Link Report for Wed. 6/23 -- Helena Storms Back Yet Again; Arnett Roughed Up in AZ; Jeff Bennett Goes Off

[Jim Goulart]

There may be another media report or two out there from last night's action, and if so, it'll be here later this morning. New Link Report this afternoon, no matinees today.

[Jim Goulart]

What set Jeff Bennett off last night -- and by off, we mean off!

 

Redbirds get heated 2-game sweep

By Marlon W. Morgan, Memphis Commercial Appeal

 

When the Redbirds moved to Memphis in 1998, Nashville instantly became a natural rival.

 

And although the Sounds have gotten the better of their in-state rivals over the years, the matchups usually have been friendly, yet competitive. That was until Wednesday night.

 

Whether it was the hot, humid temperature at AutoZone Park or the fact that the teams were playing their sixth and seventh games against each other in the last 10 days, the rivalry turned into a heated one when both benches and bullpens cleared in the bottom of the sixth inning in the first game of a doubleheader.

 

Perhaps that was just the spark the Redbirds needed as they snapped their three-game losing streak with 7-1 and 11-7 victories to pull even with the Sounds at 39-34 in the Pacific Coast League’s American Northern Division, a game behind Omaha.

 

The incident started when Redbirds third baseman Ruben Gotay blasted a three-run homer off Nashville reliever Jeff Bennett in the sixth inning. Gotay momentarily watched as his eighth homer of the season sailed over the left-field fence.

 

Bennett apparently didn’t appreciate Gotay’s pause, and he let him know about it all the way around the bases. Bennett then immediately retaliated by plunking the next batter, Donovan Solano, and then began yelling some more at Gotay in the Redbirds dugout.

 

“I didn’t do nothing to (tick) him off,” Gotay said. “I think that was unnecessary. ... You’ve got to keep playing hard and forget about that. I heard something, but I don’t know what he said. I was just running the bases and doing my job.”

 

After Bennett hit Solano, both benches and bullpens cleared as an animated Bennett, who clearly was looking for a fight, had to be repeatedly be restrained. During the intermission between games, Bennett reportedly tried to get into the Redbirds’ clubhouse.

[Jim Goulart]

Since the Manatees at least ended their tough first half with the 10-5 win, Stephen C. Smith has the full audio archive available on his site if you want to pass some time with FSL action and commentary.

 

The big 4th inning begins at the 01:11:00 hour/minute mark, the big 8th inning at 02:20:00 hour/minte mark.

[brewmann04]

Good news bad news

Evan Frederickson had a solid outing last night let's hope it a sign of things to come

The Bad

EA again had Terrible results last night and it getting very worrisome

[DHonks]

Arnett....man, I didn't like the pick last year. Of course, I'm anti-Big Ten in anything. He just didn't sound impressive. I guess he must have looked awesome at times though, like Colby said. Maybe we should send him to Milwaukee for a week to work with Peterson.

[HiAndTight]

I'm not sure how Arnett didn't sound impressive at the time last year. He sounded like exactly what the Brewers were looking for. A big, flame throwing, workhorse pitcher who had a mid 90's fastball and a plus slider to go with it, and who had an aggressive mentality.

 

 

There are an awful lot of people in the "I never liked that pick", but at the time it seems to me pretty much everyone was pretty excited when he started slipping to us, passing Cleveland at 15th and so on.

 

The guy most were questioning was Heckathorn as he was a guy who's results did not match his impressive stuff and who didn't face great competition and most had him pegged for the BP.

 

 

I'm certainly not implying that you weren't really in the camp that DIDN'T like Arnett last year DHonks, I'm just saying that camp seems to be exponentially bigger than last year.

 

 

 

Clearly we're in panic mode with him. I would almost rather hear that he's got some sort of elbow/shoulder malady that's causing his lack of control and velocity.

 

 

Maybe though it's just the mechanics...which again, is funny because I was just reading a BA pre-draft scouting report about him from last year in which scouts talk about how he had perfect mechanics, and now all year hear about is how god awful they are.

 

 

This just cements my position that I would take a HS prep pitcher every single year. Give me Dylan Covey who's dropping a bit for whatever reason, but has a curve that could be among the best in baseball and a fastball that already sits in the low to mid 90's and could even add a couple ticks.

 

Give me Jeremy Jeffress, Mark Rogers, Yovani Gallardo, Nick Neugebauer, whoever it may be, guys that if they make it, they're going to be stars even if most won't.

 

Take the big physical pitchers who struggled a bit, who may profile better going from metal to wood in the 2nd and 3rd rounds, ie, Morris from Michigan and Nelson from 'Bama after the 1st, but go for the HUGE risk, HUGE reward early.

 

 

Still, no problem with the Arnett pick based on the info available at the time.