Jim Goulart

Photo by Tim Evearitt, the Chattanoogan Pitcher Yovani Gallardo showed Friday night why he is one the Brewers' top prospects. http://images.chattanoogan.com/article_images/article_92419-2_large.jpg

Because we're down to the postseason, we will break from Link Report norm for the remainder of the playoffs, and invite folks to chime in with posts, almost as if this were an in-game Milwaukee thread. Anybody who's able to listen this afternoon or this evening is asked to pass on updates and any particular news of interest from Chuck with the Sounds and Brett and Bryan in Huntsville. Go Sounds! Remember kids, it's this afternoon! Go Stars! Fans of Huntsville, it's Saturday night, no excuses (spare us the college football cries) -- show up tonight!

This link will be included in each daily report when the Nashville Sounds and/or Huntsville Stars are scheduled to play. Normally it is updated an hour or two prior to gametime: Nashville Media Notes (Adobe .pdf format): www.nashvillesounds.com/pdf/notes.pdf Following Nashville's lead, Huntsville now makes its media notes available as well, nice: www.huntsvillestars.com/i...eNotes.pdf NOTE: Huntsville notes haven't been updated as of this post since 8/24...

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". 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_rreaaa_1 Huntsville: www.minorleaguebaseball.c...x_hunaax_1

Saturday's Daily Menu: Here's hoping Joe Davis Stadium is rockin' tonight! (And that Round Rock isn't this afternoon...) All times Central; pitchers subject to change -- Nashville: RHP Justin Lehr at Round Rock (Astros), 12:45 PM pre-game; 1:05 PM gametime; Sounds trail in the best-of-five, 2-1 Audio link: www.nashvillesounds.com/listenlive/ Huntsville: LHP Manny Parra at home vs. Chattanooga (Reds), 6:50 PM pre-game, 7:05 gametime; Stars lead best-of-five, 2-0 Audio link: www.espn1450radio.com/

http://www.brewerfan.net/images/store/dailylinkreport.jpg

Huge thanks to Toby for Link Reporting everyone last night -- computer issues kept me away.

Link while active, text follows: www.al.com/sports/huntsvi...amp;coll=1 Weeds, wonderful memories sprout in an old ballpark Contact Mark McCarter at markcolumn@aol.com Huntsville Times CHATTANOOGA - I am now visiting my beloved hometown, where the big story in local news is that goats are being imported to munch kudzu that explodes along the interstate. It brings to mind the days of the old Kudzu Ball here, a popular parody of a stuffy, pretentious debutante ball. The height of my celebrity as a Chattanooga writer was the year I embarrassed my family as a member of the Kudzu Court. Preparing for the festivities, I peeled a garland of greenery off a convenient power pole and wrapped it on my head in a laurel. "Hey, that's cool," said one of the first people I saw at the Ball. "You're not allergic to poison oak, huh?" But I digress ... Which is much of what Friday afternoon was about, in the hours before the Stars met the Chattanooga Lookouts in the second game of the Southern League playoffs. I made a pilgrimage to Historic Engel Stadium, a marvelous, quirky ballpark that was 450 feet or more to dead center, 350 or more to left, depending on the tape measure or somebody's wild guess. It was built in 1910. Some of the original dust was there Friday on the back row of the bleachers. It was left behind when the Lookouts moved to BellSouth Park, on a bluff above the Tennessee River, in 2000. It was 30 years ago when I first covered a Southern League playoff game there. Standing near the first base dugout Friday, I called Bruce Robinson, the catcher on that team. "Detroit beat us. They had Dave Rozema. They had Steve Kemp and all those guys," Robinson said, referring to the Tigers' Montgomery farm club. "Geez, that was 30 years ago," it hit him. One thing hasn't changed. I'm still not covering playoff games here that Chattanooga wins. It was a bit heartbreaking and heartwarming all at once to see the stadium. To me, it's a treasure chest of cherished memories from childhood and the childhood of my writing days. But the hinges on the treasure chest are rusty, the metal tarnished, the case worn and ragged. Its signature, a massive, fan-shaped scoreboard in left that towered over the field, has been torn down. As a kid, the scoreboard took me to Shreveport and Little Rock and Mobile and New Orleans, with inning-by-inning updates of the Pelicans and Travelers and others. Used to, there were giant Coke bottles on each corner. They've long gone to the Great Recycler in the Sky, I guess. Now, the outfield wall is painted institution-green all the way around. Scrape the paint away, layer by layer by layer, you could uncover the hieroglyphics of the city's history, from the ad for Uncle Herman's Shoes to TVA to the fast food joints. When I got to Engel, Tennessee Temple, a local college, was holding an informal practice. So informal that several of the players were being dispatched into the stands to pull the weeds that sprouted through cracks in the concrete. Where are the kudzu goats when you need them? Temple's second baseman John Johnson is from Huntsville. Nice kid. We met by chance and gave each other a tour of the park. He tolerated the nostalgic meanderings of this old goat for a while. Somewhere along the way, I had the sad thought. I figure this will be Huntsville's strategy. Let it sit around long enough and wait until our park becomes Historic Joe Davis Stadium. Then we can simply be nostalgic, and not complain about how creaky it is.

Link while active, text follows: www.al.com/stars/huntsvil...amp;coll=1 Huntsville one win from taking series Stars beat Lookouts with 12 runs in final three innings By MARK McCARTER Huntsville Times Sports Staff, markcolumn@aol.com CHATTANOOGA - Above the right field fence at BellSouth Park, there is a small train that choo-choo's along, smoke belching as music blares, to celebrate Chattanooga home run. For two nights, it's like an Amtrak strike. The train hasn't left the station. The Huntsville Stars have all but derailed the Lookouts in the Southern League North playoffs, winning 12-3 Friday night to put the Stars within one game of their third division title in six years. Yovani Gallardo struck out 10 to pick up the win for Huntsville, one half of a marvelous six-inning pitching duel that suddenly turned ugly for the hosts in the seventh. The Stars scored all their runs in the final three innings - highlighted by a three-run Brad Nelson homer - to earn their 14th win in 15 games. The best-of-five series heads to Huntsville tonight, with Manny Parra (3-0, 2.87) pitching for the Stars against Tyler Pelland (9-5, 3.99). The ticket office opens at 10 a.m. Chattanooga, which has won only one championship since 1961, must sweep three games in Huntsville to remain alive, but it's beginning to look more and more like an I-65 Series for the league title. Montgomery returns home tonight with a 2-0 edge over Jacksonville, having stopped the Suns 4-2 Friday. "We have to come out and play (tonight) like it's the first game," manager Don Money said. "We can't sit around and say, 'All we have to do is win one of the three.' " Though slugger Brendan Katin fairly noted, "We're in the driver's seat," the Stars are approaching things as if a caution light is blinking. "We've just got to do the same things we've been doing," Callix Crabbe said. "We've been getting good pitching, good hitting, good bullpen, but they could easily come back," Ryan Braun said. "They're a good team." The Lookouts snatched a 1-0 lead against Gallardo when Aaron Herr and Chris Dickerson laced consecutive doubles in the fourth after Gallardo had just struck out league MVP Joey Votto, who is 1-for-7 in the series with five strikeouts. On the other hand, Chattanooga starter Josh Hall was equally effective until the seventh. "He pitched an awesome game," Crabbe said. But he walked Nelson to begin the inning, then Ron Acuna drilled a single to right-center. Katin smoked a double to score Nelson, then Hall walked Lou Palmisano to load the bases. That brought in reliever Carlos Alvarado, who walked Ozzie Chavez and hit Jeff Eure, giving Huntsville a 3-1 lead. The next batter, Steve Moss, bounced sharply to third. Herr stepped on the base for a force, then threw home. But with the force play no longer in effect, catcher Ryan Hanigan neglected to tag a sliding Palmisano, making it 4-1. "They get that out, it stays 3-1 and it's a different game," Money said. Palmisano had an RBI double in the eighth, scoring the blindingly fast pinch runner Travis Ezi all the way from first. Then it got really sick, with the Stars sending 11 to the plate in the ninth, where Nelson's homer was joined by two wild pitches, four Huntsville hits and a dropped pop-up for a run. "It started snowballing," Money said. "That's what happens sometimes." Snowballing badly. Sometimes the snowball rolls the other way - as in 14 wins out of 15, or 34 out of 42, the improbable story that has Huntsville on track toward the Southern League championship series.

Additional quotes in this article from the Tennessean: Sounds tumble in 10th Round Rock can take series today ROUND ROCK, Texas ? It stormed in Round Rock late Friday night and the Nashville Sounds' postseason hopes may very well have washed away in the process. An hour-long rain delay held up the game between the ninth and 10th innings, then Nashville lost it 6-5 in 10 in Game 3 of the best-of-five PCL American Conference finals at The Dell Diamond. Round Rock pinch-hitter Eric Munson's two-out RBI single in the bottom of the 10th off Sounds reliever Allan Simpson (0-1) was the decisive blow, giving the Express a 2-1 series lead. Now on the brink of elimination, the Sounds must win Game 4 today to force a deciding fifth game Sunday. Game 4 today is at 1:05 p.m. Right-hander Justin Lehr (4-7, 3.94 ERA) is on the mound for the Sounds against left-hander Philip Barzilla (8-5, 3.85). The Sounds have recovered only once in six previous tries when trailing a series 2-1 in its postseason history. However, that one comeback occurred last season against Oklahoma in the conference finals en route to Nashville's PCL title. The difference, though, is that the Sounds must win two straight elimination games on the road. Last year's comeback was at Greer Stadium. "It's a different team this year, you can't really relate the two. For me, it's just another game (today) and we'll see what we're made of," Sounds Manager Frank Kremblas said. Round Rock led 5-0 after five innings, but the Sounds never gave up hope. "We've played them down to the final out all year," said Graham Koonce, whose three-run homer in the eighth helped Nashville storm back to a 5-5 tie. "At that point in the game I was just looking for a good pitch to hit," Koonce said. "I liked the first pitch I saw and got a good part of the bat on it, but I knew we still had a long way to go in the game, especially with a team like Round Rock." Then a thunderstorm hit after nine innings and the game was delayed for an hour. When the game restarted, the Sounds loaded the bases with one out in the top of the 10th, but they could not push the go-ahead run across. After Tony Gwynn singled and Round Rock's Travis Driskill (1-0) issued consecutive walks to Drew Anderson and Graham Koonce, the right-hander recovered to fan Andrew Beattie and Dave Krynzel in succession to escape the jam unscathed. Then it was Round Rock's chance and the Express did what the Sounds could not, even though there was a bit of controversy. "In the top of the 10th, we had a chance to score but didn't get it done. But at the same time, we had a situation that didn't go in out favor when it should have," Kremblas said. Sounds reliever Simpson hit back-to-back Express batters and Kremblas felt the wrong call was made on Cody Ransom, who scored the eventual winning run. Ransom was hit on hand while swinging and was sent to first base on a judgment call from the umpire.

Nashville Pre-Game Audio Chat with First Baseman Graham Koonce: www.nashvillesounds.com/a...%209-8.mp3

Final: Round Rock (Astros) 6, Nashville 5, ten innings Nashville Site Game Summary: Link for Chris Barnwell photo, text follows -- www.nashvillesounds.com/n...ewsId=2151 Express Sting Sounds In Last At-Bat Again ROUND ROCK, Texas ? The Nashville Sounds dropped their second straight game to the Round Rock Express on Friday evening at The Dell Diamond, falling 6-5 in 10 innings in game three of the American Conference Finals. The victory was the second last at-bat win in a row for the Express, which previously scored two late runs to even the series with a victory on Thursday night in game two at Greer Stadium. With the loss, Nashville trails the best-of-five series by a 2-1 margin, a deficit that the Sounds have recovered from only once in six previous tries over the club?s postseason history. However, that one comeback is fresh in the club?s memory as it came last season against Oklahoma in the American Conference Finals en route to Nashville?s PCL championship. The difference this season, though, will be that the Sounds have to piece together two straight wins in elimination games on the road. Last year?s comeback occurred at Greer Stadium. After retiring the first two batters in the bottom of the tenth, Sounds reliever Allan Simpson (0-1) hit two consecutive batters before giving up a game-ending RBI single to left to Round Rock pinch-hitter Eric Munson. The Sounds missed a golden opportunity to take the lead in the top of the tenth, leaving the bases loaded. After Tony Gwynn singled and Travis Driskill (1-0) issued consecutive walks to Drew Anderson and Graham Koonce, the right-hander recovered to fan Andrew Beattie and Dave Krynzel in succession to escape the jam unscathed. Five of the six Round Rock runs in the game crossed the plate with two outs in an inning. Nashville rallied in the latter portion of the game to recover from a 5-0 deficit and held the momentum heading into extra frames after rallying to tie the contest. However, Mother Nature stepped in with an hour-long rain delay that preceded the tenth inning. The loss was Nashville's 33rd one-run loss of the year, the most in Triple-A baseball. Express catcher Hector Gimenez carried the big stick for the home team, finishing 3-for-5 with a home run, a pair of doubles, and four RBIs on the evening. Round Rock took a 2-0 lead against Dana Eveland in the bottom of the first inning when Gwynn, the Sounds? center fielder, lost Gimenez?s two-out fly ball in the lights combined with the twilight sky and the ball fell safely in front of him, resulting in a two-run double for the Express catcher. Mike Rodriguez (single) and J.R. House (walk) scored on the two-bagger. The Sounds were aggressive on the basepaths, stealing three bases on the evening. However, Round Rock starter Matt Albers caught Gwynn being too aggressive in the top of the third, pitching out to catch the speedy outfielder attempting to steal home. The Express tacked on another two-out run against Eveland in the bottom of the third in another instance where no runs should have scored. After Brooks Conrad reached on a one-out single, he broke for second during the next at-bat but Eveland threw behind him in what appeared to be a routine caught stealing. However, Nashville first baseman Graham Koonce was unable to get a solid grip on the slick baseball and his throw to second was well off the mark and sailed into the outfield. After Eveland struck out House for the second out of the frame, Gimenez delivered his second run-scoring two-bagger of the evening, a shot off the wall in left-center. Round Rock upped its lead to 4-0 in the fourth when Rodriguez?s sacrifice fly plated Cody Ransom. Gimenez continued his solid night at the dish in the fifth when he slugged a two-out homer to right off knuckleballer Jared Fernandez, who had relieved Eveland to open the inning. Following that blast, the Nashville bullpen held Round Rock off the board for the next 4 1/3 innings as the Sounds mounted their comeback. Drew Anderson put the Sounds on the board in the top of the sixth when he belted an 0-2 Albers offering down the line in right for a solo homer, his first of the postseason and second of his Triple-A career. Chad Moeller reduced the deficit to 5-2 in the seventh with a two-out RBI double to left-center off Express reliever Jailen Peguero that plated Beattie. Koonce evened things in the eighth with one swing of the bat as Koonce belted an opposite-field three-run homer to left-center off Peguero that scored Chris Barnwell and Anderson. The one-out blast was Koonce?s first of the postseason. AUDIO: Koonce's Game-Tying Homer -- www.nashvillesounds.com/a...%209-8.mp3 After both teams went scoreless in the ninth and the rains continued to increase, the umpiring crew called for the tarp and the game was delayed by rain for approximately an hour. The Sounds look to stave off elimination on Saturday afternoon when the teams hook up for game four of the best-of-five series in a 1:05 p.m. CT matinee at The Dell Diamond. Right-hander Justin Lehr (4-7, 3.94 in regular season) will man the bump for Nashville. Round Rock will counter with right-hander Ezequiel Astacio (8-4, 4.86 in regular season). Nashville Box Score and Game Log Link: Reading that game summary was painful -- the Sounds didn't get a break all night, nor did they "make" their own breaks; Allan Simpson has been shaky, really since his acquisition, with some exceptions, of course, but overall -- ugh... www.minorleaguebaseball.c...a_rreaaa_1

Link while active, text follows: www.dailymail.com/news/Sp...006090849/ Club records fall for Power this year Michael Dailey Charleston Daily Mail sportswriter When the West Virginia Power's season ended last week with a 5-3 loss at Hickory, there was certain disappointment in the visitor's clubhouse. A slow start in the first half of the season, coupled with inconsistent play throughout the season's second half, left the Power with an overall record of 74-62 and out of the South Atlantic League playoffs. But despite the disappointment with the team's overall play, there were a few individual accomplishments and one team feat that rewrote the franchise's club records. Power batters, under the tutelage of hitting coach Mike Lum, blistered Sally League pitching for a league-leading and franchise-record .277 team batting average. West Virginia hitters surpassed the club record of .264, established in 1997, and were just four runs shy of the club record for runs in a season of 695, also set in 1997. Lorenzo Cain, who set the club record for hits in a season with 162, paced the Power batters. He led the league in hits and finished third in the league with a .307 average. Outfielder Michael Brantley was also solid with a .300 average, good for seventh in the league. Speedy center fielder Darren Ford finished with a club-record 69 stolen bases, which was second in the league, and finished with 93 runs scored, second on the club's all-time list for runs in a season. Third baseman Mat Gamel finished a solid season at the plate with 88 RBI, which was third in the league, and 17 homers, three shy of the club's season record. Ace Will Inman led West Virginia's pitching staff. Inman captured the league ERA title with a paltry 1.71 average. Inman finished 10-2 and allowed 21 earned runs, while striking out 134 in 110 2/3 innings pitched. "The bright spots for me were the pitching of Will Inman and earlier the pitching of Steve Garrison and Joe Thatcher, Power pitching coach John Curtis said. There were also a few surprises as well. Curtis said reliever Patrick Ryan was the biggest surprise of all. Ryan finished the season with a 5-2 record and a 1.87 ERA in 45 appearances. "Patrick Ryan was the most pleasant surprise of the season," Curtis said. "Patrick wasn't even included on the staff that was supposed to come here. He was a last minute pick by (Power manager) Mike Guerrero. "Patrick pitched beautifully here. His work out of the pen might have been the most valuable on our pitching staff." But not all the surprises were pleasant. Power fielders combined to commit 184 errors on the season, which trailed only Kannapolis, Hickory and Hagerstown in the league's standings. Power relievers also blew more than 20 saves during the course of the season. "If you go through the stats, they'll tell you what happened," Guerrero said. "Having 21 blown saves and having almost 200 errors as a team, shows the immaturity of our players. "But in other ways you can look around and see how the players matured during the season. "All of the players got better during the season and that's what they were here for."

Thursday's Helena KCAP Pre-Game Audio Chat with Manager Ed Sedar (Select date for September 7th, skip to the 13:00 minute mark) -- www.minorleaguebaseball.c.../audio.jsp

Helena Independent Record: www.helenair.com/articles...806_01.txt Osprey end Brewers season with loss The Helena Brewers ended the 2006 season with a five game losing streak as they fell to Missoula 6-4 in the final game of the season. Missoula scored all six runs in the first three innings. John Hester had a two-run single in the first inning and a two-run home run in the third for the Osprey. He was 2-for-4 on the night. Helena responded with three runs in the fourth inning. The runs came thanks to RBI singles by Charles Caufield and D.J. Neyens. Gary Savas also drove in a run with a groundout in the inning. The Brewers had a chance to make some noise in the ninth. David Parker cracked a double and advanced to third before Missoula pitcher Jorge Perez induced a groundout to end the game. Roque Mercedes took the loss for the Brewers. He ended the season with a 5-5 mark. Helena scratched out seven hits in the game. No Helena player had more than one hit, althought Chris Errecart, and Stephen Chapman each had doubles in the contest. The Brewers ended the season with a 19-19 second-half record. They finished third in the division, nine games behind Billings. Missoula moves on to play Billings in the first-round of the Pioneer League playoffs. The Brewers were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs after losing to Billings last week.

More photos from the Chattanoogan here: www.chattanoogan.com/arti...asp?imgID=

Photos by Tim Evearitt, Chattanoogan Catcher Lou Palmisano drove in the winning run for the Huntsville Stars with his two-out base hit in the fourth inning. http://images.chattanoogan.com/article_images/article_92361_large.jpg Corey Thurman came up with a big game for the Huntsville Stars Thursday night. http://images.chattanoogan.com/article_images/article_92361-2_large.jpg In the fourth inning, Brad Nelson doubled, and scored the what proved to be the winning run. http://images.chattanoogan.com/photo_images/gallery_15892.jpg Third baseman Ryan Braun was a first-round draft selection of the Milwaukee Brewers. http://images.chattanoogan.com/photo_images/gallery_15899.jpg

Link for Zach Sorensen photo while active, text follows: tennessean.com/apps/pbcs....328/SPORTS Sounds' loss ties up series Round Rock scores in final two innings By ANDRE' L. SHANNON For The Tennessean With a pair of two-out runs in the final two innings Thursday night, Round Rock rallied to beat Nashville 4-3 at Greer Stadium to tie their best-of-five Pacific Coast League semifinal series at one game apiece. The crowd of 4,301 at Greer Stadium may have seen the Sounds final home game of the season. The series resumes today at Round Rock, where the Sounds are 3-5 this season. The Express will also host Game 4 on Saturday, and a deciding fifth game on Sunday if necessary. "They just kept battling," Sounds outfielder Drew Anderson said. "You could just see this isn't going to be one of those series where they are just going to roll over and let us win." Trailing by a run in the eighth inning, the Express tied the score at 3-3 on J.R. House's two-out RBI double that was aided by a Sounds fielding error. In the bottom half of the eighth inning, Tony Gwynn doubled, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt, but was then thrown out at the plate on a fielder's choice grounder by Anderson. "We have to execute better," Sounds Manager Frank Kremblas said. "We had a guy out there but we just couldn't drive home the run. Graham Koonce gave the Sounds a 3-2 lead in the sixth inning with an RBI double. In the ninth, Round Rock used a walk and two-out double to score the final run. Sounds starter Zach Jackson allowed two runs on six hits in six innings. Alec Zumwalt (0-1) took the loss in his fifth blown save of the season. He gave up one run on two hits and two walks in 1¤ innings. Anderson led Nashville's offense, going 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run. Gwynn was 2-for-3 with a run. What they said: "We were saving them up for now." ? Kremblas on the Sounds' 3-8 record at Dell Diamond this season. ***Link for Chad Moeller photo while active, text follows: tennessean.com/apps/pbcs....328/SPORTS Barnwell hit streak ends at nine games By ANDRE' L. SHANNON For The Tennessean Sounds shortstop Chris Barnwell had his hitting streak snapped at nine games last night after an 0-for-3 performance against Round Rock. Barnwell opened the series against Round Rock with a 3-for-4 outing Wednesday night. A hot postseason: Entering Thursday night's game, the Sounds were riding a six-game postseason win streak. The streak is the best in Nashville's 29-year franchise history and the longest by a Pacific Coast League club since Sacramento put together eight consecutive postseason victories from 2004 to 2005. Split decisions: Nashville has lost five of the eight games played at Round Rock's Dell Diamond stadium this season. The Sounds are just 6-10 at Dell Diamond over the past two years. Fielding lead: The Sounds' .982 fielding percentage was the best in the PCL this season as well as the highest single-season mark in club history. The Sounds committed a franchise-low 100 errors on the season. Nice start: Zach Jackson's outing Thursday night was his fourth quality start in his last five outings. The Sounds' left-hander gave up two runs ? both earned ? on six hits in six innings of work. He walked two and struck out five. He is 4-6 on the season with a 4.12 ERA. Close calls: Thirteen of the last 16 games between Nashville and Round Rock this season were decided by two runs or fewer.

Link while active, text follows: www.nashvillecitypaper.co...s_id=52015 Sounds surrender lead late, Express tie series at 1-1 By Nate Rau, Nashville City Paper Sports Correspondent In what could be their last game of the season at Greer Stadium, the Nashville Sounds dropped Game 2 of the Pacific Coast League American Conference Finals, falling to the Round Rock Express by a score of 4-3. The Sounds had a one-run lead heading into the eighth inning behind the bat of Drew Anderson and the workmanlike pitching of starter Zach Jackson. But the Nashville bullpen could not maintain the lead. The Express tied it up in the eighth, then took the lead in the ninth off reliever Alec Zumwalt. It was a forgettable night for Zumwalt, who gave up the tying double to former Sound J.R. House in the eighth, before surrendering the winning run on a Mike Rodriguez double in the ninth. The tying run scored after an error by second baseman Zach Sorensen allowed Joe McEwing to reach base. ?Of course [it?s a tough loss to swallow],? Sounds manager Frank Kremblas said. ?You had the lead late, those are always tough. ?Unfortunately we had the error on Zach to get the tying run on. Although we had chances to get out of it.? Now the series is tied at one game apiece as it heads to Round Rock. The defending champion Sounds will send Dana Eveland to the mound tonight. Justin Lehr will throw Game 4 on Saturday. ?I feel fine,? Kremblas said of what lies ahead for his club ? having to win two of three in Round Rock. ?I didn?t have any problem with [tonight].? Jackson followed up a dominating performance by teammate Carlos Villanueva in the first game of the series by giving his team a solid six innings. He only allowed two runs and it was his fourth quality start in his last five outings. For the game, Jackson went six innings and scattered five hits while fanning five. The only blemishes on Jackson?s line came in the second inning when he gave up a pair of doubles and in the fourth when Cody Ransom?s solo homer gave the Express a one-run lead. ?Typical Jackson, struggled a little bit early, just a little wild early,? Kremblas said. ?But then about then about the fourth inning, he started to ramp it up a little bit.? The Sounds took the lead in the sixth inning. That?s when Nashville first baseman Graham Koonce broke a 2-2 tie with an RBI double. Koonce?s hit plated Drew Anderson, who had a strong day at the plate. Anderson reached base three times, collected two hits, had two RBIs and scored a run. The next time the Sounds could potentially return to Music City is Friday, Sept. 15 for Game 3 of the PCL Championship Series.

Nashville Pre-Game Audio Chat with Starting Pitcher Carlos Villanueva: www.nashvillesounds.com/a...%209-7.mp3

Link while active, text follows: www.al.com/stars/huntsvil...amp;coll=1 Stars' start is very strong Thurman's gem gives them 1-0 lead over Lookouts By MARK McCARTER Huntsville Times Sports Staff, markcolumn@aol.com CHATTANOOGA - It wasn't merely a victory for the Huntsville Stars. It was a victory for experience and guile over youth and innocence, for bargains over exorbitant prices. A victory for sheer perseverance. Corey Thurman, the Stars' 27-year-old right-hander, is a former big leaguer who was sidetracked with rotator cuff surgery. His career was in doubt. His fastball arrives somewhere in the mid-80s. But on Thursday night, Thurman masterfully outdueled 20-year-old phenom Homer Bailey, he of a $2.3 million bonus, top-prospect status and 97-mph fastball, to help hand Huntsville a 2-0 victory over Chattanooga in the opener of the Southern League North playoffs. That Thurman won in a shutout was perfect retribution. In his nine losses this season, the Stars were shut out twice and scored only 10 total runs. "The focus was at a whole 'nother level," said Thurman, "because this was a playoff game and they're a good hitting team." Game two is tonight, with the best-of-five series switching to Huntsville on Saturday. The Lookouts will start Josh Hall and the Stars, winners of 13 of their last 14, will counter with young Yovani Gallardo. "He's got a tough act to follow," Stars manager Don Money said of Gallardo (5-2, 1.63 ERA). Thurman, relying on a taunting change-up against a free-swinging Chattanooga offense, allowed only two hits in seven innings, striking out five. "It was the best I've seen him throw all year," said catcher Lou Palmisano. "I would say that, too," Thurman said. "Lou and I were on the same page all night. I didn't shake him off all night." "We had a plan and he stuck to it," pitching coach Rich Sauveur said. The Stars got the only run they needed in the fourth when Brad Nelson doubled and Palmisano drilled a two-out single up the middle that sent Bailey skipping. Callix Crabbe was hit with a pitch by Chattanooga reliever Carlos Guevara to lead off the eighth, stole second and advanced on a pair of wild pitches; another run that inning was erased when it was ruled Ryan Braun left third too quickly on a potential sacrifice fly by Ron Acuna. After perfect relief work by Joe Thatcher and Joe Valentine sewed things up, Thurman burst from the dugout as exuberant as a Little League World Series winner. "It means a lot to me, every baseball game I play now means a lot to me, especially coming back from injuries, because I didn't know if I'd ever play pro baseball again," Thurman said. "I'm pretty excited about every single game you have, because you never know if it's the last one you're going to have." The Stars are assured of at least three more - but need only two more to advance to the championship round against either Montgomery or Jacksonville (the Biscuits won 4-3 Thursday in game one of the SL South playoffs). "The old saying is you want to split on the road and then you need to win two of three at home," Money said. "But for some reason, we've been playing better on the road than at home. But it takes three to win this, and we just have one right now."

Nashville loses 4-3, they lost a late 3-2 lead...once again, details later tonight, if not from pogo, then from myself in the AM -- that Eastern Time Zone gets me again, g'night...

Stars win, 2-0! Combined two-hitter for Corey Thurman (seven innings), Joe Thatcher, and Joe Valentine. The Stars guarantee themselves a minimum of two home games this postseason, hopefully extending into the League Finals. We'll wait for the Stars site to post their always detailed summary for you...

Have we heard this before? We've speculated that this may be the case as the season winds down, but I don't recall reading it. Either way, I like seeing that, even in the midst of the playoffs. Colby, I believe you were away (and away from your Mac) during Labor Day weekend. Within the Link Reports from that weekend, there were a few articles from the Huntsville Times that discussed the inning situations with Gallardo and Hammond in some detail. Hope you enjoyed your time away.

Considering the home media coverage is very good in each current outpost other than Brevard County, we'll make an effort to contact the active Manatee Booster Group next spring and hope to identify knowledgable fans who wouldn't mind posting on a regular basis. It will be helpful if Brevard is successful in getting online audio -- while it's often tough to listen regularly to complete broadcasts, having archived interviews and a broadcaster contact is always helpful and informative.