Jim Goulart

Sunday's Daily Menu: All times are Central Colorado Springs: RHP Ariel Pena and TBD in a doubleheader at Iowa (Cubs), 10:30 AM pre-game, 11:00 gametime; each contest slated for seven innings Free Live Audio Link Dan Karcher, the longtime play-by-play voice of the Sky Sox is on Twitter @SkySoxKarch; joining him this season is Dan Acheson (@Dan_Acheson) MiLB.TV -- for subscribers; all Colorado Springs games, home and away, will be available to watch via MiLB.TV's $49.99 season-long package ($12.99 to pay for a single month). The audio feed is from the home team. The video of each game is archived online, which is a nice feature. All MiLB.TV details available at the link. NOTE: Notice that on MiLB.TV's page, you can click on "Filter", then "Milwaukee Brewers", and you'll see just the Crew's organizational TV lineup. ********** Biloxi: RHP Javi Salas at home vs. Tennessee (Cubs), 12:50 PM pre-game, 1:10 gametime Free Live Audio Link Chris Harris is the play-by-play voice of the Shuckers. Follow Chris on Twitter @CHarris731. We'll be linking to his fantastic "Shuck Dynasty" blog. Thaddeus Krzus (@Shucks1stIntern) joins Chris often. All games, home and away, are scheduled to be radio broadcast. MiLB.TV - Eight of the ten Southern League teams telecast their home games, and Biloxi is among them. ********** Brevard County: RHP Eric Hanhold at Tampa (Yankees), 12:00 PM gametime Free Live Audio Link (Tampa feed) Unfortunately, the Manatees have dropped their broadcast coverage for 2016. No Florida State League games are available via MiLB.TV. Ten of the 12 Florida State League teams provide audio (some only for home games), we'll do our best to let you know when an opponent's audio is going to be available. ********** Wisconsin: RHP Jon Perrin at home vs. Lansing (Blue Jays), 12:45 PM pre-game, 1:05 gametime Free Live Audio Link Chris Mehring is back to do his customary fantastic work as the Voice of the Rattlers. Follow him on Twitter @CMehring; we'll link to Chris' infamous blog often -- Rattler Radio. MiLB.TV - Eight of the 16 Midwest League teams telecast their home games, and Wisconsin, once again, is among them. We'll let you know when a road TV feed is available. NOTE: Thirty-nine (!) of the Rattlers' 70 home games will be broadcast on local TV this season. Time Warner Cable SportsChannel (10) and WACY-TV My NEW32 (29) will split duties. We'll let you know when and who, and remember to refer to the Rattlers' full TV schedule (scroll to bottom of link) so you can coordinate your DVR activity.

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All indications are I'll be seeing RHP Junior Guerra make his Brewers' debut when I land in Milwaukee Tuesday, nice. A saving grace during this big league rough stretch.

Final, Game Two: Tampa 3, Brevard County 2, ten innings (scheduled for seven) Tampa wins game two in walk-off fashion against the Manatees Donald Rieber, Jr., Manatees Examiner A more familiar Manatee tale for 2016 in the nightcap -- not complete offensive futility, though, eight walks (but only three singles)... *** Brevard County Game Two Box Score SS Angel Ortega is 5th in the Florida State League in batting - his .742 OPS dwarfs anything he's done offensively prior to this April -- good for you, sir, you're on your way to an FSL All-Star nod... Brevard County Game Two Game Log With the eight walks (and 15 K's), Manatee batters saw a whopping 155 pitches over the ten innings here...

Final, Game One: Brevard County 7, Tampa 4 Manatees take down Tampa in first game of doubleheader Donald Rieber, Jr., Manatees Examiner Thanks again for the coverage, Donald -- as thorough a road game recap as we could hope for, fantastic... *** Brevard County Game One Box Score You read about LHP Kodi Medeiros' 5th inning above, thankfully his first four innings were not so eventful... Brevard County Game One Game Log Catcher Dustin Houle threw out the sole attempted basestealer, still a strong part of his game, wish those minor league defensive catcher statistics in that regard were more readily available...

VIDEO: Another worthwhile look at the Timber Rattlers pitching and leather-flashing, this time via the MyNew32 TV broadcast

AUDIO Sat. 4/30: Pregame interview with Biloxi Pitching Coach Chris Hook - Obviously a very worthwhile listen as Hook discusses members of the starting rotation *** AUDIO: Brett Phillips talks Opossum Mania - "I possibly saved a couple of children's lives" *** AUDIO: Game highlights from the 2-1 Biloxi walkoff win ***

AUDIO (go the 4:30 minute mark of the pre-game interview): Injury updates via Wisconsin Manager Matt Erickson on C Mitch Ghelfi (bruised thumb), 2B Tucker Neuhaus (broken finger), and OF Troy Stokes (ankle).

I-Cubs and Sky Sox Postponed Iowa Cubs Des Moines, IA - Saturday's contest between the Iowa Cubs and the Colorado Springs Sky Sox has been postponed due to weather. The two teams will play a double-header tomorrow beginning at 11:08 AM with each game lasting seven innings. Because tomorrow's scheduled contest was the last of the series, a 4:25 PM curfew has been placed on the games to fit both team's travel schedules.

Given the dearth of Florida State League video, we'll take this gladly --

*** Remarkably, this wasn't the first time in Phillips' relatively brief pro career that an opossum was a key factor -- Interrupted by critter, Phillips homers again Astros prospect extends streak after opossum strays onto diamond By Tyler Maun / MiLB.com

Catching up from Friday night with the Biloxi wrap-up --

Look for these just prior to the respective game times -- Colorado Springs Media Notes - Linked on the Sky Sox official blog Biloxi Media Notes - Linked on the Shuck Dynasty blog Wisconsin Media Notes - Linked on the Rattler Radio blog *** STANDINGS: AAA - Pacific Coast League American Northern Division AA - Southern League South Division High-A - Florida State League North Division A - Midwest League Western Division *** Sortable individual stat pages: Colorado Springs Biloxi Brevard County Wisconsin *** Weather.com: Des Moines, IA Biloxi, MS Tampa, FL Grand Chute, WI

Follow Saturday's action as it happens with box score / game log links: Colorado Springs Biloxi Brevard County Game One Brevard County Game Two Wisconsin MiLB.com feature -- organizational scoreboard, Brewers

DVR ALERT, Including this afternoon! Timber Rattlers Game Saturday, April 30th, 1:00 PM -- My New32 TV

Saturday's Daily Menu: All times are Central Colorado Springs: RHP Ariel Pena at Iowa (Cubs), 6:30 PM pre-game, 7:08 gametime Free Live Audio Link Dan Karcher, the longtime play-by-play voice of the Sky Sox is on Twitter @SkySoxKarch; joining him this season is Dan Acheson (@Dan_Acheson) MiLB.TV -- for subscribers; all Colorado Springs games, home and away, will be available to watch via MiLB.TV's $49.99 season-long package ($12.99 to pay for a single month). The audio feed is from the home team. The video of each game is archived online, which is a nice feature. All MiLB.TV details available at the link. NOTE: Notice that on MiLB.TV's page, you can click on "Filter", then "Milwaukee Brewers", and you'll see just the Crew's organizational TV lineup. ********** Biloxi: LHP Josh Hader at home vs. Tennessee (Cubs), 6:50 PM pre-game, 7:10 gametime Free Live Audio Link Chris Harris is the play-by-play voice of the Shuckers. Follow Chris on Twitter @CHarris731. We'll be linking to his fantastic "Shuck Dynasty" blog. Thaddeus Krzus (@Shucks1stIntern) joins Chris often. All games, home and away, are scheduled to be radio broadcast. MiLB.TV - Eight of the ten Southern League teams telecast their home games, and Biloxi is among them. ********** Brevard County: RHP Angel Ventura and LHP Kodi Medeiros in a doubleheader at Tampa (Yankees), 4:00 PM gametime; each contest slated for seven innings Free Live Audio Link (Tampa feed) Unfortunately, the Manatees have dropped their broadcast coverage for 2016. No Florida State League games are available via MiLB.TV. Ten of the 12 Florida State League teams provide audio (some only for home games), we'll do our best to let you know when an opponent's audio is going to be available. ********** Wisconsin: RHP David Burkhalter at home vs. Lansing (Blue Jays), 12:45 PM pre-game, 1:05 gametime; expect RHP Jordan Yamamoto to pitch in a tandem role Free Live Audio Link Chris Mehring is back to do his customary fantastic work as the Voice of the Rattlers. Follow him on Twitter @CMehring; we'll link to Chris' infamous blog often -- Rattler Radio. MiLB.TV - Eight of the 16 Midwest League teams telecast their home games, and Wisconsin, once again, is among them. We'll let you know when a road TV feed is available. NOTE: Thirty-nine (!) of the Rattlers' 70 home games will be broadcast on local TV this season. Time Warner Cable SportsChannel (10) and WACY-TV My NEW32 (29) will split duties. We'll let you know when and who, and remember to refer to the Rattlers' full TV schedule (scroll to bottom of link) so you can coordinate your DVR activity.

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Jorge Ortega left in line for his first win of the season with the one run lead. In five innings of work, the native of Venezuela allowed four hits and struck out four. In four starts in 2016, the right-hander has not issued a walk over 22.2 innings, and has struck out 13 batters. I believe we've now determined given his profile, that not only is RHP Jorge Ortega the most unique pitcher we've covered in Link Report history (2001), but he's consistently the most unique pitcher we've covered.

Of course this would be Brett Phillips in the starring role --

Final: Iowa 1, Colorado Springs 0 Sky Sox Silenced In 1-0 Shutout Scoreless start from Burgos not enough as Iowa scores game's only run to win By Aaron Cheris / Colorado Springs Sky Sox *** Colorado Springs Box Score Michael Reed, playing LF, singled twice and walked; Orlando Arcia stole his 4th base in five attempts; RHP Hiram Burgos managed to keep things scoreless through five despite three base hits and five walks... Colorado Springs Game Log

VIDEO: A second look at the Timber Rattlers highlights via the MyNew32 TV Game broadcast

Rattler Radio Blog Postgame Entry - Includes your AUDIO interviews

San Antonio's civic ambition could provide a way for Sky Sox to stay in Colorado Springs Brent Briggeman, Colorado Springs Gazette It seems there is one thing that could keep the Sky Sox in Colorado Springs - San Antonio's desire for bigger things. As the rapidly growing Texas city begins diving into the logistics of building a stadium to accommodate the Triple-A baseball franchise, a primary source of resistance seems to be not the cost of the stadium, but a feeling the city would be better off waiting for a Major League Baseball team. "I think what this business community has wanted has been Major League Baseball, NFL, MLS - the big leagues," Richard Perez, president and CEO of the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce told the San Antonio Express-News. "We are still kind of relegated to Triple-A ball, which is not a bad thing, but we've been shooting our sights as a business community for the larger opportunity." The Express-News reported that San Antonio business leaders, as well as sports radio hosts, are also trumpeting the theme that the city needs to aim higher, and such sentiment could make it hard for the city to find the necessary support to build a park that could cost anywhere from $60-75 million depending on the settled-upon location. In these early stages, even a list of potential sites hasn't been made public. City leaders in San Antonio remain committed to build the stadium and take the Triple-A team that has called Colorado Springs home since 1989. Mayor Ivy Taylor has led the movement since announcing the intention to work with the Elmore Sports Group to relocate the team before the 2019 season at a city council meeting earlier this month. "I definitely am all in on pursuing this idea, this opportunity for San Antonio," Taylor told the Express-News. "I don't expect people to raise their hands and say that they're in complete agreement because we are just starting the process, and it's all just starting to come together. We're still doing due diligence, asking questions, looking at sites. The Elmores are doing what they need to do in order to move a team." San Antonio's one top-level professional team is the NBA's Spurs, and the city has certainly done an adequate job of supporting that franchise. Attendance at Spurs home games has filled its venue to an average capacity of 99.1 percent over the past 10 years, a figure that has ranked in the top 10 in the NBA seven of those 10 years. It helps that the Spurs have been as consistent as any team in professional sports over that period at churning out championship-caliber teams. San Antonio is currently ranked as the nation's No. 32 media market, which would make it the fourth-largest in the Pacific Coast League behind No. 14 Tacoma (which enjoys an inflated size because it is lumped in with Seattle), Sacramento (20) and Nashville (29). Colorado Springs (89) is the third-smallest market in the PCL ahead of only El Paso (92) and Reno (106). In the major leagues, San Antonio would be fourth from the bottom in market size, ahead of only Kansas City, Milwaukee and Cincinnati. But this is looking at San Antonio at its current size. The population of the city has grown by nearly half a million over the past 25 years to nearly 1.5 million, and a study at the University of Houston projects that the population of the area will grow to more than 4.2 million by 2050. Some residents have voiced displeasure that the current Double-A stadium wasn't built with enough foresight to be located in a vibrant part of the city and that it's not large enough to be used for a Triple-A team. The fear is that to commit to becoming a Triple-A city now, amid rapid growth, could also be considered short-sighted at some point. So, while San Antonio struggles through a civic identity crisis, there's some hope that stadium funds won't be there and Triple-A baseball would be granted a reprieve in Colorado Springs.

Via @BrewersPD: C Mitch Ghelfi has been placed on the Wisconsin DL as of yesterday. C Natanael Mejia transferred to the active roster to take his spot. *** Ghelfi with a .705 OPS through ten games; Mejia saw action in 21 Wisconsin games last season.