TooLiveBrew

It sounds worse than it was -- Morgan tried to catch a foul pop in mid-shallow RF right at the fence along the 1B line. The ball was in the stands, and a Reds fan got his hands to the ball, right in front of Morgan's outstretched glove. Neither one made the catch, but the fan's hands were kind of caught up with Morgan's glove when they both reached for the ball, and Morgan gave him a frustrated but pretty gentle shove with said glove. And, since it's Nyjer, of course he had some words for the fan too. But nothing major, he just looked irritated.

Did the batter lose his grip on the bat during his backswing or something? Ouch.

Wasn't he at 99 pitches though? I thought his pc was at 96, but yeah around there -- not a whole lot of pitches, really. It's entirely possible that Roenicke just wanted to play for more runs & pulling Greinke was a tactical move, but with the way ZG has been pitching I'm just surprised RR would pull him with this situation today.

Tripleheader G1: Charlotte 5, @Brevard County 3 (8 innings) - Yesterday's game, resumed in the 5th inning BC Box Hat tip to Tedaldtada, who provided a half-game recap in yesterday's Link Report. The Stone Crabs scored a run on what looks like a squeeze play in the 6th, and got two more runs from a sac fly and then a triple in the 8th to seal the deal on this one -- was this one scheduled to be a 7-inning game, since it technically became part of a "double"header today? If so, this was essentially an extra-innings win for Charlotte. The delay/postponement of this game certainly reversed who the baseball gods favored in terms of pitching -- BC starter Taylor Jungmann had put together an effectively wild performance, especially considering that his fielders supported him with four errors in the first four innings! Charlotte's starter Enny Romero, on the other hand, had walked five batters and allowed three runs through his four innings of work. With the game restart came a reversal of the pitching fortunes, with Chris Andujar & Jim Patterson combining to shut out the Manatees in today's segment... while Greg Holle and Tom Keeling each allowed multiple hits, hit batters, and allowed Charlotte to score. All three 'Tees pitchers hit batters in this one, with Jungmann & Holle double-dipping. But hey, at least this one's over... now two more games to go today for the 'Tees. Go get 'em, fellas! Mike Walker led the way offensively, going 2-3 with all three RBI for Brevard County. T.J. Mittelstaedt (double, walk) and Shea Vucinich (single, walk) were the only other BC players with hits. Jason Rogers walked three times, including one IBB, and the big man even swiped second base in the 3rd. Leadoff man Reggie Keen walked once, was hit by a pitch, and stole second on his lone SB attempt in the game. BC PbP Here's the game-winning 8th inning for the Stone Crabs: Charlotte Top of the 8th -Pitcher Change: Thomas Keeling replaces Greg Holle. -Lucas Bailey singles on a line drive to left fielder Jason Rogers. -Christopher Murrill out on a sacrifice bunt, pitcher Thomas Keeling to first baseman Cody Hawn. Lucas Bailey to 2nd. -Robby Price hit by pitch. -With Robi Estrada batting, wild pitch by Thomas Keeling, Lucas Bailey to 3rd. Robby Price to 2nd. -Robi Estrada out on a sacrifice fly to left fielder Jason Rogers. Lucas Bailey scores. -Mikie Mahtook triples (5) on a line drive to center fielder Reggie Keen. Robby Price scores. -Derek Dietrich strikes out swinging.

Fwiw, BA just mentioned on the broadcast that Aaron (? Eric?) Collins will be Rock's p-b-p partner for the national Fox game this weekend.

I think I'd rather get the better player, so I'd lean Profar (curse you, cvollbrecht, for getting my hopes up that Profar is possible!)

Yes, and especially because he threw so few pitches in his previous outing.

Greinke getting pulled from today's game has piqued my curiosity. My first thought was definitely to wonder if he's been dealt.

That's actually a refreshingly neutral & well-done take on Braun's season & situation. Thanks for linking that, Myday.

@Huntsville 4, Mobile 2 Huntsville Box Huntsville got more good pitching today, and Hunter Morris drove in three of Huntsville's four runs to lead the way on offense. The only slip-up from starter Josh Sintson came in the 4th, but aside from that he piled up zeros: 6 IP, 5 H, 2 R/1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, WP, 11:3 GO:AO. Darren Byrd came on in relief of Stinson, and struck out three Mobile batters in the scoreless 7th. Mitch Stetter got the first two outs in the 8th, and Jesus Sanchez was brought in to close out the frame. Sanchez got a strikeout to end the 8th, one to start the 9th, and the final two outs via groundball. To say Sanchez has dominated this season would be a gross understatement -- 31 G, 44.1 IP, 1.22 ERA, 6 R/ER, 13 BB, 38 K, 2 HRA, 1:00 GO:AO, .196 BAA. The Venezuelan is in his age-24 season, and listed at 5'11", 202 lbs. Nashville, here he comes? Morris finished 2-4, with 1 1B, 1 HR, and 3 RBI. LF Lee Haydel went 3-3 with 1 BB, and 2 SB (2/2 success rate) out of the leadoff spot. SS Domnit Bolivar went 2-3 with 1 BB. RF Kentrail Davis and 3B Hainley Statia added a single each. CF Josh Prince was 0-1, but drew 2 BBs. In his last six games, Morris has gone 8-24 (.333) with 2 2B, 2 HR, and 8 RBI. Six of his RBI have come via back-to-back three-RBI games. Conveniently, his last six games currently constitute the entire second half so far -- and his second-half slash line sits at .333/.344/.667/1.027 after tonight's game. He wasn't exactly slacking in the season's first half (.814 OPS), and still leads the Southern League in doubles with 25; his 9 HR have him tied for 6th in the league. I think we'll be talking about Hunter Morris the Nashville Sounds player before too much longer. Huntsville PbP Here's that pesky top half of the 4th: Mobile Top of the 4th -Marc Krauss singles on a line drive to right fielder Kentrail Davis. -With David Nick batting, wild pitch by Josh Stinson, Marc Krauss to 2nd. -David Nick singles on a soft ground ball to third baseman Hainley Statia. Marc Krauss scores. David Nick to 2nd. Throwing error by third baseman Hainley Statia. -Yazy Arbelo grounds out, second baseman Scooter Gennett to first baseman Hunter Morris. David Nick to 3rd. -Daniel Kaczrowski reaches on fielding error by third baseman Hainley Statia. David Nick scores. -Rossmel Perez grounds into a force out, third baseman Hainley Statia to second baseman Scooter Gennett. Daniel Kaczrowski out at 2nd. Rossmel Perez to 1st. -Gaby Hernandez grounds into a force out, shortstop Domnit Bolivar to second baseman Scooter Gennett. Rossmel Perez out at 2nd. And since I already posted the Stars' 5th earlier in the L.R., here's their tack-on run in the 7th: Huntsville Bottom of the 7th -Pitcher Change: Bryan Woodall replaces Gaby Hernandez, batting 9th. -Lee Haydel singles on a ground ball to second baseman David Nick. -Josh Prince strikes out on foul bunt. -With Scooter Gennett batting, Lee Haydel steals (6) 2nd base. -Scooter Gennett strikes out swinging, catcher Rossmel Perez to first baseman Yazy Arbelo. -Hunter Morris singles on a line drive to right fielder Marc Krauss. Lee Haydel scores. Hunter Morris to 2nd on the throw. -Hainley Statia grounds out to first baseman Yazy Arbelo. Hunstville Gameday

I swear people on this board take everything a GM says as 100% gospel truth. It is rather funny seeing some on this board fret over things that are so trivial. Yeah, it's not like Melvin has made numerous trades that mesh precisely with the types of comments he made today. You know, I get people not liking that some fans don't appreciate the way Melvin operates, but it's gotten to the point now where if you *dare* question him, you get told you're overreacting & every GM does this or that. The reality is that Melvin has done nothing but prepare for 'this' season for the past 5 seasons, & has put the Brewers into the mess they're currently in. And yes, I'm sincerely concerned that he's going to get a mediocre return for Greinke. As I explicitly stated in another post, I don't assume he's going to, but don't tell me I'm some nut for being concerned. He doesn't have a strong track record in trades at all.

The Stars fell behind 2-0 after an ugly top of the 4th, but rallied back with a three-run 5th: Huntsville Bottom of the 5th -Lee Haydel singles on a line drive to center fielder Evan Frey. -Josh Prince walks. Lee Haydel to 2nd. -Scooter Gennett out on a sacrifice bunt, catcher Rossmel Perez to second baseman David Nick. Lee Haydel to 3rd. Josh Prince to 2nd. -With Hunter Morris batting, wild pitch by Gaby Hernandez, Lee Haydel scores. Josh Prince to 3rd. -Hunter Morris homers (9) on a fly ball to right field. Josh Prince scores. -Hainley Statia flies out to left fielder Daniel Kaczrowski. -Domnit Bolivar singles on a ground ball to center fielder Evan Frey. -With Kentrail Davis batting, Domnit Bolivar caught stealing 2nd base, catcher Rossmel Perez to shortstop Chris Owings. Great to see Hunter Morris keep rolling... and he even tacked on another RBI single in the 7th as I was typing this post! Stars now lead 4-2.

I know the discussion has been had ad nauseum regarding some of Melvin's trades, so I'll just say I agree to disagree that he's done a good job maximizing value during his time as Brewers GM. I don't believe definitively that he won't find good value for Greinke, but I am concerned based on his trading history & some of these comments.

Oh derp... sorry. Of course it wasn't a walkoff!

It is obvious in what Melvin is saying he is looking for something rather specific and won't talk to teams if they do not have that specific piece. This is called limiting your options. Melvin has done it many times before in trades, & he looks like he's going to do it again. Knowing Melvin, he'll only move Greinke for MLB-ready pitching. I just hope he is able to also find MLB-ready pitching that's good.

Or that Green is some great prospect being held back, his minor league numbers are very similar to Ishikawa's who people call terrible and not ML worthy. There's one simple factor that makes Green more valuable, and it's his ability to play 2B & 3B. Ishikawa's bat is bad for MLB because he's a 1B-only player; if Ish could play 2B & 3B this would be a different discussion.

I hate that Melvin is playing this game of 'we really are only one winning streak away from this race!' -- “We’ve got to make a decision on what we’re doing overall,” Melvin said. “We’re hoping we can put a good week together. If we don’t, we’ve got to be prepared to go both ways. A lot more clubs are starting to call now. Clubs are calling on different players.” And he's again going to be arbitrarily limiting the bidding field for Greinke (a la not contacting lots of teams about Lawrie)... If the Brewers choose to trade Greinke, Melvin said he would talk only to select clubs that he viewed as a potential match, rather than make him available to every team. Great. You never know what team might throw some ridiculous offer your way; why limit that field?

Yeah I agree ollie. What I'm trying to wrap my head around is how RMJ missed home plate! I wonder if it was a walkoff celebration/huddle/jumpin'-pile type of situation.

You weren't kidding.

I just did my ASG voting duty, and all I have to say is... Jed bleepin' Lowrie!? I had absolutely no idea. Wow.

I respect that you do want to keep Green, but I believe that at this point Green just needs to play in the bigs. Whether he's hitting .300 right now or .200, imo he has nothing left to prove at AAA. He needs to prove it at the big-league level, and when career journeymen are playing ahead of him it irritates me. Green needs to be facing MLB pitching & getting better -- which includes struggling like he is or has been doing. But this team is in no position imo to be worrying about the marginal upgrade that Ishikawa might be, if Green hits .200 all season. If Green starts to adapt to MLB pitching like many young players do, he'll be able to match or better what people would guess as high-end production for Ishikawa. I think if you keep Green in AAA to try to get the maximum amount of service time value out of him, you run a very serious risk of not maximizing the player's actual talent... if that makes sense. I don't want Green until he's 32, I want him to reach his talent ceiling. I think he has a far better chance of doing the latter if he's allowed to struggle & improve right now.

Yeah, this season so far just reminds me of the classic Uecker quote I'm sure I'm about to butcher... A couple of slammers & they're right back in this game!

I realize that we generally try to stay really positive on players in this forum, but I can't stop myself yet again from posting on this... Kentrail Davis has just come nowhere close to the expectations thus far in his career. His K tallies are pretty troubling, as they are directly standing in the way of him developing into the big-league hitter so many had him pegged to be (I was high on his selection back on his draft day). 1 HR so far this season for a college CF whose bat was supposedly good enough to play in RF. Not so much at this point. Really hope he can get his swing figured out, but so far there hasn't been a whole lot to indicate that he will. I guess one positive thing to take away from this season is that Kentrail hasn't really shown any difference in his v.LH/v.RH splits. And he's been a really effective basestealer thus far, so if he can get on base more, he can put that skill to further use.

I just realized I hadn't yet let anyone know -- I'm going on vacation from 6/30-7/8. I realize someone will step up & do just fine with Huntsville for that week+, but figured I'd better give at least a couple days' notice.

@Jackson 6, Huntsville 5 Huntsville Box As was discussed already in today's L.R., starter Jimmy Nelson had a day to forget: 3.1 IP, 2 H, 4 R/ER, 7 BB, 2 K, 1 WP, 5:2 GO:AO... and one throwing error on a pickoff attempt. So between the BBs, WP, & E, I think it's pretty safe to say Nelson was struggling with locating thrown baseballs today. Hang in there, Jimmy, & chin up -- hit the 'delete' button on these first two AA starts, & just get back to trusting your stuff. Dan Merklinger came on in relief of Nelson, and was able to get a huge double play to walk the tightrope out of the 4th inning. However, Jackson jumped all over Merklinger in the very next frame, with two singles, a HR, an error behind Merklinger, and then a bases-loaded BB. Dan Meadows was up next, and pitched a scoreless 6th, although he did allow one single & one BB. Brandon Kintzler turned in his first good appearance in his last five games, tossing two scoreless innings. Kintzler blew through the 7th (GO, GO, K), but gave up a leadoff single in the 8th and then a one-out walk... but fortunately induced an inning-ending double play. Good to see some positive production from Brandon. The Stars only were able to score in the five-run 3rd inning I referenced in my post above. That outburst was enough to end Generals SP Taijuan Walker's day (he did finish the inning), but the Generals bullpen then went into lockdown mode. The Stars only mustered seven hits (all singles) and one BB the rest of the way, and weren't able to string enough of those hits together to impact the R column. 2B Scooter Gennett finished 2-5 with a double and two RBI. DH Scott Krieger went 2-3 with a walk... he's been red-hot lately. 1B Hunter Morris was 1-4 with a BB, and his only hit was the three-run HR to cap the Stars' scoring in the 3rd. Morris's walk pushed his season tally to 19 -- not great, but already one better than he was able to draw in all of 2011. So there's some progress on that front, which is huge, because Hunter has just been an XBH machine. I predict some Lyle Overbay comps in the very near future for Morris... starting with the one I just made right there! CF Josh Prince had a single and a BB, as did SS Juan Sanchez. RF Kentrail Davis and C Adam Weisenburger each added one single. 3B Hainley Statia went 0-3 with a BB. Huntsville PbP Well, here's the only scoring from the Stars. You really had to think they'd score at least another run or two after this display: Huntsville Top of the 3rd -Juan Sanchez walks. -Lee Haydel singles on a line drive to right fielder Chih-Hsien Chiang. Juan Sanchez to 3rd. -Josh Prince walks. Lee Haydel to 2nd. -Scooter Gennett doubles (21) on a line drive to left fielder Kalian Sams. Juan Sanchez scores. Lee Haydel scores. Josh Prince to 3rd. -Hunter Morris homers (8) on a fly ball to right field. Josh Prince scores. Scooter Gennett scores. -Hainley Statia flies out to right fielder Chih-Hsien Chiang. -Scott Krieger called out on strikes. -Kentrail Davis singles on a ground ball to right fielder Chih-Hsien Chiang. -Adam Weisenburger strikes out swinging. Those were just huge back-to-back XBH from Gennett & Morris. Had to be an exciting inning in the Stars dugout. Huntsville Gameday