Jim Goulart

Totally appreciate your commitment and interest in Mike throughout this thread, paul253, but I just think you're over-assessing where Mike should be in in his pro career right now. The Brewers were ready to say goodbye to him last spring, and he took them up on their offer of a slot at Brevard County. His AAA callup was a nice story, but was more a need of a body there than outstanding performance in Huntsville (career stats). I will say I'm surprised he just turned 27, I would have guessed a year or two older at this point.

Mehring -- Gut check Walk-up music (I'm even more clueless than Chris)

Monday's scheduled Florida State League game between the Lakeland Flying Tigers and the Brevard County Manatees has been postponed due to heavy rain and wet playing conditions at Joker Marchant Stadium. The game will be made up as part of a doubleheader on Thursday, June 17. Tuesday's 10:30 AM (9:30 CT) game between the two teams will be played as scheduled. *** Since the teams never got underway, we'll likely see Wily Peralta pitch Tuesday AM -- otherwise LHP Dan Merklinger.

PDF document: Huntsville Media Notes

PDF document: Nashville Media Notes

Joey Paciorek should have had a base hit in the post above (he has now singled in the 7th as well). Chris paints a nice picture, and gives realistic opinions (and offers restrained disgust) on some of these Midwest League park scoring decisions.

In progress: Wisconsin 9, Quad Cities (Cardinals) 1, top of the 7th in Iowa Quad Cities loaded the bases with none out in both the 4th and 5th innings against Nick Bucci, but only one run scored in the two frames combined thanks to Bucci's Houdini act in the 4th and a sweet double play grounder induced by reliever RHP Andre Lamontagne in the 5th. Lamontagne, like fellow righty Hiram Burgos, gets kind of lost with all the higher-profile starters and tandem guys, but is another to keep an eye on. 20-year-old Chris Dennis is just a beast. His two-run blast in the 6th was his 4th home run of the year (the Rattlers have seven home runs as a team). Dennis' left-handed swing should play just fine even at Space Coast, as will his 1.272 OPS (coming into today's game). Goodness knows the Manatees will gladly accept that production, when that inevitable day comes. That Frederick Parejo for the River Bandits is not the former Brewers' farmhand. Wisconsin Top 6th Pitcher Change: LaCurtis Mayes replaces Eric Fornataro. Joseph Paciorek reaches on fielding error by right fielder Edgar Lara. Joseph Paciorek to 2nd. Michael Marseco bunt grounds out, pitcher LaCurtis Mayes to first baseman Matthew Adams. Joseph Paciorek to 3rd. D' Vontrey Richardson pops out to second baseman Luis Mateo. Ryan Gennett walks. Khristopher Davis doubles (7) on a fly ball to center fielder Frederick Parejo. Joseph Paciorek scores. Ryan Gennett scores. Chris Dennis homers (4) on a fly ball to right center field. Khristopher Davis scores. Cameron Garfield strikes out swinging, catcher Ivan Castro to first baseman Matthew Adams.

Nick Bucci with a 7-to-0 GB/FB ratio through three innings. Love Mr. Bucci... More production from Fatse, Halton, and Paciorek in the 4th (still in progress), although Halton was out at the plate on a Paciorek double. 5-0 Rattlers (D'Vontrey Richardson an RBI triple, 3-for-3), as this is shaping up as a fun afternoon for the boys. Looking forward to progress from Del Howell later on.

MiLB.com is not doing a good job of keeping their box scores / game logs up-to-date, especially live during these early games. Nothing yet on that count. Chris' audio link is fine, though, and the Rattlers have strung together several hits in the 2nd (still in progress) to take a 2-0 lead. Pete Fatse remains hot, Sean Halton an RBI and D'Vontrey Richardson with a couple of base hits already back through the middle. Nick Bucci with a scoreless first, he thought he had a called third strike on a batter who eventually doubled.

Rattler Radio Blog: April 19, 2010: Timber Rattlers lineup (They told catcher Cameron Garfield they'd ride him, and they sure are) April 19, 2010: Today's Rattlers pitchers April 19, 2010 Game Notes

MID Western (click column headers to sort) Club W L PCT GB Home Away L 10 Streak Quad Cities 9 2 .818 - 5-0 4-2 8-2 W2 Beloit 6 5 .545 3.0 3-2 3-3 5-5 W3 Kane County 6 5 .545 3.0 5-3 1-2 6-4 W1 Peoria 6 5 .545 3.0 2-0 4-5 5-5 W3 Cedar Rapids 5 6 .455 4.0 4-2 1-4 5-5 L1 Clinton 5 6 .455 4.0 3-3 2-3 5-5 L2 Wisconsin 4 7 .364 5.0 3-3 1-4 3-7 L2 Burlington 3 8 .273 6.0 3-3 0-5 3-7 L3

Pacific Coast League (AAA) - PCL American North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nashville 8 3 .727 - 1-2 7-1 L1 Iowa 5 6 .455 3.0 3-5 2-1 W1 Memphis 4 7 .364 4.0 0-3 4-4 L5 Omaha 4 7 .364 4.0 2-6 2-1 L1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Southern League (AA) - SOU North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tennessee 8 2 .800 - 4-1 4-1 W2 Carolina 6 4 .600 2.0 2-3 4-1 W1 Huntsville 6 4 .600 2.0 3-2 3-2 W2 West Tenn 4 6 .400 4.0 1-4 3-2 L2 Chattanooga 3 7 .300 5.0 2-3 1-4 L2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Florida State League (A+) - FSL North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Clearwater 7 3 .700 - 6-1 1-2 W2 Lakeland 6 5 .545 1.5 3-1 3-4 W1 Dunedin 5 5 .500 2.0 1-1 4-4 W1 Tampa 5 5 .500 2.0 3-2 2-3 L1 Daytona 4 6 .400 3.0 1-4 3-2 W1 Brevard County 4 7 .364 3.5 3-5 1-2 L2

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

Monday's Daily Menu: Times Central; pitchers subject to change -- Nashville: LHP Chuck Lofgren at home vs. Iowa (Cubs), 6:50 PM pre-game; 7:05 gametime Live Audio Link Huntsville: RHP Amaury Rivas at West Tenn (Mariners), 6:50 PM pre-game; 7:05 gametime Live Audio Link Brevard County: RHP Wily Peralta at Lakeland (Tigers), 6:00 PM gametime Sorry, no audio for this series... Wisconsin: RHP Nick Bucci at Quad Cities (Cardinals), 10:45 AM pre-game; 11:00 gametime; expect LHP Del Howell to tandem Live Audio Link

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

Link to March 23rd post

The formal Monday Link Report will be out by mid-morning, but a reminder as you plan your day -- make room for 10:45 AM audio with Chris as the Rattlers play an early contest.

Stu in Nashville -- You win some...you lose some!

Kraig's web site -- Erick Almonte’s triple today He’s the only player I’ve ever seen stretch a triple into an almost-double. *** Kraig has video of Adam Heether's home run here. *** Happy Birthday Ozzie

Kraig with photos of Brendan Katin's departure (at the time he surmised it was a foot injury)

Link while active, text follows: Injuries start to take a toll on Sounds Brendan Katin's hurt knee weakens lineup By Maurice Patton, THE TENNESSEAN Ask any minor league manager about the biggest challenge of his job, and the quick response likely would be dealing with the constant personnel changes. Over the Nashville Sounds' 8-3 start — including an 11-6 loss Sunday to visiting Iowa — second-year Manager Don Money's team has already had eight transactions. The most significant of the moves could be the one that saw slugger Brendan Katin placed on the disabled list prior to Sunday's game. The veteran right fielder, whose four home runs entering Sunday's games were tied for the second-most in minor league baseball, suffered an injury to his right knee in Friday's loss to the I-Cubs. He left that game after one at-bat, and did not play in Saturday's win. "It's day-to-day right now," Katin said. "I've had surgery on it before, to repair the meniscus. We'll just see when it wants to cooperate." In addition to Katin, outfielder Adam Stern was placed on the DL two days into the Pacific Coast League season with a hamstring injury, relief pitcher Mike McClendon was reassigned to Double-A Huntsville and catcher Angel Salome was temporarily inactive from April 11-16. Since Opening Day, catcher Patrick Arlis, pitcher Mitch Stetter and infielder Johnny Raburn have joined the Sounds. Maintaining a high level of success with such a high amount of movement isn't always easy. "We've had a couple get hurt, and with Katin getting hurt we're down to two outfielders," Money said. "But our pitching's been there for the most part. They've stayed pretty well intact. The rest, you can work around. "Katin's on the DL for at least a week. It's still swollen. Hopefully we'll know a little more after it calms down. We'll see where it stands then." With Katin sidelined, the Nashville offense couldn't overcome five errors — matching the most committed by the team in one game since joining the PCL in 1998 — despite Adam Heether's performance at the plate. The third baseman doubled and scored in a four-run second-inning rally, then tied the game with his third homer of the season in the sixth, following Erick Almonte's leadoff triple. Iowa scored five runs over the final three innings. "We've had a couple of (roster) moves, but I don't think it's going to affect this team as a whole," Heether said. "As a group, this is the closest team I've seen. Everybody gets along with everybody, and everyone shares the other players' successes. "I think good things are going to come. We're just waiting for everyone to get their timing down and put it together as a team." Heether's homer ended a string of 41 innings without one for the Sounds. He had two of Nashville's five extra-base hits — as many as the team had totaled in its previous six games.

Link while active, text follows: Bandits get right to work Steve Batterson, Quad Cities (IA) Times Time was of the essence Sunday at Modern Woodmen Park, where the Quad-Cities River Bandits struck quickly out of necessity. Knowing that Wisconsin would send 2009 first-round draft pick Kyle Heckathorn to the mound as the back end of a tandem pitching rotation, Quad-Cities tagged Timber Rattlers starter Maverick Laster for four runs and seven hits before the 6-foot-6 Heckathorn ever stepped on the mound. The effort was just enough to give the River Bandits an efficient 4-3 Midwest League victory. Heckathorn limited Quad-Cities to one hit over the final three innings of a game completed in just 1 hour, 54 minutes, an outcome expedited by two pitching staffs that did not walk a single batter. "We knew we were going to face two good arms, but looking at the numbers, I felt like we needed to get off to a good start in this game," Quad-Cities manager Johnny Rodriguez said. "We needed to put some pressure on them early." The River Bandits did just that in the bottom of the third inning. Back-to-back one-out hits by Frederick Parejo and Ryan Jackson allowed a sacrifice fly by D'Marcus Ingram to tie the game at 1-1. An error on a rushed throw by Timber Rattlers shortstop Scooter Gennett scored Jackson and allowed Quad-Cities to move ahead to stay. Ryde Rodriguez and Jackson followed with run-scoring singles in the fourth and fifth innings as the River Bandits built a 4-1 advantage. "Guys are putting good at-bats together," said Jackson, who has followed an 0-for-7 start to the season by hitting .448 during an ongoing eight-game hitting streak. "We've become tough outs at the plate, and we're backing that up with good defense and pitching." Working at a brisk pace and backed by an error-free defense, Scott Schneider, Deryk *%@$%$ and Aaron Terry combined to strike out ten in the seven-hit win. "We're doing what we can to keep the pitchers ready to go,'' said Matt Adams, who joined Jackson and Parejo with two hits apiece. "Offensively, we're trying to jump out quick and put the pressure on the opponent." HOT START: Quad-Cities is 9-2 for the first time since the 1992 season. The hot start has Quad-Cities enjoying an early three-game lead in the Midwest League's Western Division. LONG BALL: The Timber Rattlers used the long ball to account for all three of their runs Sunday. Chris Dennis led off the top of the second with a homer to give Wisconsin a 1-0 lead and Cameron Garfield deposited a pitch from Bandits reliever Aaron Terry over the fence in left with one out and one on in the ninth, cutting the Quad-Cities' lead to a single run. QUOTEBOOK: "After Terry gave up that home run ball in the ninth, I went out and told him, ‘I trust you in this situation. Now, go out and get us two outs,' and he did. He's a competitor. I saw that in him last year at Johnson City.'' - River Bandits manager Johnny Rodriguez BEAT THE CLOCK: It took just 1 hour, 54 minutes to play Sunday's game, the shortest time for a nine-inning game for Quad-Cities since it took 1:48 for the same two teams - Quad-Cities and Wisconsin - to play nine innings on June 17, 2006. SERIES WIN: Sunday's win assures Quad-Cities of its fourth series win in as many tries this season.

Chris' gut check

David Weiser's starsboxscore.com Double plays help Stars even series Hockey championship across town & north wind keep fans away It was jacket-weather at the Joe, the first bit of notice that the warm weather Stars fans were blessed with was only only for awhile. North winds blowing 15-20 mph were blowing in and it was 71° and falling at game-time, which was 6:00 PM......... But that wasn't the only reason barely over 1,000 came out........ Downtown, the local minor league professional hockey team, the Huntsville Havoc, was playing for their very first SPHL Championship (which they won, 3-2). They drew over 4,500. The four errors committed by the Stars belie the fact that their defense helped with this one and even the series tonight......... They pulled off four double plays to kill Jacksonville's advances before they got bigger. The Suns put together ten hits, a pair of walks, and those four errors, but DPs erased three of those hits, a force play negated another, and the Suns got no further from those walks either. Even when Chris Errecart and Taylor Green committed back-to-back errors in the 5th, the Suns couldn't take advantage. It took a Lorenzo Scott triple and Mike Stanton base hit to get the Suns on the scoreboard... Scott tripled into the gap in right-center on a 1-1 pitch from starter and eventual winner, Michael Bowman, to start the game. After a strikeout, Stanton (4-for-15 in the series) singled through the left side to bring him in...... In the 3rd, Stanton got a belt-high fastball inside and he blasted it hard, just barely inside the foul pole in left. The ball hit the aluminum seats in no-man's land with a resounding bang, causing some to believe the ball was foul, but umpire Jason Cooksey made a circling motion with his hand to indicate the contrary. Stanton had tied the game, 2-2. The Stars answered the Suns in the bottom of the 1st on three hits, and a walk by Lorenzo Cain started it all. Brett Lawrie, struggling at the plate, but still productive with seven RBIs, broke an 0-for-9 series against the Suns with a triple in the gap in right-center, just a little further than Scott's, scoring Cain. Caleb Gindl's grounder scored him. Despite singles from Jonathan Lucroy, who extended his hit streak to eight games and Taylor Green, and a passed ball by former Star Vinny Rottino, who had just been sent down from Class AAA-New Orleans (PCL), the Stars could not break it open early. They broke the 2-2 tie, however, in the 4th inning........ Lee Haydel hit a one-out double that bounced off the warning track and off the wall. Then Cain hit a soft two-out fly that dropped in front of Scott in shallow center and Haydel, who has good speed, scored without a throw to the plate. The Stars added two more, partially thanks to some defensive mistakes by Jacksonville...... With one out, Scott dived but trapped a low liner to shallow center off the bat of Lucroy. Green was then hit with a 0-1 pitch. It then looked like Zelous Wheeler would get Jacksonville out of the inning when he hit a grounder to short near the 2nd base bag. Osvaldo Martinez flipped the ball to 2nd baseman Tim Torres for the force, but Torres' throw drew 1st baseman Lee Mitchell off the bag for an error, and Lucroy scored. Singles by Errecart and Haydel produced the Stars final run. Haydel got caught in an 8-6-3-6 rundown to end the inning....... The Suns were held to just two hits by the bullpen from the 6th inning on. The pen now has a stand alone ERA of 2.41. Jonathan Lucroy went 3-for-3 to raise his average to a league-leading .485 and extend his hitting streak to eight games........ Going one better was Lorenzo Cain (.350), who extended his to nine........ Only four players in Stars history have had hitting streaks of ten games or more to start the season: Justin Bowles (14 in 1998), Mickey Lopez (13 in 1999), Tony DeRosso (11 in 2001), and J.J. Hardy (10 in 2003)....... Jim Henderson pitched two more scoreless innings, extending his streak to a league-leading 7 1/3.

Link while active, text follows: Rottino returns, but not as Star Ex-Huntsville player watches Stars win from Suns' dugout By Skip Vaughn, For The Huntsville Times Vinny Rottino was a fan favorite when he played for the Huntsville Stars last year and in 2005. Now the Huntsville faithful root against him. He's a catcher/outfielder for the Jacksonville Suns, who completed their five-game series Sunday at Joe Davis Stadium. Rottino joined the Suns on Friday, played Saturday and sat out Sunday's 6-5 loss to the Stars. "It's baseball," he said when asked how it feels to return in another uniform. "Baseball is a game where you never know who's watching you. You never know what uniform you'll have on. What's it like now: I'm grateful. I'm grateful I've found a team. Right now I'm grateful. That's what it's like. Grateful to continue to have a job, to continue to have a chance to get back to the big leagues. Grateful to continue to be on a team that has an opportunity to win every day." Relaxing in the empty stands more than an hour before Sunday's game, Rottino said he didn't know how the fans felt about him when he played for the Stars. "I continue to play this game as hard as I can every day," he said. "And if the fans respond to that, how hard I play the game, then great. I just love the game so much." After a year and a half with the Stars, he was traded to the Florida Marlins organization, which he calls a class outfit with quality people. He was demoted Friday from Triple-A New Orleans to Jacksonville. "I loved it (with the Stars)," Rottino said. "Playing for Don Money in 2005 and last year for Bob Miscik. I loved everything about the Brewers organization, a class organization. I'm from (Racine, Wis.) just south of Milwaukee, grew up being a fan of the Brewers. Everything about it was class. "It's a nice town, nice city," he said of Huntsville. "It could use more fans coming to the games. But everything else - the fans, it's a great league. I loved everything about it." Rottino, who was the starting catcher for Team Italy in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, turned 30 years old on April 7. He was an undrafted free agent in 2003. He made it to major leagues for three Septembers in a row from 2006-08 as a late season call-up with the Brewers. "Just an incredible experience, playing for my hometown team," he said of his big league time. "I was an undrafted free agent in 2003, so chances of me making it to the big leagues were slim. It was amazing, a dream come true." Now his goal is to get back there. "Obviously I have my goals," he said. "Every single day I'm playing this game as hard as I can play. That's what I'm focused on. And I love it. "My goals are to play in the big leagues. I mean you don't play this game to play in the minor leagues. You work to get better. My ultimate goal is to play in the big leagues and stay in the big leagues. If that's not your goal you shouldn't be playing anyway." Stars relief pitcher Mike McClendon, among Rottino's teammates last year in Huntsville, had nothing but praise for him. "He was a leader, one of our leaders last year," McClendon said. "He was very helpful, especially to me in my first year in Double-A. He taught us about the game, how it should be played. I can't say a bad thing about him. He kept the clubhouse fun, that's for sure."