Link Report for Games of Saturday, May 15th

[MassBrew]

High Desert Box Score:

Dueling leadoff hitters named Kennard; the suddenly incredible Ozzie Chavez (I still take credit for prodding him http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif ) now has multi-hit games in seven of his last 12 starts...

 GAME DATE: 5/15/04 LKE at HD LAKE ELSINORE 4 AT HIGH DESERT 5 YTD YTD LAKE ELSINORE AB R H BI AVG HIGH DESERT AB R H BI AVG K.Jones CF 4 0 1 1 .292 K.Bibbs CF 4 0 0 0 .315 L.Cruz SS 4 0 0 0 .290 C.Crabbe 2B 4 2 2 1 .264 P.McAnulty 1B 4 1 1 1 .304 J.Eure 3B 4 1 2 2 .224 S.Baker LF 4 0 0 0 .313 T.Hinton 1B 4 0 0 0 .331 M.Johnson DH 4 0 0 0 .198 F.Villanueva CAT 4 1 1 1 .186 J.Carter RF 4 1 2 0 .273 J.Frost LF 4 0 0 0 .275 M.Richardson CAT 3 2 2 1 .256 S.Candelaria RF 3 0 0 0 .225 K.Jacobo 3B 3 0 1 1 .211 J.Vanden ber DH 3 0 1 0 .313 J.Lima 2B 3 0 0 0 .179 O.Chavez SS 2 1 2 0 .299 M.Wodnicki PIT 0 0 0 0 .000 F.Martin PIT 0 0 0 0 .000 R.Miniel PIT 0 0 0 0 .000 D.Bradley PIT 0 0 0 0 .000 N.Matel PIT 0 0 0 0 .000 TOTALS 33 4 7 4 TOTALS 32 5 8 4 LAKE ELSINORE 1 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 0- 4 7 4 HIGH DESERT 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 X- 5 8 1 E--M.Richardson, K.Jacobo 2, J.Lima, O.Chavez. DP--LAKE ELSINORE 1, HIGH DESERT 0. LOB--LAKE ELSINORE 2, HIGH DESERT 4. 2B--J.Carter 2 (2), J.Eure (7). 3B--K.Jacobo (1), C.Crabbe (5). HR--P.McAnulty (7), M.Richardson (4). SB--J.Eure (4). CS--K.Jones. SH--O.Chavez. YTD IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA LAKE ELSINORE M.Wodnicki 3.0 4 2 1 0 0 0 8.27 R.Miniel 3.0 3 2 2 0 5 0 6.43 N.Matel (L,0-1) 2.0 1 1 1 0 1 0 4.50 HIGH DESERT F.Martin 7.0 7 4 3 0 6 2 4.79 D.Bradley (W,2-1) 2.0 0 0 0 0 4 0 3.94 PB--M.Richardson. SO--K.Jones, L.Cruz, P.McAnulty, S.Baker, M.Johnson 3, K.Jacobo, J.Lima 2, K.Bibbs, J.Eure, T.Hinton, J.Frost, J.Vanden ber 2. T--2:10. A--2105

High Desert Game Log:

 

www.sportsnetwork.com/mer...MEID=17903

[MassBrew]

A good read:

Not Brewer related, except for a Brian Moon mention, but an interesting tale from the Huntsville Times this AM...

 

www.al.com/sports/huntsvi...159340.xml

[MassBrew]

Huntsville Times Notes:

 

Second baseman Rickie Weeks is second in the Southern League in on-base percentage, reaching base on 43 percent of his plate appearances (.432). But he's doing it in a somewhat unique way. While he's hitting only .288, Weeks has been hit by pitches a league-leading 15 times this year. His total is equal to or higher than six teams' totals in the league. Weeks accounts for more than half of the Stars' team total of 27.

 

First baseman Prince Fielder, son of the former major league slugger Cecil Fielder, will no doubt play in the major leagues in the not-too-distant future. And even though he celebrated just his 20th birthday last week, Fielder has demonstrated a maturity that belies his age. After Friday's 5-4 win over Greenville, Fielder told manager Frank Kremblas that he was disappointed in his at-bat in the eighth inning when his weak ground ball to first scored a run but was much less than a potential game-tying two-run homer. But the Stars rallied for two runs in the ninth for the win. "I told him that sometimes a crappy at-bat can help you win a game," Kremblas said. ...

 

Maybe pitcher Chris Saenz could fill in as a pinch-hitter between starts. After going 2-for-2 with a double Friday, Saenz is 4-for-11 on the season (.364), including a home run. ... Shortstop Enrique Cruz didn't start four straight games last week while the coaching staff adjusted his stance at the plate. The payoff, however, is yet to come. Cruz is 1-for-9 since returning to the starting lineup on Thursday. ... Matt Ford, the Stars' opening night pitcher, was placed on the disabled list Saturday. The Brewers signed Pete Zamora and assigned him to the Stars as Ford's replacement....Greenville is coming off a 4-0 home sweep of Jacksonville, but is only 2-16 on the road this season.

 

Joe Davis Stadium had the beginnings of a major improvement installed last week. You just can't see it yet. The control room for the new state-of-the-art scoreboard was put in place Tuesday in the press box. It's a collection of about a half-dozen monitors and other fancy hi-tech equipment that looks like a scaled-down NASA Mission Control. Stars general manager Bryan Dingo said it will take three people to operate the control room as well as three people in the stands operating video cameras. The new scoreboard, highlighted by a video screen, is scheduled to be unveiled May 28 against Mobile.

 

Around the league

 

Montgomery's B.J. Upton, rated the top prospect in the minor leagues by Baseball America, was promoted to Triple-A Durham last week. Upton is fifth in the league in hitting with a .327 average. But the promotion was somewhat disappointing because Biscuits manager Charlie Montoya had told Upton that he was joining the big league Tampa Bay Devil Rays before team officials had a change of heart. Upton homered in his second game with Durham on Friday. ... Paul Byrd, a former major league all-star who is yet to pitch for the Atlanta Braves since being acquired before last season, is in Huntsville this weekend with the Greenville Braves on a rehab assignment. Byrd joined the G-Braves on Thursday and got the win despite allowing five runs on six hits in five innings. He's not scheduled to pitch again until Greenville returns home Tuesday against Montgomery.

[MassBrew]

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

 

DL LIST GROWS

Dark clouds moved over the ballpark at about 15 minutes past six, dumping a pretty nice shower on the tarp-covered field, delaying the game by 19 minutes, but there were no dark clouds for the Stars tonight, as they go to 19-16 on the season....... Unfortunately, the Diamond Jaxx are on an unrelenting 10-game win streak after tonight, so the Stars remain 1½ games behind, and powerless this half to darken their skies.

 

Ryan Costello, in his third and finest start, cruised through six innings, scattering three hits, and getting some eye-catching defensive plays I haven't seen much of this year at the Joe....... With two out and Bill McCarthy on 2nd base, thanks to a wild pitch, Tony Pena, Jr. hit a hard high-hopper to the left side. Chris Barnwell, running in on the infield grass, caught the ball on the short hop, then twisted his body and made the throw on a bee-line to first to end the 2nd inning....... In the 4th, Tony Gwynn, Jr. made the finest play I've ever seen from him as Dave Krynzel's replacement in center, and he looked like Krynzel as he made a diving catch of a dying short liner, coming across and sliding on his belly in left-center field to retire leadoff hitter Brent Butler.......Other than Costello's wild pitch that sent McCarthy to second, the only other runner to reach 2nd was Pena, Jr., when he doubled to the base of the left field wall in the 9th with two out......... Costello threw 80 pitches, 54 for strikes, (68%), getting a quick 1-2-3 with six pitches in the 4th.

 

Two of Matt Merricks' four walks resulted in a run....... Jason Belcher led off with a walk on a 3-2 pitch, and scored in the 2nd on Kade Johnson's triple off the top of the wall in center field. That snapped a 2-for-31 slump for Kade, but he grounded to second and fouled out to Jean Boscan in the 6th....... After two ground outs in the 5th, Rickie Weeks walked on five pitches, reached second on Merricks' errant pickoff throw, then scored on a double to right-center by Gwynn, Jr......... Brad Nelson added a huge home run to left to make it 3-0 in the 6th inning, bringing him within one of club leader Prince Fielder, whose slump now stretches to 0-for-12.

 

Rickie Weeks was hit for the 15th time this season, on the inside part of the leg making him do an embarrassing little dance....... Weeks threw the bat in disgust, walked toward first, and though it looked like he stole 2nd on a 2-and-0 count to Gwynn, it was scored a wild pitch charged to Merricks.......... By my count, that's five times leading off a ballgame with an HBP....... The season record for a Huntsville Star is 19 by Ramon Hernandez in 1998. His present total is the 3rd highest by a Stars player in a full season, and we're not even out of the month of May. Ahead of Rickie are Toby Kominek, who was hit 18 times in 1999, and Hernandez........ He's been hit 11 times in the month of May alone.

 

Tomorrow at 2:05 CDT, Tim Bausher will take on lefty Dan Meyer, who has held right-handed hitters to a .195 average this season. Meyer ranks 4th among the Braves' top minor league prospects, and 2nd among pitchers. He throws a low-90s fastball with wicked movement and very good slider and has tough-as-nails command which righties find so hard to handle. His strikeout-walk ratio breaks the law --- 235 Ks and 50 walks in 226 innings....... Bausher has perhaps a 75-pitch limit, as opposed to the 85 or 90 the rest of the staff has because the Brewers see his future role as a closer.

 

Uncertain about Matt Ford's future, the Stars have put him on the disabled list. The Brewers sent lefty Peter Zamora to Huntsville, who arrived about 4:45 Saturday. He'll be wearing uniform #49....... He was doing some warmups just before game time........ Most likely, he'll join the pen, after all, he hasn't started a game since 2001 when he was with Class AAA - Scranton (IL)....... Zamora pitched just one game this year for Class AA-Trenton (Eastern) and was crushed in one inning of work. He was originally signed by the Dodgers in 1997, then became a Rule V pick of the Phillies in 1999. Since then, he's been through the Mets, Phillies, Angels, and Yankees farm systems. He spent 2001-03 in Class AAA, where he was 13-9, mostly as a reliever, saving 15 games for Scranton in 2002.

[MassBrew]

 WEST DIVISION W L PCT GB [b]INDIANAPOLIS INDIANS (MILWAUKEE) 19 14 .576[/b] COLUMBUS CLIPPERS (NEW YORK YANKEES) 17 16 .515 2.0 TOLEDO MUD HENS (DETROIT) 17 19 .472 3.5 LOUISVILLE BATS (CINCINNATI) 16 19 .457 4.0

 WEST DIVISION W L PCT GB WEST TENN DIAMOND JAXX (CHICAGO CUBS) 21 14 .600 [b]HUNTSVILLE STARS (MILWAUKEE) 20 16 .556 1.5[/b] BIRMINGHAM BARONS (CHICAGO WHITE SOX) 19 16 .543 2.0 MOBILE BAY BEARS (SAN DIEGO) 18 18 .500 3.5 MONTGOMERY BISCUITS (TAMPA BAY) 12 24 .333 9.5

 SOUTH DIVISION W L PCT GB INLAND EMPIRE 66ERS (SEATTLE) 24 13 .649 LANCASTER JETHAWKS (ARIZONA) 21 14 .600 2.0 LAKE ELSINORE STORM (SAN DIEGO) 19 16 .543 4.0 RANCHO CUCAMONGA QUAKES (ANAHEIM) 17 18 .486 6.0 [b]HIGH DESERT MAVERICKS (MILWAUKEE) 14 23 .378 10.0[/b]

 WESTERN DIVISION W L PCT GB KANE COUNTY COUGARS (OAKLAND) 21 15 .583 CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS (ANAHEIM) 21 15 .583 CLINTON LUMBER KINGS (TEXAS) 20 16 .556 1.0 PEORIA CHIEFS (ST.LOUIS) 19 17 .528 2.0 QUAD CITY RIVER BANDITS (MINNESOTA) 18 17 .514 2.5 [b]BELOIT SNAPPERS (MILWAUKEE) 18 18 .500 3.0[/b] WISCONSIN TIMBER RATTLERS (SEATTLE) 15 21 .417 6.0 BURLINGTON BEES (KANSAS CITY) 13 23 .361 8.0

[MassBrew]

Daily Press High Desert Game Story:

Plenty of quotes...

 

www.vvdailypress.com/cgi-...536,69817,

[Al the Thinking Man]

Add me to the list of Weeks HBP admirers. Unless they call you for leaning into it, it's a huge plus, as Vina and Biggio have done it for over a decade. Ginter tried to lean in last night and missed on a high curve.

 

 

OBP holds no grudges, a HBP means you're on base and not making outs.