Link Report for Sat 6/16 - Huge Huntsville Win in 16 Innings

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.al.com/stars/huntsvil...amp;coll=1

 

Stars go to 16th for win

Corporan's single keeps Stars tied for first in North

By MARK McCARTER

Huntsville Times Sports Staff, markcolumn@aol.com

 

Mulling over the pennant race before the game, Stars manager Don Money said, "You celebrate the wins a little more and if you lose, it hurts more because one got away."

 

This was one to celebrate. But only for a few hours.

 

Carlos Corporan singled up the middle off Timothy Bittner, driving home Lou Palmisano to give Huntsville a thrilling, nerve-wracking 3-2 win over Birmingham in the bottom of the 16th inning Saturday night, keeping the Stars tied for first in the Southern League North.

 

The Stars and Tennessee Smokies have identical 36-31 records going into today's final games of the first half.

 

The Stars and Barons play today at 2:05 in their final game of the half. To drag out the tension a little longer, the Smokies don't play the Diamond Jaxx today until 4 p.m.

 

If the Stars and Smokies are tied at day's end today, the first-half championship will be determined Monday night in Smokies Park outside Knoxville.

 

According to rule, if there is a tie at the top in the first half, the initial second-half meeting between the two teams is a de facto playoff game.

 

The drama unfolded Saturday night in front of an announced crowd of 8,427, a season high, enticed by free bats and with free tickets as much as the pennant race. Less than a thousand were still in the park when the game ended at 11:42 p.m., four hours, 35 minutes after it began.

 

Palmisano lobbed a soft single to center to open the 16th, the first Huntsville hit since the eighth. Adam Heether bunted him to second, then Brendan Katin was walked intentionally.

 

Corporan, whose defense had been crucial in the early innings, followed with a sharply hit bouncer into center on a 1-1 pitch and Palmisano hustled home well ahead of the throw. Bo Hall (2-1) collected the win.

 

Sensational defense bailed out Stars' pitching on more than one occasion. Hernan Iribarren had a fancy diving catch of a liner, Yohannis Perez made an Ozzie-esque dive-and-throw in the seventh, then first baseman Corporan smothered a hot smash in the eighth with the potential go-ahead run on third.

 

Huntsville took an early lead when Steve Moss doubled and later scored on a wild pitch. Though Birmingham tied the game in the second, the Stars answered right back in the bottom half on a Heether homer. Thomas Collardo tied it at 2-all with his homer in the sixth off Stars starter Steve Hammond, who allowed only four hits in six innings. Then came a parade of masterful Stars relievers: Mark DiFelice and Marino Salas and Hall (with huge strikeouts for the final outs in the 14th and 15th).

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.al.com/stars/huntsvil...amp;coll=1

 

Stars notebook

Mark McCarter, Huntsville Times

 

Covering the bases

 

If the Stars don't win the Southern League North pennant this half, blame Chris Capuano. He's the Milwaukee pitcher who went on the disabled list Thursday. With his injury, Yovani Gallardo was promoted to the big leagues and the Stars' most effective starter, Manny Parra, was sent to Nashville.

 

The Stars had arranged the pitching rotation where Parra could pitch Monday at Tennessee, if that becomes the playoff game for the first-half title. Southern League bylaws dictate that if two teams are tied at the end of the first half, the winner of their first meeting in the second half is declared the first-half champ. ... Considering Parra's turn in the rotation doesn't come until Monday, what would it have hurt to keep him on the Huntsville roster to see how the scenario unfolded? ...

 

If the Stars do clinch the division title, it'll be their 12th postseason appearance in 23 years of the franchise, the third in five years and the fourth since the affiliation with Milwaukee began in 1999. ...

 

Tom Van Schaack, the Stars' general manager, is making a strong recovery from his heart surgery and says he'll return in 10 days to two weeks. He had returned to his native upstate New York for the surgery. ... With hundreds of people lined up in the sunshine and heat outside the gates Saturday 1 1/2 hours before the first pitch, hoping to be one of 2,000 to receive a free bat, it'd have been a good thought by somebody on the Stars' staff to have sent a vendor out with drinks or at least had coolers of water. ... Jerry Gold, one of the Stars' minority owners, has been in town for the Birmingham series.

 

The Stars' latest bugaboo has been giving up big innings. Seven times in 13 games, opponents had innings where they scored four or more runs. ... In 46 of the first 66 games, Huntsville opponents scored first. ... Manager Don Money has had a fun reunion this weekend. Barons hitting coach Richie Hebner was a roommate of his when both were in the Pirates' minor league system.

 

Around the league

 

Mobile did what few people in this league - the Stars in particular - have been able to do: stop Montgomery's Evan Longoria. The highly touted third baseman, who is tied for the league lead in homers and was fourth in RBIs going into Saturday's play, went 0-for-20 in five games at Mobile last week. ... Montgomery has added Florida State League All-Star pitcher Wade Davis, 3-0 with a 1.84 ERA in Class A. ... Mississippi has staggered at the end of the half after leading the SL South since April 22. The M-Braves lost six in a row going into Saturday night's play, letting Jacksonville make a run at the title. Said manager Phillip Wellman on Friday, "I'm at a loss now. Big-time players step up in big-time situations, and we just haven't had anybody step up. Maybe some guys need to take a look in the mirror and decide how bad they want to win this." ... A bizarre Father's Day note: The most productive player in Southern League history may be ex-Biscuit Elijah Dukes. A 17-year-old foster child who lives with Dukes' grandmother has accused him of impregnating her. If that's the case, it'll be the sixth child by five different women for the 22-year-old outfielder, whose wife put a restraining order on him last spring.

 

Brewings

 

Triple-A Nashville Sounds (39-29 before Saturday's play, second place in Pacific Coast League American Division): 1B Brad Nelson .266, 9 HRs, 25 RBIs

 

Single-A Brevard County Manatees (39-28, won first half in Florida State East Division): P Mike McClendon 0.69 ERA in two starts, including first professional shutout, since promotion from West Virginia, where he was 5-2, with 2.87 ERA

 

Single-A West Virginia Power (47-18, first in South Atlantic League Northern Division this half): 3B Taylor Green 9 HRs, 39 RBIs, .339

 

On deck

 

The Stars end the first half of the season today against Birmingham at 2:05. The second half begins Monday at Tennessee, the first of a six-game stand. The Stars return home Sunday to host Chattanooga at 6:05 with the annual appearance by the Zooperstars.

[Mass Haas]

Nashville Pre-Game Audio Chat with Starting Pitcher Tim Dillard:

 

www.nashvillesounds.com/a...206-16.mp3

[Mass Haas]

Link for Vinny Rottino photo while active, text follows:

 

tennessean.com/apps/pbcs....328/SPORTS

 

Sounds win again on walk-off homer

Victory vs. Omaha secures first place

By TOM KREAGER

Tennessean Staff Writer

 

Callix Crabbe started the Sounds' postgame fireworks show with a bang Saturday night.

 

Crabbe hit a two-run walk-off homer in the ninth inning to give Nashville a 7-5 win over Omaha and the team its second walk-off home run in as many nights at Greer Stadium.

 

Crabbe hit a Roberto Giron fastball with one out over the right field fence.

 

"I knew it had a chance to go over the fence because I hit it hard," Crabbe said. "I didn't know if it was going to end up hooking (foul). But it stayed up and went out."

 

On Friday night, Joe Dillon's 10th-inning walk-off homer gave the Sounds a 6-5 win over the Royals.

 

"It's always nice to get a win like that," Sounds Manager Frank Kremblas said. "You can kind of get on a roll win you win like that."

 

Nashville is now a season-best 11 games over .500 (40-29) and took first place in the Northern Division by a half-game over Iowa, which lost 7-5 to Memphis.

 

Crabbe's homer was his fourth of the year and second walk-off at Greer. Sounds catcher Vinny Rottino's seventh home run of the season tied the score at 5 in the eighth inning.

 

Reliever Joe Thatcher (1-1) picked up the win in two-thirds of an inning pitched.

 

Chris Oxspring's string of four straight wins ended when he was pulled after seven innings with the Sounds trailing 5-1. Oxspring gave up four runs in the fourth.

 

Derek Wathan's two-run double scored Bill McCarthy and Jorge Padilla. Paul Phillips and Wathan each scored on wild pitches to give Omaha a 5-1 lead.

 

"He didn't have a good fastball," Kremblas said. "They were sitting on his change-up. And when you leave it up they are going to make you pay."

 

Oxsprings' five runs was one run more than he had allowed in his last four starts combined.

 

The Sounds cut the deficit to 5-4 in the fifth inning with three runs off starter Matt Wright. Chris Barnwell's ground-rule double scored Jose Macias. Laynce Nix followed with a two-run single.

 

What they said: "I was just trying to swing it well. I wasn't trying to hit a home run." ? Crabbe on his winning hit.

 

***

Link while active, text follows:

 

Dillon rewarded with guitar for home run

By TOM KREAGER

Tennessean Staff Writer

 

Sounds third baseman Joe Dillon received a Copley Guitar prior to Saturday night's game.

 

A guitar is given out to a Sounds player any time he hits the guitar scoreboard, and Dillon did so in the bottom of the 10th inning Friday to give Nashville a 6-5 win over Omaha.

 

Dillon is the fourth player to receive a guitar this season. Ryan Braun and Mike Rivera each have two guitars, and Vinny Rottino has one. But Rottino soon will have another: He homered to tie the score at 5 in the eighth inning Saturday.

 

Around the horn: Left fielder Jose Macias has hit in six different spots in the Sounds' lineup this season. Macias, who hit in the nine spot Saturday night, has hit everywhere but third, fourth and fifth.

 

Back-to-back: Omaha leadoff hitter Mitch Maier hit his second home run in two days.

 

Maier's third-inning homer off starter Chris Oxspring on Saturday night tied the score at 1 and was his sixth of the season. Maier's home run Friday night came in the ninth inning.

 

Dickey on the mound: Montgomery Bell Academy graduate R.A. Dickey will make a spot start at 6 p.m. today against Omaha. Dickey will be pitching in Yovani Gallardo's spot in the rotation.

 

Gallardo was called up by Milwaukee on Thursday.

 

Manny Parra, who was promoted from Double-A Huntsville to take Gallardo's roster spot, will make his first Sounds start Wednesday at 7 p.m. against Iowa.

 

Immediate impact: Omaha third baseman Derek Wathan, son of former Kansas City Royals catcher John Wathan, made an immediate contribution with his new team. Wathan, whose contract was purchased Friday from the Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League, hit a two-run double to spark a four-run fourth to give the Royals a 5-1 lead.

 

First pitch: Vanderbilt baseball Coach Tim Corbin and TNA wrestler Christian Cage were among those who threw out first pitches Saturday.

 

Corbin was representing the ALS Association, a nonprofit organization that fights Lou Gehrig's disease. Cage was there to promote Slammiversary, a pay-per-view show scheduled for tonight at Municipal Auditorium.

[Mass Haas]

Charleston Gazette Photographer: Chip Ellis

Lake County?s Carlos Rivero slides into second as Power second baseman Jimmy Mojica fires to first Saturday afternoon.

 

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

[Never Outhustled]

for those of you wondering if Vinny would make more sense on the Brewer roster than Kevin Mench, Rottino has a surprisingly odd split vs. southpaws this season -- only a .482 OPS (9-for-45) in an acknowledged small sample...

 

That is an odd split, but he did pound lefties for a 980 OPS in 2006, so it will likely even out over time.