Jim Goulart

Final: Tennessee (Cubs) 7, Huntsville 3 Huntsville Site Game Summary: Smokies Regain Lead in Division Tennessee Turns on Power in Win Over Stars By Brett Pollock / Huntsville Stars Mark Holliman spun five shutout innings and Tennessee hit three home runs in a 7-3 win over Huntsville Sunday evening to move back into sole possession of first place in the North Division. The Smokies improved to 18-12 in the second half, while the Stars dipped to 17-13 in the second half and 58-42 overall. Huntsville won 10 of the 14 games between the teams this season and has taken 22 out of 32 over the last two years. Holliman led off the third inning with a single and scored when Sam Fuld followed with a home run to give the Smokies a 2-0 lead, as the visitors tallied first in all five games. Stars' starter Mike Jones retired the next two hitters before Jake Fox singled and scored when Blake Lalli belted a home run. It was the sixth time this season the Stars gave up two home runs in an inning. Jones was removed after three innings and fell to 0-4 after allowing five hits, walking two and fanning two. Holliman earned his first win of the year after yielding three hits, walking one and striking out four. He had been clobbered for eight runs on 10 hits, including four home runs, over 4 1/3 innings in his first start against the Stars on May 12. Omar Aguilar tossed two scoreless innings behind Jones and was followed to the hill by David Johnson, who gave up a two-out, run-scoring double to Nate Spears in the sixth that pushed the Smokies lead to 5-0 and ended his 16 2/3 innings scoreless streak. The Stars responded with a run in the bottom of the inning against Matt Avery on an RBI ground out by Alcides Escobar that scored Lorenzo Cain, who had tripled. Tennessee added a run in the eighth to move in front 6-1 before Rocky Roquet took over on the mound and was promptly removed after a single and two walks. Jose Ceda came on and got Mat Gamel to hit into a force at the plate for the first out before walking Cole Gillespie and J.R. Hopf to push across runs that trimmed the lead to 6-3. Ceda avoided further trouble by getting Mike Bell to pop out and striking out Martin Maldonado to end the inning. He retired the Stars in order in the ninth to earn his seventh save with the Smokies and third against the Stars. Jake Fox's home run in the in ninth accounted for the final margin and gave the Smokies' three home runs in a game for a second time this season, both against the Stars. The Stars begin a five-game series in Zebulon, NC Tuesday night with left-hander Brae Wright making the start against Mudcats' right-hander Gaby Hernandez. Coverage of the game begins at 6:00 pm central time and can be heard locally on SportsRadio 730 WUMP and through the internet at www.huntsvillestars.com and www.730ump.com. Huntsville Box Score Mike Jones last two outings have been disastrous, they followed his best outing of the season -- it's too bad, but the season numbers are gruesome... Huntsville Game Log

Huntsville Pre-Game Audio with Alcides Escobar's father-in-law, former big league outfielder Omar Moreno Click on the WUMP archive of July 20th, then browse to the 01:45 minute mark, Moreno stole 96 bases in 1980 and is assisting Escobar and Lorenzo Cain in that regard -- another Brewer farmhand married young, Alcides is 21...

Final: Brevard County 5, Tampa (Yankees) 3 Brevard County Box Score Jonathan Lucroy throws out 2-of-4 stealing bases, he's thrown out several this week -- Lucroy was 3-for-4 at the plate; 10 of the Brewers' 11 hits came from the top five in the order; Charlie Fermaint a two-out, two-run triple in the 6th, drove in three overall... Brevard County Game Log

Andy "Bull" Barch discusses the trade of two former Power players in Steve Hammond and particularly Darren Ford Click on the WSWW archive of July 20th, then browse to the 13:30 minute mark...

Final: Rome (Braves) 11, West Virginia 7 West Virginia Press Release: ROME SCORES EARLY AND OFTEN TO BEAT THE POWER Charleston, WV - The Rome Braves scored six runs in the first inning of Sunday night's game at Appalachian Power Park and plated ten runs through the first three innings to defeat the West Virginia Power 11-7. The Braves sent ten batters to the plate and scored six runs on four hits in the top of the first. Jason Heyward's groundout brought in the first run before Michael Fisher singled in the second run of the big inning. Adam Coe doubled in a pair of runs, Chad Lundahl reached on a fielder's choice and brought in Fisher before Cole Miles capped the big inning with an RBI double. Freddie Freeman made it an 8-0 Braves lead in the second when he hit a two-run homer, his 16th of the season. The Power cut the 8-0 deficit in half with a four-run second inning. Logan Schafer doubled in the first run before Anderson De La Rosa singled in a pair and scored later in the inning on Eric Fryer's sacrifice fly. The Braves answered with two more runs in the third. Benji Johnson began the inning with his fourth homer of the season and David Berres singled in Miles. Rome got their final run in the fifth inning when Lundahl hit a solo homer, his second of the year. De La Rosa and Matt Cline ripped RBI singles in the sixth inning for the Power and they used the long ball to plate their final run, as Zelous Wheeler hit a solo shot in the ninth, giving him nine on the season. Casey Beck (1-3) allowed just a pair of runs on three hits over four innings of relief and got the victory. Matt Timms (1) allowed a run on five hits over three innings and got the save. Evan Frederickson (0-1) was tagged for eight runs on seven hits over two innings and got the loss. Michael Bowman tossed four scoreless innings of relief, and allowed just two hits while fanning five. The Power fell to 53-46 on the year and 21-9 in the second half with the loss. The Braves improved to 37-62 on the year and 15-15 in the second half with the win. The game was delayed for 41 minutes in the top of the third because of rain. Eight Power players hit safely. The only Power player who failed to reach was Steffan Wilson, bringing his on base streak to an end at 18 games. De La Rosa paced the Power with a 3-for-5 performance and drove in three runs. Matt Cline reached four times and extended his on base streak to 11 games. Eric Farris went 1-for-5 and has hit safely in six straight games since his 15 game hitting streak was snapped last weekend. The Power will continue the four game series against the Rome Braves at Appalachian Power Park on Monday night. Right hander Evan Anundsen (9-4, 3.54) will make the start for the Power and the Braves will counter with left hander Edgar Osuna (4-4, 3.45). The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM (6:05 Central). West Virginia Box Score Looks like LHP Evan Frederickson's superhuman workout at Miller Park, cinching his supplemental first round selection, is going to lead to lots of hand-wringing before the Brewers get to a hopeful big payoff down the road; RHP Michael Bowman solid early on in low-A, as he was with Helena; both of Logan Schafer's hits were doubles... West Virginia Game Log

Helena Pre-Game Audio Interview with RHP Cody Adams Click on the KCAP archive of July 20th, then browse to the 10:00 minute mark; the 2008 2nd rounder missed some time recently with shoulder tendinitis...

Final: Helena 19, Casper (Rockies) 11 Helena Box Score Amidst all the offensive pyrotechnics, LHP Lucas Luetge out of Rice University extended his career-long scoreless streak to 14 innings (5 H, 5 BB, 13 K's); brought in to "protect" a 19-6 8th inning lead, RHP Rolando Pascual allowed five (four earned) in the 9th -- ERA 17.05 through 12.2 innings; Brewers scored in every inning but the 5th, and the seven-run 4th made up for that; Michael Vass homered and tripled; David Fonseca was 4-for-7 with two doubles; SS Michael Marseco was the biggest star, however, two triples, a double, a single in six at-bats, driving in four -- the kid weighs 145 pounds, folks -- Marseco is 18-for-41 (.439) in his last 11 games and is now hitting .297; Erik Komatsu and Brock Kjeldgaard each reached three times; the wind was actually blowing in at gametime, 10 MPH... Helena Game Log

Matt LaPorta singled and walked; note that former draft pick that got away Deik Scram is having a surprisingly mediocre season with Detroit's AA club. Back-to-back two-out fielding errors by his Lake County teammates led to Rob Bryson allowing three unearned runs in his two-inning stint Sunday.

A look at the Giants new prospects By Kevin T. Czerwinski / MLB.com Taking a page from their cross-bay rivals, the Giants made a deal Sunday, sending Ray Durham to the Brewers for two prospects. Here's a closer look at the players the Giants received: Steve Hammond, LHP: The southpaw is a 2005 sixth-round selection out of Long Beach State and, for a while, appeared to be on the fast track to Milwaukee. But his development seems to have slowed over the last 18 months, particularly in the six weeks since he was promoted to Triple-A Nashville. Hammond is 0-4 with a 7.41 ERA in four starts since getting bumped up to the Pacific Coast League, despite allowing only one run over six innings in his initial start with the Sounds. He's pitched only 11 innings in his last three starts, not lasting more than four in any of the outings. He's allowed 13 earned runs and five homers. While the 26-year-old has struck out 16 over that stretch, he's also allowed 17 hits and walked five. Hammond began the season at Double-A Huntsville, his third year in the Southern League. He was 7-4 with a 3.45 ERA with the Stars but was somewhat inconsistent. He pitched two brilliant games at the beginning of June, allowing no earned runs over 13 1/3 innings against West Tennessee and Jacksonville but followed that with a 5 2/3-inning outing (his shortest in more than two months) while suffering the loss in his final start with Huntsville. Overall, he was 19-19 with a 4.06 ERA in 57 Southern League starts dating back to 2006, the season that many considered a breakout year for Hammond. He began that campaign in the Florida State League but was bumped up to Huntsville after going 6-5 with a 2.53 ERA in 14 starts with Brevard County. His command and repertoire seemed to suffer last year after he spent the winter adding on to his 6-foot-2 frame. He worked out religiously in the winter prior to the 2007 season and the bulk seemed to have sapped him of his flexibility. Hammond, who also was largely ineffective in seven Arizona Fall League appearances last season, needs to demonstrate that he can compete at a higher level like the PCL. Otherwise, there will continue to be speculation that he might be better suited as a reliever. Darren Ford, OF: The former 18th-rounder (2004) from Chipola Junior College has had a career that in many ways mirrors that of Hammond. He was hot early and grabbed the attention of the Brewers brass after hitting .335 in half a season at West Virginia of the South Atlantic League last spring. What some didn't consider was that it was his second season in the Sally League -- he hit .283 over a full season there in 2006. Still, he was promoted to the Florida State League last June and has hit .231 in 616 at-bats since. What he lacks in ability to get on base (his OBP is .322 this season and was .317 in the FSL last year) he makes up for once he's on base. Ford has remarkable speed. He's second in all of Minor League Baseball with 48 steals (caught 11 times) and has 202 in what amounts to four seasons of pro ball. Ford has fanned 88 times this season, however, and has 414 strikeouts in 1,567 at-bats (once every 3.7 ABs). He won't turn 23 until October, but at this point still seems as if he's more project than projectable. If he can figure out how to bunt a little more and keep the ball on the ground, he might have more of a future. Otherwise, he runs the risk of becoming Esix Snead. Darren Ford is second in Minor League Baseball with 48 stolen bases in 59 attempts. (Jerry Hale/MLB.com) http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/images/2008/07/20/IsXhnUCM.jpg

Despite his ERA surviving somehow, Will Inman is kind of a mess right now. 104 pitches in 4.1 innings, six walks, still and always an extreme fly ball pitcher, Inman was bailed out big time by his teammate stranding three runners with only the one out in play.

Walk off grand slam, Aaron Miles...thank goodness we have Padre games remaining.

Final: Iowa (Cubs) 2, Nashville 1 Nashville Site Game Summary: Link, text follows -- Sounds Lose Rubber Match to Cubs, 2-1 DES MOINES -- The Nashville Sounds were unable to capitalize on a strong pitching effort from starter Chris Narveson in a 2-1 loss to the Iowa Cubs on Sunday afternoon at Principal Park. Narveson (3-12) turned in a solid outing but picked up his PCL-leading 12th loss as the starter for the Sounds. He pitched five innings and only gave up two runs off two solo homers while tying a season-high with seven strikeouts. Narveson was a last-minute replacement after scheduled starter Steve Hammond was scratched from the lineup. Iowa starter Jeff Samardzija (4-1) tossed a gem to earn his fourth win of the season for the Cubs. The former Notre Dame wideout and top prospect tied a season-high with nine strikeouts while allowing just two hits in six innings of work. Over the course of the three-game series, the Sounds were only able to manage six runs off nine hits. They finished their season series with a 4-12 record against the Cubs, who have now won or split their last 14 consecutive series. Andres Torres got Iowa off to a good start with a leadoff home run to left field in the bottom of the first inning. The longball was Torres's 10th of the year and second leadoff home run of the season. The Cubs added another home run in the bottom of the fourth inning when Casey McGehee belted a fly ball to right field that was originally ruled a triple by first base umpire John Coons. After an argument from Cubs manager Pat Listasch, the call was changed to give McGehee his 11th longball of the year. The Sounds plated their lone run in the top of the sixth inning after Mel Stocker pinch-hit for Narveson and singled up the middle to center. Stocker then stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch from Samardzija before scoring on a sacrifice fly from Vinny Rottino. The stolen base was Stocker's 18th in 19 attempts this season, tying him with Hernan Iribarren for the team lead. Nashville reliever Tim Dillard pitched two scoreless innings and Luis Pena contributed a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the eighth to keep the Sounds in the game. Hector Carrasco and Carmen Pignatiello combined to throw two hitless innings as the bridge to closer Michael Wuertz, who earned his first save of the year with a perfect ninth inning for the Cubs. The Sounds will enjoy a day off tomorrow before opening a four-game series against the Tacoma Rainiers at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday at Greer Stadium. Left-handed All-Star Lindsay Gulin (5-4, 3.67) will start for the Sounds against right-hander Andy Baldwin (6-5, 5.40) for the Rainiers. Nashville Box Score Nashville Game Log

Final: Arizona Royals 13, Arizona Brewers 3 Arizona Box Score Pitchers Joel Morales and Shane Hill were tagged for nine runs in the 8th to break open a close game; SS Carlos George has 16 errors in 18 games; A-Crew only mustered three hits, and two were by injured catcher Shawn Zarraga; normally we mention the positive, so here goes -- only 84 degrees under cloudy skies... Arizona Game Log

Extra Innings is not running any of the West Coast games because ESPN's Sunday Night Game is two hours earlier than normal for the ESPY's. Boo! I'm a fanatic with both EI and MLB.TV, so I'm tied to my PC instead of my recliner. Better than nothing...

Arizona Game Log: AZL Royals Bottom 7th - Lifete Jose triples (1) on a fly ball to right fielder Hitaniel Arias. - Miguel Mariano grounds out, shortstop Carlos George to first baseman Pedro Ramos. - AZL Brewers catcher Shawn Zarraga left the game due to an injured hand/wrist. - Defensive Substitution: Jonathan Requena replaces catcher Shawn Zarraga, batting 3rd, playing catcher. That stinks, hopefully he's OK. Zarraga had doubled in his previous AB, but that is an odd place / sequence of events to leave the game.

RHP John Axford your Manatee starter, and with Taylor Green as DH, Brent Brewer is your third baseman.

Wait until you see how long the home run trot took for Padre pitcher Cha Seung Baek (spelling, I know). Anyway, he punished the ball -- Padres up 3-1 in the 5th.

Matt LaPorta 0-for-3 (one RBI on a sac fly, one K) in his return to the lineup.

Pacific Coast League (AAA) - PCL American North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Iowa 61 41 .598 - 37-18 24-23 L1 Memphis 55 45 .550 5.0 26-21 29-24 L1 Omaha 46 53 .465 13.5 21-27 25-26 W1 Nashville 40 61 .396 20.5 19-27 21-34 W1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Southern League (AA) - SOU North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Huntsville 17 12 .586 - 8-6 9-6 W3 Tennessee 17 12 .586 - 9-6 8-6 L3 Carolina 15 14 .517 2.0 5-5 10-9 W2 Chattanooga 13 16 .448 4.0 6-9 7-7 W1 West Tenn 11 18 .379 6.0 4-10 7-8 W2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Florida State League (A+) - FSL East Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Daytona 15 11 .577 - 7-4 8-7 L1 St. Lucie 15 11 .577 - 8-5 7-6 L1 Jupiter 14 12 .538 1.0 7-4 7-8 L2 Palm Beach 14 13 .519 1.5 10-6 4-7 L4 Brevard County 11 17 .393 5.0 6-10 5-7 W3 Vero Beach 10 18 .357 6.0 4-9 6-9 L8 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- South Atlantic League (A) - SAL Northern Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- West Virginia 21 8 .724 - 11-3 10-5 L1 Lakewood 19 10 .655 2.0 9-5 10-5 W4 Delmarva 15 14 .517 6.0 6-8 9-6 L1 Hagerstown 13 16 .448 8.0 5-10 8-6 W2 Lake County 12 17 .414 9.0 5-10 7-7 L1 Hickory 11 18 .379 10.0 3-10 8-8 L5 Greensboro 10 19 .345 11.0 4-10 6-9 L1 Lexington 7 21 .250 13.5 4-11 3-10 W2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pioneer League (R+) - PIO North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Billings 19 12 .613 - 8-2 11-10 L1 Great Falls 16 15 .516 3.0 9-7 7-8 L3 Helena 16 15 .516 3.0 9-9 7-6 L1 Missoula 6 25 .194 13.0 3-15 3-10 L4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Arizona League (R) - Arizona League Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AZL Angels 15 6 .714 - 7-4 8-2 L1 AZL Cubs 13 9 .591 2.5 9-2 4-7 W3 AZL Rangers 13 9 .591 2.5 7-5 6-4 W3 AZL Padres 11 10 .524 4.0 7-3 4-7 L4 AZL Giants 12 11 .522 4.0 6-5 6-6 W2 AZL Royals 12 11 .522 4.0 8-3 4-8 L2 AZL Athletics 9 13 .409 6.5 4-7 5-6 L3 AZL Mariners 9 14 .391 7.0 5-6 4-8 W1 AZL Brewers 5 16 .238 10.0 5-6 0-10 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 Window". Open the Nashville Gameday. For the others, 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: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_07_20_nasaaa_iowaaa_1 Huntsville: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=t559&t=g_box&gid=2008_07_20_tenaax_hunaax_1 Brevard County: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=t503&t=g_box&gid=2008_07_20_breafa_tbyafa_1 West Virginia: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_07_20_romafx_wvaafx_1 Helena: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_07_20_helrok_casrok_1 Arizona: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_07_20_brrrok_royrok_1

The Nashville series in Iowa this weekend is available for subscription viewing at MiLB.TV.

Sunday's Daily Menu: All times Central except Arizona League; pitchers subject to change -- Nashville: LHP Steve Hammond at Iowa (Cubs), 12:50 PM pre-game; 1:05 gametime Audio link via WNSR, be sure to select the proper date (game will also archive at this link): http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/clubs/ip_index.jsp?sid=milb&cid=t556 Huntsville: RHP Mike Jones at home vs. Tennessee (Cubs), 6:50 PM pre-game; 7:05 gametime Audio link via WUMP, be sure to select the proper date (game will also archive at this link): http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/multimedia/audio.jsp?sid=t559 Brevard County: TBD at Tampa (Yankees), 3:00 gametime Sorry, no audio for this series... West Virginia: LHP Evan Frederickson at home vs. Rome (Braves), 4:55 PM pre-game, 5:05 gametime Audio link via WSWW, be sure to select the proper date (game will also archive at this link): http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/clubs/ip_index.jsp?sid=milb&cid=t525 Helena: RHP Rico Salmon at Casper (Rockies), 5:50 PM pre-game, 6:05 gametime Audio link via KCAP, be sure to select the proper date (game will also archive at this link): http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/clubs/ip_index.jsp?sid=milb&cid=t433 Arizona: TBD at the Royals' complex in Surprise, 10:30 AM local Mountain Standard Time; A-Crew is 0-10 on the road... Never any audio for the Maryvale Crew

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Because it involves the minor league PTBNL aspect of this deal, please visit and reply in this thread in the minor league forum. Post # 42 has the update, the Indians have one of four players to choose from, not two. No new names confirmed, but some additional news...

Really, it's only my speculation at this point, but you would think it could be Jonathan Lucroy or Lorenzo Cain on the list, but until we learn more, it's just that -- speculation. At least we rule out pitchers, and there's nothing tied to how well CC pitches, meaning the Indians would get two players, etc.