Jim Goulart

Daytona-News Journal game story includes this: Jokisch only faced a couple of scoring threats by the Manatees. With one out in the second inning, Brevard catcher Shawn Zarraga singled to right. He was erased on Mike Walker's fielder's choice grounder to short. Miguel Velazquez then slammed a long drive over center fielder John Androeoli's head. But Androeli retrieved the ball quickly, preventing Walker from scoring. Jokisch then retired Scott Krieger on a soft comebacker that ended the inning.

Arms blank 'Tees into off-day Eric Jokisch threw his second consecutive shutout in a 4-0 Cubs win on Saturday night at Jackie Robinson Ballpark. Jokisch has not allowed a run over 12 innings of work with no walks and 16 strikeouts in his last two starts. Daytona Cubs Daytona Beach, FL -- The Daytona Cubs earned their first shutout of the season behind another strong outing from LHP Eric Jokisch in a 4-0 victory over the Brevard County Manatees, Saturday. Jokisch (W, 3-3), who went seven shutout innings in his last outing on Monday, threw six more on Saturday and struck out five. The southpaw continuously pounded his changeup down in the zone, and did not walk a batter for the second consecutive start while only allowing four hits. Both Jokisch and Manatees' starter RHP Jimmy Nelson did not allow a run through the first four innings until Daytona struck for three in the fifth. With RF Elieser Bonne on second with two outs, 2B Rubi Silva singled up the middle to give the Cubs a 1-0 lead. After Silva took second on the throw home, 3B Arismendy Alcantara singled plating Silva for the Cubs' second run. With Alcantara on first, LF Nelson Perez popped a ball up to the left side of the infield that was misplayed by 3B Mike Walker which allowed Alcantara to score all-the-way from first to give the Cubs a 3-0 lead. Daytona added a an insurance run in the eighth on a DH Richard Jones double to right-center. It was Jones' second double of the game. Both RHP Ty'Relle Harris and RHP Scott Weismann threw perfect innings of relief in the seventh and eighth respectively, and RHP Tony Zych closed the game out in the ninth after allowing a single and a walk to start the frame. Daytona pounded 10 hits in the win, including two each from Alcantara, Bonne, Jones and Silva. With the win, Daytona improves to 13-22 on the season. The Cubs and Manatees will enjoy an off day on Sunday before beginning a three-game set at Space Coast Stadium on Monday. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 (5:35 Central Time).

AUDIO: Andy Gonzalez Go-Ahead RBI Double AUDIO: Jeff Bianchi Two-Run HR

How you pass a rain delay in Huntsville -- nice carpet, looks circa 1985, when Joe Davis was built.

Florida State League team offensive rankings before another stellar (not) offensive output from the Manatees *** Rain delay is set to end in Huntsville at 8:30 Central time, so there will be some later-than-usual audio with Tyler Thornburg for us tonight. *** Wild one thus far in Nashville. Caleb Gindl has made a pinch-hitting appearnce, so while apparently semi-sidelined for an unknown reason, he's not DL-bound, or so it seems. *** Rattlers tied after five at 1-1.

Absolutely! Seriously, thanks.

As per Chris Mehring, yesterday's Rattlers starting pitcher, RHP Jacob Barnes, goes on the seven-day DL. Taking his place is the returning RHP Tyler Cravy, back up from extended spring training in Maryvale. No word on Barnes' formal injury status.

There is an availability tonight for some of those who volunteered services earlier this spring to join the fun, it'd be a nice way to dip your toes into the Link Report pool, sorry about the short notice. So if you're reading and can help out with Nashville and Brevard County Saturday night, please post here so we know. It doesn't have to be one of the members I'm listing here, but I am going to link to their offer to help below. If you're a new volunteer, great, just let us know. You all know the basic routine, but if you'd like to put your own unique spin on things, go for it, thanks. homer jjkoestler PrinceFielderx1 YoungGeezy First to post letting us know they've got AAA and High-A tonight wins the honor. Thank you !!!!

Wisconsin Media Notes

Nashville Media Notes

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

Saturday's Daily Menu: All times are Central Nashville: RHP Brian Baker at home vs. Reno (Diamondbacks), 6:20 PM pre-game, 6:35 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 Tyler Thornburg at home vs. Mississippi (Braves), 6:28 PM pre-game, 6:43 gametime Free Live Audio Link -- Select the Huntsville feed from the MiLB main audio page I-Phone friendly audio link 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: A total of 24 Stars' games (in Jacksonville and Tennessee) will be broadcast. ********** Brevard County: RHP Jimmy Nelson at Daytona (Cubs), 6:05 PM gametime Free Live Audio Link -- Select the Daytona 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 Matt Miller at Kane County (Royals), 6:10 PM pre-game, 6:30 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 24 Stars' road games (one Helena series this summer, too).

http://www.brewerfan.net/images/store/dailylinkreport.jpg

Reviewing the Brew's Curt interviewed OF Max Walla and logged it here.

Via the Stars: HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – The Huntsville Stars and Milwaukee Brewers have announced a few roster moves prior to tonight’s game against Mississippi. RHP Rob Wooten has been promoted to Triple-A Nashville and RHP Eric Marzec has been transferred to High-A Brevard County. To fill those two roster spots, LHP Dan Meadows has been transferred to Huntsville from Nashville and RHP Hiram Burgos has been transferred to Huntsville from Brevard County. Wooten, the Stars closer, was tied for the Southern League lead in saves at eight and led the league in games finished (14). In 17 appearances, he had a 1.74 ERA (4 R / 20.2 IP) and converted all eight of his save opportunities. Marzec appeared in 10 games for the Stars after being promoted from Brevard County on April 12. He was 1-1 with a 7.53 ERA (12 ER / 14.1 IP). Meadows, who spent part of 2011 with the Stars, has a 4.42 ERA (9 ER / 18.1 IP) in 13 games with the Sounds. The 24-year-old lefty was a Southern League All-Star in 2011 before being promoted to Nashville in July. In seven games (six starts) for Brevard County, Burgos is 2-1 with a 0.87 ERA (4 ER / 41.1 IP). His longest outing of the season was on April 24 when he pitched eight complete innings of one-hit ball. He gave up just one run in the loss to Clearwater. Both Meadows and Burgos will be active for tonight’s game against the M-Braves. With these moves, the Stars active roster sits at 25.

Following the Brewer farmhand twitter feed, it appears that RHP Eric Marzec will drop from Huntsville to Brevard County. So we're just awaiting the AAA Nashville move to free up a spot there.

As per Jimmy Nelson's tweet, RHP's Rob Wooten (to AAA Nashville) and Hiram Burgos (to AA Huntsville) have been promoted. No word quite yet on corresponding moves at Nashville or Brevard (or potentially Wisconsin to backfill). Congratulations to both, well-earned!

VIDEO PLAYER INTERVIEW: Timber Rattlers' Tyler Roberts on his power display Friday night: MAY 11, 2012 Power surge carries Rattlers by Tim Froberg, Post-Crescent staff writer GRAND CHUTE — Tyler Roberts is a rocket-armed catcher who needs to prove he can hit professional pitching. He had no problem with the latter skill Friday night. Roberts slammed a pair of long solo home runs and Yadiel Rivera added another tape-measure shot. The unexpected power surge from the bottom of the batting order lifted the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers to a 5-4 Midwest League win over the Quad Cities River Bandits. It was the first two homers of the season for Roberts, the Rattlers’ No. 8 hitter who had been struggling mightily at the plate. Roberts is hitting .180 with five RBI and has struck 14 times in 50 at-bats. “All these young players definitely have skills, but they’re working on things,” said Wisconsin manager Matt Erickson. “With Tyler, what jumps out at you is his arm strength and his power. He’s a little erratic with barrel control, so the consistency of contact isn’t always there.” It was his second time as a Rattler that Roberts has hit two home runs in a single game. His first multi-homer game came May 29, 2011, against Kane County. “When you’ve been struggling and you get a game like this, it feels great,” said Roberts, a Gray, Ga., native who was the Milwaukee Brewers’ 10th-round selection in the 2009 Major League Baseball draft. “I was just trying to get a good pitch to hit. I’ve been working with our hitting coaches on some timing issues and changing up with my hands. Going into tonight, I was chasing too many bad balls.” The 21-year-old Roberts split last season with the Wisconsin and Helena. He hit .211 with the Rattlers in 152 at-bats with four home runs and 27 RBI, while batting .263 at Helena with two homers and 14 RBI. Roberts spent most of his first two years with the Arizona Brewers in the Arizona Rookie League and showed promise at the plate, hitting .292 and .288 with a combined seven homers in 228 at-bats. Roberts’ round-trippers Friday before a home crowd of 3,566 weren’t cheap ones. His first was a second-inning bomb to dead center that carried over the “batter’s eye” at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium and traveled over 400 feet. His second was a towering seventh-inning blast that sailed well over the left-field wall and snapped a 4-4 tie, putting the Rattlers on top for good. “The first one was a 1-0 fastball right down the middle,” said Roberts. “I put a good swing on it and got it up in the jet stream. The second one was a 1-1 changeup. I was out in front of it, but I kept my hands back.” Roberts spent time this week watching video of his stroke with hitting coach Dusty Rhodes and Sandy Guerrero, the hitting coordinator for the Milwaukee Brewers organization. Corrections were made and Roberts worked to get his legs more involved in his swing. “Man, I hope this gets me going,” he said. “I’ve got my confidence back and I’m getting some good swings. Hopefully, this jump-starts my season.” Rivera, the Rattlers’ No. 7 hitter, also showed impressive power. He and Roberts slugged back-to-back blasts in the second, and Rivera’s two-run shot was also hit to center. It didn’t carry quite as far as Roberts’ ensuing blast, but was estimated to travel just more than 400 feet. It was the second homer of the season for the slick-fielding shortstop, who is ranked as the Milwaukee Brewers’ 15th best prospect by Baseball America. “Yaddy (Rivera) is very similar offensively to Tyler,” said Erickson. “He’s got a little juice. He’s a long, lanky kid. He’s got some extension through the zone. The ball jumps off his bat. But again, the consistency of barrel control with him and pitch selection is something we have to continue to preach. He has to try and stay in the middle of the field. When he gets pitches to hit and he’s not chasing out of the zone, he can do some damage.” The River Bandits’ Matt Williams and Juan Castillo also homered on a hitter’s night with the wind blowing out from home plate. Quad Cities did all of its damage off Rattlers starter Jacob Barnes, who allowed all four runs on five hits. The Rattlers received stellar relief pitching from Andy Moye, who threw five scoreless innings to pick up the mound win. Moye allowed just one hit and struck out seven to lower his ERA to 1.44. “Moye was awesome,” said Erickson. “He was really good with the curveball, mixing it in and elevating his fastball late in counts. He definitely had their hitters off balance. There was no thoughts of taking him out of that game the way he was rolling.”

Huntsville Media Notes *** STARS STREAK SNAPPED AT FOUR HUNTSVILLE, Ala.- Following a stretch where they won four straight games against the Jackson Generals, the Huntsville Stars lost the first game of a five-game series versus the Mississippi Braves by a score of 9-6 at Joe Davis Stadium on Friday night. Just a day removed from taking over sole possession of first place in the Southern League North on Thursday, Huntsville struck first in the first inning by taking advantage of two M-Braves errors in the field, the latter of them a groundball by left fielder Jay Gibbons that allowed right fielder Kentrail Davis to score to give the Stars a 1-0 lead. From that point on, it was all Braves. Beginning in the third inning, the Braves tacked on three runs, highlighted by an RBI double by left fielder Evan Gattis and an RBI single by Joe Leonard to make the score 3-1. Then, in the fourth, Huntsville starting pitcher Dan Merklinger hit M-Braves shortstop Andrelton Simmons by a pitch with the bases loaded to bring in another run. After the Stars cut the lead to 4-3 in the top half of the fifth on an RBI double by catcher Anderson De La Rosa and an RBI groundout by third basemen Juan Sanchez, Mississippi tacked on five runs off of Stars RHP Roque Mercedes. Following an RBI by right fielder Keenan Wiley and Simmons drawing a bases-loaded walk to score another run, a bases clearing three-run double by second basemen Phil Gosselin, the Stars found themselves down by a score of 9-3. Huntsville was still able to make a game out of it. First, Gibbons cut the Braves lead to 9-5 with a two-run single in the fifth inning. Then, after three scoreless innings, a sacrifice fly by center fielder Josh Prince brought the Stars within three runs in the ninth inning. Unfortunately, with two runners on base and the potential game-tying run at the plate, second basemen Scooter Gennett popped out to shortstop Andrelton Simmons to end the game. For the Stars, Merklinger fell to 1-4 on the season with the loss, pitching 4.0 innings while giving up four runs (2 ER) and four hits. For the M-Braves, starter Zeke Spruill improved to 3-3 on the season after giving up five runs (3 ER) and eight hits in 8.0 innings pitched. The loss snapped a four-game winning streak overall for the Stars, their second longest of the season. Game two of a five-game series will begin on Saturday as the Huntsville will send highly touted RHP Tyler Thornburg (4-0, 1.98 ERA) to square off against Mississippi southpaw Jose Lugo (2-0, 1.45 ERA). First pitch is at 6:43 PM.

Audio from Nashville — “In the Dugout with Don (Money)” Jeff's note: Tonight’s interview is with longtime Brewers minor league coach and former Sounds manager (’09-’11) Don Money, who is in town to watch the Sounds this homestand. He is making rounds through the Brewers’ full-season affiliates before heading to rookie-level Helena (Mont.) next month to be the hitting coach for the Helena Brewers

The closest Brewers example I could find to this would be Chris Saenz, who made only two AA starts in April 2004 (he had one AA relief appearance in 2003) before his April 24th MLB debut (and unfortunately only MLB outing), but what a game it was. Chris would still be only 30 today, that's a player I'd like to see tracked down and interviewed, I think all of us around then had a real soft spot for the kid. Hope he's doing well in life.

Wisconsin Media Notes

Nashville Media Notes