L-Report 4/24 Nichols 'I have never seen anything like this'

[Mass Haas]

http://www.brewerfan.net/images/store/dailylinkreport.jpg

[Mass Haas]

Tuesday's Daily Menu:

 

All times Central; pitchers subject to change --

 

Nashville: RHP Yo Gallardo at home vs. Iowa (Cubs), 10:10 AM pre-game; 10:30 gametime

 

Audio link:

www.nashvillesounds.com/listenlive/

 

Huntsville: LHP Steve Hammond at Montgomery (Devil Rays), 10:20 PM pre-game; 10:35 gametime

 

Audio link:

www.huntsvillestars.com/

 

Brevard County: RHP Will Inman at home vs. Vero Beach (Devil Rays), 5:50 PM pre-game, 6:00 gametime

 

Audio link (game will also archive at this link):

www.minorleaguebaseball.c.../audio.jsp

 

West Virginia: RHP Mike McClendon at home vs. Hickory (Pirates), 6:55 PM pre-game, 7:05 gametime

 

Audio link (game will also archive at this link):

www.minorleaguebaseball.c.../audio.jsp

[Mass Haas]

Wow, another fine day shaping up here.

 

Office folks will be listening for Yovani, but be sure to give Brett Pollock's call from Montgomery some audio lovin' as well, as Steve Hammond's no slouch.

 

Then you can give a listen to three innings of some Will Inman action before you're tempted to swing over to Brewers / Cubbies.

 

And, oh by the way, the Power's going for 11 wins in a row...

 

It is an amazing time to be a fan of this organization, it has been building for five years now, you could see this coming and coming. Of course, there will be some expected lows yet to come, but we're glad you're here -- let's all enjoy this ride!

[Mass Haas]

Follow Tuesday's action as it happens:

Here's what you do, right click on each of the links below and choose "Open in New Window". Open the Nashville Gameday. For the others, choose "Log". While you're listening to your minor league game of choice (or watching/listening to the big league Crew when they are playing), simply refresh your game log browsers every so often.

 

Nashville:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_nasaaa_1

 

Huntsville:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...x_monaax_1

 

Brevard County:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_breafa_1

 

West Virginia:

 

www.minorleaguebaseball.c...x_wvaafx_1

[Mass Haas]

These links will be included in each daily report when the Nashville Sounds and/or Huntsville Stars are scheduled to play. Normally they are updated an hour or two prior to gametime, with Nashville's usually earlier:

 

Nashville Media Notes (Adobe .pdf format):

 

www.nashvillesounds.com/pdf/notes.pdf

 

Huntsville Media Notes (Adobe .pdf format):

 

www.huntsvillestars.com/i...eNotes.pdf

[Mass Haas]

Standings through Monday's action:

 Pacific Coast League (AAA) - PCL American North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nashville 12 6 .667 - 6-4 6-2 W6 Iowa 9 9 .500 3.0 6-2 3-7 L3 Memphis 9 10 .474 3.5 8-3 1-7 W3 Omaha 7 12 .368 5.5 5-3 2-9 L3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Southern League (AA) - SOU North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tennessee 9 7 .563 - 3-3 6-4 L1 Huntsville 8 8 .500 1.0 4-6 4-2 W2 Chattanooga 7 11 .389 3.0 4-6 3-5 L1 West Tenn 7 11 .389 3.0 3-5 4-6 L1 Carolina 6 12 .333 4.0 4-4 2-8 W1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Florida State League (A+) - FSL East Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Palm Beach 9 7 .563 - 5-5 4-2 L1 St. Lucie 9 7 .563 - 4-5 5-2 W3 Daytona 9 8 .529 0.5 6-3 3-5 W1 Brevard County 8 8 .500 1.0 3-4 5-4 W1 Vero Beach 7 9 .438 2.0 5-3 2-6 L1 Jupiter 7 10 .412 2.5 2-4 5-6 L5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- South Atlantic League (A) - SAL Northern Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- West Virginia 12 3 .800 - 10-3 2-0 W10 Greensboro 11 6 .647 2.0 9-2 2-4 W3 Lakewood 7 7 .500 4.5 4-5 3-2 W2 Hickory 7 8 .467 5.0 2-3 5-5 L4 Lexington 8 10 .444 5.5 6-5 2-5 L3 Delmarva 7 9 .438 5.5 2-3 5-6 L1 Lake County 7 10 .412 6.0 2-2 5-8 W1 Hagerstown 6 12 .333 7.5 2-5 4-7 L2

[Mass Haas]

Huntsville audio working (Stars down again in the 1st inning, 2-0), but not Nashville, at least for me, either via the Sounds' site or that of WNSR.

 

Someone chime in if it starts working later on, thanks.

[jackalope02ca]

Nashville is up working now in the 2nd.

[Team Canada]

Hammond with 3 gopher balls in 4 innings.

[And That]

This AAA Gamecast is pretty funny. According to the graphic, Gallardo hasn't thrown a ball in the strike zone all game, Chris Barnwell hit a HR to short left-center field and Joe Dillion just popped out about 10 rows back on the first base line.

 

Edit: Barnwell just homered again. This time it looks like he hit it at least 290 feet to straightaway LF.

 

Gallardo just lifted for a pinch hitter. Final line: 6 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 7 K, 93 pitches.

[bthurley19]

Yo dominant again it appears. Looks like Yo and Braun have already figured out AAA. Can't wait to see these two up with the big club doing the same thing soon.

[jackalope02ca]

You got to wonder what will happen if he gets the ERA back under 2. I mean how do you leave him in the minors at that point? Someone might have to develop a sore shoulder or something on the big league staff just for a spot start to see how he does.

[imblotto]

Can Braun play catcher if Estrada is seriously hurt?

 

LOL

[imblotto]

Although I hope the best for Johnny

[brewmann04]

Just another good afternoon for braun and to boot no Errors in the Boxscore

[DHonks]

I mean how do you leave him in the minors at that point?

 

If there's no opening, there's no opening. It will require Vargas reverting to Dbacks days (but he had decent numbers given that he pitched a lot of game sin Coors and Chase) or someone getting hurt. Theoretically, if no 7th inning man steps up, Bush or Vargas could be moved to that role

[JoeHova]

Nice to see that the Sounds got their 7th straight win (7-1!). Braun was 2-3 with another walk, I'm very glad to see that he is draing walks at a pretty good clip this year, that was one of the few worries I had about him.

[brewmann04]

I would think next year in the Perfect world either Vargas or Bush goes to the long man to replace Elmer and Yo takes the 4th spot over.

[Team Canada]

Bush as the long man would be a complete waste. As he showed last start, he can completely dominate teams. You don't relegate that kind of talent to pitch every week or 2. And I imagine Vargas would much rather move on and start somewhere else, he's better (probably) than a long man.

[dadofandrew]

Maybe they'll sign another Suppan type to be a long reliever.

 

When Yo, Carlos V, or someone else is ready, a veteran SP will be dealt, as our staff isn't too many years away from being a $40-50M rotation. You can have great SP depth, but you can't have veterans as depth, as it's too expensive. Look at the Yankees "depth" this year. If they can't afford it, I promise you the Brewers can't.

[Mass Haas]

Nashville Pre-Game Audio Chat with Reliever Luther Hackman:

 

www.nashvillesounds.com/a...204-24.mp3

[Mass Haas]

Final: Nashville 7, Iowa (Cubs) 1

Link for Chris Barnwell photo, text follows --

 

www.nashvillesounds.com/n...ewsId=2280

 

Barnwell, Gallardo Lead Sounds To Series Sweep

 

NASHVILLE ? Chris Barnwell belted two home runs and Yovani Gallardo allowed one hit while striking out seven over six innings to lead the Nashville Sounds to a 7-1 victory over the division-rival Iowa Cubs on Tuesday morning at Greer Stadium in front of 9,777 screaming fans, mostly schoolchildren, on Sounds Reading Club day at the ballpark.

 

The win, Nashville?s season-best seventh in a row, completed a four-game sweep of the I-Cubs and gave the red-hot Sounds (13-6) 12 victories in their last 14 contests.

 

The win featured another dominant pitching performance by the Sounds? staff. Iowa was held to one run on three hits on the afternoon and was outscored 20-4 by Nashville in the series. Opponents have scored only 11 runs against Nashville during the club?s current seven-game win streak, including one-run efforts on five occasions.

 

Gallardo (3-1) earned a victory for the third consecutive outing, holding Iowa to one run on one hit while walking three and striking out seven over six frames. The 21-year-old moved into a tie for the minor-league lead with 33 strikeouts on the year, a total that paces the Pacific Coast League.

 

In his last three outings, Gallardo has allowing two runs on seven hits in 18 innings while posting a 1.00 ERA and striking out 26 batters.

 

Barnwell paced the Nashville offense with a 2-for-4, three-RBI day that included his first career multi-homer effort.

 

The Sounds scratched across the game?s first run when Gallardo drew a bases-loaded walk from Iowa starter Carlos Marmol to force home Andy Abad, but Nashville missed an opportunity for a big inning after loading the bags with none out. Aside from issuing the walk, Marmol worked around the jam by fanning two batters and inducing an infield popup.

 

The visitors tied it in the top of the third when Carlos Rojas drew an inning-opening walk from Gallardo and came around to score on Eric Patterson?s two-out bloop double down the left field line.

 

Barnwell put Nashville back on top by a 2-1 count in the fourth when he slugged his first home run in 123 at-bats, dating back to the 2006 season, a two-out solo shot to left off Marmol.

 

Nashville blew the game open in the sixth, plating four runs against Marmol and reliever Clay Rapada. J.D. Closser walked and moved to third on an Abad double before Sounds shortstop Ozzie Chavez (3-for-4) plated both when he greeted Rapada with a two-run double to left. Barnwell followed with his second roundtripper of the afternoon to make it a 6-1 contest.

 

AUDIO: Chris Barnwell's 2nd Home Run --

 

www.nashvillesounds.com/a...204-24.mp3

 

The Sounds tacked on an unearned run against Ben Howard in the eighth that scored when Chavez raced home on a Geovany Soto passed ball.

 

Marmol (2-1) suffered his first loss of the year after surrendering four runs on five hits over his 5 1/3 innings.

 

Alec Zumwalt, Mitch Stetter, and Steve Bray combined for three scoreless frames behind Gallardo to ice the Nashville win.

 

After joining the entire Pacific Coast League for an off day tomorrow, the Sounds travel to Omaha on Thursday to open an eight-game road trip that includes series against the division-rival Royals and a return engagement with the I-Cubs.

 

Nashville left-hander Zach Jackson (3-1, 3.38) will start Thursday?s 6:35 p.m. series opener. Omaha will counter with rehabbing right-hander Scott Elarton (0-1, 5.40).

 

Thursday?s meeting will be the first between Nashville and Omaha this season; the Sounds won the 2006 season series by a 9-7 margin.

 

Nashville Box Score:

Ozzie Chavez has been on fire ever since yours truly commented that he's "overmatched" at AAA -- thanks, Ozzie; how many future Wisconsinites are due to be named "Yovani" over the next generation -- I'm guessing a few...

 

www.nashvillesounds.com/s...a_nasaaa_1

 

Nashville Game Log:

We'll start linking to this expanded box score view and game log, available at the AAA level, from now on...

 

www.nashvillesounds.com/s...a_nasaaa_1

[Mass Haas]

Final: Montgomery (Devil Rays) 13, Huntsville 6

 

Huntsville Site Game Summary:

Link, text follows --

 

www.huntsvillestars.com/n...ewsId=1125

 

Homer Happy Biscuits Handle Stars

 

Gabriel Martinez hit a home run and knocked in five runs and Chris Mason worked six strong innings on the hill to lead Montgomery to a 13-6 win over Huntsville Tuesday morning and afternoon at Riverwalk Stadium. The Biscuits halted a two-game slide, evened the series at two games apiece and improved to 10-9 on the season, while the Stars were denied a three-game win streak for a third time this season and fell to 8-9.

 

Fernando Perez opened the home first with a walk, stole second base and scored when Jason Pridie followed with a home run to right field, his first of the year. The two runs marked the 11th time in 17 games the Stars have been scored on in the first inning, the fifth time they have given up a long ball in the first inning and the second straight start in which southpaw starter Steve Hammond has yielded a first inning home run to a left-hand hitter. Solo home runs by Perez in the third and Chris Nowak in the fourth pushed the home team?s advantage to 4-0 and marked the second time in 17 starts with the Stars that Hammond had given up three homers in a game.

 

Chris Mason blanked the Stars on two singles through four innings before a Reid Brignac throwing error in the fifth allowed Jeff Eure to score from second base to get the visitors on the board. Shaun Cumberland singled home Evan Longoria with two outs in the home half of the inning to extend the Biscuits? lead to 6-1 and chase Hammond from the game.

 

Luis Villareal took over and was greeted rudely when Gabriel Martinez slugged a three-run home run to make it 9-1 Montgomery and mark the first time the defending league champions had ever hit four round trippers in a regular season game in franchise history. The Biscuits swatted four home runs in the Southern League Championship clinching game against the Stars on September 15 last year. Hammond was tagged with the loss after allowing eight runs on nine hits in his first-ever start against the Biscuits.

 

Mason allowed only four singles, struck out seven and did not walk a batter in picking up his second win of the season. Brett Wayne took over in the seventh and gave up a run-scoring single to Steve Sollmann and a two-run single to Steve Moss to cut the lead to 10-4. Brian Henderson took over and walked Ulyses Davenport to force in a run to make it 10-5 but got Mike Carlin to ground out with the bases loaded to end the threat.

 

Montgomery tacked on three more runs in the seventh on a Cumberland run-scoring single and Martinez?s two-run base hit. Brignac was the only Biscuits? hitter not to collect a hit and reach base at least once in the game, as the Biscuits set season-highs in runs and matched a season-best in hits. The 13 runs were the most allowed by the Stars in a game this season and the 14 hits permitted matched a season-high set by Tennessee on April 13.

 

Moss, who went 3-for-5, extended his hitting streak to 10 games, during which he is 17-for-44. Brendan Katin, who doubled in Moss for the final Huntsville run, has knocked in a run in each of the last three games to push his total to a team-best 14. Sollmann singled twice and scored a run in five at-bats and has hit safely in five in a row and eight out of nine.

 

The series in Montgomery wraps up Wednesday evening with right-hander Mike Jones taking the hill against Biscuits? southpaw Mike Prochaska. 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:

Steve Hammond's had a very troubling April; don't look now, but the Hurricane has been downgraded to a light breeze with his play as of late...

 

web.minorleaguebaseball.c...x_monaax_1

 

Huntsville Game Log:

 

web.minorleaguebaseball.c...x_monaax_1

[Mass Haas]

Just thought I'd add that I doubt there are two minor league teams in all of baseball who do such an unbelievable job with their game summaries as the Sounds and Stars do, as evidenced again this afternoon. Kudos to their media relations and broadcast staffs -- we're very lucky in that regard. Thanks, guys...

[miwokE]

Braun liked stealing third so much yesterday, he thought he'd try it again. But, not so lucky.

 

He's got happy feet lately, five of his six steal attempts in the last seven games.