Jim Goulart

Brevard hangs on to top Mets 'Tees score five in the first, win 9-7 to take series By Frank Longobardo / Brevard County Manatees PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - The Brevard County Manatees jumped out to an 8-1 and held on to defeat the St. Lucie Mets, 9-7 on Wednesday night at Digital Domain Park. The win gave the 'Tees a series victory over the first half South division champs, as they took three of four from the Mets. Brevard (15-11 second half, 44-50) jumped all over the Mets right out of the gate as they scored five in the first inning as St. Lucie (11-16, 60-35) starter Chase Huchingson lasted just 2/3 of an inning. Nick Shaw led off the game by reaching first on an error and then back-to-back singles by Shea Vucinich and Jason Rogers loaded the bases. Mike Walker was then hit by a pitch as Shaw scored. Brock Kjeldgaard then singled to drive in Vucinich to give Brevard a 2-0 lead, with the bases still loaded with no outs. After Hector Gomez struck out swinging, a wild pitch by Huchingson allowed Rogers to score. Reggie Keen then drew a walk to load the bases once again. Joey Paciorek was then hit by a pitch to give the Manatees a 4-0 lead. John Dishon grounded into a force out to score Kjeldgaard as the 'Tees took a commanding 5-0 lead. Brevard batted around in the frame as Shaw stepped up to the plate and reached on Huchingson's third hit by pitch of the inning. Kyle Allen relieved Huchingson and got out of the inning by forcing Vucinich to fly out to first. The Mets would get one run back in the bottom of the first off of 'Tees starting pitcher Jed Bradley (5-7, 5.01), but Brevard plated three in the third to take an 8-1 lead. Gomez led the inning off by getting hit by a pitch and then back-to-back singles from Keen and Paciorek loaded the bases for Brevard. Dishon then grounded into a force out that scored Gomez. With Nick Shaw at the plate, Brevard was able to successfully execute a double steal that saw Keen steal home for the second run of the inning and Dishon swipe second. Dishon then stole third and would score as Vucinich reached on an error by shortstop T.J. Rivera. The 8-1 cushion looked to be enough for Bradley, but he allowed a two-run homer to Richard Lucas in the fourth to make it an 8-3 game and then ran into some more trouble in the fifth. Cory Vaughn led off the fifth for the Mets with a double and then Blake Forsythe singled to put runners on the corners. A wild pitch by Bradley allowed Forsythe to move to second and then a ground out by Aderlin Rodriguez plated Vaughn to cut Brevard's lead to 8-4. Two batters later, Lucas singled up the middle to drive in Forsythe to make it 8-5 and then Rivera would single up the middle to put runners on first and second with one out. Bradley's night would end following back-to-back RBI hits as Alonzo Harris doubled and Daniel Muno singled to make it just a one run game. Bradley allowed a season-high seven earned runs on 11 hits in just 4.2 innings of work. He tied a season-high by walking four and struck out four. Thomas Keeling came in for Bradley with runners on the corners and two outs, but was able to end the inning by striking out Mike Baxter. From that point on, Brevard County's bullpen took control of the game as Keeling threw 2.1 scoreless innings and Alan Williams pitched a scoreless eighth. The Manatees plated an insurance run in the top of the seventh as Dishon drove in Keen with a bunt single to make it 9-7. Dishon drove in three runs and stole three bases in the win. Casey Medlen came on in the ninth to close out the game and after walking Rafael Fernandez and having the tying run step to the plate; Medlen retired the side in order for his 13th save of the season. Brevard County will return home to Space Coast Stadium to open up a four-game series with the Palm Beach Cardinals (13-14, 44-50), beginning Thursday at 6:35 PM (5:35 Central). Brooks Hall (3-3, 4.07) will take the mound for the 'Tees. Hall is 2-0 with a 2.57 ERA in his last four starts. Palm Beach will counter with Drew Benes (4-6, 4.81).

McMahan delivers game winner as Timber Rattlers top Loons in 10th by Tim Froberg, Post-Crescent staff writer GRAND CHUTE — Ben McMahan had a hunch he’d see a fastball from Matt Shelton on the first pitch. McMahan won both the guessing game and the ballgame. McMahan drilled a walk-off solo home run in the bottom of the 10th inning to lift the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers to a dramatic 5-4 win over the Great Lakes Loons on Wednesday night. McMahan’s eighth homer of the season was a line shot that just cleared the wall in left-center to give Wisconsin its ninth walk-off win of the season. “I was fully expecting a fastball,” said McMahan. “We’ve had a lot of extra-inning games this year and it was good to end one early for the boys. I got it pretty good, but it was kind of low and I thought for a second it was going to bounce off the wall.” It didn’t, and the Rattlers had delivered another late-inning victory at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium. Wisconsin (57-37) has an outstanding 33-12 record at home. “There is just a belief here that we’re going to score more runs than the other team,” said Wisconsin manager Matt Erickson. “It’s great to be back home.” It was McMahan’s first walk-off homer as a pro. “I did it once in college against Georgia and it’s such an awesome feeling,” said McMahan. “And when you do it in front of a home crowd, it doesn’t get any better than that.” McMahan, a 23rd-round pick out of the University of Florida by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 2011 first-year player draft, has put together a strong season. He is hitting .298 and has knocked in 44 runs, second-best on the team. He entered the game with an impressive slugging percentage of .482. “Ben has a very repeatable swing, where his mechanics are easy to repeat,” said Erickson. “And he’s got a little pop.” First baseman Nick Ramirez and catcher Cameron Garfield also slammed homers for the Rattlers. Ramirez hit a long two-run shot to right in the first inning that landed near the “Welcome to the Beach” sign. It was his 10th home run of the season. Ramirez also made a terrific defensive play at first base in the third inning, diving to his right to snag a line drive by Scott Shebler and take away a base hit. Garfield hit a solo homer in fourth, his fifth of the year and second in the past two games. Wisconsin received a top-notch pitching performance out of the bullpen by right-hander Jacob Barnes. Barnes took over for starter Chad Thompson in the fourth and threw 61/3 scoreless innings. Barnes scattered six hits and struck out six before departing with one out in the top of the 10th. Stephen Peterson, who got the final two outs in the 10th, was credited with the win. “Jacob Barnes was our player of the game,” said Erickson. “He just kept putting zeroes up there. When you have a pitcher doing that, it just creates a belief in the position players that he’s keeping you in the game.”

Here's the full DSL scoreboard from Wednesday, note that several games were interrupted mid-game and then suspended, no Brewers box yet, makes you wonder if they got underway at all. We'll keep an eye on it for possible catch-up later on.

Rattler Radio Blog -- Video Highlights The Garfield and McMahan home runs are naturally fun to watch, but the defense shines here -- Nick Ramirez snags a liner, Jacob Barnes with a nice diving catch on a bunt, but most impressively, Yadiel Rivera bare-handing a long feed from second baseman Greg Hopkins as part of a 4-6-3 double play. Like Chris said, "Are you kidding me?" From earlier in the afternoon, Wisconsin Media Notes; unique baseball-free evening for yours truly Wednesday, thunderstorms knocked out power until Thursday morning.

Nashville Media Notes

Getting To Know The 2012 Sounds: First Baseman Sean Halton

Our friends at Disciples of Uecker put together their Midseason Top 30 Brewers Prospects list.

Corey Patterson making the best of his Nashville opportunity

DVR ALERT! As we like to do and have done all this week, here's some notice for you. On Thursday the 19th, Time Warner Cable Sports 32 TV will broadcast the Rattlers game (7:05 PM). The Brewers are off, so a nice TV bonus for locals. RHP Matt Miller is the scheduled starter.

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 Brevard County Wisconsin Maryvale DSL Brewers

Wednesday's Daily Menu: All times are Central Nashville: RHP Seth McClung at home vs. Round Rock (Rangers), 6:50 PM pre-game, 7:05 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: Idle ********** Brevard County: LHP Jed Bradley at St. Lucie (Mets), 5:30 PM gametime; each contest slated for seven innings Free Live Audio Link -- Select the St. Lucie 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 Chad Thompson at home vs. Great Lakes (Dodgers), 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: Idle ********** Arizona Rookie (Maryvale): at the Padres' complex in Peoria; 9:00 PM gametime; never audio for games in this league ********** DSL Brewers: at home vs. the DSL Tigers, 9:30 AM, although game data won't be available until late afternoon at the earliest

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Nick Anderson made his professional debut last night in Rockford, and we'll blame it on the layoff, but he walked more batters consecutively in one inning (three) than the total number of walks he issued in 33 innings throughout his senior season. The first link is video of his stint (includes bonus Denny McClain footage) and the second link is the local newspaper game story. Third link is 2012 college stats. We won't be linking to each outing, but we'll peek in every few weeks and jump in with any notes of interest.

(Photo by NICHOLAS DRANEY/Ogden Standard-Examiner) Ogden Raptors’ Devin Shines (right) dives for home plate as Helena Brewers catcher Paul Eshleman tries to make the tag during the first game of a doubleheader at Lindquist Field in Ogden on Tuesday. http://cdn3.standard.net/sites/default/files/imagecache/max_800/2012/07/17/story-18-raptors-146078.jpg

From Monday: Austin Hedges, of the TinCaps, tries to force his way across the plate against the Timber Rattlers' Tyler Roberts. Hedges was called out at the plate. http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?NewTbl=1&Site=JG&Date=20120716&Category=SPORTS0604&ArtNo=716009997&Ref=PH&Item=1&MaxW=500&MaxH=400&Q=85 Photo by Michelle Davies - The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

Helena audio: RHP Preston Gainey (Naval Academy) Farm Director Reid Nichols

Tyrone Taylor won't be 19 until January 22nd. This is fun. Can we just call him "Trout" Taylor?

Audio from Nashville — “(Mark) Roger(s) That” Jeff Hem's note -- Tonight’s interview is with hard-throwing Sounds right-hander Mark Rogers, who has posted consecutive seven-inning quality starts (14IP, ER) and victories over his last two outings. He discusses the pair of performances, how he feels at this point in the season at the 90-inning mark with less than two months to go, if he wishes every stadium had a visible radar screen to see velocities in-game, the Sounds’ recent hot streak and the team chemistry, and what life was like growing up in Maine in a family of commercial lobster fishermen.

DSL Player Notes: Third-year 3B Juan De Leon had ACL surgery back in January, but he has made appearances twice this week, so the fact he is still listed on the DL on his linked MiLB.com player page is incorrect. Poor Leudi Otano, the catcher who hasn't appeared in a box score since his one opening week appearance, but at least his strong game has him at a 2.167 OPS to this day. This roster remains light on position players, but plenty of updates (or better said, non-updates) on pitchers -- 18-year-old LHP Marcos Padilla has pinch-run twice this week, and snuck in some designated hitter time earlier this year, as you'll see via his Baseball Reference page linked on his name. He's only made one mound appearance this year, but it was recently, so he's helping out a short bench. 20-year-old 2nd year RHP Orlando Torrez, impressive numbers, has only two appearances this season, the last way back on June 11th. Converted 21-year-old 6'6" OF Hitaniel Arias also has only made two relief appearances, the last back on June 15th. LHP Brandol Perez, the 2010 Mariner statistical stud whose story we detailed here, has yet to make an appearance despite his placement on the active roster. Poor LHP Jose Ramos, he can only look back to 2009, he's in the midst of what hopefully won't be a third consecutive sidelined season coming off 2010 Tommy John surgey. The status of three pitchers yet to appear in a game this year has not changed from season's start -- RHP Elvis Mora (reserve list), RHP Osmel Perez (restricted list), and RHP Pedro Peguero (disabled list, elbow surgery last January). Finally and perhaps most importantly, we await another appearance by uber-prospect RHP Gian Rizzo. While we were excited to see a two-inning start on July 10th after last appearing on June 20th, let's hope that return appearance wasn't cut short by an injury re-occurance. *** Our continued thanks to TC07 for his daily DSL reports this year, outstanding. At the same time, I wonder if our missing old DSL maven, YoungGeezy, is silently tracking all this somewhere.

Matt Eddy of Baseball America confirmed for me: The Brewers hang on to Anderson's rights until one week prior to the 2013 draft. This is true for any unsigned college senior. The deadline does not apply to them.

Nashville Media Notes

Notified by individuals with access to the radar gun behind the plate in Greer Stadium -- Mark Rogers was consistently at 95-96 all night and touched 99 on a couple guns and 100 on one in the fifth.

A major-league scout takes us through his process at a New Orleans Zephyrs game Insightful article. Hat tip to Kyle at BrewCrewBall.com for the link.