Link Report for Games of Thursday, August 25th

[Mass Haas]

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

[Mass Haas]

Thursday's Daily Menu:

 

All starts Central Time except for Arizona Rookie; pitchers subject to change --

 

Nashville: RHP Gary Glover at Round Rock (Astros), 6:45 PM pre-game, 7:05 gametime

 

Audio link:

www.nashvillesounds.com/listenlive/

 

Huntsville: RHP Dennis Sarfate at home vs. Mobile (Padres), 6:50 PM pre-game, 7:05 gametime -- Dennis comes off the disabled list for this one....

 

Audio link:

www.espn1450.com/

 

If that link is down for bandwidth, use:

specs.eyecentric.com/pres...opup.shtml

 

Brevard County: Idle

 

West Virginia: RHP Kevin Roberts at Lexington (Astros), 6:05 PM

 

Audio link:

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

 

Helena: TBD at home vs. Billings (Reds), 8:05 PM

 

Audio link (opponent's):

www.billingsmustangs.com/

 

Arizona: TBD at home vs. the itty-bitty Cubbies, 7:00 PM local time; never any web audio for Arizona Rookie ball...

[Mass Haas]

Follow Thursday's action as it happens:

 

Nashville:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_rreaaa_1

 

Huntsville:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...x_hunaax_1

 

West Virginia:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...x_lexafx_1

 

Helena:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...k_helrok_1

 

Arizona:

Not updated live, but usually later during the overnight...

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...k_brrrok_1

[Mass Haas]

 Pacific Coast League (AAA) - American North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [b]Nashville 70 62 .530 - 33-35 37-27 L4[/b] Omaha 66 66 .500 4.0 30-34 36-32 L1 Memphis 64 67 .489 5.5 33-31 31-36 L1 Iowa 60 68 .469 8.0 38-29 22-39 W1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Southern League (AA) - North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Carolina 34 23 .596 - 19-11 15-12 W2 West Tenn 32 26 .552 2.5 17-11 15-15 W1 Tennessee 26 32 .448 8.5 13-14 13-18 L1 [b]Huntsville 23 35 .397 11.5 8-18 15-17 L3[/b] Chattanooga 22 36 .379 12.5 14-20 8-16 L2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Florida State League (A+) - East Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Palm Beach 36 24 .600 - 18-14 18-10 W1 Vero Beach 35 24 .593 0.5 19-12 16-12 W2 [b]Brevard County 31 28 .525 4.5 13-16 18-12 L2[/b] St. Lucie 31 28 .525 4.5 14-14 17-14 W1 Daytona 28 30 .483 7.0 18-13 10-17 L1 Jupiter 23 35 .397 12.0 15-13 8-22 L1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- South Atlantic League (A) - Northern Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Delmarva 37 19 .661 - 20-6 17-13 W5 Lexington 32 25 .561 5.5 18-13 14-12 W4 Lake County 29 27 .518 8.0 14-13 15-14 W1 Hickory 29 28 .509 8.5 16-12 13-16 W1 [b]West Virginia 27 29 .482 10.0 15-14 12-15 L1[/b] Lakewood 26 31 .456 11.5 15-16 11-15 L5 Greensboro 26 32 .448 12.0 10-16 16-16 W2 Hagerstown 20 34 .370 16.0 11-16 9-18 L2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pioneer League (R+) - North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [b]Helena 17 6 .739 - 7-3 10-3 W2[/b] Missoula 12 11 .522 5.0 7-5 5-6 W1 Billings 11 12 .478 6.0 6-5 5-7 W5 Great Falls 10 13 .435 7.0 6-7 4-6 L1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Arizona League (R) - Arizona League Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AZL Athletics 16 7 .696 - 10-3 6-4 W2 AZL Mariners 15 8 .652 1.0 9-4 6-4 W2 AZL Giants 14 9 .609 2.0 5-6 9-3 W2 AZL Rangers 12 11 .522 4.0 7-6 5-5 L1 AZL Royals 11 11 .500 4.5 6-5 5-6 L3 [b]AZL Brewers 9 13 .409 6.5 3-8 6-5 L7[/b] AZL Padres 9 14 .391 7.0 3-9 6-5 W2 AZL Cubs 8 14 .364 7.5 4-8 4-6 L1 AZL Angels 8 15 .348 8.0 2-4 6-11 L1

Stats and League Leaders, USA Today (or go to MILB.com):

 

www.usatoday.com/sports/b.../index.htm

[Mass Haas]

Nashville Media Notes for Thursday (PDF format):

 

www.nashvillesounds.com/pdf/notes.pdf

[Mass Haas]

RHP Robbie Wooley your "TBD" starter in Helena tonight.

[Mass Haas]

Dennis Sarfate winning me over this evening, just willed his way out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam, to wrap up his fourth shutout inning, the "intimate" crowd in Huntsville showing their appreciation...he's on a limited pitch count this evening.

[SoCalBrewfan]

Geez, looking at the standings I'm surprised how low the Stars have fallen...it must be miserable in the Huntsville clubhouse these days...

 

I don't know about the weather in particular right now, but I've unwillingly spent summers in New Orleans (twice) and Atlanta...that can't make things any more pleasant.

 

Thanks to Dennis S for slogging through and giving it his all.

[molitor fan]

Enrique Cruz may have a bucketful of errors, but he is also now 2nd in the Southern League in doubles with 32.......

[Mass Haas]

Final: Lexington (Astros) 7, West Virginia 1

 

West Virginia Site Game Summary:

 

Power pounded by the Legends

Lexington, KY ? The Lexington Legends scored early and often at Applebee?s Park on Thursday night, scoring five runs through the first three innings and they went on to beat the West Virginia Power by the final score of 7-1.

 

The Legends plated the first run of the game on Drew Sutton?s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first inning to take a 1-0 lead. Sutton struck again with an RBI double in the bottom of the third inning and Beau Torbert broke the game open with a three-run blast later in the inning.

 

It remained a 5-0 ball game until the Power plated their only run of the contest on newcomer Matt Gamel?s first home run with the team, a solo shot in the top of the fifth making it a 5-1 contest. The Legends would answer that call in the bottom of the sixth inning on a solo homer from third baseman Bryan Triplett, making it 6-1 Lexington. The Legends plated the final run of the game in the bottom of the eighth inning when Edwin Maysonet reached on a fielder?s choice, driving in Lou Santangelo in the process.

 

Paul Estrada (5-7) earned the victory, and Justin Barnes (8-2) obtained the loss. The Power are 27-30 in the second half after the loss and the Legends move to 33-25 with the win.

 

The Power will continue the four game series with the Lexington Legends at Applebee?s Park on Friday night. The Power will throw LHP Greg Kloosterman (4-17, 5.12) and the Legends will counter with RHP Chad Reineke (9-8, 3.96). The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM (6:05 Central).

 

West Virginia Box Score:

Justin Barnes the surprise start; Matt Gamel and Hasan Rasheed on base three times apiece -- Gamel's defensive woes carryover from Helena...

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...x_lexafx_1

 

West Virginia Game Log:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...x_lexafx_1

[colbyjack]

Has Wahpepah pitched in a while? I don't remember seeing his name in the link report recently. It would seem that both he and Roberts are being handled with care as the season winds down. Roberts pitched nearly 90 innings with the Houston Cougars before being drafted by the Brewers.

 

A tip of the cap to Sarfate for such a fine performance coming off of the DL. Might he be one of the TBA player's for the AFL? I'm sure his proud pop would love to watch him close to home.

 

Wooley with another solid outing, but the Mustangs' pitchers are dealing. Travis Wood, a lefty that was fave of mine for this past year's draft is now in. Let's rough him up http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif . Actually, both he and Jay Bruce, another Brewerfan.net draft favorite, are currently playing for the Billings Mustangs.

 

Is the Jimmy Anderson that's shutting down the Sounds the same Jimmy Anderson that pitched for the Pirates a few years ago? IIRC, he used to do that to the Brewers as well (then again, who didn't).

[gregmag]

If, as some people are advocating, we trade Bill Hall -- how far is Enrique Cruz from being the new Bill Hall?

 

Greg.

[pogokat]

I think enrique should be better than hall...those are really great numbers for a middle infielder in huntsville....he's got better numbers there than:

Rickie weeks

jj hardy

corey hart

brad nelson

actually everybody except, and this pains me...

 

Peter zoccolillo

Jom Rushford

 

and his (not) brother Nelson..

[DHonks]

can't imagine that Sarfate would go to the Fall League. He was rated the league's best righty prospect last year. He's coming off injury. And on our squad last year, we had 6 players from every team except for the Royals. We had Bass, Keppinger, Tamayo, Wilkerson, Stodolka, Murphy, and Teahen from them, and the 7th was added only after the Marlins' Trevor Hutchinson was sent home with a minor arm injury (in spring training he was diagnosed as having a torn labrum, I think), and the Marlins opted not to send a replacement pitcher. And I'm not sure how it worked out this way, but we had one Oriole.

[huntsvillefan]

Dennis Sarfate winning me over this evening

 

Another pure piece of Dennis tonight. Desperately needing an out, he sprints off the mound in an attempt to catch a foul pop up on the first base line, and just misses it.

Yet, when he picks up the ball, he still manages to smile and toss it to a crowd of kids.

I honestly think that most of us there tonight, cared more about him getting out of that fourth inning intact, than we did about winning the game.

One of the few shining lights in an otherwise dismal year and someone who has surely earned a September call up, I'm pretty certain that you'll love him as much in Milwaukee as we do in Huntsville.

[Past Member]

Dennis is definitely fun to watch. I hated seeing 2003 come to an end in Beloit. I pray he gets called up here come September 1st.

[And That]

If, as some people are advocating, we trade Bill Hall -- how far is Enrique Cruz from being the new Bill Hall?

 

A full year of AAA at least to get anywhere within sniffing distance of a major league 775 OPS. Cruz has loads of power potential for a middle infielder, but in the same vein as Hall, and who thought Hall would work out as relatively well as he has? Cruz could be a decent backup middle infielder with some pop in a few years, and have a nice little career because of his skills. I don't know that he'll ever reach Hall's numbers, but there's always the chance he could exceed them, too. He will have to earn his way onto the big club, which will be a better team than the team Hall got his chance on.

 

Has Wahpepah pitched in a while?

 

As was suggested in the last Power 50, the Brewers have moved Wahpepah out of the rotation to minimize innings here on out. He's pitched 2-3 times out of the pen, IIRC.

[Mass Haas]

Final: Billings (Reds) 2, Helena 1

 

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.helenair.com/articles...605_07.txt

 

Billings downs Brewers

By TOM STUBER - IR Sports Writer

 

The last time the Helena Brewers met the Billings Mustangs there was more at stake and it showed.

 

The Brewers outplayed the Mustangs in every facet of the game, but Thursday night Billings took a 2-1 nailbiter that wasn't quite as crisp.

 

Helena managed just four hits and squandered a golden opportunity to tie the game in the ninth when it loaded the bases with one out only to see its final two batters strike out.

 

"Our emotions probably got to us a bit in the last inning," hitting coach Bobby Randall said. "It was a good learning experience. Sometimes you just want it so badly, though, that it works against you."

 

That's been rare in a year when Helena has rolled to a 41-21 mark? 17-7 in the second half.

 

Billings scored the first run of the game when Kenny Lewis got the lone extra-base hit of the night with a lead off double in the fifth and scored on Brandon Roberts single.

 

An inning later the Mustangs made it 2-0 when Mark Rodriguez ground into a double play with the bases loaded scoring J.D. Roberts from third.

 

Helena came back with a run in the eighth. Kenny Holmberg managed a one-out single and scored on Mike Bell's groundout.

 

Bryan Opdyke and Scotty McKnight coaxed one out walks from Billings reliever Kenny Geiersbach in the ninth and after Freddy Parejo lined a ball off the leg of third baseman Rodney Delgado the bases were full.

 

Geiersbach was able to get ahead of Darren Ford and Holmberg and struck both batters out.

 

"We only had four hits and bunch of Ks," Randall added. "We didn't swing the bats real well and have been struggling a bit.

 

"One thing is we're tired and that's due to this being the first year in the pros for most of these guys. They need to learn that they need to concentrate and focus. It's a long grind."

 

The win moved Billings to 12-12 in the second half of the Pioneer League's Northern Division standings.

 

In their last meeting against Billings, Helena wracked up a 12-0 win with four homers, while getting two-hit pitching.

 

Helena Box Score:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...k_helrok_1

 

Helena Game Log:

Looks like RHP Ronny Malave might be a "keeper" from the Latin program...

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...k_helrok_1

 

Jon Ebelt IR Staff Photographer - Helena Brewer Scotty McKnight tries to make a catch, but is off the mark at second base. Brandon Roberts of Billings is called safe.

 

http://www.helenair.com/content/articles/2005/08/26/sports_top/b01082605_07.jpg

[Mass Haas]

Final: Huntsville 5, Mobile (Padres) 0

 

Huntsville Site Game Summary:

 

Link for Dennis Sarfate photo, text follows --

 

www.huntsvillestars.com/s...newsId=711

 

Dennis Sarfate, Brian Wolfe, Jerome Gamble and Gerrit Simpson teamed up on a seven-hit shutout as Huntsville blanked Mobile 5-0 Thursday night at Joe Davis Stadium in the final game of a four-game series. The Stars salvaged the final game of the series to improve to 24-35 in the second half of the season and take the season series 12-11. The Stars completed their third shutout of the year and won for just the fifth time in their last 18 games at home soil.

 

Tony Gwynn, Jr. led off the home first with a single, just his second hit in 24 at-bats, stole second base, his 30th of the season, and scored on a two-out double by Enrique Cruz. The Stars pushed their lead to 2-0 in the third inning when Adam Heether doubled home Guilder Rodriguez for his first run batted in at the double-A level.

 

Sarfate, activated from the disabled list earlier in the day, walked Jeff Duncan and gave up singles to Steve Baker and George Kottaras to load the bases with one out in the fourth. The right-hander worked out of trouble by getting Joe Gerber to foul out to third and striking out Peter Ramos, who fouled off a half dozen pitches with two strikes in the count before waving through a 94 mile per hour heater.

 

The home side tacked on three runs against Mobile starter and loser Sean Thompson in the fourth on a pinch-hit, run-scoring single by Nelson Castro, a bases loaded walk to Rodriguez and a fielder?s choice grounder by Heether that plated Castro. Thompson dropped to 4-5 after allowing five runs on seven hits and six walks over five frames. The only other time he has issued more than three walks in his 19 starts came against the Stars on June 21 at Mobile when he walked five.

 

Wolfe, who had given up eight runs in his last three outings, earned his second win with the Stars after tossing two scoreless frames. Gamble also worked two shutout innings and has gone 11 straight frames over his last five appearances without yielding a run. Simpson worked a perfect ninth and has been scored upon only once in his nine outings since joining the team.

 

The Stars open a four-game series with Tennessee on Friday night with right-hander Carlos Villanueva meeting Smokies? southpaw Clint Goocher. Coverage of the game gets underway at 6:50 p.m. central time on ESPN 1450 AM and via the internet at www.huntsvillestars.com.

 

Huntsville Box Score:

Stars ten-man pitching staff becomes 11 upon Sarfate's return; listening to this one, I can tell you Adam Heether is impressing the locals defensively at third base...

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...x_hunaax_1

 

Huntsville Game Log:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...x_hunaax_1

[Mass Haas]

Final: Round Rock (Astros) 4, Nashville 0

 

Nashville Site Game Summary:

 

Link for Ryan Knox photo, text follows --

 

www.nashvillesounds.com/n...ewsId=1768

 

ROUND ROCK, Tex. ? Former Sound Jimmy Anderson tossed a complete-game seven-hit shutout against his old team on Thursday evening at Dell Diamond, leading the Round Rock Express to a 4-0 victory over Nashville.

 

Despite suffering its season-high fifth straight loss, Nashville (70-63) maintained its four-game lead in the PCL American Conference Northern Division as second-place Omaha lost to Oklahoma for the second consecutive night, reducing the Sounds? magic number to eight.

 

The Sounds have dropped 11 of their last 13 games overall and have scored one run or less in four of the five contests during their current losing streak.

 

Anderson (2-0) fanned two and walked none in logging the first complete-game shutout by an opposing pitcher against Nashville this season. The goose egg was the Sounds? fourth of the year.

 

Round Rock took a 1-0 lead against Sounds starter Gary Glover in the bottom of the second when Royce Huffman led off with a double and scored on a Tommy Whiteman RBI single.

 

Huffman struck again in the fourth when he led off the frame with his seventh home run of the season, a solo shot to left. Luke Scott upped the Express lead to 3-0 an inning later when he slugged his team-leading 30th tater, a one-out solo bomb to left off Glover.

 

The Express wrapped up the evening?s scoring in the seventh when Whiteman drew a bases-loaded walk from Alec Zumwalt to force in Scott.

 

Ryan Knox went 2-for-3 to pace the Sounds? offense.

 

Glover (6-3) took the loss for Nashville after allowing three runs on nine hits over his five innings of work.

 

The teams meet again on Friday evening for the third game of the five-game series. Right-hander Mike Meyers (6-4, 5.20) gets the starting nod for the Sounds in the 7:05 p.m. contest. Round Rock counters with right-hander Fernando Nieve (4-4, 4.92).

 

Nashville Box Score:

Jeff Cirillo 1-for-3 after two games off; Nelson Cruz down to .279, but the OPS is still in the .850 range...

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_rreaaa_1

 

Nashville Game Log:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_rreaaa_1

[Mass Haas]

Nashville Pre-Game Audio Coaches Chat with Hitting Coach Gary Pettis:

 

www.nashvillesounds.com/a...208-25.mp3

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

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

 

Stars snap losing skid with shutout

Sarfate pitches four strong innings but doesn't get the win

By MARK McCARTER

Times Sports Staff markcolumn@aol.com

 

Dennis Sarfate didn't get the W. But he got a momentous K. And, with that, perhaps a U-turn.

 

And - stop the presses - the Huntsville Stars even got a W at home, over the Mobile BayBears, at that. The 5-0 victory was only the second in the last 10 games against Mobile. The Stars had lost 13 of their last 17 at home and 10 of 13 overall.

 

Though Brian Wolfe collected the victory with his two shutout innings, and Jerome Gamble and Gerrit Simpson wrapped up this shutout-by-committee, Sarfate pitched a desperately needed four scoreless innings in which he allowed only three hits. (A starting pitcher must complete five innings to qualify for a win.)

 

In his last outing, on Aug. 14, Sarfate was drilled for four hits and five runs in less than two innings at Birmingham. His previous start, he gave up seven runs and eight hits in 3 2/3.

 

He went on the disabled list with a sore arm after the Birmingham start, but proclaimed himself healthy enough to return - though he was limited to 75 pitches.

 

"We wanted to see if he'd be healthy,'' said pitching coach Rich Sauveur. "It wasn't about winning. It was how his arm was. It just so happened he put zeroes up.''

 

His last pitch, No. 69 was a doozy. With the bases loaded and two out in the fourth, with a 3-2 count, he struck out Peeter Ramos to end the threat.

 

Good news, bad news.

 

"He shouldn't have been in that situation (having walked two batters),'' Sauveur said. Still, "Overall I thought he did a great job. He wants to pitch. There's no doubt about that. He wants the ball. That's the first step, to have a pitcher who wants to take the ball every fifth day.''

 

Sarfate and his pals enjoyed a comfy early lead, even. The Stars had managed only seven runs in the first three games with Mobile - twice with rare two-out RBI hits.

 

Tony Gwynn Jr. led off the first with a single, stole second and scored on a two-out double by Enrique Cruz, then Adam Heether doubled home Guilder Rodriguez with two out in the third.

 

In the fourth, pinch-hitter Nelson Castro drilled a wicked bouncer off third baseman Casey Baker to drive in Kennard Bibbs. Later, Rodriguez drew a bases-loaded, walk and Heether drove in a run with a groundout.

 

The Stars continue this homestand tonight in the first of four against the Tennessee Smokies. However, UAH product and Huntsville native Adam Bass shouldn't be expected to pitch for Tennessee. He worked six innings of three-hit ball, not allowing an earned run, Thursday at Birmingham. He has a 3.93 ERA, 15th best in the league, but has a tough-luck 5-9 record. He's seventh in the league in strikeouts.

[Mass Haas]

West Virginia's Grant Richardson (15) was forced out at second in the second inning by the Legends' Edwin Maysonet, whose throw to first wasn't in time to complete a double play.

Kentucky.com photo: Brian Tietz

 

http://www.kentucky.com/images/kentucky/kentucky/12479/155728085548.jpg