Jim Goulart

You're in luck if you're stuck in the office Tuesday AM with the ability to listen to Brewer chatter -- WTMJ Sports Central at Spring Training 03/21/11 - Hour 1 (Baseball talk begins around the 13:00 minute mark) Live from Maryvale Park, featuring quotes from: Rick Kranitz, Corey Hart, Ron Roenicke, Prince Fielder and Erick Almonte WTMJ Sports Central at Spring Training 03/21/11 - Hour 2 Live from Maryvale Park featuring listener calls and an interview with: Mark Kotsay ESPN Milwaukee D-List interviews with Casey McGehee and Craig Counsell WSSP 3/21/11 Hot Stove Weekly -- interviews with media reps around the NL Central

Sounds On Short End Of 5-4 Spring Loss Monday Nashville Sounds PHOENIX, Ariz. -- The Nashville Sounds suffered their fourth straight spring defeat on Monday afternoon, falling 5-4 to the Louisville Bats (AAA-Reds) at Maryvale Baseball Park. Right-hander Yovani Gallardo started for Nashville instead of the Brewers to ensure he got in his scheduled work with inclement weather in the forecast for later in the day. The former Sound gave up four runs in seven innings of work, striking out seven. Donovan Hand allowed one run in one relief inning and Jim Henderson closed out with a scoreless frame for Nashville. First baseman Steffan Wilson collected two hits, scored twice, and knocked in a run to power the Sounds offense. Chuckie Caufield and Zelous Wheeler each drove in a run for Nashville. The Sounds (0-4) continue their spring slate on Tuesday with a road contest in Glendale against the Albuquerque Isotopes (AAA-Dodgers) at Camelback Sports Complex. Highly-touted right-hander Wily Peralta will man the bump for Nashville. *** In case you missed it earlier, Zelous Wheeler was re-assigned to minor league camp this past weekend, but not before impressing lots of folks among the big league brass.

Sunday's action vs. the White Sox kids -- The AAA game was discussed two posts above. Nice to see Caleb Gindl already back after his up-close-and-personal chain link fence episode. Cool how the rookie ball kids and DSL kids get chances late in the upper-level games, DSL outfielder Hitaniel Arias an appearance here. R H E Nashville 2 4 0 Charlotte 3 10 0 NASHVILLE AB R H BI Haydel 4 0 0 0 Sanchez 4 1 1 1 Gindl 3 1 1 0 Katin 1 0 1 1 Caufield 1 0 0 0 Nowak 3 0 0 0 Green 3 0 0 0 Jones 3 0 0 0 Machado 3 0 0 0 Arlis 3 0 0 0 Arias 1 0 0 0 Wilson 1 0 1 0 2B: Katin HR: SanchezJu Bitmap Bitmap Bitmap IP H R ER BB SO TP Butler 3 3 1 1 2 2 47 Meadows 2 3 1 1 1 2 39 Luetge 2 2 1 1 0 4 36 Wilinsky 2 2 0 0 1 1 37 Birmingham beat Huntsville, 5-2. RHP Jesus Sanchez, the former Phillie farmhand signed by the Brewers after his Philadelphia release (Phillie fan reaction), started and gave up two runs in 3.1 innings of work. R.J. Seidel had a two-inning scoreless appearance in relief. The Stars were held to three hits. R H E Huntsville 2 3 2 Birmingham 5 9 0 HUNTSVILLE AB R H BI Stang 4 0 0 0 Cline 2 0 0 0 Berard 1 0 0 0 Morris 2 0 0 0

How Don Money almost ruined our day todayThe link above is from minor league camp but with lots of big league news from McCalvy, particularly on Gallardo (and Money).

Actually, for position players, not many are shying away from a few Arizona clouds and sprinkles -- from the J-S: 1B Prince Fielder pulled himself from the lineup because he said he's sick. Weeks 2B Gomez CF Betancourt SS McGehee 3B Kotsay DH Almonte 1B Dickerson RF Rivera C Boggs LF

Don't forget our In-Game Chat Room (link)! *** It could be a very long day for Bob Uecker based on the number of minor leaguers who will see action today. Could be painful for him, actually. Here's your audio page for WTMJ via MLB.com. Box score here Gameday can be found here. XM Radio 185. TODAY’S GAME: Is the second of two games against the Texas Rangers this spring.....the Rangers won the first meeting, 8-1, on 3/6 in Surprise. ON THE MOUND: Also scheduled to pitch this afternoon (subject to change) is RHP Mark DiFelice, RHP Mike McClendon, RHP Justin James and RHP Zack Segovia. CHANGE OF PLANS: Due to today’s threat of rain, RHP Yovani Gallardo, who was scheduled to start today’s game, will instead pitch in the Triple-A game this morning.....RHP LaTroy Hawkins (start), RHP Takashi Saito, RHP Brandon Kintzler, RHP Sean Green and LHP Zach Braddock are slated to pitch in the Double-A game. MINOR DETAILS: Joining the team today from minor-league camp is OF Brandon Jones (97), OF Reggie Keen (94), INF Anderson Machado (91), 1B Hunter Morris (93), C Tyler Roberts (92), RHP Eulogio De La Cruz (96), RHP Mike Fiers (95), RHP David Johnson (99) and RHP Roque Mercedes (66). After the Rangers start RHP Mason Tobin, they'll toss RHP Pedro Strop and LHP and former Brewer Zach Jackson.

A sample from Sunday's AAA game (box pending) -- Sounds Fall 3-2 To Knights In Spring Action Nashville Sounds GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The Nashville Sounds dropped their third-straight one-run game of the spring, losing 3-2 to Charlotte (AAA-White Sox) on Sunday afternoon at Camelback Sports Complex. The Sounds' offense mustered only four hits, including a solo home run by Juan Sanchez and an RBI double by Brendan Katin. Josh Butler (3.0 IP), Dan Meadows (2.0 IP), and Lucas Luetge (2,0 IP) each gave up a run during their outings.

The Sounds completed their countdown of their Top 10 Moments from 2010 -- we hadn't linked to it since # 8, so feel free to catch up.

Fine article from last summer on this topic. Nice to be him...

From Saturday's games against the Angels' farmhands -- if you see the word "bitmap" scattered in the boxes, please just disregard, thanks. This AAA game was discussed a couple of posts back -- Mark Rogers only at 25 pitches, so the stretching-out process is still early. I think if Chase Wright hadn't profiled so similarly in style to Randy Wolf and Chris Narveson , you may have seen his name in the emergency starter talk earlier. R H E Nashville 4 10 1 Salt Lake 5 5 0 NASHVILLE AB R H BI Caufield 5 0 1 1 Machado 4 0 0 0 Nowak 4 0 1 0 Jones 3 0 1 0 Wilson 4 0 0 0 Green 3 1 0 0 Buller 3 1 3 2 De La Rosa 1 0 1 0 Miranda 3 2 1 0 Arlis 1 0 0 0 Sanchez 3 0 2 1 2B: Caufield 3B: Sanchez HR: Buller Bitmap Bitmap Bitmap IP H R ER BB SO TP Rogers 2 2 2 1 0 0 25 Wright 3 0 0 0 0 2 35 Fiers 1 3 3 3 0 2 24 Johnson 2 0 0 0 1 2 28Huntsville doubled up Arkansas, 10-5. The pitching staff held Arkansas to four hits. Dan Merklinger started and threw three scoreless frames. Roque Mercedes and Rob Wooten (welcome back after Tommy John surgery, Rob!) had scoreless relief appearances. Offensively, the Stars used a balanced attack, as four Stars had multiple-hit games and eight batters collected at least one hit. Sean Halton had a double and a triple and scored twice. Brock Kjeldgaard had two hits, scored twice, and knocked in two runs. James Skelton and Scott Krieger also had two hits apiece. R H E Huntsville 10 12 1 Arkansas 5 4 1 HUNTSVILLE AB R H BI Prince 4 1 0 1 Cline 4 0 1 1 Morris 4 1 1 1 Kjeldgaard 4 2 2 2

Reds 9, Brewers 8 (box) RHP Darren Byrd entered the game in the 8th with things tied at 8-8, but Chris Heisey took him deep for the eventual loss. RHP Robert Hinton pitched the 9th, technically he's in minor league camp now, although he was in big league camp to begin the spring. RHP Austin Ross, who was the most impressive of Friday's box score names with four innings for the Rattlers (one unearned run), was among those rewarded with a stay in the Brewer big league dugout/bullpen for the game.

We should have additional weekend box scores for you Monday, but the Sounds did post info about their Saturday game -- Sounds Drop 2nd Straight Spring Game, 5-4 Nashville Sounds TEMPE, Ariz. -- The Nashville Sounds lost a second straight 5-4 contest to open their spring training slate, this time to the Salt Lake Bees (AAA-Angels) on Saturday afternoon at Tempe Diablo Complex. Catcher Dayton Buller led the offense with a 3-for-3, two-RBI day that included a home run. Juan Sanchez added two hits, including a triple, and drove in a run. Chuckie Caufield went 1-for-5 with a double and the Sounds' other RBI. On the pitching side, top prospect Mark Rogers started and gave up two runs, one earned, in two innings of work. Chase Wright followed with three spotless innings. Mike Fiers allowed three runs in his one inning before David Johnson closed out the contest with a pair of scoreless frames. The Sounds (0-2) play their second straight road contest on Sunday when they head to Glendale to face the Charlotte Knights (AAA-White Sox) at Camelback Sports Complex. Here was the recap from Friday's game they put together, of which you've seen the box above.

Don't forget our In-Game Chat Room (link)! The J-S tells us that the Reds are pitching the Rangers' C.J. Wilson today -- at least Wilson also trains in Arizona... Interestingly from the Reds' site -- Edinson Volquez will be facing the same Milwaukee club in the regular-season opener on March 31, but he planned on using all of his pitches and not holding anything back. Most of the Reds' regulars aren't expected to make the trip but lefties Dontrelle Willis and Aroldis Chapman are scheduled to come out of the bullpen. Brewer web-only audio is via MLB.com. Box score here Gameday can be found here. Later today, look for updated media notes for the 20th here, that will tell you who else is scheduled to toe the rubber for the Crew, and if any of the minor leaguers are in the dugout for this one. Everyone have a great day.

Brewers 6, Dodgers 6 (box)Young outfielders Reggie Keen (strikeout) and Chad Stang (single) were rewarded with big league camp game appearances Saturday.

The game reports will focus on Chris Dickerson, nice game at the plate, big throw, big catch in CF...

You can't stop Chad Stang (single), you can only hope to contain him. Congrats to the rookie baller, who missed all of last season with labrum surgery.

The ease in which Lawrie has settled into third has been one of the more pleasant developments of the spring for the Jays “He sure has,” Tony LaCava, the Jays assistant general manager and vice-president of baseball operations replied when asked if Lawrie is surprising people with how well he is adapting to the new position. “He’s showed the ability to make the above-average play, which is interesting. That gives him a chance to be better than average. “An average fielder should make average plays. The work will come with him when he has to make the routine plays, when he gets to make all of them and makes them regularly and becomes consistent with that. He has also shown the ability to make the above-average play which is really exciting. So, he’s exceeding our expectations defensively so far.” How so? “He’s doing some things at third base that some guys never ever do,” LaCava said. “Some times when he’s deep and gets an in-between hop, he knows to play through it instead of laying back and getting eaten up. He’s aggressive by nature and at times that’s how you have to play third base. It’s a reactive position and I think he has the skill sets to do it.” Full article link

Rotoworld speculates on the Braves' Rodrigo Lopez

TODAY’S GAME: Is the second of two games against the Los Angeles Dodgers this spring.....the Dodgers took a 7-1 victory in the first meeting on 3/8 in Maryvale. ON THE MOUND: Also scheduled to pitch this afternoon (subject to change) is LHP Zach Braddock, RHP Justin James, RHP Mike McClendon and RHP Mark DiFelice. MINOR DETAILS: Joining the team today from minor-league camp is OF Lee Haydel (94), OF Reggie Keen (92) and OF Chad Stang (93).

We'll see, but Wakefield probably not going to be available.

As was first mentioned in Friday's in-game thread, could Tim Wakefield be available? I could not think of a better fit. First, there is a built-in familiarity with George Kottaras (pick your article). Miller Park? Wakefield has a strong history (bottom of linked page) in domes like Tropicana and the Metrodome. Money? Reasonable -- $2M base: $75,000 each for 11-15 GS; $0.15M each for 16-20 GS; $0.2M each for 21-30 GS All five Brewer starters eventually healthy? Slots in comfortably in long relief. Availabilty? Boston Herald and Boston Globe with their takes -- discussions on WEEI radio , additional audio. Make it happen, Doug....

Don't forget our In-Game Chat Room (link)! This one's hard to miss -- FS Wisconsin, WTMJ, and at MLB.com. Box score here Gameday can be found here.

See you in Huntsville, Wily. Wow, they must have squared up everything. Big opportunity for Dillard here, that's for sure.

That was nice of Adam, he's been complimentary of us in the past as well. On the flip side, we're lucky to have him on the Brewers beat for MLB. There are definitely other folks doing wonderful things out there in the Brewer web world, we're fortunate we still have a place among them after all these years, filling a few niches along the way. But short of taking this thread nowhere in particular, we'll close it with a simple thanks. Thanks!

Don't forget our In-Game Chat Room (link)! It's a Brewer webcast, and it's free at MLB.com. It's a "Free Wily" day, get it? Box score here Gameday can be found here. TODAY’S GAME: Is the second of two games against the Colorado Rockies this spring.....the Rockies won the first meeting, 9-8 in 10 innings, on 3/10 in Maryvale. ON THE MOUND: Also scheduled to pitch this afternoon (subject to change) is RHP Sean Green, RHP Takashi Saito and RHP Brandon Kintzler.