Jim Goulart

To see tweets as to when the Link Report has been technically "completed" with available links, as well as to know when the new day's Report has been posted, please follow @Mass_Haas on Twitter.

STANDINGS: AAA - Pacific Coast League American Northern Division AA - Southern League North Division High-A - Florida State League North Division A - Midwest League Western Division

Follow Sunday's action as it happens with box score / game log links: Nashville Huntsville Game One Huntsville Game Two Brevard County Wisconsin New MiLB.com feature -- organizational scoreboard, Brewers

Sunday's Daily Menu: All times are Central Nashville: LHP Zach Kroenke at home vs. New Orleans (Marlins), 1:50 PM pre-game, 2:05 gametime Free Live Audio Link -- Select the Nashville feed from the MiLB main audio page Jeff Hem is the play-by-play voice of the Sounds; follow him on Twitter @jeffhempbp; we'll link to his blog updates at On the Air…and Off MiLB.TV -- for subscribers; all Nashville games, home and away, will be available to watch via MiLB.TV's $39.99 season-long package ($9.99 to pay for a single month). The audio feed is from the home team. All MiLB.TV details available at the link. ********** Huntsville: RHP's Ariel Pena and Andy Moye in a doubleheader at Chattanooga (Dodgers), 12:50 PM pre-game, 1:15 gametime Free Live Audio Link -- Select the Huntsville feed from the MiLB main audio page Alex Cohen is the play-by-play voice of the Stars; follow him on Twitter @alexmcohen. All games, home and away, are scheduled to be broadcast. It appears four Southern League teams air their home games on MiLB.TV, and we'll let you know when those dates pop up on the schedule. ********** Brevard County: RHP David Goforth at home vs. Daytona (Cubs), 3:35 PM pre-game, 4:05 PM gametime Free Live Audio Link -- Select the Brevard County feed from the MiLB main audio page Manatees audio, hooray! Dave Walkovic is the first play-by-play voice of the 'Tees since 2007, he's joined by Andy Towne; follow the Brevard broadcast booth staff on Twitter @BCManateesRadio. All home games and many road games are scheduled to be broadcast. When road games are only available via the opponents' audio feed, we'll let you know that. NOTE: Dave indicates that he hopes to include a pre-game interview prior to each game; it's a 30-minute pre-game! We'll fill you in if Brevard masters archiving a la Nashville and/or Helena. ********** Wisconsin: RHP Jorge Lopez at Peoria (Cardinals), 1:40 PM pre-game, 2:00 gametime Free Live Audio Link - 1280 AM WNAM Chris Mehring is back to do his customary fantastic work as the Voice of the Rattlers. Follow him on Twitter @CMehring; we'll link to Chris' infamous blog often -- Rattler Radio. MiLB.TV -- for subscribers; Wisconsin is one of four Midwest League clubs that have all their home games available via MiLB.TV. So for the $39.95 season-long package, fans in Brewer Nation can watch all Sounds games, Stars' road games from four Southern League locales, and all Timber Rattlers home games and some road games. NOTE: 32 of the Rattlers' 70 home games will be broadcast on TV this season. Time Warner Cable SportsChannel has seventeen games scheduled and WACY-TV My NEW32 plans to show fifteen games. We'll let you know when, but won't be providing day-before DVR reminders, so regularly check for proper channel and time planning (scroll to the bottom of this link).

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Rattler Radio Blog - Slight Stumble

Manatees doubled up by Cubs Three-run fourth for Daytona dooms 'Tees in 4-2 loss By Andy Towne / Brevard County Manatees DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - In another close game at Jackie Robinson Ballpark, it was the home team that got the win as the Brevard County Manatees fell 4-2 to the Daytona Cubs on Saturday night. The fourth inning saw the Cubs (2-1) take a walk and a hit by pitch to start things out, then a sneaky bunt by John Andreoli forced a throwing error by Brandon Macias. Jorge Soler scored on the miscue, with Stephen Bruno coming home on a groundout. Micah Gibbs capped off the frame with an RBI single. Soler battled a stiff wind and smashed his first home run of the season over the left field wall, extending Daytona's lead to 4-2 in the seventh inning. Despite getting on the board early with single runs in each of the second and third innings, the Manatees' (1-2) bats couldn't do enough for their second road win in as many tries. A two-out rally in the ninth failed to push across any runs. Chad Stang extended his season-opening hitting streak to three games and Macias took a ball off the back to put runners on first and second, but Nick Ramirez went down on a big swing to close out any hope of a comeback. Brevard County starting pitcher Brooks Hall (0-1, 4.50) gave up three runs - two of them earned - on four hits and two walks, while fanning four in four innings. Jacob Barnes piggybacked on the start and only threw two innings, allowing three hits and two walks but he was able to get himself out of trouble twice with runners on the corners and bases loaded situations. Three Daytona pitchers shared the load, with starter Austin Kirk being charged with two runs, surrendering four hits and two walks while also fanning two. He took the no-decision as Yao-Lin Wang (1-0, 0.00) came out of the bullpen with three one-hit frames, walking one and sitting down two batters on strikeouts. Frank Del Valle got the three-inning save with an impressive six strikeouts, also only allowing just one hit and one walk. The Manatees and Cubs return to Space Coast Stadium for a 5:05 PM (4:05 Central) contest to close the season opening series on Sunday evening. Live audio will be started on ManateesBaseball.com and the game will be joined in progress on AM 1300 WMEL following the conclusion of the Tampa Bay Rays broadcast. David Goforth (10-8, 4.66 in 2012) will make his 'Tees debut on the hill, while P.J. Francescon (8-7, 3.01 in 2012) will toe the rubber for Daytona. Manatees starting pitcher Brooks Hall, seen here in a 2012 picture, allowed two earned runs in four innings on Saturday night in Brevard County's 4-2 loss to the Daytona Cubs in Daytona Beach. (Dennis Greenblatt/Hawk-Eye Sports Photography) http://www.milb.com/assets/images/6/1/4/44118614/cuts/Hall_6.21_3_48w8db8h_scesbmvr.JPG

Nashville Pre-Game Audio via Jeff Hem -- Tonight’s pregame interview with Sounds pitcher Hiram Burgos, who tossed five shutout innings last night in his ’13 debut. He discusses that performance, his time playing for his native Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic and the Sounds’ early-season outlook…

Wisconsin shuts down Peoria at the plate in 2-1 win over Chiefs By KEVIN CAPIE, Peoria Journal Star PEORIA — It can be hard enough hitting in April in the Midwest League. But throw two quality pitchers on the mound and it can make things that much harder on an offense. The Peoria Chiefs bats were as cool as the evening chill after a pair of Wisconsin Timber Rattler pitchers limited them to just three hits on Friday night. That pitching performance was slightly better than the Chiefs' three hurlers and enough for a 2-1 win. Peoria’s Zach Petrick and Michael Aldrete threw five innings of shutout ball in relief of Dail Villanueva, but by then the damage was done. “We pitched the ball really well tonight. Our bullpen did a hell of a job,” Chiefs manager Dann Bilardello said. “Dail struggled a little bit early and worked through his inconsistency, but they had good pitching.” Damien Magnifico allowed all three hits and an unearned run before Leonard Lorenzo worked four perfect innings for the Rattlers. “They were getting ahead (in the count) and then mixing speeds. (Catcher) Parker Berberet did a nice job controlling the tempo,” Wisconsin manager Matt Erickson said. “If you can get that on a nightly basis you’ll have a chance to win.” Only the Chiefs’ first hit, a liner to right by Patrick Wisdom in the first inning, could be considered a solid knock. Still, the Chiefs were able to take a lead in the second inning when Charlie Tilson created a run with his speed after dropping a bunt for a base hit. Preoccupied with the speedy center fielder, Magnifico threw a pickoff attempt into the tarp to move Tilson to second. It was the third throwing error by a Timber Rattlers pitcher this season. “Anybody with speed presents a problem and puts pressure on the defense,” Erickson said. “You start rushing on defense so you end up making mistakes and getting throwing errors.” Tilson came home on a throwing error after waiting out a play to first base on Ildemaro Vargas’ grounder to third base, Wisconsin first baseman Mike Garza hurried the return throw past third. “That was good base running,” Bilardello said of Tilson’s sequence. “We do have a lot of speed we can utilize. But give them a lot of credit right now, they stymied our hitters.” Wisconsin scored both of their runs on sacrifice flies after getting leadoff hits in the fourth and fifth. But then the most semblance of an offense shut down on both sides as the temperatures dipped when the sun went down. Petrick allowed a the fourth inning sac fly after coming on with runners at the corners and no outs. He struck out four. Aldrete allowed one hit and worked around Peoria’s two errors, one each in the eighth and ninth. “We’re a little better than what we’ve shown,” Bilardello said. “We can’t get too down, it’s only two games into the season and we’ve lost one-run games. It could be reversed.”

I'll be offline until late this evening - if folks can keep things updated in the Transaction thread if an Aramis Ramirez DL stint sets off a chain reaction of minor league moves (Blake Davis?), thanks, enjoy your Saturday.

Link includes Hiram Burgos and Mike Guerrero video Sounds' bullpen wastes solid start by Nick Cole, the Tennessean Game two for the Sounds was not nearly as successful as the opener. Unable to build off Thursday’s opening night win, the Sounds lost 12-0 to New Orleans on Friday at Greer Stadium. Hiram Burgos threw five strong innings, but the Sounds’ bullpen allowed all 12 runs in four innings. “We couldn’t get ahead (in the count), and we paid for it,” Sounds manager Mike Guerrero said about his bullpen. “We would try to get ahead, but they were in hitting counts and took advantage of it.” Although he did not factor into the decision, Burgos allowed just two hits and struck out six. “It was good to get the first one out of the way — and it was a good one — but it’s the same feeling because of the loss,” said Burgos, the Brewers’ 2012 minor league pitcher of the year who extended his Triple-A scoreless streak to 17 innings, dating to last season. The Sounds collected just five hits in the scoreless effort, but Guerrero was not overly concerned with the sluggish start to the season offensively. “We have a pretty young ball club,” he said. “It is a different level, and everybody needs adjustment. … It’s going to take a little while, but once we get things going, I think we are going to be in pretty good shape.” After five innings of scoreless baseball, New Orleans broke things open with three runs in the sixth inning off Sounds reliever Michael Olmsted (0-1), who was making his Triple-A debut. Ben Lasater doubled to right field to score Ed Lucas for the first run of the game, and former Atlanta Brave Matt Diaz followed with a two-run single that scored Bryan Petersen and Lasater. New Orleans extended its lead to 7-0 with a four-run seventh inning, highlighted by a two-out, three-run home run by Lasater. The Zephyrs scored four more runs in the eighth inning, including two off a towering home run to left field by Matt Downs. Downs drove in another run for New Orleans in the ninth to give the Zephyrs an even dozen. The Sounds’ best scoring chance came in fifth, when second baseman Scooter Gennett lined a two-out single to center field with runners on first and second. But Zephyrs center fielder Kevin Mattison threw out Dayton Buller at the plate to end the inning. Lefty Brad Hand (1-0) earned the win for New Orleans after logging five innings of shutout ball with seven strikeouts. The Sounds and Zephyrs play the third of a four-game set at 6:35 p.m. today.

Some Wisconsin video via the Peoria blog *** Chris Mehring's Rattler Radio blog with several thoughts

AUDIO: Nashville Pre-Game with Hunter Morris

Chattanooga Lookouts right fielder Yasiel Puig safely steals second ahead of a throw to Huntsville shortstop Ozzie Chavez during their season opener Friday at AT&T Field. Chattanooga Times Free Press Photo by Doug Strickland. http://media.timesfreepress.com/img/photos/2013/04/05/040613_WEB_d_Lookouts_t618.JPG?ba5b5b122dd3d37cc13d83e92a6a0ec0d5bfa32a

Stars Rally to Beat Lookouts on Opening Night A day after having their opening game rained out, the Huntsville Stars rallied from a 4-0 deficit on Friday night to beat the Chattanooga Lookouts by a score of 7-5 at AT&T Field. After two Stars errors in the first inning led to two Chattanooga runs and a two-run double by Lookouts left fielder Blake Smith in the third inning, Stars starting pitching Jimmy Nelson settled into a tremendous first start. A consensus top-10 prospect in the Brewers organization, Nelson went five innings and gave up those four runs (two earned) while fanning eight without walking a batter. The 23-year-old righty also retired eight of the last nine batters he faced to put the exclamation point on his first win of the season. Trailing by four, the Stars started mounting their comeback in the fourth inning, where they scored the first three of seven unanswered runs. To begin the rally, first basemen Jason Rogers and center fielder Rene Tosoni each reached base via an error by the Chattanooga defense. Both runners were then brought home on a two-run triple by left fielder Brock Kjeldgaard off of Lookouts starter Zach Lee that cut the Chattanooga lead in half. Later in the inning, Kjeldgaard scored on a RBI single by Mike Walker to made the score 4-3. Following an RBI single by Tosoni in the fifth inning that tied the game up at four apiece, the Stars took the lead for good against Lookouts reliever Ryan Acosta in the sixth inning. To begin the frame, catcher Adam Weisenburger, pinch-hitter Shawn Zarraga and second basemen Nick Shaw led off with back-to-back-to-back singles. After Weisenburger scored on a run-scoring groundout by shortstop Ozzie Chavez, right fielder Kentrail Davis drove home Zarraga with an RBI single to make the score 6-4. In the seventh inning, Huntsville scored the last of their seven unanswered runs on an RBI single by Weisenburger. Fortunately for the stars, the three-run lead that the Huntsville offense built was plenty for their bullpen. After Nelson exited the ballgame after the fifth, reliever Greg Holle threw two scoreless frames. Holle also struck out the side in seventh and didn't give up a hit in his first ever double-a outing. Righty Casey Medlen notched his first save, retiring the only batter he faced when he relieved lefty Alan Williams and got Lookouts pinch-hitter Omar Luna to ground out to end the game. In regards to offense, the Stars were paced by three hits from Kjeldgaard, in which the 27-year-old outfielder was just a home run away from the cycle. Both Rogers and Tosoni each had two hits as well and Davis reached base four out of the five times he was at-bat. Game two of a five-game series between the two teams will begin at 7:15 ET on Saturday night. A pair of highly-touted prospects will battle it out on the mound as the Stars will send RHP Taylor Jungmann (11-6, 3.53 ERA with Brevard County in 2012) to square off against Lookouts LHP Chris Reed (0-4, 4.84 ERA with Chattanooga in 2012). Following the Series against Chattanooga, the Stars will open up their home slate against the Jacksonville Suns on April 10th for a five-game series immediately followed by a five games against the Tennessee Smokies.

From Friday's Link Report: On the injury front, it was mentioned on the pregame that Ben McMahan's trip to the DL was for a hand injury. Later in the game it was revealed that McMahan broke his thumb in practice so it will be more than just a 7-day stint on the DL for him.

Via Adam McCalvy: The Brewers finalized some Minor League coaching staffs on Friday with a pair of former players. Chuckie Caufield, an outfielder in Milwaukee's system from 2006-11, was formally announced as a coach at rookie-level Helena. Also, former Cubs and Indians outfielder Jason Dubois was named a coach at rookie-level Arizona. He served the previous two seasons as a hitting coach with the Cubs' rookie Arizona League affiliate.

NEW FEATURE! Weather.com: Nashville Chattanooga Daytona Peoria

Look for Nashville and Wisconsin media notes at the links just prior to their game times. Once we're aware of the new online location for Huntsville's Media Notes this season, we'll let you know. New this season: Brevard County has media notes; as of now, it's a unique link each day (we'll post when available), we've asked for a consistent posted link like Nashville uses, we'll see...

To see tweets as to when the Link Report has been technically "completed" with available links, as well as to know when the new day's Report has been posted, please follow @Mass_Haas on Twitter.

STANDINGS: AAA - Pacific Coast League American Northern Division AA - Southern League North Division High-A - Florida State League North Division A - Midwest League Western Division

Follow Saturday's action as it happens with box score / game log links: Nashville Huntsville Brevard County Wisconsin New MiLB.com feature -- organizational scoreboard, Brewers

Saturday's Daily Menu: All times are Central Nashville: RHP Johnny Hellweg makes his AAA debut at home vs. New Orleans (Marlins), 6:20 PM pre-game, 6:35 gametime Free Live Audio Link -- Select the Nashville feed from the MiLB main audio page Jeff Hem is the play-by-play voice of the Sounds; follow him on Twitter @jeffhempbp; we'll link to his blog updates at On the Air…and Off MiLB.TV -- for subscribers; all Nashville games, home and away, will be available to watch via MiLB.TV's $39.99 season-long package ($9.99 to pay for a single month). The audio feed is from the home team. All MiLB.TV details available at the link. ********** Huntsville: RHP Taylor Jungmann makes his AA debut at Chattanooga (Dodgers), 5:50 PM pre-game, 6:15 gametime Free Live Audio Link -- Select the Huntsville feed from the MiLB main audio page Alex Cohen is the play-by-play voice of the Stars; follow him on Twitter @alexmcohen. All games, home and away, are scheduled to be broadcast. It appears four Southern League teams air their home games on MiLB.TV, and we'll let you know when those dates pop up on the schedule. ********** Brevard County: RHP Brooks Hall at Daytona (Cubs), 5:35 PM pre-game, 6:05 PM gametime Free Live Audio Link -- Select the Brevard County feed from the MiLB main audio page Manatees audio, hooray! Dave Walkovic is the first play-by-play voice of the 'Tees since 2007, he's joined by Andy Towne; follow the Brevard broadcast booth staff on Twitter @BCManateesRadio. All home games and road games in Daytona and St. Lucie, are scheduled to be broadcast. When road games are only available via the opponents' audio feed, we'll let you know that. NOTE: Dave indicates that he hopes to include a pre-game interview prior to each game; it's a 30-minute pre-game! We'll fill you in if Brevard masters archiving a la Nashville and/or Helena. ********** Wisconsin: LHP Brent Suter at Peoria (Cardinals), 12:40 PM pre-game, 1:00 gametime Free Live Audio Link - 1280 AM WNAM Chris Mehring is back to do his customary fantastic work as the Voice of the Rattlers. Follow him on Twitter @CMehring; we'll link to Chris' infamous blog often -- Rattler Radio. MiLB.TV -- for subscribers; Wisconsin is one of four Midwest League clubs that have all their home games available via MiLB.TV. So for the $39.95 season-long package, fans in Brewer Nation can watch all Sounds games, Stars' road games from four Southern League locales, and all Timber Rattlers home games and some road games. NOTE: 32 of the Rattlers' 70 home games will be broadcast on TV this season. Time Warner Cable SportsChannel has seventeen games scheduled and WACY-TV My NEW32 plans to show fifteen games. We'll let you know when, but won't be providing day-before DVR reminders, so regularly check for proper channel and time planning (scroll to the bottom of this link).

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