battlekow

Pictures of Mat Gamel in his new Sounds gear from Right Minded Online: http://rightmindedblog.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/imgp0950.jpg http://rightmindedblog.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/imgp0968.jpg

Cleveland columnist Paul Hoynes says there are four players on the list:

Gulin Earns 2nd Pitcher Of Week Honor Of 2008 Date Posted: 8/25/2008 Nashville Sounds left-hander Lindsay Gulin has been named the Pacific Coast League's Pitcher of the Week for the August 18-24 period, his second weekly honor of the 2008 campaign. The left-hander went 2-0 with a 0.69 ERA (1er/13.0ip) in his two quality starts for the Sounds and paced the league with 14 strikeouts in 13.0 innings pitched during the week. Gulin started the week by throwing six innings against Round Rock on Monday, August 18th and allowed one run on seven hits and struck out six batters to get the victory. He followed that performance with seven shutout innings against Round Rock on Saturday, August 23rd and struck out eight batters to get his second victory of the week. For the season, the 31-year-old has posted a 7-7 record and a 3.63 ERA (53er/131.1ip) in 25 games (22 starts) for Nashville. He has held PCL batters to a .225 average and struck out 115 batters in his 131 1/3 innings. His 3.63 ERA is currently tied for second among all Pacific Coast League hurlers this season. The Southhampton, New York native was a mid-season PCL All-Star and pitched one shutout inning in the PCL's victory over the International League in July's Triple-A All-Star Game. Gulin's award is the second accumulated by a Sounds player during the 2008 season. The southpaw was previously honored as the PCL Pitcher of the Week for the May 12-18 period. Nashville players garnered four weekly league awards in 2007, including three by pitchers (Yovani Gallardo, Manny Parra, Seth McClung). The award is the third PCL weekly honor of Gulin's 14-year career. He was also named the circuit's Pitcher of the Week in June 2003 after tossing a nine-inning no-hitter for Las Vegas. Gulin is scheduled to take the hill for his next start at 7 p.m. on Thursday evening at Greer Stadium against Albuquerque in the Sounds' final home game of the 2008 season.

Yeah, it's ROY eligibility you're thinking of.

Hey, another road win for BRRROK; great start for Nick Bucci (3 perfect innings, 5 Ks).

Not a bad A-ball debut for Wily Peralta. Had a bad fourth inning, but it's only his third start of the year, so that's okay. What happened on the inside-the-park homer that Reed Dickert gave up on the first batter he faced after relieved Peralta. Also, did Steffan Wilson get injured?

He's actually homered in each of his last four games and in five of his last eight. Just amazing.

Colby, it sounds like Purke already throws harder than Hamels, who sits around 90 with his fastball.

Two Brewers are "In the Team Photo" for the 8/22 edition of the Hot Sheet:

Well, Peralta's an A-baller now, and I think there's a lot to get excited about when you have a 19-year-old throwing mid-90s gas with a hard, late-breaking mid-80s slider. But yeah, overall a very disappointing pitching year for the organization, though if you're only going to have one real pitching prospect, I'd want him to a look a lot like Jeremy Jeffress. Hopefully Odorizzi, Lintz, and others are the next generation and really emerge next year.

Gindl's OPS has increased every month, and is now over 1000 for August. He's homered in three straight games and four of his last six. Meanwhile, Brewer is hitting ..279/.323/.442 this month, which is damned impressive given the his early-season numbers and the effect Space Coast has on right-handed power.

The Don Money interview was from the end of July. I haven't seen Salome play, but I will add that it's very common for players to get slower as they bulk up after turning pro. Granted, Angel was already a specimen (someone want to post the famous pic?), and he's only listed at five pounds heavier than the 190 he was drafted at (Brewerfan still has him at 190 but MiLB.com has him at 195), but he's also had a serious ankle injury--ask J.J. Hardy about how that affects your foot speed. All I'm saying is that it's certainly not out of the realm of possibility for Angel to have gotten significantly slower in the last four years.

Good timing for Allixon Cequea's first HR of the year, in the top of the 10th inning in a 5-5 game; recent, strangely old Dominican signee Rigoberto Almonte pitched a strong two innings (3/0/1 K/BB/H) for the win, just the second for BRRROK on the road this year.

Brewers farmhands showing good stuff tonight. Greg Miller had by far his best game since being taken in the 10th round in June, with 4/0/1 K/BB/H in 2 IP. Believe it or not, it's just his second scoreless appearance of the year. 19th-rounder Blake Billings has also had quite a nice debut; tonight's walk was actually his first of the year, and his K/BB is now 15/1 in 12 innings, certainly heartening to see from a high school pick. Billings has also been getting a ton of ground balls. Also nice to see another stuff-y line from Amaury Rivas, who's put up an 11/2 K/BB in his last 10 innings, after registered only a 5/8 K/BB in his first 15 innings at Brevard.

Venezuela, Dominican Republic, what's the difference to my xenophobic, jingoistic American brain? Seriously though, thanks for the heads up.

Stosh is the youngest non-Dominican in the organization.

Huntsville goes against Aaron Poreda today. Poreda is Evan Frederickson 2007 in a lot of regard: tall lefty from the University of San Francisco that unexpectedly starting bringing it the high 90s. Poreda doesn't (or didn't) have as good of a breaking ball, but he has better control (as if that's difficult).

Lawrie went 0-2 with sac fly in Canada's 4-0 win over the Netherlands. Nice shot of him catching a fly ball: http://www.nbcolympics.com/mm/photo/sports/general/23/39/22/233922_m02.jpg

This is what Don Money had to say when Josh Kalk interviewed him for BCB:

Haudricourt on Bateman:

Touching Base: Jesse Orosco's kid shows promise on farm By JESSE SPECTOR DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER Sunday, August 17th 2008, 10:30 PM OREM, Utah - As Jesse Orosco sits in the stands behind the dugout on the first base side, he's wide-eyed as he surveys the rookie-level minor-league stadium on the campus of Utah Valley University and thinks back to his own days as a prospect nearly 30 years ago. "This is better than Triple-A when I played it," Orosco says. "This is incredible." Orosco has been dazzled this summer all over the West, having seen other Pioneer League parks in Ogden, Utah and Missoula, Mont. This summer, the major leagues' all-time leader in games pitched has become the No. 1 fan of the minor-league Missoula Osprey, the entry-level affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. That's because his son, Jesse Orosco Jr., is a reliever for the club after being selected in the 38th round of the June draft. The younger Orosco - a righthander, unlike his father - got off to a rocky start in his pro career, allowing eight home runs in his first eight appearances. But he's strung together five straight scoreless outings, and seems to have turned a corner. His total stats - 1-0 with a 3.86 ERA and 22 strikeouts in 30.1 innings - are beginning to look much better. "It's all about experience and making mental changes," Orosco Jr. says. "No matter where you come from, it's a whole different game than where you played before. I came out here with things to learn and I'm getting better at going out there and getting it done." Orosco really got it done on June 30, when he pitched three innings in Helena, Mont., to earn his first professional win - as part of a combined no-hitter with two other Missoula pitchers. But that outing hardly went to his head. "Sometimes guys come in and try to do too much and be more than who they are," says Osprey pitching coach Steve Merriman. "But Jesse has come in and grabbed a hold of a lot of things that our organization would like pitchers to do. His last several outings have been fantastic and he's done nothing but just get outs and give us big innings when we've needed them. He's done a phenomenal job and been fantastic to work with." Raves about Orosco's attitude and comportment are nothing new. They go all the way back to his childhood in major league clubhouses with his father. "I remember my teammates, the feedback telling me that he was a great kid in the clubhouse, and that made me feel proud as a dad that I did my job," says the elder Orosco, who listens to his son's games on Internet radio in San Diego when he's not traveling to see him pitch. "I hear from the guys here now in the clubhouse, now that he's a professional, that Jesse's fun in the clubhouse and a very humble kid having a great time." Another kid in the clubhouse way back when was Cutter Dykstra, Lenny's 19-year-old son - who is also in the Pioneer League after the Brewers drafted him out of high school. The younger Dykstra and Orosco didn't know each other growing up, as their fathers were both traded away from the Mets, but as Cutter said, "It kind of hit me that's kind of cool that our dads both won the World Series together in '86." Dykstra doubled and homered against Orosco on July 3, the only time they've faced each other. And while Orosco Sr. never put any pressure on his son to become a ballplayer, this might be a little different. "Cutter's gotten the better of Jesse, and Jesse better learn his repertoire a little better because he's getting him," the father says with a laugh. "Maybe later on they'll get up the ladder and see how it goes. Right now it's fun to watch."

On Saturday, the Stars will try to break the record for most first pitches, currently held by Brevard County (h/t Right Field Bleachers)

Quotes from Goldstein's chat last week:

Gary Glover back in the Majors with the Tigers.

Michael Brantley shows up in Kevin Goldstein's Monday Ten Pack at BP: Ha, it's funny to see Brantley called a sleeper now; Sickels tagged him as one over two years ago, and this is clearly a breakout season for him. I don't think he qualifies as a sleeper anymore, Kevin.