Jim Goulart

Stu catches up from Kids' Day in Nashville

Check for updated links shortly before game time for media notes -- PDF documents: Nashville Media Notes Huntsville Media Notes ***http://rattler-radio.blogspot.com/Rattler Radio: Game notes Tonight's starting pitcher Starting lineup

MID Western (click column headers to sort) Club W L PCT GB Home Away L 10 Streak Quad Cities 11 3 .786 - 5-1 6-2 8-2 W2 Peoria 9 5 .643 2.0 5-0 4-5 7-3 W6 Beloit 7 7 .500 4.0 4-4 3-3 6-4 L2 Cedar Rapids 7 7 .500 4.0 4-2 3-5 5-5 L1 Clinton 7 7 .500 4.0 5-3 2-4 5-5 W2 Kane County 6 8 .429 5.0 5-4 1-4 4-6 L3 Wisconsin 6 8 .429 5.0 4-4 2-4 3-7 W1 Burlington 3 11 .214 8.0 3-3 0-8 2-8 L6

Pacific Coast League (AAA) - PCL American North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nashville 9 5 .643 - 2-4 7-1 W1 Memphis 7 7 .500 2.0 3-3 4-4 W3 Iowa 6 8 .429 3.0 3-5 3-3 L2 Omaha 6 8 .429 3.0 2-6 4-2 W1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Southern League (AA) - SOU North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tennessee 10 2 .833 - 4-1 6-1 W4 Huntsville 9 4 .692 1.5 3-2 6-2 W5 Carolina 6 6 .500 4.0 2-5 4-1 L2 Chattanooga 5 8 .385 5.5 4-4 1-4 W1 West Tenn 4 9 .308 6.5 1-7 3-2 L5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Florida State League (A+) - FSL North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lakeland 8 5 .615 - 5-1 3-4 W3 Clearwater 8 6 .571 0.5 6-1 2-5 L2 Dunedin 8 6 .571 0.5 4-2 4-4 W3 Tampa 8 6 .571 0.5 5-3 3-3 W2 Daytona 5 9 .357 3.5 1-5 4-4 L3 Brevard County 4 9 .308 4.0 3-5 1-4 L4

Follow Thursday'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

Thursday's Daily Menu: Brewer day game means three audio streams get our full baseball attention this evening... Times Central; pitchers subject to change -- Nashville: LHP Chase Wright at home vs. Oklahoma City (Rangers), 6:50 PM pre-game; 7:05 gametime Live Audio Link Huntsville: RHP Michael Bowman at West Tenn (Mariners), 6:50 PM pre-game; 7:05 gametime Live Audio Link Brevard County: RHP Trey Watten at Dunedin (Blue Jays), 6:00 PM gametime Sorry, no audio for this game, however, the Dunedin feed will be available Friday night for this series... Wisconsin: RHP Eric Arnett at home vs. Cedar Rapids (Angels), 6:20 PM pre-game; 6:35 gametime Live Audio Link

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Huntsville Game Summary from the West Tenn site The Diamond Jaxx (4-9) lost on Wednesday afternoon at Pringles Park to the Huntsville Stars (9-4) in front of 1,376 fans, 7-0. The mostly school kids at the ballpark saw the Jaxx drop their fifth straight game of the year. The shutout loss is the first suffered this season. The Stars trail the first place Tennessee Smokies (10-2) by just two games in the Southern League North Division. The bright spot offensively for West Tenn on Wednesday was Mariners first round pick (2nd overall) Dustin Ackley who finished the day 2-for-3 with a walk and a triple. The Jaxx pounded out six hits in the loss. Huntsville received multi-hit games from Zelous Wheeler, Taylor Green, Lee Haydel and Andy Machado. The Stars had a great day on the mound with Mark Rogers (1-1), Jim Henderson and Robert Hinton combining to strike out eight and walk just three in the shutout. Taking the loss for West Tenn was Mauricio Robles (1-1), who tossed his shortest outing in three starts (3.2 innings) and gave up three runs on five hits. The Jaxx used five pitchers in the game. The Stars scored first again Wednesday morning on a wild pitch by Diamond Jaxx pitcher, Mauricio Robles. Machado scored on the wild pitch after leading off the inning with a triple. The Stars took a 1-0 lead after the third. Huntsville scored two more runs in the top of the fourth inning. After a double by Wheeler, Green plated Wheeler on an RBI double. Machado brought in Green with an RBI fielders' choice groundout and the Stars led 3-0. In the sixth inning, Huntsville got a leadoff triple from Haydel then Machado picked up his second RBI in the game and brought in Haydel with a single. The Stars plated three more runs in the ninth inning against Jaxx reliever Chris Sorce. Sorce walked five batters in the ninth inning and hit a batter. Lorenzo Cain did drive in the final run of the inning with a hit to left. The Stars took a 7-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth inning and held for the shutout. The Jaxx and Stars will meet again on Thursday night at 7:05 as the Jaxx look to snap the five game losing skid. Taking the mound for the Jaxx will be RHP Michael Pineda (0-0, 1.93) while RHP Michael Bowman (2-0, 3.60) toes the rubber for Huntsville.

D-Jays win wild one in 10 innings, 9-8 By Tim Livingston / Dunedin Blue Jays It looked bleak there for a while. Down 6-0 going into the sixth, Dunedin was facing a team with a strong offense and a hot pitcher, looking like their own streaky offense was going to be on the cool side of the heat index on Wednesday night. But they strung together six hits to tie the game. Then, after Brevard County got two runs in the seventh, Dunedin was faced with yet another comeback. This one, they finished. Two runs came across in the ninth thanks to a Manatees throwing error on a potential game-ending double play to send the game to extra innings. Another throwing error by Brevard County brought home the winning run in the 10th, sealing Dunedin's 9-8 win. The first half of the game was all Brevard County (4-9). With a runner on second and two away in the first inning, Brock Kjeldgaard bounced a ball to Raul Barron at third, but the normally sure-handed infielder lost the ball on a high hop in the sun, allowing Erik Komatsu to score the game's first run. In the third, the Manatees got three runs on three consecutive RBI doubles from Sergio Miranda, Komatsu and then Erik Miller to make it 4-0. Kjeldgaard added another blow in the fifth, homering to deep left center field off Joel Carreno with a runner on to give the Manatees a 6-0 lead and plenty of cushion for their starter, Dan Merklinger. The Brevard County lefty had his stuff going early on, striking out two batters in the first as Dunedin (8-6) tried to battle back from their deficit, and then followed it up with five more heading into the sixth inning. That's where Dunedin's bats came alive. Barron led off with a single, and after a Travis d'Arnaud walk, Sean Shoffit singled to load the bases. After Mike McDade struck out for the inning's second out, the rally began. Yan Gomes hit a two-run single to left field and advanced to 2nd on the throw in, putting Dunedin on the board and cutting the lead to 6-2. This chased Merklinger and brought in Corey Frerichs. Frerichs didn't do much better, giving up RBI singles to Welinton Ramirez and Justin McClanahan to cut the lead in half at 6-4. The ninth batter of the inning, Tyler Pastornicky, then smoked a ball deep to left-center field, bringing in two more runs to tie the game at 6-6 and put the Manatees on notice. Brevard County didn't fold, however, scoring two in the top of the seventh with RBI doubles from Miller and Anderson De La Rosa off Chad Beck, making it 8-6. It would stay that way until the ninth inning, when Nick Green got into some trouble. Pastornicky led off with a single, and Barron followed with one of his own, setting the stage for last week's FSL Hitter of the Week in d'Arnaud. D'Arnaud would fight off some pitches and go to right field for a base hit, loading the bases for Brian Van Kirk. Green would get Kirk out on three straight strikes for the first out before the drama unfolded with Sean Shoffit. Shoffit grounded a sure double play ball to second base, but the turn at second by Miranda caused him to throw it in the dirt. Shoffit would reach and Barron would scamper home behind Pastornicky to tie the game at 8-8 and send it to extras. In the bottom of the tenth, Justin McClanahan thought he had the walk-off hit when he doubled off the left-center field wall, but a nice play in center field by Juan Sanchez got the ball back to the infield in time to halt Ramirez at third. Brevard County intentionally walked Pastornicky to load the bases with one out for Barron, who was 3-for-5 on the night coming into this most crucial at-bat. He got ahead of reliever Dan Meadows (0-1) 2-0, but swung early on a changeup, knocking it right back to the mound for what seemed like another double play ball. But after getting the out at home plate, De La Rosa's throw to first was in the dirt as well, getting by Kjeldgaard and into right field, allowing McClanahan to come home with the game-winning run. The wild ending made a winner out of Boomer Potts (1-0), who pitched 2.1 scoreless innings of relief to pick up his first victory. Dunedin rapped out a season-high 17 hits on the night, with three hits each from Barron and Ramirez. Pastornicky, d'Aranaud, Shoffit and McClanahan each had two hits, with Gomes bringing home two RBIs. Komatsu had a sensational night for the Manatees, going 4-for-4 with four runs scored and three doubles. It was Dunedin's third win in four tries against Brevard County this season, and they will go for another series win in Thursday night's game against the Manatees. 20-year-old Henderson Alvarez, who is 2-0 this season and has allowed only one earned run in his two starts, will get the ball for Dunedin against Cody Scarpetta of Brevard County.

Link while active, text follows: Timber Rattlers pitcher Jake Odorizzi projected to have bright future Brett Christopherson, Appleton Post-Crescent GRAND CHUTE — The good folks at Baseball America project Jake Odorizzi to be the No. 3 starter in the Milwaukee Brewers rotation come 2013. Your thoughts, kid? "To tell you the truth, I haven't looked at any of that," the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers right-hander said with an amused grin following Wednesday's 5-2 Midwest League victory over Cedar Rapids at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium. "People say a lot of stuff and people think a lot of stuff. It all boils down to what the organization thinks. … I just go about my business and do what I do." Business for the 20-year-old Odorizzi is throwing strikes, recording outs and filling the scoreboard with zeroes. "I've never seen anybody with the stuff he has — free and easy," infielder Pete Fatse said. "He's everything you could want in a pitcher. He's unbelievable." Odorizzi drew interest from the Brew Crew's chief mover and shaker, who spent his Wednesday afternoon hunkered in a stadium suite as he ditched the computerized scouting reports for a live look-see at these Rattlers. "Jake's got a good arm," Brewers general manager Doug Melvin said while taking a mid-game breather to talk baseball. "He's got a good pitcher's body, a good delivery, a good repertoire of pitches. It's a matter of commanding all of those pitches." And using a little elbow grease to polish up an otherwise glittering big league prospect. Odorizzi, a supplemental first-round pick in 2008, wiggled his way through a shaky first inning with minimal damage allowed, settled into a groove and wound up turning in a solid four-inning no-decision to enhance a robust early-season line that reads 19 K's, four hits and two runs over his first 12 innings. He had been virtually flawless in his first two outings while being used in a tandem system that limits his pitch count and has him rotating starts with relief appearances. That brief string included five no-hit innings and eight K's in a gem last Friday at Burlington — a game that saw the Rattlers come within an out of tossing a combined no-hitter. In baseball lingo, the kid has been throwing seeds. But has he been challenged? And is he beyond this level already? Yes to the first. A definite no to the second. "I don't see myself above anyone's competition because, like today, it's a humbling experience," said Odorizzi, rated by Baseball America as the ninth-best prospect in the Brewers' system. "You don't have your best stuff and you have to work to get at it, and that just shows you you're never above any competition. You might be at the level of competition, but you're never going to be above it." Check out his definition of humbling: Seven strikeouts, three walks, two runs and three hits against a Kernels club peppered with many of the top prospects in the Los Angeles Angels' organization. And keep in mind the brunt of that damage was incurred during a 35-pitch, first-inning sequence that saw Odorizzi allow a pair of singles and issue two walks, which Cedar Rapids parlayed into four stolen bases and two runs. "Those guys are a running bunch and trying to offset his timing, and they did a good job of that," Rattlers pitching coach Chris Hook said. "They like to run, and part of that is having a game plan to hold runners, and I think he got caught up in that a little bit. So he just needed to take a little breather." Said Wisconsin manager Jeff Isom: "The game's very easy when you're going out there and striking out guys, not giving up hits and not giving up baserunners. But you continue to move up the ladder, you're going to have teams that run and steal and challenge you at times in different aspects. "I like that he was challenged today. … It's about the development process, and this is just one of those days that exposes a little bit of a weakness and shows things he needs to work on." Odorizzi insists he needs to work on everything, which is why he gave Wednesday's outing an average mark — "a C-plus, at best," he said — even though he retired the final seven batters he faced, stuck out five batters looking, hummed a four-seam fastball to as high as 93 mph on the stadium gun and sprinkled in a slider, curveball and changeup. That's four pitches, including a fastball he can command and mix speeds. And to think he just turned 20 last month. It's little wonder why the Brewers are being extra careful with this kid, capping his innings pitched at 68 over the past two seasons at rookie ball and continuing to keep close tabs on his pitch count. For those scoring at home, he exited Wednesday's game having thrown 82 pitches. "The most important thing is taking care of their health, having them be healthy," Melvin said. "And you can manage the player better if he's healthy and performing. It's when they're not healthy — it's hard to foresee them playing in the big leagues if they miss too much time." Just as it's hard to foresee Odorizzi not wearing Brewers colors by the time 2013 finally does roll around. Timber Rattlers starter Jake Odorizzi pitches to Cedar Rapids in Grand Chute on Wednesday. (Post-Crescent photo by Dan Powers) http://cmsimg.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=U0&Date=20100422&Category=APC021102&ArtNo=4220683&Ref=AR&Profile=1019&MaxW=550&MaxH=650&title=0

Brad with his Wisconsin blog report -- first-hand account, 89 photos from the game, nice as always. Nice one of D'Vontrey Richardson here, although many are really sharp and effective.

Brett's Post-Crescent blog post crammed with stuff, including Pete Fatse Jeff Isom, and yes, Doug Melvin (there for the game today) quotes

Well, this isn't your usual media release: Link Report Bonus from Stars' GM Buck Rogers -- The seats directly behind the Stars bullpen bench have been taped off. Last week we had a young fan who had 'a reversal of fortune' after downing a couple blue slushies, ice cream and some other ballpark fare. The unlucky recipients in the bullpen received their surprise donation down their backs and one of the guys trotted out to the mound during the game where catcher Jonathan Lucroy remarked that he smelled pretty ripe. The unnamed pitcher made it thru the game, although we think it went above and beyond the call of duty while wearing a funkadelic jersey. Hence, those few seats are now cordoned off to allow a buffer between the bullpen pitchers and the fans behind them to prevent any accidental discharges of stomach contents in the future. The bullpen pitchers appreciate your understanding. Well, that makes me want to run out and get a burrito... *** I was going to use the color fonts to brighten that text, but the imagery speaks for itself, yikes...

BK, you beat me to it with your post as we duplicated efforts, but I'll leave my own thoughts here... Wisconsin Box Score Rattlers reach double-digit hits again with ten -- not sure what the final won-loss record will show, but this year's squad is going to be exceedingly more entertaining than the 2009 club; although he was on the active roster, Pete Fatse sat idle for most of week one, perhaps with a nagging something, but you have to check out his numbers from his first seven games with plate appearances; eight-game hit streak for Khris Davis, six-game streak for Chris Dennis, three straight two-hit games for Sean Halton; Jake Odorizzi has 19 K's in 12 innings thus far; we read the story this AM about Efrain Nieves and him needing a wake-up call -- message delivered (and received), apparently...

Final: Huntsville 7, West Tenn (Mariners) 0 Huntsville Box Score As noted, I was able to listen to Chad (and Aaron, I believe) for the call, they work very well together, and the two-man booth is a rarity from past years for road games on any level of Brewer affiliate calls -- so a nice game experience; Mark Rogers tossed five scoreless, 46 of 80 pitches for strikes, but only two walks -- the impression I got from the call of the game was that Mark had the hitters off-balance throughout, and his power breaking stuff, when snapped over properly, is just killer -- not a lot of speed gun discussion, but Rogers was definitely on the north side of 90 consistently, naturally, with his fast ball -- lots of three-ball counts, somewhat Rich Harden-like, which isn't a bad potential big league comp, actually; plenty of love for reliever Jim Henderson's season-long efforts, as he tossed three scoreless here, facing the minimum; Zelous Wheeler gave Taylor Green a defensive day off at third base and reached four times, six times in the series' two games thus far; Green doubled (his 9th!) and singled as the DH; Lee Haydel has had a nice consistent start to his season, five walks thus far in 42 AB's -- he only walked 17 times last season at Brevard in 491 AB's... Huntsville Play-by-Play Mark Rogers did not have a 1-2-3 inning, but you didn't get the sense he was ever in any real trouble, even with two men on at times; catcher Martin Maldonado reminded his new teammates that he can gun down baserunners with the best of them, a very strong throw on the Diamond Jaxx's only attempt to help out Rogers; the Stars flooded the bases with 23 runners (12 hits, eight walks, three HBP's), stranding 13, which is OK when seven others cross the plate; perhaps a scoring change was made in the 8th -- Lorenzo Cain singled in both the 8th and 9th innings, so his hit streak extension wasn't quite as dramatic as described in an earlier post...

With Martin Maldonado's move to Huntsville, a spot opened up at Brevard that has been filled by C / 1B Shawn Zarraga, up from extended spring training. So with Anderson De La Rosa, Mike Roberts, and Zarraga on the squad, it's kind of an eclectic catching corps, as each has seen action in the outfield in the past, or in Zarraga's case, first base. Roberts has some pop, he needs to see a few more AB's.

Okla. City Top 9th vs. Zach Braddock - Jarrod Saltalamacchia strikes out swinging. - Max Ramirez strikes out swinging. - Mitch Moreland strikes out swinging. Yeah, there's your closer for the next six years minimum, Milwaukee.

Lorenzo Cain now just tied the club record for hitting streak to begin a season, 13. Cain was fortunate to salvage the streak, as his mates did a nice job of batting around in the 9th to give him a final chance to extend. Stars with a 7-0 lead to the final half-inning, I've listened to most every pitch, and will chime in a bit later on.

It will be some combination of Maverick Lasker and Kyle Heckathorn -- so far on that tandem, Lasker has made both starts with Heckathorn following, so maybe they're tandeming but not necessarily flip-flopping starting duties.

Catcher Martin Maldonado has been bumped from Brevard County to Huntsville -- he's in Wednesday's lineup. He and Sean McCraw will handle the AA staff for now.

PDF document: Huntsville Media Notes

Sounds site -- Getting to know Brendan Katin

Rattler Radio Blog: April 21, 2010: Timber Rattlers lineup (Pete Fatse sporting a nice little 1.497 OPS) April 21, 2010: Today's Rattlers pitchers April 21, 2010: Game notes

Also, pitching coach Steve Cline, who is Arizona (Maryvale's) pitching coach, has stepped in to fill Fred Dabney's role with Brevard County while Dabney covers for Stan Kyles as bullpen coach in Milwaukee. As does everyone, we wish Stan well as he fights prostate cancer. He's expected back with the Crew in 4-6 weeks.

PDF document: Nashville Media Notes