Jim Goulart

By the way, the Manatees will get a taste of big league play today -- they are facing the Rays' Matt Garza on a rehab assignment.

Pacific Coast League (AAA) - PCL American North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Omaha 9 6 .600 - 5-3 4-3 L1 Iowa 7 8 .467 2.0 2-5 5-3 L1 Memphis 7 10 .412 3.0 2-6 5-4 W1 Nashville 3 13 .188 6.5 2-5 1-8 L2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Southern League (AA) - SOU North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Carolina 12 4 .750 - 5-1 7-3 W3 Huntsville 10 6 .625 2.0 8-2 2-4 W2 West Tenn 9 7 .563 3.0 5-1 4-6 W2 Chattanooga 8 8 .500 4.0 3-3 5-5 W1 Tennessee 8 8 .500 4.0 5-5 3-3 L4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Florida State League (A+) - FSL East Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brevard County 10 6 .625 - 5-3 5-3 L1 Jupiter 10 6 .625 - 7-1 3-5 L1 Palm Beach 10 6 .625 - 5-3 5-3 W1 Daytona 8 8 .500 2.0 4-4 4-4 W1 Vero Beach 8 8 .500 2.0 5-3 3-5 W3 St. Lucie 2 14 .125 8.0 2-6 0-8 L5 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- South Atlantic League (A) - SAL Northern Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lake County 11 5 .688 - 5-2 6-3 W4 Greensboro 11 6 .647 0.5 5-3 6-3 W2 Hickory 9 7 .563 2.0 4-4 5-3 W1 Delmarva 8 8 .500 3.0 5-4 3-4 L2 Lakewood 7 9 .438 4.0 5-6 2-3 W2 Hagerstown 6 10 .375 5.0 2-3 4-7 L4 Lexington 5 11 .313 6.0 1-7 4-4 L1 West Virginia 4 12 .250 7.0 2-6 2-6 W1

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 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 "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_04_20_nasaaa_albaaa_1 Huntsville: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_04_20_hunaax_msbaax_1 Brevard County: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_04_20_breafa_vbdafa_1 West Virginia Game One: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_04_20_lexafx_wvaafx_1 West Virginia Game Two: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_04_20_lexafx_wvaafx_2

Sunday's Daily Menu: All times Central; pitchers subject to change -- Nashville: LHP Zach Jackson at Albuquerque (Marlins), 2:15 PM pre-game; 2:35 gametime Audio link: www.nashvillesounds.com/listenlive/ Huntsville: LHP Derek Miller at Mississippi (Braves), 12:50 PM pre-game; 1:05 gametime Audio link via WUMP (game will also archive at this link): http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/multimedia/audio.jsp?sid=t559 Brevard County: LHP Rafael Lluberes at Vero Beach (Devil Rays), 12:00 PM gametime Audio link, Vero Beach's broadcast (game will also archive at this link): web.minorleaguebaseball.c...p;sid=t503 West Virginia: RHP Roque Mercedes and RHP Evan Anundsen in a double-dip at home vs. Lexington (Astros), 12:50 PM pre-game, 1:05 gametime; each game will be seven innings... Audio link via WSWW, be sure to select the proper date (games will also archive at this link): www.minorleaguebaseball.c.../audio.jsp

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Stocker is a switch-hitter...

By the way, Adam Heether played shortstop for Nashville Saturday night.

Joe Thatcher gave up a 3-2 7th inning lead for the Padres Saturday night, his game log indicates it's been a rough April...

Huntsville Pre-Game Audio Interview with third baseman Mat Gamel Go to the WUMP archive for April 19th, then to the 17:00 minute mark; nice job, the kid is well-spoken...

Final: Huntsville 10, Mississippi (Braves) 2 Huntsville Site Game Summary: Stars Turn on Power to Down Braves By Brett Pollock / Huntsville Stars Steve Hammond spun six solid innings and received home run support from Matt LaPorta and Alcides Escobar in Huntsville's 10-2 victory over Mississippi Saturday night in the opener of a five-game set at Trustmark Park. The Stars improved to 10-6 on the season but remain two games behind front-running Carolina in the North Division, while the Braves matched a franchise record with their eighth consecutive loss and fell to 2-14. The Stars have won all six meetings this year by outscoring the Braves 38-13 and have claimed each of the last 11 dating back to August of last season. The home sides' first run came in the first inning when Carl Loadenthal walked, advanced on a sacrifice bunt, stole third base and scored on a Diory Hernandez base hit. Loadenthal wound up leaving the game with an injury after striking out in the fifth, one inning after Van Pope, who was just activated off the disabled list, left the game after apparently aggravating a strained left hamstring. Chris Errecart opened the second inning with a single and scored when LaPorta crushed a 1-1 offering from Dan Smith into the picnic area in left field for his second home run of the season, and first since Opening Day, to give the visitors the lead for good. Mike Bell followed with a walk and scored on a triple by Cole Gillespie, who was then driven in on a base hit by Hammond to complete a four-run rally. Hammond doubled in Gillespie in the fourth inning to extend the Stars lead to 5-1. Huntsville put the game out of reach in the sixth inning after Smith was removed with one out and two runners on base. Michael Brantley greeted Carlos Sencion with a run-scoring single and scored, along with Angel Salome, when Escobar blasted his second home run of the season to left-center field. Smith was charged with seven runs on nine hits and five walks over 5 1/3 innings and lost for the fourth time in as many turns. Hammond settled in after the first inning and blanked the Braves over the next five frames by stranding Kala Ka'aihue at third base with nobody out in the fourth and leaving two runners on in the fifth. He grabbed his second win after yielding four hits, walking two and striking out five to push his league-leading total to 25. The series continues Sunday afternoon with left-hander Derek Miller taking the hill against Braves' southpaw Dan Smith. Coverage of the game begins at 12:50 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 The Stars' five-man southpaw rotation rolls on; Steve Hammond with a big night on the mound at the plate -- he's 11-for-57 in his pro career; Matt LaPorta was in left field for this one, Cole Gillespie in right; Alcides Escobar with two more GIDP's, those can't be slow rollers -- his 2nd HR as well, as noted above, he hit one in 494 AB's last season... Huntsville Game Log

Final: Albuquerque (Marlins) 15, Nashville 10 Nashville Site Game Summary: Link for Vinny Rottino photo, text follows -- Sounds Outslugged In Road Trip Opener, 15-10 ALBUQUERQUE -- The Nashville Sounds and Albuquerque Isotopes put on an offensive showdown on Friday evening at Isotopes Park in the opener of a four-game series, combining for 25 runs and 32 hits, including nine home runs, in Albuquerque's eventual 15-10 victory. The Sounds grabbed a 3-0 lead in the top of the second inning, highlighted by a Vinny Rottino two-run home run, before the host Isotopes put up a 10-spot in the bottom half of the frame by sending 13 batters to the plate. In its 10-run inning, Albuquerque ripped six of its eight hits for extra bases, including four home runs, and sent Nashville starter Nic Ungs (1-2) to the showers after he allowed nine runs in only 1 2/3 innings of action, taking the loss. Isotopes starter Kenny Baugh did not last much longer as he exited after allowing three more runs in the third inning, including back-to-back home runs off the bats of Brad Nelson and Russell Branyan. The blasts were each player's third roundtripper of the year. AUDIO: Russell Branyan Home Run The Sounds pulled within a run at 10-9 by plating two runs in the sixth on a pair of sacrifice flies and one more in the seventh on an RBI single from Laynce Nix, who went 3-for-5 in the contest to extend his hitting streak to six games. However, Albuquerque rallied for two runs in the bottom of the seventh on a Brett Carroll two-run homer, his second of the game, and added three more in the eighth when Dallas McPherson belted a three-run tater off Steve Bray to extend the Isotopes' lead to 15-9. Nashville tacked on the game's final run in the ninth when Mel Stocker scored on a Steve Sollmann RBI groundout. Albuquerque reliever Marcos Carjaval (1-0) picked up the win following three scoreless innings of work behind Baugh. The teams continue the series with a 2:35 p.m. CT meeting on Sunday afternoon. Left-hander Zach Jackson (1-2, 5.50) will make the start for Nashville and face Albuquerque southpaw Chris Seddon (1-1, 3.18). Nashville Box Score Tim Dillard acquitted himself well; Russell Branyan on base five times, his lefty power bat will remain intriguing for a while... Nashville Game Log Melqui Torres saved Steve Bray's already ugly ERA by stranding the bases loaded in the 8th...

Nashville Pre-Game Audio Chat with Outfielder Tony Gwynn (Part 1 of 2) Nashville Pre-Game Audio Chat with Outfielder Tony Gwynn (Part 2 of 2)

Holy cow -- out in Albuquerque's thin air, Chuck Valenches just had to make six home run calls within a span of eight batters! Unfortunately, the Isotopes hit four of them (three off Nic Ungs and one off Tim Dillard in a ten-run second inning), and then Brad Nelson and Russell Branyan homered to lead off the Nashville 3rd. Vinny Rottino had homered in the Nashville 2nd. Wind: 0 mph, None It's 10-6 Isotopes heading to the bottom of the 3rd...

Final: Daytona (Cubs) 8, Brevard County 3 Brevard County Box Score Six-run Cubs 4th inning doomed Mike McClendon and the Manatees; McClendon still managed to go seven innings, as he walked none and struck out only one; Manatees outhit 12-4; hopefully Taylor Green is OK -- Jimmy Mojica pinch-hit for him with two out in the 8th in a four-run game, perhaps to get the still-hot Mojica an AB... Brevard County Game Log

POWER AND LEGENDS RAINED OUT Saturday night's game between the West Virginia Power and Lexington Legends has been postponed due to rain. The game will be made up as part of a doubleheader on Sunday afternoon at Appalachian Power Park. Right hander Roque Mercedes (0-1, 7.71) will get the start for the Power and the Legends will counter with right hander Leandro Cespedes (1-1, 1.29). The first pitch in game one is scheduled for 2:05 PM (1:05 Central).

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

Pacific Coast League (AAA) - PCL American North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Omaha 9 5 .643 - 5-2 4-3 W1 Iowa 7 7 .500 2.0 2-4 5-3 W1 Memphis 6 10 .375 4.0 2-6 4-4 L5 Nashville 3 12 .200 6.5 2-5 1-7 L1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Southern League (AA) - SOU North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Carolina 11 4 .733 - 4-1 7-3 W2 Huntsville 9 6 .600 2.0 8-2 1-4 W1 Tennessee 8 7 .533 3.0 5-5 3-2 L3 West Tenn 8 7 .533 3.0 4-1 4-6 W1 Chattanooga 7 8 .467 4.0 2-3 5-5 L1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Florida State League (A+) - FSL East Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brevard County 10 5 .667 - 5-2 5-3 W5 Jupiter 10 5 .667 - 7-0 3-5 W1 Palm Beach 9 6 .600 1.0 5-3 4-3 L2 Daytona 7 8 .467 3.0 4-4 3-4 L1 Vero Beach 7 8 .467 3.0 5-3 2-5 W2 St. Lucie 2 13 .133 8.0 2-5 0-8 L4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- South Atlantic League (A) - SAL Northern Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lake County 10 5 .667 - 4-2 6-3 W3 Greensboro 10 6 .625 0.5 5-3 5-3 W1 Hickory 9 7 .563 1.5 4-4 5-3 W1 Delmarva 8 7 .533 2.0 5-4 3-3 L1 Hagerstown 6 9 .400 4.0 2-3 4-6 L3 Lakewood 6 9 .400 4.0 4-6 2-3 W1 Lexington 5 11 .313 5.5 1-7 4-4 L1 West Virginia 4 12 .250 6.5 2-6 2-6 W1

Follow Saturday'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_04_19_nasaaa_albaaa_1 Huntsville: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_04_19_hunaax_msbaax_1 Brevard County: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_04_19_dbcafa_breafa_1 West Virginia: http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2008_04_19_lexafx_wvaafx_1

Saturday's Daily Menu: It's a weekend night buffet free of any big league distractions! All times Central; pitchers subject to change -- Nashville: RHP Nic Ungs at Albuquerque (Marlins), 7:45 PM pre-game; 8:05 gametime Audio link: www.nashvillesounds.com/listenlive/ Huntsville: LHP Steve Hammond at Mississippi (Braves), 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 Mike McClendon at home vs. Daytona (Cubs), 6:00 PM gametime Audio link, Daytona's broadcast (game will also archive at this link): web.minorleaguebaseball.c...p;sid=t503 West Virginia: RHP Roque Mercedes at home vs. Lexington (Astros), 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

Link while active, text follows: Power uprising offers hope of breakout By Mike Whiteford Charleston Gazette Staff writer Baseball's high degree of unpredictability and its everyday schedule offer the constant hope of better things to come. It's a hope that applies to the West Virginia Power, whose 14-3 rout of the Asheville Tourists Friday night in Asheville offered evidence that a competitive, entertaining season is still a possibility. "That's the beauty of this game,'' said Power manager Jeff Isom. "You can go one week like this, and the next week you can catch fire.'' The Power, which opens a two-game home stand tonight at Appalachian Power Park, entered Friday's game on a seven-game losing streak and, what was even more alarming for a team that was expected to hit, its team batting average stood at .194, last in the South Atlantic League. The victory at Asheville improved the Power record to a league-worst 4-12. During the seven-game losing streak, the Power accumulated just 12 runs, or 1.7 a game, and 35 hits, or five a game. Against the Tourists on Friday, however, the Power pounded out 16 hits, including six for extra bases, and raised its season average to .210. The big offensive night, though not necessarily bringing the slump to an end, may at least help the Power hitters relax. "We're struggling to score runs. That's no secret,'' Isom said before Friday's game. "Right now, we're pressing at the plate a little too much. I'd like to see us relax. These guys swing the bat well when they're not pressing.'' In recent games, Isom saw what baseball people call good at-bats: a line drive to left-center caught on a diving play, a wicked smash that finds the third baseman's glove, a long drive that's run down on the warning track. A few hits here and there, in addition to Friday's victory over the Tourists, said Isom, could turn things around. "We lined out a handful of times [Thursday night],'' he said. "Asheville made some real good plays. And that's going to happen when you're going through something like this. And if you get a few balls that fall, all of a sudden you score some runs, and it relaxes the guys a little bit.'' Of the Power's 25-man roster, 19 played last year at Helena, which finished 48-28 and reached the short-season Class A Pioneer League playoffs. They're not accustomed to the problems they're facing this year. "They've had success in the past. They're not used to failure,'' said Isom, who managed at Helena last year. "John Curtis, our pitching coach, has mentioned that guys will sometimes fail in this league for the first time in their lives. It's just a matter of how they respond to it. Guys are not having the success they've had in the past, and you're either going to quit and not get your work in or you're going to say, 'Enough's enough. I'm going to work my way through this and work even harder.''' POWER POINTS: The Power will face Lexington Saturday night and Sunday afternoon at home and, after an off-day on Monday, play at Lexington Tuesday and Wednesday. The team will play a four-game home stand against Delmarva Thursday through Sunday, April 27. ... Catcher Jonathan Lucroy is the Power's leading hitter at .306. Second baseman Zelous Wheeler is second at .244. John Alonso leads the team with seven RBIs but is hitting .196. ... The Power's seven-game slide began after it beat Augusta 10-3 on April 10 at Appalachian Power Park.

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Link while active, text follows: Quick start by Narron a good omen for Stars By BILL BRYANT Huntsville Times Sports Staff, bill.bryant@htimes.com There were three sure signs Friday night that the Huntsville Stars were going to rebound from Thursday's ripped-straight-from-the-win-column loss to Chattanooga. Sam Narron got out of the first inning unscathed, Alcides Escobar got on base and Mat Gamel hit the ball with authority. Added together, the Stars (9-6) came out with a 3-2 victory in a game that started in front of an announced Little League Night crowd of 4,812 but ended in front of a sparse few about three hours later. Rain interrupted play for good in the bottom of the eighth inning at Joe Davis Stadium. Narron, who has a history of struggling in the opening inning, needed only 11 pitches to get the Lookouts (7-8) in order to start Friday's game. He cruised through the first five innings, giving up just two hits and enticing 10 ground-ball outs. "When I keep the ball down it means I've got my good stuff," said Narron, who improved to 2-1 for the season. "We have such a good defense, it'd be criminal not to use them." The flashy Escobar, whose error at shortstop in the ninth inning Thursday played a part in Chattanooga's rally, quickly made amends against Lookouts starter Ben Jukich. His triple in the bottom of the first set up Gamel's first RBI, which came on a single up the middle. Escobar, who entered the game with an on-base percentage of just .228, also walked in the third. Gamel's double to right sent him scurrying home, giving the Stars a 2-0 lead. "It was good for (Escobar)," Huntsville manager Don Money said. "He had a rough game (Thursday)." Gamel had been going through a rough stretch of his own in recent games before busting out of an 0-for-16 slide with a homer Tuesday night. His two hits Friday, plus some sterling defense - he handled five chances with no problem and made a Brooks Robinson-like stab of an Eric Eymann liner in the sixth - gave the Stars an added boost. "If Escy doesn't get on, it doesn't really matter what I do," Gamel said. "I'm just glad to get the two runs in." A third run, courtesy of a red-hot Freddy Parejo, proved to be the game-winner. Ryan Crew walked with one out in the fourth and scored when Parejo - batting .516 on the season - blooped a triple down the right-field line. Narron needed the extra support because Chattanooga's Cody Strait and Luis Bolivar drilled solo homers in the top of the sixth to make it 3-2. But Narron regrouped long enough to get out of the inning. Patrick Ryan came on to shut down the Lookouts in the last two innings to earn his second save. "Sam did a good job tonight," Money said. "He gave up a couple of homers when he left the ball up, but for most part he hit his spots. When you do that, we call it 'executing.' "

Gopher74 wrote: Brantley is a viable CF, Cain is a viable CF and I really think you are selling Darren Ford short. At the end of the season I believe Darren will be a top 10 prospect in the system. He just makes more things happen on the diamond than the other guys. Agent, I'm just curious, but do you represent those players as well? Agent39's Brewer client list as of December, according to his own post: Luis Pena Michael Brantley Lorenzo Cain Darren Ford Taylor Green Brent Brewer Jimmy Mojica Stephen Chapman Nick Tyson Cam Robulack Chris Dennis

Steve Garrison didn't quite duplicate seven no-hit innings on Friday night, but he came close -- my, oh my... Well, Will Inman was # 2 on the Power 50 at the time of the trade, and where would Steve Garrison be on the P50 today? Now revisit the current P50 and see how many pitchers outside of a soon-to-graduate Manny Parra are in the Top 20. OK, I'm done for today in this thread...