Link Report for Thursday 6/7 -- All Hail the Mighty Power!

[Mass Haas]

Final: West Tenn (Mariners) 6, Huntsville 0

 

Huntsville Site Game Summary:

Link, text follows --

 

www.huntsvillestars.com/n...ewsId=1203

 

Stars Shut Down by Thomas and Jaxx

 

Justin Thomas spun eight shutout innings in a complete reversal of his first start against Huntsville to lead West Tenn to a 6-0 win Thursday night in the opener of a five-game set at Pringles Park. The Diamond Jaxx won their second straight, after a six-game slide, to improve to 27-34, while the Stars dropped to 32-27 yet remain in a first place tie in the North Division after Tennessee was beaten at Carolina. The Stars piled up 31 runs on 57 hits in the last series at Chattanooga and were blanked tonight on three hits and did not advance a runner past second base.

 

West Tenn opened the scoring in the second inning when Rene Rivera doubled home Prentice Redman, who had led off with a single. Luis Valbuena followed with a single to center field to plate Erick Monzon, who had reached on an Adam Heether fielding error, and Chris Minaker brought in Rivera with a scoring fly ball to complete the rally.

 

Jimerson led off the third with a long ball on an 0-2 pitch and hit another leadoff long ball in the fifth, marking the first time Sam Narron has allowed two home runs in a start this season. Jimerson belted two home runs and drove in five in West Tenn?s 12-6 win Wednesday at Mississippi. Rivera led off the sixth with a double and scored on Minaker?s second sacrifice fly of the night to finish off the scoring. Narron was charged with six runs, four earned, on 11 hits and suffered the loss to drop to 2-4. He earned his first win of the season on May 18 at home after blanking the Diamond Jaxx 4-0 on four hits over eight innings and striking out eight.

 

Thomas allowed a single to the first batter he faced, Steve Moss, and then gave up only a leadoff single to Heether in the eighth and a leadoff single by Moss in the ninth. He set down 10 in a row before a free pass to Heether to open the fifth and 11 out of 12 afterwards until the ninth. Mumba Rivera retired all three hitters he faced to help finish off the Stars and hand them their fifth shutout loss of the year. Thomas suffered the loss to Narron 20 days ago after giving up four runs, the most he has allowed in any start, on eight hits over five frames. The eight innings represent his longest appearance of the year.

 

The series continues Friday night when the Stars will send southpaw Manny Parra to the hill against Lookouts? right-hander Andy Baldwin. Coverage of the game begins at 6:50 p.m. central time and can be heard locally on SportsRadio 730 WUMP and through the internet at www.huntsvillestars.com.

 

Huntsville Box Score:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...x_wtdaax_1

 

Huntsville Game Log:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...x_wtdaax_1

[Mass Haas]

Final, Game Two: Lakeland (Tigers) 4, Brevard County 2

Wow, Manatees really limping down the stretch here...

 

MiLB.com Game Notes:

 

Flying Tigers best Manatees

 

Ryan Roberson scored the go-ahead run in the seventh inning as visiting Lakeland beat Brevard County, 4-2, to sweep Thursday's doubleheader.

 

Roberson doubled to left with one out in the seventh and advanced on a wild pitch by starter Derek Miller. The 23-year-old first baseman scored on a passed ball by Nestor Corredor to give the Flying Tigers (27-31) a 3-2 lead.

 

Ovandy Suero went 2-for-4, scored a run and stole three bases for the seventh time this season, giving him a Minor League-leading 42 steals.

 

Lakeland reliever Jacob Ramos (4-1) surrendered a run on one hit with two strikeouts in the sixth for the win. Derek Witt pitched around a hit in the seventh for his first save. Starter Alfredo Figaro allowed a run on six hits with a strikeout in five innings.

 

Miller (2-4) gave up four runs -- two earned -- on five hits while striking out six in 6 2/3 innings.

 

Chris Errecart tied the game in the sixth with a two-out solo home run for the Manatees (33-27), who dropped their sixth straight. -- Michael Echan/MLB.com

 

Brevard County Game Two Box Score:

A little better, but still weak -- the Manatees drew three walks in the 14-inning doubleheader; LH starter Derek Miller did not allow an earned run and was trusted to begin the 7th inning...

 

web.minorleaguebaseball.c...p;sid=t503

 

Brevard County Game Two Game Log:

Nestor Corredor (passed ball) was only in the game for the final inning, as Angel Salome was pinch-run for in the 6th...

 

web.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_breafa_2

[Mass Haas]

Final: Omaha (Royals) 7, Nashville 1

 

Nashville Site Game Summary:

Link for Yovani Gallardo photo, text follows --

 

www.nashvillesounds.com/n...ewsId=2370

 

Sounds Drop Road Trip Opener To Royals

 

OMAHA ? Yovani Gallardo had his eight-game winning streak snapped on Thursday evening at Rosenblatt Stadium as the Nashville Sounds fell to the division-rival Omaha Royals, 7-1, in the opener of a four-game series.

 

Gallardo (8-2) worked his shortest start of the year, lasting only 4 1/3 innings, and surrendered season highs of seven runs and six walks while getting touched for six hits, including a pair of Justin Huber home runs, to take the loss. The minor leagues? strikeout leader fanned only three batters on the evening, his lowest total of the season.

 

The loss was the fifth in five games against Omaha this season for the Sounds (33-27), who had a two-game win streak snapped.

 

On the other side of the hill, former Sound Ben Hendrickson (6-3) continued his recent strong pitching and earned a win for his fourth consecutive outing. The right-hander, who spent the majority of the 2005 & ?06 campaigns with Nashville, allowed one run on four hits over 6 2/3 innings.

 

Huber gave Omaha a 4-0 lead with one swing of the bat in the bottom of the first inning. The slugger drove the first pitch he saw from Gallardo over the center field wall for a grand slam, his sixth home run of the year.

 

Richard Lewis had singled with one out before an uncharacteristically wild Gallardo walked the next two batters to load the bases for Huber, who hit the first slam allowed by Nashville pitching in over a year dating back to a Chris Aguila grannie for Albuquerque on June 4, 2006.

 

The Royals extended the lead to 5-0 against Gallardo in the third when Mitch Maier and Matt Tupman posted doubles one batter apart in the frame, the second coming with two outs.

 

Huber got to Gallardo again in the fifth when he led off the frame with his second home run of the contest, marking the first multi-homer game against the Sounds this season. Omaha upped the lead to 7-0 later in the frame when Mitch Maier, who drew a walk from Gallardo, scored on Jace Brewer?s one-out single to right off Nashville reliever Dennis Sarfate.

 

Hendrickson kept Nashville in check through the first six innings, allowing only two hits ? a third-inning Joe Dillon single and a sixth-inning Chris Barnwell double ? before the Sounds broke up the shutout bid in the seventh.

 

Mike Rivera reached on a one-out single and moved to second before Drew Anderson plate him with an RBI single to left, making it a 7-1 game.

 

AUDIO: Drew Anderson RBI Single --

 

www.nashvillesounds.com/a...%206-7.mp3

 

Vinny Rottino went 0-for-3 for the Sounds to end his season-best 10-game hitting streak.

 

The teams continue the series with another 7:05 p.m. meeting on Friday evening. It will be a battle of southpaws as Zach Jackson (6-3, 5.07) mans the bump for the Sounds to face Omaha lefty Tyler Lumsden (5-3, 5.17).

 

Nashville Box Score:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_omaaaa_1

 

Nashville Game Log:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_omaaaa_1

[Mass Haas]

Nashville Pre-Game Audio Coaches Chat with Manager Frank Kremblas:

 

www.nashvillesounds.com/a...%206-7.mp3

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.wvgazette.com/section//2007060740

 

Football in Power playoff path

By Mitch Vingle

Charleston Gazette Sports Editor

 

Any of you have an irritating alarm clock?

 

One, like mine, that awakens you with a lovely, ?NEH-NEH-NEH???

 

Well, try and think of this column as a more soothing wakeup call. One that involves sunshine and cut grass ? minus the lawn mower.

 

Because there?s fun to be had over at Appalachian Power Park.

 

I know, I know. I just lost some of you. The subject of the West Virginia Power gets about as many hits on our Web site as the Bulletin Board. In regard to hits, a Power story on Thursday was sandwiched between ? I kid you not ? street closures and a Fayette County tire collection short.

 

But I ask that you hang with me here. I?ve criticized the team in the past. I?ve blasted the silly name.

 

This current team though is something to watch. For once it?s worth taking the kiddies to the park AND paying attention to the game. I mean, these Power batters produce more hits than Timbaland.

 

The team is absolutely destroying the rest of the South Atlantic League. It?s breezing to the Northern Division title. Beating out a bunt here. Pounding a home run on Morris Street there. It?s a show.

 

And you should really get out and see this show when it returns home June 14. Because when the team reaches the season-ending playoffs, I?m sure most of you won?t be anywhere in sight.

 

See, the Power is locked into the best-of-three divisional championship series. At the start of September.

 

Here, that means football. The Power is set to play host to the second game of the series on Sept. 7. That?s a Friday. A high school football Friday.

 

And if the series goes to a third game?

 

The Power will have to compete with the WVU-Marshall football game.

 

Gulp.

 

?If [the series] does go to three games, that will affect us,?? said realistic Power general manager Ryan Gates. ?We know how the community is.??

 

In love, that is, with football.

 

The Power does have a bit of a fighting chance if it stages Game 3 in the evening. The Frontyard Brawl begins at 11:10 a.m. in Huntington. But the hunch from here is few will follow the WVU-MU game with baseball.

 

?We?ll put the [time] as far away from [the WVU-MU game] as possible,?? promised Gates.

 

How about to Sunday?

 

?Probably not,?? Gates said. ?You?re dealing with four different [playoff] markets and you don?t know about the weather. You don?t want to move it to Sunday because if something happens with the weather on Friday, it would throw everything out of whack.

 

?You?re also looking at the championship series after that. So if you move that Saturday game, your shuffling affects the other markets.??

 

Gates is hopeful he can draw fans on that Friday.

 

?On Sept. 7, I think we can do some fun things,?? he said. ?We?ve got the entire second half of the season to promote and prepare. I think we can get a full house. Will that be by holding a special playoff giveaway? Will that be with a special fireworks show? We haven?t gotten that far, but we?ll do some things to make sure there?s a crowd.??

 

Support would certainly be deserved. The team has provided fireworks of its own this season. And the good news for Power fans is the excellence should continue.

 

The parent club, the Milwaukee Brewers, is leading the National League Central division. The Class AAA club, the Nashville Sounds, is second in the Pacific Coast League. And the Class A Brevard County Manatees are first in the Florida State League?s East division.

 

?That?s a great thing for us,?? Gates said. ?With the Brewers playing well at the major league level, it trickles down. They?re not looking to rush up their young guys to get them playing time. So hopefully we?ll be able to keep the core of this team intact.??

 

And keep the hits coming.

 

South Atlantic League Average Attendance Figures:

 

web.minorleaguebaseball.c...mp;lid=116

[Mass Haas]

Kentucky.com:

 

With last night's win at Applebee's Park, the West Virginia Power clinched the first-half title in the South Atlantic League's Northern Division.

 

The Power (41-16) have won 10 of their last 11 overall, and are 21-6 on the road.

 

They banged out 17 hits, reaching double digits for the eighth game in a row.

 

Andrew Lefave's four hits led the way, including a three-run homer in the ninth.

 

"I just tip my hat to the pitchers," said Lefave, who is hitting .323. "They did a great job of keeping the runs down. Any time they can keep the number down, like five runs, it gives us a chance to really go out. Because we can hit the ball pretty good."

 

Four West Virginia hitters rank among the top eight in the league. The Power lead the league in hitting (.305).

 

Brent Brewer, Michael Brantley and Andy Bouchie rapped three hits apiece.

 

Travis Wendte (4-0) fired four innings of no-hit ball in relief of Mike Ramlow for the Power.

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.omaha.com/index.php?u...id=2398426

 

PCL: Huber, Royals blast off on top prospect

BY ROB WHITE

OMAHA WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

 

Fans at Rosenblatt Stadium got to see the guy generally considered the best pitching prospect in the minor leagues.

 

Hint: It wasn't the guy who took a shutout into the seventh inning.

 

Omaha's Ben Hendrickson pitched well in picking up his fourth straight victory and Justin Huber hit two home runs - including a first-inning grand slam - as the Royals roughed up Nashville and Yovani Gallardo 7-1 before a Thirsty Thursday crowd of 4,438.

 

Considered Milwaukee's best prospect and perhaps the best pitching prospect left in the minors now that Homer Bailey is scheduled to start tonight for Cincinnati, Gallardo brought an impressive list of credentials with him.

 

"He struggled to get his offspeed pitch over for strikes, which kind of crushed him, because we started eliminating pitches (to worry about)," Huber said. "But he's a tremendous prospect and has a great future. A little hiccup like this is going to be nothing in the long term."

 

The 21-year-old Gallardo leads the PCL with eight wins, and would have been on a 10-start winning streak had the bullpen not blown two leads. He leads all minor leaguers in strikeouts (with 98) - as he did last season - and led all Class AAA pitchers with a .180 opponent batting average. He was second in the PCL with a 2.14 ERA.

 

He hadn't allowed more than three walks in a game this season, but walked two in the first, three in the second and six in 4 1/3 innings. He gave up seven runs after not allowing more than four all year.

 

He had given up one homer in 67 1/3 innings. Then Huber hit two.

 

"He still threw the ball real well," Omaha manager Mike Jirschele said. "He had his walks early and Huber got him with one swing. The score was very deceiving. Those stats are no fluke. The guy can pitch."

 

Meanwhile, Hendrickson continued turning around his season. Himself a former Brewers prospect, Hendrickson (6-3) has a 3.14 ERA in his last five appearances, bringing his overall ERA down to 4.62.

 

He has walked only five batters in his last 28 2/3 innings after issuing 25 free passes in his first 37 2/3.

 

He also enjoyed his second outing against his former organization. He was traded to the Kansas City system during spring training.

 

"They know what I throw, and I know what they hit," Hendrickson said. "That's what makes it fun."

 

Gallardo (8-2) gave up a one-out single to Richard Lewis in the first inning, then issued four-pitch walks to sluggers Billy Butler and Craig Brazell. Huber then launched his next pitch over the hitting screen in straightway center field.

 

"Even though he'd thrown eight straight balls, you figure he's eventually going to groove one and that's the approach I took," Huber said.

 

The early lead helped Hendrickson cruise, and he took a two-hitter into the seventh. He said there's no extra incentive facing a pitcher of Gallardo's stature.

 

"That's what you're trying to do every time out, and it doesn't matter if you're throwing against him or anybody else," Hendrickson said.

 

Former Nebraska player Drew Anderson of Kearney drove in the Sounds' only run with a seventh-inning single.

 

Huber went deep to left center in the fifth inning, cutting through a strong northwest wind. He nearly homered down the line off reliever Luther Hackman in the ninth, pulling it just foul.

 

Huber missed just over three weeks with hamstring and calf injuries, but is 5 for 16 with three homers since returning.

 

"It's good to have him back in the lineup," Jirschele said. "He can make something happen at any time - just like he did tonight."

[Mass Haas]

Steve Sollmann photo in West Tenn Game Story:

 

www.jacksonsun.com/apps/p...006/SPORTS

[lexi881]

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/images/2007/06/04/VVDToWlX.jpg

 

this was taken in Daytona - our family is in the background - its blurry - but its us!!!

 

Edit: to display Mat Gamel photo

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.dailymail.com/story/S...ion-title/

 

Power wraps up first-half SAL division title

Jacob Messer

Charleston Daily Mail Sportswriter

 

With 11 games remaining before the All-Star break, the West Virginia Power clinched the South Atlantic League's Northern Division first-half title Thursday night with a 9-5 win over the host Lexington Legends at Applebee's Park.

 

The championship is the franchise's first since 2004. The title also is the team's first in its three years as the Power, which earned a berth in the SAL Playoffs in September.

 

"It's exciting," West Virginia second baseman Kenny Holmberg said Thursday during a postgame telephone interview from Lexington, Ky. "We have jelled since spring training. We knew we had something special going.

 

"But we still have two weeks to go. It's not time to throw it in. We still want to win games. That's our goal."

 

If the Power continues its winning ways, it could establish itself as the franchise's best.

 

West Virginia is only the eighth team in the 20-year history of Charleston's SAL membership to win 40 games in a half.

 

The record is 47, which belongs to the Charleston Wheelers in 1990. The best winning percentage in a half is .657, which was set by the Wheelers in 1991 when they were 46-24.

 

The Power (41-16, .719) has an opportunity to break both of those marks.

 

"That just goes along with winning games," Holmberg said. "The more you win, the closer you get to things like that. If we go out and execute what we do, records are going to happen for us."

 

Designated hitter Andrew LeFave provided four hits, including a three-run home run in the top of the ninth inning, to lift West Virginia to its fourth consecutive victory.

 

"As a team, we just believe in ourselves," LeFave said. "We feel like we can beat anybody if we apply ourselves and play our best baseball. That has taken us a long way as an offense, as a defense and as a pitching staff.

 

"You have to tip your hat to everybody."

 

And everybody includes the Power staff -- Manager Mike Guerrero, hitting coach Corey Hart and pitching coach John Curtis.

 

"You have to give our coaches a lot of credit, too," LeFave said. "They believe in us and they do a great job. They don't try to change us too much. They just try to work with us."

 

The Power finished with 17 hits, marking the eight consecutive game in which they have recorded double digits in that category.

 

LeFave, whose blast (his fifth this season) sparked a five-run ninth off Lexington closer Santo Luis, was one of five West Virginia players with multiple hits.

 

"I was seeing the ball real good all night long," LeFave said. "I got a lot of pitches that I could handle. I wasn't trying to hit the ball too hard. I was just trying to put it in play. Their pitchers threw pretty good, but they left some balls over the plate."

 

First baseman Michael Brantley, shortstop Brent Brewer and catcher Andy Bouchie added three hits apiece. Holmberg had two hits, including one of the Power's three home runs.

 

Holmberg and third baseman Taylor Green hit back-to-back solo shots in the third. Holmberg's homer was his sixth, and Green's was his eighth.

 

Incidentally, Green on Thursday was named the Milwaukee Brewers' Minor League Offensive Player of the Month for May. He hit .400 with five homers, seven doubles, 18 runs and 23 RBI in 21 games last month.

 

West Virginia reliever Travis Wendte (4-0) got the win for the Power.

 

He pitched four perfect innings, striking out five of the 12 batters he retired.

 

Lexington starter Casey Hudspeth (2-5) took the loss for the Legends (27-33). He allowed four runs on 11 hits in 5 2/3 innings.

 

West Virginia also tagged Luis for five runs on three hits and one walk in one inning.

 

The teams will play the second of their four-game series at 7:05 tonight (6:05 Central). The Power will start right-hander Mike McClendon (5-2, 2.87). The Legends will throw left-hander Polin Trinidad (3-3, 4.32).

[fredsfan]

Braddock is back with a bang!!! Welcome back to WV Fergie it is your time to shine. Brae is moving in the Wright direction and we should see good things. Congrats to all who have moved up. This is a great bunch of guys with alot of heart.