Jim Goulart

Buck Rogers, Brevard County GM: With the field underwater for the third time in four days, the umpires have just scrubbed tonight's doubleheader games off the schedule. Severe thunderstorms are currently moving thru the area dumping a massive amount of rain on the Space Coast. Even NASA scrubbed tomorrow's scheduled shuttle launch until Monday at 4:04 pm EST. Tonight's game are lost from the schedule and will not be made up. Sunday is an off day for the Manatees and Palm Beach Cardinals and thoughts were entertained to make up two of these games tomorrow. The Cardinals, however, have DHs on Monday and Tuesday and Minor League Baseball prohibits three DHs in a row and allows only three in a seven day window. The Manatees have an off day tomorrow and then hit the road for Jupiter on Monday for a three game series, then on to Daytona Beach to face the Cubs on Thursday and Friday. The 'Tees return to Space Coast Stadium for the final two games of the 2006 season next Saturday, September 2nd. Gates are scheduled to open at 6:00 am (that's six in the morning, not a typo) for a 6:00 pm DH against the Daytona Cubs. Early arriving fans will be invited onto the field to participate in a World Record First Pitch Event sponsored by Imperial's Hotel and Conference Center, the official team hotel of the Brevard County Manatees. If you have ever wanted to throw out a game's honorary first pitch next Saturday you'll get your chance. Immediately following Saturday night's game we'll have fireworks sponsored by Wachovia. The final game of the season is Sunday, September 3rd at 12:00 pm. Rock On!

Buck Rogers, Brevard County GM: With the field underwater for the third time in four days, the umpires have just scrubbed tonight's doubleheader games off the schedule. Severe thunderstorms are currently moving thru the area dumping a massive amount of rain on the Space Coast. Even NASA scrubbed tomorrow's scheduled shuttle launch until Monday at 4:04 pm EST. Tonight's game are lost from the schedule and will not be made up. Sunday is an off day for the Manatees and Palm Beach Cardinals and thoughts were entertained to make up two of these games tomorrow. The Cardinals, however, have DHs on Monday and Tuesday and Minor League Baseball prohibits three DHs in a row and allows only three in a seven day window. The Manatees have an off day tomorrow and then hit the road for Jupiter on Monday for a three game series, then on to Daytona Beach to face the Cubs on Thursday and Friday. The 'Tees return to Space Coast Stadium for the final two games of the 2006 season next Saturday, September 2nd. Gates are scheduled to open at 6:00 am (that's six in the morning, not a typo) for a 6:00 pm DH against the Daytona Cubs. Early arriving fans will be invited onto the field to participate in a World Record First Pitch Event sponsored by Imperial's Hotel and Conference Center, the official team hotel of the Brevard County Manatees. If you have ever wanted to throw out a game's honorary first pitch next Saturday you'll get your chance. Immediately following Saturday night's game we'll have fireworks sponsored by Wachovia. The final game of the season is Sunday, September 3rd at 12:00 pm. Rock On!

In the Southern League, Tennessee loses at Jacksonville Saturday afternoon. The Stars lead Tennessee by two games and Chattanooga by two and a half. They're up in the loss column over each team by three games. There are ten games left in the Huntsville regular season. Nashville and Huntsville, each in first place, are the organization's lone postseason hopefuls this year.

In the Southern League, Tennessee loses at Jacksonville Saturday afternoon. The Stars lead Tennessee by two games and Chattanooga by two and a half. They're up in the loss column over each team by three games. There are ten games left in the Huntsville regular season. Nashville and Huntsville, each in first place, are the organization's lone postseason hopefuls this year.

Friday's Helena KCAP Pre-Game Audio Chat with pitching coach Mark Littell (Select date for August 25th, skip to the 13:00 minute mark) -- This is a detailed discussion of the changeup, including an interesting analysis of the change-up of 18-year-old LHP Luis Ramirez... www.minorleaguebaseball.c.../audio.jsp

Friday's Helena KCAP Pre-Game Audio Chat with pitching coach Mark Littell (Select date for August 25th, skip to the 13:00 minute mark) -- This is a detailed discussion of the changeup, including an interesting analysis of the change-up of 18-year-old LHP Luis Ramirez... www.minorleaguebaseball.c.../audio.jsp

David Weiser's www.starsboxscore.com/ THE RYAN BRAUN INSURANCE COMPANYKATIN HITS WINNING HR IN 14TH In the left field bleachers, any fan could see a good distance away, a number of what looked to be like small paper bags weighed down with sand to prevent them from being blown away. They were, in fact, luminaires, arranged on the aluminum seats to spell the word "HOPE"....... Every fan in Huntsville knows what is going on. Every fan has been talking about the Stars and their amazing comeback, a miracle comeback (they fought back from a 10-17 second-half start), and with ten games to go, with increasing media attention here in spite of the approach of high school football season, they are becoming the talk of the town........ Only three times in their 10 previous playoff appearances have they had to win the second half to get in, and only once did they finish last in the first half, but that was in 1997, and that was a strong offensive team with no pitching. They finished only five games in back of Mobile that year with a .500 record. And this is what makes this race amazing --- they won only 24 games in the first half --- a team so devoid of the ability to hit and score runs (they hit just .214 in May, averaging 2.73 runs and 6.77 hits per game). The middle of the order hit only .228 in the first half and .218 after 50 games. Huntsville's pitching (a 3.82 ERA from its rotation and 3.29 from the bullpen after just 50 games) could not win games under those circumstances........ So to see the Huntsville Stars 1½ in front in the Northern Division with ten games remaining is reason enough to make even a close observer stop and wonder --- and ask, what happened to turn this team around......... How did a team that bad in the first half win 18 of 23 games in August and 24 of its last 31 games? The superstitious and cynical will say it started when Sandy Guerrero replaced Don Money in the coaching box at first....... That's funny, but let's get to last night's game. The last Friday Fireworks special of the season attracted less than 4,000, most of whom stuck around four hours -- the longest game of the season......... The Stars could not crack into Sean White's 1-0 lead after six innings, squandering their best chance in the 2nd inning when with one out, as Ron Acuna skied a 0-1 pitch deep to center for a double. A walk on five pitches to Lou Palmisano set up a force situation, which is exactly what happened to Mississippi's fortune....... Guilder Rodriguez stole second, his first steal since April 20 to remove the force with Corey Thurman at bat, but Thurman, a 3-for-30 hitter, is not Tim Dillard or Yovani Gallardo. After fouling off two pitches, he struck out. Thurman had thrown 82 pitches by the time he got to the top of the 7th when the Braves padded their lead with two more runs..... With Jarrod Saltalamacchia playing in the U.S. Olympic Qualifying Tournament in China, back-up catcher Ray Serrano (.286 vs. the Stars) led off with a double into the left field corner. Josh Arteaga's one-hop liner into right-center wasn't deep enough to try Acuna's arm in right, so runners were at the corners when White's 3-4 sacrifice moved the runners into scoring position......... After a strikeout of Onil Joseph, an intentional walk to Mike Rozema filled the bases........ With Thurman now approaching 100 pitches, Matt Young fouled off three pitches before lining a two-hop single to Steve Moss in center to score Serrano and Arteaga........ It was the showers for Corey after retiring Yuni Escobar on a grounder to Callix Crabbe with runners on the corners for the final out, but for the Stars, it was now time to wake up and go to work. In the past, you could take this game out of the oven. It was done........ But when you're hot, you're hot. Liners fall in, balls down the line stay fair, bunts are executed perfectly, pitches are called your way and no one panics anymore when the Stars fall behind......... It's now written in some cosmic script, just as I felt in 1986, that the Stars will come back to win. The only mystery is how and when. Jeff Eure, the leadoff hitter in the 7th inning, lined a double down the left field line, hugging the baseline. See?...... With one out, Palmisano lined a two-hop hit to right for a single, sending Eure in to put the Stars on the scoreboard........ Guilder Rodriguez, hitting .370 while substituting for Ozzie Chavez, who has been on the shelf with a sore shoulder and a sore tooth, singled to left-center, but with runners on 1st and 2nd, David Watkins, who was promoted just a week earlier from Class A-Myrtle Beach (Carolina), struck out two of the next three hitters to end the inning....... Watkins tops at 98, but he has the uncanny ability to baffle hitters by changing speeds by 25-30 mph so easily, frustrating anyone who faces him at the plate, and he has a really nasty curve. Crabbe was polished off swinging at a 96 mph fast ball after taking fouling off two pitches and taking a change-up for a ball. After going 0-for-3 in the game, fans at the Joe knew it was time for Ryan Braun to do what has become so expected of him. He has become Mr. August in Huntsville...... Let's stop the game here and go back for a moment........ Braun came into a July 4th game at Birmingham hitting .182 after his first 12 games. In a 13-1 pounding of the Barons, he led a 17-hit attack with a 4-for-5 night. The learning curve was over....... From that point on, Ryan has hit .325 with 10 HRs and 24 RBIs, and that's with the burden of a recent 5-for-29 (.172) slump at the plate........ What he has done best, though, is start an inning off. Warts and all, he's hitting .452 in those situations....... He led off the bottom of the 8th with a hard grounder down the left field line for a single...... Brendan Katin, Ryan's teammate at the University of Miami and Brevard County, has such similar power to Ryan, you could call him The Ryan Braun Insurance Company, seeing Katin's rise and Braun's recent slump that has dropped his average under .300 for the first time since July 25th........ Katin followed Braun with a double to the warning track in left, sending Braun to third. An unintentional intentional walk to Jeff Eure (.286 in 49 AB in August) loaded the bases...... Ron Acuna then singled on a 1-1 pitch to right, scoring Braun, making it 3-2 Braves and Lou Palmisano tied it up on a 2-2 pitch with grounder to Rozema that caught Eure going to third. Rozema then threw to Yunil Escobar for the force on Acuna at second......... The Stars left the 8th with the score tied, 3-3......... From this point on, the game got strange. Neither side could buy a hit, especially the Stars after reliever Zach Schreiber left the game after retiring the Stars in order in the 10th (the original box provided by MILB is wrong)....... Gerrit Simpson, Joe Valentine, Luther Hackman, and Matt Yeatman pitched seven innings in relief, allowing only one hit....... Valentine gave that up........ Onil Joseph lined a hard one-hopper to Braun with two out in the 9th. Braun made a basket grab out of pure instinct and kept the ball in front, but his throw to catch the speedy hitter was not in time..... The Braves, with a depleted bullpen, went to coach and back-up catcher Jon Williams. Between him, Schrieber, and Ray Serrano, I think the fastest pitch I saw (except for Schreiber) was 71 mph, but all the Stars could do was pop everything up........ Eure and Palmisano had popped up Schreiber's offerings in the 10th, and from the 11th to the 14th innings, nine of ten hitters were retired on fly balls and one pop out to first. The most frustrating moment for the Stars, and especially for the fans, came in the 11th....... With one out, Ozzie Chavez got on after being hit with an inside pitch. Steve Moss then doubled down the left field line on a 1-0 lollipop pitch, sending Chavie to 3rd and Callix was walked intentionally to load the bases....... It was time for Ryan Braun to redeem himself for the 9th inning. With one out in the 9th, a long fly ball away from victory and a runner on first, Braun hit a sinking liner to left. Josh Burrus raced in to make a fine diving catch....... The game, of course, went into extra innings after Brendan Katin grounded out....... Now it's the 11th. and the sacks are loaded for Braun. He fouls off a 1-1 pitch, then hits a fly ball to right and everyone at the Joe is excited, but Chavez decides not to add to Onil Joseph's total of five assists on the season....... Katin flies out to center on Williams' first tempting offering........ But Katin became the hero in the 14th inning, mobbed at the plate by his teammates, after hitting a 2-1 softie off Ray Serrano, who had come on in the 13th to trade positions with Williams behind the plate --- a home run skied into the night landing beyond the wall to the left of the scoreboard. Matt Yeatman was the winner in relief for the first time since May 17th vs. Chattanooga, the last game before the Stars went on a record 14-game losing streak...... It was Serrano's first loss in his first game as a pitcher in a minor league career that goes back to 1999.

Friday's Nashville Pregame Audio: Inside The Players' Ballpark With Jermaine ClarkSounds play-by-play man Chuck Valenches having some fun with a tounge-in-cheek bit while interviewing Sounds infielder and minor league vet Jermaine Clark, who recently got his 1,000th minor league hit. I give Chuck credit, but unfortunately, most of the interview falls flat, as Clark was giving straight answers instead of playing along. Maybe with a different foil, the concept would have worked better. Regardless, I did laugh out loud when Chuck ended the interview with: "This is an honor that will rank above...my own birth." If that's from a movie, it was still well-borrowed. And if it's original, priceless, Chuck. www.nashvillesounds.com/a...208-25.mp3

Friday's Nashville Pregame Audio: Inside The Players' Ballpark With Jermaine ClarkSounds play-by-play man Chuck Valenches having some fun with a tounge-in-cheek bit while interviewing Sounds infielder and minor league vet Jermaine Clark, who recently got his 1,000th minor league hit. I give Chuck credit, but unfortunately, most of the interview falls flat, as Clark was giving straight answers instead of playing along. Maybe with a different foil, the concept would have worked better. Regardless, I did laugh out loud when Chuck ended the interview with: "This is an honor that will rank above...my own birth." If that's from a movie, it was still well-borrowed. And if it's original, priceless, Chuck. www.nashvillesounds.com/a...208-25.mp3

Standings through Friday's action: Pacific Coast League (AAA) - American North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [b]Nashville 73 61 .545 - 41-27 32-34 L1[/b] Iowa 69 65 .515 4.0 41-28 28-37 L1 Memphis 53 81 .396 20.0 32-39 21-42 W1 Omaha 51 83 .381 22.0 31-37 20-46 W1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Southern League (AA) - North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [b]Huntsville 35 25 .583 - 18-12 17-13 W4[/b] Tennessee 34 27 .557 1.5 18-12 16-15 L1 Chattanooga 33 28 .541 2.5 18-13 15-15 W4 West Tenn 29 32 .475 6.5 19-11 10-21 L4 Carolina 25 36 .410 10.5 19-11 6-25 L3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Florida State League (A+) - East Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- St. Lucie 34 26 .567 - 17-12 17-14 L1 Daytona 34 27 .557 0.5 23-13 11-14 W1 Palm Beach 31 26 .544 1.5 18-11 13-15 L1 [b]Brevard County 25 33 .431 8.0 13-13 12-20 W2[/b] Vero Beach 21 35 .375 11.0 13-16 8-19 L2 Jupiter 21 38 .356 12.5 11-18 10-20 W1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- South Atlantic League (A) - Northern Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lakewood 42 18 .700 - 24-7 18-11 W5 Lake County 31 27 .534 10.0 16-15 15-12 L2 [b]West Virginia 31 29 .517 11.0 18-11 13-18 W1[/b] Greensboro 30 29 .508 11.5 15-17 15-12 L1 Hickory 30 31 .492 12.5 14-18 16-13 L2 Lexington 26 35 .426 16.5 17-14 9-21 W2 Delmarva 23 36 .390 18.5 13-14 10-22 L1 Hagerstown 23 37 .383 19.0 11-18 12-19 W1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pioneer League (R+) - North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Billings 18 8 .692 - 12-2 6-6 L2 Missoula 16 10 .615 2.0 9-3 7-7 W1 [b]Helena 13 13 .500 5.0 6-6 7-7 L4[/b] Great Falls 7 19 .269 11.0 6-8 1-11 L2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Arizona League (R) - Arizona League Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AZL Angels 16 7 .696 - 5-2 11-5 L1 AZL Royals 16 8 .667 0.5 8-5 8-3 L2 AZL Giants 15 8 .652 1.0 7-5 8-3 L1 AZL Padres 15 8 .652 1.0 9-4 6-4 W3 AZL Athletics 11 12 .478 5.0 9-3 2-9 L1 AZL Cubs 10 13 .435 6.0 4-7 6-6 W1 AZL Mariners 10 13 .435 6.0 8-4 2-9 L3 AZL Rangers 8 16 .333 8.5 6-7 2-9 W2 [b]AZL Brewers 4 20 .167 12.5 3-9 1-11 L1[/b]

Standings through Friday's action: Pacific Coast League (AAA) - American North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [b]Nashville 73 61 .545 - 41-27 32-34 L1[/b] Iowa 69 65 .515 4.0 41-28 28-37 L1 Memphis 53 81 .396 20.0 32-39 21-42 W1 Omaha 51 83 .381 22.0 31-37 20-46 W1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Southern League (AA) - North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [b]Huntsville 35 25 .583 - 18-12 17-13 W4[/b] Tennessee 34 27 .557 1.5 18-12 16-15 L1 Chattanooga 33 28 .541 2.5 18-13 15-15 W4 West Tenn 29 32 .475 6.5 19-11 10-21 L4 Carolina 25 36 .410 10.5 19-11 6-25 L3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Florida State League (A+) - East Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- St. Lucie 34 26 .567 - 17-12 17-14 L1 Daytona 34 27 .557 0.5 23-13 11-14 W1 Palm Beach 31 26 .544 1.5 18-11 13-15 L1 [b]Brevard County 25 33 .431 8.0 13-13 12-20 W2[/b] Vero Beach 21 35 .375 11.0 13-16 8-19 L2 Jupiter 21 38 .356 12.5 11-18 10-20 W1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- South Atlantic League (A) - Northern Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lakewood 42 18 .700 - 24-7 18-11 W5 Lake County 31 27 .534 10.0 16-15 15-12 L2 [b]West Virginia 31 29 .517 11.0 18-11 13-18 W1[/b] Greensboro 30 29 .508 11.5 15-17 15-12 L1 Hickory 30 31 .492 12.5 14-18 16-13 L2 Lexington 26 35 .426 16.5 17-14 9-21 W2 Delmarva 23 36 .390 18.5 13-14 10-22 L1 Hagerstown 23 37 .383 19.0 11-18 12-19 W1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pioneer League (R+) - North Division Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Billings 18 8 .692 - 12-2 6-6 L2 Missoula 16 10 .615 2.0 9-3 7-7 W1 [b]Helena 13 13 .500 5.0 6-6 7-7 L4[/b] Great Falls 7 19 .269 11.0 6-8 1-11 L2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Arizona League (R) - Arizona League Standings ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Team W L PCT GB HOME ROAD STREAK ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AZL Angels 16 7 .696 - 5-2 11-5 L1 AZL Royals 16 8 .667 0.5 8-5 8-3 L2 AZL Giants 15 8 .652 1.0 7-5 8-3 L1 AZL Padres 15 8 .652 1.0 9-4 6-4 W3 AZL Athletics 11 12 .478 5.0 9-3 2-9 L1 AZL Cubs 10 13 .435 6.0 4-7 6-6 W1 AZL Mariners 10 13 .435 6.0 8-4 2-9 L3 AZL Rangers 8 16 .333 8.5 6-7 2-9 W2 [b]AZL Brewers 4 20 .167 12.5 3-9 1-11 L1[/b]

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_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 Helena: www.minorleaguebaseball.c...k_helrok_1

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

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_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 Helena: www.minorleaguebaseball.c...k_helrok_1

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

Saturday's Daily Menu: All times Central; pitchers subject to change -- Nashville: LHP Zach Jackson at Memphis (Cardinals), 5:50 PM pre-game; 6:10 gametime Audio link: www.nashvillesounds.com/listenlive/ Huntsville: LHP Steve Hammond at home vs. Mississippi (Braves), 6:50 PM pre-game, 7:05 gametime Audio link: www.espn1450radio.com/ Brevard County: RHP Mike Jones and TBD in a doubleheader at home vs. Palm Beach (Cardinals), 5:00 PM Audio link (opponent's) -- the Palm Beach audio connection has been iffy this year... www.palmbeachcardinals.com/ West Virginia: LHP Brandon Parillo at home vs. Lexington (Astros), 5:55 PM pre-game, 6:05 gametime Audio link: www.sportsjuice.com/provi...e=wvpower. Helena: RHP Chris Jean at home vs. Idaho Falls (Royals), 7:50 PM pre-game; 8:05 gametime Audio (click on "Listen Live"): www.helenabrewers.net/html2/index.php Arizona: Idle

Saturday's Daily Menu: All times Central; pitchers subject to change -- Nashville: LHP Zach Jackson at Memphis (Cardinals), 5:50 PM pre-game; 6:10 gametime Audio link: www.nashvillesounds.com/listenlive/ Huntsville: LHP Steve Hammond at home vs. Mississippi (Braves), 6:50 PM pre-game, 7:05 gametime Audio link: www.espn1450radio.com/ Brevard County: RHP Mike Jones and TBD in a doubleheader at home vs. Palm Beach (Cardinals), 5:00 PM Audio link (opponent's) -- the Palm Beach audio connection has been iffy this year... www.palmbeachcardinals.com/ West Virginia: LHP Brandon Parillo at home vs. Lexington (Astros), 5:55 PM pre-game, 6:05 gametime Audio link: www.sportsjuice.com/provi...e=wvpower. Helena: RHP Chris Jean at home vs. Idaho Falls (Royals), 7:50 PM pre-game; 8:05 gametime Audio (click on "Listen Live"): www.helenabrewers.net/html2/index.php Arizona: Idle

Another big boost to the Huntsville postseason chase was added today when super LH reliever Joe Thatcher (one ER in 30.2 IP at Brevard County since his promotion from West Virginia) was added to the Stars' roster. No corresponding moves on other rosters to announce at this time. Joe Thatcher Career Numbers: www.brewerfan.net/ViewPla...ayerId=857

Another big boost to the Huntsville postseason chase was added today when super LH reliever Joe Thatcher (one ER in 30.2 IP at Brevard County since his promotion from West Virginia) was added to the Stars' roster. No corresponding moves on other rosters to announce at this time. Joe Thatcher Career Numbers: www.brewerfan.net/ViewPla...ayerId=857

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Link while active, text follows: www.al.com/stars/huntsvil...amp;coll=1 Stars finally grab win in 14th inning Huntsville stretches North Division lead to 1 1/2 games By MARK McCARTER Huntsville Times Sports Staff, markcolumn@aol.com The Tennessee Smokies and Mississippi Braves were both doing their darndest to help the Huntsville Stars pad their lead in the Southern League North. Don Money's Stars kept stubbornly refusing charity, inning after inning after inning after inning ... The Smokies, the Stars' closest pursuers, blew a three-run lead in the eighth inning at Jacksonville earlier in the evening to at least assure Huntsville would remain in first. The pitching-depleted Braves, meanwhile, sent a pair of catchers to the mound as relievers in extra innings. But with mph's that wouldn't draw a trooper's attention, player-coach Jon Williams and Ray Serrano only seemed to discombobulate Huntsville hitters, retiring 10 in a row in one stretch. Finally, in the 14th inning, Brendan Katin - who twice before left a potential winning run stranded on third - hit a 68-mph Serrano pitch over the left field wall at 11:13 p.m., giving the Stars a 4-3 win. The homer, his third in seven games with the Stars, gave Huntsville a 1 1/2-game cushion over Tennessee and 2 1/2 over Chattanooga with 10 games remaining. After two perfect relief innings by Luther Hackman, Matt Yeatman collected the win with a perfect 14th. It was the Stars' fourth straight victory and 10th in their last 12 games. They have yet to lose at home in the month of August. The Stars have four more games here with Mississippi, including tonight, then end their season with six games at Birmingham. The Smokies have four more games at Jacksonville, then end the season at home with Mobile. As part of an American Cancer Society Night, a group of fans arranged luminaries in the leftfield stands that read, "HOPE." An hour into the game, there seemed to be little hope, in terms of baseball. Tennessee was roughing up Jacksonville. Huntsville starter Corey Thurman was enduring one of his less-effective starts, giving up three runs on 10 hits, the most costly a two-out seventh-inning flare by Matt Young on a 1-2 count, driving in two runs. And Mississippi starter Sean White was handcuffing Huntsville. White had made two previous starts against the Stars, being chased after 3 2/3 innings on opening night, then on Aug. 13 lasting just three innings, giving up five walks, seven hits and six runs. This time, he was fairly brilliant. He permitted only one hit in his first six innings before a Jeff Eure leadoff double in the seventh and singles by Lou Palmisano and Guilder Rodriguez produced the Stars' first run. However, reliever David Watkins gave up a bases-loaded bloop single to Ron Acuna in the eighth, then a double play grounder by Palmisano brought in the tying run. Watkins did escape a critical situation in the ninth when Steve Moss singled and Callix Crabbe singled him to third. Watkins got Ryan Braun on a hard liner to left and Katin on a grounder to deep short. In the 11th, with one out, Williams hit Ozzie Chavez with a pitch, gave up a double to Moss and walked Crabbe. Braun flew out to shallow right, then Katin to deep left-center off Williams, a 27-year-old player-coach just activated this week and most recently in the employ of the River City Rascals independent team.

Finally! Brendan Katin walk-off two-out solo home run in the 14th! Stars win, 4-3; let the fireworks begin http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif !

Final: Idaho Falls (Royals) 6, Helena 3 Helena Box Score and Game Log: Three-run ninth too little, too late; Chuckie Caufield three hits; young lefties Luis Ramirez and Jose Romero each pitched -- Romero allowing three runs in the top of the 9th... www.minorleaguebaseball.c...k_helrok_1

It's ridiculous in Huntsville, as the Braves have brought in their second catcher of the night to pitch in the game, and the two non-pitchers have now shut out the Stars over three innings. The last seven Stars have been set down, as everyone is popping up or flying out trying to end it on a home run against these 70 MPH fastballs. Steve Moss just swung through one to end the 13th. Jeepers...