Jim Goulart

Almonte was activated from the 15-day DL prior to his outright, naturally. With Jeremy Reed in the Twins' system, Nashville conveniently has a roster spot open for Almonte should he accept.

Rotoworld: Brewers sent OF Erick Almonte outright to Triple-A Nashville. He has yet to accept the assignment, however, and may end up requesting his release. Recently recovered from a concussion, the 33-year-old Almonte hit just .103 with one home run in 29 at-bats for the Brewers this season. *** Have to think he'll accept the assignment. While the roster is at 37, keep in mind Manny Parra, and more likely sooner, Takashi Saito, would have to be re-added to the 40-man once activated. Still, there is some 40-man roster flexibility there.

Nashville Audio Archive -- June 2 -- Chat with catcher Mike Rivera

As being discussed here on the Major League Forum, OF Jeremy Reed has been traded to Minnesota for cash considerations, where Reed will provide the Twins with some AAA OF depth. The Nashville outfield was indeed crowded, and Reed had underperformed all season.

The life of a minor league bus rider, summarized in a Chris Mehring tweet

Sounds summary now available -- Sounds Offense Breaks Out In 15-11 Win Over IowaNashville Posts Season Highs In Hits & Runs In Snapping Three-Game Skid Nashville Sounds NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Nashville Sounds rallied from an early six-run deficit to post a 15-11 victory in a slugfest with the division-rival Iowa Cubs on Thursday evening at Greer Stadium. The 15-run outburst was the highest this season for the Sounds (22-31), who snapped a three-game losing streak with the come-from-behind victory. Nashville pounded out a season-high 22 hits on the night, a PCL-era record for the club at Greer Stadium and two shy of the overall team hits record of 24 (accomplished twice during the 2000 season). Every starting Sounds position player recorded a multiple-hit effort. Brett Carroll led the way with season-best 4-for-5 evening. Nashville went 9-for-18 with runners in scoring position. Iowa jumped out to a 3-0 lead against Sounds starter Josh Butler in the top of the second inning. Cubs catcher Welington Castillo led off the frame with his fourth home run of the year, a solo shot to left-center. A pair of one-out walks came back to haunt Butler later in the inning when Fernando Perez plated Augie Ojeda and Matt Camp with a two-out double down the right field line. Nashville responded with a pair of runs in the home half of the second to pull back within a run at 3-2. Carroll led off with a single against Cubs starter Austin Bibens-Dirkx, moved to second when Mat Gamel drew a walk, and scored on George Kottaras' RBI single to right. Gamel crossed home later in the frame following a Taylor Green sacrifice fly. Kottaras continued his red-hot hitting with a 2-for-5 night. The Nashville catcher has hit safely in 14 of his last 17 contests at a .373 clip (22-for-59). The I-Cubs stretched their lead to 8-2 with a five-spot against Butler in the third. Four of the five runs in the inning were unearned following a two-out fielding error by Sounds shortstop Edwin Maysonet. Butler took a no-decision for the Sounds after giving up a season-high eight runs (four earned) on nine hits over his four innings of work. He walked four batters in the contest, throwing only 48 of his 95 pitches for strikes on the evening. The Sounds got four runs back in the bottom of the fourth against Bibens-Dirkx, drawing back within two at 8-6. Kottaras led off with a ground-rule double to right and came around to score when Caleb Gindl (3-for-4) stroked a triple to right-center, his first three-bagger of the year. Green then drove in Gindl with a groundout, making it an 8-4 contest. The fourth-inning rally continued as Nashville turned three consecutive two-out hits into two more runs. Eric Farris (3-for-5) tripled into the right field corner, Jordan Brown roped an RBI double down the line, and Maysonet blooped a run-scoring single into shallow right but was thrown out at second to end the frame. Once again, Iowa had an immediate answer to a Sounds' rally as Scales drilled a two-out, two-run homer to right off Nashville reliever Robert Hinton in the fifth, his fourth roundtripper of the year. Scales enjoyed a solid 2-for-4, four-RBI night in front of a large contingent of family, who traveled from his hometown of Alpharetta, Ga. for the game. The Sounds rallied for five runs off Iowa reliever Marco Carrillo in the bottom of the fifth, sending ten batters to the plate to take their first lead of the night at 11-10. Gamel got things started with a massive two-run homer to right-center, his ninth longball of the year and fourth in his last seven games. Farris plated Gindl with a sacrifice fly later in the inning to pull the Sounds within one at 10-9, then Ojeda, the Cubs' shortstop, booted a routine, two-out grounder off the bat of Brown to allow Green to race home with the tying run. Maysonet then put Nashville in front with his second bloop run-scoring single to right. Nashville continued to pour it on in the sixth, scoring three two-out runs off Carrillo to push the lead to 14-10. With runners on first and second, Sounds pitcher Donovan Hand helped his own cause with an RBI single. Carrillo then uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Kottaras to score from third for the second run of the frame. After Farris singled, Brown followed by greeting new Iowa reliever Jeff Stevens with an RBI single to center. Carroll increased the Sounds' lead to 15-10 when he led off the Nashville seventh with his sixth home run of the year, a line drive shot to left off Stevens. Cubs first baseman Bryan LaHair closed out the evening's scoring in the eighth with a two-out solo homer to right off Zack Segovia, the infielder's team-leading 13th big fly of the year for Iowa. Hinton (1-0) was the beneficiary of the Sounds' mid-game rally as he picked up his first win of the season. The right-hander allowed two runs (both on Scales' homer) in his two innings of work. Carrillo (0-1) absorbed the loss after surrendering eight runs (six earned) on nine hits in just 1 2/3 innings of relief work for the visitors. The teams wrap up the series with a 7:05 PM finale on Friday evening. Right-hander Mark DiFelice (1-1, 2.30) will make his first start of the season for Nashville, as he replaces Chase Wright in the Sounds' rotation. Iowa will counter with right-hander Alberto Cabrera (0-0, 6.75). Another Firestone Friday Fireworks show will follow the on-field action.

Great, the seven non-DSL games I've summarized the last three nights the squads are winless... Final: Tennessee 3, @Huntsville 2 Stars Can’t Hold Early Lead; Drop Series Versus Smokies With 3-2 Loss Jill Cacic, Huntsville Stars Huntsville, AL – Another tight game goes the way of the Tennessee Smokies (35-19) who take the series over the Huntville Stars (27-26) in game four, 3-2. The Stars got out to an early 2-0 lead after the first two innings but could not hold on as the Smokies creeped back into the game. They tied it with one run in the first and second inning. Sean Halton had a great day at the plate for the Stars going 3-for-3 with an RBI and a walk. Zelous Wheeler also came around to score a run, finishing the night 1-for-4. The Stars offense ended up getting shut down by the Smokies bullpen. For the Smokies, starter Trey McNutt (1-2) left after left two innings and four relievers pitched the final seven innings allowing no runs on six hits. Jeffrey Beliveau (2-0) got the win after pitching the sixth and seventh innings, striking out three batters. Starter Michael Bowman (2-2) pitched well for the Stars going five innings giving up just two runs on five hits. He also walked five and struck out one. Lucas Luetge (1-2) suffered the loss pitching in two innings, giving up the third run of the game for the Smokies on two hits. The series finale will be Friday night. Cody Scarpetta (1-2, 3.91 ERA) will take the mound for the Stars against a pitcher who the Smokies have not yet named. Huntsville Box Score He limited the damage, but Michael Bowman would probably disagree that he pitched "well", not with the five free passes. Reliever Roque Mercedes also did Bowman a huge favor, escaping from a 1st and 2nd, no out mess that Bowman left in the 6th. As the Huntsville media notes pointed out (and everyone will learn something each night by perusing the various media notes links we provide), Sean Halton is just a beast at Joe Davis Stadium -- that's an 18-game home hitting streak extended easily here. The Stars spread their ten hits and four walks too well, given they only plated the two runs. Lee Haydel (2-for-5) and Erik Komatsu (1-for-4, BB, out trying to stretch his single into a double) were the other Stars besides Halton to reach more than once. Huntsville Play-by-Play Given the futility of the baserunners-to-actual runs ratio mentioned, you'd figure there'd be some major frustration in the log, but there were no glaring disasters, no outs made with less than two outs and a runner on 3rd. 1-for-8 with RISP won't cut it, though.

Sorry for the delayed updates below, technical difficulties of my own as well -- Final: @Bradenton 5, Brevard County 2 Marauders Poised for Sweep After 5-2 Win Bradenton Takes First Three with Brevard County Bradenton Marauders BRADENTON, FL - The Bradenton Marauders, Class A-Advanced affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates, took their third straight Thursday, topping the Brevard County Manatees 5-2 at McKechnie Field. The Manatees were the first to score, getting a run off Donnie Veal in the second. Veal made his first start since coming back from Tommy John surgery last June. He pitched last year at Triple-A Indianapolis and spent 2009 with the Pirates. He finished by going two innings and allowing just the lone run. Bradenton responded in each of the next three innings, scoring two in the second, one in the third and two in the fourth. In the second Aaron Baker and Elevys Gonzalez led off with a single and a double respectively. David Rubinstein and Calvin Anderson drove them each in with a groundout and double. In the third Jarek Cunningham led off single, replaced as first on a fielder's choice by Ramon Cabrera. Two batters later Gonzalez singled off the pitcher Nick Bucci (literally) to drive in the catcher for a 3-1 lead. The Marauders finished their scoring in the fifth when Anderson led off with a walk. Robbie Grossman then doubled him in and scored himself when Cabrera singled later in the frame. Nathan Baker picked up the win going six innings of one-run baseball in relief of Veal. Zach Foster also made his Marauders debut, tossing a hitless inning in the third. Bradenton goes for the four-game sweep Friday at 7:00 PM (6:00 Central) against the Manatees. Right hander Quinton Miller takes the ball against Adrian Rosario. Brevard County Box Score On the bright side, the much-used Brevard bullpen has tossed 11.2 innings of shutout ball the last two nights; Nick Bucci, as others noted above, couldn't maintain his stellar season-long pace in this one, 4 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 2 BB, 3 K. Nothing especially exciting offensively, seven hits for the 'Tees, with catcher Sean McCraw having the lone multi-hit effort and sole extra-base hit, a double. Kentrail Davis' "wow us" streak ended at one game, as he was 0-for-4 with two K's. Hunter Morris posted the same line. Five others had singles, with Shea Vucinich and Shawn Zarraga driving in runs with theirs. Brevard County Play-by-Play Scooter Gennett stole his 6th base in eight attempts, so he's just about on pace for a similar ratio as last year in Wisconsin, where he was 14-for-18.

VIDEO: Taylor Green's two-run bomb

In Don Money's world, SS Edwin Maysonet is a # 3 hitter, and Mat Gamel, Caleb Gindl, and Taylor Green all hit below the cleanup spot. Only George Kottaras has a higher OBP than Gamel or Green. And he's batting 6th. Reverse OBP lineups are fun -- not.

FYI, Jack Z. of the Mariners has decided to give another affiliated shot to LHP Tony Butler (career stats), the Milwaukee-born former Oak Creek product who was Seattle's 3rd round pick in 2006. He was dealt to Baltimore in the Erik Bedard deal, subsequently released by the Orioles, picked up by Milwaukee, and then released again after 11 appearances in 2010. Hat tip to Baseball America.

The DSL Brewers have been postponed. There's a good chance the teams will play two the next time they meet at the Athletics' complex, one week from today, June 9th.

Wisconsin Game Notes and Lineup By the way, this is night three, and we believe the final night, of a mini-sabbatical for Eric (Sessile Fielder), your normal evening Link Reporter (don't worry, everything's fine). Over the first two nights, the Brewers U.S.-based squads have gone 0-for-8. If it's 0-for-12 after tonight, obviously he'll never be able to take a night off again.

Nashville Media Notes No idea what circumstances surround this, but instead of LHP Chase Wright getting the start Friday, RHP Mark DiFelice is listed. That's unique. Huntsville Media Notes

PCL American North Club W L PCT GB *ELIM # Home Away L 10 Streak Omaha 30 23 .566 - - 16-10 14-13 7-3 W3 Iowa 25 28 .472 5.0 87 11-12 14-16 5-5 W3 Memphis 24 28 .462 5.5 87 16-13 8-15 7-3 W2 Nashville 21 31 .404 8.5 84 14-14 7-17 4-6 L3 SOU North Club W L PCT GB *ELIM # Home Away L 10 Streak Tennessee 34 19 .642 - - 18-7 16-12 7-3 W2 Jackson 31 22 .585 3.0 15 15-11 16-11 6-4 W1 Huntsville 27 25 .519 6.5 12 14-8 13-17 7-3 L2 Chattanooga 25 28 .472 9.0 9 12-18 13-10 4-6 L1 Carolina 16 37 .302 18.0 E 11-19 5-18 3-7 L2 FSL North Club W L PCT GB *ELIM # Home Away L 10 Streak Daytona 40 13 .755 - - 21-6 19-7 9-1 W1 Clearwater 33 20 .623 7.0 11 16-10 17-10 6-4 L1 Dunedin 29 24 .547 11.0 7 10-14 19-10 4-6 W1 Lakeland 28 25 .528 12.0 6 15-11 13-14 7-3 W3 Tampa 25 28 .472 15.0 3 12-16 13-12 7-3 W4 Brevard County 20 33 .377 20.0 E 12-18 8-15 5-5 L2 MID Western Club W L PCT GB *ELIM # Home Away L 10 Streak Burlington 37 17 .685 - - 18-5 19-12 7-3 L1 Quad Cities 29 24 .547 7.5 - 12-12 17-12 5-5 W4 Peoria 28 25 .528 8.5 17 18-8 10-17 4-6 L3 Wisconsin 27 26 .509 9.5 16 17-12 10-14 3-7 L3 Cedar Rapids 27 27 .500 10.0 15 15-11 12-16 5-5 L1 Beloit 26 27 .491 10.5 15 11-14 15-13 5-5 W4 Kane County 23 30 .434 13.5 11 12-14 11-16 6-4 L2 Clinton 16 38 .296 21.0 4 6-20 10-18 5-5 W2 DSL S.D. North Club W L PCT GB *ELIM # Home Away L 10 Streak DSL Brewers 4 0 1.000 - - 2-0 2-0 4-0 W4 DSL Athletics 2 2 .500 2.0 67 1-1 1-1 2-2 W1 DSL Mariners 2 2 .500 2.0 67 1-1 1-1 2-2 L1 DSL Cardinals 0 4 .000 4.0 65 0-2 0-2 0-4 L4

Follow Thursday's action as it happens: Nashville (Gameday also available) Huntsville (Gameday also available) Brevard County Wisconsin DSL Brewers

Thursday's Daily Menu: Times Central; pitchers subject to change -- Nashville: RHP Josh Butler at home vs. Iowa (Cubs), 6:50 PM pre-game, 7:05 gametime Live Audio Link iPad/iPhone: Listen MiLB.TV -- for subscribers Huntsville: RHP Michael Bowman at home vs. Tennessee (Cubs), 6:43 PM gametime Live Audio Link iPad/iPhone: Listen Traditional broadcast -- look for the Tennessee feed off the master MiLB.com audio list Brevard County: RHP Nick Bucci at Bradenton (Pirates), 6:00 PM gametime Live Audio Link -- look for the Bradenton feed off the master MiLB.com audio list Wisconsin: RHP Jameson Dunn at Bowling Green (Rays), 6:45 PM pre-game, 7:05 gametime Live Audio Link DSL Brewers: at the DSL Athletics, 9:30 AM, although game data won't be available until late afternoon at the earliest

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Our all-too-impressive Power 50 Player Tracker allows you to pull up the comments and rankings for any player who has ever appeared on the Power 50. Corey Hart's P50 commentary dates back to when Toby went solo and was a virtual machine, often with weekly Power 50's. So you can get a sense of what folks were reading (and likely thinking) back during Hart's climb.

Reid Nichols on Tyler Thornburg (via Adam McCalvy)

Three Manatees selected for 2011 FSL All-Star Game Khris Davis, Gennett and Bucci will represent Brevard County By Frank Longobardo / Brevard County Manatees VIERA, Fla. -- The Florida State League announced on Thursday that outfielder Khris Davis, second baseman Scooter Gennett and starting pitcher Nick Bucci were selected from the Brevard County Manatees to represent the North Division in the 2011 Florida State League All-Star Game in Clearwater on June 18. Davis is currently fifth in the league in slugging percentage at .524, fifth in on-base plus slugging at .921 and sixth in runs batted in with 40. He is also currently first or second on the Manatees in 11 offensive categories. The Glendale, Ariz. native has hit safely in 34 out of 49 games this season and has reached base safely in 43 games. Davis reached base safely in 18 straight games from May 11-May 29. Davis was drafted in the 7th round of the 2009 Major League First-Year Player Draft by the Brewers out of Cal State Fullerton. He was named both a mid-season and post-season All-Star in the Midwest League with the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers in 2010. Gennett is currently tied for second on Brevard County in hits and is in the top five on the team in three other offensive categories. He hit .318 in the month of April and has the longest hitting streak so far in the Florida State League this season at 16 games. The Sarasota, Fla. native was drafted in the 16th round of the 2009 MLB First-Year Player Draft by the Brewers out of Sarasota High School. The 21-year-old was named both a mid-season and post-season All-Star with Wisconsin last season. Baseball America listed Gennett as Milwaukee's fourth-best prospect heading into the 2011 season. Bucci is currently fourth in the league with a 2.29 earned run average and is tied for seventh in the league with a 1.15 WHIP. He also leads the Manatees in innings pitched and strikeouts. The Sarnia, Ontario native has a record of 4-2 and has pitched his best at Space Coast Stadium with a 4-1 record and a 1.85 ERA at home. Of the nine starts he has made so far, six of them have been quality starts. He was selected by the Brewers in the 18th round of the 2008 MLB First-Year Player Draft out of St. Patrick High School in Ontario, Canada. Khris Davis (left), Scooter Gennett (center) and Nick Bucci (right) were selected to represent the Brevard County Manatees in the 2011 Florida State League All-Star Game in Clearwater on June 18. (Dennis Greenblatt/Hawk-Eye Sports Photography) http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/images/2011/06/02/oTCJfFDq.jpg

Nashville Sounds pitcher Daniel Ray Herrera has small size, big stuff Newest Sound thrives by mastering screwball Written by Greg Sullivan, The Tennessean The first time big-league slugger Adam Dunn saw Daniel Ray Herrera was in 2008 when the pitcher was making his major-league debut with the Cincinnati Reds. It was the week of the Kentucky Derby. “He said he was surprised I showed up at the park that day,” Herrera said. “He thought I was supposed to ride Big Brown.” At 5-foot-6, Herrera is the shortest pitcher to pitch in the majors since 5-6 Bobby Shantz retired in 1964. And in an era of long-legged speed-ballers, the little lefty reliever from Texas is a true anomaly. Initially, though, he had to escape the jockey jokes. “Playing Triple-A ball in Louisville wasn’t the most helpful thing,” said Herrera, who was recently signed by the Sounds. “As soon as Derby season would come around I couldn’t get away from the jokes for at least a month-and-a-half, two months.” It was in Louisville, too, where he was part of what he considers the best joke so far. That was when burly catcher Alvin Colina picked him up, brought him over to the bullpen and sat him on his lap. Soon he said he realized he was playing the puppet role in a ventriloquist routine and it was a hit. “He put his hand up my jacket and every time I talked his lips kind of moved,” Herrera said. “It lasted not even half an inning, but people caught on. It was pretty funny.” While Herrera has been the butt of more than a few jokes since he was drafted in 2006, whenever he’s on the mound the joke has more often than not been on his opponents, including strikeout victims Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell in his big-league debut against the Phillies. It’s not just his mound presence, but his slow-moving go-to screwball that leaves hitters baffled. “Usually people just laugh,” said Sounds outfielder Jordan Brown, who faced Herrera regularly coming up through the Indians organization, including in the Triple-A International League. “You can’t do anything but laugh. “I’d never seen a screwball before. I think the first time I saw it I took it. I thought it was a joke. I was like, ‘Is this a real pitch?’ Even if you know it’s coming, it’s like 50 miles per hour, so his fastball looks like 107. “So I guess the best idea is to not get to the screwball. The first thing in the zone, you pretty much have to take your chance.” Then there was the game that Brown said may have been the toughest of his life as a hitter. He faced Herrera and then later came flamethrower Aroldis Chapman, now the hardest-throwing pitcher in the major leagues. “After the day was over I just sat at my locker going, ‘What just happened?’ ” Brown said. “I just saw a screwball at 50 and then a pitch that was two times that speed. It was not a good experience.” Herrera said he picked up the screwball his sophomore year of college (New Mexico). Gradually, he worked it into his arsenal and now calls the pitch his “bread and butter.” “I had a terrible change-up,” he said. “So it was just toying with my change-up and soon enough the rotation kind of rolled over. It spun more like a breaking ball. It took almost two years to really understand what I was doing with it and how to throw it. It all just came from toying with grips and messing around with a change-up.” Herrera spent parts of three years with the Reds, including all of 2009 and half of last season. During that time he said he came across no other big-league pitchers that used his go-to pitch. Already, he said, his new Sounds teammates have been asking for his tutelage. “So far I’ve had about five screwball lessons during batting practice,” Herrera said. “But they’re kind of shocked how it comes out of my hand. And then they try it and by about the third throw their elbow starts hurting. The lessons are pretty short.” The Brewers picked up Herrera off waivers last week. His career big league ERA, coming mostly as a lefty specialist out of the bullpen, is a respectable 3.62 over 92 innings. Now he said he hopes he can soon work his way up to help a Milwaukee staff that is noticeably short on left-handed relievers. “It’s definitely refreshing being here with a new group and having to impress a new crowd,” said Herrera. “I’m in a perfect situation. The need for lefties is high up there.” Sounds pitcher Daniel Ray Herrera, right, has used a screwball pitch to thrive in baseball despite standing just 5-foot-6. Photo by Sanford Myers / The Tennessean / http://cmsimg.tennessean.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=DN&Date=20110602&Category=SPORTS04&ArtNo=306020070&Ref=AR&MaxW=300&Border=0

Nashville Audio Archive -- June 1st -- Chat with reliever Donovan Hand

VIDEO: Eric Farris legs out a stand-up triple

Chris Mehring's Post-game Rattler Thoughts