TheCrew07

Gah I didn't read the end of Saturday's thread before doing my work in Sunday's thread, sorry for the double-up MH.

I believe Paul was referring to a first division rotation, not across baseball, but I could be wrong.

Wisconsin stuns Snappers with late comeback Arcia's two-out, three-run triple in 9th ties game; Rattlers win 4-3 in 10 By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers BELOIT, WI - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers played the waiting game on Sunday afternoon at Pohlman Field and it paid off for them despite almost waiting too long. The Rattlers trailed the Beloit Snappers 3-0 with one out and none on in the top of the ninth inning only to rally for an unlikely 4-3 ten inning victory. Orlando Arcia tied the game on a bases loaded triple with two outs in the ninth and Garrett Cooper drove in what turned out to be the game winner in the tenth. The win was the second straight for Wisconsin and kept them within three games of the second half Western Division Wild Card. The Snappers (67-58 overall, 24-31 second half) took the lead with an unearned run in the bottom of the third inning. Dayton Alexander started the frame with a single. He stole second and went to third on an error. Rattlers starter Austin Ross got the first out with a strikeout to keep Alexander at third base. But, a grounder to short off the bat of Brett Vertigan drove in the run and Beloit had a 1-0 lead. Beloit added to their lead in the fifth inning. They loaded the bases on three singles. Rattlers starter Austin Ross jammed Aaron Shipman, who sent a broken bat grounder to Chris McFarland at second base. But, the Rattlers could only get the out at second base and the fielder's choice got the run home from third for a 2-0 lead. Wisconsin (54-66, 25-30) managed three hits off Beloit starter Deyvi Jimenez through six innings. Jimenez walked two, struck out five, and turned the game over to his bullpen in the top of the seventh. But, before the first Beloit reliever took the hill in the seventh, the Snappers offense added another run in the bottom of the sixth. Daniel Robertson doubled to lead off the inning. John Wooten doubled with one out to drive in Robertson for a 3-0 lead. Nolan Sanburn took over for Jimenez and tossed two more scoreless innings before turning the ball over to Tyler Vail in the top of the ninth. To this point in the game, only one Rattler player had reached second base. That player was Tyrone Taylor, who singled to start the game and stole second, but was left stranded there when the top of the first inning ended. Vail retired the first batter of the inning. Then, things got interesting. Garrett Cooper, Parker Berberet, and Max Walla singled to load the bases. Vail got the second out with a strikeout. Orlando Arcia was next and he sent a sinking line drive to right. Aaron Shipman tried to make a diving catch to end the game. The ball hit in front of Shipman and he could not keep the ball in front of him. The ball rolled all the way to the wall and all three base runners scored on the triple by Arcia to tie the game. Wisconsin reliever Taylor Wall worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth inning and the game went to extra innings. Adrian Williams and Victor Roache both singled with one out in the top of the tenth against Chris Lamb, the fourth Beloit pitcher of the game. Williams and Roache pulled a double steal on a 1-2 pitch to Cooper. The pitch missed for ball two and Cooper was at the plate with two runners in scoring position. That situation forced the Snappers to bring their infield in to try and cut down the run at the plate. Cooper took advantage of the defensive alignment and slammed a pitch through the right side of the infield. Williams scored for a 4-3 lead. Roache was out at the plate on the play and the Rattlers would not score again. But, they did not need to score another run. Wall did allow a leadoff single to Shipman in the bottom of the tenth, but he retired the next three batters without incident to cap another comeback win over the Snappers by Wisconsin. Just thirteen days ago - on August 5 - the Timber Rattlers scored five runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to beat the Snappers 6-5 at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium. Game three of the series is Monday night at Pohlman Field. The Timber Rattlers have Ryan Gibbard (4-4, 4.82) as the scheduled starting pitcher. Beloit will send Derek DeYoung (5-5, 4.22) to the mound. Game time is 7:00pm. Tune in for the broadcast on AM1280, WNAM or IHeartRadio starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:40pm. WP: Taylor Wall (2-3) LP: Chris Lamb (2-5) TIME: 2:58 ATTN: 1,359 Wisconsin Boxscore What a great come from behind victory! Austin Ross continues to make progress coming back from surgery, allowing just 2 earned runs on 8 hits and 1 walk against 6 strike outs. Ryan Fasano pitched a clean 2 innings and Taylor Wall followed up with 2 clean innings of his own for the victory. I had a busy day and didn't tune until the bottom of the 9th so I missed what happened but I believe Mehring said Fasano left with an injury after being hit by a batted ball? Tyrone Taylor (2-5), Garrett Cooper (2-5), and Max Walla (2-3,BB) had the multi-hit games. Wisconsin Recap What I believe to be the Fasano injury. Beloit Bottom of the 8th Defensive Substitution: Adrian Williams replaces third baseman Mike Garza, batting 3rd, playing third base. Daniel Robertson grounds out, shortstop Orlando Arcia to first baseman Garrett Cooper. Chris Bostick strikes out swinging. John Wooten singles on a fly ball to right fielder Max Walla. Ryan Mathews singles on a line drive to pitcher Ryan Fasano. John Wooten to 2nd. Matt Olson strikes out swinging. edit. Fixed Ross' line.

Javier Baez again. Smokies' Baez drills walk-off homer

One my past favorites Frank Kremblas in the news... Miracle, Marauders managers scuffle

Prospect Hot Sheet Chat With Ben Badler

Prospect Hot Sheet (Aug. 16): Mets’ Rafael Montero Is Always In Command

Thank God. Koshien Over For Tomohiro Anraku, 16, After 183-Pitch Outing

He's not really forgotten, he's just not much of a prospect. What part of his season line is even "okay"? He's simply not a starting pitcher at MLB. [pre]Year Age Lev ERA G GS IP H R ER HR BB SO WHIP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9 SO/BB 2013 23 AA 5.06 13 9 42.2 49 26 24 8 18 26 1.570 10.3 1.7 3.8 5.5 1.44[/pre] Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

Rattlers start road trip with a win Wisconsin beats Beloit 6-4 By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers BELOIT, WI - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers will not go away. Wisconsin scrapped for a 6-4 win over the Beloit Snappers on Saturday night at Pohlman Field. Orlando Arcia and Max Walla led the opportunistic offense with three hits apiece and the Rattlers crept closer in the playoff race. Both teams had similar starts to their first inning. The first two Timber Rattlers to bat reached base. Alfredo Rodriguez started the game with a walk and Arcia singled. But, a double play ball and a grounder to short ended the promising inning. The first two Snappers to bat in their half of the first reached base on back-to-back walks by Wisconsin starter Jorge Lopez to Brett Vertigan and Daniel Robertson. An errant pickoff throw to first by catcher Tyler Roberts with Renato Nunez at the plate allowed Vertigan to go to third. Then, Nunez hit into a double play and Vertigan scored the first run of the game. Wisconsin (53-66 overall, 24-30 second half) rallied on an error by Nunez in the top of the second. Parker Berberet walked to start the frame. Walla topped a grounder up the third base line. Nunez charged, fielded the ball with his bare hand, and fired wildly to first. Berberet scored easily and Walla wound up at third base. But, Wisconsin could not get the lead in the second. That would have to wait until the third. Arcia lined a home run just inside the pole and just over the wall for his fourth home run of the season. The leadoff homer by the Wisconsin shortstop gave them a 2-1 lead. But, Beloit (67-57, 24-30) came back with a run in the bottom of the fourth inning. They had loaded the bases on a pair of infield singles and a walk. There was one out and Sam Roberts weak grounder to second could only be turned into a force at second base. That fielder's choice allowed the runner from third to tie the game 2-2. The Rattlers grabbed control of the game in the top of the fifth. Rodriguez was at first with one out and Arcia drove a text book hit-and-run single to right field to put runners at the corners for Tyrone Taylor. Taylor lined a single to left and Rodriguez scored the go ahead run. Victor Roache was next and he sent a one-hopper to third. Nunez went to second to try and start an inning ending double play. But, the throw was wild. Arcia scored and Taylor wound up on third base. Parker Berberet followed with a sacrifice fly to score Taylor for a 5-2 lead. Walla capped the scoring in the inning with a double to left-center that scored Roache from first base. Lopez went back out for the bottom of the fifth inning with a 6-2 lead and pitched a 1-2-3 frame. Reliever Hobbs Johnson struck out three and allowed a hit in a scoreless sixth, but his degree of difficulty went up in the seventh as he walked three batters and the Snappers had the bases loaded with one out. Johnson would escape the inning by getting Robertson to ground into an inning ending double play. Beloit rallied in the eighth against Jono Armold. John Wooten hit a solo homer with two outs for the first run of the inning. Matt Olson singled with two away. Dayton Alexander doubled into the corner in left and Olson came around to score the run and Beloit was within two runs. Armold would work a perfect ninth inning to close out the game. In the race for the second half Wild Card spot in the Western Division, the Rattlers moved to within three games of the teams tied for that spot. Both Clinton and Peoria lost on Saturday night. The LumberKings were beaten 7-6 at Kane County. Peoria lost 6-1 at home to Cedar Rapids. The LumberKings and Chiefs remain tied for the Wild Card spot with a second half record at 27-27. Game two of the four game series is scheduled for Sunday afternoon. Austin Ross (1-0, 3.63) is scheduled to start for the Timber Rattlers. Deyvi Jimenez (2-4, 8.35) is set to take the mound for the Snappers. Game time is 2:00pm. Tune if for the action on AM1280, WNAM or IHeartRadio starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 1:40pm. HOME RUNS: WIS: Orlando Arcia (4th, 0 on in 3rd inning off Andres Avila, 0 out) BEL: John Wooten (18th, 0 on in 8th inning off Jono Armold, 1 out) WP: Jorge Lopez (7-8) LP: Andres Avila (5-4) TIME: 2:56 Wisconsin Boxscore Hobbs Johnson managed to go scoreless, but as Chris mentioned he really made it tough on himself. Orlando Arcia has hits in 9 of his last 10 games, and in 2 of the last 3 games he's had 3 hits. Also over those last 10 games he's hitting a cool .300 even. Max Walla had the other multi-hit game, also collecting 3 hits. I was surprised by this but Arcia actually has a better OPS (.657) than Walla by .007 Wisconsin Recap

Peoria's four-run seventh stops Wisconsin Rattlers fall four games off the playoff pace with 7-2 loss to Chiefs By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Peoria Chiefs strung together five straight hits with two outs in the top of the seventh inning to score four runs and break a 2-2 tie Friday night at Time Warner Cable Field. Peoria went on to defeat the Timber Rattlers 7-2 and dim Wisconsin's playoff hopes. Tyler Roberts put Wisconsin (52-66 overall, 23-30 second half) in front in the bottom of the second inning. Roberts doubled to right to drive in Parker Berberet with two outs and the Rattlers were up 1-0. Wisconsin made it 2-0 in the third. Michael Reed was hit by a pitch with one out and took second on a wild pitch. Mike Garza followed with a double to left-center. Peoria (65-55, 27-26) came back with a pair of runs in the top of the fifth inning on back-to-back infield RBI singles. Ildemaro Vargas knocked in the first run and Breyvic Valera tied the game with his infield dribbler. The Chiefs busted the game open with a two out rally in the top of the seventh against Rattlers reliever Harvey Martin. Valera doubled with two away and nobody on base. Jeremy Schaffer singled through the left side of the infield to get Valera home with the go-ahead run. Jordan Walton was next and he doubled to send Schaffer home. Then, Trevor Martin tripled to center to make the score 5-2. Nick Martini followed with a double to score Martin and the Chiefs were up by four. Brad Watson, the Chiefs starting pitcher, settled in after the second inning RBI double by Garza. He retired the next eleven batters he faced. Max Walla snapped that streak with a double to start the Wisconsin seventh inning. Orlando Arcia followed with a single to left to put runners on the corners with no outs. That knocked Watson out of the game. But, the Rattlers would not score in the seventh. Peoria added a run in the top of the eighth inning. Vargas tripled to drive in Charlie Tilson and the Chiefs had a 7-2 lead. That was it for the scoring. Peoria's win allowed them to stay tied with the Clinton LumberKings for the second half Wild Card spot in the Western Division. Both teams are 27-26 and lead the Timber Rattlers by four games. Clinton's defeat of the Quad Cities River Bandits on Friday night allowed both the Chiefs and LumberKings to move to within 3-1/2 games of the River Bandits for the top second half playoff spot in the Western Division. The Timber Rattlers begin a road trip on Saturday night at Beloit. Jorge Lopez (6-8, 5.23) is the scheduled starting pitcher for Wisconsin. The Snappers have Andres Avila (5-3, 5.96) as their scheduled starting pitcher. Game time at Pohlman Field is set for 7:00pm. Catch all of the action on AM1280, WNAM or IHeartRadio night starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:40pm. WP: Brad Watson (3-5) LP: Harvey Martin (2-3) SAVE: Brad Adamek (1) TIME: 2:43 ATTN: 6,683 Wisconsin Boxscore Wisconsin Recap Wisconsin Gameday

Javier Baez of the Cubs, at least it's not another Kris Bryant feature... but 30 freaking HRs and he's still a work in progress, hooray and stuff. Smokies win with Baez's 30th homer

Reds RHP Nick Travieso. Travieso channels his inner 'Rocket'

It's been a quiet year for Billy from a feature standpoint... Hamilton triples into Bats record book

Rattlers keep playoff hopes alive with 15-inning victory Reed singles in the winning run as Rattler top Peoria 5-4 By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/5/2/0/57162520/cuts/ReedGWRBI1B816_9p5ds3xs_zcfachw4.jpg Michael Reed heads to first after his single drives in the winning run in the bottom of the 15th inning on Thursday night for a 5-4 Wisconsin win over Peoria. GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers needed a win over the Peoria Chiefs on Thursday night to keep their chances of making the Midwest League playoffs alive. It took awhile, but Michael Reed singled with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the fifteenth inning to drive in the winning run for Wisconsin's 5-4 victory at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium. Peoria (64-55 overall, 26-26 second half) went in front in the top of the first inning. Charlie Tilson homered with one out and none on base to give the Chiefs a 1-0 lead. Wisconsin (52-65, 23-29) took the lead in the bottom of the first inning. Max Walla doubled to right with two outs. Mike Garza and Victor Roache scored on the play and the Rattlers were up 2-1. The Chiefs tied the game with a two-out rally in the fourth inning. Jeremy Schaffer tripled and Breyvic Valera drove him in with a single. Garza put the Rattlers back in front in the bottom of the fifth inning. He doubled with two outs to drive in Orlando Arcia for a 3-2 lead. Then, Tilson struck again with a leadoff home run in the top of the sixth. The next runs for both teams were quirky. Wisconsin took a 4-3 in the bottom of the seventh inning against Chiefs reliever Steve Sabatino. Arcia singled to start the inning. Tyrone Taylor bunted up the first base line and beat the play at first. Arcia and Taylor pulled a double steal as the throw went back to the pitcher after a pitch to Reed. Reed drew a walk to load the bases. Sabatino recovered to strike out the next two batters. But, his first pitch to Walla got by catcher Gerwuins Velazco for a passed ball that allowed Arcia to score. Peoria had runners at first and second with two outs in the top of the eighth and Schaffer at the plate. Schaffer sent a high popup to shallow right near the foul line. The ball dropped in among three Rattlers fielders for a single. That allowed the runner from second to score to tie the game 4-4. Fortunately, the Rattlers threw Schaffer out at second base before the runner from first crossed the plate. Had they not retired Schaffer first, the run would have counted and the Chiefs would have been up by a run. So, the game went on into the night. The Timber Rattlers had a chance to win the game in the bottom of the thirteenth. Catcher Parker Berberet surprised everyone with a bunt single to start the inning. Alfredo Rodriguez drew a walk and Lance Roenicke took over at second base as the pinch runner for Berberet. Chris McFarland bunted the runners over and Arcia, who went 3-for-5 in the game, was intentionally walked to load the bases. Tyrone Taylor sent a fly ball to shallow right. Roenicke tagged on the play, but Tilson's throw to the plate after the catch was on target and Roenicke was out on the inning ending double play. And the game went on into the night. Reliever Rodolfo Fernandez, who came on in the top of the twelfth inning, worked around a pair of two outs singles in the top of the fourteenth. In the fifteenth, Fernandez had a runners at first with two outs and made an errant throw to first base on a pickoff. That allowed the runner to get around to third base. Fernandez got out of the self-imposed jam with a fly ball to center and kept the game tied 4-4. Rodriguez was at the plate with one out in the bottom of the fifteenth and drew a walk. He stole second and McFarland drew a walk. Ball four on the walk to McFarland just happened to get to the backstop for a wild pitch and the Rattlers had runners at the corners with one out. Peoria elected to intentionally walk Arcia a second time to load the bases for Taylor. Taylor struck out to bring Reed to the plate. Reed wasted no time to end the contest. He singled through the middle of the diamond to knock in Rodriguez with the game winning run. The victory knocked Peoria into a tie with the Clinton LumberKings for the second half Wild Card in the Midwest League's Western Division. The Rattlers moved to within three games of the Chiefs and the LumberKings with eighteen games remaining in the regular season. Fernandez got the win with four innings of scoreless relief. He extended his current scoreless streak to twelve innings with his performance. The Timber Rattlers and the Chiefs wrap their three-game series on Friday night at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium. Tyler Wagner (9-8, 3.25) is the scheduled starting pitcher for Wisconsin. Brad Watson (2-5, 4.05) is scheduled to start for the Chiefs. Game time is 7:05pm. Come on out to the ballpark to help celebrate the birthday of Fang, the mascot of the Timber Rattlers. Bring a non-perishable food item to donate to St. Joseph's Food Pantry and receive a slice of birthday cake as part of Cans for Cake. Also, Enjoy the pregame mascot kickball contest before the baseball game. The kickball game will feature many regional mascots from business and sports teams. Kids 12 and under receive a free hot dog and soda as part of North Shore Bank Family Night. Children 14 and under may participate in Kids Run the Bases thanks to Molina Healthcare after the postgame fireworks display. If you can't make it out to the ballpark, tune in for the action on AM1280, WNAM or IHeartRadio starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:45pm. Subscribers to MiLB.TV may also catch the broadcast. HOME RUNS: Charlie Tilson (3rd, 0 on in 1st inning off Eric Semmelhack, 1 out) Charlie Tilson (4th, 0 on in 6th inning off Eric Semmelhack, 0 out) WP: Rodolfo Fernandez (3-3) LP: Joe Scanio (3-3) TIME: 4:31 ATTN: 5,229 All Night Long – Postgame Post for August 15, 2013 Wisconsin Boxscore Wisconsin Recap Wisconsin Gameday

T-Rats tied at 4 to the 11th. I have to be up by 5 tomorrow so I'm heading to bed, I'll get the Rattler game on the flip side before I head to work.

Can we please get past the superficial analysis and hyperbole? The Cardinals weren't historically hot, that would have been Colorado in 2007. I don't necessarily agree that you need aces, I do think you need 3 #2 type pitchers to win a WS, however there is no way that the Brewers pitching staff matched up, and no regular season statistics don't mean didly. The postseason is about match-ups, it's about best on best. Lets a take a look at that series game by game. Greinke didn't pitch well but beat Garcia in Game 1 because the Brewers hit 3 HRs and won 9-6. Marcum got destroyed in game 2 and the Brewers lost 12-3. Jackson didn't make it through the 5th but STL's bullpen was nails. Carpenter out pitched Gallardo in game 3 and won 4-3, Carpenter was the better pitcher in 2011 and is a better pitcher for his career. They have similar career numbers, but Carpenter's peak is far beyond anything Gallardo has done. Wolf beat Lohse in game 4, a similar match-up talent wise, he pitched a solid game and the Brewers won 4-2. The Brewers were awful in game 5 committing 4 errors and Greinke didn't record a single strike out to bail himself out. Once again Garcia didn't pitch through 5 but the STL bullpen shut the Brewers down and the Brewers lost 7-1. In game 6 both starting pitchers were awful, but Marcum was worse than Jackson. Jackson only pitched 2 innings and the Cards' bullpen pitched the last 7 innings allowing 2 runs. STL won easily 12-6. The post season ERAs of our pitching staff: Axford - 1.29 K-Rod - 1.80 Gallardo - 2.84 Estrada - 6.00 Greinke - 6.48 Wolf - 8.1 Loe - 8.31 Narveson - 11.05 Marcum - 14.90 And before anyone says it, yes the post season is an incredibly small sample, but that's the way it is, that's the entire point, we don't get to simulate the games with season stats, it's the best teams going on best on best in no more than 7 games. How is that pitching remotely comparable to the Cardinals post season pitching? Jackson and Lohse were awful starting pitchers with ERAs over 5. Jackson at 5.6 and Lohse at 7.82 while normally that would have been enough for the Cards to be in trouble putting them behind the 8 ball in every other game, the Cards bullpen did all the heavy lifting in their starts. Boggs was the only reliever of consequence with an ERA over 5. Motte, Dotel, Lynn, and Salas were all under 3.5 and Rhodes didn't give up a single run in the postseason. The Brewers were manhandled, destroyed, and the series wasn't even close. So yea, if you have have 2 starting pitchers who will win you games and 5 pitchers who can pitch multiple innings if necessary and not give up runs in your bullpen then ya, you can win the WS. I don't want to over simplify this but one of things I tend to look at is how the top pitchers on a team do against the best possible competition. I'm sorry but I don't see Lohse, Estrada, or the 2013 Gallardo being good enough to beat any team in a play-off series. Nor do I think that Hellweg or Nelson are legitimate top of the rotation starters, and I'm not sure what to make of Thornburg anymore. That basically leaves Peralta whom I like, but we need at least one more physically talented pitcher, probably 2. Lohse & Wolf are fine in the regular season when you're facing all different kinds of line-ups and teams are grinding through the regular season, they can be statistically successful, but I just don't trust those kind of guys facing the best line-ups in the game in the post season. There are simply too many off days and too much talent on the other side to rely on that kind of marginal talent. Of course a Suppan can get hot and have the best stretch of his career in a post season run, but how often does that happen? Can we really count on something like that? What's the best possible solution to hang our hat on? I'd much rather have the best rotation in the division and be good rather than hope to be get lucky. Peralta and a bunch of 3s doesn't make us the best rotation in the division, we're still at best 3rd in that respect. Unfortunately if the young pitchers around the division progress we're probably still the 4th best. Paul said it best, we need young impact pitching now, not in 4 years, not in 2015, we need it now. Every rotation of consequence is younger or is trending younger than we are. Potential #3s or better whom are 25 years old or younger min A ball: STL: Miller, Wacha, Martinez, and Rosenthal. CIN: Leake, Latos, Cingrani, Corcino, and Stephenson PIT: Cole, Taillon, Kingham, Glasnow, and Heredia MIL: Peralta, Nelson, and ? As prospects we don't have anyone who's at the level of Miller, Stephenson, Cole or Taillon. Once again the issue here is that we are losing ground everywhere... we aren't competitive at MLB and our farm system isn't close to the other teams in the division. Sure the Cubs don't have pitching, but they can buy it, and they have the best collection of hitting talent in the minor leagues. Our farm system will look better when the rest of the division graduates their prospects, but how will the MLB teams look then? Most of the division is better now and projects to be better in the future... I personally don't like where we are at all.

More on the Stars getting worked over and a bunch of prospects that various people wanted to draft or trade for around here over the last couple of years. Prospect Notebook: Diamondbacks’ Archie Bradley Combines With Relievers For Mobile No-Hitter

Cardinals’ Oscar Taveras Will Miss Rest Of Season

Reds Sign Cuban Outfielder Reydel Medina

Peoria's 11th inning homer beats Wisconsin Rattlers fall farther behind Chiefs in Wild Card race By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers GRAND CHUTE, WI - Bruce Caldwell picked a great time to hit his first Midwest League home run. The Peoria Chiefs second baseman hit a two-run home run in the top of the eleventh inning. That long ball broke a 1-1 tie and led the way to Peoria's 3-1 victory over the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Wednesday night at Time Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium. The loss dropped Wisconsin to four games off the pace set by the Chiefs for the second half Western Division Wild Card. Jeremy Schaffer put the Chiefs (64-54 overall, 26-25 second half) in front with a leadoff home run in the top of the second inning. Peoria threatened to expand their lead in the third inning as they loaded the bases with one out on a walk and a pair of infield singles. Rattlers starting pitcher Preston Gainey escaped the game by getting an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play. Wisconsin (51-65, 22-29) tied the game with a solo home run of their own. Orlando Arcia drilled a ball over the wall in left-center for his third home run of the year with one out in the fifth inning. Both teams had base runners, but neither starting pitcher buckled after the game was tied. Gainey used a pair of double plays and struck out seven over six innings to hold the Chiefs to one run. The seven strikeouts was a new single game high as a professional for Gainey. Chris Perry scattered eight hits over 6-2/3 innings to hold Wisconsin to a run. The Rattlers had chance against Perry in the bottom of the sixth inning. Max Walla singled up the middle of the diamond. Chiefs shortstop Juan Herrera fielded the ball in short center, whirled, and threw wildly to first. Walla went for second base, but the ball caromed off the railing right to Perry in fair territory halfway up the first base line. Perry fired to second with third baseman Breyvic Valera covering the base and Walla was out. The next two Rattlers - Parker Berberet and Alfredo Rodriguez singled - to put runners at first and second with two outs and Tyler Roberts at the plate. The first pitch to Roberts got away from catcher Gerwuins Velazco. Both runners tried to move up a base. Velazco took the trail runner and threw out Rodriguez at second for the final out of the inning. The Chiefs put two runners on with one out against reliever Ryan Gibbard in the top of the seventh, but Gibbard for Ildemaro Vargas to ground into an inning ending 3-6-1 double play. Charlie Tilson dropped a bunt single to start the top of the eleventh inning. Caldwell, who was playing in his twelfth game of the season with the Chiefs, stepped to the plate and ran the count to 3-2. The lefty sent a fly ball to the left of the batter's eye in center field. Wisconsin outfielder Tyrone Taylor went back to the wall and leapt, but the ball carried into the Peoria bullpen for a two-run home run and a 3-1 lead. Dixon Llorens, who worked a 1-2-3 tenth, struck out the side in order in the bottom of the eleventh inning to pick up his third win of the season. Wednesday was the fifth time a game between the Timber Rattlers and Chiefs has gone to extra innings in 2013. Wisconsin is 1-4 in extra innings against Peoria this season. The loss dropped the Timber Rattlers four games behind the Chiefs in the second half Western Division Wild Card Race. Peoria stays two games in front of the Clinton LumberKings, who beat Quad Cities 9-7 at home on Wednesday night. There are 19 games left in the regular season. Game two of the series is Thursday night. Eric Semmelhack (2-6, 5.02) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Silfredo Garcia (3-4, 4.21) is set to start for the Chiefs. Game time is 7:05pm. Thursday night is Hardee's Night and Hardee's will have fun, coupons, and surprises for the whole family. The Community Blood Center will be on hand to let fans know how they can Step Up to the Plate and Donate. Fans can also enjoy 16oz soda, beer, or Arty's Old Fashioned drinks for just $2 as part of Thirsty Thursday presented by Arty's Old Fashioned and 95.9 KISS FM. If you can't make it out to the stadium, you may catch the action in other ways. Time Warner Cable SportsChannel has the television broadcast starting at 7:00pm. The radio broadcast may be heard on AM1280, WNAM or IHeartRadio starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:45pm. Subscribers to MiLB.TV may also see the game. HOME RUNS: PEO: Jeremy Schaffer (11th, 0 on in 2nd inning off Preston Gainey, 0 out) Bruce Caldwell (1st, 1 on in 11th inning off Ryan Gibbard, 0 out) WIS: Orlando Arcia (3rd, 0 on in 5th inning off Chris Perry, 1 out) WP: Dixon Llorens (3-2) LP: Ryan Gibbard (4-4) TIME: 2:52 ATTN: 6,698 Wisconsin Boxscore Wisconsin Recap Wisconsin Gameday

Sports Business Journal ranks Appleton as a Top 15 Minor League Market Mike Woods' News and Views: Timber Rattlers earn high ranking

This is very interesting. Nationals Allege Kickback, Seek To Recoup Money In ‘Esmailyn Gonzalez’ Dispute

He's the young man who threw 772 pitches in 9 days earlier this spring (232 in his first game), more of an interest piece as I wouldn't want the Brewers anywhere near him as his workload makes me livid. Japanese Phenom Tomohiro Anraku Returns In Koshien Opener

Exactly what the title says Prospect Notebook: New-York Penn All-Star & Kris Bryant Highlights