counter with right hander Jacobo Neguilis (0-0, 2.89). The first pitch is scheduled for 6:35 PM (5:35 Central).

 

West Virginia Box Score:

LHP David Welch, sparkling with just one hit allowed in four innings, but perhaps some luck (nine fly outs, zero K's); young RF Lorenzo Cain carrying over nicely from 2005...

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...x_hagafx_1

 

West Virginia Game Log:

The only Power error of the game was the crucial mistake by CF Darren Ford in the 9th...

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...x_hagafx_1

[Mass Haas]

Final: Brevard County 3, Jupiter (Marlins) 2

 

Brevard County Site Game Summary:

 

Manatees rally past Jupiter

 

Ryan Braun's RBI single in the seventh inning lifted visiting Brevard County to a 3-2 victory over Jupiter on Thursday.

 

Trailing 2-0 after four innings, the Manatees (11-3) rallied for runs in three straight frames to end their first two-game skid of the season.

 

Braun, who finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs, had a sacrifice fly in the fifth and snapped a 2-2 tie with his run-scoring single to right in the seventh.

 

Steve Sollman's RBI double in the sixth tied the score for Brevard County, which held on thanks to three scoreless innings from reliever Robert Hinton (2-0). Josh Alliston worked the ninth for his third save.

 

Brett Carroll hit a two-run homer in the fourth for the Hammerheads (5-9), who have dropped six of their last seven.

 

Jesus Delgado (1-1) took the loss, yielding a run and four hits in two innings.

 

The teams continue their three-game set at 7:05 p.m. (6:05 Central) on Friday. -- Marc Jimenez/MLB.com

 

Brevard County Box Score:

Robert Hinton with 11 near-flawless innings thus far (one unearned run previously); Travis Ezi 4-for-5...

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_jupafa_1

 

Brevard County Game Log:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_jupafa_1

[And That]

Props to Josh Alliston as well. He's career has been marred by injuries that have knocked him out almost all of the two years. Yah, he's 26 and in A-ball, but if he picks up where he left off (and it looks like he is) and he stays healthy, he could be on a fast-track to AAA.

[DHonks]

if I remember correctly, he's a very hard thrower.

 

Hard not to notice the starts by Hendrickson and Eveland, and to a lesser extent Jackson. With Ohka alternating good start/terrible start, and Bush inconsistent, there's a chance we see one of them in the bigs by mid May. I'm not expecting a trade, but with the bullpen needing a long guy, it's possible Bush shifts to long relief for the time being with one of them filling in. I'm not saying Bush should be demoted, but rather it'd be a way to possibly strengthen the staff as a whole

[Mass Haas]

Final: Montgomery (Devil Rays) 3, Huntsville 2

 

Huntsville Site Game Summary:

Link, text follows --

 

www.huntsvillestars.com/n...newsId=792

 

Isenia Comes Through in Clutch For Biscuits

 

Charion Isenia homered and knocked in all three runs to lead Montgomery to a 3-2 win over Huntsville Thursday night in the final game of a five-game set at Riverwalk Stadium. The Biscuits won two of the last three games in the set to improve to 8-7 and maintain at least a share of the lead in the South Division, while the Stars dropped to 8-7. Huntsville has won three of five in each of its? first two road series of the season.

 

Drew Anderson doubled with one out in the second inning and scored to give the visitors the early lead when Steve Moss followed with a double. However, Moss was thrown out trying to stretch his gapper into a triple. Isenia led off the third inning with his first long ball of the year off of Stars? starter Khalid Ballouli to tie the game.

 

Matthew Maniscalco doubled with one out in the fifth and scored when Isenia followed with a base hit to right field to give the home team a 2-1 lead. Biscuits? starter Chris Flinn was lifted after five innings during which he allowed a run on four hits and threw 78 pitches. Jean Machi took over in the sixth and gave up the tying run when Greg Sain grounded into a double play to score Ozzie Chavez from third. Sain went hitless in four tries and lost a six-game hitting streak, the longest for a Huntsville hitter this season.

 

Gabriel Martinez was hit by a Ballouli pitch with one out in the seventh inning, stole second base, stayed there when Maniscalco was also hit by a pitch and scored the winning run on a bloop base hit to center field by Isenia, who had knocked in one run in his first 25 at-bats before the game.

 

Jeff Ridgway retired the Stars in order in the eighth inning and Juan Salas set the side down in order, fanning the last two hitters, in the ninth to earn his fourth save of the season. The Montgomery bullpen retired the last 11 Huntsville hitters of the game.

 

The Stars return home Friday night to open a five-game set with Mobile and will send right-hander Carlos Villanueva to the mound against BayBears? right-hander Cesar Carrillo. Coverage of the game begins at 6:50 p.m. central time and can be heard on ESPN Radio 1450 AM locally and via the internet at www.huntsvillestars.com.

 

Huntsville Box Score:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...x_monaax_1

 

Huntsville Game Log:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...x_monaax_1

[Mass Haas]

David Weiser's

 

www.starsboxscore.com/

 

BALLOULI GETS THE BALONEY FROM ISENIA

Chiaron Isenia broke out of a 3-for-25 slump to deliver all the runs for Montgomery off Khalid Ballouli, who pitched a better ballgame than appears on paper....... Ballouli struck out eight, which is not only a high this season for a Stars pitcher, but also a personal high as a Huntsville Star.... Ballouli faced Montgomery last year, getting a 12-6 win at Riverwalk Stadium, May 13th......... Ballouli now has 17 Ks in 15 2/3 innings on the season

 

The Stars, beset as usual by a lack of key hits, traded runs and lost opportunities with Montgomery....... Huntsville got the carousel going first on a breezeless 81° night, after a one-out double on a 2-1 pitch down the left field line into the corner by Drew Anderson, who had his first two-hit night as a Star........ Steve Moss on a 2-1 pitch followed with a gapper off the wall in right-center field for two easy bases, but was thrown out trying to stretch it to a triple...... Moss, who didn't have an RBI in his first 12 games, now has four in his last two.

 

But it was Isenia's night........ The catcher from Curacao who had the Stars' number last year, hitting .368 off Stars pitching in 19 ABs, tied the game in the 3rd, driving Ballouli's 1-0 pitch deep toward the scoreboard in left field....... Matthew Maniscalco, 2-for-13 in the first four games of the series, got on board with one out in the 5th to set Isenia up again........ Isenia lined Ballouli's 1-0 pitch past Guilder Rodriguez into right field, scoring Maniscalco easily. Isenia was tagged out by Ozzie Chavez trying to stretch the hit into a double, but the Biscuits had a 2-1 lead.

 

Montgomery in the 6th replaced pitcher Chris Flinn, who made up for his last start against Huntsville on July 31st of last year -- eight runs on ten hits in just 1 2/3 innings en route to an 11-3 win for the Stars' Glenn Woolard. In came Jean Mechi, who appeared in just one game for the Biscuits last year....... Chavez and Adam Heether greeted him with consecutive singles. A throwing error by Wes Bankston put Chavez on third and the runners were on the corners for Greg Sain. Sain hit a 3-2 pitch to Maniscalco who turned the broken-bat grounder into a double play, but it scored Chavez and tied the game, but just like the 2nd inning, the Stars had the chance for more.

 

The Biscuits got the last say in the 7th........ After Gabby Martinez was hit by a Ballouli pitch, Maniscalco came up with the hit-and-run play on and one out, but Ballouli hit him with a pitch as well, after Martinez successfully stole 2nd, barely avoiding a sweeping tag........ Up came Isenia again........ Isenia lofted a short fly ball to left that fell in front of a charging Steve Moss........ Despite a later double steal that inning, Montgomery did not score another run......... Machi, Jeff Ridgway, and Juan Salas held the Stars, setting down their final 11 batters to preserve the victory.

 

The Stars have not yet been able to rally from behind in the late stages of the game.

 

Friday, the Stars come home to host Mobile....... And as you might surmise with the predictability of every series being five games this year, Carlos Villanueva (2-1) will take the mound for the Stars....... Going for Mobile will be Cesar Carillo (0-0, 4.20), not just the Padres' top pitching prospect, but their # 1 prospect according to Baseball America....... Carillo was shelled for four runs on six hits in four innings in his last start, which came against the Lookouts last Sunday, and so far, he's not been very impressive with runners on, with the league hitting .360 against him in those situations...... Nevertheless, the finesse pitcher can ratchet it up to 96 mph in the late innings if he has to, and he has the ability to keep his stuff down low consistently...... The Padres see him as a # 2 starter in the future........Villanueva has thrown goose eggs in two of his three starts this season -- a total of 11 2/3 innings with a bad outing against Birmingham sandwiched in between.

 

Russ Rohlicek made his debut for the Stars in this game....... The former Diamond Jaxx lefthander's first game was successful in his 2/3 of an inning, giving up a hit and striking out Jason Pridie in the 8th.

 

The Washington Nationals bought the contract of Saul Rivera from Triple-A New Orleans and brought him up to the majors last Saturday, but after five days and no action, he was sent back down to New Orleans, Thursday....... The former Twins prospect was 2-1 with a 1.62 ERA for the Stars in 2004, after making his debut against the Smokies, June 23rd.

[Mass Haas]

Huntsville Game Photo -- Greg Sain:

 

www.montgomeryadvertiser....s=Itemnr=2

 

Huntsville Game Photo -- Khalid Ballouli:

 

www.montgomeryadvertiser....s=Itemnr=4

 

Huntsville Game Photos -- Guilder Rodriguez:

 

www.montgomeryadvertiser....s=Itemnr=5

 

www.montgomeryadvertiser....s=Itemnr=6

 

Huntsville Game Photo -- Steve Moss:

 

www.montgomeryadvertiser....s=Itemnr=7

[Mass Haas]

Isenia's hitting, Martinez's baserunning key Biscuits

By A. Stacy Long

Montgomery Advertiser

 

There was no pause and nothing to ponder.

 

Gabriel Martinez jumped out of the starter's gate at contact and never slowed down.

 

The snap baserunning decision provided the go-ahead run in the Montgomery Biscuits' 3-2 win over the Huntsville Stars on Thursday at Riverwalk Stadium.

 

On a ball that dropped barely in front of the center fielder, Martinez galloped home to put the Biscuits ahead in the seventh inning.

 

"That was good baserunning," Montgomery's Chairon Isenia said. "That was a great read by Gabriel Martinez."

 

Isenia snapped out of a season-opening slump and knocked in all three runs, while he and Martinez both had rare stolen bases in the seventh.

 

Martinez stole second to get in scoring position on a missed hit-and-run play. A batter later, Martinez was off and running again.

 

"Gaby went hard the whole way on the hit-and-run. That's why he was safe at second base," Montgomery manager Charlie Montoyo said.

 

"Then, on the ball Isenia hit, he knew where the outfielder was and started running immediately. He gave me a chance to send him."

 

Center fielder Steve Moss' throw was cut off, allowing Martinez to score standing up.

 

"You have to know where the outfielders are playing," Martinez said. "I knew that ball was a blooper and none of the outfielders were going to catch it."

 

Nice throw

 

Huntsville catcher J.C. Boscan showed some arm about two hours before Thursday's series finale.

 

Just before the Stars started batting practice, Boscan uncorked a throw from foul territory just behind first base at Riverwalk Stadium.

 

Boscan hit the scoreboard.

 

The throw covered at least 320 feet and ended at a point at least 25 feet off the ground.

[Mass Haas]

Nashville Pre-Game Audio Chat with Infielder Chris Barnwell:

 

www.nashvillesounds.com/a...204-20.wma

[Mass Haas]

Final: Nashville 7, Omaha (Royals) 2

 

Nashville Site Game Summary:

Link for new Dennis Sarfate photo, text follows --

 

www.nashvillesounds.com/n...ewsId=1912

 

Sounds Pull Into Tie For First Place With 7-2 Win

 

NASHVILLE, Tenn. ? The Nashville Sounds pulled into a tie for first place for the first time this season with a 7-2 victory over the Omaha Royals in front of 5,185 fans on Thursday evening at Greer Stadium.

 

The victory was the eighth in the last 10 games for Nashville (9-6), which improved to 6-1 during its current homestand and pulled into a tie for the PCL American Conference Northern Division lead with the Royals.

 

Nashville starter Dennis Sarfate (1-0) picked up his first victory of the season after allowing one unearned run over five-plus innings of four-hit ball, lowering his ERA to 3.38 on the year. The right-hander walked six batters and struck out five in his outing.

 

The Sounds legged out five doubles in the contest to up their league-leading total to 36 in their 15 games this season.

 

Nashville bolted out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Tony Gwynn opened the game with a double to left and scored the game?s first run one batter later on Jermaine Clark?s RBI two-bagger to left-center. The two-bagger for Gwynn extended the Nashville leadoff hitter?s hitting streak to seven games. The Sounds tacked on an unearned run later in the frame when Omaha third baseman Mike Aviles mishandled Vinny Rottino?s two-out grounder, allowing Clark to score.

 

The Sounds stretched the lead to 7-0 with a five-run second inning against Omaha starter Brian Bass. With one out, Mark Johnson singled and moved to third on a well-executed hit-and-run single by Chris Barnwell, which extended the infielder?s hitting streak to eight games ? the longest by a Sound this season. Bass committed a balk to advance each runner a base as Johnson scored the contest?s third run. After a Gwynn groundout and Clark walk, Omaha shortstop Andres Blanco let a Corey Hart grounder go between his legs into left for an error that allowed Barnwell to score.

 

Nelson Cruz followed with his PCL-leading seventh double of the year, a two-run knock to right-center that brought in Clark and Hart.

 

AUDIO: Nelson Cruz Two-Run Double --

 

www.nashvillesounds.com/a...204-20.wma

 

Rottino capped off the frame?s scoring with an RBI single to left that barely missed striking Cruz on the basepaths.

 

Omaha broke up the shutout bid in the sixth when they plated a pair of unearned runs resulting from a fielding error by Sounds reliever Wilton Chavez, making the score 7-2.

 

Bass (0-2) took the loss after surrendering seven runs, two of which were earned, on six hits in only two innings of work.

 

Both teams received solid evenings from their bullpens, which combined for 10.0 scoreless innings. Wilton Chavez hurled three scoreless frames for the Sounds and now boasts a 1.46 ERA on the year. Allan Simpson worked a scoreless ninth for Nashville.

 

Royals reliever Danny Tamayo turned in a solid outing behind Bass, tossing five innings of three-hit shutout ball while striking out four batters. Former Sound Frank Brooks finished up with one scoreless inning.

 

The clubs are scheduled to wrap up the four-game set with a 7 p.m. meeting on Friday evening. Left-hander Justin Thompson (0-0, 7.94) takes the hill for the Sounds to make his third start of the year. Omaha will counter with right-hander Kyle Snyder (0-0, 0.73).

 

Nashville Box Score:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_nasaaa_1

 

Nashville Game Log:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_nasaaa_1

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

tennessean.com/apps/pbcs....328/SPORTS

 

Balk aids Sounds in victory

Omaha can't handle Nashville's speed

By MAURICE PATTON

Tennessean Staff Writer

 

"Speed kills" may be an overused sports cliché, but the Nashville Sounds' threat of a running game certainly played a role in their 7-2 win last night over visiting Omaha.

 

Already leading 2-0, Nashville had runners at first and third with an out in the second inning. Chris Barnwell, who came into the game with four stolen bases, broke for second as Omaha starter Brian Bass went into his windup to Tony Gwynn.

 

Bass, a right-hander, faked to third and threw to first in a pickoff attempt, but was ruled to have balked, killing the play and sending Barnwell to second and scoring Mark Johnson from third.

 

"If they don't call the balk, the whole inning stops in its tracks," Barnwell said. "I'm glad the umpire was watching for it ? for my sake."

 

Royals Manager Mike Jirschele argued the call and was ejected, and the Sounds added another four runs by the end of the inning.

 

"It was pretty close," Nashville Manager Frank Kremblas said of Bass's move. "He had a lot of weight toward the plate.

 

"I couldn't tell where his foot landed. You might think they'd put that (play) on if they think we're running in a situation, if there's a tendency to run. You want to do something to keep them close, to try to get an out out of the situation."

 

Johnson's run, and the four ensuing runs, provided enough of a cushion for Sounds starter Dennis Sarfate, who took a shutout into the sixth inning in his longest outing of the season.

 

Omaha finally broke through against Sarfate and reliever Wilton Chavez in the sixth, scoring twice on a pair of base hits and a Chavez fielding error. Chavez retired the visitors in order in the seventh and worked through the eighth before Allan Simpson got the last three outs.

 

"We've still got to eliminate the little mistakes that were big," Kremblas said. "Chavez pitched around his error, but we've got to get an out there."

 

With their eighth win in the last 10 games, the Sounds moved into a tie with Omaha atop the PCL American Northern Division.

 

³What they said: ?There were a couple of hits, a couple of groundballs we couldn?t get to. But a lot of things are going our way. The guys are in position.? ? Kremblas, regarding his team?s play during the current 8-2 run after a 1-4 start.

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

tennessean.com/apps/pbcs....328/SPORTS

 

Hart passes his Brewers total at-bats in one Sounds game

By MAURICE PATTON

Tennessean Staff Writer

 

It may be hard to enjoy a 1-for-4 day more than Corey Hart did Wednesday.

 

In his first game with the Nashville Sounds after making the Milwaukee Brewers' opening-day roster, Hart ? a Pacific Coast League all-star last season ? had more at-bats than he did through the Brewers' first 14 games.

 

"That was the most fun game I've had all year," said Hart, who had three at-bats in four games with Milwaukee before he was optioned out Tuesday. "I was caught in a spot where I wasn't needed at all, pretty much. I was just kinda sitting there."

 

With Milwaukee's starting outfield of Carlos Lee, Brady Clark and Geoff Jenkins and with Gabe Gross getting the primary reserve action, Hart was virtually the odd man out.

 

He hit .308 with 17 home runs and 69 RBIs for the Sounds last season. In two seasons at the Class AAA level, Hart batted .295 with 32 homers and 136 RBIs.

 

"I'm more disappointed in not getting the chance to be involved more," said Hart, who also was 1 for 4 Thursday night. "It's great to be in the major leagues, but you want to be able to contribute. I would like to have contributed more than I did.

 

"I'd go back and sit on the bench in the majors in a heartbeat. But you feel better about yourself when you're playing, when you're doing something. Everybody wants to go somewhere and play, be a part of it."

 

Now that he's back in Nashville, Hart is concentrating on shaking off the rust from three at-bats in two weeks.

 

"It's tough; I got a little out of synch," he said. "Hopefully it won't take me long to get comfortable.

 

"I need to just go out and play. There's nothing I can do about it. I'm going to go out and get to swinging. All I can do is help myself."

 

Streakin': Chris Barnwell's second-inning single extended his hitting streak to eight games, a season high for the Sounds. The previous high of seven was initially set by Jermaine Clark, then matched by Mike Rivera on Tuesday. Rivera, who hasn't played in the last couple of games, and Tony Gwynn each have active seven-game hitting streaks.

 

Runnin' wild: Though they did not steal a base last night, the Sounds entered play as the Pacific Coast League leader with 30, with 11 different team members accounting for at least one steal. Dave Krynzel's six continues to lead the club and rank second in the PCL, with Clark and Gwynn adding five each.

 

I'm gloving it: The Sounds have committed eight errors, the best defensive performance in the league. Their 21 double plays lead the PCL as well.

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.nashvillecitypaper.co...s_id=49332

 

Team effort leads Sounds to win

By Nate Rau, Sports Correspondent

 

The Nashville Sounds are beginning to resemble a broken record.

 

Night after night the team wins by doing the little things right and Thursday against Omaha was no different. Behind steady defense, timely hitting and good-enough starting pitching, the Sounds notched a ho-hum 7-2 victory over the Royals in front of 5,185 Greer Stadium fans.

 

The first-place Sounds are now 6-1 at home this season.

 

?More than anything we?ve had great defense and great pitching,? center fielder Tony Gwynn said. ?This past home stand, our bats started to come alive.

 

?Those are the three things you need. You need defense, pitching and timely hitting.?

 

Nashville got all the runs it needed in the first two innings off hapless Omaha starter Brian Bass.

 

The Sounds chased Bass after the second inning, having scored all seven runs off six hits.

 

?That tends to be the remedy to winning games,? Gwynn said. ?We got [our] runs off the starter. Their bullpen came in and did a great job, but those seven runs early were pretty much all we needed.?

 

Dennis Sarfate (1-0) got the start for Nashville and threw his best game of the young season. Sarfate surrendered just two runs through five innings.

 

The blemish on Sarfate?s line in the box score is in the walks column. The hard-throwing righty surrendered six of them to Royals batters.

 

It was still his best start of the season, as he went further into the game than he had in his first two starts.

 

?It would be so much easier for me if I didn?t try to overthrow so much,? Sarfate said. ?It?s a learning process and you?ve just got to take baby steps. I got deeper, but it?s still not good enough. I need to go six, seven innings.?

 

Wilton Chavez (three innings, no runs) and Allan Simpson (one inning, no runs) came out of the Nashville bullpen and held Omaha in check.

 

True to form, there wasn?t one standout star for Nashville offensively. Nelson Cruz collected two hits and two RBIs and Chris Barnwell pushed his team-best hitting streak to eight games.

 

Sounds third baseman Vinny Rottino also had a pair of hits, including a double. Nashville collected five doubles to push their Pacific Coast League-leading total 36 on the young season.

 

Zach Jackson, who missed his last start because of a bruised ring finger on his pitching hand, was bumped up in the rotation and will take the mound for the Sounds tonight.

[brewmann04]

I agree with Dhonks

that with Ohka pitching good and bad we might see a call up from nashville by the end of may

[And That]

A Khalid Ballouli photo? *melts*

 

I don't know that it is time to start thinking concretely about Eveland/Hendrickson/Jackson quite yet. Ohka and Bush deserve awhile yet unless either implodes, and even though the kids are doing well in AAA, they may need to work on some things before getting back to the bigs. I'm not saying that it is wrong to conjecture about it, but I don't see a move happening anytime soon unless something drastic happens to Ohka or Bush (or another starter for that matter).

 

Hendrickson in particular still worries me a lot because he's walking a ton of guys and not allowing a lot of hits - this is something I'd tend to expect from a flame-thrower who is learning to become a pitcher, not an average-velocity guy with good offspeed stuff. If he can't control the strike zone, he's never going to succeed in the bigs. He just can't - even if he has a great fastball no one is going to swing at it if it isn't hitting the zone and if he has to get his 88-90 MPH fastball over for strikes.

 

I also don't know that Jackson will be ready for another couple months at the earliest. He's spent so little time in AAA to this point. I'd give the nod to Eveland right now if I had to call up a starter.

[dadofandrew]

Ohka is a proven big league starter, albeit one who could easily be called "mediocre". I don't see him being dealt until someone is dominating AAA like Sheets did, and for a lot more than a handful of starts.

 

And I don't see him going to the bullpen, period.