Link Report for Games of Wednesday, June 13th

[pogokat]

Quote:

---

longtime Brewerfan'ers will remember hanging on those final hours a few years back to see if Manny Parra would sign the draft-and-follow contract out of the Sacramento junior college -- that was a fun night...

---

 

yeah, but i also remember begging for the crew to sign adam mannon...

[TheCrew07]

Callix Crabbe has by far the best name in the organization as far as I'm concerned... other than that here's his career stats:

 

www.thebaseballcube.com/p...abbe.shtml

 

As you can see, his OBP is usally higher than his SLG, which is why he's never done it for me. I'm sure others like Pogokat can answer as to his tools, but he's never hit for high enough average or power for me (other than High Desert). Though he's the kind of guy that the saber crew likes with his high OBP.

 

Finally he's a 2B, and with Weeks at MLB, and Iribarren at AA, he's never been high on the radar for obvious reasons.

[wibadgers23]

Quote:

---

Finally he's a 2B, and with Weeks at MLB, and Iribarren at AA, he's never been high on the radar for obvious reasons.

---

 

I guess what I'm ultimately wondering is do the Brewers (or anybody on this board) see him as an adequate utility infielder in the future? Even this year if either Counsell or Graffanino get injured or traded? Obviously he has no future in Milwaukee as a starter in the infield any time soon.

[TheCrew07]

Possibly, but you have Rottino as a super utility guy at AAA that will be with the Crew next year in some capacity. Then you have the toolsy prospects that are currently blocked by Hardy and Weeks in Escobar and Iribarren that could break in to the big in some sort of utility role. Finally you have Green and Brewer who have had nice early returns to their careers. It just looks to me like he's the odd guy out unfortunately, he's always sort of been stuck between the 2 waves of prospects. He just doesn't seem to be in the long terms plans of the organization in any capacity.

[Mass Haas]

I guess what I'm ultimately wondering is do the Brewers (or anybody on this board) see him as an adequate utility infielder in the future?

 

Not sure how you can be a utility guy when folks have a hard time remembering if you've ever played an inning of defense anywhere but at second base at any time in the organization -- similar to Iribarren, it's second base or bust for Callix.

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

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

 

Cupboard not bare for Iribarren in ninth

Second baseman's RBI single with two outs ensures Stars stay in first

By BRAD SHEPARD

For the Huntsville Times

 

Several Stars this season have described this team as a bunch of guys craving the clutch.

 

When the score is close, they're praying for pressure situations.

 

Wednesday night, it was Hernan Iribarren's turn.

 

With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Huntsville's second baseman laced a single over the shortstop's head to give the Stars a dramatic 3-2 win. The players celebrated along with 1,762 fans at Joe Davis Stadium.

 

"I've been in that situation before," Stars manager Don Money said. "Your adrenaline is flowing, and you want to hit it 4,000 feet rather than 400. Just do what it takes to win the game."

 

Iribarren did just that, icing a 4-for-5 night that included a run scored along with the game-winning RBI. He knocked in Mel Stocker, who opened the inning getting hit by a Corwin Malone pitch.

 

The win helped the Stars cling to their one-game lead in the Southern League North Division with four games left in the half. Second-place Tennessee was leading West Tenn when Huntsville wrapped up the win.

 

The narrowest of margins separate the teams, but Iribarren and the Stars know they have to take care of only the Barons.

 

"Everybody wants to be up there in that situation," Iribarren said of his ninth-inning at-bat. "It's a big situation, but I try to block that out. When it's a big game, sometimes you feel a little pressure, but you want to get the job done."

 

Manny Parra did more than that for seven innings of brilliant pitching, but he opened the door in the eighth.

 

With a win on the horizon, Parra ran into trouble that started with a walk. It was the only one he allowed all night, but it was costly. He gave Jeremy Frost a one-out free pass, and No. 9 hitter Donny Lucy reached out and poked an outside pitch into the gap for a double that scored Frost and cut the lead in half.

 

Leadoff hitter Robert Valido - batting .165 - followed with his own RBI single, and it was a new game.

 

That still didn't tarnish Parra's night in his coach's eyes.

 

"He did a great job," Money said. "He was in command the whole game. He threw about 90 pitches or something in that neck of the woods. Outstanding job."

 

Mark DiFelice got the win with a perfect ninth, but it was Parra who kept Huntsville in it during a frustrating offensive outing where the team left 13 runners on.

 

He received a one-run lead in the first when Stocker led off with an infield single, and a throwing error by the second baseman on Michael Brantley's grounder sent him to third. Steve Sollmann knocked him in with a single for the early lead.

 

Sollmann finished with three hits in four at-bats, but he couldn't steal the luster from Iribarren's performance.

 

"Tonight, it was his night," Brendan Katin said of Iribarren. "It seemed like he couldn't do anything wrong."

[Mass Haas]

David Weiser's

 

www.starsboxscore.com/

 

MANNY REACHES MILESTONE

HERNAN, & BARON BOO-BOOS REDUCE MAGIC NUMBER TO 4

This is it, Stars fans...... The final five that will decide who gets to go to the playoffs. As it stands, the Stars will remain a game up on the Tennessee Smokies after they beat Diamond Jaxx, 7-3, at Smokies Park....... On the field and in the heavens, the stars all seem to be in alignment for a title....... Not only did they get seriously good pitching from Manny Parra and Mark DiFelice tonight, but a bit of heavenly luck too in getting there.

 

Although he did not get the win, Parra, who skipped over Sam Narron in the rotation thanks to an off-day, was impressive. He had good command of his fastball, topping at 97 to Jeremy West in the 2nd inning and consistently keeping it in the 92-95 range, then coming in with a 12-6 curve which is how he got most of his nine strikeouts, tying a season high by the staff....... He stayed ahead on the hitters and did not go full on a hitter until the 8th, when he walked former Brewer farmhand Jeremy Frost, who got as far as High Desert and never played for the Stars....... And he was economical, not going more than 17 pitches in any one inning, until the 8th, when he threw 19....... After 98 pitches, 68 for strikes (69.8%), Don Money handed the ball to DiFelice (5-1, 1.94), who has not been scored upon now in his last seven appearances. DiFelice wound up with his 3rd win in the Stars' last nine games.

 

But even with the powerful pitching we got tonight from this pair, it took a little bit of good fortune to pull this out in the 9th........ Had it not been for some untimely bad defense in this game, even when it didn't result in an error, it may not have gone to the Stars at all......... In the first inning, second baseman Victor Mercedes has to come in on a slow grounder. Speedy Mel Stocker beats it out........ Michael Brantley, getting his first look at Joe Davis Stadium, then grounds a ball to Mercedes. He has to spin around to try to get the force at 2nd and the attempt at a double play. Taking the ball on the high hop, he throws the ball into left field, and Stocker goes all the way to 3rd, then scores when Steve Sollmann bounces Adam Russell's first pitch down the line to right, giving the Stars a 1-0 lead.

 

In the 4th, the Stars quickly load the bases......... Hernan Iribarren, who had his first four-hit day at the plate for the Stars, hits a leadoff looper that falls into left for a hit. Steve Moss then lays down a pretty good bunt to the 3rd base side on a 2-and-1 pitch, and beats it out for a bunt single. Adam Heether, waiting to drive in a run, draws a walk instead to load the bases for Yohannis Perez (4-for-30 this month). Perez hits into a 6-3 double play, one of three grounders by him tonight, but the Barons concede the run, making it 2-0.

 

While the Stars are leaving runners on base in nearly every inning, Parra is mowing them down -- 15 in a row from the 3rd inning until the 8th -- six on ground outs and six on strikeouts...... In the 4th, he picked up his 200th strikeout as a Huntsville Star, fanning Jeremy West, who tried to check his swing, becoming the 12th in Stars history to reach that milestone........ Then comes the 8th.

 

After seeing him get into trouble, some fans may have thought Don left Parra one inning too many, but he had thrown only 79 pitches through seven innings and was on his way to a complete game....... After retiring Chris Kelly on a grounder to Iribarren, he went full on a hitter for the first time, walking Frost...... Richard Nanita forced Frost at 2nd and Parra was now one out away from finishing another harmless inning....... But Donny Lucy, the White Sox' # 2 pick in the 2004 draft, and a .286 hitter with runners on and two out, belted Parra's first pitch deep to the warning track in centerfield for a double, scoring Nanita....... Robert Valido, who hit a bloop single to center on the 2nd pitch of the ballgame, knocked in Lucy with a line drive single to center, tying the game, 2-2.

 

Watching the defense between these two teams tonight was a stark contrast........ Mel Stocker's sliding catch on his rear to close out the 2nd, Michael Brantley's run-in with the wall in left to steal an extra-base hit from Thomas Collaro in the 7th, and Adam Heether's diving stop to throw out Lucy in the 6th....... But nowhere was the contrast so stark as the one between Heether, who has played spectacular defense while making just five errors this season, and his counterpart, Chris Kelly....... Kelly was charged with an error in the first inning on a carom off his glove that loaded the bases. In the 4th, he nearly threw Moss's bunt attempt away. And in the 7th, Steve Sollmann slapped a 3-2 pitch into the hole on the left side for a single, a hit that Heether would have easily turned into an out if it were him on that infield........ Those consequences weren't fatal, but it became one too many in the 9th...

 

Corwin Malone, in his 6th season with the Barons going back to 2001, and making his 184th minor league appearance, hit Stocker in the back with an 0-1 pitch....... Brantley sacrificed him to 2nd and Sollmann was walked intentionally to set up the double play....... Brendan Katin then popped a 3-1 pitch to Henry Mercedes for the 2nd out........ It was now up to Lou Palmisano, a .394 hitter with runners in scoring position and two out........ Palmisano hits a sharp grounder to Kelly, a tailor-made 3rd out, but Kelly bobbles the ball, then can't find the handle, and is charged with his 2nd error of the game, loading the bases for Hernan Iribarren........ Iribarren lined Malone's 2nd pitch sharply into left-center for his 4th hit, and the Stars win, 3-2.

 

Sam Narron (2-4, 5.00) will start for the Stars on Thursday, facing Barons' lefty Gio Gonzalez (4-3, 2.87). Gonzalez is 1-2 with a 2.12 ERA away from home and has a 1.21 ERA in his last four starts. He's the White Sox top-ranked pitching prospect by Baseball America, and 3rd overall.

 

Manny Parra's fine performance, while it did not get him the win, did put him on top among the ERA leaders in the Southern League at 2.68, a percentage point lower than Tennessee's Mark Holliman. Parra also leads the league in innings pitched....... With a 3-for-4 day, Steve Sollmann climbed to 6th among the league's batting leaders....... Lou Palmisano was 0-for-5 Wednesday, lowering his batting average under .300 for the first time since his 2-for-8 start to the season........ The Stars' team average climbed to .262, putting them 4th in the league. They're also 4th in team ERA (4.11)....... For his Southern League career, Corwin Malone is now 4-5 with a 3.84 ERA against the Stars. This was his 16th appearance against this team going back to 2001 and I can't imagine there being anyone else who's faced the Stars that many times.

 

Ryan Gripp, who hit .285 in 67 games for the Stars in 2003, signed with the Atlantic City Surf of the independent Can-Am League, Tuesday....... Also, the Lancaster Barnstormers of the Atlantic League signed former Stars catcher Lance Burkhart......... The Newark Bears, of the same league, signed Travis Phelps, who was a key in the Stars' record run in August last year with a 0.59 ERA in 11 relief appearances .. Jay Witasick, released by Oakland a week ago, has signed with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Witasick was 0-4 with a 2.29 ERA for the Stars in 25 appearances, mostly in relief, in 1996...... He's one of the last links to the old Oakland days with the Stars. The oldest former Star still active is Jason Wood, 37, a somewhat useful bench player for the Florida Marlins. Woody played for the Stars in 1993, 94, and 96 and is the Stars' all-time hits leader with 341........

 

Michael Brantley, who was promoted to the Stars, Saturday, is the youngest player on the team, and is the 2nd Stars player to be born after their Southern League debut in 1985. Last year, Yovani Gallardo became the first....... Ruben Mateo is scheduled to come off the disabled list when the Stars return home Wednesday....... The Oakland A's signed former Diamond Jaxx outfielder Jorge Piedra away from the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League.

 

Huntsville Stars Booster Club president Larry Ruhlman is improving, but still in ICU and in serious condition after a heart attack on Sunday. He had a stent placed and seems to be responding well to it but needless to say he will have to give the Booster Club a rest for awhile. Thanks to Joyce Billingsley for the information.

[homer]

Quote:

---

Although he did not get the win, Parra, who skipped over Sam Narron in the rotation thanks to an off-day, was impressive. He had good command of his fastball, topping at 97 to Jeremy West in the 2nd inning and consistently keeping it in the 92-95 range

---

 

Wow. I had no idea his velocity had come back that much. Promote Manny!!!

[And That]

Not sure how you can be a utility guy when folks have a hard time remembering if you've ever played an inning of defense anywhere but at second base at any time in the organization -- similar to Iribarren, it's second base or bust for Callix.

 

I believe Crabbe has had limited time at SS in years past, and he has played the outfield in multiple games this year, mostly CF and RF. If he can play CF adequately, he has a chance as a backup.

[OglivieHomePerm]

I don't remember ever hearing about Parra having a 97 mph fastball BEFORE he got injured. (Someone can correct me if I'm wrong on that)....but I'm guessing that was a radar gun malfunction.

[TheCrew07]

Sometimes the gun catches the arm speed... 94 would be just about right if his velocity was back.

[pogokat]

the fact that manny still throws 93+ with his left arm makes him a very good prospect...

 

man, it seems like he's been around forever, but he could still help the big club a whole lot.

[LouisEly]

Does anyone think Parra has a real shot of joining the Crew's pen sometime this year.

 

Depends on the number of innings he has pitched and what his limit is. If he is under the target limit, I'd say the odds of him being called up in September are about 95%.