Link Report for Tue. 9/13 -- Let the Finals Begin (Twice)

[Mass Haas]

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

[Mass Haas]

Tuesday's Daily Menu:

If anybody's "in-the-know" regarding the H-Crew's starting rotation for this series, please fill us in...

 

Both starts Central Time --

 

Nashville: RHP Ben Hendrickson at home vs. Tacoma (Mariners), 6:40 PM pre-game, 7:00 gametime -- game one in the best-of-five series

 

Audio link:

www.nashvillesounds.com/listenlive/

 

Nashville Site Gamecast Feed:

www.nashvillesounds.com/live/xlive.htm

 

Helena: LHP David Welch at Orem (Angels), 8:05 gametime -- game one in the best-of-three series

 

Audio link (opponent's, scroll to bottom of linked page):

www.oremowlz.com/

[Mass Haas]

Follow Tuesday's action as it happens:

Keep in mind, the Nashville gamecast feature linked in the prior post is excellent for immediate updates...

 

Nashville:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_nasaaa_1

 

Helena:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...k_orerok_1

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.nashvillecitypaper.co...s_id=44334

 

This Sounds team one of the best

By Nate Rau, nrau@nashvillecitypaper.com

 

Minor league baseball teams are measured by more than just wins and losses. Division titles and champagne showers like the Sounds have enjoyed this week are nice, but the goal of every minor leaguer is to punch his ticket to the big leagues.

 

Considering the Sounds are three wins away from the Pacific Coast League title, it doesn?t seem too early to start comparing this group with other great teams that have passed through Nashville.

 

In addition to winning their division and their first playoff series, the Sounds have featured several players who have found their way onto the Milwaukee Brewers? roster.

 

Rickie Weeks, Prince Fielder and Corey Hart are the biggest-name prospects who passed through Nashville this season. Weeks and Fielder lived up to the hype that preceded them this spring. Now, Weeks is in the lineup almost every day and Brewers manager Ned Yost proclaimed in August that Fielder has nothing left to prove at the Triple-A level.

 

Besides that talented trio, pitchers Justin Lehr, Jose Capellan, Rick Helling and Kane Davis are all contributors on the Brewers? staff.

 

?I knew those guys were going to go up and that?s because they were doing what they had to do down here,? Sounds manager Frank Kremblas said. ?I?m happy those guys are up there doing a good job.?

 

With all the talent that?s passed through this season coupled with the fact Kremblas has the team three wins away from the title, this year?s team deserves to be mentioned as one of the top Sounds teams ever.

 

The Sounds won the Southern League title in 1979 and 1982 as the Double-A affiliate of Cincinnati and then the New York Yankees.

 

Farrell Owens was a front office executive with the Sounds during those teams and has followed the team closely as a season ticket holder since then.

 

?As I look back on those two championship teams, we had some really good players,? Owens said. ?But I don?t ever remember us being robbed of so many good players. To me this team might have more tenacity.

 

?This is a scrappy team with a very good manager, hopefully they can bring the first Triple-A title to Nashville.?

[Mass Haas]

Here's hoping at least one of the Nashville newspapers sends their beat guy on the road to Tacoma for coverage of the latter games of this series...

 

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.tennessean.com/apps/p...328/SPORTS

 

Successful Sounds produce both big leaguers and wins

Conference champs send 12 players to Milwaukee

By MAURICE PATTON

Tennessean Staff Writer

 

For Reid Nichols, the Nashville Sounds had finished a successful season on Labor Day. Playing past that point was icing on the proverbial cake.

 

Nichols, the director of player development for the Milwaukee Brewers ? Nashville's parent club ? watched the Sounds send 12 players to the major leagues over the course of the season.

 

Eight of those players are still on the Brewers' roster and helping that team toward its first .500 finish since going 92-70 and finishing second in the American League East in 1992.

 

"It's been a good year all the way around," Nichols said as the Sounds gear up to begin the Pacific Coast League championship series tonight at Greer Stadium against Tacoma.

 

Opening the season with seven of Milwaukee's top 10 prospects ? as judged by Baseball America, the publication that rated Milwaukee as having the third-best minor league system behind Anaheim and Los Angeles ? the Sounds were never more than three games out of first place in the PCL American North division.

 

Nashville took the division lead for good on June 17 and built a 9½-game lead before slumping late and clinching the title on the next-to-last day of the regular season.

 

While winning in the minor leagues is secondary to getting players ready to contribute at the major league level, the Sounds managed to do both.

 

"I've always said if you're out of (the playoff race) in August, you lose a whole month of development," Nichols said. "Guys start planning for the winter ? hunting trips, vacations, etc. They're not thinking about baseball."

 

Nashville could have been out of the race ? by putting the competition in its rearview mirror ? in August. But the Sounds lost 16 of 19 games in one stretch to add some late-season suspense.

 

The slide was in no small part due to the loss of highly touted prospects Jose Capellan, Prince Fielder and Corey Hart to Milwaukee, following the earlier call-up of phenom Rickie Weeks. The Sounds also lost veterans Kane Davis and Rick Helling and pitching swingman Justin Lehr to the Brewers.

 

"The supporting cast did an outstanding job, to the point that a lot of guys that weren't there at the beginning of the year, that we weren't really considering for major league jobs, have to be considered," Nichols said.

 

Help came in the form of midseason additions Chris Barnwell, Warren Morris, Mike Rivera and Tony Zuniga, as well as late additions Vinny Rottino, Dennis Sarfate and Mitch Stetter. Another key arrival was Nelson Cruz, who hit 11 homers in 60 games after hitting 16 in 68 games in Double-A .

 

"We knew some of those guys were going to go up eventually," Sounds Manager Frank Kremblas said. "But we had other guys come in, and they had to step up and do what they could.

 

"It's really about getting the guys where they should be. I'm sure those guys (with the Brewers) would like to be here helping us, but they're not disappointed because they're in the big leagues."

 

Maurice Patton covers the Sounds for The Tennessean. Reach him at mopatton@tennessean.com.

[Mass Haas]

PCL championship series preview

Maurice Patton, the Tennessean

 

TACOMA (80-64) VS. NASHVILLE (75-69)

 

Best of five *if necessary.

 

? Tonight: at Nashville, 7 p.m. Sounds RHP Ben Hendrickson (6-12, 4.97 regular season; 0-0, 3.00 postseason) vs. Rainiers LHP Bobby Livingston (6-2, 4.70 regular season; 0-0, 4.50 postseason).

 

? Tomorrow: at Nashville, 7 p.m. Sounds LHP Tommy Phelps (1-0, 1.13 regular season; 0-1, 2.84 postseason) vs. Rainiers RHP Jesse Foppert (0-1, 2.57 regular season; 1-0, 5.40 postseason).

 

? Friday: at Tacoma, 9:05 p.m. Sounds RHP Gary Glover (6-4, 3.03 regular season; 2-0, 2.45 postseason) vs. Rainiers LHP Damian Moss (9-7, 3.73 regular season; 0-1, 7.50 postseason)

 

? Saturday: at Tacoma, 9:05 p.m. Sounds RHP Dennis Sarfate (0-1, 2.25 regular season; 1-0, 1.80 postseason) vs. Rainiers TBA.*

 

? Sunday: at Tacoma, 3:35 p.m. Sounds RHP Mike Meyers (7-4, 5.31 regular season; 0-0, 5.06) vs. Rainiers TBA.*

 

Game 1 starters

Projected. Not including pitchers.

 

TACOMA

Player Pos Avg HR RBI

 

Shin-Soo Choo LF` .282 11 54

Justin Leone 3B .243 7 38

Abraham Nunez RF .274 17 86

Wiki Gonzalez C .313 5 28

Hunter Brown 2B .291 7 53

Aaron Rifkin 1B .258 14 54

R. Christianson DH .245 9 40

T.J. Bohn CF .321 1 7

A. Cabrera SS .217 0 3

 

SOUNDS

Player Pos Avg HR RBI

 

Trent Durrington 1B .300 5 31

Dave Krynzel CF .253 11 51

Vinny Rottino 3B .345 1 2

Tony Zuniga DH .323 7 43

Nelson Cruz RF .269 11 27

Julio Mosquera C .258 4 30

Ryan Knox LF .233 5 26

Chris Barnwell 2B .245 3 20

Steve Scarborough SS .255 11 58

 

Who's got the edge?

 

? Starting pitching: Nashville starters held Oklahoma to two runs or less in four of their five outings, compiling an earned run average of 3.38 ? more than a run better than the regular-season mark of 4.72. Tacoma was equally impressive against Sacramento, with a 3.41 ERA in the five games following a 4.36 regular season. Edge ? Sounds.

 

? Relief pitching: Besides one nightmarish inning in Game 2, Nashville's bullpen was stellar in the divisional series ? closing out with 4+ scoreless innings in the decisive game for an overall ERA of 3.12. Tacoma's relievers gave up 12 runs in 19 innings against Sacramento. Edge ? Sounds.

 

? Offense: Nashville hit 30 points better against Oklahoma than Tacoma did against Sacramento (.274 to .244), and the two teams nearly matched each in scoring (Nashville 21, Tacoma 24). The Rainiers played two extra-inning games, though, and won them both. Even.

 

? Defense: Tacoma has had a number of personnel changes, but the Rainiers committed just three errors in 48 innings of play against Sacramento. The Sounds have struggled with the gloves off and on all year, although they settled down in the divisional series and had four miscues in the five games. Even.

 

? Managing: Rainiers skipper Dan Rohn has won PCL Manager of the Year honors each of the last two seasons, after receiving the award in 2001 as well. Nashville's Frank Kremblas has four 75-win seasons under his belt in eight years, but is seeking his first postseason title. Edge ? Rainiers.

 

? Intangibles: Both Tacoma and Nashville claimed five-game victories in the first round under trying circumstances. Tacoma swept the final three games against two-time defending PCL champion Sacramento on the road ? the last two wins coming in extra innings. The Sounds faced elimination games twice and won them both, but did so at home. Even.

[Mass Haas]

A blog discussion about the Sounds' post-season attendance and the proposed new ballbark in Nashville:

 

www.nashvillescene.com/bl...0575.shtml

[Mass Haas]

LHP David Welch goes for Helena tonight, mates (Aussie reference).

 

RHP Will Inman starts in Helena Thursday, and if necessary, it's a good possibility that RHP Mathew Kretzschmar will throw Friday in a potential series-deciding finale.

[Mass Haas]

Nashville Media Notes for Tuesday (PDF format):

Nashville hitting coach Gary Pettis made his major league debut 23 years ago today, the same day on which ex-Sound Rickie Weeks was born.

 

www.nashvillesounds.com/pdf/notes.pdf

[JoeHova]

Here is a very interesting article about the Sounds' star pitcher the last time they won a league title. The 1982 Brewers also feature prominently in the story.

 

link:

newyork.yankees.mlb.com/N...p&c_id=nyy

 

 

A Dream Unfulfilled

Stefan Wever looks back at brief Major League career

By Doug Miller / MLB.com

 

SAN FRANCISCO -- Stefan Wever has always been a dreamer, and he doesn't apologize for his latest recurring reverie.

"It's usually the same dream, and the latest has been pretty vivid," says Wever, whose huge, athletic frame dominates the space behind the bar at the Horseshoe Tavern in San Francisco's Marina district.

 

"I'm on a field, but it's more like a cow pasture. Don Mattingly's there, Buck Showalter's there, all of my old teammates are there. And I'm there, trying to make it back to the big leagues. But I never quite get on the field."

 

Wever made it to that field once but didn't stay long.

 

It was Sept. 17, 1982, and Wever was a 24-year-old New York Yankees callup fresh from Double-A. The top prospect, all 6-foot-8 and 240 pounds of him, started a game against the Milwaukee Brewers, pitched into the third inning, tore his rotator cuff and never played in the Majors again.

 

Twenty-three years later, he's 47 and owns the Horseshoe and another popular San Francisco haunt, the Grant and Green. He has success -- financial freedom and a loving family. Still, one can detect a tinge of sadness in his eyes when he tells the story of his brief baseball career.

 

"I have no bitterness," Wever says. "I look back on it with mostly happiness. They say things happen for a reason, so I've learned to live with it that way."

 

What Wever didn't expect to happen was for everything to end so suddenly.

 

Not wanting to make a commotion, the rookie kept quiet about the injury, which he considered minor. He tried to rehab his shoulder and pitch through it in Spring Training of 1983 while the club used what Wever called a "conservative approach."

 

Wever didn't find out it was a torn rotator cuff for two years and a year later he was out of the game.

 

But he made sure he had fun while he was in it.

 

***

A day after Wever had locked up the Double-A championship for Nashville to cap off an 18-win season, he was called into the office of skipper Johnny Oates, where his pitching coach, Hoyt Wilhelm, awaited. A call to Triple-A Columbus seemed logical based on his talent.

 

"He was tall and he threw hard," says Mattingly, Wever's rookie ball teammate. "He was definitely a hot prospect for us."

 

Hot enough that the shuttle to Ohio wasn't mentioned in the conversation.

 

"I was going to go home to San Francisco," Wever says, "but they told me there would be nobody waiting at the airport for me. They said, 'You're going to New York.'"

 

Wever says he was overjoyed when his taxi pulled up to the House That Ruth Built and stunned when the fans outside the players' entrance shouted his name and spouted off his Nashville numbers.

 

Then he walked into the clubhouse.

 

"I figured, I'm some kid from Double-A, so I'd get some locker in the corner with No. 84 or something," he says. "But my locker was in the middle of the room and I had No. 25 -- Tommy John's old number.

 

"I looked up and the locker on my right was Dave Winfield. The locker on my left was Goose Gossage. What more can you ask for?"

 

How about this: After flying first class on the team charter to Baltimore, Wever lucked into a suite vacated by veteran catcher Barry Foote, who had left the team for personal reasons.

 

Wever, who should have been sharing a double, got a pad with a view of the Inner Harbor, a wet bar and a gold-plated telephone by the toilet.

 

"It was awesome," Wever says. "And word got out, you know, 'Hey, the rook's got the suite.'"

 

Wever ended up hosting a poker game and the Yankees partied until 6 a.m.

 

"I was like, 'Wow, I like it up here,'" Wever says. "I know it had noting to do with me, but it was a great initiation."

 

The next day, the initiation continued when legend Ron Guidry came up to Wever and said, "Welcome to the New York Yankees." Six-foot-six All-Star outfielder Winfield took Wever aside and filled him in on the "high-end tall men's clothing stores in the big cities."

 

Big-league life was as good as advertised, and Wever hadn't even thrown one pitch.

 

***

His chance came on his sixth day in the Majors in Milwaukee.

 

It had rained during the day and Wever stepped onto a muddy mound at old County Stadium, home of world-famous bratwursts and "Harvey's Wallbangers," the Harvey Kuenn-managed team of sluggers on its march to the World Series.

 

"I don't know if anyone making their Major League debut has faced two Hall of Famers to start their career, but I did," Wever says, before recanting the blur of baseball that followed.

 

"Paul Molitor hit a five- or six-hopper through the right side for a single," Wever says. "Robin Yount hit a legit double and Molitor scored.

 

"The next batter was Cecil Cooper, and I threw him a really good changeup. He took a big swing and our center fielder, Jerry Mumphrey, must have thought the ball was going to the wall. He broke back and the ball bounced in front of him, then past him. That should have been the first out."

 

Ted Simmons followed with a ground ball through shortstop Andre Robertson's legs -- "That should have been the second out" -- and the Wallbangers were in business.

 

Gorman Thomas was next, the at-bat that would very quietly change Wever's life. It didn't start quietly, though.

 

"He hit one a mile," Wever says of the three-run homer for the Brewers' long-ball leader. At some point in the at-bat, Wever says he felt a "twinge" in his shoulder. He didn't tell anyone.

 

"There's no way I was coming out of that game," Wever says. "I'm not going to say, 'Hey, take me out of my Major League debut' because I had a little twinge in my arm. I needed to show them that I was tough."

 

He kept pitching and the Brewers kept hitting.

 

Look up Wever's statistics and you'll see the ugly numbers. Record: 0-1. One game, 2 2/3 innings, six hits, nine runs (eight earned), three walks, two strikeouts, one home run, three wild pitches. The Yankees lost, 14-0.

 

"It just wasn't a good game for us," Wever says. "I had no idea it was my last game."

 

***

"He was good. He was the real deal," says Showalter, now the manager of the Texas Rangers but Wever's Double-A teammate and running mate on the road in the early 1980s.

 

"He had a hard sinker and slider. He was very personable and everybody liked Stef. He was funny and really fun to be around. Intelligent.

 

"You wish all the medical help and technology was available then. Back then, a rotator cuff? You're done. He thinks about it. So do I. You never stop thinking about making it to the big leagues."

 

Wever didn't pitch again in 1982 and felt pain the first time he picked up a baseball over the winter. The Yankees told him to take it easy and he did, but when he arrived at Spring Training in 1983, new Yankees manager Billy Martin pumped him up by saying, "Stef, you're gonna be my No. 5 starter."

 

"He liked me," Wever says. "He liked big, strong guys with power arms."

 

Martin didn't know that there was a serious problem, though. Wever's arm didn't have much power anymore. He was struggling to reach 86 or 87 on the radar gun and his trademark diving movement had flattened out. Wever, not knowing any better, persevered.

 

"I was determined to tough it out and not let this reputation of an injury-plagued guy follow me," he says.

 

In July 1984, after months of stopping and starting again, Wever became frustrated.

 

"I said, 'This is ridiculous,'" Wever says. "I used to throw 95, now I throw 85. I'd like to go see an expert."

 

He saw noted specialist Dr. James Andrews, who took his arm and, "in two minutes," figured out what Wever needed to know: His rotator cuff was fully torn, there was torn cartilage and Wever needed surgery immediately.

 

Wever missed the rest of that season but rehabbed aggressively on his own all winter, lifting weights six hours a day and throwing against a brick wall at a school near his home. It didn't matter. He didn't have it anymore and he knew it.

 

While attempting a comeback in Triple-A camp the next year, Wever walked up to Foote, who had become the Columbus manager.

 

"I just said, 'I can't do this anymore,'" Wever says. "It was so tough. I had been so certain that I was a big-league pitcher. I thought in very grandiose terms. I was the best prospect in baseball. I thought I would be a Hall of Famer and a Yankee savior. And then it just ended."

 

***

Wever tearfully broke the news to his mother and came home. He wandered around San Francisco for what he calls "aimless months" in search of an identity that for the first time in his life didn't include the word "baseball."

 

"I was drinking a lot and staying out late," Wever says. "I don't regret anything in my baseball career, but I regret the year or two years after I got out.

 

"I was educated. I had an English degree [from Cal-Berkeley]. I should have kept my contacts and gotten into the game -- you know, front office, coaching, broadcasting. But I didn't."

 

Wever got into the bar business and it snowballed into a solid career. Still, there's always that day in Milwaukee to look back on.

 

"It simmered under the surface for a while, that feeling that you've lost your dream," Wever says. "Baseball was in the marrow of my bones. It's what I was the best at.

 

"What if Pavarotti, on his first night as a tenor, ruined his vocal chords? That's how I look at it. It might be egotistical, but that's how I have to look at it.

 

"I keep myself going by knowing that I was the best there was and that if I was healthy, I would have had a great career."

 

***

Walk into the Horseshoe and odds are you'll see Wever. He's hard to miss. He still has that boys-of-summer grin and he usually holds and twirls a baseball.

 

"It just feels good," he says.

 

He says he's never had a "woe is me" sentiment and that in some ways his life might have worked out better the way it happened.

 

"My thinking is that if I made it, maybe I would have turned into a big jerk and an alcoholic," he says. "Maybe I didn't make it because that's not who I am."

 

So who is he, really? Is he a man who's managed to move on from his dashed dream?

 

"I'm not really sure I have yet, to tell you the truth," he says quietly.

 

"Maybe I'll always be searching for an answer."

 

Doug Miller is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

[deeswan]

Here is a link to a "MLB Gameday" style gamecast of the Nashville Tacoma game this evening.

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_nasaaa_1

[PeaveyFury]

Very cool! Thanks for that link, deeswan!

[deeswan]

Nashville down 2-1 but with back-to-back singles to lead off the 3rd.

[deeswan]

Nevermind, Durro, Krynzel, and Vinny K to end the threat.

 

http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/mad.gif

[PeaveyFury]

Zuniga and Cruz with back to back HR's on back to back pitches to give the Sounds the lead!

 

2 HR's on the night for Cruz thus far.

[deeswan]

Zuniga and Cruz with back-to-back HRs to open the 4th (Cruz' 2nd tonight) give the Sounds a 3-2 lead.

[PeaveyFury]

Make that back-to-back-to-back!! Zuniga, Cruz, Rivera!

[PeaveyFury]

And Hendrickson promptly squashes the excitement by giving up a 2-run HR to tie the game in the top of the next inning.

 

Ugh.

[ja002h]

Holy Tony Zuniga Batman!! 2 run shot, 6-4!

[ja002h]

Evert in, promptly gives up another HR.

 

If I were a position player right now I'd be pretty ticked at the pitchers.

[deeswan]

What an unbelievable game in Nashville! Through 6 innings there the 2 teams have combined for 8 HRs. Nashville up 8-5 through 6 innings in this slugfest.

[ja002h]

Make that 8-5, Durro RBI single.

[brewcru1]

I love this game day feature for the Sounds game. Wish it wasn't so far ahead of the audiocast though

[Cyanogen5]

Is anyone listening to the Helena game? The boxscore shows them down 4-2 in the 6th...Angel with a solo shot. The boxscore hasn't updated in a while though, so things could be different by now.

 

Sounds win!!!! 8-6...lead best of five 1-0

[brewcru1]

Helena pushed to the brink of elimination. 6-3 loss tonight. Game 2 on Thursday