Jim Goulart

Tuesday's Daily Menu: Plenty of audio to bridge the gap to Dodger Stadium... Times Central; pitchers subject to change -- Nashville: RHP Marco Estrada at Round Rock (Astros), 11:50 AM pre-game; 12:05 PM gametime Live Audio Link Huntsville: RHP Michael Bowman at home vs. West Tenn (Mariners), 6:45 PM pre-game; 7:00 gametime Live Audio Link Brevard County: RHP Trey Watten at home vs. Clearwater (Phillies), 6:05 PM gametime; expect LHP Brandon Ritchie to tandem Sorry, no audio for this series... Wisconsin: RHP Eric Arnett at home vs. Quad Cities (Cardinals), 6:20 PM pre-game; 6:35 gametime Live Audio Link

MiLB.com video subscribers can watch the Nashville series in Round Rock this week.

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A reminder as you plan your Tuesday that the Sounds will be online as of 11:50 AM Central, with Marco Estrada on the mound. Look for the new Link Report by late morning. The Rattlers and Stars will be available via audio in the early evening hours before your attention turns to the Brewers in L.A.

Nice job by Aaron of the Stars' front office here... *** Stars shine in late innings against Birmingham to sweep double header By Aaron Morse You like epic comebacks? Oh, we have some epic comebacks. The Huntsville Stars (15-10) scored three runs in the top of the seventh inning on Monday to defeat the Birmingham Barons (6-18) by a final score of 5-4 in game one of their double header. Then they did it again in game two. Except this time they only needed two runs in the top of the seventh as they prevailed 4-3. But let’s go back to the beginning. The Barons have struggled all year, but they sent their undisputed ace, and Southern League ERA leader Charles Shirek to the mound for game one. Not surprisingly, he was his usual dominating self for the first five innings. Meanwhile the Stars responded with former first round draft pick Mark Rogers. The Barons got to Rogers for one run in the first without recording a hit. Rogers hit John Shelby III to start the inning. Shelby III was able to steal second base. With one down, Jim Gallagher drew a walk. The aggressive Barons proceeded to pull off a double steal to put two runners in scoring position. Brent Morel grounded out to second base to score Shelby III, but that would be the extent of the damage in the first inning. Zelous Wheeler nearly hit a homer off Shirek in the second inning, but a leaping catch by right fielder Salvador Sanchez took it away. Rogers matched Shirek pitch for pitch until he ran into trouble in the bottom of the fourth. Lee Cruz started things off with a ringing double to left. Then Rogers was a victim of some bad luck as a Sanchez “Baltimore Chop” bounced over the head of Steffan Wilson and into right field. That scored Cruz and the lead was 2-0 for the Barons. Then the Barons played some small ball. First, catcher Chase Blackwood bunted Sanchez over to second base. That was followed by a quick swipe of third. Manager Ever Magallanes went deep in to his bag of tricks and pulled out the old suicide squeeze. Justin Fuller executed it to perfection, and the Barons had a 3-0 lead. After five complete, things didn’t look so great for the Stars, as they found themselves down 3-0 in a seven-inning game. But that all changed in the top of the sixth. Lee Haydel, who has filled in nicely for the injured Lorenzo Cain in the lead-off spot, laced a double to right to start things off. Then Brett Lawrie hit a seeing-eye single up the middle to plate Haydel and just like that Shirek had given up only his third run of the season. Down 3-1, the Stars kept the pressure on Shirek when with one away, Wheeler singled to right. That put runners on the corners for Taylor Green. Manager Mike Guerrero decided to play some small ball himself as he sent Wheeler with two strikes on Green. Green struck out, but the throw to second base got away from Fuller and Lawrie came in from third to cut the deficit to 3-2. Shirek would get out of the inning without any further damage, but the Stars had gotten within striking distance. Unfortunately a solo homer from Morel in the top half of the seventh seemed to once again put the game at more than arm’s reach. Then the Barons made a bit of a tactical mistake, they took out Shirek in favor of Miguel Socolovich (2-2) in the bottom half of the seventh. Wilson led-off the inning and drew a walk. One out later Martin Maldonado also drew a walk. Then Haydel continued his phenomenal double header with a double to right field to score Wilson. But a Lawrie strikeout put the Stars down to their final out. That’s when Caleb Gindl worked his magic. Gindl, who had the game-winning hit just two days ago, singled up the middle to plate both runners and give the Stars their first lead of the game. That would be more than enough for Mark Willinsky (1-0), who after giving up the solo homer in the sixth out of the ‘pen, slammed the door in the bottom half of the seventh to earn his first win of the year. But the great night for the Stars was just getting started. In game two of the double header, the Barons once again jumped out to the early lead. This time against spot starter Mike Jones, the Barons scored three in the bottom half of the first inning. Meanwhile, the Stars’ offense was once again quiet early, this time being shut-down by the younger brother of Chiefs’ QB Matt Cassel: Justin Cassel. They finally got to him in the fifth inning thanks in-part to the newest Star: Brent Brewer. Wilson started the inning by drawing a walk. Brewer, who had already doubled in his first Stars’ at-bat, singled to move Wilson down to second base. A nice sacrifice bunt from Sean McCraw moved both runners up 90 feet. Then Cassel uncorked a wild pitch, allowing Wilson to score. Haydel, who had such a big impact in game one, smacked another double to score Brewer and the deficit all of a sudden was only 3-2. But Haydel, for reasons beyond anyone watching’s understanding, attempted to steal third with Lawrie at the plate and was thrown out by a mile. Lawrie would then strike-out to end the inning. Robert Hinton relieved Jones to start the fifth inning. Jones, in his second start of the year, really settled down after the rough first inning and gave the Stars enough so they were able to stay within range of the Barons. But Hinton immediately ran into trouble as Gallagher doubled with one away. A single from Morel put runners at the corners. Then what was basically the turning point of the game occurred. Christian Marrero hit a fly ball to center that Haydel caught for the second out. Gallagher attempted to score on the play, and Haydel’s throw had him beat by a few steps. Unfortunately the ball tipped off the top of McCraw’s glove and went all the way to the backstop where Hinton picked it up. Meanwhile, McCraw got absolutely run over on the play. It appeared that the Barons had a much needed insurance run, but the Stars appealed to third base and it was ruled that Gallagher had left the bag too early. The inning was over, and the Stars had officially turned their fourth double play in the past four innings of the game. In-between innings, manager Magallanes and Gallagher got the boot for vehemently arguing the call with home plate umpire Gerard Ascani. The Stars would go down quietly in the sixth, but rose again in the seventh to complete yet another amazing comeback. This time the Barons kept their starter in to begin the inning, as Cassel had had a nice outing. But an error would open the floodgates as Chris Errecart hit a grounder to short that snuck under the glove of Greg Paiml. Wilson hit a grounder to second and they got the force on Errecart, but a hustling Wilson would beat the relay throw to first. Then Wilson really showed some hustle. In the gutsiest move of the year, he stole second base. It was his first stolen base attempt of the year, and luckily for the Stars he was successful. Not only that, the throw went into center so Wilson was also able to advance to third on the play. Cassel walked Brewer and his day was done. In came Joe Torres, who immediately got the second out of the inning when he got pinch hitter Brett Dowdy to pop out to short. For the second consecutive game, the Stars were down to their final out. Torres got two strikes on Haydel, but what was a theme for the day continued as Haydel came up big once again with a slap-shot down the left field line to score Wilson, tie the game, and advance Brewer to third. That would be all for Torres and Tyson Corley entered the game. Lawrie was able to beat out an infield single to score Brewer and the Stars took the 4-3 lead that they would not relinquish. Mike McClendon (1-0) worked two shutout innings out of the bullpen to pick up the win while Cassel (0-2) suffered the hard-luck loss. Haydel had a huge day at the plate, going 5-8 in the double header and driving in three runs while scoring two of his own. With the sweep, the Stars move to within three games of the Tennessee Smokies in the North Division. The Stars head back home to Joe Davis Stadium for a five game set beginning on Tuesday against the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx. The Stars took three of five when they went to Jackson earlier in the year. Michael Bowman (2-2, 4.58) will be on the mound for game one, which starts at 7:00 PM Central Time. Join us on www.huntsvillestars.com for the Window World Pre-Game Report beginning at 6:45.

Amaury Rivas named Pitcher of the Week By Jill Cacic / Huntsville Stars HUNTSVILLE, ALA - Huntsville Stars starting pitcher Amaury Rivas was named the Southern League Pitcher of the Week for April 19 - 26. Rivas is among the league leaders in multiple categories, including wins (4), complete games (1), opponents' batting average (.160), and winning percentage (1.000). Over his five starts of the 2010 season, Rivas has collected four wins and one no decision. Rivas' 4-0 record and 0.90 ERA have put him second overall among Southern League pitchers. In 30 innings, Rivas has struck out 21 and allowed only 15 hits. On April 25, Rivas threw the first complete game of his career (seven innings) in game one of a double header, giving up only one run on three hits. Forty-nine of his overall 82 pitches were thrown for strikes. Rivas was the Brewers' Minor League Pitcher of the Year for 2009 and continues to show great dominance on the mound in 2010.

Clearwater scores two in 8th to top BCBy Frank Longobardo / Brevard County Manatees A two-run double in the eighth by Clearwater's Tim Kennelly was the difference as the Manatees fell to the Threshers 3-1 on Monday night at Space Coast Stadium in Viera. Manatees starter Cody Scarpetta had a quality outing as he went 6 1/3 innings and allowed just one run on five hits, while walking three and striking out seven, but did not factor into the decision. The lone run that Scarpetta gave up came in the second inning as he threw a wild pitch that allowed Jim Murphy to score. Murphy reached on a two-out triple. Brevard County's first hit didn't come until the fourth inning, but it was a big one as Erik Komatsu hit a stand-up triple to the gap in right center. Brock Kjeldgaard preceded to drive in Komatsu with an RBI single to tie the game. The Threshers would load the bases in the eighth on two walks and a single against Evan Frederickson. Corey Frerichs relieved Frederickson and got two big outs as Murphy flied out to Erik Miller in right field and then hit the relay throw to catcher Anderson De La Rosa who gunned down Cody Overbeck who was heading back to second. The damage would be done though by the next hitter, as Kennelly doubled to deep center to plate two. Brevard County didn't go down without a fight as they had two on and one out in the ninth, but Clearwater's Justin De Fratus shut the Manatees down for the save. Kjeldgaard was the only Manatee who had two hits and had the lone RBI. Clearwater's pitching staff held the Manatees to just four hits and nine strikeouts. The Manatees and the Threshers will continue their series on Tuesday night at 7:05 PM (6:05 Central) at Space Coast Stadium.

BrewCrewBall pointed this out today. The Manatees had a 30-minute TV show run in late April. You Tube has it broken into three segments. Segment one features Manager Bob Miscik, segment two has a nice tour of SpaceCoast Stadium (wonderful major-league level facilities for the Nationals' spring training, just first-class all the way) and pitching lessons from now Brewer interim bullpen coach Fred Dabney (emphasis on poise and mound prescence). Segment three are chats with Cody Scarpetta and GM Kyle Smith, and a quick minute getting to know infielder Matt Cline.

PDF document: Nashville Media Notes Chock-full as always...

Jake Odorizzi's WHIP was 1.00 entering this game, so his three hits, five walks, and HBP in 3+ innings we'll chalk up to a tough day at the office.

Two-run HR for Khris Davis (following a Scooter Gennett base hit) to tie things up 7-7 in the top of the 9th! It's 1:45 Central if you can still tune in...

Link while active, text follows: Childersburg native Zelous Wheeler living pro baseball dream with Huntsville Stars By Doug Segrest -- The Birmingham News Zelous Wheeler remembers what the fuss was all about. At age 7, he made the 40-minute trek from Childersburg to Regions Park with his family because the best-known profes­sional athlete in the world was moonlight­ing in a Birmingham Barons uniform. "We used to come watch Michael Jordan back in the day," Wheeler said. "I didn't know much about baseball, but I knew about him." The fuss the past four days at Regions Park hasn't been about Jordan. It's been about Wheeler, the Huntsville Stars short­stop, whose return home has drawn a steady stream of friends and family from down U.S. 280. "I tell everyone I'm from Birmingham, anyway," Wheeler said. "No one knows where Childersburg and Sylacauga are." A 19th-round draft choice out of Wallace State Community College in Hanceville, the 5-foot-10, 215-pound Wheeler has made a smooth transition the first month of his first full Double-A season. He's playing short for the Stars and hitting third or fourth in the or­der, wielding a slick glove and a po­tent bat for the Milwaukee Brewers' affiliate. Not bad for a guy who looks like Luzinski yet is as nimble as Concep­cion. He was a linebacker back at Childersburg High, where he was a ninth-grader when Charlotte Bob­cats star Gerald Wallace was a se­nior, drawing a handful of small­ college offers to play football. "Mostly Division II schools: Miles and Livingston. Jacksonville State was there, too," he said. "Most wanted me to play both sports, but I could see a better future in baseball. Football's OK, but I didn't have the height to play at the next level." The Brewers took him in the 2007 draft, signed him and shipped him across country to Helena, Mont., for a short season. Ever since then, he's been making progress at an accelerated pace. An all-star at both levels of Single-­A, he hasn't struggled much with Double-A pitching. Wheeler is hitting .319 and leads the team with three home runs. His 15 RBIs match for the team lead. The Stars' game Sunday against the Barons was rained out. He's also showing discipline at the plate, with only eight strikeouts in 69 at-bats. "I just want to be fundamentally sound. Everyone's about power, but if a guy's on base I just want to move him over," Wheeler said. The stocky shortstop with the easy-going demeanor has made his move at the most critical infield po­sition. But to get to the big leagues, he's willing to go with the flow. "I don't look ahead, so when the opportunity comes I'll try to do my best and let what happens happen," he said. "If they want me to play center field, I'll play center field. If they want me to catch, I'll catch. I've never caught before, but I can do it." Childersburg's Zelous Wheeler was back at Regions Park this weekend as an up-and-coming shortstop in the Milwaukee Brewers organization. (The Birmingham News / Tamika Moore) http://media.al.com/birmingham-news-sports/photo/zelous-wheeler-0503jpg-3d8a52f79b7b291c_large.jpg

Rattler Radio: May 3, 2010: Game Notes May 3, 2010: Today's Rattlers pitchers May 3, 2010: Starting Rattlers Lineup

Via Chris at Rattler Radio: - Joey Paciorek placed on the disabled list - Cutter Dykstra transferred to Wisconsin from extended Spring training Dykstra is available today, but not in the starting lineup. Pete Fatse is starting at second base, with Michael Marseco at third, Scooter Gennett at shortstop.

MID Western (click column headers to sort) Club W L PCT GB Home Away L 10 Streak Peoria 15 9 .625 - 11-1 4-8 6-4 L1 Quad Cities 15 9 .625 - 9-3 6-6 4-6 L2 Beloit 14 9 .609 0.5 7-5 7-4 7-3 L1 Cedar Rapids 12 12 .500 3.0 8-4 4-8 5-5 W4 Clinton 11 13 .458 4.0 6-6 5-7 4-6 W1 Kane County 11 13 .458 4.0 8-4 3-9 5-5 L3 Burlington 9 15 .375 6.0 6-6 3-9 6-4 W2 Wisconsin 8 15 .348 6.5 5-6 3-9 3-7 W1

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 Game One (Gameday also available) Huntsville Game Two (Gameday also available) Brevard County Wisconsin

MiLB.com video subscribers can watch the Nashville series in Round Rock this week. So there you go, friends, family, and ultra-diehards... *** How about those Huntsville mound mates today? The master plan was surely for Mike Jones to be in his 4th/5th Milwaukee year, Mark Rogers his 2nd/3rd by now....

Monday's Daily Menu: Times Central; pitchers subject to change -- Nashville: RHP Marco Estrada at Round Rock (Astros), 6:50 PM pre-game; 7:05 gametime Live Audio Link Huntsville: RHP's Mark Rogers and Mike Jones in a twinbill at Birmingham (White Sox), 4:50 PM pre-game; 5:05 gametime; each contest slated for seven innings Live Audio Link Brevard County: RHP Cody Scarpetta at home vs. Clearwater (Phillies), 6:05 PM gametime Sorry, no audio for this series... Wisconsin: RHP Jake Odorizzi at Beloit (Twins), 10:45 AM pre-game; 11:00 gametime; LHP Efrain Nieves will pitch in tandem Live Audio Link

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Video of Manatees lefty Daniel Meadows posted before an FSL "crowd" in Tampa...

The Manatees faced Yankees "switch-pitcher" Pat Venditte Sunday -- still posting impresive numbers, no bump to AA yet, though.

What Chris' gut tells him Interesting take on Damon Krestalude...

Chad with Caleb Gindl Nice to hear from Caleb, last time must have been in West Virginia in 2008...

David Weiser's starsboxscore.com Comeback story Caleb Gindl comes off bench in 11th to win it In the first couple of months of last season, the Stars had a habit of winning with late-inning rallies.......... Six games were won last year with late-inning bursts (6th or later), four in a row from April 14-17 against the Braves. This year, the Stars have taken care of business early on the way to a 12-10 April, scoring 63 of their 105 runs (60%) in the first four innings. (Last year, it was 49% - 48 of 98.)........ In April, the Stars came back in the late innings to win only once, a 4-3 victory over the Diamond Jaxx, won with a two-run 8th. Last night, the Stars did it again, in their first extra-inning game of the year. The Stars have not had a winning record in extra-inning games since 2004, and coming into this season, they had a record of 16-32, but in their first extra-inning contest of the season, they not only came from behind, but managed to win it with Caleb Gindl, hurt leg and all, delivering a two-out infield single to win it in the 11th....... The Stars still remain four games in back of the smokin' Tennessee Smokies. Chris Errecart, who started the 9th inning rally with a one-out single to center, led off the 11th with a double deep to left-center. Two outs later, after Errecart moved to third on Steffan Wilson's grounder, Gindl, who injured his leg somehow rounding first in last Thursday's game, stepped up......... After scattering his teammates with a foul ball into the dugout, he hit a weak grounder to 3rd baseman Brent Morel. Gindl beat out the strong throw by an eyelash, scoring Errecart on the game-winning hit...... Brandon Kintzler, who finished April as one of only six pitchers in Stars history with a 0.00 ERA in at least seven innings pitched, retired the Barons 1-2-3 to get his first win. The Stars could do nothing against starter Jhonny Nunez (0-2, 4.97), who threw 70% of his 85 pitches for strikes. Nunez struck out six in five innings and gave up just three hits. Past the 2nd inning, when his own throwing error contributed to the Stars' first run, he allowed only one baserunner. Both Charlis Burdie and Miguel Socolovich continued in Nunez's path, holding the Stars to just one hit - a leadoff double by Brett Lawrie in the 6th....... Finally, with Henry Mabee going after his 2nd save, Errecart drilled a 1-2 hanging pitch back through the box for a hit. Brett Dowdy, sent down Wednesday from Nashville, hit a soft, one-hop liner on a 2-1 pitch into left for his first hit as a Huntsville Star.......... Still with one out and runners now on first and second, Wilson, 10-for-72 in April, stepped up to try and keep the Stars alive. On a 1-2 pitch, he dropped a one-hop single into right to load the bases....... That set the stage for Gindl, playing day-to-day, pinch-hitting for Chuckie Caufield. Gindl walked on four pitches forcing in a run, making it 3-2......... Martin Maldonado, on the first pitch from Mabee, then hit a fly to right, scoring Dowdy with the tying run. The Stars biggest problem all year long has been defense. The 30 errors committed in April was the most since 2003 (37), and just 10 shy of the record......... It didn't end with the first inning of the first day in May........ John Shelby started things off with a ground ball to short. Zelous Wheeler threw it to first, where Errecart dropped it. He would make up for it later, but it set in motion Birmingham's three-run inning......... Dale Mollenhauer lined a single to right-center. Rather than try for Shelby going to third, Lawrie made an attempt on Mollenhauer, who was rounding first. He would have been a dead duck, but Lawrie threw the ball into the camera pit, allowing Shelby to score and Mollenhauer to advance to third........ A ground out scored Mollenhauer, and with two out, Lee Cruz singled him home to give the Barons a 3-0 lead. Alexandre Periard scattered five hits and gave up all three runs, but none of them were earned, of course........ Jim Henderson and Kintzler combined to give the bullpen five scoreless innings. The bullpen now has a 2.34 ERA in 84 2/3 innings........ Wheeler's 12-game hit streak came to an end Saturday, one short of the longest streak of the season - Lorenzo Cain's 13-gamer to start the season........ Cain's .380 average in April is the 5th best all-time for a Huntsville hitter. Jonathan's Lucroy's .452 average would have been the best, but a promotion to Nashville left him eight at-bats shy of being official........Amaury Rivas is the first Huntsville pitcher with a 4-0 start since Derek Lee in 2003. Sam Narron is the last pitcher to win four games in April, but he lost an 8-1 game in 41° weather at Jackson, Tennessee. Darrel Akerfelds, in 1985, was the only other Stars hurler to win four games in April. Monday, Mark Rogers will try to come back from a disastrous start last Tuesday when he became the last Huntsville pitcher since Travis Smith in 2000 to give up 10 runs in a game. Charles Shirek, the Southern League's ERA leader (1-0, 0.69) will start for the Barons. The Stars made a roster move Friday, involving shortstops........ Back-up Anderson Machado (.207, 0 HRs, 0 RBIs) was sent up to Nashville. The Stars got another weak-hitter from Brevard County in return -- Brent Brewer, who had two RBIs to go with his .154 stick. Brewer was the Brewers' 2nd round pick in the 2006 draft. He has hit no better than .264 in his five-year career, and that was in the Arizona Rookie League. He committed 33 errors at shortstop last year for the Manatees, to lead the Florida State League.