Link Report for Games of Tuesday, July 24th

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

web.minorleaguebaseball.c...;fext=.jsp

 

Manatees' Perez drives in six

By Michael Echan / Special to MLB.com

 

Yohannis Perez drove in a career-high six runs Tuesday as the Brevard County Manatees battered the St. Lucie Mets, 10-1, in the completion of a suspended game.

 

Perez continued his blistering July as he went 4-for-5 with a triple while driving in more than half of the Manatees' runs. He got Brevard County going with an RBI single in the second inning and delivered a two-run base hit in the fifth before legging out a bases-loaded triple in the eighth.

 

"I've been feeling pretty good lately," Perez said through teammate and interpreter Rafael Lluberes. "When I was in Huntsville, I definitely felt a lot of pressure, but when I came down here, [there was] not so much pressure anymore."

 

Pressure situations don't seem to affect Perez, who's hitting .533 (16-for-30) with 25 RBIs with runners in scoring position; that average climbs to .643 (9-for-14) with two outs.

 

"My approach is always the same -- just look for a good pitch and make sure that I hit it," Perez said.

 

The 24-year-old Cuban shortstop is batting .340 in the Florida State League, thanks in part to a .361 average in July, and has driven in 18 runs in 18 games. He has 25 RBIs with Brevard County, although only five of hits 35 hits have gone for extra bases.

 

Perez started the season with Double-A Huntsville and hit .195 with 16 RBIs in 56 games.

 

Mat Gamel went 2-for-3 with two RBIs, two walks, a stolen base and two runs scored for the Manatees (18-13). Chris Errecart was 2-for-4 with a double, a walk and three runs scored.

 

Reliever Ben Stanczyk (5-1) tossed three scoreless innings, giving up two hits and a walk while striking out four for the win.

 

The Mets (12-19) scored their only run when Dustin Martin led off the ninth with a double and came home on Dan Murphy's groundout.

 

St. Lucie starter Deolis Guerra (1-6) (1-6) lost his fifth straight decision after allowing two runs -- one earned -- on three hits and a walk in three innings. The 18-year-old right-hander is winless since April 23.

 

Yohannis Perez has driven in 25 runs in 30 games since he was assigned to the Florida State League. (Photo by Morry Gash/AP)

 

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/images/2007/07/24/EXnjZPJU.jpg

[Mass Haas]

Tuesday's Helena KCAP Audio Pre-Game Interview with West Coast Cross-Checker Bruce Seid:

Be sure you're on the July 24th archive, go to the 13:30 minute mark:

 

web.minorleaguebaseball.c.../audio.jsp

[Mass Haas]

It's been a while since the Tennessean had a Sounds photo gallery:

 

tennessean.com/apps/pbcs....amp;Ref=PH

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

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

 

Sounds allow one run, still lose

By MAURICE PATTON

Tennessean Staff Writer

 

As hot as the Nashville Sounds have been all season, they may have run into an even hotter team Tuesday night.

 

Visiting Fresno downed the Sounds 1-0, giving the Grizzlies their eighth consecutive win and their third by shutout.

 

The Sounds' 62 wins lead all of Triple-A, but it was their first 1-0, nine-inning game since winning at Round Rock on June 25 of last season.

 

"You've got to get some two-out, RBI hits," Nashville Manager Frank Kremblas said after his team dropped its third consecutive game. "If we'd gotten two of those, we'd have won; but we didn't, and it cost us."

 

Second baseman Callix Crabbe singled to lead off both the first and the sixth innings, and was stranded in scoring position on both occasions. He also had a two-out base hit in the eighth, then stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error.

 

The loss went to Nashville starter Zach Jackson, who is 0-3 with one no-decision for the month of July.

 

"We had good pitching, good defense," Kremblas said. "They just did better."

 

Back-to-back Zach: Jackson struck out nine in eight innings Tuesday, matching his season high, which he established in his previous start. Jackson struck out nine in a six-inning outing at New Orleans in which he took the loss, as Nashville fell 4-1.

 

Jackson and Gabe Gross, who was optioned down to Nashville by the Brewers over the weekend and made his first Sounds start Tuesday, were both involved in the trade that sent former Milwaukee first baseman Lyle Overbay to Toronto prior to the 2006 season.

 

What they said: "We had some balls that were hit hard; it just wasn't our day. But we'll come out (today), put some at-bats together and see what happens." ? Crabbe.

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.wvgazette.com/section...2007072427

 

Power bats remain cool, losing streak reaches seven

By Tommy R. Atkinson

Charleston Gazette Staff Writer

 

After the first couple of innings Tuesday night, it seemed the West Virginia Power might swing its way out of its worst malaise of the season.

 

Alas, the timely hits still refused to fall for the Power, and the Delmarva Shorebirds flew out of town with a 7-2 victory and a four-game sweep. A paid crowd of 2,890 attended at Appalachian Power Park.

 

Another night of futility saw the Power?s season-worst losing streak reach seven games and the Power suffered its first sweep in South Atlantic League play this year. The Power won the Northern Division title in the first half of the season and the accompanying playoff spot.

 

The Power (15-18), which leads the Sally League in batting average at .288, managed only five hits Tuesday and stranded seven baserunners, including five in scoring position. During the four-game sweep by the Shorebirds (16-16), the Power batted .235 (31-for-132), was outscored 27-11 and left 32 men on base.

 

?I guess you can call it bad luck,?? said Power right fielder Stephen Chapman, who doubled twice Tuesday. ?We?ve hit a lot of lineouts. [You] just keep on plugging away. There?s nothing you can do. We?ve been losing a lot lately, but we haven?t been playing bad ball. That?s just how the ball rolls.??

 

Chapman said the best thing to do when a bad streak rears its ugly head is nothing at all.

 

?You do your same routine,?? he said. ?You do everything you?ve been doing. We still practice the same and do everything the same as if we were winning 14 games in a row. There?s not a whole lot we can do extra. Hopefully, we?ll just get a big hit.??

 

The Power had several chances but couldn?t come through.

 

Power shortstop Brent Brewer laced a one-out single in the first inning then stole second but was left there as the next two batters flied out and struck out, respectively. In the second, Chapman smacked a two-out double, but catcher Andy Bouchie fanned to end the inning.

 

The Power manufactured a run in the third to pull to 2-1 as leadoff hitter Charlie Fermaint singled, stole second and third, then came home on left fielder Andrew Lefave?s sacrifice fly. The inning held more promise as Brewer, who walked earlier, stole second but first baseman John Alonso bounced out.

 

Chapman doubled with two outs in the fourth and again was left there when Bouchie struck out. Fermaint singled with one out in the fifth, went to second on an error, stole third and came around on a throwing error as the Power closed to 4-2. The Power?s only other scoring opportunity came in the eighth, but by then West Virginia trailed 7-2.

 

Fermaint finished 2-for-4 and scored both Power runs. Starter Alex Periard (5-3) took the loss, allowing three earned runs on eight hits, including a pair of two-run home runs, in six innings.

 

The Shorebirds had no trouble getting timely hits. Center fielder Brandon Tripp smacked a one-out, two-run home run in the third for a 2-0 lead, and after the Power closed within a run in the bottom of the third, catcher Michael Pierce belted a two-run shot for a 4-1 advantage in the fifth. Delmarva blew the game open in the seventh with three runs for a 7-2 edge.

 

Shorebirds starter Kyle Schmidt (4-8), who was riding a personal six-game losing skid, limited the Power to one earned run on five hits in six innings with seven strikeouts and two walks.

 

The Power will continue its homestand as the Hagerstown Suns, who are 9-23 in the second half, roll in for a four-game series beginning at 7:05 tonight (6:05 Central).

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.dailymail.com/story/S...ing+streak

 

Power won't panic over losing streak

Michael Dailey

Charleston Daily Mail Sportswriter

 

The West Virginia Power caught its fair share of good breaks during the first half of the South Atlantic League baseball season.

 

In cruising to a 48-20 record and a Northern Division first-half title, the Power always seemed to benefit from a well-placed, seeing-eye single, or from a tailor-made double play when the opposition tried to mount a rally.

 

A 14-game winning streak never hurts, either.

 

But just 33 games into the SAL second half, West Virginia is no longer catching the breaks it did earlier in the season.

 

Be it a slicing liner that finds a defender's glove instead of an outfield gap, or a pitch that's just off the corner of the plate, the breaks just haven't been there.

 

The shortage of breaks has helped send the team into a losing skid not experienced by the Power since the team's first season at Appalachian Power Park.

 

West Virginia (15-18) has dropped seven straight games, the latest being a 7-2 decision Tuesday night to the Delmarva Shorebirds at Appalachian Power Park in front of 2.890 fans.

 

The current losing streak, which is the team's longest since an eight-game slide in August of 2005, certainly has frustrated Power players and coaches.

 

But those men have played and coached enough baseball to know that in the course of a 140-game season, streaks, both good and bad, will eventually find every team that plays the game.

 

"It seems to me that we're getting what we dished out a lot in the first half," Power infielder Kenny Holmberg said. "There's been a lot of different heroes on the other team. It's not one guy just standing out and picking on us.

 

"And for us, it seems like every guy in the lineup wants to do a little bit too much, instead of allowing the guy behind them to do just enough. We've just gotten away from doing the little things like bunting, drawing walks, getting hit by pitches and stealing bases.

 

"Baseball is a humbling game. But to still be 25 games above .500, we're still doing a good job. It's just that we're going through what some of the other teams have gone through this year.

 

"We haven't experienced it much this season, so hopefully we're getting it out of our systems before the playoffs."

 

Power outfielder Andrew Lefave shared Holmberg's no panic attitude.

 

"It's a long season and maybe we're just getting a little tired," LeFave said. "We're not used to losing, so it's tough, but we've just got to stick to our game plan and things will be all right.

 

"When you play at this level, there's so much competition and everybody steps up to play. Our pitching has been doing pretty well, but we're just not getting clutch hits like we were earlier.

 

"We're not getting the bat on the ball like we were, but everyday is a new day. We'll just wake up tomorrow, do what we know we can do and try not to do too much right now.

 

"I think we're just trying to do too much right now."

 

The Power's plate struggles were evident on Tuesday as the team fell behind early and couldn't mount a rally while leaving seven runners stranded.

 

Delmarva (16-16) jumped to a 2-0 lead in the third inning off of Power starter Alex Periard (5-3).

 

After a sacrifice fly by Lafave cut the lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the third, Delmarva pulled away in the fifth on a two-run blast to right by catcher Michael Pierce.

 

The Shorebirds put the game away with three runs in the seventh off of Power reliever Shawn Ferguson.

 

Delmarva starter Kyle Schmidt (4-8), along with a pair of relievers, limited the Power to just five hits, striking out eight.

 

"I think we've just been trying to do too much at the plate once we get somebody on," Power hitting coach Corey Hart said. "We're trying to drive everybody in at once, instead of just staying with our good short swings.

 

"The breaks have just been going the other way. The balls we're hitting are being caught. We're still putting some good at-bats together, we're just not getting the production that we want.

 

"We're just going to have to grind it out and stay with our plan. Hopefully that will take over and we'll peak at the right time (the playoffs)."