Link Report for Tuesday, August 23rd -- AZ Box Now Up

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.wvgazette.com/section...2005082350

 

Power breaks out of slump

By Nick Scala

Charleston Gazette Staff writer

 

With a South Atlantic League playoff berth a virtual ? although not mathematical ? impossibility, the West Virginia Power is approaching the final weeks of the season with one united thought.

 

?We just want to finish strong and go out on a positive note,? said outfielder Will Lewis. ?We don?t want to leave anything on the field.?

 

The Power had a strong finish Tuesday night, getting a two-run home run from Carlos Corporan in the bottom of the eighth to provide insurance in a 5-2 win over the Lake County Captains. A paid crowd of 3,807 at Appalachian Power Park saw the Power snap a seven-game losing streak by scoring all five of its runs on two-out hits.

 

Lewis contributed a two-run double in the third inning, Agustin Septimo went 3-for-3 and starting pitcher Yovani Gallardo (6-3) pitched six strong innings as the Power improved to 27-28 in the second half of the Sally League season.

 

The Power went into the night in fifth place in the Northern Division, nine games behind division-leading Delmarva. With just 13 games left on the schedule, manager Ramon Aviles understands how unlikely it is to make up that much ground, but said his team should not be without motivation down the stretch.

 

?We need to finish strong and start building toward next year,? Aviles said. ?Next year, when they get to this part of the season, they have to know what it takes to finish strong.?

 

Both runs off Gallardo were unearned due to passed balls. The 19-year-old right-hander from Texas allowed just four hits in six innings, walking two and striking out four.

 

Lake County (28-27) got on the board first in the top of the second when Marshall Szabo reached on a fielder?s choice, moved to second on a passed ball and scored on a single up the middle by Chris De La Cruz.

 

The Power answered with two in the bottom of the third when Lewis hit a hanging 3-2 curveball down the left-field line, scoring Septimo and Alcides Escobar, who had both reached on singles.

 

The hit came off losing pitcher Chuck Lofgren (5-4), who had struck out five straight Power hitters ? including Lewis ? the first time through the order.

 

?I was thinking I had to protect the plate, not strike out, put the ball in play,? said Lewis, who increased his team-high RBI total to 53. ?He threw me a curveball, and it was right where my bat was.?

 

The Power added a run in the fourth when Grant Richardson led off with his team-high 30th double and scored on Hasan Rasheed?s two-out line single to right.

 

Szabo scored Lake County?s second and final run in the fifth on another passed ball, and Gallardo and relievers Dane Renkert (two innings) and Ben Stanczyk (the ninth inning for his eighth save) shut out the Captains the rest of the way.

 

With two outs in the bottom of the eighth, the switch-hitting Corporan, batting left-handed against reliever Brandon Rickert, lofted a two-run homer onto Morris Street. The blast was Corporan?s ninth of the year, tying him with Richardson for most on the team.

 

?I got beaten the last time I faced him on a changeup, so I was looking for it,? Corporan said. ?I was able to do some damage.?

 

The brief two-game homestand ends Wednesday night. Mark Rogers (1-8, 5.49 ERA) is scheduled to pitch for the Power, and the Captains will counter with lefty Reid Santos (4-7, 5.18).

 

Power points

 

Matt Gamel, promoted from rookie-league Helena, struck out as a pinch-hitter in his Power debut in the eighth inning. Aviles said Gamel will be the team?s regular third baseman down the stretch, but he wasn?t quite ready to start Tuesday night because he flew out of Montana early Tuesday.

 

?He left Helena at 6 a.m. their time, 9 a.m. here,? Aviles said. ?He said he was a little jet-lagged.?

 

Gamel fills the roster spot created when slugging sensation Ryan Braun was promoted to Brevard County. The versatile Septimo, who has played third, shortstop, second base and in the outfield this season, started at third Tuesday.

?He?s done a good job,? Aviles said of Septimo. ?We?ll keep moving him around, finding him a place to play.?

 

The Power leads the season series with Lake County 6-5.

After tonight?s game, the Power plays four games at Lexington, then closes out the home portion of the schedule next week (Monday through Thursday) with four games against Delmarva before finishing the season on the road with four games at Lake County (Sept. 2-5).

 

Tag, you?re out. Power third baseman Agustin Septimo retires Josh Noviskey, who was caught off second on a ball hit to shortstop.

Charleston Gazette Photographer: Kenny Kemp

 

http://www.wvgazettemail.com/images/stories/OUT1.jpg

[dadofandrew]

Kremblas seems to do a lot of whining and such in the media. To be honest, his AAA team is more like a AA1/2 club, having lost Prince and Corey of late.

 

I think he's campaigning for a big league job in the wrong manner. Constant bellyaching doesn't cut it.

[colbyjack]

And I know I've mentioned this previously, but shortly after the 2004 draft I had the opportunity to discuss Angel Salome with another organization's area scout, and the comment was simply that Salome "couldn't catch the ball". You would think that could be an easily correctable skill, but we're seeing some proof that it's otherwise.

 

I remember you bringing this up before Mass, and it is a cause for concern. I know there have been several threads talking about Salome's defensive prowess and what he's capable of, but not being able to catch the ball is a problem. As you mention, you would think it is easily correctable, but this is one of those things when talking about "how he handles pitchers" and how "soft" a catcher's hands are.

 

I have seen this with catchers before, usually younger catchers that simply cannot handle a pitching staff with the kind of stuff players in professional baseball have. I have no clue if it has to do with repetitions, instincts, reactions or maybe eyesight, but I guess I'm curious to get an answer from those that have seen him if a lot of balls end up on the ground after they're pitched, even if they're not passed balls.

[huntsvillefan]

I think he's campaigning for a big league job in the wrong manner. Constant bellyaching doesn't cut it.

 

I certainly can't be categorized as a Kremblas fan and this is one of the reasons. In 3 years with the Stars, I only once heard him accept any personal responsibility for things going wrong and even then he spent the next 10 minutes explaining how it wasn't really a mistake anyhow.

But I do have to say that despite the fact that he blames everything on them publicly, his players are incredibly loyal to him and praise him at every opportunity.

I also have to grudgingly concede that he has done a great job this year. As last years Stars will testify, great talent doesn't necessarilly mean a winning team. I'm most impressed by the way he seems to have developed tactically as the year progressed. The base running bloopers have grown fewer and fewer as the Season went on.

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.dailymail.com/news/Sp...005082435/

 

Struggling Power shows some life in victory

J.T. Simms

Charleston Daily Mail sportswriter

 

Just when most of the doctors at nearby CAMC General Division would have been ready to pull the plug on the West Virginia Power's season, the team showed a faint heartbeat Tuesday night.

 

Playing in front of a Two-for-Tuesday crowd of 3,807, the Power broke a seven-game losing streak with a 5-2 win over Lake County.

 

"It felt like everybody was kind of coming back," left fielder William Lewis said.

 

Trailing by nine games with 15 to play, the Power may have "come back" too late, though.

 

Only a week earlier, the Power was only 4 1/2 games out of first place and opening a three-game homestand against a mediocre Lakewood squad that West Virginia had beaten in 11 of 17 meetings up until then.

 

The parent Milwaukee Brewers had left hot prospect Ryan Braun in Charleston and moved several promising youngsters to town from Rookie League a couple of weeks earlier. Not just because they deserved the promotion, but because "we wanted to help this team," said Brewers Director of Player Development Reid Nichols.

 

Then, the Power dropped all three home games to the BlueClaws and, then, four more to Southern Division leader Kannapolis on the road.

 

"(The race) made us want to work harder," Lewis said. "When we lost those four games (at Kannapolis) it hurt us."

 

The second-half pennant hopes all but fell from sight as the players seemed to be throwing in the collective towel. Then, on Tuesday, the organization performed the minor league equivalent of raising the white flag by sending Braun up a rung to Brevard County in the Florida State League.

 

"Right now, we're just trying to go out on a positive note," Lewis said.

 

He is one of several Power hitters that have experienced a rough stretch lately. Hitting .271 a week ago, Lewis had seen his average drop seven points. Against the Captains, however, Lewis gave the Power a 2-1 lead with a two-run, two-out, double.

 

"Our bodies are getting really tired," Lewis said. "I know some guys, myself too, come back in saying, ?I thought I had that pitch. I would have had it back in April or May.' "

 

Starting pitcher Yovani Gallardo (6-3) has had to suffer through the losing streak in a different way, because he was unable to do anything about it.

 

Prior to Tuesday's start his only other outing over the last week was rained out after 3 1/2 innings.

 

"It is a little frustrating," said Gallardo. "You just want to get out there and help your team. It's just one of those things, you have to wait your turn."

 

When his came, the right-hander made the most of it.

 

In six innings and over 90 pitches of work, Gallardo scattered four hits and yielded no earned runs.

 

POWER PLUGS: So why does replacing Braun with Matthew Gamel on the Power roster possibly signal the Brewers giving up on the Charleston team's pennant hopes?

 

There are over two million reasons -- plus change.

 

A first-round pick and No. 6 in the overall draft, Braun received a $2.4 million signing bonus while Gamel, a fourth-round pick and the third overall player chosen by the Brewers, picked up an estimated $350,000 bonus.

 

Braun was hitting .355 with eight home runs and 35 RBI in 37 games with the Power. He was considered one of the top college players in the country coming out of powerhouse Miami (Fla.).

 

Gamel, the 115th overall pick in the draft, came out of Chipola Junior College in Florida.

 

He has put up respectable numbers since joining Rookie League Helena, hitting .328 and driving in 37 runs in 49 games.

 

Right-hander Mark Rogers (1-8. 5.49 ERA) was scheduled to start for the Power in Wednesday's series finale.

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.casperstartribune.net...1f46ab.txt

 

Rockies miss out on opportunity

By CORY MATTESON

Casper Star-Tribune staff writer

 

Casper Rockies manager P.J. Carey wanted a veteran in to face Helena cleanup hitter Ned Yost, up to bat in the seventh with the bases loaded and one out. The plan called for reliever Jason Metzger to replace starter Alan Johnson (2-2), come in and force Yost to hit a grounder, maybe even a double-play ball. If the plan failed, reliever Ross Hipke, who'd been out sick with a bad sore throat for a few days, would come in and eat some innings.

 

One batter later, Hipke got the call, so that's how that turned out.

 

Yost fouled off seven of the final nine pitches he saw in an epic 13-pitch at-bat before eventually blooping the last of six 3-2 pitches into shallow right center for a two-run single. Helena went on to win, 7-1, at Mike Lansing Field.

 

"It was a great at-bat," Carey said. "Jason did exactly what we asked him to. It was a battle. The battle was over. (Yost) won."

 

Yost, along with some costly Rockies errors, helped the Brewers (16-6, 40-20) take the third game of the series that Casper (12-11, 32-29) leads 2-1. A key mistake helped pack the bags for Yost.

 

The Brewers' Michael Bell doubled to lead off the seventh, and Clay Blevins followed with a chopper off the infield concre...er...grass that shot some 40 feet into the air and eventually into the glove of Eric Young Jr., who couldn't have made a play had Hobart the Platypus been waddling to first.

 

With Bell at third, Scotty McKnight hit a sacrifice fly that landed him on second base, thanks to left fielder Cole Garner. Garner approached the shallow fly ball with intentions of throwing home, but when the ball hit his glove, it bounced out and onto the turf. Bell scored easily, and a 1-1 pitcher's dual became a blowout during thanks to Helena's four-run seventh.

 

Contrast that with Casper's failed opportunity with the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth. Following two leadoff singles, a sacrifice bunt and a four-pitch unintentional walk, designated hitter Kyle Blumenthal stepped in the box.

 

Coming into Tuesday's game, Blumenthal was 6-for-9 with one grand slam and 14 RBI with the bags full so far this season. With Casper leading 1-0 at the time, Blumenthal said later that he only wanted to put the ball in the air, and notch a sacrifice fly or better. Instead, he only popped up a 3-2 pitch to second base for the second out of the inning.

 

"It was a changeup," he said. "I was just a little out in front of it. That's all."

 

Cleanup hitter Chris Cook, he of the three-run home run that led to Casper's 5-4 win over Helena on Monday, struck out on three consecutive pitches. He's batting .000 with the bases loaded this season.

 

"We had the guys up we wanted," Carey said. "Couldn't get a scenario any better than that. Nice pitching (Tyler Morrison) to get through the middle of the order."

 

The Rockies still ended the night on top of the South Division. Rain suspended Ogden's game against Great Falls Tuesday night, so Casper holds onto a half-game lead in the standings going into today's 7 p.m. series finale against the Brewers. Casper's Brandon Durden (1-2) faces Helena's Ryan Marion (3-1).

[Mass Haas]

Remember Ben Sheets' rehab outing in Maryvale in May?

 

www.jsonline.com/sports/b...328303.asp

 

Sheets allowed four hits and four runs (two earned), with two walks and five strikeouts, and threw 53 of 75 pitches for strikes.

 

"The catcher had a tough time catching him, so he had a couple of wild pitches on strikeouts," said assistant general manager Gord Ash, who received an on-site report from farm director Reid Nichols and minor league pitching coach Steve Cline as well as head trainer Roger Caplinger.

 

Probably not fair, but I bet I'd have a fair shot of identifying who that catcher was...

[Mass Haas]

Final: Arizona Padres 10, Arizona Brewers 3

 

Arizona Box Score:

RHP Craig Langille has struck out only 18 in 45.2 IP -- pitching to contact is fine if you're getting outs; four Brewer errors -- some of these kids may be ready to head for home...

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...k_pdrrok_1

 

Arizona Game Log:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...k_pdrrok_1

[deeswan]

So, what's the answer to the question about Manny the Manatee?

 

 

Edit: Nevermind, I found it.