Jim Goulart

It's an 11:45 AM pre-game broadcast time for the Rattlers today; Link Report will be up just before, but wanted to give everyone a heads-up.

Rattler Radio Blog: Video Game Highlights

Seeing Stars up the middle at Double-A Angel-turned-Brewer Segura joins Gennett in Huntsville infield By Andrew Pentis / Special to MLB.com On the one play up the middle of the infield that is up in the air before it happens -- who covers the bag on a stolen base attempt -- how does a Cincinnati-born second baseman communicate with the Dominican shortstop to his right? Actually, there are no words said, only a simple gesture behind the webbing of their mitts. "It's open-mouth, closed-mouth," said Ohio native Scooter Gennett. "If he gives me an open mouth, then I have the bag. If he gives me a closed mouth, he has the bag. The shortstop has priority. He decides. But if there is something that he doesn't know about the guy, I might flash him back a closed mouth for me to have it." "You have to be smart," adds Jean Segura of San Juan, who speaks his second language with almost as much confidence as he practices his first love. "It depends what pitch [is thrown], how late or out front is the hitter, where the catcher calls a pitch -- there are a lot of things you have to focus on. Sometimes, we [know in advance], sometimes we don't. Sometimes we go by the pitch. If it's an outside pitch, I'll cover it. If it's an inside pitch, he'll cover it." There is of course more to do than monitoring the opposition's running game for Gennett and Segura, both 21 and now two of the Brewers' top seven prospects after the latter infielder was shipped from Los Angeles in one of many pre-deadline deals (see table, below). They turned their first double play in their joint debut on Sunday, a 6-4-3 maneuver in the third inning. "We got that out of the way. It was real smooth. We're going to turn a lot more and hopefully make some Top 10s with it," Gennett said, referring to Top 10 highlight reels. "I am really excited to work with him and pick up some things. It was a great trade that's only going to make our organization better, but it's also going to make me and him better." And in the short-term? "We got what we needed," he added, "and that was a shortstop." In fact, the Southern League Stars have had seven different shortstops -- including the recently released Tommy Manzella -- play at least 17 games at the position. Segura is No. 8, at least for the rest of 2012. "I feel good about the trade," said Segura, who played against his new teammate in the Midwest League in 2010 and in the MLB Futures Game last June. "I have known Scooter for a long time. He's a good second baseman, and I'm happy to share the field with him." And in the long-term? "It's a good chance," he added, "for me to have success in the big leagues." That's because Segura's first and former organization was flush with Erick Aybar (shortstop) and Howie Kendrick (second base), who are contracted to be side by side through the 2015 season. Coincidentally, Aybar, who is currently on the disabled list, and Kendrick are the only Minors duo in recent years to also play together in the Majors. They were stationed at Double-A Arkansas in 2005 and at Triple-A Salt Lake in 2006 while making their MLB debuts three weeks apart. (The Halos would sign Segura out of his home country in January 2007.) Aybar and Kendrick may not be the anomaly for long, as Huntsville's is not the only formidable pairing with a chance to arrive next. Consider the connected talent at Double-A: Manny Machado (shortstop) and Jonathan Schoop (second base) at Bowie; Wilmer Flores (SS) and Reese Havens (2B) at Binghamton; Hak-Ju Lee (SS) and the just-promoted Derek Dietrich (2B) at Montgomery; and, a sleeper set, Chris Owings (SS) and David Nick (2B) at Mobile. Why have there been so few prospects to realize their potential alongside one another? Like people, positions change. Take Gennett, who was drafted as a Florida high school shortstop in 2009. He switched to second in May 2010. Then there is Segura, who played second his first four years as a pro before sliding over to short on Opening Day 2011. One Milwaukee scout said his organization plans to leave Segura where he is "as long as he continues to show that he can play there." But the scout added that, while he may be in the minority, he views him as more of a second baseman or, with Gennett in play, a third baseman. (For his part, Gennett said this, "I think I can be an above-average second baseman defensively in the big leagues.") So Brewers All-Star Rickie Weeks need not fear for his job at second, not yet anyway. Gennett (14 errors in 103 games) and Segura (18 errors in 97) are not flawless farmhands by any means, but there is also a lot to like about their futures. One scout from another National League club who has seen the 5-foot-9, 164-pound Gennett this season, said he is most impressed by his hitting ability, his high energy and added that his colleagues undervalue him because of his size. All three characteristics are shared by Segura, who at 5-foot-10 and 164 pounds just happens to be listed one inch taller and one pound heavier. The similarities on offense: Gennett batted .304 over his first two pro seasons and has posted .285/.326/.380 marks so far this season, his first at Double-A. Segura meanwhile was a career .316 hitter entering this year and, through 94 games at Arkansas and three at Huntsville, he has put up a .297/.347/.406 line. Yes, a lot to like. Do the ballplayers see their new marriage without separation? "I definitely see that in our future. I definitely see us continuing to move up," Gennett said, "and ultimately turning double plays in the big leagues." "We're going to play and maybe we'll move out together," Segura, traded once already, added cautiously. "You never know." Jean Segura (shortstop) and Scooter Gennett (second base) form quite the combo. (Jason Clark Photo) http://www.milb.com/images/2012/07/31/HTYXLF4d.jpg

From Stars GM Buck Rogers (as of Wed. night): Stars fans, later tonight it’ll begin anew: five contestants from various backgrounds will enter the car to begin a new season of Car Survivor. In addition to the five there are two alternates ready to jump into the car if any of the five don’t make it to the ballpark for the start of the contest. The car is already wired for sight and sound; we will be webcasting live later tonight after the five contestants are led from the field to the car. You can watch all the action live at www.carsurvivor.com . Here are some quick bullet points of the seven different personalities involved: -From Gainesville, Florida….works at a local TV station, claims Monopoly to be his biggest addiction, loves Subway sandwiches. -A Catering Coordinator from Decatur…plays music, loves Transformers and has a close family connection to a Car Survivor winner. -A sergeant from the County Jail that can handle people in confined spaces…biggest addiction is food and lives in Huntsville…likes Pawn Stars -A Decatur resident who grooves on Cheesecake, Chocolate, and coincidentally, the TV show Prison Break. -A sales manager who loves the Virgin Islands and a huge Alabama fan (wo todd), can play solitaire for hours. -Claiming that his biggest addiction is Mountain Dew Code Red, a soccer referee who calls Moorpark, California home -An unemployed Andy Griffith fan from Huntsville who has lots of time on his hands who claims his biggest addition is BBQ Five of these individuals will jump in the car, two are on stand-by. Which ones will join the game? Tune in or come on out to the stadium to join in the fun. Jerry Damson Honda has a sweet ride sitting out front of the stadium right now, leather seats, the whole package. Somebody is going to drive this away next week, or the week after…or the week after that. Rock On! *** MILB.com: Sit in it to win it The Huntsville Stars' "Car Survivor" promotion returns for the third consecutive season Wednesday, and, if it's anything like previous iterations, then get ready for some world-class sitting. The premise is simple: Just prior to the start of Wednesday's ballgame, five hardy souls will enter a used Honda, and the last one to leave wins it (a 15-minute break is provided every six hours, out of respect for basic biological necessity). Last year's winner, Mr. Shawn Harris, lasted just shy of nine days, and similar endurance is expected from 2012's eventual champion. To see how it all plays out, check out the riveting streaming video of the contest at carsurvivor.com.

VIDEO: Watch Huntsville highlights

Hellweg combines with Stars' bullpen for one-hitter against Chattanooga in Huntsville debut By Mark McCarter, The Huntsville Times HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- In what loomed as a potential pitchers' duel between two of baseball's top prospects, Huntsville's Johnny Hellweg held up his end of the bargain. Even if, for a moment, that didn't seem likely. After walking two of the first three Lookouts he faced and falling behind by a run before he barely broke a sweat, Hellweg combined with relievers Daniel Meadows and Kyle Heckathorn for a one-hitter in a 5-1 victory over Chattanooga Hellweg's counterpart, Zack Lee, the Dodgers' No. 1 pitching prospect, who had been enrolled to play quarterback for LSU in 2010, suffered the loss. He allowed eight hits and three earned runs. Hellweg, a 6-foot-9 righthander, was making his Huntsville debut, having come over from the Angels' organization in a trade last week. He had been the No. 4-ranked prospect in the Los Angeles system. On Monday, he acknowledged he would "be on the radar" more with Milwaukee, and this wasn't a bad way to earn some notice. He struck out seven and didn't allow a hit until one out in the fifth before Meadows and Heckathorn knitted together four innings of hitless relief. Stars first baseman Hunter Morris had a pair of doubles, improving his league-leading total to 36. He is but four shy of the Huntsville record, held by D.T. Cromer (1997) and Corey Hart (2003). The Southern League record is 47, set in 1998 by Jacksonville teammates Gabe Kapler and Robert Fick. Jean Segura, who along with pitcher Ariel Pena was part of the trade that sent pitcher Zack Greinke from Milwaukee to L.A., had two hits. He's 7-for-16 in his Huntsville tenure. Lee Haydel had two singles, giving him six hits in his last nine at-bats. It was a critical win for the Stars, who are keeping alive some postseason hopes. They trail Chattanooga by five games in the Southern League North. Thursday's 6:43 game will be the final meeting between the two this season. Stars' Hunter Morris, the former Grissom High standout, has 36 doubles on the season http://media.al.com/huntsville-times/photo/9602296-large.jpg

STARS PITCHERS COMBINE TO ONE-HIT LOOKOUTS Huntsville Stars HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Three Huntsville Stars pitchers combined to one-hit the Chattanooga Lookouts en route to a 5-1 victory on Wednesday night at Joe Davis Stadium. In his Huntsville Stars debut and Brewers organizational debut, starting pitcher Johnny Hellweg was spectacular. The 23-year-old flamethrower earned a victory after giving up just one hit and one unearned run while striking out seven in five innings. The only blemish on the night for Hellweg happened in the first inning. After walking both center fielder Nick Buss and right fielder Blake Smith, a throwing error by Stars catcher Anderson De La Rosa on a stolen base attempt allowed Buss to score. Following the first, Hellweg sent down 14 straight batters in a row until his no-hit bid was snapped with two outs in the fifth inning on a single by Lookouts catcher Griff Erickson. Once Hellweg was taken out of the ballgame before the sixth inning, relievers Dan Meadows and Kyle Heckathorn each pitched two innings of hitless baseball to give the Stars the victory. Fortunately for the Stars pitchers, their offense gave them plenty of run support. In the second inning, a two-out RBI double by De La Rosa knocked in center fielder Josh Prince to tie up the game at one. One inning later, another two-out RBI, this one a single by second baseman Scooter Gennett, gave the Stars a 2-1 lead. To put the game away, the Stars tacked on two more runs in the fifth inning on RBI doubles by Gennett and first baseman Hunter Morris. The Stars also scored another insurance run in the seventh inning on a balk by Lookouts LHP Geison Aguasviva. At the plate, Morris, Gennett, left fielder Lee Haydel and shortstop Jean Segura each had two hits. For Segura, he is now 7-for-16 at the plate in his first four games as a member of the Huntsville Stars. The rubber match of a five-game series will take place on Thursday as the Stars will send RHP Jimmy Nelson (1-0, 5.87 ERA) to the mound. First pitch is at 6:43 PM.

Helena Audio Interviews: Brewers clubhouse manager Brian Barnum -- cool insights, actually RHP Mike Francisco

Photos by Dylan Brown, Helena Independent Record - Billings' Robert Maddox slides safely into first on a steal, as Brewers' Chris McFarland catches the ball Wednesday night. http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/helenair.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/7/98/798247b8-dc44-11e1-a046-001a4bcf887a/5019dd41901df.preview-620.jpg Brewers pitcher Preston Gainey delivers a pitch in the first inning http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/helenair.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/4/5a/45acc526-dc44-11e1-99da-001a4bcf887a/5019dca028e66.preview-620.jpg

Brewers walkoff with victory Helena Brewers The Brewers held one lead throughout the nine inning contest Wednesday night at Kindrick Legion Field. Fortunately, it came with two outs in the bottom of the ninth when Adam Giacalone hit a line drive single to left-center field scoring Michael Reed to end the game. The 7-6 victory evens the Brewers second half record at 2-2, while dropping the Mustangs to 3-1. The Brewers couldn't get much going offensively for the first eight innings of the contest, which was primarily the result of another strong pitching performance by Ismael Guillon. The lefty entered the evening with the second best ERA in the Pioneer League among qualifying pitchers and did nothing to hurt his position. Guillon finished the night going five innings while allowing just one earned run. Following Guillon, Ben Kilmesh, Jim Moran and Mo Wiley combined for three innings allowing just one unearned run. The Brewers broke through in the bottom of the 9th against Alejandro Chacin and Jordan Remer. In the frame, Helena received hits from Michael Turay, Ruben Ozuna and Alfredo Rodriguez as well as a walk by Chris McFarland and a hit by pitch for Andres Martinez. Eventually, Giacalone would step to the plate with the winning run on third and two outs. Giacalone proceeded to hit the first walk off single of his professional career on a line drive that center fielder Beau Asmaral couldn't corral. On the evening, the Shawnee, Kansas native went 3-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. The performance raised the sixteenth round pick's batting average to .328 and keeps him in the discussion for the league's hottest hitter. The Brewers will head on the Billings Mustangs for game two of the three game series at Kindrick Legion Field tomorrow night. First pitch is slated for 7:05 (8:05 Central). Adam Giacalone hit a walk off single in the bottom of the 9th. (Sleeping Giant Photography) http://www.milb.com/images/2012/08/02/T2Sxy2Fv.jpg

AUDIO: Joe Block's Pregame Interview w/ Stars Pitcher Johnny Hellweg

He fractured his ankle in extended spring training, out for the season, perhaps back out there for fall instructionals.

Fixed, thanks. Dog days slump

AUDIO: WSSP's Wed. AM chat with Doug Melvin

AUDIO: ESPN540's interview with Gord Ash Shares a worthwhile Jim Henderson story among other discussion topics...

Media Notes: Nashville Wisconsin

Sad day for Helena LHP Brent Suter and the scout that signed him, Steffan Wilson, as the longtime baseball coach at Harvard passed away. Condolences, but must also ask -- head men in baseball at the college level are coaches, not managers. Why is that? They have "staffs", so that's odd...

As we mentioned all week, the Rattlers are on TWC Sports 32 for you locals tonight -- enjoy! Bold prediction (Chris Mehring hates this) -- the Rattlers enter this long home stretch still so fundamentally sound and solid, I'm calling it: They're winning both halves of the schedule. There. Book it.

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 Rookie Advanced - Pioneer League North Division Rookie - Arizona Summer League DSL - Dominican Summer League San Pedro de Macoris Division *** NOTE: AAA Nashville does not play a split schedule. The other leagues, including the rookie leagues, do. When you click on a standings link for Huntsville, Brevard County or Wisconsin, you'll then be able to choose 1st half and/or overall standings in addition to the current 2nd half standings.

Follow Wednesday's action as it happens with box score / game log links: Nashville Huntsville Brevard County Wisconsin Helena Maryvale DSL Brewers

Wednesday's Daily Menu: All times are Central Nashville: RHP Brian Baker at Fresno (Giants), 8:50 PM pre-game, 9:05 gametime Free Live Audio Link Jeff Hem is the new 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). We imagine the audio feed is from the home team. All MiLB.TV details available at the link. ********** Huntsville: RHP Johnny Hellweg makes his Brewers' organization debut at home vs. Chattanooga (Dodgers), 6:28 PM pre-game, 6:43 gametime Free Live Audio Link -- Select the Huntsville feed from the MiLB main audio page Alex Cohen is the new play-by-play voice of the Stars; follow him on Twitter @alexmcohen. It's fantastic that Huntsville is returning to what will be a traditional broadcast format this year. All games, home and away, are scheduled to be broadcast. MiLB.TV subsciption note: Huntsville road games in four locales (Mississippi, Tennessee, Jacksonville and Pensacola) will be broadcast. ********** Brevard County: RHP Taylor Jungmann at home vs. Jupiter (Marlins), 5:35 PM gametime Free Live Audio Link -- Select the Jupiter feed from the MiLB main audio page Once again this season, Brevard does not have its own audio coverage. It appears two teams in the Manatees North Division (within which the majority of games are played) have audio, and all six teams in the South Division have audio (at least for their home games), so there will be opportunities to listen to approx. 70% or Brevard's games this season, just all from the opponent's perspective. There are no Florida State League games on MiLB.TV this year. ********** Wisconsin: RHP David Goforth at home vs. Burlington (Athletics), 6:45 PM pre-game, 7:05 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 only two (Great Lakes) Midwest League clubs that have all their home games available via MiLB.TV; Chris' call provides the audio. So for the $39.95 season-long package, fans in Brewer Nation can watch all Sounds games, all Timber Rattlers home games, and Stars' road games from four Southern League locales, plus one July Helena series (11th-13th). ********** Helena: RHP Preston Gainey makes his first pro start (6th appearance) at home vs. Billings (Reds), 7:50 PM pre-game, 8:05 gametime Free Live Audio Link -- Select the Helena feed from the MiLB main audio page We're lucky to have Steve Wendt back on board for another H-Crew season. ********** Arizona Rookie (Maryvale): at home vs. the Athletics' newbies; 9:00 PM gametime; never audio for games in this league ********** DSL Brewers: at home vs. the DSL Blue Jays, 9:30 AM, although game data won't be available until late afternoon at the earliest

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Video highlights from Tuesday's Huntsville loss

From the Manatees: RHP Eric Marzec placed on the disabled list. OF Franklin Romero Jr. activated from the disabled list. He will be active for tonight's game against Jupiter. *** We've linked to Marzec's own tweets regarding his illness, earlier in this thread.