TooLiveBrew

Can't risk losing him, where would you find talent to replace that?

Big first inning propels 'Tees past Tampa Brevard tops Yanks 6-2, now two games back of first By Frank Longobardo / Brevard County Manatees http://www.milb.com/images/2012/08/11/XuTVKmw8.jpg Brevard County starting pitcher Matt Miller was victorious in his Manatees debut as he allowed two runs in five innings in the 'Tees 6-2 win over the Tampa Yankees on Saturday night at Space Coast Stadium. (Dennis Greenblatt/Hawk-Eye Sports Photography) VIERA, Fla. - For the second consecutive night, the Brevard County Manatees had a big first inning and never looked back as they defeated the Tampa Yankees, 6-2 on Saturday night at Space Coast Stadium. The win over Tampa, coupled with a Lakeland loss, puts the Manatees in second place and two games behind the first place Yankees. Trailing 1-0 heading into the bottom of the first, Reggie Keen started off the inning by drawing a walk. Nick Shaw then singled and the bases would be loaded after Jason Rogers walked. A single to left off the bat of Mike Walker would score Keen and Shaw as the 'Tees (27-22 second half, 56-61 overall) took a 2-1 lead. Two batters later, Cody Hawn would walk to load the bases again. Parker Berberet then cleared them with a three-run double to right to give Brevard a 5-1 lead. Tampa (29-20, 59-57) would score one run again in the top of the second but that was all they would get off of Manatees starting pitcher Matt Miller (1-0, 3.60) and Brevard the rest of the way. In his 'Tees debut, Miller allowed two runs on six hits in five innings of work, while walking one and striking out two. Eric Arnett threw four perfect innings in relief of Miller and struck out four, for the rare four-inning save. The Manatees added an insurance run in the sixth on a RBI single from Walker. Both Walker and Berberet had two hits and three RBI each. Shaw, Rogers and John Dishon each had two hits as well. Brevard County will go for the three-game sweep of the first place Yankees as the two teams close out the series on Sunday at 5:05 p.m. Taylor Jungmann (9-6, 3.69) will take the hill for the 'Tees as he is in search of his tenth win of the season. In three starts against Tampa this season, Jungmann is 1-1 with a 1.74 ERA. The Yanks will send southpaw Nik Turley (8-3, 2.69) to the mound. Turley is 1-0 with a 1.96 ERA in four starts against Brevard in 2012. Brevard County Box Keen: 1-4, BB Shaw: 2-3, 2 BB Rogers: 2-4, BB, CS Walker: 2-4, 3 RBI Shea Vucinich: 1-3, BB Hawn: 0-4, BB Berberet: 1-3, 2B, BB, 3 RBI Dishon: 2-4 Franklin Romero, Jr: 1-4 Miller: 5 IP, 6 H, 2 R/ER, 1 BB, 2 K, HBP, 5:5 GO:AO Arnett: 4 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 5:3 GO:AO Brevard County PbP Nothing like batting through the order in your very first ups: Brevard County Bottom of the 1st -Reggie Keen walks. -Nick Shaw singles on a bunt ground ball to third baseman Zach Wilson. Reggie Keen to 2nd. -Jason Rogers walks. Reggie Keen to 3rd. Nick Shaw to 2nd. -Mike Walker singles on a ground ball to left fielder Ramon Flores. Reggie Keen scores. Nick Shaw scores. Jason Rogers to 2nd. -Shea Vucinich pops out to first baseman Tyler Austin in foul territory. -Cody Hawn walks. Jason Rogers to 3rd. Mike Walker to 2nd. -Parker Berberet doubles (7) on a fly ball to right fielder Kelvin De Leon. Jason Rogers scores. Mike Walker scores. Cody Hawn scores. -John Dishon flies out to right fielder Kelvin De Leon. -Franklin Romero Jr. strikes out swinging. The home 6th might have seen more damage than just one run, but thankfully Arnett stepped up & made it not matter: Brevard County Bottom of the 6th -Reggie Keen bunt grounds out, pitcher Jeremy Bleich to first baseman Tyler Austin. -Nick Shaw singles on a line drive to left fielder Ramon Flores. -Jason Rogers singles on a line drive to left fielder Ramon Flores. Nick Shaw to 3rd. -Mike Walker singles on a line drive to center fielder Slade Heathcott. Nick Shaw scores. Jason Rogers to 2nd. -With Shea Vucinich batting, Jason Rogers caught stealing 3rd base, catcher Kyle Higashioka to third baseman Zach Wilson, Mike Walker to 2nd on the throw. -With Shea Vucinich batting, wild pitch by Jeremy Bleich, Mike Walker to 3rd. -Shea Vucinich walks. -Cody Hawn strikes out swinging.

@Tennessee 2, Huntsville 0 Huntsville Box Not a whole lot to talk about from this one. Only four Stars batters registered hits -- one of them being starter Evan Anundsen (1-2, 2B) -- but interestingly enough, the other three guys tallied two apiece. Scooter Gennett (2-4) extended his hitting streak... and a multi-hit/gm. hitting streak at that... to seven games. Andy Gonzalez (2-4) and Brock Kjeldgaard (2-3) also singled twice. The only XBH Huntsville got was Anundsen's 2B. Smokies starter Dae-Eun Rhee (6 IP, 6 H, 0 BB, 3 K) combined with RPs Tony Zych and Bryan Schlitter to shut out the Stars tonight. In fact, they didn't allow any baserunners beyond Huntsville's 7 total hits. The Stars were retired in order from the 5th inning on. Ouch. Anundsen held his own in this pitchers' duel: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 5:3 GO:AO, 64 TP (46 strikes). He also maximized his effectiveness on a pretty limited pitch count, due to him having pitched in relief on both 8/7 and 8/8. Getting through 5 innings on just 64 pitches is no small feat, but throwing strikes 72% of the time certainly doesn't hurt. Dan Meadows took over, and allowed single runs in both the 6th & 7th. Kyle Heckathorn came on and worked a very clean K--groundout--K 9th, but Huntsville just never really got anything going on offense, aside from a pair of two-out 1Bs in the 1st, and Anundsen's 2B to lead off the 3rd. -Kentrail Davis had a rough night: he went 0-3 to end his 7-game hitting streak, and committed his second error of the season as well. Huntsville PbP The Stars were able to get Hunter Morris (0-4) up in the first with two men on & two outs, but he wasn't able to come up with the big hit to kick the night off right: Huntsville Top of the 1st -Josh Prince grounds out, shortstop Logan Watkins to first baseman Justin Bour. -Hainley Statia flies out to left fielder Jae-Hoon Ha. -Scooter Gennett singles on a ground ball to right fielder Michael Burgess. -Andy Gonzalez singles on a soft fly ball to center fielder Matthew Szczur. Scooter Gennett to 2nd. -Hunter Morris grounds out, first baseman Justin Bour to pitcher Dae-Eun Rhee. The closest Tennessee got to scoring on Anundsen was also in the 1st, but they opted to sac bunt with their #2 hitter after leadoff man Matt Szczur singled and advanced to second base on Davis's error. As Brewers fans can attest, small ball in the 1st inning always seems like poor strategy: Tennessee Bottom of the 1st -Matthew Szczur singles on a soft line drive to right fielder Kentrail Davis. Matthew Szczur advances to 2nd, on a fielding error by right fielder Kentrail Davis. -Logan Watkins out on a sacrifice bunt, pitcher Evan Anundsen to first baseman Hunter Morris. Matthew Szczur to 3rd. -Jae-Hoon Ha pops out to second baseman Scooter Gennett. -Justin Bour grounds out, second baseman Scooter Gennett to first baseman Hunter Morris. Neither side got much going until the 6th, and clearly the Smokies were glad to see Anundsen gone: Tennessee Bottom of the 6th -Pitching Change: Daniel Meadows replaces Evan Anundsen, batting 9th. -Offensive Substitution: Pinch-hitter Elliot Soto replaces Dae-Eun Rhee. -Elliot Soto singles on a ground ball to left fielder Brock Kjeldgaard. -Offensive Substitution: Pinch-runner Nicholas Struck replaces Elliot Soto. -Matthew Szczur walks. Nicholas Struck to 2nd. -Logan Watkins pops out to shortstop Hainley Statia on the infield fly rule. -Jae-Hoon Ha singles on a fly ball to left fielder Brock Kjeldgaard. Nicholas Struck scores. Matthew Szczur to 2nd. -Justin Bour flies out to center fielder Josh Prince. -Junior Lake grounds into a force out, shortstop Hainley Statia to second baseman Scooter Gennett. Jae-Hoon Ha out at 2nd. Their single run in the 7th came in slightly less agonizing fashion: Tennessee Bottom of the 7th -Matt Cerda doubles (10) on a fly ball to right fielder Kentrail Davis. -Michael Burgess strikes out swinging. -Michael Brenly singles on a fly ball to right fielder Kentrail Davis. Matt Cerda scores. -Tony Zych out on a sacrifice bunt, pitcher Daniel Meadows to first baseman Hunter Morris. Michael Brenly to 2nd. -Matthew Szczur flies out to left fielder Brock Kjeldgaard. Huntsville Gameday

I should add that at this point I'm expecting this to be a total group size of maybe 8-10 people. If more are interesting in stopping by, please post in here or PM me asap, so we'll know if we need to get more food/drink.

As of right now, the plan is for me to arrive at appx. 3pm, when the lots open. We'll just be in the general parking lot (Uecker/Yount), and my aim is to arrive early enough to get a parking spot in the first row or two so we're easy to find. We'll have an awning -- not sure what color yet, as I'm borrowing it -- and if anyone has any questions he/she can feel free to shoot me a PM.

Enemy game recap... some mistakes in this one Rally falls short in 4-2 loss Friday night Huntsville's two-run ninth too much for Tennessee to overcome By Dana Argo/Adam Kline / Tennessee Smokies http://www.milb.com/images/2012/08/11/UGfiRd3i.jpg Matt Szczur went 2-for-4 with a triple in Friday's loss to Huntsville. (Dana Argo) KODAK, Tenn. - The Tennessee Smokies had the game-winning run on base in the ninth inning, but were unable to score and fell to the Huntsville Stars Friday night, 4-3. The loss, in front of 4,927 at Smokies Park, drops the Smokies to 21-27 for the second half, 56-62 overall. Huntsville improves to 24-24, 59-59. Down 4-2 in the ninth inning, the Smokies made a big threat off Huntsville closer Brandon Kintzler. Logan Watkins led off the inning with a ground-rule double and Jae-Hoon Ha reached on an infield single. Justin Bour loaded the bases with no outs with a single to center. Junior Lake then popped out to shortstop and Matt Cerda scored Watkins on a fielder's choice that forced Bour out at second. With runners at the corners, Nelson Perez struck out to end the game and the Smokies' rally. Earlier in the game, Huntsville drew first blood off Tennessee starter Eric Jokisch in the third when Scooter Gennett singled home [grounded into a fielder's choice to score] Josh Stinson to give the Stars a 1-0 lead. Huntsville then extended their lead to 2-0 in the seventh when Brock Kjeldgaard scored from second on a throwing error by Matt Szczur. Huntsville starter Josh Stinson faced the minimum batters allowed until the seventh inning. Szczur led off the inning with a triple and scored on a Watkins single to cut the Smokies' deficit to 2-1. The Smokies tied the game at two in the eighth inning off reliever Darren Byrd. Nelson Perez hit a one double and would score three batters later on a Szczur single. With the game tied in the ninth, Smokies reliever Kevin Rhoderick (2-6) gave up a one-out home run to Kjeldgaard then three consecutive singes to give the Stars a 4-2 advantage. Jokisch, who did not factor in the decision, scattered five hits over his six innings of work allowing one run while striking out six. Byrd (3-5) picked up the win for the Stars and Kintzler collected his ninth save of the season. The Smokies will look to even the five-game series with the Stars on Saturday at 6:15 p.m. at Smokies Park. RHP Dae-Eun Rhee (7-6, 5.24) will start for the Smokies and Huntsville will counter with RHP Evan Anundsen (5-7, 4.88).

Huntsville 4, @Tennessee 3 Huntsville Box This one was just a good, old-fashioned ballgame. Not old-timey, like a ball game, but old-fashioned nonetheless. It was a pitchers' duel through six innings, with the Stars up 1-0 thanks to some small ball in the 3rd. The Stars & Smokies wound up combining for 6 runs in the final three frames, and this one got pretty crazy. In the 7th, the Stars got back-to-back one-out BBs from Brock Kjeldgaard (1-3, HR, BB, RBI, CS, PO) & Kentrail Davis (1-3, BB, OF assist). Adam Weisenburger (1-4) then flied out to RF, and on the play Smokies RF Matt Szczur was charged a throwing error, with Kjeldgaard coming in to score & Davis advancing to second. No idea if the throw went to third or second, but either way some aggressive baserunning appears to have paid off for Huntsville, and the extended their lead to 2-0. Szczur almost immediately atoned for his mistake, leading off the 7th with a triple. Sounds starter Josh Stinson had allowed just one hit to that point, a single in the 3rd. He got a groundball double play right after allowing the hit, and had faced the minimum through six innings. The next Tennessee batter, Logan Watkins, singled Szczur home to cut the deficit to one run. However, Sintson bounced back and went K--pop out--K to end the inning and put an exclamation point on his outing. His final line: 7 IP, 3 H, 1 R/ER, 0 BB, 6 K, 9:2 GO:AO, 80 TP (51 strikes) After Huntsville was held scoreless in their half of the 7th, Darren Byrd took over in the 8th. He surrendered a one-out 2B, and then with two outs, a BB and a RBI 1B to Szczur. In a bit of irony, aggressive baserunning by Szczur led to him getting thrown out at second base by Davis to end the inning. Had Szczur been content with first base, Watkins would've come up with two runners on... Watkins doubled to lead off the home half of the 9th. So the game was tied 2-2 entering the 9th, and with one out, Kjeldgaard knocked a 1-1 pitch out to centerfield to put the Stars up 3-2. Davis & Weisenburger followed with back-to-back good-luck singles (Davis's of the IF hit variety, Weisenburger's of the bloop variety). Davis took third base on Weisenburger's 1B, but Weisenburger was thrown out by Tennessee 3B Matt Cerda trying to take second base. -- [Fun fact: CF Jae-Hoon Ha gets credit for an OF assist on that play. The more you know...] -- The charmed-life 1Bs continued for the Stars as the next batter, PH T.J. Mittelstaedt singled on another bloop to centerfield, scoring Davis. Mittelstaedt then stole second base, Josh Prince (0-3, BB) drew a BB, but the inning ended on a Hainley Statia (2-4, BB) groundout and with Huntsville ahead 4-2. Brandon Kintzler came on for the 9th, and as I mentioned earlier, surrendered a leadoff 2B. Then the Smokies had their turn with good-luck 1Bs -- an IF 1B by Ha, and a bloop 1B by first baseman Justin Bour. No runs came in, but with the bases loaded and no outs, . Kintzler induced a lineout to shortstop to get the first out of the inning. He then got Cerda to hit a groundball to Hunter Morris (0-4), who attempted to start a game-ending double play. The Stars got the force out at second, but weren't able to double up Cerda, & Watkins came in to score. With runners on the corners, two outs, and a tenuous 4-3 lead, Kintzler struck out Nelson Perez swinging to secure the game for Huntsville. Phew! -Scooter Gennett went 2-4 with one RBI, and extended streak of multi-hit games to six. He's 13-25 (.520) on the streak. Really nice to see Scooter surging -- with this hot stretch, he's already taken his second half OPS from sub-.600 to .660 after tonight's game. Keep hitting, Scooter! -Davis extended his own hitting streak to seven games, and just like last night, waited until his final PA in the 9th inning to do so! He's 9-24 (.375) to this point on the streak. Keep hitting, Kentrail! Huntsville PbP The aforementioned Huntsville 3rd: Huntsville Top of the 3rd -Josh Stinson singles on a ground ball to left fielder Nelson Perez. -Josh Prince hit by pitch. Josh Stinson to 2nd. -Hainley Statia singles on a bunt ground ball to catcher Michael Brenly. Josh Stinson to 3rd. Josh Prince to 2nd. -Scooter Gennett grounds into a force out, fielded by shortstop Junior Lake. Josh Stinson scores. Josh Prince out at 3rd. Hainley Statia to 2nd. Scooter Gennett to 1st. -Andy Gonzalez grounds into a double play, pitcher Eric Jokisch to second baseman Logan Watkins to first baseman Justin Bour. Scooter Gennett out at 2nd. A missed opportunity in the 8th probably felt pretty agonizing at the time, and even moreso after Tennessee tied things up in the home half: Huntsville Top of the 8th -Josh Prince flies out to right fielder Matthew Szczur. -Hainley Statia walks. -Scooter Gennett singles on a bunt ground ball to third baseman Matt Cerda. Hainley Statia to 2nd. -Andy Gonzalez grounds into a double play, shortstop Junior Lake to second baseman Logan Watkins to first baseman Justin Bour. Scooter Gennett out at 2nd. Huntsville Gameday

Brevard holds on to beat Tampa 'Tees win 8-6, now three games back of first-place Yanks By Frank Longobardo / Brevard County Manatees http://www.milb.com/images/2012/08/11/tn9XOBa8.jpg Manatees starting pitcher Nick Bucci threw five scoreless innings and struck out six as Brevard County defeated the Tampa Yankees, 8-6 on Friday night at Space Coast Stadium. (Dennis Greenblatt/Hawk-Eye Sports Photography) VIERA, Fla. - The Brevard County Manatees jumped out to a 6-0 lead and survived a rally from the Tampa Yankees to take the first game of a three-game set, 8-6 on Friday night at Space Coast Stadium. The 'Tees (26-22 second half, 55-61 overall) jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning and chased Tampa's starting pitcher Jose A. Ramirez, without even recording a hit. Nick Shaw drew a one-out walk and then Jason Rogers reached on an error by second baseman Jose Toussen, as Shaw reached third. Rogers then stole second and then Mike Walker walked to load the bases. Shea Vucinich plated the first run of the game on a sacrifice fly that scored Shaw and moved Rogers and Walker up 90 feet each. The bases would be loaded for Brevard once again after Cody Hawn drew a walk. Joey Paciorek then reached on an error by third baseman Zach Wilson that allowed two runs to score and gave Brevard a 3-0 lead. Ramirez was then lifted from the game and the inning finally ended with John Dishon flying out against the new pitcher Aaron Dott. Brevard scored two more in the second thanks to a two-out, two-run homer by Jason Rogers, his fifth of the season. The 'Tees would score once again in the bottom of the fourth on a RBI ground out from Shaw. The six-run lead was plenty for Manatees starting pitcher Nick Bucci (1-0, 0.00) to work with as he threw five scoreless frames, while striking out six. Tampa (29-19, 59-56) did not go down without a fight however as they plated four unearned runs against southpaw Thomas Keeling in the seventh inning. Keeling walked one, hit two batters and gave up a three-run double to Gary Sanchez. The inning would have ended with Tyler Austin at the plate, but an error by Walker extended the inning and led to the unearned runs. The 'Tees would get one run back in the bottom of the seventh on a RBI single from Hawn to take a 7-4 lead, but the Yanks made it a one-run game in the eighth thanks to RBI singles from Slade Heathcott and Kyle Roller off of Greg Holle. Brevard County plated an insurance run in the eighth on a sacrifice fly from Walker and Alan Williams came on in the ninth and pitched around a lead-off single for the save as the 'Tees moved to within three games of first place Tampa. Matt Miller will make his Brevard County debut as the 'Tees take on Tampa on Saturday night at 6:35 p.m. Miller was 10-7 with a 3.68 ERA in 22 starts with Class-A Wisconsin this season. The Yankees will counter with Shane Greene (4-3, 4.24). Brevard County Box So, Nick Bucci, umm, I know you had a long layoff & road to recovery, so if you don't pitch well right away we won't worry. [cue Bucci laughing maniacally] Seriously, this dude hasn't missed a beat. In his second start with BC in 2012, and coincidentally... second start against Tampa, Bucci was excellent: 5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K, 2:5 GO:AO. Nick walked one batter in each of his first two innings, but didn't allow a hit until two outs in the 4th. I assume he must've been tiring towards the end of his outing, but the game recap doesn't include a pitch count so that's purely my speculation. Back to Bucci -- in his two starts with BC, his cumulative line is 9 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 12 K. I guess the one thing to point to as not being incredible & awesome is a 0.45 GO:AO ratio thus far, but he does appear to be a bit of a flyball pitcher (at least, statistically). Adding in his four starts with the AZL Brewers, his season ERA is 0.90. Zero. Point nine-zero. Keen: 2-4, 2B, BB, SB (38) Shaw: 0-2, 2 BB, RBI Rogers: 1-3, HR, 2 BB, 2 RBI Walker: 1-3, 2B, BB, RBI Vucinich: 0-2, BB, RBI Hawn: 1-3, BB, RBI Paciorek: 0-3, BB Dishon: 1-4, 3B Franklin Romero, Jr: 2-4 Brevard County PbP Lots of chaos in this game log -- this was a wild one. Frank Longobardo's (standard) excellent recap covered basically everything, but here's one inning that the 'Tees might have worried would come back to haunt them: Brevard County Bottom of the 6th -John Dishon triples (2) on a fly ball to left fielder Kelvin Duran. -Franklin Romero Jr. strikes out swinging. -Reggie Keen strikes out swinging. -Nick Shaw walks. -Jason Rogers strikes out swinging.

RR just mentioned that 'Ax had some good stats against those guys', so he's using like 15-or 20-PA samples to make big decisions. I wish I could say I was surprised.

Hah! I miss Ben Sheets: Awesome Interview almost as much as I do Ben Sheets: Pitcher.

Wow, at first I was honestly surprised by how excited the Astros were for this pretty meaningless win. But then I remembered they're the 2012 Astros.

They quoted him on the broadcast, something about 'These guys were good last year & did so much for this franchise... they deserve the opportunity'

Lead entering the 9th... Aaaaaaand it's gone

Technically he is in line. *Typing this as Que-Rod gives up a leadoff homer to Corporan. Well, yeah... I realized that

Craig Coshun just seriously said Rogers is "in line to win his first MLB game" with K-Rod coming on in relief.

Indeed, sir.

"You did ster-oids!" [clap clap clap-clap-clap] Keep it classy, Houston. Probably guys wearing Clemens jerseys.

I get the bunt strategically, but I feel like it was just 'wrong', in the fan sense. Like if we were the Cardinals there'd be an investigation after the game to restore the integrity of the game! I dunno, just bugged me.

Yeah - I let out a few expletives over here. Wouldn't surprised to see that guy saying hello to an inside heater sometime in this series. Now it's a moot point because of the next batter. And I'm actually, strangely, happy that that happened. I get that it was a 2-0 game & all, but come on.

Your first baseman bunting to break up a no-hitter? Come on.

That fastball from Rogers to end the 3rd inning was pure filth. This guy has a top of the rotation arm, no doubt about it. I don't mean I'm guaranteeing that's where he'll wind up, but dang -- dat arm!

Would the Magic have been better off just taking Bynum in return?

We've all been sharpening our pitchforks... just in case. Has anyone coordinated who'd bring the torches yet?

Yeah, I could see Khrush, since he doesn't play the same position as the only other RHB OF on the roster. I realize Hart can play RF, but at this point I don't see him getting moved off 1B aside from double-switches/late-game substitutions. Plus, Kh Davis would be a decent option as a RH PH.

... and then later, HE DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO WIN!