Jim Goulart

In progress: Carolina (Marlins) 2, Huntsville 2, after nine innings It's 10:10 central, so... Join Brett and Listen

Salome (hands, anyway) (Photo by John Setzler/MLB.com) http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/images/2006/08/14/8iQeoVjZ.jpg

Final: Jupiter (Marlins) 5, Brevard County 2 Brevard County Box Score As discussed above, a shaky first outing for Jeremy Jeffress -- in fact, Rafael Lluberes stranded two of Jeffress' baserunners or it may have been uglier; Taylor Green and Jimmy Mojica on base three times apiece -- they've both done that a bunch, with OBP's of .395 and .444, respectively; lefties Lluberes and Bobby Bramhall were fantastic (and unscored upon) in 6.1 innings combined; it's been ages since Stephen Chapman had a multi-hit game... Brevard County Game Log Jeffress had an eventful scoreless first inning, striking out the side (all swinging); Manatees wasted a 1st and 3rd, no out chance in the 6th; Darren Ford struck out with the bases loaded to end it in the 9th -- ugh...

An absolute beauty of a game for 21-year-old Steve Garrison in his AA start Wednesday night

Check out Lindsay Gulin's line in the Nashville game tonight -- six innings, four walks, ten K's, 109 pitches -- and oh yeah, no hits! No combined team effort, however, it's 2-1 Sounds in the 7th...

Nashville's Chuck Valenches with the Mark DiFelice Interview -- very nice!

West Virginia Press Release: Tonight's game between the West Virginia Power and Lake County Captains has been postponed. The game will be made up as part of a doubleheader at Classic Park in Eastlake, Ohio on Wednesday, May 21st. West Virginia will begin a four game series with the Lakewood BlueClaws at First Energy Park in Lakewood, New Jersey on Friday night. Right-hander Evan Anundsen (3-3, 3.85) will get the start for the Power and the BlueClaws will counter with right-hander Walter Tejada (3-1, 4.09). The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM (6:05 Central). Not a good week for the Power front office, as they lose two home games for the week that won't be played in Charleston at all. Lake County should be forced to share some gate receipts when it's made up...

Nashville Media Notes: GULIN TAKES THE HILL: Left-hander Lindsay Gulin will start tonight's game in place of Mark DiFelice but will do so on regular rest following yesterday's league-wide off day. The veteran southpaw has pitched well against New Orleans in his two previous starts, working 12.0 scoreless innings over a pair of starts for Las Vegas in 2002-03.

Latest from Matt -- thank goodness he can mash, because "author" is likely not a fall-back; please email him questions (and prayer requests).

Tom of the J-S on his busy blog day -- The Brewers have purchased the contract of right-hander Mark DiFelice from Class AAA Nashville to replace reliever David Riske, who went on the DL earlier today with an elbow injury. DiFelice will join the Brewers tomorrow in Boston. DiFelice, 31, was 3-0 with a 3.91 ERA in four starts with Nashville. In 23 innings, he allowed 20 hits, one walk and 28 strikeouts. He has pitched 11 years in the minors without geting a shot at the major leagues.

Initially listed as today's Nashville starter, Mark DiFelice has had his contract purchased by the Brewers, so we've switched to TBD at the moment. Congrats to Mark! I'll see you in Boston -- he better acknowledge me, who's pimped him out more than me? http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

From Wednesday's Pre-Game: Huntsville Pre-Game Audio Interview with RHP Robert Hinton Make sure you're pointing to the WUMP audio archive of May 14th, go to the 01:30:00 minute mark (one hour, 30 minutes); Hinton seems very well thought-out and analytical, nothing wrong with that...

One more reminder, thanks -- These arson wildfires in the Palm Bay / Brevard area have had an impact on the Manatees' staff: Manatees Fans, The wildfires in the Palm Bay area have directly affected our staff. Our Director of Group Sales, Dan Covey, and his wife Olivia's home is one of the 71 destroyed by the fires. Everything inside their walls is gone. If anyone in the area has any extra furniture that they would like to donate to the Covey's to furnish their new home, please feel free to send a reply email or call the stadium at 321-633-9200. We will store the items at the park until they have moved into their new home. Any items that the Covey's wish not to use will be donated to other families that also have lost everything they own. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of those affected by this tragedy and those brave firefighters that are protecting all of us. Stay safe everyone and have a good day. Kyle J. Smith General Manager Brevard County Manatees High-A, Milwaukee Brewers 321-633-9200 x3007 office 321-633-4418 fax *** Here's some additional info from Kyle Smith -- if folks don't mind there will be a post regarding this in Wednesday and Thursday's Link Reports as well. Thank you for your support of Dan and his family. If people would like to send donations to the Covey's they can send them directly to the team w/"Covey Fire Donation" in the memo line. I'll list the address below. The outpouring of support for the Covey's and the people of Palm Bay has been tremendous. Teams from across the Florida State League are donating household items and are holding fundraisers in their stadiums over the next week. Truly a time in which we as organization feel blessed to have great friends. The atmosphere in Palm Bay is teetering on chaos. With an arsonist running around town, people have to decide whether to go to work and risk losing their home while providing for their families or to standby with garden hoses in hand and take a day off from their jobs. I myself worked from home this afternoon checking outside every 15 minutes. Recently, we've heard of a couple outbreaks in the area, so we're packing up what we can in case an evacuation is needed. Thanks again to all. Brevard County Manatees 5800 Stadium Parkway Viera, FL 32940 Attn: Dan Covey

Pacific Coast League (AAA) - PCL American North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Iowa 20 18 .526 - 13-9 7-9 W7 Memphis 19 21 .475 2.0 6-10 13-11 W1 Omaha 17 20 .459 2.5 11-11 6-9 L4 Nashville 15 23 .395 5.0 7-8 8-15 W1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Southern League (AA) - SOU North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Huntsville 29 11 .725 - 17-3 12-8 W6 West Tenn 24 16 .600 5.0 11-4 13-12 W1 Carolina 22 18 .550 7.0 11-9 11-9 L2 Chattanooga 21 19 .525 8.0 11-9 10-10 W2 Tennessee 15 25 .375 14.0 6-14 9-11 L5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Florida State League (A+) - FSL East Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Palm Beach 24 15 .615 - 15-7 9-8 W2 Brevard County 20 19 .513 4.0 11-8 9-11 W2 Jupiter 19 20 .487 5.0 12-5 7-15 L2 Vero Beach 19 20 .487 5.0 14-7 5-13 W3 Daytona 18 21 .462 6.0 7-9 11-12 L2 St. Lucie 8 31 .205 16.0 5-17 3-14 L7 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- South Atlantic League (A) - SAL Northern Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lake County 25 14 .641 - 9-8 16-6 W3 Greensboro 22 17 .564 3.0 9-12 13-5 W4 Delmarva 20 18 .526 4.5 12-8 8-10 L4 Lakewood 19 20 .487 6.0 10-10 9-10 L3 Hagerstown 18 20 .474 6.5 6-10 12-10 W2 Hickory 18 22 .450 7.5 7-12 11-10 W2 West Virginia 14 24 .368 10.5 7-13 7-11 L3 Lexington 12 26 .316 12.5 5-15 7-11 L2

This link will be included in each daily report when the Nashville Sounds are scheduled to play. Normally it is updated several hours prior to gametime. Nashville Media Notes (Adobe .pdf format): www.nashvillesounds.com/pdf/notes.pdf

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 Window". Open the Nashville Gameday. For the others, choose "Log" or "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_05_15_nozaaa_nasaaa_1 Huntsville: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_05_15_cmcaax_hunaax_1 Brevard County: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_05_15_jupafa_breafa_1 West Virginia: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_05_15_lcoafx_wvaafx_1

Thursday's Daily Menu: First time this season -- home cookin' for everybody! Mmm...mmm...good! All times Central; pitchers subject to change -- Nashville: TBD at home vs. New Orleans (Mets), 6:45 PM pre-game; 7:00 gametime Audio link: www.nashvillesounds.com/listenlive/ Huntsville: LHP Steve Hammond at home vs. Carolina (Marlins), 6:50 PM pre-game; 7:05 gametime Audio link via WUMP (game will also archive at this link): http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/multimedia/audio.jsp?sid=t559 Brevard County: RHP Jeremy Jeffress at home vs. Jupiter (Marlins), 6:00 PM gametime Sorry, no audio for this series... West Virginia: RHP Evan Anundsen at home vs. Lake County (Indians), 5:50 PM pre-game, 6:05 gametime Audio link via WSWW, be sure to select the proper date (game will also archive at this link): www.minorleaguebaseball.c.../audio.jsp

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Link while active, text follows: Lake County pitching silences Power by Jacob Messer Charleston Daily Mail sportswriter The Lake County Captains did what they do best Wednesday night: Play solid, fundamental baseball in all aspects of the game. The result was a 5-0 victory over the host West Virginia Power in a South Atlantic League game between Northern Division teams. Here are some of the ways the visitors impressed West Virginia Manager Jeff Isom: * The Captains manufactured five runs on eight hits, six walks, three stolen bases, two errors and one sacrifice fly. * Lake County turned three double plays and committed no errors. * Three Lake County pitchers -- starter Kelvin De La Cruz and relievers Dallas Cawiezell and Jonathan Holt -- combined for a six-hit shutout (the Captains' sixth this season). "From what we have seen so far, we have seen some pretty good teams, but this team definitely is right up there at the top," Isom said at the end of a chilly night in which the threat of inclement weather kept fans away from Appalachian Power Park. "What I like about the team is, they have a real good pitching staff. The guys they have thrown at us the last three nights have been very quality guys. They go about their business on the defensive side. They make all of the plays. I think they have made one error in the last three games. "Offensively, they have a few guys at the top of their lineup who are pretty good hitters and get on base and they give themselves an opportunity to score some runs. Anytime you can get as many guys as they get on base up at the top of the lineup, you are going to score some runs and give yourself a chance to win." Seventh-place West Virginia dropped to 14-24, which is the club's worst start since it switched to the Power nickname three years ago. The team was 28-12 after 38 games in 2007, 19-19 in 2006 and 19-19 in 2005. The only Sally League teams with worse records this year are the cellar dwellers -- Lexington (12-26) in the Northern Division and Rome (13-26) in the Southern Division. First-place Lake County improved to 25-14. Second baseman Karexon Sanchez (2-for-5) and shortstop Mark Thompson (2-for-4) were the only Lake County players with multiple hits. Right fielder Steffan Wilson (2-for-3) was the only one for West Virginia, which was shut out for the fifth time this season. "I'm disappointed we couldn't get anything going with the bats," said Isom, who attributed that to the Captains' pitchers. "What I like about their staff is, they go out there and command the strike zone with their fastball. Once they get ahead, they throw a lot of off-speed pitches for strikes. Not only strikes, but they have us chasing them out of the zone as well. It's a very polished pitching staff, if you will." The Captains scored their first run in the third inning on a triple by center fielder Adam White and a single by left fielder Lucas Montero. Lake County added two more in the fifth, when White walked and Sanchez singled. First baseman Dustin Realini delivered a two-out single to knock in White. Sanchez also scored after center fielder Caleb Gindl's errant throw to third base sailed out of play. The Captains struck again in the eighth, when Realini reached on a two-base error by third baseman Zelous Wheeler. Realini advanced to third on a groundout and scored on a sacrifice fly by catcher Michael Valadez. Lake County scored its final run in the ninth on an unlikely hit from an unlikely hitter -- a solo shot by Thompson, who bats at the bottom of the lineup. "We gave up a couple of runs early," Isom said. "Right now, the way we are playing, every run is important. If we are giving up runs, it's tough. We were swinging the bats OK, but a few double plays tonight against us and we just didn't give ourselves a real good opportunity." De La Cruz (3-2) got the win. He allowed five hits in six innings. He fanned five and walked three. West Virginia starter Dan Merklinger (0-3) took the loss. He surrendered one run on two hits in three innings. He finished with four strikeouts and three walks. POWER POINTS: The paid attendance for "Latina Noche" -- or "Latin Night" -- was 1,123, although the actual attendance was closer to 123. ... The teams will wrap up their four-game series Thursday evening. Right-hander Evan Anundsen (3-3, 3.96) will take the mound for the Power. Left-hander Ryan Morris (5-0, 2.45) will toe the rubber for the Captains.

Also, it looks like sprinkles and overcast skies throughout the weekend with 60 degree temps, with Friday evening being the "most damp", but no real threats of postponements or such.

Everyone enjoy their flights in and time in the city. I'll be looking for you on Friday and Saturday. Particularly on Friday, I'll be all over the city all day, I'm sure I'll see Brewer fans here and there. When you arrive at Fenway, you'll notice that the entire area around the ballpark, but particularly Yawkey Way and its external concourse atmosphere, is just one huge mass of bodies, vendors, guys on stilts, etc. I've given up on trying to coordinate anything official, as you'll see when you arrrive, it would just be too daunting. So basically I just plan on giving a "Go Brewers" and a shout out to anyone I see in Brewer garb, considering that this is the first Brewer visit since what, '97? I'll be in Section 15, Row 8 in the first base grandstand Friday, over on the third base grandstand Saturday. I'll have the dark blue Brewer jersey over a white hoodie, if that helps. Give me a shout out (my ugly mug below). http://www.brewerfan.net/images/staffpix/jim_goulart.jpg Should the Brewers drop Friday's game are are trailing late Saturday, I plan on pulling off a George Costanza and running on the field as "Body Suit Man", so hopefully we can avoid that scene.

Link while active, text follows: Captains shut out Power 5-0 By Nick Scala Charleston Gazette Staff writer Remember last spring, when the class of the South Atlantic League could be seen regularly at Appalachian Power Park? Well, the Sally League's best team this year - from the Northern Division, at least - has put on a clinic the last three nights at The App, but it's not the local nine. It's the Lake County Captains, who shut out the West Virginia Power 5-0 Wednesday night. Lake County, now 25-14 and securely in first place in the Northern Division, got a stellar pitching performance from starter Kelvin De La Cruz to win its third in a row from the Power (14-24), which was limited to six hits. "We've seen some pretty good teams, but [Lake County] is definitely right up there at the top," said Power manager Jeff Isom. "They've got a real good pitching staff, they go about their business on the defensive side, and offensively they've got a few guys at the top of the lineup that get on base and give them an opportunity to score some runs." The win by the Captains, a Cleveland Indians affiliate, followed victories over the Power Monday (4-2) and Tuesday (7-4) night, and Wednesday's game was never in doubt - sort of like last year's first-half Northern Division race, which the Power won by an 11-game margin with a 48-20 record. De La Cruz, a lanky 6-foot-5, 187-pound left-hander, allowed five hits and three walks in six innings to improve to 3-2 and lower his ERA to 1.77. Dallas Cawiezell and Jonathan Holt finished up with three shutout innings of relief, combining to allow just one more hit and one walk. "What I like about [Lake County's] staff is they go out there, they command the strike zone with the fastball, then once they get ahead they throw off-speed pitches for strikes," Isom said. "It's just a very polished pitching staff." It was the fifth time the Power has been shut out this season, but it's not like West Virginia didn't have its chances against De La Cruz, who was backed by three double plays and one game-turning defensive effort. Down 3-0 in the fifth, the Power had two runners on and two out when leadoff man Brent Brewer lined a single to right. Running on contact from second base, Caleb Gindl was given the green light by Isom but was cut down at the plate for the final out of the inning on a perfect throw from Lake County right fielder Matthew Brown to catcher Michael Valdez. "Right now, the way we're playing, every run's important for us," Isom said. "We hadn't seen their outfield arms yet, we haven't challenged any of them, and we had two outs in that situation - we're going to force something on the defense. "The guy made a great throw and got him out." While Lake County's defense was shining, the Power's was leaky, leading to two unearned runs. Lake County got on the scoreboard in the top of the third when Lucas Montero followed Adam White's one-out triple with an RBI single off Power starter Dan Merklinger (0-3), who lasted just three innings. The Captains added two runs in the top of the fifth off reliever Reed Dickert. Dustin Realini's two-out single scored White from second and Karexon Sanchez, who reached on an infield roller, scored from first when Gindl's throw from center to third sailed into the visitors' dugout. Another unearned run came in the eighth, set up by a throwing error by Power third baseman Zelous Wheeler, and No. 9 Lake County hitter Mark Thompson's second home run of the season, leading off the top of the ninth off Wes Etheridge, set the final score. "When you have a pitching staff like that going against you, you've got to limit the number of mistakes, and we made two errors that cost a couple runs," Isom said. Cleanup hitter Steffan Wilson had two of the Power's six hits, including a fourth-inning double, and also reached on a walk. But Wilson, Wheeler and Brewer all bounced into rally-stunting double plays. Sanchez and Thompson had two hits apiece for the Captains, who try for the four-game series sweep Thursday night as the Power wraps up its eight-game home stand. Scheduled starters are right-hander Evan Anundsen (3-3, 3.96 ERA) for the Power and lefty Ryan Morris (5-0, 2.45) for the Captains. POWER POINTS: Lake County's 16-6 road record is the SAL's best. The Captains are just 9-8 at home. ... The Power fell to 7-13 at Appalachian Power Park, where Wednesday's attendance was announced as 1,123. The actual number of the fans in the ballpark seemed more like around 200. ... Etheridge was struck on the foot by a sharply hit single by Sanchez in the top of the ninth, with the ball caroming from the mound past the third-base line. After taking a few precautionary tosses, Etheridge stayed in the game and struck out Realini to end the inning. ... After tonight, the Power heads out on an eight-game road trip, with four games at Lakewood and four at Lake County. Lakewood then comes to Charleston for a four-game series May 24-27.

Final: Lake County (Indians) 5, West Virginia 0 West Virginia Site Game Summary: CAPTAINS BLANK POWER The Lake County Captains recorded their sixth shutout of the season on Wednesday night at Appalachian Power Park, holding the Power to just six hits in a 5-0 victory. Adam White ripped a one-out triple in the third inning and scored on Lucas Montero's single. With two outs and two on in the fifth inning, Dustin Realini singled to center and brought in White. During the play, Caleb Gindl's errant throw to third allowed Karexon Sanchez to score. Realini began the eighth inning reaching on Zelous Wheeler's throwing error and scored later in the frame on Michael Valadez's sacrifice fly. Mark Thompson hit a solo home run in the ninth inning to bring in Lake County's final run. Kelvin De La Cruz, Dallas Cawiezell and Jonathan Holt combined to toss the six hit shutout. De La Cruz (3-2) tossed six scoreless innings of five hit ball and fanned five to get the win. Dan Merklinger (0-3) was tagged with the loss after allowing a run on two hits while fanning four in three innings. The Power fell to 14-24 with the loss and the Captains improved to 25-14 with the win. Steffan Wilson went 2-for-3 and was the only Power player to record a multi-hit game. The Power hit into three double plays and have been shut out five times this season. The Power will finish their four game series against Lake County Thursday night. Right-hander Evan Anundsen (3-3, 3.96) will get the start for the Power and the Captains will counter with left hander Ryan Morris (5-0, 2.45). The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM (6:05 Central). West Virginia Box Score Other than the middle of the order taking some walks, a very uninspired game, to be sure... West Virginia Game Log

Final: Brevard County 6, Daytona (Cubs) 3 Brevard County Site Game Summary: Manatees Open Homestand with a Win By Tyler Stover / Brevard County ManateesThe Brevard County Manatees used timely hitting and strong pitching to defeat the Daytona Cubs, 6-3, on Wednesday night. With the win, the Manatees took two of three from the Cubs in a series that featured two games in Daytona and one game in Viera. Lorenzo Cain led the offensive attack for the Manatees with two hits and three runs batted in. Jimmy Mojica and Darren Ford, who each had two hits as well, helped the cause. The seven walks issued by Daytona starter Adam Harben also helped the Manatees, although they were only able to score two runs against Harben. Shawn Ferguson was the winning pitcher in relief, improving to 3-1. He pitched two hitless innings, allowing just one walk. Zach Braddock was effective in his three innings of relief, and Omar Aguilar pitched a perfect ninth for his FSL-leading 12th save. Jayson Ruhlman (2-3) took the loss for the Cubs, allowing two runs (one earned) in two innings of work. The win pushed Brevard County back over .500 to 20-19. They are now in sole possession of second place in the FSL East, four games behind the Palm Beach Cardinals. The Manatees open a three-game set with the Jupiter Hammerheads on Thursday, with Jeremy Jeffress making his first start of the season for Brevard County, taking on Jeff Allison (1-4, 2.33) of Jupiter. It will be Ladies' Night at Space Coast Stadium, with several giveaways for the women in attendance, including the chance to win a ½-karat diamond valued at $1500 for the first 500 ladies to arrive. Brevard County Box ScoreDarren Ford and Jimmy Mojica on base four times each; Lorenzo Cain three times; Jeffress and Allison Thursday evening -- that's a fascinating pairing, isn't it? Brevard County Game Log Manatees strand 13; probably pretty smart to ease Zach Braddock into high-A action as the Brewers are... Jimmy Mojica greets Martin Maldonado at home plate after both scored in the second inning of the Manatees' 6-3 win. (MiLB.com Photo by Dennis Greenblatt) http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/images/2008/05/14/sUZtQbnU.jpg

Thank you, tbbrewers! Pretty impressive when the opponent's press takes notice -- Link while active, text follows: Huntsville could become legendary AA team By Nick Gates Knoxville News Sentinel SEVIERVILLE - The Huntsville Stars are special. The Milwaukee Brewers Class AA farmhands have a 29-11 record and have a five-game lead in the Southern League's North Division. Manager Don Money's team leads the league in runs scored and home runs. The Stars' .303 batting average is No. 1 - 32 points higher than what the Tennessee Smokies batted last year when they were the league's best. "You take our 6-7-8 guys. They could be 1-2-3 for a lot of other clubs," Milwaukee roving minor league instructor Garth Iorg said Wednesday before the Stars defeated the Tennessee Smokies 3-2 before a season-high crowd of 6,571 at Smokies Park to sweep the five-game series. Huntsville catcher Angel Salome, for example, is hitting .390 and bats eighth. "I'm looking at other clubs and saying, 'Who's better on that club position by position?'" Iorg said. Usually the answer is no one. "They're just that good," Iorg said. "They are so much better than the teams they are playing." Others are equally impressed. A major league scout said all of Huntsville's regular position players have major league potential and No. 2 catcher Carlos Corporan is a prospect as well. The Stars might be the best Southern League team since the Chipper Jones-led Greenville (S.C.) Braves won a league- record 100 games en route to the 1992 championship. Huntsville should remain mostly intact. Milwaukee's top farm team in Nashville is stocked with experienced veterans like former major leaguers Derrick Turnbow, Jeff Weaver, Russell Branyan, Eric Munson and Abraham Nunez. There is no place for the young Stars to advance. "We're like a lot of Triple-A teams, we've got some older players," Iorg said. "This team (Stars) could stay together for a long time." Huntsville's slick-fielding 22-year-old shortstop Alcides Escobar is good enough to play in the majors right now. "If something happens to (Milwaukee shortstop) J.J. Hardy, Escobar's the guy," Iorg said. As good as the top and bottom of Huntsville's lumber company is, it's the middle that is frightening. Mat Gamel (.367) is on his way to a batting title. The third baseman has nine home runs and 35 RBIs, and that's second to teammate Matt LaPorta. Left fielder and cleanup hitter LaPorta, the former Florida Gator and Brewers' No. 1 draft pick last June, leads the league with 10 homers and 38 RBIs while batting .317. The SL hasn't had a Triple Crown winner since Mike Reinbach in 1972 and the Stars have two candidates. Center fielder Michael Brantley is hitting .342 with 21 RBIs out of the leadoff spot and has a league best 13 stolen bases. The 21-year-old (as of today, Thursday) might have the biggest upside. Huntsville's pitching staff ranks fourth with a 3.73 earned-run average and features an all left-handed rotation. Huntsville's 3-2 win in 13 innings Tuesday proves the Stars don't have to pound their foes into submission. Sam Narron eight-hit the Smokies (15-25) Wednesday to become the league's first six-game winner. He was 2-for-4 with a run-scoring single off Mitch Atkins (2-4) in the seventh and right fielder Cole Gillespie's diving catch in the ninth prevented the Smokies from tying the game.