Jim Goulart

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

Follow Monday's action as it happens with box score / game log links: Nashville Huntsville Brevard County Wisconsin

Monday's Daily Menu: All times are Central Nashville: RHP Mark Rogers at Omaha (Royals), 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 Kyle Heckathorn at home vs. Jackson (Mariners), 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: LHP Jed Bradley at Clearwater (Phillies), 6:00 PM gametime Sorry, no audio for this series... 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 Mark Williams at South Bend (Diamondbacks), 5:45 PM pre-game, 6:05 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 24 Stars' road games (one Helena series this summer, too).

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Weekly summary from Brad at TRatsBaseball

Yeah, this Jeff Hem tweet pretty much sums things up for Nashville.

VIDEO: 4/22/12: Nashville's Brooks Conrad hits a solo home run in the first inning of the Sounds' 2-1 loss to the Omaha Storm Chasers and from Saturday: 4/21/12: Nashville's Caleb Gindl saves a run by throwing out a runner at home as the Sounds fall to Omaha, 6-5, in 13 innings On the fly -- gun!

Dyson again deals Omaha game-winner By Rob White, Omaha.com A familiar formula resulted in another Omaha Storm Chasers victory. Jarrod Dyson’s squeeze-bunt single scored the go-ahead run in the seventh inning and Nate Adcock turned in his fourth straight strong start Sunday as Omaha defeated Nashville 2-1 for its eighth straight home win before 4,535 at Werner Park. Dyson has supplied a late game-winning RBI in three of Omaha’s last five home wins and started a winning ninth-inning rally in another game in that stretch. But while his previous game-winning hits had come on a 16th-inning triple and Saturday’s single through a five-infielder defense, Sunday’s came on a bunt single — and on a play that wasn’t even called. In a pitcher’s duel between Adcock and Nashville veteran Seth McClung, Omaha’s Terry Evans started the go-ahead rally with a single, then went to third on a single by Ryan Eigsti. Victor Garate relieved McClung, and then Evans scored with relative ease on Dyson’s bunt, sliding in safely ahead of the throw by first baseman Sean Halton. “I told Terry to be ready because there was a chance Dice would bunt,” Omaha manager Mike Jirschele said. “He read it well, got a great jump and took off.” Omaha entered the day leading the Pacific Coast League with 15 sacrifice bunts — no other team had more than nine — and Eigsti got one down Sunday. With a number of speedy players, the Chasers are a threat to bunt for hits as well. “I get some grief about it, but bunting is a skill these guys are going to be asked to do when they get to the majors,” Jirschele said. Omaha won its second straight game to start the homestand, improving to 9-1 at home for the season and 13-5 overall. Adcock (3-1), who entered the day fifth in the PCL with a 1.47 ERA and fourth with an opponents’ batting average of .169, managed to improve his ERA to 1.37 while holding the Sounds to one run on five hits. He walked one, struck out four and pitched an Omaha season-high eight innings. Nashville’s only run came on a homer by Brooks Conrad, the second batter of the game. Adcock, who retired 16 of the final 18 batters he faced, has held foes to a .174 average in 26 1⁄3 innings. “He threw the ball well again today,” Jirschele said. “Stayed ahead of hitters, mixed his pitches and kept the ball down — after the second hitter of the game.” Brandon Sisk pitched the ninth and picked up his first save. Nashville, a PCL-worst 4-14, lost its seventh game in a row and dropped to 3-11 in games decided by two runs or less. Evans, 30, coming off a down season in 2011, is hitting .440 (11 for 25) in eight games for Omaha since being promoted from Class AA Northwest Arkansas. The left fielder had two hits Sunday and also made a diving catch on Caleb Gindl’s line drive to lead off the ninth inning, keeping the Sounds from getting a rally started. “He’s come up here and really contributed,” Jirschele said. “He’s had some big hits for us, showed power and played a solid outfield. It’s nice to get a guy who’s had experience at this level, too. Those guys are a little more relaxed and know what to expect.”

Going to nitpick on the awesome Chris for one moment here -- Sunday was game #17 of the season. It was the fourth blown save of the year. Got to rally behind my Maassachusetts native and undrafted free agent Stephen Peterson here. It was unfortunate that Brandon Macias' error prevented the game from wrapping up (particularly when he was the featured Post-Crescent Rattler of the day -- see our Rattlers thread). So yes, technically, it was a blown save, and Chris certainly didn't mention Peterson specifically, it's just hard to lump in a "blown save" on an individual pitcher or even cumulatively the staff when the run is unearned. That being said, I think Chris' point was despite being tied for first place in the division, four of the losses have been of the "very tough" variety. That's all. Pin it on the offense Sunday .

Misc. update from the Clearwater site: Brevard's starter Jimmy Nelson was a teammate of Threshers pitcher Adam Morgan at the University of Alabama...they entered the game tied for first place in strikeouts with 21 apiece.

The 10-8 Stars are part of a very-balanced ten-team Southern League, at least via the standings thus far. Huntsville leads the league in AVG, OBP, and SLG -- not a bad trifecta. Khris Davis, Scooter Gennett, and Hunter Morris are "only" 11th, 13th, and 14th in league OPS rankings, respectively, so the rest of the Stars' lineup has contributed as well to the overall team ranking. Word of note, and we all love Scooter -- only two walks in 78 AB's thus far. He was under the 5% walk threshold in 2011 at Brevard. If he could even approach 10%...

The Manatees are hitting .224 as a team after 16 games, by far last in the 12-team Florida State League. Their collective .295 OBP is also last, .333 SLG 10th, .629 OPS last. The only statistical standout among individual leaders is T.J. Mittelstaedt, the 24-year-old Long Beach St. product with a .947 OPS, good for 5th in the league.

‘Tees drop fourth straight Brevard loses series opener to Clearwater By Frank Longobardo/Brevard County Manatees The Brevard County Manatees dropped their fourth consecutive game as they fell in the series opener to the Clearwater Threshers 4-2 on Sunday afternoon at Bright House Field. A quality start by Jimmy Nelson was not enough for the ‘Tees as they struck out 14 times against Threshers’ pitching, including 10 times against Austin Wright. Nelson allowed three earned runs in six innings of work and gave up six hits, while striking out four. Down 1-0 after four innings, the Manatees took the lead in the top of the fifth inning thanks to a two-out two-run single by T.J. Mittelstaedt that drove home both Scott Krieger and Shea Vucinich. Mittelstaedt went 2-for-4 on the afternoon. Clearwater scored two runs of its own in the bottom of the inning to take the lead back. One of the runs came on a bases-loaded walk to Albert Cartwright and then a Brandon Tripp sacrifice fly to center gave the Threshers a 4-2 lead. The Threshers would score another run in the eighth on a Jim Murphy RBI single off of Thomas Keeling. Offensively, the Manatees went just 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and left six men on base. Brevard County will look to snap their four-game skid on Monday night against the Threshers. Jed Bradley (2-1, 0.00) will take the hill for the Manatees as the lefty looks to hold on to his perfect earned run average. Clearwater will counter with righty Perci Garner (0-1, 2.70), who was a second round pick of the Phillies in 2010.

Khris Davis (hobbled off a couple of days ago) is starting for Huntsville (DH'ing today). Nice...

Rookie Brewers tweeting about the 100+ degree Arizona weather, awfully early for that, ugh. There have been multiple national news reports this week focusing on the issue.

Utility player Juan Sanchez was replaced early in the Manatee game after a simple throw to short -- Clearwater Bottom of the 1st Peter Lavin grounds out, second baseman T. J. Mittelstaedt to first baseman Cody Hawn. Albert Cartwright called out on strikes. Brandon Tripp grounds out, shortstop Juan Sanchez to first baseman Cody Hawn. Clearwater Bottom of the 2nd Defensive Substitution: Shea Vucinich replaces shortstop Juan Sanchez, batting 8th, playing shortstop. Could be just about anything, maybe got sick...

Nashville Media Notes Wisconsin Media Notes

Via Chris Mehring: WISCONSIN ROSTER MOVES: Catcher Parker Berberet has been placed on the disabled list today. OF Ben McMahan has been activated from the disabled list for today‟s game. *** Berberet was the DH on Saturday -- Wisconsin Top of the 11th Max Walla singles on a ground ball to center fielder Chad Wright. Jason Rogers strikes out swinging. Parker Berberet singles on a ground ball to right fielder Steven Moya. Max Walla to 2nd. Offensive Substitution: Pinch runner Adrian Williams replaces Parker Berberet. Read into that what you will. McMahan was on the DL for the minimum one week with an undisclosed injury.

At Brevard, RHP Austin Ross goes on the 7-day DL -- he left Friday's game with some sort of arm discomfort. Taking his spot, likely in the rotation as well, is 2009 4th round RHP Brooks Hall, who opened the season on the DL with an undisclosed injury. The Manatees continue to play one man short on the roster, 24 instead of 25, as it has been much of the season thus far.

INF Brandon Macias is the featured Rattler in this week's Post-Crescent Profile I enjoyed this question and answer, makes you realize why success in the low-rookie Arizona Summer League can be tough for batters: Q: You struggled a little bit in Arizona rookie ball last year, but when you moved up to Wisconsin you played much better. Why do you think that was? A: "I don't know. I guess just the feel of it. Just playing at all those spring training fields — growing up, I was playing summer ball there when I was younger. I just felt more comfortable (in Appleton) — big crowds, just having that atmosphere. It was just different. Plus it was tough to hit in that league. You have guys throwing 96 (mph), 98, but all over the place. Here, people are around the zone a lot more and I think that might be part of the reason why I started to hit a little better here."

Mark Rogers: Best pitch forward The Orrs Island native is back after surgeries and a 25-game suspension for a banned stimulant, trying to return to the major leagues By Greg Sullivan, Special to the Maine Sunday Telegram NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Mark Rogers is the same pitcher. The same but different. He is a year and a half removed from his major-league debut with the Milwaukee Brewers. With major surgery and a 25-game suspension behind him, the same pitcher has a much different outlook. "I'm the same guy. I think my arm hasn't felt this good in a long time," said Rogers, the Orrs Island, Maine native and Mt. Ararat High graduate. He was smiling as he stood next to his locker in the Triple-A Nashville Sounds' clubhouse on Wednesday, just after his season debut for the Milwaukee Brewers farm team. "I think the more I throw, my numbers will continue to get better. I can still reach back and let it go if I need to." But the 26-year-old right-hander also has grown up lately. He has taken responsibility for a recent mistake, and continues to face the sort of character-building challenges of overcoming difficult injuries with a bulldog-like approach as he has through much of his career. DELAYING A PROMISING START Rogers was rated the Brewers' No. 1 prospect entering last season but battled carpal tunnel issues and had surgery on both his wrists this offseason. He made progress this spring, but he still had to serve the final eight games of a 25-game suspension from last year for testing positive for a banned stimulant, which pushed back his first start until Wednesday. Rogers told MLB.com that he took a number of over-the-counter supplements last spring. His shoulder hurt, his wrists hurt. He would try anything to make it back to the Brewers' roster. And he took something he shouldn't have, though he can't pinpoint what it was because he tried so many different supplements. "The more you're around this game, it matures you. I made a mistake," Rogers said of the failed test. "But the Brewers stuck by me the whole time and I just want to get to the big leagues and help them out." Rogers acknowledged he didn't exactly shine in Wednesday's start, a three-inning, two-run performance. Oklahoma City won, 7-5. But there were glimpses of the old Rogers, the one who got a short call-up to Milwaukee in 2010 and was the No. 5 overall pick in the June 2004 draft before his career was sidetracked by injuries. His blazing fastball was still there, clocked in the mid-90s. Rogers allowed a solo home run in the second inning and got into a jam in the third, but kept his composure to avoid giving up a big inning. "I was (angry) to give up the home run, of course. Nobody wants to give up a homer, but they happen," Rogers said. "I really just want to get ahead of guys. Just throw strike one and stay ahead in the count, let my stuff do what it does and let my defense play behind me. You start putting guys on base, that's when you're going to get into trouble. Pound the ball in the middle of the strike zone and trust my defense. "I just want to keep improving, you know what I mean? I came a long way this spring. I know I'm not exactly where I want to be yet, but I can see the progress, for sure. It's definitely going in the right direction, so as long as that continues I'll be happy." THAT OLD FEELING Rogers, a pitcher accustomed to rehab work after a pair of shoulder surgeries earlier in his professional career, said rehabbing from carpal tunnel problems was "kind of crazy" by comparison. "What was real frustrating was having the ball be in my hand and my arm felt great (but) I couldn't feel the ball," Rogers said. "It was as mental, I think, as it was physical, because the ball, once it's back in your hand, you've just got to let it go. You let it rip." Now, Rogers said he is starting to feel like himself, crediting work he did with Brewers pitching coach Rick Kranitz and others in the Brewers organization this spring for helping get him over the psychological hurdles of his injury. "I'm just trying to work on getting that fluidity back, getting my foot down, just simplifying my mechanics so we're not thinking about trying to do all this stuff over the rubber and can just think about what's going on at the plate. "Coming back from not being able to feel the ball, you need to trust the ball coming out of your hand. I trust it now and that's the best feeling, because last year I didn't." SEEKING NORMALCY Translating that feeling to wins, and hopefully another shot at pitching in the major is not a lost dream. It's attainable. "(Rogers) is a special talent. He's got the ability," said Nashville pitching coach Fred Dabney, who acknowledged the Brewers organization is still very high on Rogers. "You know, he's trying to get to that point where he gets more consistent and that's what we're hoping happens." "Facing adversity in this game, all these guys will do it at some point and time. Make progress, take steps, being consistent. (Wednesday) he was a little inconsistent, but he did some good things, also. We've just got to be consistent with those good things." A year and a half after his debut in the majors, Rogers deliberated on what it will mean to get back there. For Rogers, it's just about feeling normal again. "Everybody wants to pitch in the big leagues. I think that's what everybody wants to do. Right?" Rogers said. "After my shoulder surgery, I made it up in 2010 and I don't see any reason why it would be different now. I'm ready to get into the season and get things rolling here, get back on track, to get some normalcy back in my life. "There were times of frustration, absolutely. I really tried never to say, 'Why me?' " Mark Rogers returned to the mound Wednesday for the Nashville Sounds, the top farm team of the Milwaukee Brewers. Photo courtesy of Michael Strasinger http://media.pressherald.com/images/MarkRogers2.jpg

Just in case you had forgotten (or taken for granted) the defensive prowess of Sounds' catcher Martin Maldonado, read this. Awesome. *** Just to punctuate that link, here's more details from the Omaha.com game story: Strong-armed Nashville catcher Martin Maldonado threw out Jarrod Dyson at second base on a stolen-base attempt, completing a strikeout-throw out double play to end the inning. Dyson had stolen 55 straight bases against catchers while playing for Omaha, dating to the 2010 season. He'd been picked off by pitchers three times, his only caught stealings in that stretch.

Stars Outslugged By Generals HUNTSVILLE, Ala.- In what was dubbed to be a pitchers duel between Stars RHP Tyler Thornburg and Generals LHP James Paxson, the Jackson Generals offense broke out with 13 hits and four home runs to lead them to a 11-8 win over the Huntsville Stars on Saturday night. In a game that featured 19 combined runs and 28 combined hits, the Stars got the scoring started in the first inning as an RBI groundout by second basemen Scooter Gennett and an RBI single by first baseman Hunter Morris gave the Stars an early 2-0 lead. After a run in the second inning and a three-run home run by Generals designated hitter Joe Dunigan in the thrid inning gave Jackson a 4-2 lead, Huntsville answered in the bottom half of the frame by batting their entire order. Led by a two-run homerun by rightfielder Brock Kjeldgaard, and RBI singles by catcher Jason Jaramillo, center fielder Josh Prince, and shortstop Domnit Bolivar, the five-run third inning gave the Stars a 7-4 lead. From that point on, the Generals offense cruised to seven unanswered runs over the next five innings, including two home runs by center fielder Denny Almonte and an RBI double as well as another solo shot from Dunigan. On the night, Chavez and Dunigan combined to go 7-for-10 at the plate with four homeruns and eight runs batted in. Both 1B Ryan Poythress and LF Kailian Sams also had two hits apiece for Jackson. In two innings of relief, Jackson RHP Yoervis Medina improved to 1-2 on the season with the victory. Generals RHP Stephen Pryor earned his fifth save of the season as well. For the Stars, RHP Bradley Blanks was tabbed with the loss, falling to 1-1 on the season after giving up two runs in two innings pitched. On offense for the Stars, it was Morris who led the plate, going 3-for-5 on the night (all singles). Left fielder Lee Haydel, Jaramillo, Gennett, and Prince each had two hits apiece as well. For Jaramillo, it was his second straight multi-hit game. Game three of a five game series will take place on Sunday as the Stars will send RHP Evan Anundsen (0-1, 2.25 ERA) to face off against highly-touted RHP Tijuan Walker (2-0, 1.64 ERA). First pitch is at 4:03 PM.

The Nashville game story link has now been updated to include four audio highlight calls by Voice of the Sounds Jeff Hem.

Huntsville Media Notes