Link Report Tue. 5/22: Doug and Gord Watch Yo and Ryan

[Never Outhustled]

Steve Sollmann's OBP is .467 -- the Youkilis comparisons aren't far off, although Youkilis debuted with Boston age 25 in 2004, and Sollmann is 25 and in AA, but there's definitely something to look at there

 

If we're looking for a late blooming 2B-3B with outstanding on-base skills, very little power, and can steal some bases, why not Esteban German . I think thats a pretty good comparison, and a player I'd love to have.

[Boy Jeenius]

Anyone notice that Yohannis Perez is now above the Mendoza line and slowly creeping higher? 2 more his tonight.

[Mass Haas]

Final: Dunedin (Blue Jays) 4, Brevard County 0

 

MiLB.com Brevard County Game Notes:

 

Wideman silences Manatees

May 22, 2007

 

A.J. Wideman scattered five hits over seven innings as host Dunedin shut out Brevard County, 4-0, on Tuesday.

 

Wideman (2-1) struck out five and walked one in the longest start of his career. The 22-year-old left-hander was 3-0 in four games with Lansing of the Midwest League before his promotion to the Blue Jays (21-23).

 

Dunedin relivers Seth Overbey and Connor Falkenbach combined for two hitless innings.

 

Eric Nielsen hit a two-run double in the first inning, and Josh Kreuzer added a solo shot in the third. Luke Hetherington went 3-for-4 with a run scored for the Blue Jays.

 

Manatees starter David Welch (1-1) allowed four runs on eight hits and two walks over five innings in the loss.

 

Ned Yost was 1-for-1 with two walks for Brevard County (27-18). -- Michael Blinn/MLB.com

 

Brevard County Box Score:

Alcides Escobar at DH allows little-used SS Ryan Barba to get the start; Charlie Fermaint 0-for-3 with two K's, lost season thus far...

 

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

 

Brevard County Game Log:

Ned Yost picked off first base in the 5th with men on 1st and 2nd and two out -- ugh; two late GIDP's didn't help, but the Manatees never really threatended all game...

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_dunafa_1

[Mass Haas]

Final: Augusta (Giants) 4, West Virginia 3, ten innings

 

West Virginia Site Game Summary:

 

SCHOOP SPOILS POWER COMEBACK

 

The West Virginia Power scored twice in the ninth inning of Tuesday night?s game against the Augusta GreenJackets to tie the game at 3-3 and send the game into extra innings where second baseman Sharlon Schoop hit his first home run of the year in the 10th inning as the GreenJackets defeated the Power 4-3 at Appalachian Power Park.

 

Mike McBryde singled in the first run of the game in the top of the second inning. The Power tied it in the bottom of the inning on Steve Chapman?s solo home run, his sixth of the year. Augusta answered quickly in the third on a two-out, two-run double from Brett Pill.

 

Down by two runs West Virginia came back to tie the game in the ninth inning. Martin Maldonado reached on an errant throw and got to third base on Steve Chapman?s single. John Alonso?s pinch-hit single scored Maldonado and Brent Brewer?s sacrifice fly plated Chapman later in the ninth to force extra innings. Schoop?s eventual game-winning homer came in the top of the tenth inning.

 

Dave Newton (1-0) pitched two scoreless innings of relief to get the win and Alex Periard (3-1) was tagged with the loss after surrendering just a run on three hits over five innings.

 

The Power fell to 28-14 with the loss and the GreenJackets improved to 32-13 with the win. Darren Ford walked three times but saw his hitting streak come to an end at 12 games. Michael Brantley reached on a double to extend his on base streak to 18 games. The ten-inning loss was West Virginia?s first in extra innings this year.

 

The Power will continue the four game series against Augusta Wednesday morning. The Power will start right hander Mike McClendon (3-1, 2.30) and the GreenJackets will counter with right hander Kevin Pucetas (5-0, 1.13). The first pitch is scheduled for 10:35 AM (9:35 Central).

 

West Virginia Box Score:

Power outhit, 11-5; 21-year-old Steve Chapman having a heck of a spring, now with an .869 OPS -- this kid's pretty exciting; Taylor Green another extra-base hit, a double; still just 19 years old, RHP Alex Periard with a great effort save for surrendering the home run in the 10th -- no K's in five innings, his low strikeout rate (21 in 38 innings) is the only concern about his fine season thus far (2.13 ERA)...

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...x_wvaafx_1

 

West Virginia Game Log:

Power go down meekly in the 10th to end it...

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...x_wvaafx_1

[pogokat]

i have noticed that Steve is slowly moving up the batting order...never really thought of him as someone with 25 homer potential before, but couple that with the ability to play CF, and he could rise very fast...

[Mass Haas]

Link Report Bonus from Baseball America:

 

Fan Promotion Fun at West Virginia

[Mass Haas]

Final: Nashville 3, Memphis (Cardinals) 1

 

Nashville Site Game Summary:

Link for Yovani Gallardo photo, text follows --

 

www.nashvillesounds.com/n...ewsId=2335

 

Gallardo, Braun Lead Sounds Past Redbirds, 3-1

 

NASHVILLE ? It was the prospect show for the Nashville Sounds on Tuesday evening at Greer Stadium in the club?s 3-1 victory over the cross-state rival Memphis Redbirds.

 

Yovani Gallardo (6-1), the Milwaukee Brewers? top prospect, continued to dominate Pacific Coast League hitters in earning his league-leading sixth victory of the season for Nashville. The 21-year-old struck out 10 batters over six-plus innings of work, allowing one run on seven hits to lower his PCL-leading ERA to 2.14 on the year.

 

Gallardo, who upped his minor-league-leading strikeout total to 76 on the season, allowed one run or less for the sixth time in nine starts and improved to 6-0 with a 1.63 ERA over his last eight outings (9 ER / 49.2 IP).

 

Sounds third baseman Ryan Braun, the Brew Crew?s best positional prospect, powered the Nashville offense with a 2-for-3 effort out of the leadoff spot that included his team-leading ninth home run of the year. Braun drove in two of the three Sounds runs on the evening.

 

The win was the sixth in the last eight games for Nashville (24-21). Milwaukee GM Doug Melvin and assistant GM Gord Ash were both in attendance for the contest.

 

A third-inning walk came back to haunt Gallardo as Memphis grabbed a 1-0 lead in the frame. Brian Esposito drew a free pass on four pitches with one out and came around to score the game?s first run on Skip Schumaker?s two-out RBI double to left-center.

 

The Sounds knotted the contest in the bottom of the third when Chris Barnwell scored on a Charles Thomas sacrifice fly.

 

Braun gave the Sounds a 2-1 advantage in the fifth when he slugged Memphis starter Blake Hawksworth?s two-out 2-0 offering over the left field wall for a solo home run, his team-leading ninth roundtripper of the year.

 

Memphis missed a golden opportunity to tie the game in the seventh against Nashville reliever Joe Thatcher. After loading the bases with two outs, Rick Ankiel flew out to deep left-center on a 3-2 pitch.

 

Braun provided Nashville with an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh when he ripped a two-out RBI ground-rule double into the right field corner to plate Barnwell for a 3-1 lead. The two-bagger was the prospect?s team-leading 11th of the year.

 

Hawksworth (2-6) took a tough-luck loss after turning in a quality start of his own, allowing two runs on four hits in six innings while walking one batter and striking out five.

 

Reliever Greg Aquino made his first competitive appearance in over a month, working a perfect eighth inning for the Sounds that included a strikeout. He is with the club while rehabbing a right forearm injury.

 

Luther Hackman allowed the potential tying run to reach base in the top of the ninth but retired Nick Stavinoha on a game-ending lineout with runners at the corners to secure the win and earn his team-leading seventh save. Hackman has saved each of the Sounds? last five wins dating back to last Tuesday.

 

The teams continue the series with a noon matinee on Wednesday afternoon. Left-hander Zach Jackson (5-3, 4.42) will start for Nashville to face Memphis southpaw Troy Cate (1-3, 4.42).

 

Nashville Box Score:

Even Ryan Braun's out was hit hard, a line out to left; Ryan handled one ground ball, his only chance, cleanly...

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_nasaaa_1

 

Nashville Game Log:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_nasaaa_1

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

www.nashvillecitypaper.co...s_id=56315

 

Gallardo doesn?t dazzle but still gets a win

By Nate Rau, Nashville City Paper Sports Correspondent

 

Even without his A-game, Yovani Gallardo is better than most.

 

For as dominant as he?s been this season, Gallardo has shown that even he has an Achilles heel. For Gallardo, the Nashville Sounds ace, his weakness seems to be getting too amped-up for particularly big starts.

 

For his Triple A debut earlier this season, Gallardo admitted he was a bit too excited and he struggled as a result, going five innings and surrendering four earned runs en route to his only loss of the season.

 

Against Memphis at Greer Stadium on Tuesday, the butterflies seemed to get to Gallardo early yet again.

 

Luckily for the Sounds, even a slightly sub-par outing by Gallardo was still pretty good. With Milwaukee Brewers upper management in attendance, Gallardo went six innings and allowed just one run as the Sounds downed the Redbirds 3-1 in front of 3,794 fans at Greer.

 

Milwaukee general manager Doug Melvin and assistant general manager Gord Ash were among the Brewers? front office entourage in attendance to get a good look at their top prospect.

 

Gallardo (6-1) threw 99 pitches over the six innings and scattered seven hits, which is as many as he gave up in his debut loss. He also struck out 10 and walked two before yielding to Joe Thatcher.

 

Gallardo, who pushed his minor league strikeout lead to 76, has allowed three runs or less in six of his nine starts. He also took the Pacific Coast League lead for wins.

 

?I guess we notice that they?re here,? Gallardo said of the Brewers? management attending the game. ?But what I try to do is just forget about that and focus on the game. That?s what?s most important.?

 

Besides Gallardo?s quality start, the Brewers? brass got to see top offensive prospect Ryan Braun put on a show as well. Braun, who was in the leadoff spot for the first time in his career, homered, doubled and drove in two runs for the Sounds. It was his first home run since May 2, after he missed 12 games earlier this month because of a wrist injury. Braun leads the team with nine home runs.

 

?For me it?s just a matter of rhythm and timing and getting some at-bats in there, but it?s nice to be able to contribute and I?m glad it came in a win,? Braun said.

 

Memphis got to Gallardo in the third, after he was perfect for the first 2.2 innings of the game. Gallardo walked Brian Esposito who eventually scored on a double by Skip Schumaker.

 

The Sounds (23-21) got the run back in the bottom half of the inning when Chris Barnwell notched an infield single and later scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Charles Thomas.

 

The score stayed at one apiece until the fifth when Braun hit a solo home run. Braun added an RBI ground rule double in the seventh that plated Barnwell for an insurance run.

 

Thatcher and Greg Aquino were perfect out of the bullpen in the seventh and eighth innings for the Sounds. Aquino is with the Sounds on a rehab assignment from Milwaukee for a right forearm injury. Luther Hackman earned his seventh save of the season by pitching a scoreless ninth.

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

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

 

Sounds ace strikes out 10 in easy victory over Redbirds

Braun home run backs Gallardo

By BRYAN MULLEN

Tennessean Staff Writer

 

The Milwaukee Brewers' top minor league pitching prospect was on the mound last night.

 

He was also on top of his game.

 

Sounds starting pitcher Yovani Gallardo showed once again why he's regarded as one of the game's brightest young stars, striking out 10 batters and allowing only one run during Nashville's 3-1 win over Memphis in front of 3,794 at Greer Stadium.

 

"Overall it was a good one," said Gallardo (6-1), who's known for downplaying his successful starts. "The first couple of innings, it wasn't there. My breaking ball wasn't as sharp as it usually is. But I was able to get it back later in the game and that helped out a lot."

 

It was the third time this season the 21-year-old right-hander has struck out 10 or more batters in a game.

 

Gallardo went six innings and allowed seven hits, few of which were hard hit. He upped his strikeout total to 76 to lead all of minor league baseball and lowered his ERA to 2.14, tops in the Pacific Coast League.

 

The Sounds (24-21) took a 2-1 lead in the fifth when Ryan Braun hit a towering solo home run to left. With the win against the Redbirds (22-24) the Sounds improved to 7-0 when Braun hits a homer.

 

Memphis' Rick Ankiel was 0 for 4 with three strikeouts, before coming to the plate with the bases loaded in the seventh. But Sounds reliever Joe Thatcher got Ankiel to fly out to deep center to end the inning and preserve the Sounds' 2-1 lead.

 

"He stayed down and didn't get too many balls up," Sounds Manager Frank Kremblas said about Thatcher. "He had tough at-bat there with Ankiel. Ankiel battled his butt off."

 

What they said: "Our hitters came through and were able to pick me up after that run I gave up." ? Gallardo on the Sounds' three runs after he allowed one.

 

***

Link while active, text follows:

 

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

 

Change is good for Braun

By BRYAN MULLEN

Tennessean Staff Writer

 

Sounds Manager Frank Kremblas changed up the batting order last night.

 

Come to find out, Ryan Braun likes change.

 

Braun led off for the first time this year and hit a solo home run to left in the fifth to give the Sounds a 2-1 lead. For Braun, the top position player prospect for the Milwaukee Brewers, it was his team-leading ninth home run of the season. He later added an RBI double in the seventh.

 

"That was the first time I've led off in my life," Braun said. "It worked out alright tonight ... There really isn't that much of a difference other than having the pitcher hit in front of you. Sometimes you have to be a little more patient and take a few extra pitches. I like it, though."

 

Braun was the fifth different player to lead off for the Sounds this season. The others are Callix Crabbe, Jose Macias, Drew Anderson and Chris Barnwell.

 

By comparison, a total of six different players led off all last season.

 

Name game: If the last name of Memphis' hitting coach sounds familiar, well, it should.

 

Redbirds assistant coach Rick Eckstein is the older brother of St. Louis Cardinals shortstop David Eckstein, the MVP of last year's World Series.

 

Rick Eckstein came to the Cardinals organization after serving as the hitting coach for the Washington Nationals' Triple-A affiliate in New Orleans. He was also the bullpen coach for with Team USA in the inaugural World Baseball Classic.

 

Settling in at home: Greer Stadium didn't provide too much of a home field advantage at the start of the season, but the Sounds have started to get comfortable in Nashville. After opening the season 1-4 at Greer, the Sounds have won 13 of their last 16 home games.

 

Rising up the charts: Kremblas is three wins shy of tying Stump Merrill for fourth-most managerial wins in Sounds franchise history. Merrill had 178.

 

In the pinch: When Joe Dillon hit a single in the seventh, it raised the batting average for Sounds' pinch hitters to an astounding .400 (12 for 30) this season.

[Mass Haas]

AUDIO: Ryan Braun's Team-Leading 9th HR --

 

www.nashvillesounds.com/a...205-22.mp3

[Mass Haas]

Link while active, text follows:

 

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

 

Heether is heating up

Long Beach St. product's hitting is coming along

By MARK McCARTER

Huntsville Times Sports Staff, markcolumn@aol.com

 

The dirt was like a second layer of skin on his bare arm, with dried blood on some scraped areas. Streaks of red clay decorated the belly of his uniform shirt and the thighs of his pants. A day's worth of beard sprouted on his face. Like cheap mascara, the eyeblack was smeared underneath wraparound sunglasses.

 

Now, that's the way to walk off a baseball field.

 

"I love it," Adam Heether said. "I love bleeding. I'm getting a feeling like I'm making a contribution."

 

Even better to walk off an 11-3 winner, as the Huntsville Stars were Tuesday afternoon, having taken four of five games from the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx in the homestand. Now, it's off to Mobile for five against one of the league's hottest teams.

 

The Stars cranked out 13 hits - with two each from Heether, Mel Stocker (also with three RBIs), Steve Sollmann, Brendan Katin and Yohannis Perez - and Lindsay Gulin struck out eight in seven innings to win his second game.

 

Even better to walk off the field, if you're Heether, with no small amount of confidence, momentum and glee.

 

With his 2-for-4 game, with an RBI single and two-run double, Heether has hit safely in nine of his last 11 games and pulled his average to .205. Hardly a neon number, but better than his 5-for-38 start that was followed by a stay on the disabled list.

 

Heether, a 25-year-old Californian who played collegiately at Long Beach State, teased Huntsville fans with his potential in a late-season 2005 cameo appearance before spending 2006 in purgatory. The Heether of old is reappearing.

 

Knock on wood.

 

Which you can take almost literally.

 

Hitting coach Sandy Guerrero suggested that Heether switch to a smaller bat, from a 34 1/2-inch model to a 33-incher. It's moved him closer to the plate and given him a quicker swing.

 

From the mental aspect of things, Heether spent 45 minutes in manager Don Money's office before last Friday's game "hashing things out, nothing negative," in Money's words.

 

"Last year, you started out, you never got untracked," Money told him. "Defensively, there's no question. You're fine in that area. You have to put the ball in play. With authority. You have to start putting some numbers on the board. Don't think you have to have a hit every time, but you've got to hit the ball hard."

 

With his recent games, "Maybe he's over the threshold," Money said.

 

"I'm feeling comfortable," Heether admitted.

 

Never getting untracked was an apt description for 2006. Heether started out the season with Huntsville, batting .213 with 51 Ks in 70 games. He was then leapfrogged by the megaprospect Ryan Braun, who sparked the Stars to the second-half title while Heether languished in Single-A, injured and limping home with a .217 average.

 

"I know what I can do. Other people around here know what I can do as well," he said. "Those (struggles) are things that help you as a person and a player, to be humbled, to take a step back and have to come back.

 

"I'm going up there now with a lot of confidence, feeling like I can do something," Heether continued. "I'm glad it's finally coming together."

[Mass Haas]

David Weiser's

 

www.starsboxscore.com/

 

AFTERNOON DELIGHT

The Stars have finally broken a rut....... Every five-game series they've played this season, and that's seven of them going into this homestand, have ended in a 3-2 outcome....... But that ended with an 11-3 victory on a warm 89° afternoon at Huntsville's only outdoor mausoleum -- Joe Davis Stadium........ Yes, it was a businessman's special, when management should have invited the kiddies, who get out of school at the end of the week. At this point in the year, it's too late for them to learn anything, so just give them a treat for staying out of trouble....... The Stars didn't choose to, so they end up with their 11th three-figure crowd of the season. The most in one season has been 13 in 2002......... The good news, though, is that the Stars take four out of five, and nine in their last 12, and in so doing, tie the idle Tennessee Smokies for 1st place....... Earlier in the season, the Stars were rained out in Smokies Park -- two games that won't be made up in this half, so as long as the two teams are the only ones fighting for 1st in this half, the Stars won't be cheated out of a 1st half title because of the weather, like I believe Carolina was years ago because of a hurricane.

 

The Stars, now 12-4 in the daylight this year, scored a season high 34 runs in this series and hit another season-high of .322, far outdistancing the .267 they hit in the three-game set against the Smokies, April 12-13......That raised their team average to .245 -- 7th in the ten-team league...... They pecked apart WT's pitching, the worst in the league (4.31 ERA)....... Their bullpen, alone, was socked for a 6.75 ERA........ The Diamond Jaxx now return to The Big Chip to play Chattanooga, while the Stars go to Hank Aaron Stadium to play Mobile, who earlier won three out of five at Joe Davis Graveyard....... If you think it's a joke, the PA announcer had to ask for volunteers over the system to participate in their between-innings events....... On a beautiful, sunny day, they could only lure 788 in, including the no-show season-ticket holders who are counted.

 

After matching WT's deuce in the 1st inning, the Diamond Jaxx went ahead in the 3rd, 3-2, on Brent Johnson's 3rd home run of the year, going over the Farmers' Insurance sign in centerfield on Lindsay Gulin's 1-0 pitch. Mel Stocker, playing centerfield for the 4th time this season, chased it to the track and made a leap at the fence, but came down with a glove full of nothing...... Of the three free agent outfielders the Stars picked up during the off-season, Stocker is now the only one left after Mike Carlin's release on Monday....... I have to wonder why WT manager Eddy Rodriguez didn't use Johnson more. Today was only the 2nd time he was used in this series. He hits .353 on the road, opposed to .184 at Pringles Park, but just .167 in the day.

 

The Stars took a clean 6-3 lead in the 4th, getting all their runs with two out and nobody on....... Up to the time Brendan Katin sparked the four-run rally, Diamond Jaxx pitcher Doug Fister had retired nine of 12 batters, then, starting with Katin, gave up five straight hits.

 

Katin, 8-for-17 in the series, dropped a one-hop double on a 2-2 pitch in front of the warning track in left-centerfield, his team-leading 10th of the year....... Adam Heether's sharp grounder on Fister's 2nd pitch then got past the diving glove of shortstop Chris Minaker into left to score Katin, tying the game at 3-3.......

 

Yohannis Perez then connected on the first pitch he saw and lined it deep to right near the line for a long single. That sent Heether to 3rd....... Perez had his best series of the season, going 6-for-19 (.316) and scoring three runs (tying his opening homestand performance in April)...... With runners on the corners, Mel Stocker cleaned the bases, sending an 0-1 pitch to the gap in right-center. The ball bounced all the way to the wall and with his speed, Stocker was easily able to get a triple...... The Stars now led, 5-3....... Played to pull, Hernan Iribarren found the hole at short, squeezing through a single to score Stocker, who scored sliding in. The inning may have gone on even longer, but Iribarren was picked off trying to steal on the first pitch to the next hitter, Steve Sollmann.

 

Solly picked up where the Stars left off as Juan Sandoval (0-1, 7.11 in six appearances this month) came in from the bullpen to relieve Fister in the 5th....... Sollmann singled up the middle on a 2-1 pitch, a hit that Sandoval should have been able to field...... Ruben Mateo moved him over to 3rd on a single to right....... Carlos Corporan then was hit with an 0-2 pitch to load the bases....... Drew Anderson, who left Nashville this weekend with a .197 average and limited playing time, picked up his first hit with Huntsville since his departure last year -- a sharp grounder to short that once again got under a diving Minaker into left. That scored Sollmann to make it a 7-3 ballgame....... Brendan Katin, who got the party started in the 4th, got a 2-0 pitch and lined that through short for a hit into left, scoring Mateo to make it 8-3........ With his 2-for-3 day, Katin is hitting .310 for this month after hitting just .210 in April....... With Anderson on 2nd and Corporan on 3rd, the bases were loaded for red-hot Adam Heether, now on a five-game hitting streak........ Heether worked the count to 2-and-0, then lined a double all the way to the wall in left for a two-run double. Now it was a 10-3 rout........ No doubt about this outcome anymore........ Yohannis fouled off four pitches before he was robbed of a hit on a head-first diving catch by Charlton Jimerson, the former Astros' prospect. Jimerson ended the inning on a similar catch off the bat of Iribarren, but not before Stocker drove in the 11th run for the Stars on a grounder to deep short.

 

Wednesday, it's back to Sam Narron on the mound, hoping to repeat his brilliant eight-inning, four-hit performance of last Friday. Going for Mobile will be right-hander Chris Kinsey (1-4, 5.61), who beat the Stars, May 7, 4-3...... Since his win, Kinsey has pitched two innings of scoreless relief vs. Jacksonville, and lost to Chattanooga, giving up ten hits over five innings in a 6-3 loss.

 

Jeff Housman is three strikeouts from his 200th in a Stars uniform, which would put him in 12th place on the team's all-time list behind Nick Neugebauer....... Housman is also approaching the Stars' top 20 in innings pitched. He needs 12 1/3........ The bullpen is continuing to hold the Stars' success in their hands with an ERA of 2.11 this month, while the rotation plods along with a 7-6 record and 5.11 ERA........ The Stars' average attendance of 1,989 (9th in the SL) is 1,066 under 8th place Carolina........ Let's pray for West Tennessee to stay in the league......... The Smokes have three of the top four hitters in the league (Josh Kroeger, Jake Fox, and Jorge Cortes). Lou Palmisano is 6th with a .337 average, but he's 15-for-50 this month. You can figure out the math......... Manny Parra is 6th among ERA leaders with a 3.04 ERA.

 

Where are they now?......... Steve Sollmann's brother, Scott, an outfielder for the Stars in 1999, is now a lawyer, I learned, after getting his degree from a law school in northern Kentucky........ Steve Carroll, who was Voice of the Stars during their first three seasons, is now doing part of the play-by-play for the NHL's Anaheim Ducks.