Jim Goulart

Nashville Pre-Game Audio Coaches Chat with Strength & Conditioning Coach Nigel Price -- www.nashvillesounds.com/a...206-14.mp3

Huntsville Site: Link, text follows -- www.huntsvillestars.com/n...ewsId=1217 Stars and Barons Postponed Thursday?s game between the Stars and Birmingham Barons was postponed because of a malfunction in the third base light standards. The game will be made up as part of a doubleheader on Friday that will begin at 6:05 pm. The Stars lead in the North Division has been reduced to a half game after Tennessee?s 6-3 win over West Tenn. Tickets for Thursday?s postponed game can be exchanged for tickets to any other game during the remaining portion of the 2007 regular season. The Stars will send left-hander Sam Narron and right-hander Corey Thurman to the hill in the twin bill, while the Barons will counter with left-hander Gio Gonzalez and right-hander Jack Egbert. Coverage of the doubleheader will begin at 6:00 p.m. and can be heard locally on SportsRadio 730 WUMP and through the internet by logging onto www.huntsvillestars.com.

Sorry, but we've mentioned in a few places on the site that the ESPN post is in error -- it lists every Brewer draft pick.

Huntsville Site: Link, text follows -- www.huntsvillestars.com/n...ewsId=1216 Parra Promoted to Triple-A The Milwaukee Brewers have promoted left-hand pitcher Manny Parra to triple-A Nashville. He is expected to be in uniform for the Sounds Friday night at home against Omaha. Parra made 13 starts for Huntsville, going 7-3 with a 2.68 earned run average, the lowest of any qualifying pitcher in the Southern League. He won each of his last two decisions and five of his last seven since the start of May. Parra went seven shutout frames in his last start with the Stars Wednesday night, retiring 22 of 23 hitters before giving up two runs in the eighth inning in what turned out to be a 3-2 Huntsville victory. It will be his first opportunity to pitch at the triple-A level after joining the organization as a draft and follow in 2002. Former Stars? pitcher Yovani Gallardo was called up to the major leagues from triple-A to replace the injured Chris Capuano, necessitating the promotion of Parra. Gallardo, a six-game winner for the Stars last season, was 8-3 with a 2.90 ERA in 13 starts for the Sounds and fanned 110 batters in 77 2/3 innings.

From Thursday's Link Report: The Power will receive a three-day mini-vacation for the SAL all-star break. The all-star game is set for 7:30 (6:30 Central) Tuesday night at State Mutual Stadium, the home of the Rome (Ga.) Braves. Power Manager Mike Guerrero will lead the Northern Division all-star team. Power hitting coach Corey Hart will join Guerrero on the staff. Catcher Andy Bouchie, center fielder Darren Ford, starting pitcher Mike McClendon and relief pitcher E.J. Shanks were selected to the all-star team. But Ford, McClendon and Shanks won't play in the game because the Milwaukee Brewers promoted them to high Class A Brevard County (Fla.) last week. Starting pitcher Zach Braddock, outfielder Chuckie Caufield and third baseman Taylor Green will replace Ford, McClendon and Shanks on the all-star roster, according to league officials.

Link while active, text follows: www.dailymail.com/story/S...irst+half/ Power put team first in first half Jacob Messer Charleston Daily Mail Sportswriter Leave it to Kenny Holmberg, the son of a veteran coach and baseball lifer, to offer insight that his teammates either hadn't realized or hadn't shared. Asked about the season-long success the West Virginia Power has had at the plate this year, Holmberg gave an opposite-field answer much like the opposite-field hits he often gets. The players' success, he said, can be attributed to their failure. "We're having a lot of success, but when we're failing, we're failing the right way," said Holmberg, a second baseman who is hitting .306 with six homers, 16 doubles, 33 runs and 37 RBI in his second season in Charleston. "We're up there battling, taking pitches and fouling pitches off. We're hitting the ball hard. We're making good outs. "When someone does fail, we all believe the next guy will succeed. It's like, ?OK, I'll pick you up this time, and you pick me up next time.' It's funny. It's almost like a joke we have. When somebody makes an out and comes back into the dugout, we're like, ?Way to start the rally.' "We're a team. We have a lot of synergy, and we thrive off of that." Northern Division champion West Virginia (45-18) will conclude the South Atlantic League season's first half with a four-day, five-game homestand against Lake County (29-36) at Appalachian Power Park. The division rivals will start their series at 7:05 tonight (6:05 Central). The Power will start right-hander Jeremy Jeffress (2-0, 1.98). The Captains will throw right-hander Jeanmar Gomez (5-5, 5.52). The series' second game is set for Friday night. A day-night doubleheader is scheduled for Saturday, with the first game at noon. The series' final game -- and the first half's -- is set for Sunday evening. Then, the Power will receive a three-day mini-vacation for the SAL all-star break. The all-star game is set for 7:30 (6:30 Central) Tuesday night at State Mutual Stadium, the home of the Rome (Ga.) Braves. Power Manager Mike Guerrero will lead the Northern Division all-star team. Power hitting coach Corey Hart will join Guerrero on the staff. Catcher Andy Bouchie, center fielder Darren Ford, starting pitcher Mike McClendon and relief pitcher E.J. Shanks were selected to the all-star team. But Ford, McClendon and Shanks won't play in the game because the Milwaukee Brewers promoted them to high Class A Brevard County (Fla.) last week. Starting pitcher Zach Braddock, outfielder Chuckie Caufield and third baseman Taylor Green will replace Ford, McClendon and Shanks on the all-star roster, according to league officials. West Virginia enters its homestand with a league-leading .306 team batting average, which is 33 percentage points better than second-place Charleston, S.C. All that means, according to Holmberg, is "we make an out seven out of 10 times we step up to the plate." Perhaps the most important averages to consider when looking at West Virginia's statistics are these: .326 with runners on base, .363 with the bases loaded, .325 with runners in scoring position and .307 with runners in scoring position and two outs. Providing timely hits in clutch situations has allowed the Power to score a league-leading 423 runs and a league-leading 6.7 runs per game. Greensboro has the next highest total (379 runs) and the next highest average (5.7 runs per game). Hart often has attributed the Power's hitting success and scoring prowess to momentum. "This game thrives off momentum," he said. "Hits are contagious. The first guy comes up and gets a hit. Then, the next guy comes up and gets a hit. Then, the next thing you know you put three or four together and you are rolling." * * *The Power coaches and players can make a case that their club is the best team in the 20-year history of Charleston's SAL membership. They need three wins to break the franchise record for the most wins in a half (47, set by the 1990 Wheelers) and are on pace to easily eclipse the franchise mark for the highest winning percentage in a half (.657, set by the 1991 Wheelers). Charleston Daily Mail Photo: Tom Hindman West Virginia Power second baseman Kenny Holmberg says the team is most successful when it fails. http://www.dailymail.com/images/DOUBLE%20PLAY0614.jpg

I'll personally won't likely return until the overnight tonight, so go Brewers, go Stars (tough mound foe tonight), and go you Manatees -- lock up that second organizational postseason berth!

Standings through Wednesday's action: Pacific Coast League (AAA) - PCL American North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Iowa 39 26 .600 - 21-10 18-16 W3 Nashville 37 29 .561 2.5 21-10 16-19 W1 Omaha 32 34 .485 7.5 24-12 8-22 L3 Memphis 29 38 .433 11.0 18-17 11-21 L1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Southern League (AA) - SOU North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Huntsville 35 29 .547 - 18-13 17-16 W1 Tennessee 34 30 .531 1.0 15-14 19-16 W1 West Tenn 29 37 .439 7.0 19-16 10-21 L1 Chattanooga 28 38 .424 8.0 17-18 11-20 L2 Carolina 25 41 .379 11.0 16-15 9-26 W4 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Florida State League (A+) - FSL East Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Brevard County 38 27 .585 - 21-10 17-17 W5 Palm Beach 34 32 .515 4.5 16-18 18-14 W1 Vero Beach 33 33 .500 5.5 23-12 10-21 W5 Daytona 30 34 .469 7.5 19-12 11-22 L3 St. Lucie 30 36 .455 8.5 17-17 13-19 L2 Jupiter 28 38 .424 10.5 13-19 15-19 L1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- South Atlantic League (A) - SAL Northern Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- West Virginia 45 18 .714 - 20-10 25-8 L1 Greensboro 36 30 .545 10.5 23-10 13-20 L1 Delmarva 33 30 .524 12.0 19-13 14-17 W3 Lakewood 30 31 .492 14.0 14-17 16-14 L1 Lake County 29 36 .446 17.0 17-18 12-18 L5 Lexington 29 37 .439 17.5 16-19 13-18 W1 Hagerstown 27 36 .429 18.0 15-14 12-22 W3 Hickory 26 37 .413 19.0 13-16 13-21 W1

Link for Nashville video feed ($3.95): web.minorleaguebaseball.c...p;sid=t235

These links will be included in each daily report when the Nashville Sounds and/or Huntsville Stars are scheduled to play. Normally they are updated an hour or two prior to gametime, with Nashville's usually earlier: Nashville Media Notes (Adobe .pdf format): www.nashvillesounds.com/pdf/notes.pdf Huntsville Media Notes (Adobe .pdf format): www.huntsvillestars.com/i...eNotes.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". 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: www.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_mrbaaa_1 Huntsville: www.minorleaguebaseball.c...x_hunaax_1 Brevard County Game One: www.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_breafa_1 Brevard County Game Two: www.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_breafa_2 West Virginia: www.minorleaguebaseball.c...x_wvaafx_1

Thursday's Daily Menu: All times Central; pitchers subject to change -- Nashville: LHP Adam Pettyjohn at Memphis (Cardinals), 12:55 PM pre-game; 1:10 PM gametime Audio link: www.nashvillesounds.com/listenlive/ Huntsville: LHP Sam Narron at home vs. Birmingham (White Sox), 6:50 PM pre-game; 7:05 gametime Audio link: www.huntsvillestars.com/ Brevard County: LHP Steve Garrison and LHP Rafael Lluberes at home in a double-dip vs. Daytona (Cubs), 3:50 PM pre-game, 4:00 gametime Audio link (game will also archive at this link): www.minorleaguebaseball.c.../audio.jsp West Virginia: RHP Jeremy Jeffress at home vs. Lake County (Indians), 5:55 PM pre-game, 6:05 gametime Audio link (game will also archive at this link): www.minorleaguebaseball.c.../audio.jsp

http://www.brewerfan.net/images/store/dailylinkreport.jpg Congratulations to your 2007 Florida State League East Division First-Half Champions, the Brevard County Manatees! See you in the postseason in September!

www.flatoday.com/apps/pbc...002/SPORTS Former UF star set to sign pro deal BY CRAG HANDEL FLORIDA TODAY Former University of Florida baseball star Matt LaPorta said he has agreed in principle to sign with the Milwaukee Brewers. "I'm going to fly to Milwaukee (today), sign during the day, then head to Arizona," said LaPorta, the No. 7 pick in last Thursday's 2007 First-Year Player's Draft. LaPorta didn't want to say what his signing bonus was. The last three players chosen No. 7 in the draft received bonuses of $2.3 million. "I would like to keep that private," LaPorta said. "You can see the numbers and make your own assumptions. "I'm excited to get going and get playing."

David Weiser's www.starsboxscore.com/ MANNY REACHES MILESTONEHERNAN, & BARON BOO-BOOS REDUCE MAGIC NUMBER TO 4 This is it, Stars fans...... The final five that will decide who gets to go to the playoffs. As it stands, the Stars will remain a game up on the Tennessee Smokies after they beat Diamond Jaxx, 7-3, at Smokies Park....... On the field and in the heavens, the stars all seem to be in alignment for a title....... Not only did they get seriously good pitching from Manny Parra and Mark DiFelice tonight, but a bit of heavenly luck too in getting there. Although he did not get the win, Parra, who skipped over Sam Narron in the rotation thanks to an off-day, was impressive. He had good command of his fastball, topping at 97 to Jeremy West in the 2nd inning and consistently keeping it in the 92-95 range, then coming in with a 12-6 curve which is how he got most of his nine strikeouts, tying a season high by the staff....... He stayed ahead on the hitters and did not go full on a hitter until the 8th, when he walked former Brewer farmhand Jeremy Frost, who got as far as High Desert and never played for the Stars....... And he was economical, not going more than 17 pitches in any one inning, until the 8th, when he threw 19....... After 98 pitches, 68 for strikes (69.8%), Don Money handed the ball to DiFelice (5-1, 1.94), who has not been scored upon now in his last seven appearances. DiFelice wound up with his 3rd win in the Stars' last nine games. But even with the powerful pitching we got tonight from this pair, it took a little bit of good fortune to pull this out in the 9th........ Had it not been for some untimely bad defense in this game, even when it didn't result in an error, it may not have gone to the Stars at all......... In the first inning, second baseman Victor Mercedes has to come in on a slow grounder. Speedy Mel Stocker beats it out........ Michael Brantley, getting his first look at Joe Davis Stadium, then grounds a ball to Mercedes. He has to spin around to try to get the force at 2nd and the attempt at a double play. Taking the ball on the high hop, he throws the ball into left field, and Stocker goes all the way to 3rd, then scores when Steve Sollmann bounces Adam Russell's first pitch down the line to right, giving the Stars a 1-0 lead. In the 4th, the Stars quickly load the bases......... Hernan Iribarren, who had his first four-hit day at the plate for the Stars, hits a leadoff looper that falls into left for a hit. Steve Moss then lays down a pretty good bunt to the 3rd base side on a 2-and-1 pitch, and beats it out for a bunt single. Adam Heether, waiting to drive in a run, draws a walk instead to load the bases for Yohannis Perez (4-for-30 this month). Perez hits into a 6-3 double play, one of three grounders by him tonight, but the Barons concede the run, making it 2-0. While the Stars are leaving runners on base in nearly every inning, Parra is mowing them down -- 15 in a row from the 3rd inning until the 8th -- six on ground outs and six on strikeouts...... In the 4th, he picked up his 200th strikeout as a Huntsville Star, fanning Jeremy West, who tried to check his swing, becoming the 12th in Stars history to reach that milestone........ Then comes the 8th. After seeing him get into trouble, some fans may have thought Don left Parra one inning too many, but he had thrown only 79 pitches through seven innings and was on his way to a complete game....... After retiring Chris Kelly on a grounder to Iribarren, he went full on a hitter for the first time, walking Frost...... Richard Nanita forced Frost at 2nd and Parra was now one out away from finishing another harmless inning....... But Donny Lucy, the White Sox' # 2 pick in the 2004 draft, and a .286 hitter with runners on and two out, belted Parra's first pitch deep to the warning track in centerfield for a double, scoring Nanita....... Robert Valido, who hit a bloop single to center on the 2nd pitch of the ballgame, knocked in Lucy with a line drive single to center, tying the game, 2-2. Watching the defense between these two teams tonight was a stark contrast........ Mel Stocker's sliding catch on his rear to close out the 2nd, Michael Brantley's run-in with the wall in left to steal an extra-base hit from Thomas Collaro in the 7th, and Adam Heether's diving stop to throw out Lucy in the 6th....... But nowhere was the contrast so stark as the one between Heether, who has played spectacular defense while making just five errors this season, and his counterpart, Chris Kelly....... Kelly was charged with an error in the first inning on a carom off his glove that loaded the bases. In the 4th, he nearly threw Moss's bunt attempt away. And in the 7th, Steve Sollmann slapped a 3-2 pitch into the hole on the left side for a single, a hit that Heether would have easily turned into an out if it were him on that infield........ Those consequences weren't fatal, but it became one too many in the 9th... Corwin Malone, in his 6th season with the Barons going back to 2001, and making his 184th minor league appearance, hit Stocker in the back with an 0-1 pitch....... Brantley sacrificed him to 2nd and Sollmann was walked intentionally to set up the double play....... Brendan Katin then popped a 3-1 pitch to Henry Mercedes for the 2nd out........ It was now up to Lou Palmisano, a .394 hitter with runners in scoring position and two out........ Palmisano hits a sharp grounder to Kelly, a tailor-made 3rd out, but Kelly bobbles the ball, then can't find the handle, and is charged with his 2nd error of the game, loading the bases for Hernan Iribarren........ Iribarren lined Malone's 2nd pitch sharply into left-center for his 4th hit, and the Stars win, 3-2. Sam Narron (2-4, 5.00) will start for the Stars on Thursday, facing Barons' lefty Gio Gonzalez (4-3, 2.87). Gonzalez is 1-2 with a 2.12 ERA away from home and has a 1.21 ERA in his last four starts. He's the White Sox top-ranked pitching prospect by Baseball America, and 3rd overall. Manny Parra's fine performance, while it did not get him the win, did put him on top among the ERA leaders in the Southern League at 2.68, a percentage point lower than Tennessee's Mark Holliman. Parra also leads the league in innings pitched....... With a 3-for-4 day, Steve Sollmann climbed to 6th among the league's batting leaders....... Lou Palmisano was 0-for-5 Wednesday, lowering his batting average under .300 for the first time since his 2-for-8 start to the season........ The Stars' team average climbed to .262, putting them 4th in the league. They're also 4th in team ERA (4.11)....... For his Southern League career, Corwin Malone is now 4-5 with a 3.84 ERA against the Stars. This was his 16th appearance against this team going back to 2001 and I can't imagine there being anyone else who's faced the Stars that many times. Ryan Gripp, who hit .285 in 67 games for the Stars in 2003, signed with the Atlantic City Surf of the independent Can-Am League, Tuesday....... Also, the Lancaster Barnstormers of the Atlantic League signed former Stars catcher Lance Burkhart......... The Newark Bears, of the same league, signed Travis Phelps, who was a key in the Stars' record run in August last year with a 0.59 ERA in 11 relief appearances .. Jay Witasick, released by Oakland a week ago, has signed with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Witasick was 0-4 with a 2.29 ERA for the Stars in 25 appearances, mostly in relief, in 1996...... He's one of the last links to the old Oakland days with the Stars. The oldest former Star still active is Jason Wood, 37, a somewhat useful bench player for the Florida Marlins. Woody played for the Stars in 1993, 94, and 96 and is the Stars' all-time hits leader with 341........ Michael Brantley, who was promoted to the Stars, Saturday, is the youngest player on the team, and is the 2nd Stars player to be born after their Southern League debut in 1985. Last year, Yovani Gallardo became the first....... Ruben Mateo is scheduled to come off the disabled list when the Stars return home Wednesday....... The Oakland A's signed former Diamond Jaxx outfielder Jorge Piedra away from the Long Island Ducks of the independent Atlantic League. Huntsville Stars Booster Club president Larry Ruhlman is improving, but still in ICU and in serious condition after a heart attack on Sunday. He had a stent placed and seems to be responding well to it but needless to say he will have to give the Booster Club a rest for awhile. Thanks to Joyce Billingsley for the information.

Link while active, text follows: www.al.com/stars/huntsvil...amp;coll=1 Cupboard not bare for Iribarren in ninth Second baseman's RBI single with two outs ensures Stars stay in first By BRAD SHEPARD For the Huntsville Times Several Stars this season have described this team as a bunch of guys craving the clutch. When the score is close, they're praying for pressure situations. Wednesday night, it was Hernan Iribarren's turn. With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Huntsville's second baseman laced a single over the shortstop's head to give the Stars a dramatic 3-2 win. The players celebrated along with 1,762 fans at Joe Davis Stadium. "I've been in that situation before," Stars manager Don Money said. "Your adrenaline is flowing, and you want to hit it 4,000 feet rather than 400. Just do what it takes to win the game." Iribarren did just that, icing a 4-for-5 night that included a run scored along with the game-winning RBI. He knocked in Mel Stocker, who opened the inning getting hit by a Corwin Malone pitch. The win helped the Stars cling to their one-game lead in the Southern League North Division with four games left in the half. Second-place Tennessee was leading West Tenn when Huntsville wrapped up the win. The narrowest of margins separate the teams, but Iribarren and the Stars know they have to take care of only the Barons. "Everybody wants to be up there in that situation," Iribarren said of his ninth-inning at-bat. "It's a big situation, but I try to block that out. When it's a big game, sometimes you feel a little pressure, but you want to get the job done." Manny Parra did more than that for seven innings of brilliant pitching, but he opened the door in the eighth. With a win on the horizon, Parra ran into trouble that started with a walk. It was the only one he allowed all night, but it was costly. He gave Jeremy Frost a one-out free pass, and No. 9 hitter Donny Lucy reached out and poked an outside pitch into the gap for a double that scored Frost and cut the lead in half. Leadoff hitter Robert Valido - batting .165 - followed with his own RBI single, and it was a new game. That still didn't tarnish Parra's night in his coach's eyes. "He did a great job," Money said. "He was in command the whole game. He threw about 90 pitches or something in that neck of the woods. Outstanding job." Mark DiFelice got the win with a perfect ninth, but it was Parra who kept Huntsville in it during a frustrating offensive outing where the team left 13 runners on. He received a one-run lead in the first when Stocker led off with an infield single, and a throwing error by the second baseman on Michael Brantley's grounder sent him to third. Steve Sollmann knocked him in with a single for the early lead. Sollmann finished with three hits in four at-bats, but he couldn't steal the luster from Iribarren's performance. "Tonight, it was his night," Brendan Katin said of Iribarren. "It seemed like he couldn't do anything wrong."

I guess what I'm ultimately wondering is do the Brewers (or anybody on this board) see him as an adequate utility infielder in the future? Not sure how you can be a utility guy when folks have a hard time remembering if you've ever played an inning of defense anywhere but at second base at any time in the organization -- similar to Iribarren, it's second base or bust for Callix.

Rather than resurrect the old "Nashville's in trouble" thread, we'll just tell folks here that it appears that the AAA Tucson Sidewinders have been sold (they've been struggling attendance-wise), and will move within three years to Reno, Nevada. So there will be AAA and AA suitors out there, if not now, soon.

Final: Nashville 6, Memphis (Cardinals) 5 Nashville Site Game Summary: Link for Brad Nelson photo, text follows -- www.nashvillesounds.com/n...ewsId=2382 Sounds Edge Redbirds in Seesaw Battle, 6-5 MEMPHIS, Tenn. ? The Nashville Sounds won a seesaw battle against the division-rival Memphis Redbirds on Wednesday evening at AutoZone Park, scoring an eighth-inning run to claim a 6-5 victory. It was the 10th win in the last 14 games for Nashville (37-29), which improved to 4-3 on its current road trip. Nashville starting pitcher Zach Jackson was a key contributor to the victory despite taking a no-decision following his 4 1/3 inning outing. The left-hander slugged his first career home run and drove in half of the Sounds? runs on the evening to pace the offense. Sounds hurlers continued to rack up the K?s, fanning 13 Memphis batters on the evening including one in each inning to increase their league strikeout lead. Memphis jumped ahead 2-0 in the bottom of the first inning with a pair of unearned runs against Jackson stemming from Jackson?s own throwing error on a pickoff attempt. With one out, Brendan Ryan singled and advanced to third during the next at-bat when Jackson?s pickoff throw went into right field but was ruled to have beaten the Memphis shortstop to the bag. After Nick Stavinoha fanned for the second out of the inning, John Rodriguez walked to put runners on the corners for Memphis. With Tagg Bozied at the plate, Rodriguez broke for second inducing a throw from catcher Mike Rivera. Second baseman Callix Crabbe caught the throw and ran towards the plate and had Ryan dead in the water as he broke for the plate but threw a poor one-hop throw well wide of the dish, allowing both runners to advance a base. Bozied followed with an RBI double down the left field line that plated Rodriguez for a 2-0 Redbirds advantage. The Sounds rallied right back to grab a 4-2 lead in the top of the second inning, scoring all four runs using the longball. Nashville got the first run back when Brad Nelson belted an opposite-field, one-out solo homer to left off Redbirds starter Blake Hawksworth. It was the first baseman?s ninth dinger of the year and made it a 2-1 contest. Later in the frame, Jackson helped his own cause in a big way, taking Hawksworth deep to left-center for an opposite-field, two-out, three-run homer to put Nashville in front, 4-2. The blast, the first of Jackson?s professional career, plated Vinny Rottino (walk) and Ozzie Chavez (single). Jackson joins Yovani Gallardo, who homered on April 30 at Iowa, as the first pair of Sounds pitchers to homer in the same season since Jeff Housman and Justin Lehr both went deep during the 2005 campaign. Memphis pulled back within a run at 4-3 with a two-out rally against Jackson in the third. After the first two batters of the frame were retired, Stavinoha doubled to left and scored when Rodriguez followed with an RBI single up the middle. The Redbirds reclaimed the lead and chased Jackson from the contest in the bottom of the fifth. After Stavinoha doubled with one out, the Sounds? left-hander issued walks to Rodriguez and Bozied to load the bases. Edgar Gonzalez followed with a sharp game-tying RBI single to left that sent Jackson to the showers. John Nelson greeted Nashville reliever Greg Aquino with a sacrifice fly to center that plated Rodriguez for a 5-4 Memphis lead. Former All-Star closer Troy Percival, who signed a minor-league deal with the St. Louis Cardinals earlier in the week, began his comeback from a nearly two-year layoff in less than spectacular fashion, blowing a save as Nashville rallied to tie the contest against him in the top of the seventh inning. With one out, pinch-hitter Drew Anderson drew a walk and stole second before coming home on Crabbe?s game-tying RBI single to left-center. The Sounds grabbed a 6-5 lead in the top of the eighth inning against Memphis reliever Mike Smith when Brad Nelson hustled home from second base on an Ozzie Chavez groundout to Bozied at first base. The first sacker opened the inning with a walk and moved to second on a Rottino walk before breaking the tie as Sounds skipper Frank Kremblas aggressively waved him home when Bozied elected to toss Chavez?s ground ball to Smith, who had his back to Nelson while covering the bag at first. Memphis threatened in the ninth as the potential tying run reached base when Skip Schumaker led off with a single against Joe Thatcher. As Brendan Ryan attempted to sacrifice him to second on a two-strike pitch, he interfered with Rivera behind the plate, which erased Schumaker on a batter inference double play. Luther Hackman allowed a two-out single before inducing a game-ending fielder?s choice groundout from Rodriguez to end the ballgame and notch his team-leading tenth save of the season. Steve Bray (3-1) earned the victory with 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief for the Sounds, striking out three batters along the way. Smith (5-6) took the loss after allowing the late go-ahead run in his 1 1/3 frame outing. The teams wrap up the four-game series with a 1:10 p.m. matinee on Thursday afternoon. It will be a battle of southpaws as Adam Pettyjohn (1-1, 5.54) will toe the rubber for Nashville to face Memphis hurler Troy Cate (1-4, 5.59). Nashville Box Score: web.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_mrbaaa_1 Nashville Game Log: web.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_mrbaaa_1

Hinton and Paciorek make a total of seven.

Nashville Pre-Game Audio Chat with First Baseman Andy Abad: Son has the initials AAA -- a bit ironic for the veteran minor leaguer... www.nashvillesounds.com/a...206-13.mp3

A few of David Weiser's notes heading into tonight, and before he updates his site next: Carlos Corporan is now 3-for-29 (.103) in his last eight games going back to May 27..... Hernan Iribarren, who hit .284 in May, is hitting .233 this month, but has as many doubles in seven games (3) as he had all of May........ Brendan Katin had a .313 strikeout average in May, considerably improved over his .407 April, but in June, he's struck out at least once in 11 of the 12 games he's played........ Steve Moss has only one extra-base hit (a double on June 1 vs. Montgomery) in his last 44 at-bats and is hitting .227 since May 29..... Yohannis Perez has dropped 16 ponts off his average since the end of May. He's 4-for-30 in June with just one extra-base hit........ Jeff Housman is one strikeout away from his 200th as a Huntsville Star. He's tied with former Brewer farmhand Jose Garcia on the all-time list and would become the 12th pitcher in Stars history on the 200K list........ Manny Parra, who reached a 200 milestone himself in his last start, last Friday -- 200 innings -- is just three strikeouts away from 200, and two behind Housman....... When the season started, Parra didn't accumulate enough innings to get himself on the all-time top ERA leaders. Now with a 3.36 ERA, he's 7th, bumping Matt Parker a notch, and Dennis Sarfate (3.96) off the top 20..

Final: Huntsville 3, Birmingham (White Sox) 2 Huntsville Site Game Summary: Link, text follows -- www.huntsvillestars.com/n...ewsId=1214 Stars Pull Off Dramatic Win in Ninth Hernan Iribarren singled home the game-winning run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to lift Huntsville to a 3-2 win over Birmingham Wednesday night in the opener of a five-game set at Joe Davis Stadium. The Stars improved to 35-29, sliced their magic number to four and maintained at least a one-game lead over Tennessee, pending the outcome of their game with West Tenn, with four to go in the first half. (NOTE: Tennesse up big as of this "post time", 7-1 in the 6th.) The Stars have won three in a row over the Barons and picked up their fourth walk-off win of the year. Corwin Malone, the veteran left-hander, opened the ninth on the hill for the Barons and hit leadoff man Mel Stocker with his second pitch. Michael Brantley moved Stocker to second base with a sacrifice bunt before Steve Sollmann was intentionally passed and Brendan Katin popped out for the second out of the frame. Lou Palmisano hit a ground ball to third baseman Chris Kelly, who booted it to allow the inning to continue. It was his second error of the night and the Barons fourth, the most committed by any Stars? opponent this season. Iribarren, who had fanned with the bases loaded and one out in the first inning, ripped Malone?s first pitch into left-center field for the game-winner and his season-high fourth hit of the night. Stars? starter Manny Parra was sensational for a third straight start, retiring 22 out of 23 after Robert Valido led off the game with a single, including 15 straight after Donny Lucy?s one-out single in the third, before he walked former Brewer farmhand Jeremy Frost with one out in the eighth. Ricardo Nanita bounced into a force at second for the second out of the inning prior to a Lucy double to center that scored Nanita to trim the lead to 2-1. Valido followed with a base hit to plate Lucy to get the game tied. Parra fanned Victor Mercedes to end the inning and match a season-high with nine strikeouts, while Mark DiFelice, the reigning Southern League Pitcher of the Week, retired the side in order in the ninth to earn his fifth win of the season and his third in the last nine games. Sollmann?s run-scoring hit in the first scored Stocker but the Stars left the bases loaded in the inning and got only one run, on a Yohannis Perez double play grounder, with the sacks full in the fourth to push their lead to 2-0. Birmingham starter Adam Russell was charged with two runs, one earned, on eight hits over 6 1/3 innings and was followed by Oneli Perez, who struck out Katin and Palmisano with runners at the corners to end the seventh. The series continues Thursday night, as Huntsville will send southpaw Sam Narron to the hill against Barons? left-hander Gio Gonzalez. Coverage of the game begins at 6:50 p.m. central time and can be heard locally on Sports Radio 730 WUMP and through the internet at www.huntsvillestars.com. Huntsville Box Score: Broken record -- Steve Sollmann on base four times; longtime Brewerfan'ers will remember hanging on those final hours a few years back to see if Manny Parra would sign the draft-and-follow contract out of the Sacramento junior college -- that was a fun night... web.minorleaguebaseball.c...x_hunaax_1 Huntsville Game Log: web.minorleaguebaseball.c...x_hunaax_1

There's now info on the 42nd round high school RHP from Texas who almost assuredly will stick with his Vanderbilt commitment: p092.ezboard.com/fbrewers...mp;stop=41

Great move by the Stars tonight, even though Manny Parra faltered ever-so-slightly in the 8th and didn't get the decision. They took advantage of the day off Tuesday and bumped up Parra in front of Sam Narron tonight. If the Stars and Smokies finish tied after Sunday's action, then Monday's game in Tennessee decides the first-half crown (and is also the first game of the second-half schedule). This sets up Parra to pitch in that game. Tennessee leads 3-1 in the 5th tonight. I believe the Stars' magic number is at four after tonight's Huntsville win.