TooLiveBrew

Scoreless through 4 innings in Nashville. Hiram Burgos pitched around a leadoff triple in the 1st, & has induced a couple of double plays already.

All division prospect reports are contained within the Link Report. And since TheCrew07 won't say it about himself, I will. He does an absolutely stellar job reporting on prospects around the league, and especially within the NL Central.

Please tell me "Intentional Talk" would be going, too

Man, MLB is looking sooooo bad in all of this. I have to imagine it won't be much longer before they realize that & give up.

I tried to stay very grounded wrt my hopes on Arcia. But I agree, it's really cool to see that he's starting to get mentioned in ways that mesh with the great DSL performance he turned in as a 16-yo.

I think you describe it pretty well, J5. I think I tend to lean #1, even though I try to do my best to stay true to #3.

Smells like an answer someone cooked up to feed to the public in order to cut costs by not ordering lids anymore.

That's awesome! Wasn't aware of it until I saw your post. Thanks for the heads up. Same here. Pretty cool addition from MiLB.

Morris Powers Sounds To Win In Season Opener Slugger Homers, Drives In Four In 5-4 Victory Nashville Sounds http://i.imgur.com/Fu8gMku.jpg Hunter Morris (credit: Nashville Sounds) NASHVILLE, Tenn. - First baseman Hunter Morris enjoyed a solid Triple-A debut on a rainy Thursday evening at Greer Stadium, homering and driving in four runs to power the Nashville Sounds to a 5-4 victory over the New Orleans Zephyrs in their season opener. Morris -- the 2012 Southern League Most Valuable Player who finished second in the minors in RBIs a year ago-- started this season seemingly where he left off, going 2-for-4 with a double and homer to go along with his four RBIs. The Sounds were able to win their season debut despite being out-hit by the Zephyrs, 7-4, in the game. Six of the 11 hits in the contest went for extra bases. Right-hander Tyler Thornburg, the Brewers' #2 prospect, turned in a strong first outing of the season, striking out seven batters while allowing one run on three hits over five innings of action. He retired his final seven batters faced and departed with a 2-1 lead but took a no-decision after the Zephyrs rallied against the Sounds' bullpen. New Orleans starter Tom Koehler matched Thornburg's solid effort, allowing only one hit (a two-run Morris double) in his five innings of work and also struck out seven batters while walking a pair. He allowed two runs (one earned) and took a no-decision. Thornburg got off to a strong start by accomplishing a rare feat -- striking out four batters in the first inning. The game's leadoff hitter, Kevin Mattison, reached on a wild pitch on strike three, then the 24-year-old hurler proceeded to fan the next three Z's hitters in succession. Morris delivered a two-run double in his first Triple-A at-bat in the bottom of the first inning to stake the Sounds to a 2-0 lead. Nashville leadoff hitter Josh Prince led off the Sounds' first by drawing a walk from Koehler and moved to second when Scooter Gennett reached on a catcher's interference call before both runners came plateward on Morris' two-bagger. New Orleans halved the Nashville lead to 2-1 in the third when Matt Downs led off with a double to left off Thornburg and later scored on Mattison's one-out RBI single to left. The Z's tied the game with an unearned run against reliever Donovan Hand in the top of the sixth inning. Ed Lucas greeted Hand with a double to left, moved to third on a passed ball charged to Nashville catcher Blake Lalli, and knotted the contest at 2-2 when he raced home on a Ben Lasater groundout to short. Morris wasted no time putting the Sounds back in front, drilling a massive two-run homer to right off Z's reliever Dan Jennings in the home half of the sixth. Gennett, who preceded Morris with a single, also scored on the slugger's first Triple-A roundtripper, which provided Nashville a 4-2 lead. Hand (1-0) was the beneficiary of Morris' blast, picking up the win after allowing one unearned run on two hits in 1 2/3 frames of work. The Sounds tacked on an insurance run in the seventh against Jennings when Josh Prince delivered a well-placed opposite-field, two-out single through the right side of the infield to plate Stephen Parker, who had opened the frame by reaching on an error. Jennings (0-1) was saddled with the loss for the Zephyrs after surrendering three runs in his 1 2/3 innings of relief work. New Orleans threatened late, pulling within a run at 5-4 with an unearned run off Jesus Sanchez in the eighth and another run off Rob Wooten in the ninth. In the ninth, the Z's had a pair of runners in scoring position against Wooten after Koyie Hill singled and Downs walked before ex-Sound Jordan Brown laid down a sacrifice bunt. Mattison plated Hill with a groundout to short before Wooten brought a close to the contest by inducing a game-ending flyout from Lucas to secure his first save of the year. The Sounds and Z's will play game two of their four-game series at 7:05 p.m. on Friday night at Greer Stadium. Right-hander Hiram Burgos, the Brewers' 2012 minor league pitcher of the year, will get the nod for Nashville opposite southpaw Brad Hand for New Orleans. Nashville Box CF Josh Prince: 1-3, RBI, BB 2B Scooter Gennett: 1-3 1B Hunter Morris: 2-4, 2B, HR, 4 RBI LF Sean Halton: 0-4 RF Caleb Gindl: 0-4 3B Stephen Parker: 0-3, 2 E (both fielding) C Blake Lalli: 0-1, BB, SAC, PB SS Blake Davis: 0-2, BB SP Tyler Thornburg: 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R/ER, 1 BB, 7 K, WP (70 TP, 47 strikes) RP Donovan Hand: 1.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R/0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K RP Travis Webb: 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K RP Jesus Sanchez: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R/0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K RP Rob Wooten: 1 IP, 1H, 1 R/ER, 1 BB, 0 K, WP Nashville PbP Hunter Morris kicked the season off right for the Sounds: Nashville Bottom of the 1st -Josh Prince walks. -Scooter Gennett reaches on catcher interference by Koyie Hill. Josh Prince to 2nd. Scooter Gennett to 1st. -Hunter Morris doubles (1) on a fly ball to right fielder Bryan Petersen. Josh Prince scores. Scooter Gennett scores. -Sean Halton strikes out swinging. -Caleb Gindl strikes out swinging. -Stephen Parker called out on strikes. Thornburg was able to pitch around a little drama in the 1st, and the Zephyrs plated the only run they could muster off of Tyler in the 3rd: New Orleans Top of the 3rd -Matt Downs doubles (1) on a line drive to left fielder Sean Halton. -Tom Koehler out on a sacrifice bunt, pitcher Tyler Thornburg to first baseman Hunter Morris. Matt Downs to 3rd. -Kevin Mattison singles on a fly ball to left fielder Sean Halton. Matt Downs scores. -With Ed Lucas batting, Kevin Mattison caught stealing 2nd base, pitcher Tyler Thornburg to second baseman Scooter Gennett. -Ed Lucas doubles (1) on a line drive to left fielder Sean Halton. -Bryan Petersen walks. -Ben Lasater strikes out swinging. After New Orleans put an unearned run on Hand to tie the game at 2-2 in the top half of the 6th, Nashville answered back with a 'bloop & a blast,' courtesy of Gennett & Morris: Nashville Bottom of the 6th -Pitching Change: Dan Jennings replaces Tom Koehler, batting 6th, replacing left fielder Matt Diaz. -Defensive Substitution: Jordan Brown replaces pitcher Tom Koehler, batting 9th, playing left field. -Josh Prince grounds out, third baseman Matt Downs to first baseman Ben Lasater. -Scooter Gennett singles on a ground ball to right fielder Bryan Petersen. -Hunter Morris homers (1) on a fly ball to right field. Scooter Gennett scores. -Sean Halton flies out to right fielder Bryan Petersen. -Caleb Gindl grounds out, third baseman Matt Downs to first baseman Ben Lasater. Nashville Gameday

Jeff Hem's response on whether or not Thornburg was held to a conservative pitch count: Sounds like Rams's guess of 70 -> 85 -> 100 is what we should be looking for, heading forward.

Oh -- didn't mean that as a dig at you at all. Just that I couldn't believe that he was removed when he was. This has to be TT not being stretched out. I can't rationalize it any other way. Odd.

He was actually pinch-hit for in the 5th. With two outs. And no one on base. Even if Thornburg wasn't fully stretched out... 70 pitches? I have to assume he was prepared to go at least another inning. You nailed it -- he needs to work on maintaining his stuff deep into games if he's to translate as a SP in the bigs. I'll just leave it by saying that, if the Brewers had a 75-ish pitch limit on him after having all of ST to build up his arm, I'm a little disappointed.

Was pinch hit for in the 6th. I didn't like it either. That's a pretty ugly managerial decision. Managing for wins & losses in the minors with the best pitching prospect you have on your roster out there just dealing? Indefensible for me.

You nailed it with that last part, and I couldn't agree more with you that the labels/'roles' just suck. I think it's due to equal parts that managers can remove some decision-making from the equation with labels, and that (due to part A) players have grown to expect those labels to be issued. In reality, the first organization willing to commit to playing matchups & deviate from set roles with its bullpen is going to reap some sweet rewards imo. I also agree with nate82 on Figaro. He's looked filthy so far.

Hunter Morris with a strong Nashville debut so far: 2-4, 2B, HR, 4 RBI. Really confused as to why Thornburg was lifted from the game after just 70 pitches (esp. since he was dominant).

If it helps, you can still hate them both.Pure wisdom.

Dang. Something's in my eye now. R.I.P. Mr. Ebert. I'm glad I had the chance to attend a book signing of his at the University Bookstore in Madison a few years back. I knew very little about him prior to that signing, and was blown away. He was so engaging, down to earth, and just plain approachable. He answered questions & had a great discussion with the audience for a long time before the actual signing began. From that day on, I've admired him. Sorry to see him go.

As an aside, Palladia is one helluva channel. I love turning that on as background for chores, etc., too.

I think each of the three batters behind him are better hitters at this point. So, any one of them for me.

González. Batting 5th. Ladies and gentlemen, your manager Ron Roenicke.

Per Susan Slusser, & via BrewCrewBall, the A's have DFA'd Josh Stinson

13-13

"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart."

Front Row Andy fanning himself in relief after that foul-tip came straight back from Rutledge... good stuff

Well, they were good yesterday, Kintzler was great, and it's not like the guys have gotten rocked this inning. Yeah, this is not on the pitchers. This is on the Rockies having about the luckiest inning you could conceive.