TooLiveBrew

Sounds Fall To RedHawks, 5-3 Nashville's Gindl Powers Offense; Finishes A Triple Shy Of Cycle Nashville Sounds http://i.imgur.com/UMvPlap.jpg Caleb Gindl (Mike Strasinger / Nashville Sounds) NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Despite rallying back from a three-run deficit, the Nashville Sounds came up short to the visiting Oklahoma City RedHawks Tuesday night at Greer Stadium by the score of 5-3. Trailing 3-0 early, the Sounds battled back to knot it up, scoring a run in the third, sixth and seventh innings. Leading the charge was Caleb Gindl, going three-for-five on the night, a triple shy of the cycle, and getting the Sounds on the board with a home run to right field in the third. The second Nashville run came in the sixth, as Sounds third baseman Stephen Parker knocked a two-out double to the left-field wall. The infielder was able to convert the extra-base knock into a run during the next play thanks to a throwing error from third baseman Jimmy Paredes. In the following frame, Gindl's two-out ground rule double to the left-field corner set the stage for the team's final run. Shortstop Blake Davis brought Gindl around to score with a line-drive single into right-center. But the 3-3 tie did not last long as the RedHawks answered with two runs of their own in the eighth. Starting his second inning of relief work, Jim Hoey allowed two singles to put runners on the corners, which ended his night. Chris Jakubauskas entered to preserve the tie, but proceeded to allow three consecutive hits to give Oklahoma City the final two-run advantage. The first run was charged to Hoey (0-1), who received the loss. After being shut out Monday by Sounds pitching, the RedHawks wasted no time before jumping on starting pitcher Tyler Thornburg for a pair of runs in the first inning. Centerfielder Robbie Grossman singled to right field and advanced to second on the first of Thornburg's three walks. Brandon Laird cleared the bases with a double to the right-field wall to give Oklahoma City the initial lead. The RedHawks tacked on another run in the second inning when left fielder Trevor Crowe hit a two-out single past first baseman Hunter Morris to score Che-Hsuan Lin from second, who singled to lead off the inning. Thornburg left the game as the pitcher of record, allowing three runs on five hits in five innings of work, but kept his record clean with the rally. The 24-year-old collected five strikeouts, before Travis Webb stepped to the hill for Nashville. Webb turned in a hitless inning of relief in his third appearance of the season. The Sounds will look to reclaim the series lead against the Oklahoma City RedHawks Wednesday at Greer Stadium in game three of the four-game set, beginning Monday night at 7:05 p.m. Starting on the hill for the Sounds will be RHP Hiram Burgos (0-0, 0.00) against the RedHawks RHP Jarred Cosart (0-0, 2.25). Nashville Box Gindl: 3-5, 2B, HR, RBI Davis: 1-3 Sean Halton: 2-4 Parker: 2-4, 2B Hainley Statia: 1-4 Anderson De La Rosa: 1-4, 1/1 CS Joey Paciorek: 1-4 31 of Thornburg's 81 pitches tonight came in the 1st inning (his high for an inning after that was 14). This was the 'rough early, but then settled in' type of performance that, had he not been on what looked to be an 80-85 pitch count limit, might have seen him bounce back from a rough 1st & give the team 6 or 7 solid innings. From the 3rd inning through the 5th he only allowed one baserunner, and appeared to really recover his command. In the same stretch, he notched five of his seven groundouts & three of his five strikeouts. Here's to hoping for better in his next outing, but not much to be concerned about in this one imo. [pre]Thornburg: 5 IP 5 H 3 R/ER 3 BB 5 K 81 TP (52 strikes) 7:1 GO:FO Webb: 1 IP 0 H 0 R/ER 0 BB 1 K Hoey: 1.1 IP 2 H 1 R/ER 0 BB 1 K Jakubauskus: 1.2 IP 3 H 1 R/ER 1 BB 1 K[/pre] Nashville PbP Here's the damaging top half of the 1st: Okla. City Top of the 1st -Robbie Grossman singles on a line drive to right fielder Cole Garner. -Jonathan Villar grounds out, shortstop Blake Davis to first baseman Hunter Morris. Robbie Grossman to 2nd. -Trevor Crowe walks. -Brandon Laird doubles (2) on a line drive to center fielder Caleb Gindl. Robbie Grossman scores. Trevor Crowe scores. -Jake Elmore walks. -Jimmy Paredes strikes out swinging. -Marc Krauss grounds out, shortstop Blake Davis to first baseman Hunter Morris. Gindl's solo HR: Nashville Bottom of the 3rd -Joey Paciorek pops out to second baseman Jake Elmore. -Caleb Gindl homers (1) on a fly ball to right field. -Blake Davis grounds out to first baseman Brandon Laird. -Hunter Morris flies out to center fielder Robbie Grossman. As noted, Thornburg bounced back. Do you like strikeouts? Well, the 4th inning is for you: Okla. City Top of the 4th -Marc Krauss called out on strikes. -Che-Hsuan Lin strikes out swinging. -Cody Clark called out on strikes. Maybe you're more into groundouts... don't worry, Tyler's got you covered, too: Okla. City Top of the 5th -Robbie Grossman grounds out, second baseman Hainley Statia to first baseman Hunter Morris. -Jonathan Villar grounds out to first baseman Hunter Morris. -Trevor Crowe grounds out, shortstop Blake Davis to first baseman Hunter Morris. After Nashville had rallied back to tie the game, the backbreaker came in the 8th. However, some nice defense actually limited the damage & kept the Sounds within striking distance: Okla. City Top of the 8th -Jonathan Villar singles on a ground ball to left fielder Sean Halton. -Trevor Crowe singles on a line drive to right fielder Cole Garner. Jonathan Villar to 3rd. Trevor Crowe out at 2nd, right fielder Cole Garner to shortstop Blake Davis. -Pitching Change: Chris Jakubauskas replaces Jim Hoey. -Brandon Laird doubles (3) on a ground ball to left fielder Sean Halton. Jonathan Villar scores. -Jake Elmore singles on a line drive to right fielder Cole Garner. Brandon Laird scores. -Jimmy Paredes singles on a line drive to center fielder Caleb Gindl. Jake Elmore to 3rd. -Marc Krauss grounds into a double play, first baseman Hunter Morris to catcher Anderson De La Rosa to third baseman Stephen Parker. Jake Elmore out at home. Nashville Gameday

Jeff Hem on Thornburg: Tyler just worked a 1-2-3 5th, on three groundball outs. Sitting at 81 pitches, so his night may be over (or very close to it). EDIT: Yep, that was it for Thornburg. Final line: 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R/ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 81 TP (52 strikes), 7:1 GO:FO. Bad first two innings, near-spotless final three.

You won't regret DVR'ing this one. I 'knew' Málaga had won it, too!

Looks like Scooter Gennett is getting a day off. The Sounds tweeted a pic of tonight's lineup. Statia making the start at 2B.

Cody Scarpetta tweeted today:

From the club's Twitter account --Sounds game notes

Per a Carrie Muskat tweet, the Cubs' lineup: David DeJesus CF Starlin Castro SS Anthony Rizzo 1B Alfonso Soriano LF Nate Schierholtz RF Welington Castillo C Luis Valbuena 3B Brent Lillibridge 2B Travis Wood P

Good to see Segura back in the lineup. I hope he's back to 100%. Peralta is one guy I genuinely get excited to tune in & watch pitch. Hoping he can keep his sinker down & just pound the zone tonight.

The finish to Borussia Dortmund-Málaga was unbelievable! I thought Málaga going up 2-1 was a spectacular finish. A bit bad that both late go-ahead goals should've been flagged for offside, but amazing finish nonetheless.

I'm aware of this. My initial response was to the assumption/notion that Brewers management didn't want to make any SP decisions until after ST had started. In this instance, that reluctance to be proactive about the SP depth wound up costing the org. a first round pick. As you hint at, the team should already have a very good idea coming in about what they have, especially in terms of depth. I feel it was obvious from day one of this offseason that the pitching staff needed at least one more arm in the mold of a Jackson/Lohse (or better). I don't fault anyone for disagreeing with that stance, but I'm not just playing 20/20 hindsight here.

I still find it interesting to check in & see how he's doing... figured others might as well. I didn't mean anything negative about him no longer being with the Brewers.

As is Jake Odorizzi

If this is 100% the case, then the Brewers have a massive problem in talent evaluation in the organization. There is absolutely no reason, beyond a case like Rogers's arm not being live, that a GM and manager should need Spring Training to evaluate the talent they have. They should have had a very solid idea coming into ST, and then used players' current form to help decide rotation order, etc. As it stands, with regards to the pitching, the only plan seems to have been to throw mid-level money at the bullpen & hope everything else worked out. Earlier in the offseason when Edwin Jackson was available without the cost of losing a first-round pick, there were many posters here who advocated signing him in the interest of adding stability & depth to a young & inexperienced rotation. Melvin played the 'you don't want to get burned in FA' card at the time, & stuck to his guns that the talent the Brewers had in-house was good enough to rely on for 2013... and then wound up guaranteeing over $30m to a pitcher through his age-36 season (along with losing a first round pick) because it was clear the rotation needed more depth & stability. If Melvin needed ST to show him that his front office's talent evaluation of the pitching staff was wrong, then that's yet another indicator that it's time for the Brewers to move on & make some changes in the front office. Isn't that really speculative? Here's an alternative scenario: Snipped your post just so the nested quotes weren't a massive wall of text. I think you laid out perfectly how the offseason went, with regards to the rotation. The point of contention for me is still the waffling on whether or not they wanted to bring in someone like a Jackson/Lohse. For me, factoring in dollars & ages of those two guys, the price difference is negligible since each guy presents different (yet overall equal imo) risks. There were just so many unknown elements about the potential rotation beyond basically Gallardo that it seemed to many people here to be a good idea early in the offseason to pursue Jackson. Added pitching depth is almost never a bad thing, and after Gallardo every single guy has his own very real question marks. The need for at least one more reliable arm was plainly evident heading into this past offseason, and the Brewers wound up losing a first round pick because they didn't appear (to me) to have a solid gameplan in this category. They just hoped what they already had would be enough & weren't proactive about it. If the idea was that the in-house SP talent was good enough, then like I said initially, I think there's a problem in the current front office's ability to evaluate pitching talent. It's not new or groundbreaking criticism to say that building a pitching staff is not one of Melvin's strengths, and I believe this past offseason is a solid testament to that.

If this is 100% the case, then the Brewers have a massive problem in talent evaluation in the organization. There is absolutely no reason, beyond a case like Rogers's arm not being live, that a GM and manager should need Spring Training to evaluate the talent they have. They should have had a very solid idea coming into ST, and then used players' current form to help decide rotation order, etc. As it stands, with regards to the pitching, the only plan seems to have been to throw mid-level money at the bullpen & hope everything else worked out. Earlier in the offseason when Edwin Jackson was available without the cost of losing a first-round pick, there were many posters here who advocated signing him in the interest of adding stability & depth to a young & inexperienced rotation. Melvin played the 'you don't want to get burned in FA' card at the time, & stuck to his guns that the talent the Brewers had in-house was good enough to rely on for 2013... and then wound up guaranteeing over $30m to a pitcher through his age-36 season (along with losing a first round pick) because it was clear the rotation needed more depth & stability. If Melvin needed ST to show him that his front office's talent evaluation of the pitching staff was wrong, then that's yet another indicator that it's time for the Brewers to move on & make some changes in the front office.

Or... Henderson will be the closer until teams are using him for BP as well

I agree on the "coverage" of the manager pressers. In general, compared to a lot of other MLB markets, the Brewers coverage we get is lacking.

Sounds Blank RedHawks In Series Opener, 1-0 De La Cruz Dominant In First Start Of Year For Nashville Nashville Sounds http://i.imgur.com/vNZkW2x.jpg Frankie De La Cruz (Mike Strasinger / Nashville Sounds) NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Right-hander Frankie De La Cruz was magnificent in his return to the Nashville Sounds, combining with a pair of relievers on a four-hit shutout of the Oklahoma City RedHawks in a 1-0 victory on Monday evening in the opener of a four-game series at Greer Stadium. The win was the second shutout among Nashville's first three victories this season. De La Cruz (1-0) faced one batter over the minimum through six innings of outstanding pitching. The veteran allowed only Trevor Crowe's first-inning single and struck out five batters in his six scoreless frames. Michael Olmsted worked one scoreless inning of relief before Rob Wooten closed out the contest with a pair of scoreless frames and thwarted a ninth-inning RedHawks rally to secure his second save of the year. The Sounds scored the game's only run in the bottom of the second inning on a well-executed hit-and-run by shortstop Blake Davis. After Sean Halton opened the frame by reaching on a fielding error by RedHawks third baseman Jimmy Paredes, the Sounds outfielder broke for second and drew the Oklahoma City shortstop towards second base, allowing Davis' ground ball to go right through the vacated spot into the left-center gap for an RBI double that plated the only run that Nashville would ultimately need. Oklahoma City had only three baserunners through the first eight innings before putting together a rally against Wooten in the ninth. With one out, Robbie Grossman and Jake Elmore blooped weakly-struck balls into the shallow outfield for back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners. The right-hander recovered to catch Trevor Crowe looking at a strike three curve ball for the second out before right fielder Cole Garner tracked down a Brandon Laird line drive at full gallop in the right-center gap to bring the game to a close. Nashville second baseman Scooter Gennett wasted little time extending his season-opening hitting streak, opening the bottom of the first inning with a single to up the streak to five. Caleb Gindl broke a season-opening 0-for-17 slump with a double in the sixth inning. Rudy Owens (0-1) took a hard-luck loss for the 'Hawks, allowing only one unearned run on three hits over five innings of action in his first start of the season. The teams continue the series with another 7:05 p.m. meeting on Tuesday evening. Right-hander Tyler Thornburg (0-0, 1.80) will make his second start of the year for the Sounds. Oklahoma City will counter with right-hander Ross Seaton, who will make his first appearance of the season. Nashville Box Gennett: 1-4 Gindl: 1-4, 2B Hunter Morris: 0-3, BB Halton: 1-3, BB Davis: 1-4, 2B, RBI Anderson De La Rosa: 1-3, 1/2 CS De La Cruz: 6 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, 85 TP (48 strikes), 6:4 GO:FO Olmsted: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K Wooten: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K Nashville PbP The game story already describes the lone run-scoring action in detail, so I won't post that. In the home half of the 6th, the Sounds were in prime position to tack onto that one-run margin, but couldn't cash in -- thankfully the pitching stepped up to the point where it wasn't relevant: Nashville Bottom of the 6th -Pitching Change: Jose Cisnero replaces Rudy Owens. -Caleb Gindl doubles (1) on a fly ball to left fielder Trevor Crowe. -Hunter Morris walks. -Sean Halton pops out to second baseman Jake Elmore on the infield fly rule. -Blake Davis grounds out, second baseman Jake Elmore to first baseman Brandon Laird. Caleb Gindl to 3rd. Hunter Morris to 2nd. -Cole Garner strikes out swinging. Olmsted's inning wasn't smooth sailing, and it's great to see that he battled through some adversity & came up clutch: Okla. City Top of the 7th -Pitching Change: Michael Olmsted replaces Frankie De La Cruz. -Jake Elmore doubles (1) on a line drive to right fielder Cole Garner. -Trevor Crowe grounds out, shortstop Blake Davis to first baseman Hunter Morris. -With Brandon Laird batting, Jake Elmore steals (1) 3rd base. -Brandon Laird strikes out swinging. -Jimmy Paredes grounds out to first baseman Hunter Morris. The game story captures the 9th inning better than the game log, so here's Wooten's 1-2-3 8th: Okla. City Top of the 8th Pitching Change: Robert Wooten replaces Michael Olmsted. Marc Krauss called out on strikes. Jonathan Villar grounds out, pitcher Robert Wooten to first baseman Hunter Morris. Che-Hsuan Lin pops out to first baseman Hunter Morris in foul territory. Nashville Gameday

Like when I used to climb the rope in gym class.

Morris. Overbay. Halton.

Rickie... for the love of... UGH

This game is a painful reminder that the Brewers could've signed Edwin Jackson earlier in the offseason and not lost their first round pick. Would much rather have Jackson on his deal than Lohse on his + losing that first rounder.

Sounds Fall to Zephyrs, 3-1 Nashville avoids shutout with run in the ninth inning Nashville Sounds http://i.imgur.com/ts8h9Dl.jpg Scooter Gennett (source: Nashville Sounds) NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Nashville Sounds connected for only five hits Sunday against the New Orleans Zephyrs, who leveled the opening series with the Sounds at two games apiece by defeating the home team, 3-1. The Sounds plated their only run in the game's final inning. Sounds left fielder Sean Halton led off in the frame with a double into the left-field corner, advanced to third on a groundout by Stephen Parker and scored on Cole Garner's groundout to third. That was the extent of any Sounds rally. Sounds second baseman Scooter Gennett extended his early-season hitting streak to four games with a leadoff single in his first at-bat on Sunday. Gennett leads the team with a .533 batting average through four games, and entered the day tied for fifth in the league at .545. He picked up his second hit in the eighth, for his third multi-hit game of 2013. The Zephyrs got on the board first in the second inning on a two-out single up the middle from Wilson Valdez, scoring left fielder Matt Diaz, who doubled earlier in the frame. New Orleans tacked on two additional runs in the fourth inning; the first a solo home run off the left-field light pole by shortstop Nick Green, and the next on an infield groundout by pitcher Mitch Talbot, scoring Matt Diaz from third. On the play Sounds shortstop Blake Davis made a great infield dive to get the out and prevent any additional runs. All three runs were charged to pitcher Zach Kroenke, who was charged with the loss in his Sounds debut. The southpaw allowed seven hits in three innings of work, with three strikeouts and no walks. Donovan Hand pitched three innings of relief, increasing his innings streak without allowing an earned run to 4.2 in 2013. He entered in the third with two inherited runners from Kroenke, both in scoring position, and allowed only one to score. He finished the day with three strikeouts, no walks, and three hits. He also kept a runner from reaching third in his final frame on a 1-6 put-out. Also getting work in the Sounds 'pen was Kyle Heckathorn and Jesus Sanchez, who combined to allow only one hit in three scoreless innings. Mitch Talbot gets the win for New Orleans, going five innings and allowing two hits. Reliever Chris Hatcher notched the save, his first. Offensively, Diaz and Koyie Hill led the team with three hits each. The Sounds will host the Oklahoma City RedHawks for a four-game series at Greer Stadium, beginning Monday night at 7:05 p.m. Starting on the hill for the Sounds will be RHP Frankie De La Cruz against the RedHawks LHP Rudy Owens. Nashville Box Nice to see Morris showing some good plate discipline in this one. He was also the only Sounds player to draw a walk, so it's not like the New Orleans pitchers were just wild. His first walk was earned through an eight-pitch PA, while the other two were of the four-pitch variety. Additionally, his single came on a 2-0 pitch. Morris commanded his strike zone really well today. If he's able to enhance that aspect of his game, suddenly he has a good shot at making a legit impact in the bigs. Gennett: 2-4 Caleb Gindl: 0-4, OF assist (see game log section) Hunter Morris: 1-1, 3 BB Halton: 1-4, 2B Blake Lalli: 1-3 Kroenke: 3 IP, 7 H, 3 R/ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 57 TP (37 strikes), 4:0 GO:FO Hand: 3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K Heckathorn: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K Sanchez: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K Nashville PbP Nashville had a chance to open the scoring in the 1st, but couldn't draw first blood: Nashville Bottom of the 1st -Scooter Gennett singles on a ground ball to right fielder Bryan Petersen. -Caleb Gindl flies out to center fielder Gorkys Hernandez. -Hunter Morris walks. Scooter Gennett to 2nd. -Sean Halton pops out to shortstop Nick Green on the infield fly rule. -Stephen Parker grounds out, second baseman Wilson Valdez to first baseman Ben Lasater. Similar story in the 8th... and although he wasn't given a CS, Morris was the final out on a baserunning mistake. Gameday shows one pitch to Sean Halton labeled "ball in dirt"... must've been a throw down to first to try to catch Gennett, followed by Morris getting caught too far away from second. I'll post the actual explanation if I hear it: Nashville Bottom of the 8th -Defensive Substitution: Kevin Mattison replaces left fielder Matt Diaz, batting 6th, playing left field. -Anderson De La Rosa grounds out, shortstop Nick Green to first baseman Ben Lasater. -Scooter Gennett singles on a ground ball to shortstop Nick Green. -Caleb Gindl strikes out swinging. -Hunter Morris walks. Scooter Gennett to 2nd. -Pitching Change: Jonathan Albaladejo replaces Zach Phillips, batting 9th. -Hunter Morris out at 2nd, catcher Koyie Hill to first baseman Ben Lasater to second baseman Wilson Valdez. Gindl showed off his arm to close the top half of the 9th & keep the deficit at three runs: New Orleans Top of the 9th -Koyie Hill hits a ground-rule double (2) on a line drive to right field. -Wilson Valdez grounds out, second baseman Scooter Gennett to first baseman Hunter Morris. Koyie Hill to 3rd. -Offensive Substitution: Pinch-hitter Matt Downs replaces Jonathan Albaladejo. -Matt Downs flies into a double play, center fielder Caleb Gindl to catcher Anderson De La Rosa. Koyie Hill out at home. And here's the lone run for the Sounds: Nashville Bottom of the 9th -Pitching Change: Chris Hatcher replaces Jonathan Albaladejo, batting 9th, replacing Matt Downs. -Sean Halton doubles (1) on a ground ball to left fielder Kevin Mattison. -Stephen Parker grounds out, second baseman Wilson Valdez to first baseman Ben Lasater. Sean Halton to 3rd. -Cole Garner grounds out, third baseman Ed Lucas to first baseman Ben Lasater. Sean Halton scores. -Blake Davis grounds out, shortstop Nick Green to first baseman Ben Lasater. Nashville Gameday

I always think throwing at a player is a stupid idea. And even though it probably still is, I want Parra to feel some pain from a Gallardo fastball.

I thought the umpires were considered part of the field, like a base bag.

My thoughts exactly. I can't believe Segura is staying in this game, wow. Him jogging away so quickly & callously shows his intent was to hurt Jean. What a piece of crap. I never say or think this, but I'd genuinely like to see Yo offer up a fastball right into his ribs.