Link Report for Games of Monday, April 18th

[Mass Haas]

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

[Mass Haas]

Monday's Daily Menu:

 

All times Central; pitchers subject to change:

 

Nashville: RHP Ben Hendrickson at New Orleans (Nationals), 6:45 PM pre-game, 7:05 gametime

 

Audio link:

www.nashvillesounds.com/listenlive/

 

Huntsville: LHP Dana Eveland at home vs. Mobile (Padres), 6:50 PM pre-game, 7:05 gametime

 

Audio link:

www.espn1450.com/

 

Brevard County: TBD back on the mound for the Manatees at home vs. Port St. Lucie (Mets), 6:00 PM -- actually TBD is a misnomer, it's been determined, it just hasn't been announced -- we may have to switch to TBA; anyway, no web audio for this one -- if they play a game, and there's no broadcast, and no newspaper coverage, did it really happen? I knew the Florida State League would do this to us....

 

West Virginia: Idle and feeling a little better about themselves thanks to Carlos Corporan...

[H0FFY]

I sure hope Ben H can find his feet. I read somewhere here that Ben was only in AAA until April 19th, when the Crew needed a fifth starter. That news was from his dad who said that Ben had been told that by Crew managment (if I remember right).

 

But Ben does not have the stuff to succeed unless he can repeat at AAA - I mean repeat his lights out from last year. And we can see Ben is not himself yet - looking at his first couple of starts.

 

To the point, good luck Ben. If you can toss 89 90 mph with late down movement, you will be find. JUST DO IT!

[Mass Haas]

Huntsville / Southern League Notes -- Huntsville Times:

 

Covering the bases

Mark McCarter

 

Stars manager Don Money has come upon an unfamiliar chore. For the first time, after seven years in the low-A Midwest League, Money doesn't have a designated hitter each game. "I'm rattling my brain,'' he said, laughing.

 

Without the DH, Money is put in more situations where he must pinch-hit or pull a complicated double-switch, removing a pitcher and a position player and swapping their spots in the lineup to minimize a pitcher's chances of coming to bat. It's also forced Money to be more proactive, "I tell my guys, even if they're not playing, they've got to be ready. I may need them to pinch-hit or go in on a switch.'' ...

 

Though principal owner Miles Prentice missed the Stars' opener Friday because of a business conflict, two of his partners were on hand. Hank Amon and Jerry Gold, avid Stars fans who are frequent visitors, were at the games Friday and Saturday. ... Ryan Miller, who appeared to be headed to Huntsville as a Stars reliever, remained in Phoenix for extended spring training, a precautionary measure after developing some soreness in his throwing elbow. He had arthroscopic surgery in the elbow last year. However, he is back on the mound in Arizona and could well be in Huntsville soon. ...

 

Not such good news for John Novinsky. The Stars relief ace in 2004 (7-1, 17 saves, 2.93 in 45 appearances) is out of action after undergoing surgery. ... For Money, there is a luxury, yet a quandary. The Stars are carrying three catchers -- the Brewers want Vinny Rottino catching frequently rather than being used in a utility role -- and finding playing time for him, John Vanden Berg and Jeff Winchester is difficult.

 

Around the league

 

Ex-Star utility ace Johnny Raburn is leading the Southern League in hitting at .480. He's now a Montgomery Biscuit, having been drafted by Tampa Bay in the offseason. ... A pair of streaks ended Friday night. Tennessee, in its first season as an Arizona farm club, won its first game after an 0-7 start by mauling the Mobile bullpen for nine runs in an 11-8 win. ... Montgomery lost to Birmingham 8-7, ending the Biscuits 7-0 start. ...

 

Well, the Biscuits weren't undefeated going in, to read a headline in The Montgomery Advertiser. After a recent brawl, the paper said, "Biscuits lose fight, but finish sweep of Braves,'' and writer Stacy Long suggested that a player who charged the mound, and wound up on his knees, "lost a unanimous decision.'' ... The Mississippi Braves, having moved from Greenville, S.C., to Pearl, outside Jackson, make their home debut Monday at Trustmark Park, hosting Montgomery.

[ja002h]

TBD is a misnomer, it's been determined, it just hasn't been announced -- we may have to switch to TBA;

 

That may be a wise move. TBD's been getting a lot of work early, might want to keep his innings down.. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[Mass Haas]

The links you'll use to peek in on tonight's action as it happens:

 

Nashville:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_nozaaa_1

 

Huntsville:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...x_hunaax_1

 

Brevard County:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...x_breafx_1

[Mass Haas]

Nashville Pre-Game Media Notes (PDF format):

 

www.nashvillesounds.com/pdf/notes.pdf

[homer]

Eveland seems to be dealing. 4k's, no walks, 2 hits, through 3 innings.

[Gben027]

Eveland always seems to be dealing....I wonder how many innings they'll let him go tonight....

[colbyjack]

I'm not a fan of minor league baseball's stats, and several other things that seem to be lacking from past year's coverage, but their game updates have been a real treat. I was tempted to tune into the Stars game to listen to Dana pitch, but it's hard to win me over when the Brewers are on.

[DHonks]

Holy cow, Moss with a 3-hit game? Has he done that before?

 

As a side note on Moss, my buddy (A's and Giants fan) was looking through his BA prospect books, and came across Steve Moss's entries the last 3 years. He pointed out the irony that the first year, a Brewers instructor is quoted as saying how the Brewers love his work ethic and his willingness to crash into walls to make the play. Then in 2004 it comments that he was injured. Then in the 2005 book we read that the Brewers are concerned about his ability to stay healthy after he hurt himself crashing into the wall. As my friend snickered, he said, "boy, I sure didn't see THAT coming a mile away."

[DHonks]

Come on Brevard County. Can our relievers in the minors really be this bad? That's insane...a 7-spot!

[Mass Haas]

Brevard County's Dan Grybash and Nick Slack just caughed up an enormous seven-run furball in the 9th inning to blow a huge lead -- insert "vomit sound" here...

[Mass Haas]

Final: Port St. Lucie (Mets) 10, Brevard County 7

Can't we see if Ben Diggins has anything left at all in a closer's role?

 

Brevard County Box Score:

Josh Brady now 1-for-30; Fielder, Gemoll, Brady and Richardson have all really struggled as the organization's first basemen thus far in 2005...

 YTD YTD ST. LUCIE AB R H BI AVG BREVARD COUNTY AB R H BI AVG C.Ragsdale SS 5 1 1 0 .273 O.Chavez SS 3 1 2 0 .250 J.Slack LF 5 2 3 2 .278 L.Palmisano CAT 5 1 1 0 .250 L.Milledge CF 3 1 0 0 .237 D.Anderson LF 5 1 1 3 .313 B.Harper 1B 3 2 1 2 .295 A.Heether DH 4 2 2 0 .308 A.Wilson DH 5 1 1 1 .231 J.Eure 3B 4 1 2 0 .286 S.Bowman 3B 5 1 2 2 .132 S.Moss CF 4 1 3 2 .229 A.Turay RF 1 0 0 0 .156 J.Brady 1B 4 0 0 0 .033 R.Harvey RF 4 1 1 0 .538 S.Sollmann 2B 3 0 1 1 .222 B.Whealy 2B 4 0 2 1 .289 T.Ezi RF 4 0 1 0 .167 Y.Garcia CAT 4 0 1 1 .120 C.Villanueva PIT 0 0 0 0 .000 K.Rios PR 0 1 0 0 .250 K.Rival PIT 0 0 0 0 .000 B.Wilson CAT 0 0 0 0 .615 R.Costello PIT 0 0 0 0 .000 V.Cordova PIT 0 0 0 0 .000 D.Grybash PIT 0 0 0 0 .000 B.Walker PIT 0 0 0 0 .000 N.Slack PIT 0 0 0 0 .000 A.Garcia PIT 0 0 0 0 .000 J.Rodriguez PIT 0 0 0 0 .000 TOTALS 39 10 12 9 TOTALS 36 7 13 6 ST. LUCIE 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 7-10 12 1 BREVARD COUNTY 4 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0- 7 13 1 E--B.Whealy, J.Eure. DP--ST. LUCIE 3, BREVARD COUNTY 0. LOB--ST. LUCIE 6, BREVARD COUNTY 5. 2B--C.Ragsdale (2), J.Slack (3), S.Bowman (1), R.Harvey (2), O.Chavez (4), A.Heether (2), J.Eure (5), S.Moss (2), S.Sollmann (2). HR--B.Harper (7), D.Anderson (1). SB--J.Slack (2), L.Milledge (3), S.Moss (1). CS--S.Moss. SH--L.Milledge, O.Chavez. YTD IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA ST. LUCIE V.Cordova 5.2 11 6 6 1 3 1 5.06 B.Walker 1.1 1 0 0 0 2 0 0.00 A.Garcia (W,1-0) 1.0 1 1 1 1 2 0 3.38 J.Rodriguez (S,2) 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2.70 BREVARD COUNTY C.Villanueva 5.0 3 3 2 2 7 1 1.80 K.Rival 1.2 2 0 0 0 2 0 6.35 R.Costello 1.1 0 0 0 0 1 0 3.52 D.Grybash 0.1 4 4 4 0 0 0 8.31 N.Slack (L,0-1) 0.2 3 3 3 1 0 0 16.62 WP--C.Villanueva. SO--C.Ragsdale 2, L.Milledge, B.Harper, A.Wilson 2, S.Bowman 2, B.Whealy, Y.Garcia, L.Palmisano, D.Anderson, A.Heether, J.Eure, J.Brady, S.Sollmann, T.Ezi. BB--L.Milledge, B.Harper 2, O.Chavez, S.Sollmann. T--2:53. A--651

Brevard County Game Log:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...x_breafx_1

[Mass Haas]

It's somewhat ironic in that pimping minor league audio as we do, we've managed to promote it so well that the Huntsville ESPN1450 web site is regularly down at peak audio moments due to lack of bandwidth (too many folks trying to access it)...

 

In progress: Mobile (Padres) 1, Huntsville 1, after nine innings

[Mass Haas]

Here's a tricky end-around link that will get you the Huntsville audio directly without the ESPN1450 site -- I'll start listing this one instead in the Daily Menu:

 

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

[AJ Love]

good to see Prince Fielder 2 for 3 so far tonight

[Mass Haas]

Final: Huntsville 2, Mobile (Padres) 1, 11 innings

Jeff Winchester drives in Nelson Cruz for the game-winner; Cruz with a single and stolen base to begin the 11th...

 

Huntsville Box Score:

Nelson Cruz well on his way to an April Player of the Month Award...

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...x_hunaax_1

 

Huntsville Game Log:

The organization has a little jewel in pitching coach Rich Sauveur; the staff's K-to-BB ratio is 96-to-24 -- hey, Mike Maddux was plucked from AA to the bigs...

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...x_hunaax_1

[Mass Haas]

Steve Scarborough Nashville Pre-Game Audio (from Sunday):

Nice conversation -- gotta be happy for Scar thus far in 2005...

 

www.nashvillesounds.com/a...204-17.mp3

[Mass Haas]

Final: New Orleans (Nationals) 3, Nashville 0

Back to .500 as the affiliates continue to stumble along in terms of W's...

 

Nashville Box Score:

Just way too many baserunners allowed by Ben Hendrickson...

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_nozaaa_1

 

Nashville Game Log:

David Krynzel's gaudy first-week numbers have settled into a more recognizable level...

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_nozaaa_1

[DHonks]

nice GO/FO from Hendrickson...that's about it though

[homer]

Vinny Rotino with another pass ball. How long a leash do they give him? And why C over 3B?

[Frisbee Slider]

If they really wanna test him out as a catcher...I'd say a full season, wouldn't you?

[huntsvillefan]

IVinny Rotino with another pass ball. How long a leash do they give him? And why C over 3B?

 

f they are serious, they should give him a season, he isn't going to learn to play catcher in a couple of weeks. I don't see it as any stranger than the decision to give Corey Hart a season at 3B and he's certainly no worse a catcher than Corey was a 3B.

I just feel a bit sick for poor John Vanden Berg, he has given reasonable indication that he can hit AA pitching, yet he's condemned to sit around waiting to PH.

I also find it strange that if they are really desperate for a catcher, that they didn't give Chris Barnwell an extended try last year. In his few outings behind the plate he looked superior to Rottino and it wasn't like Joel Alverado had any serious pretensions to make the majors.

It is in details like this that I find the Brewers management of player development a bit worrisome and short sighted.

Alverado gets to play a year for no good reason except he's around and Vanden Berg gets forgotten because someone up there fell in love with Vinny. I don't think it really required the Amazing Kreskin to work out that the Brewers needed a catching prospect - The Rottino experiment could easily have started last year & Barney could have been given a tryout as well.

I can only presume its catcher rather than 3B, because that was the position the pin landed on when whoever it was up there decided to try another clancyesque experiment.

I wish I thought that these decisions were arrived at after prolonged thought rather than on the basis of someone in Brewerland phoning Madame Cleo.

[BillScottCanRake]

I know it is early, but could Eveland see AAA sometime late this season if he keeps dealing like this? OR will he stay in Huntsville the whole year?