Jim Goulart

Just to share for a moment -- I believe the Red Sox have expanded (what else?) their radio pre-game shows to a full hour, and they include a daily or near-daily segment in which they air one of the interviews from one of their minor league affiliates. Wonderful exposure for the broadcasters, naturally, but also gives the fans a chance to learn more from minor league staff or players. Who wouldn't enjoy the Mark Rogers audio that will be posted shortly in this thread? Most of the 'casual" fans aren't checking out the big league pre-game anyway, so include it for those who would -- folks like us! Are you listening, WTMJ and Brewer front office media decision-makers? http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

JC3 maintains a Rattler blog of his own that we'll continue to keep an eye on for everyone, similar to our friend Kraig in Nashville, who is often on the scene with photos and video for home games. Two more appreciated online resources!

It's not all that far-fetched to say that Fielder and Braun are on their way to having Hall of Fame (or near Hall of Fame) careers. Their names shouldn't even be brought up when these comparisons are made (and I'm saying that in general terms, not calling anyone out). I'm simply saying how spoiled we've been by them.

These links will get you prepared, all updated by an hour or two before game time. Guaranteed you'll learn something you didn't know each and every day from each set. Today from Huntsville: The Stars are tops in the SL in ERA and 2nd in opponents batting average. The bullpen has yet to allow an earned run and the team sports an ERA of 1.08. Once the Stars begin their home stand on Wednesday, Huntsville will play ball 25 consecutive times before having an off day on May 9 (Mother’s Day). PDF documents: Nashville Media Notes Huntsville Media Notes Chris Mehring's Rattler Radio Blog

MID Western (click column headers to sort) Club W L PCT GB Home Away L 10 Streak Cedar Rapids 2 1 .667 - 2-1 0-0 2-1 W2 Clinton 2 1 .667 - 2-1 0-0 2-1 W2 Quad Cities 2 1 .667 - 0-0 2-1 2-1 W1 Wisconsin 2 1 .667 - 2-1 0-0 2-1 L1 Beloit 1 2 .333 1.0 0-0 1-2 1-2 L2 Burlington 1 2 .333 1.0 1-2 0-0 1-2 L1 Kane County 1 2 .333 1.0 0-0 1-2 1-2 W1 Peoria 1 2 .333 1.0 0-0 1-2 1-2 L2

Pacific Coast League (AAA) - PCL American North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nashville 3 0 1.000 - 0-0 3-0 W3 Memphis 2 1 .667 1.0 0-0 2-1 W2 Omaha 1 2 .333 2.0 1-2 0-0 L2 Iowa 0 3 .000 3.0 0-3 0-0 L3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Southern League (AA) - SOU North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Carolina 3 0 1.000 - 0-0 3-0 W3 Tennessee 3 0 1.000 - 0-0 3-0 W3 Chattanooga 2 1 .667 1.0 2-1 0-0 L1 West Tenn 2 1 .667 1.0 0-0 2-1 L1 Huntsville 1 2 .333 2.0 0-0 1-2 W1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Florida State League (A+) - FSL North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brevard County 2 1 .667 - 1-0 1-1 L1 Clearwater 2 1 .667 - 1-0 1-1 L1 Tampa 2 1 .667 - 2-0 0-1 W1 Daytona 1 2 .333 1.0 1-1 0-1 W1 Dunedin 1 2 .333 1.0 1-1 0-1 W1 Lakeland 1 2 .333 1.0 1-0 0-2 L1

Follow Sunday'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. MiLB.com now has Gameday available for AA as well as AAA. Nashville: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=t556&gid=2010_04_11_nasaaa_iowaaa_1&cid=556&t=g_box Huntsville: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=t559&gid=2010_04_11_hunaax_cngaax_1&cid=559&t=g_box Brevard County: http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=t503&gid=2010_04_11_dbcafa_breafa_1&cid=503&t=g_box Wisconsin: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=g_box&gid=2010_04_11_cliafx_wisafx_1&did=t572&sid=t572

For Nashville diehards, you can buy a monthlong $6.95 subscription to MiLB.TV ($29.95 for the season), as there are a few PCL destinations that webstream all their home games. Iowa is among those teams so the Nashville opening series can be viewed online with a subscription.

Sunday's Daily Menu: Big league night game means you can check out the early games guilt-free! Times Central; pitchers subject to change -- Nashville: LHP Chris Waters at Iowa (Cubs), 12:50 PM pre-game; 1:05 gametime Live Audio Link Huntsville: RHP Michael Bowman at Chattanooga (Dodgers), 1:00 PM pre-game; 1:15 gametime Live Audio Link just click the "UStream" box on the right Brevard County: RHP Cody Scarpetta at home vs. Daytona (Cubs), 12:05 PM gametime Live Audio Link (Cubs' Feed) Wisconsin: RHP Damon Krestalude (in a planned tandem with RHP Jake Odorizzi) at home vs. Clinton (Mariners), 4:50 PM pre-game; 5:05 gametime Live Audio Link

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Link while active, text follows: Garfield gets good look behind plate for Timber Rattlers By Jim Oskola, Post-Crescent staff writer GRAND CHUTE — Milwaukee might have journeyman Gregg Zaun and former San Diego Padres prospect George Kottaras as the catchers on their roster, but one could guess that they are just holding down the fort until the Brewers catching prospects arrive on the scene. While Angel Salome and Jonathan Lucroy are fine-tuning their skills in Nashville and Huntsville, respectively, the Brewers have another prospect behind the plate for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. Cameron Garfield, who will turn 19 on May 23, is one whose name brings a smile to the face of Rattlers manager Jeff Isom. "He handles the pitching staff very well," Isom said. "He is very mature back there. He does a great job blocking. Defensively, he's solid. Obviously, you see he's hitting in the four hole, so he's got some potential at the bat as well. He's an exciting young player for the Brewers organization." Garfield, who worked with most of the pitchers on the Rattlers staff in Helena in the Pioneer League in 2009, is quick to praise the pitchers for the work they did in spring training. "They developed a lot of strike zone discipline and pounding the strike zone," he said. "They're pitching a lot better now. They did a lot of work with pitching coach Lee Tunnell. They're looking great right now." Handling the pitching staff is just part of Garfield's job. He also has to work with pitching coach Chris Hook and the staff in developing a game plan on how to pitch to opposing hitters. "There is no book on the teams right now," Garfield said. "The little info that we do know, we go over with the pitching staff. We go in before every season and we get some rundowns on people who played here last year and what little we know of them. We see if people faced them in college or high school. "As the games go on, the first time through the order, we kind of have an idea of what we are going to do with the batter." One challenge facing Garfield is handling the rigors of a 140-plus game schedule that doesn't include the spring training games and playoffs. "It's a lot of hard work," Garfield said. "I've never played a 140-game season. It's going to be a new thing. Just looking at some of the older guys at spring training, getting a little bit of information on how they prepare and how they go 140 games catching. Your legs get tired. You've got to get in the hot bath and the cold tub. You've got to do a lot of stretching and massage it out." Isom said that's the challenge and rigors of being an everyday catcher. "You're going to have to be out there and catch the majority of the games," Isom said. "You've got to be out on the field to learn and there's a lot of lessons that can be learned in game situations. We want him out there as much as possible."

More photos from the Rattlers game (some actually of players) from the Post-Crescent -- lefty Caleb Thielbar a frequent subject despite a relatively brief outing... Franklin Romero Jr. (21) can only watch as a ball leaves the park on a home run hit by the Kane County Cougars Saturday, April 10, 2010, at Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute, WI. The Post-Crescent photo by Dan Powers. http://cmsimg.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?NewTbl=1&Site=U0&Date=20100410&Category=APC0206&ArtNo=4100808&Ref=PH&Profile=1009&Item=16&Maxw=542&Maxh=352&q=60

Stu Paul's blog post after Nashville goes to 3-0

FYI -- Scooter Gennett's last name is pronounced like the woman's name "Jeanette".

First of all, here's the link to your now-closed offseason transaction thread. Outfielder Adam Stern, who had such a great big-league camp with the Brewers, left last night's game, as we highlighted in the Link Report. While we're still determining the nature and status of the injury (sometimes easier to determine because it apparently happened during the course of play), the Brewers didn't waste any time placing him on the DL. Nashville Media Notes: STERN PLACED ON THE DISABLED LIST: After leaving last night’s contest in the second inning due to injury, Sounds outfielder Adam Stern was placed on the (7-day minor league) disabled list today. Catcher Patrick Arlis was activated from Rookie-Class Helena to replace Stern on the Nashville roster. *** That explains the 25 vs. 24 man confusion we had earlier with the AAA roster. Similar to last season, expect the Sounds to play with an extra body who is with the club but not on the roster almost all season long. It seems MiLB allowed clubs to play abit loose with roster moves last season to provide clubs more flexibility. Patrick Arlis was often that man last season.

PDF documents: Nashville Media Notes Huntsville Media Notes

Pacific Coast League (AAA) - PCL American North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nashville 2 0 1.000 - 0-0 2-0 W2 Memphis 1 1 .500 1.0 0-0 1-1 W1 Omaha 1 1 .500 1.0 1-1 0-0 L1 Iowa 0 2 .000 2.0 0-2 0-0 L2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Southern League (AA) - SOU North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Carolina 2 0 1.000 - 0-0 2-0 W2 Chattanooga 2 0 1.000 - 2-0 0-0 W2 Tennessee 2 0 1.000 - 0-0 2-0 W2 West Tenn 2 0 1.000 - 0-0 2-0 W2 Huntsville 0 2 .000 2.0 0-0 0-2 L2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Florida State League (A+) - FSL North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brevard County 2 0 1.000 - 1-0 1-0 W2 Clearwater 2 0 1.000 - 1-0 1-0 W2 Lakeland 1 1 .500 1.0 1-0 0-1 W1 Tampa 1 1 .500 1.0 1-0 0-1 L1 Daytona 0 2 .000 2.0 0-1 0-1 L2 Dunedin 0 2 .000 2.0 0-1 0-1 L2

Follow the rest of Saturday'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. MiLB.com now has Gameday available for AA as well as AAA this season. Nashville: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=t556&gid=2010_04_09_nasaaa_iowaaa_1&cid=556&t=g_box Huntsville: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=t559&gid=2010_04_09_hunaax_cngaax_1&cid=559&t=g_box Brevard County: http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=t503&gid=2010_04_09_breafa_dbcafa_1&cid=503&t=g_box

The rest of Saturday's Daily Menu: Times Central; pitchers subject to change -- Nashville: RHP Marco Estrada at Iowa (Cubs), 6:20 PM pre-game; 6:35 gametime Live Audio Link Huntsville: RHP Mark Rogers at Chattanooga (Dodgers), 6:00 PM pre-game; 6:15 gametime Live Audio Link just click the "UStream" box on the right Brevard County: LHP Dan Merklinger at Daytona (Cubs), 6:05 PM gametime Live Audio Link (Cubs' Feed)

For Nashville diehards, you can buy a monthlong $6.95 subscription to MiLB.TV ($29.95 for the season), as there are a few PCL destinations that webstream all their home games. Iowa is among those teams so the Nashville opening series can be viewed online with a subscription.

Chris Mehring's Blog: April 10, 2010: Starting lineup Scooter Gennett is the guest on the pre-game show today April 10, 2010 Timber Rattlers scheduled pitchers April 10, 2010: Game Notes

We'll set up the evening contests at mid-afternoon, but here's your early game -- Wisconsin: LHP Efrain Nieves (in a planned tandem with LHP Del Howell today) at home vs. Kane County (Athletics), 12:50 PM pre-game; 1:05 gametime Live Audio Link Box Score / Game Log MID Western (click column headers to sort) Club W L PCT GB Home Away L 10 Streak Wisconsin 2 0 1.000 - 2-0 0-0 2-0 W2 Beloit 1 1 .500 1.0 0-0 1-1 1-1 L1 Burlington 1 1 .500 1.0 1-1 0-0 1-1 W1 Cedar Rapids 1 1 .500 1.0 1-1 0-0 1-1 W1 Clinton 1 1 .500 1.0 1-1 0-0 1-1 W1 Peoria 1 1 .500 1.0 0-0 1-1 1-1 L1 Quad Cities 1 1 .500 1.0 0-0 1-1 1-1 L1 Kane County 0 2 .000 2.0 0-0 0-2 0-2 L2

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Additional tidbits plus Doug Melvin comments on the Rattlers from earlier this week

Brett Christopherson of the Post-Crescent GRAND CHUTE — Surreal. Exciting. Either will do just fine in summing up the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers' Midwest League season-opener — or openers — on Friday at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium. Surreal in that a major league pitcher was the first to take the mound in 2010. Exciting in that the Rattlers had to rally in both games of the doubleheader to earn a sweep of Kane County. Wisconsin followed a 3-2 win in the opener with a 6-3 triumph in the nightcap. The doubleheader was added when an unexpected snowstorm postponed Thursday's scheduled game. Both games were played through seven innings. "We play fundamental baseball," said Wisconsin second baseman Scooter Gennett, whose two-out, infield single in the seventh scored the game-winner in the opener. The Rattlers also used a four-run third to climb back from a 2-0 deficit in Game 2. "We play together, and I think that's the most important thing," Gennett added. "We play with a lot of intensity. It's real fun to play on a team like that." While it was a positive start for a Rattlers club featuring some of the top minor league prospects in the Milwaukee Brewers system, Friday was just as positive for Brewers hurler Jeff Suppan. The veteran right-hander threw the first pitch of the season as part of a rehab assignment that had him starting Game 1. Suppan, looking to round into form after cervical disk pain in his neck suffered during spring training landed him on the 15-day disabled list, struck out four, walked three, allowed an earned run and scattered seven hits over 4 1/3 innings in a no-decision. His outing included a pair of inning-ending double plays — one a 1-2-3 putout in the fourth in which he got the play started when he fielded a comebacker with the bags full and the game tied 1-1. "What a way to start Opening Day with a big league guy on the mound," Rattlers manager Jeff Isom said. "I thought that we did a good job of playing defense behind them. … And we scored enough runs to win." Five of the hits were singles, including a pair of infield hits in the first. One was a double and the other was a triple — a high fly to center that was misplayed by center fielder D'Vontrey Richardson when he backpedaled too far as the ball dropped in front of him. Suppan said he came into the start with a specific gameplan. "Basically, it was a lot of pitch sequences — cutter, sinker, changeup, on both sides of the plate," he said. "And there was a point where I started to work on some more curveballs. For the most part, I tried to go out there and just…it was my first night game, so it was a lot of fun. "But basically working on pitch sequences. I thought it went pretty well. I think later in the game I started getting a little up with my fastball. So after that, I started working some more curveballs. But overall, I think I felt pretty good." Suppan was slotted to toss between 70 and 75 pitches and wound up throwing 78 — 47 for strikes — before leaving with runners on first and second and one down in the fifth. He's expected to rejoin the Brewers and assume the No. 5 spot in the rotation as he gears up for next Thursday's start against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. "I got out there, felt good, got some double plays, which is part of my game," said Suppan, who also made a rehab start with the Rattlers last August at Fox Cities Stadium — a rough 39-pitch outing that saw him surrender four extra-base hits, five hits overall and four earned runs in a 4-2 setback to Beloit. "(The neck's) feeling good. And I think with the treatment I've been getting, it feels a lot better." Isom said it felt good to finally play some ball — particularly after Mother Nature's unwanted delay. "It's about time," he said with a grin.