Link Report for Games of Thursday, May 20th

[MassBrew]

 WEST DIVISION W L PCT GB [b]INDIANAPOLIS INDIANS (MILWAUKEE) 22 16 .579[/b] COLUMBUS CLIPPERS (NEW YORK YANKEES) 19 19 .500 3.0 TOLEDO MUD HENS (DETROIT) 20 21 .488 3.5 LOUISVILLE BATS (CINCINNATI) 19 21 .475 4.0

 WEST DIVISION W L PCT GB WEST TENN DIAMOND JAXX (CHICAGO CUBS) 22 18 .550 BIRMINGHAM BARONS (CHICAGO WHITE SOX) 22 18 .550 MOBILE BAY BEARS (SAN DIEGO) 21 20 .512 1.5 [b]HUNTSVILLE STARS (MILWAUKEE) 21 20 .512 1.5[/b] MONTGOMERY BISCUITS (TAMPA BAY) 16 25 .390 6.5

 SOUTH DIVISION W L PCT GB INLAND EMPIRE 66ERS (SEATTLE) 25 16 .610 LANCASTER JETHAWKS (ARIZONA) 22 17 .564 2.0 LAKE ELSINORE STORM (SAN DIEGO) 22 17 .564 2.0 RANCHO CUCAMONGA QUAKES (ANAHEIM) 19 20 .487 5.0 [b]HIGH DESERT MAVERICKS (MILWAUKEE) 16 25 .390 9.0[/b]

 WESTERN DIVISION W L PCT GB KANE COUNTY COUGARS (OAKLAND) 25 15 .625 CLINTON LUMBER KINGS (TEXAS) 23 17 .575 2.0 CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS (ANAHEIM) 23 17 .575 2.0 PEORIA CHIEFS (ST.LOUIS) 22 18 .550 3.0 [b]BELOIT SNAPPERS (MILWAUKEE) 22 18 .550 3.0[/b] QUAD CITY RIVER BANDITS (MINNESOTA) 18 21 .462 6.5 WISCONSIN TIMBER RATTLERS (SEATTLE) 18 22 .450 7.0 BURLINGTON BEES (KANSAS CITY) 13 27 .325 12.0

[MassBrew]

Indianapolis Post-Game Notes:

 

Columbus battled back from a 4-3 deficit after eight innings to defeat Indianapolis in 13 innings, 5-4.

 

Clippers catcher Dave Parrish singled in the winning run for the Clippers, who improve to 19-19. Indianapolis falls to 22-16, despite a two-run homer from Corey Hart to put the Tribe up 4-3 after eight innings.

 

Brian Bowles (1-1) picks up his first loss of the season in relief. Tribe closer Jason Childers blew his second save of the season. He came into the contest with 10 saves.

 

QUOTES:

 

Indians manager Cecil Cooper on the loss:

 

"This is one game that we should have won," Cooper said. "We blew a couple of leads. I give them a lot of credit. They could have quit, especially after losing the first three games of the series. Cappy (Chris Capuano) pitched well and so did Todd Erdos. We?ll just go get ?em tomorrow."

 

NOTES:

 

Tribe infielder Luis Figueroa has hit safely in 12 of his last 13 games played. He currently has a seven-game hitting streak.

 

The 13 inning performance ties the club?s longest of the season, when Indianapolis played at Richmond on April 9.

 

Indianapolis is now 3-1 on the homestand and 12-5 against IL West opposition this season.

 

Indianapolis is 19-1 when leading after eight innings.

 

Friday?s probables are LHP Jorge De La Rosa (1-3, 6.67) against Durham LHP Damian Moss (1-1, 3.75).

[MassBrew]

Huntsville Site Game Summary:

 

In the Stars? decisive six-run rally Thursday night, a flare opened the flood gates, and the runs came pouring out. Down 4-3 in the fifth, Huntsville banged out six hits and scored six runs on route to a 13-7 whipping of Birmingham (22-18) at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium. The Stars (21-20) snapped their four-game losing streak and pulled within 1 ½ games of first in the Southern League West.

 

The game-winning rally began with one out and the bases empty. Johnny Raburn reached on a swinging-bunt single, and Rickie Weeks? hot chopper skipped past third baseman Josh Shaffer for an error. With runners at first and second, Tony Gwynn Jr. started a string of four straight run-scoring hits, blooping a single to right that plated Raburn with the tying run. Prince Fielder hit a line drive off the rightfield wall for a single, scoring Weeks from second. Brad Nelson singled home Gwynn, setting the table for Jason Belcher, who launched an 0-1 pitch deep to right for a three-run homer, his second of the season, and a 9-3 Stars lead.

 

Huntsville added one in the seventh on a Chris Barnwell sacrifice fly, and three in the ninth on Belcher?s run-scoring single, Barnwell?s second sacrifice fly and Raburn?s run-scoring single that put the Stars up, 13-5.

 

Belcher paced the Stars? 14-hit barrage, finishing 3-for-5 with a homer, double, four runs batted in and two runs scored. Raburn doubled, singled twice, drove in two and scored two. Enrique Cruz had two hits, including a double, knocked in two and scored one. Barnwell was 1-for-3 with a double, two runs batted in and one run scored. Brad Nelson went 2-for-5 with a double, two runs scored and one driven in.

 

Paul Stewart (4-0) picked up his fourth win, giving up one hit and fanning two over two scoreless innings. Jason Shelley made his return to Huntsville after off-season elbow surgery, fanning three while allowing one unearned run on four walks and one hit in three innings of relief. Barons starter Heath Phillips (4-3) suffered the loss, permitting nine runs, eight earned, on nine hits and one walk with two strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings.

 

Stars righty Tim Bausher (1-4, 2.84) meets Barons lefty Dennis Ulacia (2-2, 3.90) in the series finale on Friday night at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium. Game time is 7:00 p.m. and the FPH Financial Pre-game show starts at 6:45 p.m. Stars baseball can be heard on ESPN 1450 and at www.huntsvillestars.com.

 

Stars Notebook: SS Enrique Cruz was transferred to high-A High Desert after the game, and SS Ozzie Chavez was transferred to Huntsville from High Desert.

[MassBrew]

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

 

BELCHER BUSTS IT... SHELLEY SHAKY

The Stars came out of a coma big time tonight with its biggest reunion with home plate since beating Montgomery, 14-1, more than a month ago....... Six doubles, a Jason Belcher home run to cap a six-run inning, a shaky, but successful comeback performance from Jason Shelley, abandoning his shocking blond hair for a military flattop, and good nights for Enrique Cruz, Chris Barnwell, Johnny Raburn and Paul Stewart, who won again in relief.

 

In the 2nd inning, trailing 1-0 with two out, Barnwell doubled down the left field line. Kade Johnson worked a 2-0 count then was intentionally walked. Cruz, with his average well below the Mendoza line, knocked in both runners with a double to put the Stars ahead, 2-1........ Raburn then hammered one in the alley to the wall in left-centerfield, easily scoring Cruz, putting the Stars ahead, 3-1.

 

It was 3-2 when Aaron McNeal faced Ryan Costello in the 3rd inning and turned this into a see-saw affair, or tried to....... The Stars were playing back when McNeal hit a bullet back up the middle scoring two, putting the Barons back in front, 4-3........ But that held only until the 5th inning when the Stars erupted with their biggest inning of the season........

 

After Enrique Cruz singled and was picked off, Johnny Raburn singled on the infield in front of the plate. Rickie Weeks hit a two-hop smash to Josh Shaffer, who tried to play it to his side and it played him instead for an error, advancing Raburn to second......... Tony Gwynn stepped in, Gwynn hitting .343 with runners in scoring position, .400 w/RISP and two out........ With one out though and runners on first and second, Gwynn sent a 1-1 pitch to shallow right center that fell in front of Rob Sasser for a base hit........ Raburn read it well and scored to tie the game....... Prince Fielder, who broke his 0-for-19 slump Wednesday, then picked up his only hit in this game, a missile off the top of the wall down the right field line, for a long single, scoring Weeks........ Brad Nelson then singled sharply through the infield into right to drive in a third run to make it 6-4 Stars....... Jason Belcher then stepped to the plate with Fielder on second and Nelson on first and one out.

 

Batting .333 against LHP this year, Belcher tattooed a hanging 0-1 breaking ball high and deep to right center to break this game open, 9-4......... Belcher would get 3/4 of the cycle........ The six hits in this inning were the most in one frame for the good guys this year.......... The Stars were in control, but they would have to fight the Barons to keep it that way.

 

Jason Shelley, in his first game since coming back from surgery in February to remove bone chips, came on in the 6th inning to face Scott Bikowski, Chris Stewart, and Guillermo Reyes --- the bottom of the Birmingham order........ Looking rusty, he issued 10 of 11 pitches for balls in one stretch and walked three in the inning, starting with leadoff hitter Bikowski on five pitches..... Bikowski would move to third on a fielder's choice and an error by Enrique Cruz, who couldn't handle Reyes' chopper....... With two out, Shelley loaded the bases after a walk on four pitches to Josh Shaffer, then walked in a run on four pitches to Ruddy Yan........ Shelley was definitely in trouble and looking like one batter away from being yanked, but this was a pitcher who was so impressive in nine starts last year, holding Southern League hitters to a .203 average after being rescued from the independent Frontier League on July 19th, that you couldn't give up on him easily....... A 3-2 record, 2.63 ERA, 53 Ks in 55 IP, and a 2.5:1 K-W ratio last year.

 

Shelley went 2-and-0 on Rob Sasser, then struck him out lunging at a 2-2 slider that dove down and away, then did the same to Carlos Maldonado, who he also fell behind on 2-and-0, on a 3-2 slider....... The Stars would go to the 7th with a 9-5 lead........ The Stars added run number 10 in the 7th on a sacrifice fly by Chris Barnwell. Barney had a pair of sacrifice flies tonight. It's not a common thing to see in a game, but earlier in the season, Ryan Knox had a pair vs. Montgomery.

 

Paul Stewart won his 17th game as a Huntsville Star, in a career with the club that goes back to 2000. It ties him with Stacy Hollins (Stars '95-'97) for 12th place on the club's all-time leaderboard.

 

Matt Ford threw a 55-pitch session in the pen, Thursday. Said he feels great. Trainer Greg Barajas says a week to ten days.

 

Mike Adams got the call tonight for the Milwaukee Brewers in a tie game in Puerto Rico against Montreal. He walked his first hitter, Jamey Carroll, but had a successful inning holding the fort for Dave Burba, striking out one and throwing 14 of his 21 pitches for strikes. Scott Podsednik hit what turned out to be the game-winning home run for the Brewers in the 9th, and Adams picked up his first major league win. Danny Kolb picked up his 10th save........

 

Reportedly, a decision will definitely be announced in mid-July on a permanent home for the Expos. I talked to an Expo scout last week at the Joe, kidding him about the situation, but seriously asking him where he thought they would wind up.......... "Definitely not Puerto Rico," he said. "Las Vegas?," I asked. "No, the players union doesn't want them there."

 

"I think it will be Washington."

 

"But what about Peter Angelos?," I replied. "Will he compromise?"

 

"He's got a price," he said. "MLB wants it, and Angelos knows he can get whatever price he wants."

 

That in the end is what it's all about, I concluded. Why not? It's what this world is all about.

 

Hard-luck Tim Bausher (1-4, 2.84) will try to even this series, Friday night against Dennis Ulacia (2-2, 3.90), a wildly inconsistent pitcher, no longer on the Whisox list of Top 30 prospects. The Stars then come back up I-65 for Saturday's game against the Jacksonville Suns........ Bernie Brewer and the Famous Sausages will be the novelty attraction for this game, sans Randall Simon and the girl who was whacked by his bat last year. She has since retired. Definitely not the kind of thing to build a career on anyway.......... Also the Stars will be wearing throwback Brewer jerseys --- you know --- the colorful blue and yellow ones of the Robin Yount-Gorman Thomas-Pedro Garcia era and they'll be auctioned off during the game....... I'll fit in with the old-style Milwaukee cap I bought in Cooperstown last year.

[MassBrew]

Daily Press High Desert Game Story:

Chock full of quotes; the final note details RHP Khalid Ballouli's incredible control as of late...

 

www.vvdailypress.com/cgi-...430,26072,

 

Photo by James Quigg/Victor Valley Daily Press Staff Photographer

High Desert's Kennard Bibbs swipes second base after Inland Empire's shortstop Matt Rogelstad dropped the ball while attempting the tag Thursday morning at Mavericks Stadium.

 

http://www.vvdailypress.com/storypics2/052104_mavs.jpg

[MassBrew]

Beloit Daily News Game Story:

Lots from Dana Eveland here -- nice....

 

www.beloitdailynews.com/504/snap21.htm

[madbad2000]

Some thoughts from the game:

 

1 hour and 45 minute rain delay....didn't seem that long as goofy joe and I were talking with a couple of guys about all things Brewers. fun time....some of the players were having a good time as they were playing the new game of two-ball on the field during the rain.

 

Eveland looked amazing. He should have only had 1 er instead of 3....maybe 2....Moreira came in with a couple on and gave up the 2 who Eveland left. Nice job Dana...that was fun to watch.

 

Steven White looked ok, not impressive...a couple of wild pitches....fastball was there though. He definately has the stuff to succeed, it's a shame he got away.

 

Lou Palmisano actually pulled a couple of pitches tonight. He usually and almost always goes straight up the middle to right center. He also hit a shot to right center that I thought could have went out but only to the wall and was caught.

 

Vinny with a nice double tonight. He just rips that thing everywhere. He was thrown out at the plate tonight on a fly to center. Kind of a blunder as he should have been sliding and would have made it. No one told him to get down..he just assumed he was there. Afterwards he was mad and made the comment that he should have ran him over which he could have done easily.

 

Eric Duncan got a SB on Lou but should have been out. Lou made a perfect throw but Gilberto just dropped it when coming down to apply the tag. Felt sorry for Lou as that was a bullet.

 

Eric Duncan the Yankees 3b prospect looked decent. He had a couple of hits but only later on in the game when Dana was getting tired. He kind of reminds me of a Corey Hart at third with his throwing motion. Didn't make any errors but just wasn't smooth like....

 

Adam Heether...that man can play third. He was on as usual. Made a tough diving stop to his left and threw the guy out...made charges in and throwing off balance. Back hand snags....come on Adam we need a 3b prospect oh so bad...just a little more hit ok??

 

Talked with Steve Moss and the guy is so down to earth and he is frustrated about his performance. Looked ok tonight. Took a walk...his K was close to being a walk as well. At least he is putting some wood on the ball.

 

Truffles is fast. He had an infield single that he just outran the throw. Would have stole second if Drew hadn't walked to automatically push him over. Then a double steal and Truffles easily beat the throw to third. Fun guy to watch play.

 

The bottom half of that lineup is scary....where is Acosta?? I'm not sure if I can recall him getting a hit.

 

Despite the rain delay the game was over by 10:30...2 hrs 20 minutes...

 

Fun time none the less and here's hoping for another victory tonight.

[brewfan]

Moreira pitched very well he had no earned runs and only both one of your dana,s run,s in dippy. Bye the way I,ll be ther next friday I would like to meet you mad bad