Jim Goulart

Down 9-0 after one, Surprise loses 10-3 (box). Jeremy Jeffress came on in the 5th with men on 1st and 2nd, two out and retired Koby Clemens. Jeffress and LHP Lucas Luetge then combined for an additional three scoreless innings. Check out Jeffress' pitch speeds at the Gameday link in the 5th and 6th via the pitch-by-pitch option. One in particular hit 100 MPH. The southpaw Luetge hit a respectable 90-91. Peo Javelinas Bottom of the 5th Jason Kipnis doubles (6) on a fly ball to center fielder Derrick Robinson. Juan Carlos Linares flies out to right fielder Joey Butler. Dustin Ackley walks. Adam Loewen strikes out swinging. Pitcher Change: Jeremy Jeffress replaces Adalberto Flores. Koby Clemens flies out to right fielder Joey Butler. Peo Javelinas Bottom of the 6th Eric Thames grounds out, third baseman Hunter Morris to first baseman Eric Hosmer. Nate Tenbrink walks. Roberto Perez singles on a ground ball to center fielder Derrick Robinson. Nate Tenbrink to 2nd. Matt Lawson strikes out swinging. Jason Kipnis strikes out swinging. Peo Javelinas Bottom of the 7th Pitcher Change: Lucas Luetge replaces Jeremy Jeffress. Juan Carlos Linares flies out to right fielder Joey Butler. Dustin Ackley strikes out swinging. Adam Loewen strikes out swinging. Peo Javelinas Bottom of the 8th Koby Clemens flies out to center fielder Derrick Robinson. Eric Thames grounds out, first baseman Eric Hosmer to pitcher Lucas Luetge. Nate Tenbrink walks. Roberto Perez flies out to center fielder Derrick Robinson. Eric Farris was 2-for-4, both doubles, and scored a run. Hunter Morris 0-for-3 with a walk and an RBI groundout, and handled his one chance at third base.

Wow, Surprise is down 9-0 after the 1st inning. Fortunately, no Brewer pitcher victimized. Makes you wonder if they will definitely play all nine innings if the Rafters staff is short of arms later on.

Friday's Gameday (1:30 Central) finds 2B Eric Farris hitting 2nd, and Hunter Morris playing third base and batting 5th. Caleb Gindl hasn't played since Tuesday, perhaps he's ailing somehow. You'd expect some bullpen activity from at least one Brewer later this afternoon.

Larger images from the Post-Crescent gallery For me, the fangs in the script (both for Wisconsin and Rattlers) have more of a dripping blood effect, especially given the color, and comes off as a bit macabre -- and adjective not usually associated with a baseball team's logo. But the youth teams should continue to enjoy the look. Article discusses the changes

Not the most scintillating winter ball season, getting a bit repetitive name-wise-- Erick Almonte (1-for-4, HR, BB, 2 R, 3 RBI, --- 1st extra-base hit in 51 AB's) Carlos Gomez, (0-for-4, BB, --- .231 / .344 / .327 in 52 AB's) Luis Cruz, (1-for-5, RBI, K --- 4-for-25, three doubles, 1 K) Sergio Miranda (3-for-5, RBI, K --- .809 OPS in 42 AB's, 11-for-his-last-24) Almonte and Gomez in the D.R., Cruz in Mexico, Miranda in Puerto Rico. Again no pitching. We miss Darren Byrd.

Wisconsin website with the details

Brandon Kintzler was called upon to get the final out with a 6-5 lead and runners on 1st and 2nd in Thursday's game. Good job, Brandon, a six-pitch strikeout (swinging). According to gameday, he threw nothing but sliders, all 84-85 MPH. Eric Farris singled in five trips, stealing his 7th base without being caught.

Here is Thursday's Gameday, 1:30 Central start if you wish to check in. Among Brewers, only 2B Eric Farris, batting 2nd, is in today's starting lineup. RHP Michael Fiers' next start is Saturday the 13th.

Certainly relevant to this conversation -- John Steinmiller

H/T to Kyle at BCB: Fangraphs

H/T to Kyle at BCB: Fangraphs

AUDIO -- Witrado on WSSP earlier this week

Almonte, Gomez, and Cruz in action on Wednesday. Each with quiet but not completely empty stat lines for the 10th, available at the links. Another day for idle pitchers.

UPDATE: Wow, trailing 8-2 entering the bottom of the 9th, it didn't appear Logan Schafer would bat again, as he would have had to bat 8th in the final inning. But the Rafters scored three times, and had two on with two out and Schafer came up for his 5th AB representing the tying run. Groundout, game over. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/ohwell.gif

Looks like LHP Lucas Luetge was "traded" back to his original Surprise squad with all the other Brewers (except Dan Merklinger and Justin James). Two hard-hit singles followed by a two-run double victimizes Mike McClendon, who had his streak without allowing an earned run snapped at 11.1 innings. The Gameday link in the prior post tells us that Luetge reached 90 and McClendon 91, but were generally a tick below that. Peo Javelinas Top of the 6th Pitcher Change: Lucas Luetge replaces Brian Broderick. Ryan Lavarnway lines out sharply to shortstop Pete Kozma. Michael McDade flies out to center fielder Logan Schafer. Eric Thames grounds out to first baseman Hunter Morris. Peo Javelinas Top of the 7th Pitcher Change: Mike McClendon replaces Lucas Luetge. Jason Kipnis grounds out, second baseman Davis Stoneburner to first baseman Hunter Morris. Adam Abraham singles on a line drive to center fielder Logan Schafer. Matt Lawson singles on a sharp ground ball to left fielder Jared Bolden. Adam Abraham to 2nd. Cord Phelps doubles (4) on a sharp line drive to right fielder Ben Guez. Adam Abraham scores. Matt Lawson scores. Brandon Barnes reaches on throwing error by third baseman Francisco Martinez. Cord Phelps scores. Brandon Barnes to 2nd. Adam Loewen grounds out to first baseman Hunter Morris. Brandon Barnes to 3rd. Ryan Lavarnway flies out to left fielder Jared Bolden. Logan Schafer had an RBI single in four trips, fanning once. Hunter Morris 1-for-4 (double), 1 K.

Here's Wednesday's Gameday for Surprise -- Logan Schafer is in CF leading off, and Hunter Morris is at first base batting 5th.

RHP Justin James' (stats) save for Dan Merklinger Tuesday -- Scottsdale Top of the 9th Pitcher Change: Justin James replaces Justin Miller. Ed Easley singles on a line drive to center fielder Cory Harrilchak. Thomas Field grounds into double play, shortstop Ryan Curry to second baseman Jose Pirela to first baseman Jerry Sands. Ed Easley out at 2nd. Xavier Avery grounds out, second baseman Jose Pirela to first baseman Jerry Sands. LHP Lucas Luetge should be part of the mound crew for Phoenix in the night game Wednesday. Surprise plays this afternoon.

Anybody who wouldn't trade Ryan Braun straight up for Jon Lester hasn't seen enough of Jon Lester. My opinion. And Buchholz is right there, too, close behind. Please don't lump them together in a potential deal, it's not fair to the Sox. If I'm Doug Melvin this AM, I'd be picking up the phone and giving Gammons a piece of my mind. It's so irresponsible, and Gammons just acts as though there are no repurcussions in the clubhouse, media, etc.

If you check out the first post in our Alumni Thread, you'll see highlighted in yellow all the former Brewers who are on the just-released minor league free agent list.

If you check out the first post in our Alumni Thread, you'll see highlighted in yellow all the former Brewers who are on the just-released minor league free agent list.

With Baseball America releasing the 2010 minor league free agency class and confirming the Brewer free agents (see our thread in this forum), our sortable, filterable Brewerfan Player Index has been updated. Please note that all players on the 40-man roster are recalled to the big league club at season's end, so all of those players are listed at the major league level during the offseason, such as Amaury Rivas. If years past are any indication at all, MiLB.com will hold all the free agents, such as Norris Hopper, Marty McLeary, etc. on their 2010 roster pages all winter, even if they sign elsewhere. Here's Nashville's roster page as an example. We know Doug Scopel and the Sounds' web site folks would love to keep that up-to-date, but it's out of their control. However, Doug and staff will maintain these two pages to assist us all off-season. Sometimes we'll learn about a signing first, sometimes it's the Sounds site that will alert us to a signing. Minor League Free Agent Signings Update Where Have Former Sounds Signed For 2011? We realize that while the individual player pages in the index lack for content, save for recent newspaper feature article links, the index as a whole can provide you with a way to analyze the names and players by position and level in the system.

Thanks to our collective research, Minigoon, we pretty much nailed this list from a Brewer perspective (see initial post in thread). The only name that Baseball America did not include is Huntsville catcher Dayton Buller (career stats). Maybe we'll read in the next BA transaction update that Buller was re-signed to a minor league deal.

Thanks to our collective research, Minigoon, we pretty much nailed this list from a Brewer perspective (see initial post in thread). The only name that Baseball America did not include is Huntsville catcher Dayton Buller (career stats). Maybe we'll read in the next BA transaction update that Buller was re-signed to a minor league deal.

NESN link with audio Suppose anything's possible, but that's out there. It's a pet peeve of mine, but Spink and Frick Award winners aren't technically members of the Hall of Fame. Sorry Gammons, sorry Bob Uecker, with my apologies. Winners are not considered to be members of the Hall. They are not "inducted" or "enshrined", but are permanently recognized in an exhibit at the Hall's library. They will be feted at banquets everywhere as Hall of Famers, and they deserve their due. But those awards need to be handed out every two years, not every year. End of monologue, back to Braunie... *** Jon Lester would be a nice swap, thank you very much. Makes you wonder about the sometimes moody Ryan if these rumblings are legit. Braun -- 11: $4M, 12: $6M, 13: $8.5M, 14: $10M, 15: $12M may earn additional $6M if Braun qualifies as a Super 2 after 2009 season (increasing salaries to: 10:$3.5M, 11:$5.5M, 12:$7.5M, 13:$9M) award bonus: $50,000 for All Star selection no-trade clause 2008-11, limited no-trade clause 2012-13 (may block deals to 12 clubs), limited no-trade clause 2014-15 (may block deals to 6 clubs) Lester -- 11: $5.75M, 12: $7.625M, 13: $11.625M, 14: $13M club option ($0.25M buyout) 2014 club option is voided if Lester is traded and has finished first or second in Cy Young vote any season from 2009 to 2013 Buchholz -- Buchholz isn't arbitration-eligible until after 2011 or free agent-eligible until after 2014

Usual cast of characters in Tuesday's action -- Almonte, Gomez, Cruz, and Miranda each reached base at least twice, and their November 9th lines can be found on their linked stat pages. No pitching updates.