hsvstarsfan

PAYBACK, BUT STARS STILL LOSE SERIES Let's hope for more of this, but the Stars swung the bats pretty well again this night....... Although the Stars hit just .224 in this series, they had more than 10 hits in back-to-back games for the first time this season. This was the first time the Stars have beaten Jose Oyervidez in five meetings going back to last year. Oyervidez had come into the game with a 2-0 record and 3.38 ERA against the Stars. Last year, he dominated them, winning 2 of 3 times with a 1.42 ERA and 24 strikeouts in 19 innings....... Walks get him into trouble a lot of times. He led the SL in walks last year and was 4th in the league coming in, but of all things, it was a bombardment of eight hits by the Stars that sent him to his earliest exit ever against the Stars, and his 2nd earliest of the season. The Stars got the jump in the 2nd inning....... Ron Acuna, a .211 hitter when leading off this year, led off the 2nd with a bad-hop double grounded past 2nd baseman O'Riordan to right. After Brad Nelson grounded out moving Acuna to 3rd, Ryan Braun had his first chance as a starter to knock in a run, but struck out swinging....... J.C. Boscan, 1-for-7 with 2 out and runners in scoring position, came through in the clutch and singled up the middle on a 2-0 pitch to enable the Stars to cash in on the leadoff double........ Boscan has driven in just five runs this season, but the Stars are 5-0 when he does. The Stars lead became more comfortable in the 4th inning, getting all four of their runs that inning with two out........ The Stars seem to have a liking for the 4th inning this year. They've have eight 4-run 4th innings this year and scored more times in the 4th than any other inning this year........ For the record, they've also scored twice in the 6th eight times this year and they've had six 2-run 7th innings. But back to the game........Brad Nelson ended an 0-for-14 drought with a line drive back through the middle past the outstretched glove of Oyervidez to lead off the 4th. With an 0-2 count on Ryan Braun, Oyervidez threw a ball into the dirt to enable Nelson to get to 2nd, but Braun, who would wear the golden sombrero in this game, bounced a one-hopper to 3rd baseman Brett Dowdy for the 1st out and J.C. Boscan flied out to center......... But six men would come to the plate before Mobile was able to get out of the inning. Guilder Rodriguez sent a line drive over a leaping Dowdy down the left field line and Nelson slid home, as Kottaras dropped the throw from left fielder Vince Sinisi, otherwise Rodriguez would've had his first RBI for the Stars......... Starter Stephen Bray helped himself out with a line drive hit to right to score GRod, who had gone to 2nd on Sinisi's throw to get Nelson, and it was 3-0........ Steve Moss belted a 3-1 pitch that landed on the first hop right on the seam where the infield dirt and outfield grass meet and skipped into center field, sending Bray to 2nd....... Moss continues to be hot during this streak of 28 losses in 34 games, hitting .294. He finished the Mobile series 7-for-20 (.350)....... A single up the middle by Callix Crabbe loaded the bases and drove Oyervidez from the game. Dirk Hayhurst, who was promoted from Lake Elsinore at the start of this series came in and was greeted by Drew Anderson, who delivered the big hit of the inning -- a looping fly ball to left on an 0-2 pitch that Sinisi unsuccessfully tried to make a sliding catch on. With the sacks full, Anderson is hitting .267 with 10 of his 30 RBIs for the season........ Ron Acuna struck out swinging to end the inning....... Matt Smith, who is now coming in with large leads to go 2 or 3 innings, gave up 4 hits and was burdened with an error by GRod in the 6th, but after opening with two straight singles, Stephen Smitherman hit into a 4-6-3 double play, and Smith was able to escape with only one run against him........ Smith stayed in in the 7th to give up another hit and have the misfortune of have another runner on base by way of the Braun's first error, but Russ Rohlicek and Brett Evert retired the Bay Bears in order in the 8th and 9th........ Bray making his 2nd start, pitched five scoreless innings and became the 2nd Huntsville pitcher this season to win five games after Tim Dillard. Saturday, the Stars send Corey Thurman to the mound as they come home amid threatening weather to play host to the Lookouts for the first time this season........ Bell South Park is where the Stars began their hideous 14-game losing streak. The Stars were swept after winning the opener of that series, 8-3 on May 17........ Josh Hall, who the Stars didn't see in that series, will start for Chattanooga. Ron Acuna is 9-for-29 (.310) in his last eight games. He has driven in 17 runs during "the slump", 2nd to Drew Anderson's 19....... Anderson was 3-for-19 (.15http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/glasses.gif during the series, but drove in 4 runs....... After a .154 May, Callix Crabbe is hitting .279 this month........ Travis Ezi had a hit in back-to-back games for the first time since the Jacksonville series, May 23-25...... Adam Heether has not seen any action with the Brevard County Manatees since going down. They've been going with Ryan Crew, who was hitting .280 at West Virginia when he was promoted to Brevard.

NO JUNE SWOON FOR DILLARD The Milwaukee Brewers made Chris Barnwell a major leaguer tonight........ His contract was purchased by the Brewers from Nashville (since he wasn't on Milwaukee's 40-man roster). To make room, the Brewers optioned pitcher Joe Winkelsas to Nashville....... I got the news thanks to Brett Pollock's broadcast of tonight's game in Mobile, and immediately switched to the big league game on DirectTV, surprised to find the Brewers started Rick Helling tonight, rather than Carlos Villanueva...... Wearing #12, Barnwell entered the game defensively in the 6th inning and nearly dropped a single in front of Curtis Granderson in center in the 7th, but went 0-for-2 in his major league debut........ Barnwell, a former 2003 Rocky award winner, becomes the 160th former Huntsville Star to graduate to the majors. Villanueva, who was scheduled to start for the Brewers according to the paper, wound up taking over from Helling early and pitching 6 2/3 innings, giving up just 3 hits. He also gave up three runs, but the damage had been done already, as the Tigers won, 10-0........ Don't understand why manager Ned Yost didn't start Villy, who pitched 6 against the Reds and held them scoreless. Without Villanueva, the Stars have not had to look far for an ace to take over a pitching staff that has had a tough job holding opponents since the Stars refuse to get on base and drive in runs...... Corey Thurman has a better ERA, but Tim Dillard gets better support (3.9 runs per start to Thurman's 1.67), so sorry Corey, but Tim's the man ....... In a stretch of losing 26 of those 30 games, Dillard has won two of them, the rest going to Travis Phelps and Thurman..... So thanks to the rare run support, which seems generous, Dillard is now the first 5-game winner on the Stars' staff, and tonight, he joined Villanueva as the only starter to throw a complete game shutout. You can't beat Villanueva's one-hitter unless you throw a no-hitter, but Dillard nearly did it tonight...... With the restrained enthusiasm of Brett Pollock tonight, you'd hardly know it, but Mobile didn't get a hit until the 8th...... Through the first 7 innings, Dilly had allowed only a walk to Vince Sinisi in the 4th. Steve Moss made a nice backhand grab of Sinisi's slicing line drive, leading off in the 7th inning to preserve the no-hitter, but Michael Johnson lined Dillard's first pitch through the middle for a single in the 8th to spoil it....... . Drew Anderson then made a nice backhand catch to retire Luis Cruz for the 1st out, and Drew Macias flied out easily to Moss for the 2nd out, but Dillard found the 3rd harder to come by....... Brett Dowdy sent Johnson to 2nd with a line drive single in front of Moss. then former Chattanooga Lookout Steve Smitherman loaded the bases with a line drive to Adam Heether, who knocked the ball down, but could not make a play........ Dillard was in trouble of surrendering a 3-0 lead. No one was in the pen this time to muck this up. Dillard had to get out of his own mess........ With a count of 2-2 on Juan Ciriaco, Dillard froze him on a pitch inside for called strike three to end the threat......... Dillard struck out two more hitters in the 9th on the way to the Stars' 5th victory in 31 games......... Dillard has pitched 45 2/3 innings during this slump, tops on the staff, and gone 3-0 with a 2.38 ERA. The Stars scored all they would need in the 1st inning....... Callix Crabbe and Steve Moss led off with a pair of singles........ Moss put an end to an 0-for-15 slump with a single to left........ Drew Anderson's sacrifice bunt moved them into scoring position but after Brad Nelson struck out, it looked as if Lou Palmisano's sharp grounder to Ciriaco would help put a sudden end to the Stars' chances....... Ciriaco caught the ball on the short hop, but his snap throw to 1st base was low and sent Michael Johnson to his knees trying to backhand the throw. The ball skipped away and both runners scored......... Palmisano was given 2nd base and went to third with Heether at bat on a passed ball by George Kottaras, but Heether popped out to end the inning........ Palmisano and Heether are respectively hitting .185 and .191 in the Stars' last 31 games......... The Stars scored their 3rd run in the 5th courtesy of a 2-out double by Dillard and Moss's 2nd single to left........ Dillard is hitting .350 in 20 at-bats. He's the best hitting pitcher since Chris Saenz hit .357 in 28 at-bats two years ago. Wednesday's game is an 11:20 am start with Travis Phelps (1-4) going against Roger Deago (5-3)........ Phelps owns a 5.76 ERA during the Stars' prolonged slump, which hopefully will reverse itself, but momentum with this team is like ice cream on a hot sidewalk........Deago is 1-0 with a 3.12 ERA in his last three starts. Mat Gamel gave the North All-Stars timely hitting in Tuesday night's South Atlantic League All-Star game in Eastlake, Ohio........ Gamel had two hits, scored twice, and drove in a run as the North beat the South, 4-0. The West Virginia 3rd baseman picked up the MVP honors in that game. The Helena Brewers opened up their 2006 season in the Pioneer League, Tuesday night, with a 4-2 win over Missoula. 5th-round draft choice Chris Errecart's 2-run, 2-out double was the key hit for Helena.

Dillard hitting .350...can he still catch? Just kidding...or am I? Any thoughts Clancy? Funny you should say that, but I spoke to his grandparents earlier in the season before Dillard's first home appearance, and they told me he did catch in his school days --- and they bragged about how he could hit then.

ACUNA LEADS ROUT Like Clark Kent turning into some vengeful, twisted Superman or the school bookworm who muscled up over a summer to send his major detractor to the hospital, the Stars are taking out all their vented frustration from losing 19 of 22 games and a record 13 straight out on the Stars' biggest bully........ It's too bad we can't delight in this at the Joe...... In beating Birmingham, the Stars won their 3rd straight game for the first time since polishing off Mobile in four games of a five-game series last April 23-25, and in outscoring the Barons 30-10, let everyone know they mean business........ That's as many runs the Stars scored in their 13-game losing streak, and the Stars' .321 average in this series dwarfs the .220 average they were carrying when they lost 19 of 22 and 13 straight last month. This is especially sweet considering the Stars have really taken it on the chin to Birmingham over the years....... Last year, the Barons won 9 out of 11 from the Stars, including a 19-15 win July 7. And despite winning a share of the Southern League Championship in 2001, the Barons still won 12 of 17 games....... The fledgling Stars won the first six season series from Birmingham starting with their first season, but were humiliated in the 1987 playoff series, losing 15-2, 7-6, and 17-7...... The Stars haven't beaten the Barons in three straight since April 18-20, 2003, when they outscored them 19-8, the biggest three-game rout over this team up till today. Unlike Friday's team effort when they scored 10 of their 11 runs with 2 out (the largest shortcoming during May's record slump), the Stars today left 15 on base and 7 in scoring position with 2 out, but they didn't waste their opportunities, of which there were plenty, racking up 16 hits and drawing 10 walks, with Ron Acuna driving in six runs, the most since Enrique Cruz last May against Carolina........ In the 1st inning, Richard Nanita let Acuna's liner to left play him and the ball rolled to the wall for a triple to put the Stars in front, 3-0......... Acuna struck out with runners on the corners in the 2nd, but in the 4th, he drove in his 3rd run with a two-out opposite-field single to right, scoring Drew Anderson, and giving the Stars a 6-1 lead........ In the 6th, after reliever Brian West walked Anderson and Heether, Brad Nelson moved them into scoring position for Acuna on a back-hand catch deep in right by Thomas Collaro. Acuna lined a one-strike offering up the middle past a diving Chris Getz. Anderson scored and Heether slid past the sweep tag at home, giving the Stars an 8-2 lead....... Now it was a laugher. Rusty Tucker, who before Tommy John surgery in 2003 saved 28 games for Mobile. He came on in the 7th, walked six batters, including Acuna with the bases loaded for his 6th RBI.......For Tucker, who was placed on waivers by Mobile's parent club the Padres prior to the start of the season, it looks like the end. He now owns an 8.77 ERA, has allowed a run in 10 of his last 14 games, and walked 27 in 25 2/3 innings. The Barons' beleaguered pitching staff (oh, I feel so sorry, drip, drip), has issued 29 walks in this series...... They have now lost 8 of their last 10....... Tomorrow, they will send Corwin Malone to the mound against our ace, Carlos Villanueva, who was 2-2 with a 2.27 ERA in 5 starts in May........ Malone has a long history against the Stars, beginning with a no-decision game on August 26, 2001 when he held the Stars to just one hit over 5 2/3 innings in a game the Stars lost, 9-6. He will be facing the Stars for the 11th time in his career with a record of 3 wins, 2 losses, and a 4.35 ERA. Despite the mediocre stats, the Barons have won 8 of the games he has pitched. Aside from the help from all the walks, the Stars have punched out 35 hits over the last three games, more than the last five games of May, and nearly everyone has pitched in........ Ron Acuna has 10 hits in his last 20 at bats over his last 5 games........ Drew Anderson, who managed to hit .302 in May, is on a 6-game hitting streak, batting .375, and has driven in 10 runs....... Callix Crabbe, who hit .147 in May, is hitting .368 in his last 7 games........ Jeff Eure is 5-for-12 (.417) in this series, raising his average to .219, the highest it's been since April 19th...... Steve Moss, who hit .198 in May, is 8-for-16 in this series, and has scored 6 runs. That's almost as many as he scored all last month........ The Stars have batted around four times in this series so far. Elie Alfonzo, who hit .258 as one of six catchers who were used by the Stars in 2002, made his major league debut with the San Francisco Giants, Saturday, and made a game-winner out of his first major league hit -- a 2-run HR off El Duque (Orlando Hernandez) to give the Giants a 6-4 win over the Mets....... Alfonzo is the 159th former Star to graduate to the majors. The four sac bunts recorded by the Stars in Saturday's 7-3 win was one shy of the club record that goes back to June 10, 1990 against Knoxville.. The Diamond Jaxx released outfielder Adam Greenberg, who was hitting .179 and striking out at a .321 clip. Tampa Bay 2nd baseman Jorge Cantu was 2-for-18 in his rehab assignment at Montgomery at last report. The Florida State League announced their All-Stars and among them is Manatee right-hander Yovani Gallardo, who leads the FSL in strikeouts and is sporting a microscopic 2.18 ERA........ Looks like a winner, Stars fans........ Also joining him on the All-Star team is Josh Wahpepah (3-2, 3.02), 3rd baseman Ryan Braun (.299), 2nd baseman Hernan "the Hurricane" Irabarren (.287, 7 doubles), utility player Steve Sollmann (.302), and outfielder Brendan Katin (.287 and a league-leading 20 doubles.)

STARS TIE FRANCHISE RECORD OK, I know it's a Memorial Day weekend, but with Saturday being one of the "prime real estate" days of the week, especially in this town at this ballpark, wouldn't it make more sense to schedule Saturday games at night? Just a thought, but I'm told the reason was that Jacksonville has a bus trip to make to Montgomery -- about 4-5 hours. The Stars giveaway posters were more of the promotional type, and didn't identify any of the players on it, and I thought it was more generic than anything. But I'm sure that among the 1,200+ at the park, there was a Little League team, who I'm sure enjoyed themselves and the posters....... Anyone else there had to be laughing to keep from crying....... The bad luck even extended to a member of the office staff when a fan was picked out to answer the day's trivia question between one of the late innings (which had to do with car care and not baseball) and the mike's battery failed........ In direct contrast to Friday's game, the crowd was unresponsive, except to make one or two loud sarcastic comments from the upper deck about manager Don Money and hitting coach Sandy Guerrero ("What we need is a new manager -- and a new hitting coach" and "You stink!")....... This losing streak, tying a franchise record that was set in 1987 and matched in 1995 and 1996, is affecting the fans, who are either staying away, leaving early, or too disgusted to pop off, the writers and broadcasters, who struggle to find anything positive to relate, the staff, whose creative energies look tired, and the manager, the players, everyone....... When Jeff Eure whiffed to end the game, more out of frustration than actually trying to make contact, he kicked a helmet into the crowd, then slammed his bat on the floor of the dugout, nearly breaking it in two, all the while swearing like a longshoreman. The numbers: The Stars have lost 9 straight and 15 of 18 games since May 8. Click on the standings link for a breakdown. They are simply too dismal to be enumerated again here....... www.starsboxscore.com/standing.htm Only Drew Anderson, who went 0-for-2 today, has hit consistenly well, but he's driven in only 3 runs since the 3-15 streak started........ Steve Moss has hit .320 with 3 doubles and 6 walks, including a pair of walks today, and Lou Palmisano is hitting .283 for May, but the rest of the team has been cold...... After a 6-game hit streak, Ron Acuna is 3-for-21....... So is J.C. Boscan for the month of May....... Ozzie Chavez went 1-for-15 in this homestand vs. Jacksonville....... After hitting .284 in April, Callix Crabbe is hitting .138........Jeff Eure is hitting .193 this month. He hit .206 in April........ Adam Heether has looked real good in the field, but is hitting only .211 in May with just 4 extra-base hits, 3 of them doubles....... Greg Sain has struck out 28 times in 56 at-bats. That's 50%. The Stars left "only" 6 on base, but four were left in scoring position with 2 out. Adam Heether, who has left a team-leading 26 runners in scoring position with two out, was responsible for two of them in the 6th inning. Guilder Rodriguez lined a single to center to lead off the inning, followed by a throwing error by starter Spike Lundberg to put Jeff Housman on. Steve Moss moved them over on a neatly executed 5-4 sacrifice, and then after a ball to Drew Anderson, the intentional walk was called........ Whether this was planned or not, I don't know, but before the 3rd pitch to Anderson, Lundberg wheeled around and almost caught Housman. Lundberg finished the intentional walk....... But with one out, Acuna struck out on a 90 mph fastball and Heether grounded out on an easy play to 2nd baseman Tony Abreu...... Two innings later, after 2-out walks to Moss and Anderson, Acuna struck out for the 3rd time in the game after fouling off three pitches, each on higher up on the screen behind home plate than before......... The Suns scored their only run in the 2nd inning on a single to left by A.J. Ellis after Abreu's leadoff single and stolen base on Anthony Raglani's strikeout...... After that, Housman scatterred three hits and a pair of walks before Gerrit Simpson retired the side in the 8th and finished the game on one hit....... The Stars scored just one run in four games of this 9-game losing streak, never more than 4 runs in any game, and 18 runs, an average of 2 per game....... Mark Alexander picked up three saves in this series for Jacksonville. The Suns outperformed the Stars, .290 - .213 and outscored them, 25-11. They were the first team in the Southern League this year to sweep all five games of a series....... The Stars will play them again --- at Jacksonville on the next road trip, June 7-11......... Matt Kemp, who was slated to start this game at center field, was an early scratch and replaced by Wilkin Ruan. Kemp was told to get a ticket to Washington, where he was to join the Dodgers. Kemp did not play in Saturday's 3-1 victory over the Nationals. While Jacksonville is in Montgomery for a crucial series (check out the standings), the Diamond Jaxx come in Sunday at 6 pm....... The Diamond Jaxx have three of the four ERA leaders in the league. Tomorrow's starter, J.R. Mathes, is not one of them, but he did hold the Mudcats to just one hit over six innings in his last start, which was Tuesday. If the Stars don't get to him early, they may not get to him at all. From the 3rd to the 5th inning, he's held batters to a .167 average...... Corey Thurman, who last pitched for the Stars on May 9, has had two runs or less of run support in 6 of his 7 starts. Tampa Bay 2nd baseman Jorge Cantu is expected to start a rehab assignment with the Montgomery Biscuits on Monday. Cantu played for the old Orlando Rays from 2001-03. Mark Rogers, the Brewers' #1 draft pick two years ago, is 0-2 with a 7.04 ERA in 10 appearances for Brevard County (Fla. St.), the next step down on the Brewers' chain. Tonight against Daytona, he gave up 8 runs (6 earned) on 8 hits and a pair of walks in 3 1/3 innings, but Brevard won in the 10th on a game-winning single by Carlos de la Cruz........ Nashville lost to Iowa in Des Moines, 3-2 and West Virginia lost to Lakewood in a Sally League game, 7-4, so everyone in the Brewers' food chain lost today, except the big club itself and the Manatees. The Brewers beat the Phillies, 9-6 with former Stars shortstop Bill Hall driving in 4 runs. Saul Rivera made his major league debut, Friday night for the Washington Nationals. Rivera becomes the 158th former Huntsville Star to make it to the majors....... He was 2-1 with a fine 1.62 ERA for the Stars in 26 games in 2004 after being acquired on June 19th in a trade that sent Jason Childers and Jason Belcher to the Expos.

STARS SET MILWAUKEE-ERA RECORD And the beat goes...... (well, where's the pulse?)....... How frustrating can this get? It's almost as if God is playing a cruel joke on the Stars and their fans. Just when it looks as if the Stars are finally going to end this long losing streak with a 4-0 lead, Jacksonville comes back to tie, and then go-ahead in the 6th, and add salt in the wound in the 9th....... But getting back to Earth, God really has nothing to do with this and who the hell knows if he, she or it even cares......... The Stars, in setting a new Milwaukee-era record by losing their 8th straight game, their longest losing streak since 1996, have unraveled........ During the streak, I've watched the ERAs go up, the bullpen ERAs go up, the errors, yes even the errors go up (the Stars have committed an error in 10 of their last 12 games), I've seen more bad breaks on our side, and fewer on their side, and run opportunities go wasted (13 left on base Thursday, 8 in scoring position w/2 out).. The numbers: The Stars have lost 14 of 17 games since May 8. In that space, they've hit .218. They've committed 17 errors, almost as many as they made in their first 30 games. They've scored 2.4 runs per game, while being outscored, 87-41........ 15% of the runs they've allowed have been unearned. Last night's came in the 9th inning, an insurance run that could have been a spirit-breaker in this game, but it's been a factor in couple of other games: a 3-1 loss to the Smokies, May 15th when Ozzie Chavez's throwing error subsequently resulted in all three runs being scored, and on May 18th, when a missed catch by Jeff Eure on a toss from Carlos Villanueva resulted in a 2-run 7th and a 5-4 loss to the Lookouts....... The bullpen ERA, around 2.50 before May 8th, is 3.33 since........ Starting pitchers have gone 2-10, but the bullpen has lost the last three games and in the last four, the bullpen ERA has been 5.40....... Andy Pratt has given up 8 earned runs in 6 innings over his last 4 appearances........ Gerrit Simpson's ERA in 10 May appearances has been a modest 3.65 with a pair of losses...... Matt Smith's ERA is 7.00 since being picked up from the Cardinals as a free agent. Huntsville's clean-up hitters are hitting .156 in this 8-game losing streak. Only Drew Anderson (11-for-30) is really hitting the ball, but Steve Moss has been at a .292 clip....... Ozzie Chavez has been hitting .222, Callix Crabbe, .160; Adam Heether, .167; Lou Palmisano, .238. At least summer is back, for those of you who would rather not freeze when seeing a game in the stands, and I'm one of them........ 91° at gametime with a few small dark clouds wandering over I guess from northern Tennessee where they had some really bad weather, but overall, not threatening....... A very slow-paced game tonight.. Both starters threw a lot of pitches in a short time. Through four innings, Jacksonville starter Alvis Ojeda threw 77 pitches. Matt Yeatman threw 74, and most of the scoring came in those first four frames. Yeatman, pitching for the first time in 9 games scattered just two hits through the first 4 innings. The Stars had given him a comfortable 4-0 lead. In the 1st, Drew Anderson, the Stars' best hitter during this 17-game slump (.355) dropped an excellent but to the left side, almost beating out Jacksonville starter Ojeda's throw, moving Travis Ezi, who led off with a walk, to 2nd....... After fouling off a 2-2 pitch, Ron Acuna lined a hit over short, driving in the speedy Ezi for a 1-0 lead. Adam Heether sometimes looks like Brooks Robinson at third. Even when he makes an error, and he's made only six, four of them have been on a throw....... He made a couple of really fine plays in the 3rd innings, taking a short hop near the base line, fairly deep, then making a strong throw to get Brad Cresse to lead off the inning, then to get the final out, hustling in and cutting in front of Ozzie Chavez, who was waiting on a slow chop, then firing to first in mid-motion for the out. In the bottom of the 3rd, Anderson tapped a one-out, 3-1 pitch up the 1st base line, beating catcher Cresse's throw for a hit. He steals 2nd on a close play when Ron Acuna strikes out and goes to 3rd on a wild pitch on a 1-0 pitch to Greg Sain. But all that station-to-station movement didn't matter after Sain on 2-and-2, crushed a no-doubt home run, his first since April 27th, between the Budweiser sign on the scoreboard and a pole to the right, giving the Stars a 3-0 lead........ It was only the Stars' 3rd home run this whole month, spelling the desparate need for power....... As if speaking too soon, Heether followed up and drove a 2-2 pitch over the left field wall, leaving Justin Ruggiano looking at the sky, watching the ball clear all three billboard levels for the 4-0 Stars lead. Unfortunately, not much would happen to give the Stars anything to cheer about after that........ Lou Palmisano followed Heether's blast with a walk to first, then Ojeda and Adam Thomas, a pick-up from the independent Winnipeg (North.) Goldeneyes during the off-season, retired 8 straight hitters before Palmisano was erased on a double play in the 6th....... Meanwhile, the Stars lead had evaporated and was gone. Nearly 5,000 noisy fans ranging from Little Leaguers on up, waiting on fireworks watched Matt Kemp, the Dodgers #8 prospect, send a room-service 1-1 fast ball bouncing off the top of the first wall in center field, about 5-10 feet to the right of the 405' marker, and going over for a 2-run home run......... After a walk on four pitches to Andy LaRoche, the Dodgers' top batting prospect, Craig Brazell drives a pitch off the left field wall for his 2nd double of the night, scoring LaRoche all the way from first to make it 4-3........ Justin Ruggiano then walks on six pitches. Tony Abreu loads the bases with a broken-bat looper to center field that falls in front of Ezi for a hit. Yeatman then went 3-and-2 to Ojeda before he lines a ball deep to right, scoring Brazell, tying the game. Yeatman gave way to Brett Evert in the 6th........ Yeatman's April ERA of 0.73 has soared to 3.67....... Evert had been sent down from Nashville earlier in the day, presumably ending a ripple of transactions that saw over a half-dozen pitchers come and go from Huntsville.......The first batter he faced, he hit....... Evert's 2nd pitch to the next hitter, Abreu, was lined to left for a single. After getting Cresse out looking on a questionable called strike three, Palmisano nearly retired Adam Thomas, making a valiant diving effort on a foul pop bunted to the third base side beside home plate....... Unfortunate because,both runners took off and successfully executed a double steal....... Thomas then looped a 1-2 pitch into shallow right field. Callix Crabbe gave chase and tried to make an over-the-shoulder catch, but the ball hit off his glove for a single. Ruggiano scored, giving the Suns a 5-4 lead........ Greg Sain's error in the 9th hurt. Chin Hu's hit a grounder to him away from the bag for a certain 3rd out, but Sain dropped the ball. His recovery toss to reliever Russ Rohlicek was too late, and Anthony Raglani, who had reached on a failed sacrifice and gone station-to-station, scored for the final 6-4 score........ Rohlicek was making his 11th appearance of the month and doing a fine job, logging a 1.84 ERA in 14 2/3 innings. The Stars will play a 2 pm game in the scorching sun today........ Posters will be given out to the first 2,000 who attend...... Jeff Housman (1-1, 2.77) will face former Phillie farmhand Spike Lundberg (4-1, 2.61), 9th among SL ERA leaders. Housman was limited to 65 pitches his last time out. We'll see what happens today. Former Stars pitcher Mike Adams was traded to the New York Mets, Friday night for former SL pitcher Jeremi Gonzalez....... Gonzalez pitched for the Orlando Cubs, mostly as a starter in 1996 and briefly in 1999 for the Diamond Jaxx....... Adams was a very effective pitcher for the Stars in 2002-03. Although his record was 3-8, he had an ERA of 3.23 in 58 combined appeareances. On June 23, 2003, Adams pitched 5 1/3 no-hit innings in relief of Matt Parker, who gave up all 5 runs in a 5-3 loss to Carolina........Adams was 1-1 with a 3.51 ERA in 15 appearances for the Sounds this season. he was assigned to Class AAA-Norfolk (Int'l.).

Villanueva's promotion to Milwaukee has been followed today by Joe Winkelsas. Villanueva was scheduled to start for the Stars tonight, when they begin a 10-game homestand vs. Jacksonville and West Tennessee. Chris Mabeus will start tonight, instead, according to the Stars. Mabeus was declared ineligible for promotion to the Brewers in violation of a 10-day rule. A player just picked up on waivers, such as Mabeus was from Oakland, cannot go from the minors to the majors until he has spent 10 days with his new minor league team. Mabeus will be eligible later in the week and I'm sure Villanueva, who has been assigned a middle relief role with Milwaukee, will go back to Huntsville.

THE RAIN, THE PARK, AND OTHER THINGS Maybe there was something symbolic in the dark clouds hovering in the sky beyond the outfield to make you think of John Donne's "For Whom the Bell Tolls"...... The Stars came into this series needing four wins in this five game series to have a serious chance at having a life in this first half. Not that losing this series will doom them from playoff contention before it's over. But they're not going to face their division rival again this first half, oddly enough. Blame that on this quirky schedule........ Eventually, the clouds and the rain, like the truth and the Lookouts, won out........ After Travis Phelps fanned Rick Asadoorian to end the 1st inning, capped by Noochie Varner's 2-out, 2-run double, rain and then hail halted the game for 23 minutes, oddly enough, 23 minutes after the game had started........ As if they were favored by Thor, the god of thunder, the Lookouts added another pair in the messy 2nd inning after Miguel Perez and Anderson Machado hit back-to-back singles. Starter Phil Dumatrait moved the runners into scoring position on a ground out and after an intentional walk to leadoff hitter Chris Dickerson to load the bases, Phelps proceeded to walk Luis Bolivar on a 3-2 slider and Joey Votto on 3-and-2 to give the Lookouts a 4-1 lead. Phelps' 5th walk marked a new high this year for Stars pitchers. Amid rumblings and lightning in the sky beyond the wall, Chattanooga took a 7-1 lead off normally-reliable Steve Bray in the 4th inning on Aaron Herr's 2-run double. Then with Noochie at the plate to begin his at-bat, and rain cascading down, play was halted again with runners on 2nd and 3rd....... When it did after more than an hour, Gerrit Simpson was the new pitcher, and Simpson managed to retire three of the four hitters to face him to end the inning........ Varner had just flied out to Drew Anderson in the 6th when the umpires called the game again, and this time, for good. The Stars, who had won 9 of 12 back in April, have lost 9 of their last 12 and 15 of their last 23. The Lookouts won their 3rd straight, despite the six errors they've made in those games...... The Stars meanwhile wasted excellent pitching, scoring six runs in those three games, while hitting .222....... Travis Phelps, making his 2nd start, gave up 4 runs on 4 hits and 5 walks and Steve Bray, who came in with an impressive yield of just 2 runs in his last 23 2/3 innings over 11 appearances, 3 runs on 5 hits, without getting anyone out in the 4th inning........ Former Huntsville Stars outfielder Noochie Varner has driven in 7 runs in the first 4 games of this series, while going a modest 4-for-14. Drew Anderson, who drove in the Stars only run on a ground out, has a .372 average with 4 doubles during the Stars' last 3-9 slump and Ozzie Chavez has led in runs driven in with 7....... Aside from the pair, Ron Acuna, Lou Palmisano, and Adam Heether, to some extent, have been the Stars' best hitters in the last 12, Chavez hitting .306, Acuna .273, Palmisano .269, and Heether .256......... Adam got his average up to a season-high .230 after Thursday's game....... From there the bottom really drops, with a half dozen Stars hitting less than .200...... Heether has left a team-leading 21 runners in scoring position w/2 out, followed by Anderson with 19. In their last 12 games, the Stars have hit .220, even though the team ERA has been 3.10, with a bullpen ERA of 1.95 Ty Taubenheim became the 156th former Huntsville Star to make it to the majors, Saturday night, taking the loss as the Blue Jays' starter against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field........ Taubenheim lasted five innings, giving up 3 runs on 5 hits, striking out 3 and walking 3 as the Jays lost, 5-1. Taubenheim gave up a home run to former Carolina Mudcat Garret Atkins in the 1st inning. He threw 86 pitches, 46 for strikes (53.4%)........ The Brewers tonight were embarrassed by the Minnesota Twins, 16-10, in a game that lasted nearly four hours. Starter Ben Hendrickson faced six batters, allowing all of them to score on five hits and a walk, and threw 19 pitches, only 9 for strikes. He is now 0-2, and unfortunately, hasn't made a positive mark in the majors.

David Weiser's www.starsboxscore.com/ STARS TIE 1991 RECORD FOR FUTILITYI've seen slumps over the 22-year course of this team........ The summer of '88 by far remains the worst and is certainly hard to beat, even for this team. That year, the Stars in a stretch from July 6-29, lost 19 of 22 games, hitting .206. Then after winning four straight, they proceeded to lose 20 of their next 27 to close the season........ In the first 35 games of 1991, another offensively-anemic Stars team that carried Kurt Abbott and Todd Van Poppel as their biggest future successes, managed to scrape 10 or more hits in just three games....... No team since had matched that, until Friday night, after losing 5-1 to Tennessee. Along the way, the Stars struck out 15 times at the plate. (Jacksonville pitchers did that June 28 of last year.)........ But as a whole, they're still not near as bad as the 1991 team that started 13-22. This year's team requires the least over-analysis of any team in years. Simply put, it can't hit or score runs. If they did, they would be challenging Chattanooga for 1st place in the Northern Division........ The Stars' pitching staff is 5th in ERA with a 3.35 mark, owns a 3.07-1 strikeout-walk ratio, and has issued the fewest walks in the Southern League......... In the field, while the flaws have been a little more numerous in the last 15 games, it's still earned a place as having the best fielding in club history. Four errors after 10 games, eight after 20 and 18 after 30 games........ After 35 games, the Stars' staff allowed an unearned run in only nine of them. Their record is 3-6 in those games.......... Of the 70 runs allowed after 20 games, 61 were earned (87%). In the next 15 games, 60 runs were allowed, 48 of them earned (80%)........ Errors did have an impact on the Stars record, but a much improved team on the field separated a 17-18 team from a '91 team that started out 13-22....... Incidentally, the 1991 team committed a record 38 errors after just 20 games and 44 after 30. But to look at the impact of how the Stars have been unable to hit and score runs, we have to look close. This little table will illustrate better than words will. runs runs/gm B.A. April 14-25 won 9 of 12 55 4.6 .239 April 27-present won 5 of 14 44 3.14 .197 May 3-11 won 2 of 8 20 2.5 .181 They've scored 133 runs, 8th in the league, but after Friday's game, they were hitting just .218, last (tenth) in the league. Mobile, the next worst, is hitting .232 and above them is the Smokies, hitting .236...... The Stars have drawn 135 walks, 3rd in the league, but are still 9th in runs scored and last in on-base pct. (.308) and OPS (.621)........They've struck out 235 times, 9th in the league, but their most commonly used # 4 hitter, Greg Sain, has an appalling record of driving in runs. He's hit .118 with runners in scoring position and two outs and .111 with runners on base and two out. He does have a better average (.240) with runners on base and is 2-for-4 with 10 RBIs with the bases loaded......... He's also fanned 36 times in 104 at-bats (.346). Those are balls he's failed to put into play....... Going back to April 27, when this team's dive started, Sain is hitting .105 with 20 Ks in 49 at-bats (40.8 %) and in his last 19 ABs, he's struck out 12 times, with only one hit (.053). This is our clean-up hitter. For a further look at the lineup breakdown, go to the "standings" link below. I'll give you a 40-game breakdown on this when time comes. www.starsboxscore.com/standing.htm The team has one bright spot currently....... Drew Anderson is riding a seven-game hitting streak (10-for-27, .370) and became one of only four Stars to have a three-hit game this season (Ron Acuna, Kennard Bibbs, and Callix Crabbe being the others). He also stole a pair of bases in the 1st inning, but Lou Palmisano struck out with runners on the corners to kill that chance.......... Matt Yeatman, who came into the start of this series (the only pitcher other than Carlos Villanueva to start a series this season) allowing only three runs in 20 1/3 innings, was mauled in four innings for nine hits and four runs. Yeatman was greeted in the decisive 2nd inning by a Phil Avlas double, then a single, and another double. After starter Micah Owings grounded out, driving in a run, Jerry Gil added another double....... The inning for Tennessee ended after Miguel Montero singled in the 4th run, then was tagged out on a 9-3-6-4 rundown play........ In the 3rd, Bibbs was caught stealing and Crabbe was picked off. ...... In the 4th, Anderson led off with a double. Palmisano drove him in with a ground ball single to center, but Adam Heether, whose average hasn't topped .220 since April 22, struck out and Steve Moss, 1-for-24 since his 14-game hitting streak ended, flied out to kill that inning........ Chavez walked to open the 5th, but was forced out at 2nd on a sacrifice attempt by Guilder Rodriguez. GRod was stranded after Bibbs and Crabbe both struck out....... Anderson hit his 2nd double to open the 6th, but guess what? Micah Owings struck out the side, ending his day with 11 Ks........ The game ended with runners on 1st and 2nd for the Stars and Chavez popping out to catcher Montero......... And so it goes. Dana Eveland will make his first major league start at Miller Park Saturday, when the Brewers play host to the Mets. If you have DirectTV, you can catch it on Channel 742. The game starts at 6:05 CT........ Eveland's 27 games for the Brewers last year were all in relief....... At Nashville this season, he was 3-1 with a 0.75 ERA. The southpaw allowed two unearned runs and was limited to 70 pitches in suffering his only loss Tuesday at Tucson. Edit: accidental emoticons

... the Stars' 3-4-5 hitters were hitting .195 after 30 games (Steve Moss, Greg Sain, and Adam Heether were in those spots in Game # 32 Monday and went 1-for-12): Actually, it's the 4-5-6 hitters. But that caught my curiosity, and it turns out the 3-4-5 hitters after 30 games, even figuring in Steve Moss's 14-game hit streak, were hitting just .212.

The Stars and Smokies were rained out Sunday afternoon and will play a doubleheader Monday evening at 6:05 pm.

BATTLE OF THE BULLPENS It was the battle of the win streaks -- Tennessee's three against Huntsville's four -- and the bullpens........ Garrit Simpson pitched three no-hit innings in relief and Joe Winkelsas added two more, yielding just a 9th inning, 2-out pinch-single by Adam Haley, but just when the pen was looking nearly invincible on the night, Smokie 3rd baseman James D'Antona walloped a two-out 3-run home run off the scoreboard in the 11th to end the Stars' 4-game win streak, 9-6....... Funny thing is that D'Antona hit a 1-0 pitch, and he had been swinging on 1-and-0 nearly all night. He swung on a 2-0 pitch in the 2nd and hit into a 6-4-3 double play. After both starting pitchers were knocked around for a combined 12 runs on 15 hits in the first 5 innings, both bullpens silenced their opponents to just two hits for the next five innings, until D'Antona's smash ended the deadlock at around 10 pm. Guilder Rodriguez took four pitches for a 2-out walk in the bottom of the 11th, but Mike Schultz, who led the Southern League in appearances last year, retired Callix Crabbe on a pop up near 1st base to end the game at 10:08 on a clear, but chilly night at the Joe. The crowd this night was split between Adam Bass fans and Huntsville Stars fans, and guess which set made the most noise? I don't have to tell you, do I?........ The turnout wasn't nearly what I expected for the return of Adam Bass, but most of them came to see the UAH Charger pitcher who attended Madison Academy, and who left a rather strong legacy behind at UAH....... Bass holds or shares 11 different team Charger records, including strikeouts (245), and innings (282)....... No pitcher in the Gulf South Conference since 2000 has had as many as 27 career wins. Bass had 29. And he led the Chargers to their only Gulf South Conference championship in 2001. He may not be among the Diamondbacks' top 30 prospects, but he is definitely on Arizona's radar screen. Bass faced the Stars twice last year, both times at Smokies Park, both times in late in the season......... On August 20, he beat Villanueva in Villanueva's debut as a Huntsville Star, 9-4, going six innings and striking out 7, then 11 days later, Bass lost 5-4, giving up Kennard Bibbs' only home run of the year........ Bass came into the game with a good track record in the early innings, only to get hit hard in the 3rd and 4th. That pattern held together on this 66° night....... In fact, both pitchers breezed through the first two innings. Carlos Villanueva, brilliant at home, 0-2 now with a 9.64 ERA at the Joe, held the Smokies to one hit through the first two. Then with two out in the 3rd, Bass lines a sharp single to shallow centerfield, and Danny Richar, 7-for-13 in the Smokies' most recent series against Carolina, followed with a home run on Villanueva's second pitch to right field......... Bass, as well, gave up just one hit through the first two innings, then ran into trouble in the 3rd, just as if the 3rd inning was a jinx to him......... Ozzie Chavez grounded a hit near the 2nd base bag on the right side. Danny Richar made a game effort to make a tough play and nearly tossed the ball away to first, but Ozzie was justly given the hit...... After a failed bunt attempt by Villanueva, Callix Crabbe then lined a single to left-center and the speedy Chavez moved to third....... Bibbs' drag bunt to the right side of the mound moved both runners into scoring position......... After Steve Moss was hit trying to evade an inside pitch, Greg Sain came the plate in what now has been lately a familiar bases-loaded situation, his 5th this season, in fact. And just like the last at-bat, he walked on a 3-1 pitch, putting the Stars on the scoreboard as Chavez scored. Sain now has 10 RBIs in bases-full situations on the season........ Then came the big at-bat of the inning........ Drew Anderson, 6-for his last-12, lined a double on Bass's 2nd pitch down the left field line into the corner, scoring Crabbe and Moss, and sending Sain to third...... Adam Heether, however, .316 with runners in scoring position this season, struck out on three pitches to end the inning, but with the Stars in front now, 3-2 In the 4th, Lou Palmisano's hard-hit leadoff double against the wall in left field led to the Stars' 4th run, as he was moved to third by Villanueva's sacrifice and Crabbe's squeeze bunt single perfectly placed along the third base line in front of the plate....... Not many things more exciting than a squeeze....... And I have been impressed this season by Lou's power. In the 5th, Steve Moss's single, extending his hit streak to 8 games was followed by a belated home run by Sain a matter of a few feet inside the left field foul pole, but it came after the Smokies scored four runs in the top of the inning to put an end to Villanueva's night....... In that inning, Villanueva walked in a run and allowed a run to score on a wild pitch....... Carlos threw 77 pitches, 45 for strikes (58.4%). Tonight, Tim Dillard (2-1, 5.28) faces Garrett Mock (1-3, 4.87)........Dillard, like Villanueva, has been excellent on the road (2-0, 2.31) and just the opposite at the Joe (0-1, 7.27)........ Mock has struggled in his last two outings, giving up 14 runs, 8 earned, on 17 hits in 7 1/3 innings....... The Stars have won 9 of their last 13, though, and I can smell a win tonight......... Drew Anderson is 7-for-16 in his last four games (.438) and looking to extend his hitting streak to five games....... Steve Moss is looking to extend his to nine games, and is hitting .393 with 7 RBIs in his last 8 games....... Lou Palmisano is hitting .292 at home with 6 RBIs in 8 games at the Joe........ Callix Crabbe is 6-for-21 (.286) in his last 5 games........ Chavez is 6-for-19 in his last five (.316)........ All four leadoff hitters that Andy Pratt has allowed to reach base this season, including tonight's, have scored. Pratt has seven mound appearances this season. Matt Yeatman, whose 0.79 ERA at this point ties him with Roger Smithberg (Stars '93) for the 8th best start to a season for a pitcher in Stars history, is being moved to the rotation replacing Jeff Housman, who is on the disabled list and will be out 3-4 weeks, according to our play-by-play man, Brett Pollock. Yeatman will start Sunday's game, but the weather forecast calls for a 70% chance of rain....... On the air, Brett dropped the name of Lurleen B. Wallace, the former wife of George Wallace who governed the state in the late '60s, asking if his colleague Bryan Neece had ever heard of the junior college in the state named after her. Neither knew who she was........ Things that make you go hmmmmmm........ Jerome Gamble (4-1, 6.33, 5 saves last year) is going to have arthroscopic surgery on a torn labrum and rotator cuff surgery. Not good. The striking minor league umps have reached a tentative 6-year agreement.late Thursday evening........ If the agreement is ratified, the results of a vote to be known on May 1, the umps will return to work on May 8........ Wonder how much effect the recent Delmon Young incident had in that? Former Huntsville Stars Glenn Woolard and catcher Jimmy Stanfield have been released by the Brewers, according to Baseball America........ I doubt few fans knew of Stanfield. He played in just three games last year, all of them at the tail end of a miserable season, and all of them on the road. His legacy is 0-for-4 with one RBI and one start against Chattanooga on the next-to-last game of the season........ Woolard is better known. He was 13-13 in 52 appearances over two seasons (2004-05), including 37 starts. Last year, he lost 11 games for the Stars and had a 4.91 ERA. He was 2-2 with a 3.52 ERA last July, his best month. Josh Habel (3-7, 5.65 in 21 appearances last season) has signed with the Gary-Southshore Railcats of the independent Northern League. He joins former Stars Ryan Miller, Jason Shelley, and Scott Krause on the team. After 20 games, the Stars have committed only 8 errors in the field. That's the fewest by any Stars team at that stage in their 22-year history, and that beats the previous record of 16, set last year........ Hard to imagine, but in 1991, the Stars commited 38 errors after 20 games.

David Weiser's www.starsboxscore.com/ SAIN A-GAINThis is the kind of afternoon I wish I had when I was in school....... Busloads of school children, with a little more than a month left until they're free for the summer, got a reprieve from the institution of learning for more than 2½ hours to see some baseball, and hopefully become future fans for the experience, for they are baseball's future........ They entered into a dreamworld, they no doubt marked on their calendar, lining up strong at the concession stands, money in hand, deciding whether it would be popcorn or cotton candy, sitting in stacks on the counter, hot dogs, a Pepsi, or whatever, and brought them into their seats in the upper deck behind home plate, which I think are the best seats for baseball........ Even though they didn't fill the seats the way they did in Montgomery, they were all a happy, noisy, cheering bunch, all singing in unison to the "Sponge Bob Square Pants" song. (What do they see in it I don't know) and doing the Chicken Dance......... And they saw a grand-slam home run. Greg Sain hit his second grand-slam of the season, his 6th homer of the year, in a six-run 5th in which the Stars batted around to take a 6-2 lead....... Sain, who just 12 days earlier hit the first grand-slam for the Stars since Brandon Gemoll almost two years ago, became the first Huntsville Stars slugger since Danny Ardoin (A's organization, in July of 1998) to hit two grand-slams in a month, and the first since Corey Hart to hit two in a season. Things looked quite different, though, up to the 5th inning......... Jose Oyervidez, 2-0 with a 1.42 ERA in three starts last year vs. the Stars, set down the first six Stars in the ballgame, then walked Lou Palmisano on six pitches before retiring three straight to end the 3rd....... In the 4th, Oyervidez gave up singles to Drew Anderson (now 4-for-8 in his last two games) and Steve Moss (9-for-20 in his last six games), before retiring three straight once again, Brett Bonvechio making a fine running catch of a sinking liner in foul territory to get the 2nd out. Jeff Housman threw 43 pitches, 23 for strikes, in going just two innings........ Manager Don Money, aware that Jeff has had some headaches and dizziness since being hit in the head with a line drive two weeks ago, showed some concern for him and in the rising heat of the day, removed him for Stephen Bray (0-1, 3.86). (Turns out it was a strained shoulder)....... I wouldn't be surprised if Housman is put on the DL when the rosters shrink by to 23, the first week of May, can't remember the exact date....... Bray was touched for Mobile's 2nd run when George Kottaras, a major league all-star paying his dues right now, tripled down the right field line, the ball landing just inside the line past the infield, and scored on Steve Baker's subsequent single to left........ Kottaras puts fear in my heart, the way Sain used to when he played for Mobile. Speaking of Sain, he's 3-for-12 now against his old club, but two of those hits have been HRs........ Kottaras is 16-for-38 (.421) at Joe Davis Stadium. Then in the 5th, the Stars unlocked Oyervidez...... He walked Palmisano, then Ozzie Chavez, leading the Stars with a .288 average, doubled all the way to the wall in right-center, scoring him.......... Kennard Bibbs, pinch-hitting for Bray, snapped an 0-for-11 slump with a bunt hit to the left of the mound, putting runners at the corners.......Callix Crabbe, 2-for-18 in his last five games after a .308 start, lined a single to left, scoring Chavez....... Anderson struck out for the 1st out, but Moss walked to load the bases, and that set up Sain, and at the moment, it was so transparent that Sain wanted to give the ball a ride, and he did on a 1-1 pitch from Oyervidez, sending it high into the air and over all three levels of advertising in left field......... Arturo Lopez, after striking out the side on 12 pitches in the 6th, allowed two more Huntsville runs in the 7th to make it 8-2. Fifty-eight balls were put into play in this 2:34 game, 35 of them hit into the outfield (60%), more than what I usually see, and quite a bit more than average were hit deep. Tuesday, in the 20th game of the season for the Stars, left-hander Sean Thompson pitches for Mobile, opposed by Khalid Ballouli........ Thompson writes a weekly article for the Padres' minor league website, www.madfriars.com.......... Ballouli (1-1, 4.59) is coming off an eight-strikeout performance against Birmingham. He did not last five innings in four of his nine starts last year, but he has gone five in two of three this season. The Stars now have eight wins in their last 11 games. They are hitting .224 this season, but barely better (.226) in this current streak....... So it's easy to see where the wins are coming from........ Pitching and defense win games, my friend......... Huntsville's starters are 6-6 with a 3.39 ERA....... The bullpen is even better --- 6-2 with a 2.67 ERA........ Offensively, there are other points to show why the Stars are 11-8 on the season........ They've struck out 114 times -- fewest in the league -- and they are 2nd in walks, trailing only 74-73 to Jacksonville. They are also 3rd in on-base percentage........ Add the power of Sain (6 HRs, 15 RBIs) and Jeff Eure, and you have a winning recipe. Ryan Knox, sent down to the Montgomery Biscuits from Durham last Saturday, broke up a perfect game in the 6th inning when he was hit by a pitch from Mississippi's Ryan Basner, Monday night. The Biscuits wound up winning the game, 3-2. Edited: accidental emoticon...

INTO THE NIGHT Sometimes you get the bear, but more often, the bear gets you........ The bear was Cesar Carrillo, Mobile's top minor league prospect, and it wasn't hard to see why....... While Carrillo did not strike out as many as Carlos Villanueva, he worked his sharp-breaking curve and 93 mph fast ball in and out around the plate, rarely falling behind hitters, and constantly holding the Stars to the infield, getting 13 infield outs in 7 innings, in addition to striking out 5........ Callix Crabbe and Drew Anderson were both forced out on easy grounders to the left side in the 1st and 2nd innings and only once, in the 6th, did a Stars runner reach 3rd, and that was on a fielder's choice. Carrillo retired the side in order in the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 7th innings. The Stars threatened to score in the 9th off reliever Geoff Jones, after Greg Sain lined a one-out single to right and stole 2nd on the first pitch to Anderson, who struck out........ Steve Moss lined a single to left, but manager Don Money, wisely with Lou Palmisano on deck, held Sain to third. Looking for the big pitch, Palmisano fouled a ball deep to left, but foul, then struck out swinging to end the game....... Carrillo's 5 Ks matched a season high for him. Villanueva struck out 8 batters, a season-high for him, and the team as a whole finished with a season-high of 12, but one pitch is all it took for Mobile to win behind Mobile's sharp threesome of Carrillo, Rosales (who throws some good heat), and the sidearmer Geoff Jones....... George Kottaras, San Diego's #2 prospect, yanked a 1-2 pitch deep to right, toward the trees some 380 feet away for a 1-0 lead...... Later than inning, three consecutive one-out singles brought in another run for a 2-0 lead....... In the 6th inning, Steve Baker's double to the 405 marker in dead center field brought in Brett Bonvechio, who lead off with a walk. It was nice to see 'em fill up the ballpark tonight....... Of course, it took a giveaway, but it's nice just the same........ Young and old entered the stadium with a camouflage Huntsville Stars baseball cap, a new item this year. Pretty nice, I must say, but having rival Channel 31's logo on the side doesn't much appeal to me......... Two groups from Redstone Arsenal, watched over by their drill sergeants, one from Bravo company and the other, larger one, from Charlie company had a rowdy good time in the upper deck and I'm glad to see that....... Too bad they couldn't wear the matching caps, but that wouldn't have pleased the sergeants in their smokey bear hats too well, but their voices made the stadium come alive for once. Usually, the players joke about being able to hear cell phones go off during a game........ The 6,476 in attendance was welcome after the disappointment of Friday's rainout and what should have been a big turnout for fireworks Friday and especially, the Family Fun Fest......... That game will be made up tomorrow with a double-header, the first game starting at 1:05 pm......... Tim Dillard and Corey Thurman will start for the Stars against Jared Wells and Bubba Nelson...... Nelson pitched last year in the Southern League All-Star game for Chattanooga....... Wells was the Padres' Minor League Pitcher of the Year last season and a member of the Padres' 40-man roster.

OUR HARD LUCK HERO We have a winner for this year's hard luck award........ The Stars have lost both games Corey Thurman has started, even though he's hurled a total of 10 scoreless innings and has still given up just one hit........ Those credentials with a more supportive offense, should by all rights give him a 2-0 record, but in his two starts, Corey has had two runs of support. He's lucky to get off with an unblemished record....... Carlos Villanueva and Tim Dillard may be the 1-2 punch in the rotation, but Thurman, a former Texas League All-Star, has outperformed them both so far, and yet nothing to show....... After eight games, it all points to the Stars' anemic start --- a .228 average, skewed by a 17-hit game in a 12-5 win over the Braves........ This has been nothing new....... They hit .216 after their first eight games last year, .193 the year before, .225 in 2003, .235 in 2002. You'd have to go back to 2001 to find the Stars hitting over .250 after the first eight games, and they barely made it that year (.251)........In fact, April has never been a strong month offensively since the Stars have been Milwaukee-affiliated, although they hit .269 in April last year, but that was after their first homestand, when they won 6 of their next 9, hitting .282 in that stretch. The talent is there..... Drew Anderson, who is hitting .179, has been a .300 hitter every year since his first pro season in 2003, Ron Acuna is a career .285 hitter, who hit .300 in two consecutive seasons before falling to .245 last year with New Hampshire (East.), Steve Moss is a .270 hitter in 4 pro seasons and hit .281 for Brevard County last year, and Greg Sain and Jeff Eure are capable of getting hot and providing scarce power at the same time. The only power tonight came from Lou Palmisano, who hit smacked a 5th inning one-out double that went to the wall, but Jeff Eure struck out on a 2-2 pitch and Ozzie Chavez chopped one right back to the pitcher to end the inning........ Outside of that, only Chavez in the 3rd inning and Moss in the 9th were able to get as far as 2nd base......... Tyler Lumsden, the White Sox' 18th-ranked prospect in only his 3rd pro season, has a sharp-breaking fastball that topped at 93 tonight, and a money-pitch curve that is almost unhittable when it's on. When I asked him after the game, he said, "Yeah, everything was working tonight." But the Stars were actually out-hitting the Barons 4-1 after six innings. Thurman's only hit was a leadoff bunt single that hugged the 3rd base line in the 4th inning. He's was able to stretch a 75-pitch limit all the way to the 6th inning, giving way to Stephen Bray (0-1, 4.76 after three appearances). Bray, in the 7th, went 3-and-2 on Richard Nanita before he smacked a double to the left field wall. Micah Schnurrstein followed with a home run on a 2-2 fastball just below the belt that he just unloaded on, sending it off the right point of the big Star in left-center field...... Bray got two quick outs in the 8th, the first on a sensational leaping catch by Callix Crabbe on a soft liner by Mike Myers that probably saved a run, for Birmingham would get a pair of hits that inning. The ball stuck in his webbing like an ice cream cone. I want to say at this point that I have seen LOADS of improvement in both Crabbe's and Chavez's defense so far, and not just what I have seen, but what I have heard over Brett Pollock's radiocasts. Crabbe has not committed an error after eight games so far. Chavez has three, but last night's was undeserved....... It came on an attempted force play on a hard-hit ball lined on a couple of hops. With Robert Valido on 1st and Chris Getz (I have this compulsion to call him Stan) on 2nd, Chavie quickly got rid of the ball, shoveling it to Crabbe, and it was close, but it looked for sure like Valido was out, but the umpire, one of the substitutes used while the real umps are on strike, demonstratively thumbed him out........ Needless to say, Crabbe was furious, pointing at the bag. Don Money came out to defuse the situation, and there was no cataclysm........ The error was -- had to be given by Don Rizzardi -- to Chavez on the throw an inning later. It wasn't the only unhappy moment by a player in the game........ Joe Winkelsas struck Nanita out looking at a 3-2 slider that appeared to have missed the strike zone entirely. Nanita abruptly yanked off his helmet with two hands and it looked like he was going to throw it to the ground with all his force, but he just simply screamed in the ump's direction, bent down at the plate for a moment, then sulked back to the dugout. The Stars have now lost 12 of their last 14 games to the Barons........ Friday night, hoping for a crowd to eclipse the shameful 3,965 over three nights, Jeff Housman will make his first appearance since August 9, 2004, when he beat Montgomery, 6-2........ Opposing him will be a familiar foe -- Corwin Malone........ This is Malone's 5th season with Birmingham, once a #3 prospect in the organization, who sat out all of 2004 with Tommy John surgery, and is on the comeback trail....... This will be his 11th appearance vs. the Stars dating back to August 26, 2001, and although his 3-2, 4.74 record in 43 2/3 innings is unimpressive, the Barons have won 8 of the 10 games he has pitched in......... Doesn't bode well. Housman's record may be slightly worse against Birmingham (1-2, 5.29, 32 1/3 innings), but he had a shining moment in Game 2 of the 2003 Western Division Playoffs when he beat the Barons, 3-0, holding them to 2 hits over 7 innings.

The Huntsville Stars opened their 2006 season with a 10-1 exhibition victory over the University of Alabama - Huntsville (9-27) Chargers. Charger pitchers walked eight, seven of them in the first three innings, including five in a 7-run 2nd inning. Greg Sain hit a 3-run HR for the Stars w/2 out in the 3rd inning. The box score is already up on my web site and I'm working on the details in my column. Huntsville Stars Box Score

Van Iderstine has signed with Schaumburg of the independent Northern League.

I've already done it by e-mail, but thank you again Mass Brew for your concern. I promise it won't be too long before I'm back up again. I've handed over my computer to someone who knows what he's doing and he's a Stars fan like me and you and a lot more of you who want to see the site back up again. Tuesday, I'll know for sure how I stand. I couldn't resist though having something to say about the last game of the season. In a season notable for the daily humidity, which was remarkably rare in 2004, this was one of the most beautiful nights to watch a game. Low humidity. Temps in the low-mid 80s, a breeze blowing in, and a cloudless sky. But it was memorable for bigger reasons. The Huntsville Stars Booster Club set up tables outside the stadium as the fans came in, and with the cooperation of the Huntsville Stars over the last two nights, raised more than $2500 for catcher Jeff Winchester, whose family was wiped out by Hurricane Katrina, a storm that has dwarfed names such as Becky, Donna, Carla, Andrew, and even Camille for the scope and breadth of its destruction. Our 2005 Rocky Award-winner, Jeff Winchester, resides in the New Orleans area. Booster Becky Ruhlman talked to Jeff?s wife, Brandi, and though their families, we learned they are safe, but their homes and businesses are flooded and cannot be reached for an undetermined period. Brandi herself is in Houston, the closest place she and family members could find refuge. Understandably, Brandi is beside herself with worry and Jeff chose to leave the team to be with her. Anyone who wants to send a donation to Jeff and his family can make a check out to Jeff Winchester and forward it to the Huntsville Stars Booster Club and it will get to Jeff. Leave a little re: at the lower left corner or a note inside to explain the check to (Booster Club President) Bill Billingsley, 463 St. Clair Dr., New Market, Ala. 35773. Inside it was a promotion fire sale with prices knocked off souvenirs, and giveaways of balls, bats, bags, cards, unameit. To get one last attendance push, "Reggie", the undefinable, confetti-wielding mascot came back to entertain the fans, but certainly not the umps, with his annoying routine. Reggie definitely took a back seat to one of the best games of the year, and although I've already assembled them, I'll have to rearrange the order for this one. Once I get my site issues resolved, I will share my 2005 top 10 list, along with the 2006 Stars schedule. The 2006 magnet schedules, incidentally, were a pleasant surprise to see at the gate. The Stars open the season on the road against the M'Braves at Trustmark Park on Thursday, April 6 for a five-game series (gone for '06 are the four-gamers), followed by the home opener against Birmingham on April 11. Keith Stamler did a fine job in his first start of the season after 22 appearances in middle relief, shutting out the .270-hitting Lookouts on five hits over six innings, striking out only one hitter - Steve Smitherman - the recipient of a very generous strike zone which helped the Lookouts' Phil Dumatrait more than it did us...... Stamler allowed only one runner past 2nd base, Smitherman in fact who raced to third when 2nd baseman Keith Howard blooped a two-out single into center..... Adam Heether, who has been a big reason for the Stars winning eight of their last 10, made a fine defensive play in the 2nd tagging Smitherman coming into third on a hard, out-of-reach grounder, then firing to first to complete a double play. The Stars, meanwhile, were even less of a threat. Callix Crabbe's single in the 1st was erased by a double-play ground ball hit by Heether, whose wife was watching one row in front and several seats over to the left of me....... In the 2nd, Enrique Cruz singled to left and went to 2nd on a wild pitch on a 1-2 pitch to Brandon Gemoll, but Gemoll struck out on the 2-2, Nelson Castro fouled out, and John Vanden Berg grounded to short...... The Stars would not have another baserunner until the 8th inning when they really needed one. The Lookouts had broken a scoreless deadlock in the top of that inning off Andy Pratt, who had retired the side in the 7th....... Junior Ruiz, the #2 hitter, walked with one out. D'Angelo Jimenez then hit a long foul out to the right field corner, enabling Ruiz to go to second. Smitherman was walked intentionally, buy Howard hit the last of his four singles, sharply lined to center, scoring Ruiz easily. Howard advanced to second on the throw, but with runners in scoring position, Pratt was able to get catcher Ryan Hanigan to pop out to Callix Crabbe on the outfield grass on a 2-1 pitch. Brandon Gemoll, clearly the hero of this game, jumped on the first pitch as he led off the 8th with a single up the middle, then went to second on Castro's sac bunt to pitcher Bubba Nelson. That set up this bizarre hit to tie the ballgame...... John Vanden Berg lined a pitch off Nelson's foot. The ball took a freakish carom to the right side of the infield, coming to rest behind Howard on the outfield grass, catching the right side of the infield by total surprise. Ruiz quickly came in, picked up the ball, and rocketed it in to the plate, but Gemoll, who never stopped once the ball was hit, hustled around third and glided across home plate to tie the game. Kennard Bibbs was thumbed out on a roller to first as he ran out of the baseline to avoid the tag, allowing Vanden Berg to get to second, but he was stranded there after Tony Gwynn, Jr. grounded sharply to third for the final out. After Jerome Gamble retired the Lookouts easily in a 1-2-3 ninth, the Stars brought this game to a dramatic climax........ With David Shafer, who had held the Stars scoreless this year over six innings, now on the mound for Chattanooga, Adam Heether walked with one out and Enrique Cruz singled through short into left-center, moving Heether to second. Brandon was next....... Gemoll was aggressive again on the first pitch, roping the ball to right over the head of Ruiz for a double, scoring Heether, giving the Stars a 2-1 victory for the 2,969 fans who attended. That brought the Stars' final attendance to 213,552 --- the best since 2002, after two seasons under 200,000........ Among those in attendance tonight --- former GM Bryan Dingo and former voice of the Stars, Steve Kornya, who came in from Baltimore, a tad bit grayer, but looking good. I had a chance to talk with him awhile during the 7th inning stretch, which stretched into the 8th inning as we talked about his impressions of all the changes at the Joe (it took him awhile to notice the new seats) and his opinion of Camden Yards (thumbs down for lack of good available seats) and RFK Stadium (thumbs up for fan involvement)....... The Stars finish the season now at Bell South Park. With gas now $3.25 and getting harder to come by here, I've abandoned all intention of going to Chattanooga as I've done the last two years...... Ty Taubenheim (2-5, 4.50) will pitch Sunday against Bobby Basham (4-3, 3.3http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/glasses.gif and Carlos Villlanueva, who threw five no-hit innings his last time out --- and lost --- a Stars first --- will pitch the final game of the season, Monday. I'll be back soon.

Final: West Tenn (Cubs) 10, Huntsville 1 Huntsville Site Game Summary: Brandon Sing homered and knocked in four runs and Renyel Pinto tossed seven strong innings to power West Tenn to a 10-1 victory over Huntsville Tuesday night in the opener of a three-game set at Joe Davis Stadium. The Diamond Jaxx improved to 19-12 in the second half and moved into first place in the North Division a half game ahead of Carolina, which fell in 11 innings to Chattanooga, while the Stars lost for a sixth time in their last eight games to fall to 14-17 in the second half. Sing?s three-run home run with two outs in the ninth capped off the scoring and pushed him into the league lead with 21, one better than Delmon Young, formerly of Montgomery and now playing at the triple-A level. Aaron Sisk belted a solo shot in the eighth off of Stars pitcher Brett Evert, who has allowed six home runs since joining the team, four of which have been hit by West Tenn. The visitors loaded the bases with one out in the second inning against starter Glenn Woolard on a walk to Sing, a Buck Coats double and a walk to Matt Creighton, playing in his first game against the Stars. Jose Reyes collected an infield single to push across Sing with the game?s first run before Pinto struck out for the second out of the frame. Dwaine Bacon then tripled into the right field corner to clear the bases and extend the visitors lead to 4-0. Bacon had driven in only 10 runs all season prior to his three-run, three-bagger. Enrique Cruz doubled with one out in the fourth, moved to third base when Brandon Gemoll followed with an infield single and scored when shortstop Coats threw wildly past first base. Gemoll reached second base on the error but was left stranded there as the inning ended. Pinto then retired 10 of the next 12 hitters to close his performance and earn his sixth win of the year. The southpaw permitted one unearned run and lowered his league leading earned run average to 2.14. Pinto led the Southern League in earned run average and strikeouts last season and set a Diamond Jaxx franchise record with his 179 strikeouts. Woolard, who had allowed only four runs over 21 innings in his last three starts was charged with the loss after yielding six runs on six hits over five innings. The right-hander matched a season-high with seven strikeouts but saw his record drop to 4-9. Keith Stamler worked two scoreless frames in front of Evert. The series continues Wednesday night with right-hander Ty Taubenheim taking the hill for the Stars against Diamond Jaxx right-hander Ricky Nolasco. Coverage of the game gets underway at 6:50 p.m. central time on ESPN 1450 AM and via the internet at www.huntsvillestars.com. www.starsboxscore.com/ A tropical --- and typical TuesdayA good crowd for this steamy night, the best in fact since July 4th. The Stars won't have many more chances for a crowd like this. The kids go back to school next week........ But it wasn't just the kids tonight. On this sultry 92° night, the club was offering two-fers: two of anything for the price of one and the concession lines were busy and stayed that way well into the middle of the game as the fans filled up on cokes, beers, hot dogs, and whatever they could fit inside their fat stomachs........The sun's long been down, pal, it's past midnight, and still it's 82° in Huntsville. It was not only tropical, you could say it was almost typical tonight....... The Stars hadn't won on a Tuesday since May 10, so this makes 10 straight Tuesday losses for the Stars....... They've been outscored, 76-31, and are now 3-12 on Tuesdays this year....... This was also the 10th time this year the Stars have given up 10 or more runs in a loss. That's the most since 2000, when they lost 12 times to an opponent that had scored 10 or more runs........ As bad as this may sound, it doesn't come close to many other past seasons, and in 1998, they lost 22 games in which their opponent had scored 10 or more times. The Stars have now lost eight of their last 11 after starting the 2nd half 6-5. They are now three games below .500 and in 4th place behind Tennessee, who were shutout by Jacksonville for the 2nd straight night. The Stars have hit .244 in that span. Renyel Pinto started out 21-31, 4.22 over his first five pro seasons, but he broke out last year with the Diamond Jaxx (11-8, 2.92) winning the ERA title in the Southern League last year, and has become one of the Stars' most formidable opponents....... Now after seven starts, Pinto is 5-1 with a 1.79 ERA going back to last year. This was the 4th time that Pinto has not allowed an earned run against the Stars. The Stars scored their only run, unearned, in the 4th inning after Enrique Cruz legged out a double on a hard grounder into left-center. Brandon Gemoll then beat out an infield hit to short, but Buck Coats' throw to first was high and it allowed Cruz to score and Gemoll to take second, but Gemoll was stranded there and Pinto went on to retire 10 of the next 12 hitters...... Pinto lowered his ERA to a league-leading 2.14 ERA, as he goes after a repeat of his ERA title. The Diamond Jaxx, by then, were already in front, 4-0....... Glenn Woolard had a 1-2-3 inning in the first, but threw 27 pitches trying to get out of the 2nd inning....... Gemoll allowed the first run when he held on to the ball in his indecisiveness with the bases full. Jose Reyes had just hit a soft roller to the right side. Gemoll had come in on the infield grass and fielded it cleanly. His first impulse was to throw home, but with Brandon Sing charging hard at the plate, he opted for first, then discovered no one was covering. Sing scored and the bases were loaded once again with one out....... Renyel Pinto struck out to make him 0-for-18 at the plate for the year. ..... Dwayne Bacon would have been an important out, for the Diamond Jaxx' big lead started with this inning and specifically with Bacon....... He nailed a 1-1 pitch by Gemoll inside the line. It rolled all the way to the corner where Vinny Rottino, playing in right for the first time since April 25, wound up being played by the ball than the other way around as it caromed off the base of the wall. All three runners scored and it was 4-0........ The D'Jaxx made it 6-1 in Woolard's last inning after Brandon Sing's sacrifice fly scored Casey McGehee, who had reached third on a wild pitch by Woolard......... Woolard threw 90 pitches in five innings, 51 (56.7%) for strikes........ Aaron Sisk's 420'-HR almost to dead center, and Brandon Sing's 21st home run, both of Brett Evert, made it 10-1, Pinto's most one-sided victory against the Stars........ Four of the six home runs Evert has given up this year have come from the Diamond Jaxx., all off a different hitter. Brandon Bushee is now a crew chief after umpire Scot Chamberlain was promoted to Triple-A...... Brad Laird was promoted from the Florida State League and now joins Bushee's crew with Steve Cummings, who is nursing a calf injury, so he was replaced at 3rd base by local replacement Matt Wilbanks......... Sandy Guerrero led the Stars tonight. Don Money was in Milwaukee Monday night to be inducted into the Brewer Walk of Fame in a pre-game ceremony with former manager Harvey Kuenn. Kuenn received 69 votes in the balloting, Money 64....... George Bamberger was next with 48 and was out of the running. I'll be in my native New Jersey tomorrow for a week's stay visiting relatives while the Stars continue their series with Ty Taubenheim facing another tough cookie, Ricky Nolasco. Although it seems I've been "on vacation" a lot this year, it's really only been because of my job. I've chosen rest over this web site. But this time, it really is a vacation. I'm not abandoning this site, now in its 10th year, but I wish I had more time for it....... In five years, if the Stars are still here, and if I'm still here, I will. Derek Lee went five innings in his start tonight against Iowa, and although the Redhawks won 6-4, The General was not at his best, throwing five innings and giving up 4 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks. Mobile pitcher Travis Chick was one of the two minor league pitchers the Padres sent to Cincinnati to get Joe Randa (a former Southern League 3rd baseman with Memphis)........ Chick, the Padres' top pitching prospect, strugged with the Bay Bears, going 2-9 with a 5.27 ERA in 19 starts. In four starts against the Huntsville Stars this season, he was 1-2 with a 9.64 ERA, but we'll have a chance to pick his tree some more when the Lookouts come into the Joe, August 16-19 and then again at the end of the season in a road-home series. Our former radio voice Robert Portnoy and his wife Tami, have a new baby sister for their first child, Dana. Her name is Alyssa. She was born Friday and comes in at a healthy (to say the least) nine pounds. Everyone in Indianapolis is doing fine. Robert will be back at the mike Tuesday. More from David Weiser: www.starsboxscore.com/standing.html Huntsville Box Score: www.minorleaguebaseball.c...x_hunaax_1 Huntsville Game Log: www.minorleaguebaseball.c...x_hunaax_1

Struggling (as-of-late) Ryan Costello to Brevard County and Josh Habel to Huntsville; each returns to their original assignment to begin the year... Just now learned on the phone from Bryan Neece (Stars' media relations) that Dana Eveland has been promoted to Milwaukee. No doubt that Habel will replace him in the rotation. No word at the moment on any other pick-up by the Stars.

From a press release just obtained by e-mail from Bryan Neece, Ty Taubenheim has been promoted to Huntsville from Brevard County...... Manny Parra has been placed on the disabled list..... Ryan Miller has been released after battling soreness the past two seasons in his shoulder. Miller was 0-0 with one save in four appearances for the Stars this season. Also Mitch Stetter, named to the SL All-Star team, was promoted to Nashville. Stetter won last night's game in relief, although he nearly lost the game for them in the 9th. He finished 2-3 with 8 saves for the Stars. Parra was 5-6 with a 3.96 ERA.. In his last five appearances he was 2-3 with a 4.15 ERA, and 26 Ks, 9 BBs in 30 2/3 IP.

Nellie in the Night "We Wanna Win Wednesday"...... The angle here was fans get to see Thursday's game free with their ticket stub if the Stars win, for which a debt of gratitude goes to Brad Nelson....... Problem is, there weren't many fans to take advantage of the good fortune tonight....... It rained throughout the game, sending the majority of fans who were there to the upper rows of the stadium to stay dry. I counted only 16 umbrellas below from where I sat........ Most "fans" in this city will only see a game under the most perfect of weather conditions, so under those conditions, the promotion was a failure. The rain resulted in the lowest attendance for a game since May 2, when the Stars kicked off a disastrous losing streak with a 6-1 loss to Mississippi. The few who stayed saw one of the best games of the season....... In fact, it will come in somewhere on my top ten list at the end....... The wind blowing out to left ushered five home runs over the wall, one of them, a 415-foot shot by Enrique Cruz in the 8th that tied the game....... One out earlier, Vinny Rottino blasted one that landed in front of the scoreboard on the fly........ But if defense is what you like to see, you got it. The Stars weren't all thumbs tonight. They cut down a lead runner in scoring position on six different occasions...... Darren Blakely was cut down at third on a fielder's choice by Cruz after Blakely reached on an Guilder Rodriguez's error in the 2nd, and then cut down at home in the 4th on a sacrifice fly attempt. Then to end the 4th, Chris Stewart was erased on a close play to end the inning, when Guilder pranced over with an outstretched glove behind the bag at second to cut off a hard hopper up the middle. With no chance to get the hitter, G. Rod made an accurate, if not risky throw on the run to third. Nelson Castro was able to tag him out on a close play....... In the 6th, Josh Fields was erased by Khalid Ballouli on a stolen base attempt, which seemed more like a missed signal on his part........ The most important defensive play, though it may not have seemed so at the time, came in the Barons' 2-run 9th in which they retook the lead, 5-4....... Mitch Stetter was looking for his 9th save with two out in the 9th, when with runners on the corners, Ryan Sweeney lined a 1-0 pitch off the right field wall to drive them in. Josh Fields followed up by lining a pitch to Brad Nelson for a one-hop single. Nelson's throw home was right on the money and Sweeney, representing an insurance run, barrelled into catcher John Vanden Berg, but Vandy held onto the ball, holding it up for home plate ump Jeff Latter to see. Preventing that run allowed Nelson his hero moment....... The Stars had never this season won a game when it trailed after seven innings........ Thrity-seven times. Tony Gwynn struck out to lead off the Stars' 9th, extending his slump going back to the Stars' last off-day to 2-for-25. Gwynn is hitting .226 in the second half and is .215 as a leadoff hitter. Batting in the #2 slot, he's .304....... Guilder Rodrigez kept hope alive by lining the first pitch he saw for a single to left. He was forced out at second by Vinny Rottino, whose speed prevented a double play from ending the game....... But it's never over till it's over in baseball. I told the guy next to me, "All we need is a two-run homer, and Brad Nelson is just the person you want right now."........ On a 2-0 pitch, Nelson cranked one high to left, into the rain, catching the wind enough to propel it over the Yellow Pages sign in left field........ There was no energy from the stands over it. About half the sparse crowd had left in the 7th with the Barons commanding a 3-1 lead. Play-by-play voice Brett Pollock made up for it though at the mike....... The Stars are now 4-4 in games decided in the last at-bat. The two solo home runs given up tonight by David Bradley were as many as he gave up in April and May combined. Bradley made the All-Star team, replacing WT's Talley Haines, who only a little more than a month ago, had been released by the Red Sox organization...... Brandon Gemoll's average is going up with the oil prices. After a 2-for-4 night, he's now at a season-high .269. That's second-best to Rottino's second-half .400 average (.35http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/glasses.gif and with 14 games played this half, he has more RBIs (15) than all of June and more than April and May combined......... Brad Nelson, still proving he's overclassed for this level, is 13-for-26 with 7 RBIs in as many games....... The Brewers, sensitive about the problems they've had keeping their best pitching prospects healthy, are keeping quiet about the condition of Manny Parra's shoulder, according to radio voice Brett Pollock........ Ryan Miller pitched an inning as the starter in tonight's Arizona Rookie League game with the AZL Cubs. He gave up a run on two hits, but the Brewers won on the strength of a 10-run inning on the way to a 16-8 clubbing. It was Miller's 2nd game in his rehab assignment there......... The Brewers' #1 draft choice Ryan Braun has been promoted to the West Virginia Power. Braun was hitting .341 for Helena (Pioneer), 13th best in the league. The lineups have been announced for the Southern League All-Star Game in Mobile set for next week and Tony Gwynn will start, batting in his more successful #2 slot in the order. The Northern All-Stars will be managed by Tennessee skipper Tony Perezchica. The Southern All-Stars by former Stars second-baseman and manager Gary Jones:........ The starting pitchers will be Ricky Nolasco (8-0, 2.71) of the Diamond Jaxx and Mobile's Mike Thompson (5-6, 3.32), the league-leader in innings pitched........ Nolasco is the SL's strikeout leader, 4th among ERA leaders.

So close, but so far away From 9,000 to 1,200...... Actually there wasn't even that many. You knew that. Counting heads, you wouldn't find 200. Two reasons: Although it didn't rain a drop during the game, the skies threatened to the extent that I thought we'd be lucky to get five innings in. Secondly, after nights where a large crowd comes out as expected, there is a big drop. After a then-record 13,074 showed up to see Michael Jordan and the Birmingham Barons beat Huntsville 6-5 on a Saturday, April 30, 1994, 894 came to see the next game against Jacksonville. On July 5, an overflow crowd (and the existing record) of 13,875 came to see Charlie Poe hit a grand-slam HR in the 9th to beat Birmingham, 7-4. The next day, a considerably more modest crowd of 4,732 came out on a perfect night to see the final game of that series....... That record crowd, by the way, could have been more, but they were turned away by either the city police or the fire department citing capacity laws or safety reasons or both. So close, but so far away....... This was the dullest, most one-sided 3-1 game I have seen in a long, long time....... Given two grand opportunities to erase a 2-0 deficit, the Stars failed miserably, scoring just one run in the 5th and 6th innings combined, despite six hits, leaving a total of six runners behind. Nelson Castro, behind 0-and-2, started the 5th inning rally with a two-out single hit hard on the ground to right. Jeff Winchester followed with a single lined hard to right, moving Castro over a base...... Tony Gwynn, Jr., a .250 hitter with runners on base and two out, then drove in the Stars only run with a bloop hit into shallow right-center. Castro beat the throw home...... Callix Crabbe ended the inning by flying out on a 1-1 pitch...... Gwynn's hit was his 2nd of the day after snapping an 0-for-19 slump, his longest 0-fer in his 2nd season with the Stars. The squandered opportunity was nothing compared to the 6th inning........ The Stars almost instantly loaded the bases after Vinny Rottino, a .317 leadoff hitter, singled on a soft 2-2 liner to center. They then got eager. Brad Nelson, Enrique Cruz, Brandon Gemoll each went after the first pitch wih mixed results........ Nelson hit back to the box, where Heath Phillips turned it into a force out at second base, erasing Rottino....... Enrique lined his to center, moving Nelson to second and Gemoll hit a hard grounder through to short left to load the bases with one out....... The Stars, however, have been simply wasteful this year in these kind of situations, hitting just .216 (compared to .246 for the Barons)....... Ben Van Iderstine, 1-for-5 this season with the bases full, hit a 1-2 pitch sharply to shortstop Pedro Lopez for the 6-4-3 double play to end the inning........ The rest of the game, the Stars were 0-for-9 at the plate, Phillips setting down the Stars in order....... It was the 2nd complete game pitched against the Stars this season. (Anthony Lerew of the Braves had the other on June 6)........ Phillips is now 2-3 against the Stars going back to last year. Filling in for Manny Parra, sidelined with a sore shoulder, the Barons scored all they would need in the 3rd inning off Glenn Woolard, who threw 88 pitches, 50 (57.8%) for strikes....... With one out, Cipriano Garcia, making his debut for the Barons with the promotion of Jon Acevas to Charlotte, singled to left, moved to second on a walk to leadoff man Jerry Owens...... Those runners moved up on a wild pitch on the first pitch to the next hitter, Andy Gonzalez. Gonzalez then doubled them in with a ground balll that barely stayed just inside the first base line, rolling all the way to the right field corner........ A ground ball by Casey Rogowski to short moved Gonzalez to third after Enrique's throw there was high. Rottino landed on the bag, but the runner slid under him........ Gonzalez would be called out on a comebacker to Woolard by Chris Young, as he ventured way inside the baseline, almost halfway between the infield grass and the mound to avoid a tag by Vinny Rottino. Despite the two losses, lopsided only in terms of the lack of energy displayed by the Stars, Huntsville pitchers have kept Birmingham's offense, 4th best in the league, under control....... Wednesday, the Stars will send All-Star (that's right, All-Star) David Bradley to the mound against lefty Daniel Haigwood, making his first Double-A start after being promoted from Winston-Salem last Saturday. Bradley, named to the Southern League All-Star team to replace Talley Haines, who was promoted to the Cubs' Triple-A farm in Iowa, is 3-1 with a 2.23 ERA. He was acquired by the Brewers in October 2003 when he was purchased out of the independent Frontier League. Bradley has been simply the unsung hero of the pitching staff, going 1-0 with a 1.29 ERA in his three spot starts. He had a 3.08 ERA in June Tony Gwynn, Jr. was also named to the Southern League All-Star team, joining Dana Eveland and Mitch Stetter, replacing Diamond Jaxx outfielder Felix Pie, who is on the DL.

Bombs bursting in air, but no baseballs Independence Day.... Traditionally, it's the best -- and last -- chance for the Stars to hit really one out at the gate....... The threat of thundershowers existed all day, looking as if it would hold the attendance down. At the start of the ballgame, it didn't look like the Stars would bring in 7,000, but Huntsville being the crazy baseball town it is (note of sarcasm), latecomers were pouring into the stadium well into the third inning....... For the first time in two years, the Stars had a crowd over 9,000....... Huntsville police had to be called out to direct traffic at the entrance points for parking. Now that's a successful gate. 81 games into the season, and 12 games into the second half, we're finally playing arch-rival Birmingham for the first and only series at the Joe this season....... I know it's an exaggerated analogy, but that's like waiting until July to see the Red Sox and the Yankees,and then --- hello, goodbye....... The point is, these two cities are only two hours apart and are bitter rivals. The first game in Stars history was played against this team. We've faced them in the post-season no less than four times, upsetting them in 2001 and 2003, and being thoroughly humiliated by them in 1987 by scores of 15-2 and 17-7 in a three-game sweep. And there have been many memorable 1-0 pitching battles........ On August 3, 1992, Dana Allison, Roger Smithberg, and Todd Revenig pitched a 10-inning 1-0 no-hitter for the Stars, the longest no-hitter (in innings) in Southern League history, and the first no-hitter for the Stars in their history.. ...... The next day, Scott Olsen and Dan Mongiello returned the favor with a 1-0 shutout, allowing five hits. Like the previous day, the winning run was decided by a sacrifice fly...... In 1994, one game shy of tying the franchise record for wins in a season, Scott Baker pitched a four-hit, 1-0 victory with Kerwin Moore scoring the run on a walk, stolen base, and two errors following the 6th inning steal attempt........ Tonight was the 11th 1-0 battle in the rich history between these teams. For the first time in my memory since seeing Rob Mattson pitch for the Memphis Chicks in 1995-96, the Stars were facing a knuckleballer at Joe Davis Stadium. A rare breed these days at any level....... Charlie Haeger, a 21-year old 25th- round draft pick in 2001, who nearly shares a surname of one of my relatives, picked up the knuckleball after a retirement from baseball in 2003....... It took him a little time to win with it. He entered this season with a record of 3-16, but was promoted from Winston-Salem on June 21st where he was 8-2 with a 3.20 ERA and the Barons have been 2-0 in games where he's started....... He lobs that thing in the low 70s and mixes in a mid-80s fastball when he gets behind with it........ It caught the Stars flat-footed. In the first six innings, Haeger struck out only three. Nearly everything else the Stars hit was being hit weakly on the ground or popped up........There were only two balls hit out of the infield in the first six innings and only two singles --- neither hit very authouritatively......... Callix Crabbe was able to steal second after his hit in the 6th --- on a very close play. It was the only time the Stars were able to get as far as second base......... Haeger, in the first six innings, had recorded three putouts and three assists --- an rare mix for a pitcher..... Nelson Castro hit a soft liner right at him in the 3rd. In the 2nd, Brandon Gemoll grounded a ball to Haeger's left side, an easy play, an easy assist........ It was just a two hour, thrity-minute night of frustration for the Stars who went from adjusting to Haeger's lobs to facing Bobby Jenks' 97-98 mph hummer in the 9th....... Tony Gwynn Jr. saw a 97, then a 98 mph fastball (the only one I've seen from any pitcher this year), then made his look stupid on a an 84 mph change right down the middle for the first out......... Kennard Bibbs was able to get a piece of a 1-and-0 fastball for a line single to left, but Vinny Rottino, on the first pitch he saw, hit a tailor-made double play ball to shortstop Pedro Lopez to end the game........ It was the second time in three games that the Stars had finished a game by hitting into a double play. Dennis Sarfate, looking for his 8th win against the 3rd best hitting team in the league, came in fighting a recent propensity for walks....... In his first eight starts, he had walked only 10 batters, covering 45 1/3 innings, but in his last eight, covering almost the same number of innings, he's walked 29....... He was tame tonight......... He walked only two, but one mistake cost him the game........ After retiring 13 of 15 hitters to face him, walking only one, Chris Stewart, prized more by the White Sox for his defense than his offense (he's caught 39% of the runners trying to steal against him this year), lined an 0-1 fastball over the left field wall just inside the line, barely more than 350 feet from home plate....... Only one other Baron, Pedro Lopez, was able to get as far as second base off Sarfate....... After walking Ryan Sweeney in the 7th however, relief pitcher Mike Meyers gave up a one-out single on a hit-and-run play to Stewart, moving Sweeney to third. After that, Meyers retired 8 of the next 9 hitters to face him, walking Darren Blakely on a 3-1 pitch in the 9th......... Even though Sarfate threw 96 pitches (59 for strikes), he was forced out of the game after walking leadoff hitter Sweeney in the 6th because of a blister on his ring finger........ It's unknown at this point how this will affect his next start. The Stars will go with either Glenn Woolard (3-7, 5.6http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/glasses.gif or David Bradley (3-1, 2.05) tomorrow....... Woolard had an 0-3, 6.48 June, but only nine of the 36 batters he's walked has scored. even though he's walked at least one batter in each of his appearances....... Bradley has been simply the unsung hero of the pitching staff, going 1-0 with a 1.29 ERA in his three spot starts. He had a 3.08 ERA in June --- his worst month to date, and that ain't bad....... Birmingham will go with Heath Phillips (5-1, 2.92), a 12-game winner for the Barons last year, who was generally hit hard last year by the Stars (1-3, 6.14 in four starts)....... If that sounds promising, consider for a moment the Stars are 3-9 on Tuesdays this year. Enemencio Pacheco, a 12-2 pitcher two years ago who was so poisonous to the Stars that he was chosen to pitch in Game One of the 2003 Western Division Playoffs, shutting out the Stars and Ben Hendrickson, 7-0, has been recently released by the White Sox. The Stars came out on the field tonight in special Independence Day uniforms, not as gaudy as the ones they broke out several years ago that made them look like walking flags........ The unis were blue with broad red stripes with white stars on the side and red numerals........ Alec Zumwalt is expected to return to the Stars after the All-Star break. Zumwalt is working more on his location than anything else right now, trying to get back in a groove. The Stars have lost five of their last eight, three of those games giving up double-figures in runs....... The Stars had a record for the month of June of 16 games in which they had 10 or more hits. That's one shy of the club record for any month........ Kennard Bibbs' RBI double Monday night, snapped a 1-for-21 drought, and was his first extra-base hit since May 27........ Callix Crabbe hit .323 in June, but is 2-for-13 in his last five games....... Vinny Rottino has hit safely in 15 of his last 19 games (31-for-78, .397). How could he and Nelson Cruz be overlooked for the Southern League All-Star game?

Second verse, same as the first It's not unusual for a team to win (or lose) consecutive games by the same score. It's rather common in low-scoring games. But the Stars have done it twice within a week, and in this case, it's awfully hard to reproduce a 14-3 victory. But they did........ And it was unusual, as well, that the Stars scored in double-figures on consecutive days. That hadn't been done since 1999 when they beat Knoxville, 13-3 and 11-3, June 12-13........ In outscoring the Bay Bears, 35-13, the Stars hit .351 in this series vs. Mobile, their 2nd best offensive effort at the plate in a four-game series this season. (They hit .355 vs. Tennessee, April 28-May 1) ....... The Stars hit four home runs in a game for the first time since April 10 of last year (vs. Montgomery) in another unbelievable repeat rout of Mobile, 14-3. This first series of the second half was good for some batting marks on this team........ Nelson Cruz hit two HRs, placing him one behind Delmon Young for the HR leadership in the Southern League and tied with him in slugging with a .586 percentage ........ Vinny Rottino became the first Huntsville Star to score four runs this season, and the first since Corey Hart on June 30, 2003. He went 9-for-19 (.474) in the series with 2 HRs and 4 RBIs, raising his average 14 points to .290........ Enrique Cruz ran his hitting streak to 9 games (14-for-37, .37http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/glasses.gif ....... Tony Gwynn, Jr. ended the series 7-for-18 (.389)....... Brandon Gemoll went 6-for-13 (.462), raising his average to .257. Brandon has a .301 June going. The Stars win three straight, and to no surprise with the three pitchers who have been winning most of the games. We know their names. The fact now is --- this is the third straight time the Stars have won three straight with Dana Eveland, Dennis Sarfate, and Manny Parra as the starters. The triumvirate have accounted now for 16 of the Stars' last 19 wins, going back to May 1......Respectively, they are 3rd, 8th and 11th among Southern League ERA leaders......... David Bradley will start Saturday, even though Brett Pollack's notes on the Stars' official web site says it's Ryan Costello. Trust me. It's Bradley....... Either one will have to show that the Stars are able to win past the third man in the rotation....... The Stars at least get off to a good start in the second half, winning three of four, putting them two games above .500 for the first time since May 3. The Stars come home now to face Jacksonville (2-2) and welcome the 5 millionth fan in this club's history. Jacksonville recently welcomed their millionth to their new park in their third season at The Baseball Grounds (a name really lacking in imagination). William Juarez (4-0, 3.09) is scheduled to start for Jacksonville...... Ticket manager Gary Ward is expecting a crowd of around 7,000. The Stars need a little more than 5,000 to break the milestone. The first inning of this game was rather ominous. After Travis Chick got the first two Stars out, Rottino homered to left-center field, his 5th of the season and 2nd HR vs. Chick, Nelson Cruz drew a walk, and Brandon Gemoll, who had, by his own admission a very satisfying round in the cage during BP, pulled a ball 375 ft. boomer to right. This was only the 3rd time all season the Stars had hit 2 HRs in an inning. They did it once against Missisippi this year and once against Tennessee........ After a night in which the Bay Bears mustered only six hits off Sarfate and Evert, they had Parra and Meyers on the ropes all night. Parra loaded the bases in the 1st with one out, but struck out Corey Smith and Steve Baker, swinging....... In three of their last four innings going back to Thursday night, Mobile left the bases loaded......... It was more frustration for Mobile, who had a hit in every inning........ In the 2nd inning, Parra faced runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out and escaped by allowing only one run, nevertheless holding onto a 4-1 lead........ In the 4th, he loaded the bases with two out, and despite giving away two outs that inning, one of them on his throwing error, another on Rottino's, got away with just one run. Mobile had left seven runners on through the first four innings, but by this time the Stars had a 9-2 lead....... The Stars had pounced on Travis Chick in the 3rd. Nelson Cruz hit a 2-run homer with Rottino aboard, then Chick gave up singles to Gemoll, Enrique Cruz, and Jeff Winchester, which yielded a run....... Five batters had come to the plate and Chick hadn't retired a batter until Callix Crabbe hit into a force play retiring Winchester, but it was about to get worse for Chick......... A wild pitch to Manny Parra scored Enrique before Parra doubled to right to score Crabbe and that was all....... Chick, who allowed eight runs the first time he faced Parra on April 20, had allowed 9 runs in 2 1/3 innings........ He's lost all three appearances now against the Stars this year, allowing 24 hits and 3 walks in 11 2/3 innings, and the capper --- a 15.42 ERA....... The way it's going, there's a good chance to make Chick the first 5-game loser in a season for the first time in Stars history. The Stars face Mobile in two more series this season, one July 18-21 and two in August........ Mike Thompson, the SL leader in innings pitched, has also lost three times to the Stars this year. After the Stars' awesome 12-run inning, Thursday night, I decided to leave this link for those interested in seeing the box score of the 1988 game that set the record for most runs in an inning. A year ago, I ranked this as the 2nd greatest game in the Stars' 20-year history. I discovered the link didn't work, so it's been corrected. Here it is. www.starsboxscore.com/gre...eback.html Derek Lee, Friday night, won his pitching debut for the Texas Rangers' top farm club in the PCL, outdueling Kerry Wood, pitching seven scoreless innings for Oklahoma against the Iowa Cubs. The Redhawks got the 3-1 win, but with no support, no decision for The General....... Derek struck out 4 and walked 2, giving up 7 hits......... Are you ready for another Corey Hart? Ask that when you see the Sounds in Nashville. The Milwaukee Brewers have purchased the contract of infielder Corey Hart from the Bridgeport (Ct.) Bluefish of the independent Atlantic League and assigned him to the Sounds to replace recently-released infielder Matt Erickson. He will join the team in Oklahoma City Saturday.........Hart was leading the Atlantic League with a .466 on-base percentage and batted .305 (53-for-174) with one home run and 20 RBIs in 51 games of action, appearing primarily as the club's shortstop (14 errors). He drew a team-best 51 walks and struck out only 33 times....... Prior to this season, Hart batted .239 over seven years in the Kansas City Royals farm system after being selected in the 23rd round of the June 1998 draft. He finished the 2004 season in the Pacific Coast League, playing for Omaha. Thanks to brewerfan.net for the information. The Stars have placed Matt DeWitt on the disabled list. No word yet on any call-up. Funny moment at Hank Aaron Stadium....... A new window had just been put in in Brett Pollock's booth there after Gary Jones cracked it Monday, I guess during BP, when Kennard Bibbs comes up to the plate and cracked the new one in the 2nd inning with a foul ball about two feet to his left