Jim Goulart

Not sure if you'll be penalized if Gennett doesn't play tonight. He's not in the starting lineup. Hope you don't get an 0-for-1 pinch-hit appearance or such.

The Rattlers embark on a four-city road trip today, and the staff has mapped out the pitching assignments. Normally these would be more important for fans wondering who they are going to see during a homestand, but this is a good reference, and we'll place it within the 2010 Rattlers thread here for your review. Rattler Radio Blog: A note about the pitching rotation

Rattler Radio: May 25, 2010: Starting Lineup (make sure you read Chris' note explaining today's lineup) May 25, 2010: Tonight's starting pitcher (Jake Odorizzi no longer has a formal "tamdem" partner listed, he's stretched out) May 25, 2010: Game Notes

From Tom H. on the J-S blog: The Brewers have re-signed RHP Jeff Bennett, who pitched for the Brewers in 2004 as a Rule 5 pick out of Pittsburgh, to a minor league deal and assigned him to extended spring training in Phoenix. Bennett was pitching for Tampa Bay's Class AAA affiliate this year and was released after going 0-3 with a 10.97 ERA in three starts. He split the '09 season with Atlanta and Tampa Bay. Career stats prior to 2010 2010 Stats

Brad with comments and more photos from the Rattlers' last home game for a couple of weeks.

Stu on the city of Sacramento and the suddenly extremely tight PCL American North Division race

Pacific Coast League (AAA) - PCL American North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nashville 25 18 .581 - 9-9 16-9 L2 Iowa 24 19 .558 1.0 11-11 13-8 L1 Memphis 24 19 .558 1.0 13-7 11-12 W1 Omaha 21 21 .500 3.5 9-14 12-7 W2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Southern League (AA) - SOU North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tennessee 27 18 .600 - 12-13 15-5 W1 West Tenn 23 21 .523 3.5 9-15 14-6 L2 Huntsville 22 23 .489 5.0 8-12 14-11 L3 Carolina 21 24 .467 6.0 9-11 12-13 W1 Chattanooga 19 26 .422 8.0 12-13 7-13 L1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Florida State League (A+) - FSL North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dunedin 28 17 .622 - 9-11 19-6 W6 Lakeland 26 18 .591 1.5 13-10 13-8 W2 Clearwater 26 19 .578 2.0 14-11 12-8 L5 Tampa 24 21 .533 4.0 13-12 11-9 L1 Daytona 20 25 .444 8.0 6-13 14-12 W3 Brevard County 16 28 .364 11.5 9-15 7-13 L5

MID Western (click column headers to sort) Club W L PCT GB Home Away L 10 Streak Cedar Rapids 27 17 .614 - 14-4 13-13 7-3 W7 Quad Cities 25 19 .568 2.0 15-7 10-12 4-6 W1 Beloit 25 20 .556 2.5 13-13 12-7 4-6 L4 Peoria 25 20 .556 2.5 14-5 11-15 5-5 L1 Clinton 24 20 .545 3.0 14-9 10-11 8-2 W4 Kane County 20 25 .444 7.5 12-7 8-18 2-8 L6 Wisconsin 16 28 .364 11.0 12-17 4-11 5-5 W3 Burlington 15 28 .349 11.5 8-13 7-15 3-7 L3

Follow Tuesday's action as it happens: Here's what you do, right click on each of the links below and choose "Open in New Tab or New Window". Choose "Recap". While you're listening to your minor league game of choice (or watching/listening to the big league Crew when they are playing), simply refresh your game log browsers every so often. Nashville (Gameday also available) Brevard County Wisconsin

Nashville diehards can watch this week's series in Sacramento with a subscription to MiLB.TV.

Tuesday's Daily Menu: Times Central; pitchers subject to change -- Nashville: LHP Chuck Lofgren at Sacramento (Athletics), 8:50 PM pre-game; 9:05 gametime Live Audio Link Huntsville: Idle Brevard County: RHP Michael Fiers at Daytona (Cubs), 6:05 PM gametime Live Audio Link (Cubs' Feed) Wisconsin: RHP Jake Odorizzi at Kane County (Athletics), 5:45 PM pre-game; 6:00 gametime; expect LHP Efrain Nieves to see action Live Audio Link

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

Final: Sacramento 8, Nashville 3 Sacramento Drops Nashville, 8-3, In Opener SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Sacramento shortstop Steven Tolleson homered twice to propel the River Cats to a 8-3 win over the Nashville Sounds on Monday night at Raley Field in the opener of a four-game set. Despite the loss, Nashville (25-18) still leads division-rival Iowa by a game in the American Northern Division after the Cubs were shut out by Salt Lake. In a rehab start for the Athletics, starter Brett Anderson allowed two runs on six hits with one walk and one strikeout in three innings pitched. Travis Blackley (1-0) picked up the win, pitching two scoreless frames while giving up two hits. The Sounds struck first in the opening frame, as Norris Hopper hit a leadoff single off Anderson to reach base. Later in the inning, Adam Heether singled home Hopper from second base to put the Sounds on the board at 1-0. Sacramento knotted the contest at 1-1 in the bottom of the frame on a RBI-single center field by Josh Donaldson. Tolleson homered in the next inning to put the River Cats ahead at 2-1, a solo shot to left field. Two doubles in the top of the third inning by the Sounds tied the game at 2-2. Trent Oeltjen doubled to lead off the inning, with shortstop Luis Cruz doubling home Oeltjen. The River Cats got to Sounds starter Chris Waters in the bottom of the fourth inning, scoring six runs and pushing the lead to 8-2. Tolleson homered again to lead off for the first run, his second of the contest and fourth of the season. Later in the frame, Matt Carson added a two-run double, followed by a two-run home run by Chris Carter for the final runs in the inning. With one out and the bases loaded in the top of the seventh inning, Nashville cut the Sacramento lead to-8-3 on another Cruz RBI, a sacrifice fly to center field that plated Oeltjen for his 21st RBI. Waters (4-2) took the loss, allowing eight runs (seven earned) on eight hits with three home runs allowed and five walks in 3 1/3 innings, all season-highs. Right-handed reliever Mike McClendon added 2 2/3 scoreless innings, striking out one while surrendering three hits. In a rehab appearance for the Brewers, David Riske fanned one over one shutout inning. A.J. Murray also threw a scoreless frame in relief. The Sounds and River Cats will continue with the second-game of a four game series at 9:05 PM CT at Raley Field on Tuesday evening in Sacramento. Left-hander Chuck Lofgren (5-3, 5.03) takes the hill for Nashville. Nashville box score One of the uglier lines of the season from a starter, as Chris Waters did not strike out a batter, threw a wild pitch and walked five in his 3.1 innings -- bring on the Southern League All-Star Break, when hopefully Amaury Rivas gets a bump up; this just in -- 25-year-old RHP Mike McClendon is having an amazing season, check out his combined AAA / AA numbers here; maybe, just maybe, Doug Melvin sees that you don't have to overspend on veteran bullpen arms going forward -- wouldn't it be something to see a John Axford / Zach Braddock / McClendon / Brandon Kintzler type-of-bullpen in the future, not saying that make-up exactly, but you get the idea, it can be done -- are you excited about David Riske? Thought so... Norris Hopper has five doubles and 38 singles -- nothing against Adam Stern, but Hopper, based solely on his right-handed peskiness, should have been the choice (not an ideal choice, mind you), for the few at-bats needed in Milwaukee the last couple of weeks; suddenly the Sounds have a full complement of outfielders, even with Brendan Katin still sidelined by his knee injury -- both Anderson's (left-handed bats Drew and Josh) were idle... Nashville play-by-play Sacramento Bottom 1st Corey Wimberly pops out to first baseman Joe Koshansky in foul territory. Matt Carson reaches on fielding error by third baseman Adam Heether. Matt Carson to 2nd. Josh Donaldson singles on a ground ball to center fielder Norris Hopper. Matt Carson scores. Chris Carter walks. Josh Donaldson to 2nd. Landon Powell walks. Josh Donaldson to 3rd. Chris Carter to 2nd. Brett Harper flies into double play, left fielder Adam Stern to catcher Patrick Arlis. Josh Donaldson out at home on the throw. You can listen to Stu's call of Stern's throw via the link on this page. The Sounds stranded 12.

Nashville infielder Erick Almonte at the May 24th audio link Great veteran enthusiasm...

Manatees doubled up by Cubs, 4-2 By Frank Longobardo / Brevard County Manatees One swing of the bat was ultimately the difference as Daytona's Ryan Flaherty hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning off of Trey Watten as the Manatees lost to the Cubs 4-2 on Monday night at Space Coast Stadium. After Daytona's Brett Jackson and D.J. LeMahieu drew back-to-back walks to start the fourth, Flaherty crushed a pitch from Watten to give Daytona a 3-0 lead. Four batters later, Mark Reed drove in Kyler Burke with a one out single to make it 4-0. Watten (0-4, 4.58) went 3 2/3 innings and allowed four runs, all earned, on five hits. He walked three and struck out three. The Manatees finally got on the board in the sixth after Sean Halton's two-out RBI single drove in Erik Komatsu, who led off the inning with a single. Brevard County couldn't strike again in the inning as Shawn Zarraga grounded out to end the inning and left two runners stranded. In the seventh, Anderson De La Rosa and Kentrail Davis drew back-to-back walks to start the inning. Josh Prince then laid down a perfect bunt and ended up reaching with a single to load the bases. Komatsu followed and drove one deep to right center, but it stayed in the park for a sacrifice fly to score De La Rosa and cut it to a 4-2 lead for Daytona. After Mat Gamel struck out, Mike Perconte took the hill for Daytona and induced a fly out off the bat of Sergio Miranda to leave two runners stranded for Manatees, for the second straight inning. Brevard County would not get another runner the rest of the game as they struck out 12 times and left nine men on base on Monday night. Prince and Halton had two hits each for the Manatees. Lucas Luetge (1 1/3 innings), Mike Ramlow (three innings) and R.J. Seidel (one inning) combined to throw 5 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. The Manatees and Cubs will continue the series on Tuesday night in Daytona Beach, with the two clubs returning to Viera on Wednesday night at 7:05 PM (6:05 Central) for the series finale.

Link while active, text follows: Middle reliever Jon Pokorny gets Wisconsin out of a jam against Burlington By Cory Jennerjohn, Post-Crescent staff writer GRAND CHUTE — Let's face it, middle relievers aren't sexy. Stars like Tim Lincecum and Mariano Rivera start and finish games, but few remember who throws in between. Jon Pokorny went a long way to changing that in a Monday matinee at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium. "The money's in the starters. The money's in the closers," Timber Rattlers manager Jeff Isom said, after Wisconsin beat Burlington 4-2 to earn its first three-game winning streak of the season. "And you try to throw in the middle relievers. That's one thing that we make sure that we do here is we keep a close eye on who our middle relievers are. That's one area you can't cut short or sell them short. You have to have quality middle relief." Pokorny, a ninth-round draft choice last year, had to work out of a near impossible spot. With the Timber Rattlers clinging to a 4-2 lead in the seventh, the Bees had runners on second and third with no outs. The 6-foot-2, 225-pound left-hander promptly whiffed Deivy Batista and Adam Frost before getting leadoff man Hilton Richardson to pop up to first baseman Chris Dennis. "That could have been the matter of the game right there, runners on second and third," catcher Cameron Garfield said. "When he comes in, if he has the focus, he has great pitches. And he had the focus. I didn't even have to tell him. He went right after the hitters. He had great stuff today. He had the secondary stuff working." Pokorny has inherited 14 runners this season and has allowed only one to touch home. He followed his seventh-inning escape by throwing a healthy diet of fastballs and sliders for three more strikeouts in the eighth to give him five in two innings — his best outing of the season. Even though people may not remember his name, that's fine with the laid-back 22-year-old who attended Kent State University. "I'm kind of used to it," Pokorny said. "I was a middle reliever/closer in college, so I kind of got used to it." If not for Pokorny's seventh-inning heroics, starter Damon Krestalude, who hit Fernando Cruz to start the inning and gave up a double to Jose Bonilla, wouldn't have been able to get his first win since April 11. "They get the starting pitcher out of a jam. They get him the win," Garfield said. "Right when he comes out of the gate, you can't lose focus. You're waiting the whole game. You finally get your turn to go in and you warm up for a few pitches and you come in and you have a game mentality. And he did that really great tonight." Now the Timber Rattlers hit the road for 13 games, but Pokorny is looking for a little home cooking when Wisconsin takes on the Lake County Captains, just 28 miles from his hometown of Seven Hills, Ohio. "The last three road games are basically at my hometown," Pokorny said. "So that will be kind of nice." *** The gameThe Timber Rattlers hit three solo home runs in front of a group of kids on field trips to take the final game of the 12-game homestand at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute on Monday. "That was nice," said Isom. "That was something we haven't seen a whole lot of — the home runs with this club. The weather is warming up and we're hoping the bats are, too." In 90-degree temperatures, Garfield sent an opposite field shot to left in the second. Lead-off man and center fielder D'Vontrey Richardson hit a liner over the 16-foot left field wall and designated hitter Khris Davis capped off the slugfest with a deep bomb to left center. Krestalude scattered five hits in six innings and allowing only two runs to lower his ERA to 4.81. The Timber Rattlers return home June 8 to face Bowling Green.

Donovan Hand may be one of the rare Brewer farmhand pitchers that has a bit too much control. He's posted a 26-to-3 K-to-BB ratio in 27.1 innings, and while his 3.62 ERA and .286 BAA aren't ugly, his ratio hints at greater success via catching just a bit less of the plate. Hand's ratio wasn't nearly as extreme last season when he was similarly effective (bottom of linked stat page), so this is probably reading too much into things on May 24th.

Stars drop third straight to Braves By Aaron Morse, Huntsville Stars The Huntsville Stars (22-23) couldn’t hold onto an early lead for the third consecutive game as they lost by a final score of 5-2 to the Mississippi Braves (23-22) Monday night. The Stars got off to a fast start in the top of the first when Lorenzo Cain smacked his third triple of the season. Lee Haydel followed that up with a bloop single to give the Stars a 1-0 lead (audio). Stars starter Alex Periard (2-3) worked around a two-out triple and a walk in the bottom half of the first. The native of Quebec, Canada pitched his way out of trouble in every frame through the first four innings. His biggest challenge came in the bottom of the fourth when the Braves loaded the bases with only one away. But he got the Braves’ pitcher Erik Cordier to bounce into a 6-4-3 double play to get out of the jam. Huntsville would tack on an insurance run in the top of the fifth thanks to some clutch two-out hitting. Martin Maldonado started things off with a single to left. Periard bunted him over to second. After Cain drew a walk, Haydel flew-out to left. But that’s when Brett Lawrie came up big with a single up the middle to plate Maldonado (audio). The 2-0 lead would be extremely short-lived as Mauro Gomez smacked a three-run jack off Periard in the bottom of the 5th (audio). That would be Periard’s final inning of work as he scattered seven hits, giving up three runs, two earned, while walking three and striking out two on the evening. The Stars’ bullpen continued its recent struggles in the bottom of the 6th. Reliever Donovan Hand gave up a one-out double to Randy Gress. After he hit Cody Johnson, Alex Romero delivered a double to right to drive in Gress (audio). One out later, Eric Duncan singled home Romero to extend the lead to 5-2 (audio). Erik Cordier (3-3) tossed six innings to get the win, while Periard took the loss. Brett Butts worked a scoreless ninth for the save. With the defeat, the Stars dropped the series three games to two. Tennessee won Monday night so Huntsville is now five games back in the north division. The Stars have a much-needed off day Tuesday before they host the Birmingham Barons for a five game series starting on Wednesday. The Stars took 4 of 5 from the Barons earlier this month. First pitch in the opener will be at 7 PM Central Time on www.huntsvillestars.com.

PDF documents: Nashville Media Notes Mitch Stetter still a day or two from reporting; Adam Stern has... Huntsville Media Notes

Something to keep an eye on -- Will Kameron Loe's next start on Thursday be his last in the Brewer organization? Loe has an "out" clause in his contract that allows him to become a free agent if he isn't on the major league roster by June 1st.

Rattler Radio: Game notes Includes the following: A DOZEN: Scooter Gennett singled in his first plate appearance last night. That extended his hitting streak to 12 games. This is the longest hitting streak by a Timber Rattler in 2010. It is the longest hitting streak by a Rattlers player since Edilio Colina (2008) and Joe White (2007) had 15 game hitting streaks. This is the longest current streak in the Midwest League. Mike Trout of Cedar Rapids had a 16-game hitting streak earlier this season for the longest in the MWL in 2010. Gennett is hitting .352 (19-for-54) during this streak. A BIT MORE ON THAT: Gennett has at least one hit in 20 of his last 21 games. An eight-game hitting streak was stopped in game one of a doubleheader on May 11 at Quad Cities. The current ten-game streak started in game two of that doubleheader on May 11. Gennett also has one hit in 26 of his last 28 games. He has been held hitless in six of the 41 games he has played this season. Gennett has only been held out of the hit column in consecutive games one time this season (April 18 & 19). Today's pitcher Lineup

MID Western (click column headers to sort) Club W L PCT GB Home Away L 10 Streak Cedar Rapids 26 17 .605 - 14-4 12-13 7-3 W6 Beloit 25 19 .568 1.5 13-12 12-7 5-5 L3 Peoria 25 19 .568 1.5 14-5 11-14 6-4 W1 Quad Cities 24 19 .558 2.0 14-7 10-12 4-6 L1 Clinton 23 20 .535 3.0 13-9 10-11 8-2 W3 Kane County 20 24 .455 6.5 12-7 8-17 3-7 L5 Burlington 15 27 .357 10.5 8-13 7-14 3-7 L2 Wisconsin 15 28 .349 11.0 11-17 4-11 4-6 W2

Pacific Coast League (AAA) - PCL American North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nashville 25 17 .595 - 9-9 16-8 L1 Iowa 24 18 .571 1.0 11-10 13-8 W6 Memphis 23 19 .548 2.0 13-7 10-12 L1 Omaha 20 21 .488 4.5 8-14 12-7 W1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Southern League (AA) - SOU North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tennessee 26 18 .591 - 11-13 15-5 L1 West Tenn 23 21 .523 3.0 9-15 14-6 L2 Huntsville 22 22 .500 4.0 8-12 14-10 L2 Carolina 20 24 .455 6.0 9-11 11-13 L2 Chattanooga 19 25 .432 7.0 12-12 7-13 W2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Florida State League (A+) - FSL North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dunedin 27 17 .614 - 9-11 18-6 W5 Clearwater 26 18 .591 1.0 14-10 12-8 L4 Lakeland 25 18 .581 1.5 13-10 12-8 W1 Tampa 24 20 .545 3.0 13-11 11-9 W4 Daytona 19 25 .432 8.0 6-13 13-12 W2 Brevard County 16 27 .372 10.5 9-14 7-13 L4

Follow Monday's action as it happens: Here's what you do, right click on each of the links below and choose "Open in New Tab or New Window". Choose "Recap". While you're listening to your minor league game of choice (or watching/listening to the big league Crew when they are playing), simply refresh your game log browsers every so often. Nashville (Gameday also available) Huntsville (Gameday also available) Brevard County Wisconsin

Nashville diehards can watch this week's series in Sacramento with a subscription to MiLB.TV.