Link Report for Games of Friday, June 25th

[MassBrew]

With the Helena box score from June 21st now "found", Baseball America and Sports Network stats and standings now include complete season-to-date totals.

 

While you can currently look up individual Arizona League player stats at BA, the league numbers are missing, even though the Gulf Coast League numbers in Florida are there. We've emailed BA about that -- should be addressed in the coming days. Sports Network has chosen to ignore both the Gulf Coast and Arizona Leagues, and has even removed their dead hyperlinks to such.

[MassBrew]

Daily Press High Desert Game Story:

 

Final frame failure for High Desert bullpen

By TIM HARAN/Staff Writer

 

ADELANTO ? The High Desert Mavericks, holding a commanding four-run lead with one out in the ninth inning, were on the verge of experiencing their first three-game win streak of the season.

 

But this is the High Desert and leads are fragile, especially with the wind blowing out.

 

Inland Empire exploded for seven runs in the top of the ninth, capped by a three-run, go-ahead homer by the unlikeliest of heroes, to defeat the Mavs 8-5 Friday at Mavericks Stadium.

 

Gary Harris, the 66ers center fielder, was hitting just .214 against the Mavs this season and had struck out 25 times in 56 plate appearances, including two times Friday. But in his final at-bat, Harris launched a home run over the right field wall off High Desert reliever Homero Rivera.

 

"It's always in the back of my mind, but when you get up there you have to take each at-bat one at a time," Harris said of his struggles against the Mavericks. "I went up there (in the ninth) and all the at-bats before that were out of my mind."

 

Rivera struck out Jon Nelson to lead off the ninth, but gave up a single to Carlos Arroyo and a two-run homer to T.J. Bohn. An error, a walk and a two-run triple by backup catcher Brian Lentz tied the game at five, setting the table for Harris' heroics.

 

"If you get beat, you get beat," High Desert manager Mel Queen said. "But when you play as bad as we did (in the ninth) it's pretty pathetic.

 

"You can't ask a pitcher to get five outs in an inning. Granted he made a mistake to (Harris), but he should have never been facing him. We should have been in the clubhouse."

 

The Mavericks have won two straight games nine times this season but have yet to string together three in a row.

 

High Desert received another solid outing from its starting pitcher only to lose the lead late in the game. This time it was Khalid Ballouli who made quick work of 66ers hitters but received a no-decision. In seven innings he allowed one unearned run on just two hits. The right-hander struck out seven.

 

Ballouli's only trouble came in the third when he walked Matt Hagen to lead off the inning and surrendered a single to Lentz before forcing Inland Empire to ground into a double play. The next batter, newcomer Erick Monzon, hit a grounder to short that Enrique Cruz fielded cleanly but threw wildly to first. Hagen scored on the play to put the 66ers on top 1-0.

 

After hitting four home runs in a series opening win against Inland Empire, the Mavs knocked out two solo shots in the sixth inning Friday, one by Callix Crabbe and another by Dan Boyd. Crabbe smashed a two-run triple, his second of the night, in the eighth and scored on a Scott Candelaria single.

 

Nick Slack pitched a scoreless eighth, allowing no hits and striking out two, but Rivera allowed seven runs ? three earned ? on five hits in the ninth.

[MassBrew]

International League Standings (available by link only today):

 

www.sportsnetwork.com/mer...league=INT

 WEST DIVISION W L PCT GB [b]HUNTSVILLE STARS (MILWAUKEE) 3 0 1.000[/b] *MOBILE BAY BEARS (SAN DIEGO) 2 1 .667 1.0 BIRMINGHAM BARONS (CHICAGO WHITE SOX) 2 1 .667 1.0 MONTGOMERY BISCUITS (TAMPA BAY) 1 2 .333 2.0 WEST TENN DIAMOND JAXX (CHICAGO CUBS) 0 3 .000 3.0

 SOUTH DIVISION W L PCT GB *LANCASTER JETHAWKS (ARIZONA) 5 0 1.000 RANCHO CUCAMONGA QUAKES (ANAHEIM) 3 1 .750 1.5 INLAND EMPIRE 66ERS (SEATTLE) 3 2 .600 2.0 [b]HIGH DESERT MAVERICKS (MILWAUKEE) 2 3 .400 3.0[/b] LAKE ELSINORE STORM (SAN DIEGO) 1 4 .200 4.0

 WESTERN DIVISION W L PCT GB CLINTON LUMBER KINGS (TEXAS) 2 0 1.000 WISCONSIN TIMBER RATTLERS (SEATTLE) 1 1 .500 1.0 QUAD CITY RIVER BANDITS (MINNESOTA) 1 1 .500 1.0 PEORIA CHIEFS (ST.LOUIS) 1 1 .500 1.0 *KANE COUNTY COUGARS (OAKLAND) 1 1 .500 1.0 CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS (ANAHEIM) 1 1 .500 1.0 BURLINGTON BEES (KANSAS CITY) 1 1 .500 1.0 [b]BELOIT SNAPPERS (MILWAUKEE) 1 1 .500 1.0[/b]

 NORTH DIVISION W L PCT GB [b]HELENA BREWERS (MILWAUKEE) 6 2 .750[/b] BILLINGS MUSTANGS (CINCINNATI) 5 3 .625 1.0 GREAT FALLS WHITE SOX (CHICAGO WHITE SOX) 4 4 .500 2.0 MISSOULA OSPREY (ARIZONA) 1 7 .125 5.0

 W L PCT GB ROYALS (KANSAS CITY) 4 0 1.000 GIANTS (SAN FRANCISCO) 4 0 1.000 MARINERS (SEATTLE) 3 1 .750 1.0 RANGERS (TEXAS) 1 2 .333 2.5 PADRES (SAN DIEGO) 1 2 .333 2.5 ATHLETICS (OAKLAND) 1 2 .333 2.5 ANGELS (ANAHEIM) 1 2 .333 2.5 CUBS (CHICAGO CUBS) 0 3 .000 3.5 [b]BREWERS (MILWAUKEE) 0 3 .000 3.5[/b]

[MassBrew]

David Weiser's www.starsboxscore.com Huntsville update:

 

PAYBACK!

After another panic attack by the local weathermen warning us that Friday would be a total washout, over 4,300 came out to the Joe this night to see the real Ben Jones on Dukes of Hazzard night, get their picture taken with him, and get their clothing signed........ Jones, I'm told, played Cooter Jones on the TV series. I never wasted an hour of my life watching that show, so I wouldn't know Cooter Jones from Cooter Brown, but the bucolic structure of this show has always been appealing to the unsophisticates here.

 

The Stars remembered the four-game sweep at Smokies Park two weeks ago, in which they were outscored 31-15, by returning the favor, this time showing them the tough pitching that had abandoned them for most of June up to the end of the first half. By limiting the Smokies again to just a run, they swept a team for the first time since May 6-9 last year at Chattanooga........

 

Dennis Sarfate walked a pair with two out on 3-2 counts in the 1st inning, but cruised through five innings virtually trouble-free. He stranded Skip Schumaker with one out in the 3rd by striking out Papo Bolivar and Dan Moylan. Nate Espy doubled to the left field corner in the 4th inning, scoring eventually on a sacrifice fly. And Sarfate retired the side in the 5th...... After throwing 92 pitches, 58 for strikes, Sarfate's night was done, leaving Paul Stewart, in his first appearance since coming back from Indianapolis, to get the last out with Dan Moylan on third. He dispatched Chris Duncan on a 2-0 pitch with a fly out to left, then retired the side in the 7th.

 

This game looked again like the pitchers' duel of the last two nights, until the turning point came with the Smokies leading 1-0........ And it all began with the shortest double anyone can ever expect to see.......... Frank Kremblas is not a proponent of the sacrifice bunt, but with Johnny Raburn on first after a leadoff single, Ozzie Chavez attempted one to the third base side, except in was unintentionally popped to the vicinity of the plate. Skip Schumaker, a centerfielder normally, thus out of his comfort zone at third base, made a noble effort diving in to try and catch it off the top of the grass, but it tipped off the top of his glove and caromed past catcher Dan Moylan into foul ground in back of the plate. Seeing the situation, Chavez easily took third........ Now I would have liked to have seen that scored for the rara avis it was --- but the official scorer robbed Chavez of a bunt double, scoring it as a single (which Chavez clearly had even if a play was made at first) and a fielder's choice........ I would like to know what choice Moylan had with Chavez pulling up at second. And it was already much too late to make an across-the-body attempt on Raburn....... Hold on to the ball is the only choice Moylan had, good enough to only hold the runners.........

 

And you talk about rare birds. Joel Alvarado, 2-for-34 to this point in June, doubled his hit output for the month, first dropping a single into shallow left, scoring Raburn, then in the 8th inning, slicing a double into the corner in right field --- only his third two-hit game of the season and 7th in 58 games with the Stars over three seasons........ After Rickie Weeks forced Alvarado, scoring Chavez from third, Javier Colina literally flew through the air to snag what seemed to be a sharply hit line single to right-center........ That was the defensive play-of-the-game.

 

Brad Nelson opened the Huntsville lead to 4-1 with a two-run HR to left, his team-leading 14th of the season in the 6th inning, but it didn't end there....... With one out, Raburn solidly whacked a a hop single to right....... Ozzie Chavez, back again an inning later, hit another pitch in Schumaker's direction, this one a soft grounder which he couldn't come up with cleanly, caroming to shortstop Corey Erickson for an error........ With the runners on the go, Alvarado grounded toward the hole on the left side, but Erickson made a fine stop on the run........ The throw, while it pulled Nick Espy off the bag, was still in time to retire Alvarado, but Raburn and Chavez moved up 90 feet......... With the count on Paul Stewart at 3-and-2, relief pitcher Andy Cavazos, just less than a week off the disabled list, uncorked a wild pitch that was about a mile from home plate, scoring Raburn to make the score, 5-1.

 

In the final three innings, the Stars bullpen retired eight of 10 hitters. Meanwhile, the hits kept on a-coming......... Wilson Ciprian now on the mound for the Smokies in the 7th. Tony Gwynn had reached on a force play....... With a 1-2 count on Prince Fielder, Gwynn stole second and with the 1-0 on Chris Barnwell, he stole third....... Moylan only has a 21% success rate at getting base-stealers this season, but he's in the line-up because he's hit safely in 10 of his last 13 games with a super-human 23 hits........ Gwynn, with two steals in a game for the third time this year, is 7th among the Southern League's stolen base leaders........ Barnwell, a .346 hitter with runners in scoring position, then singled through the right side of the infield to score Gwynn, making it 6-1.........

 

In the 8th, a full count walk by Tennessee's Carmen Cali (1-1, 2.52, 8 saves) to Chavez was followed by Alvarado's double --- the hardest ball I've seen hit in a long time from him....... Cali (40 Ks, 15 BBs) then walked Rickie Weeks on four straight to load the bases....... That finished a very good day for Weeks, who had two hits and a walk. I like the way he's looked so far in the second half, with a hit streak of five games, he's 6-for-19 with three RBIs.......... On a 1-0 pitch, Gwynn bounced a pitch in on him high off the infield grass to Cali. Cali took the ball, but found no one to throw it to at first, Espy being lured over by the high hop. That scored Chavez to make it 7-1........ Prince then hit a tailor-made 1-2 gournder to Colina, who anticipating the double play a little too much, lost the handle on the ball, bringing the runners around and scoring Alvarado for the final 8-1 count......... Saul Rivera, making his 2nd appearance for the Stars, threw 11 pitches, most of them to Chris Duncan after Dee Haynes' leadoff single to right, but Duncan hit into a 4-6-3 double play, with Weeks getting the benefit of a high hop at eye level to kick it off.

 

Most unusual moment -- next to the bunt "double" was Jeremy Cook and Dennis Sarfate trading pitches thrown behind their heads. Sarfate was first, with his first pitch to Cook in the 3rd. When Sarfate came up in the 3rd, Cook returned the favor, not even coming close to his head with his first pitch........ Children at play.

 

Johnny Raburn was 5-for-10 in this series without an RBI, but with three runs scored. He has six hits in his last 13 at-bats......... Chris Barnwell, the hottest hitter all month, has hit safely in 16 of 21 games this month, going at a .338 clip with 11 RBIs, two shy of his May total, his monthly best........ The Stars outscored the Smokies, 17-5 in this sweep, while hitting just .217, but the rotation gave up just two earned runs in 17 2/3 innings, while the bullpen was unscored upon in 9 1/3......... If the Stars are going to win the second half, they're going to do it with their pitching, and so far, they've gotten off to the right start.

 

Saturday, the Stars take their final trip in their history to Greenville, where the G'Braves will become the Mississippi Braves or whatever next season........ Matt Ford (1-2, 3.60) will be opposed by veteran Brian Moehler, who was a 15-game winner for the Jacksonville Suns way back in 1996, and 50-56 in the major leagues, mostly for the Tigers from 1997-2000. When the Tigers traded him to the Reds on July 23, 2002 with 3rd baseman Matt Boone and cash for shortstop David Espinosa and a player to be named later, the Tigers acquired Noochie Varner as one of the players to complete the deal....... Moehler was a Double-A All-Star in 1996, but since then, has battled shoulder problems and surgery to replace an elbow ligament in his pitching elbow....... He's 32 and at the end of the trail. He's 2-3 with a 5.29 ERA and making his 8th start of the year.