TheCrew07

Burlington buzzes Rattlers with three in eighth for 4-2 win By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/0/8/8/118574088/cuts/Angel_Ventura_Article_Photo_zqt03vc9_xuiy982s.jpg Angel Ventura struck out eight and allowed one run over six innings against the Burlington Bees on Monday night. (Wisconsin Timber Rattlers/Ann Mollica) GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Burlington Bees scored three runs in the top of the eighth inning to erase a 2-1 Wisconsin Timber Rattlers lead on Monday night at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. The Bees held on for a 4-2 victory in the first game of the three-game series. Burlington (55-70 overall, 20-36 second half) took the lead in the top of the fourth inning. Trevor Gretzky grounded into a force play at second with runners at the corners to knock in Zach Houchins from third. That was the only run allowed by Wisconsin starting pitcher Angel Ventura. He allowed seven hits, walked none, and struck out eight over six innings. The Timber Rattlers (43-82, 20-35) went in front in the bottom of the fourth. Tucker Neuhaus and Sthervin Matos singled to start the inning. Both moved into scoring position on a groundout by David Denson. Elvis Rubio followed with a double to left-center to drive in both Neuhaus and Matos for a 2-1 advantage. Wisconsin held the lead until the top of the eighth inning. Ayendy Perez reached on an infield single to start the eighth against reliever Kodi Medeiros. Zach Houchins was hit by a pitch with one out to give the Bees runners on first and second. Taylor Ward tied the game with an single to center. Medeiros got the second out of the inning, but Steven Mateo hit a triple to the right field corner and both Houchins and Ward scored for a 4-2 lead. Blake Allemand started the Wisconsin half of the eighth inning with a single, but Alex Klonowski retired the next three batters. Jordan Piche finished the game with a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth. Game two of the series is Tuesday afternoon. Eric Hanhold (0-3, 8.06) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Michael Bolaski (9-9, 3.82) is set to start for the Bees. Game time is 12:05pm. Tuesday is a final fling for the kids before they head back to school with a day game at the ballpark. All kids 12 & under will receive a voucher good for a free soda & hotdog. Plus, the Kids Zone is FREE! The first 1,000 kids will receive a drawstring backpack from U. S. Cellular. Neuroscience Group will be at the ballpark for a bike helmet giveaway and fitting. But, supplies for the helmet giveaway are limited. Additionally, Bernie Brewer will be at the game to meet the kids! Show your business card when you purchase a ticket and for $13.50 you will receive a box seat ticket, a beverage and your choice of brat or hot dog. The offer is also available to senior citizens (55 & older) courtesy of Baker Tilly, WVBO, and AM1280 WNAM. If you can't make it out to the game, the radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 11:45am. The broadcast is also available on Tune In Radio and IHeartRadio. If you are a subscriber to MiLB.TV, the game is also available on that platform. WP: Alex Klonowski (2-5) LP: Kodi Medeiros (4-4) SAVE: Jordan Piche (6) TIME: 2:30 ATTN: 3,143 Wisconsin Boxscore I had a ton of stuff to get done tonight and I wouldn't have gone to the game if not for Angel Ventura on the mound so I left after the 7th to get my errands and real work done before settling in to write this. See my previous post for thoughts on Ventura though I will say I thought scoring the Neuhaus misplay at 3rd a hit was a crock, and it directly led to the 1 run Ventura allowed. It was the one play I didn't get a good look at because I glanced down at the gun first and wish I would have had the benefit of replay because I was positive it would be scored an error. That reminds me, the 2nd hit of the game shouldn't have been a hit either, neither Gatewood or Allemand made a move to field the ball as it went between them and bounded over the bag into CF. What looked like it would be a double play off the bat turned into a hit. Kodi Medeiros hit Houchins with an 0-2 pitch in the foot and the 8th inning spiraled downward from there. I did put the gun on Zach Cooper but he didn't do anything different from the last time I watched him pitch so I didn't post it. In the 3 ABs I saw Jake Gatewood only chased 1 breaking ball out of the zone, and I realize it was just 3 ABs but that was a marked improvement from what he had been doing previously in WI. True to form David Denson struck out twice looking, the 2nd time he was caught guessing and froze by a pretty nice curve. He had a bit of a tough game at 1st as well; he threw low to 2nd which sabotaged a double play chance and missed 2 relatively routine scoops. Still it was nice to see both players back in WI. Tucker Neuhaus (2-4) and Elvis Rubio (2-4,2B) had the multi hit games for the Rattlers. Fun fact: The temp was 58 degrees at game time, that's early May weather! It was down to 55 by the time I left at 9:15 PM. Wisconsin Recap

Angel Ventura RHP Has simplified his windup since I last saw him pitch. His stretch is actually pretty clean. In the windup he starts like he does in the stretch and then rocker steps back into the windup. Still uses the classic "C" like most pitchers these days where the ball goes through 6 to 9 o'clock and forward. High 3/4, sometimes almost a true over the top delivery. Steps directly at the plate with a good lower half. FB has decent arm side run. Curve flashes plus, pitches 18 and 31 were particularly nasty. 3rd pitch appears to be some kind of cutter/slider which he didn't use much. Spent most of the game working the "ground ball" spot, outside corner at the knees. Strike outs dried up when he got FB happy after the 3rd Inning (Pitch 51). [pre]01) 91 (31) 75 (61) 91 02) 73 (32) 91 (62) 90 03) 90 (33) 92 (63) 90 04) 90 (34) 91 (64) 91 05) 92 (35) 91 (65) 78 06) 93 (36) 92 (66) 92 07) 89 (37) 92 (67) 91 08) 00 (38) 92 (68) 91 09) 92 (39) 92 (69) 90 10) 74 (40) 78 (70) 90 11) 93 (41) 92 (71) 89 12) 91 (42) 91 (72) 90 13) 92 (43) 91 (73) 82 14) 91 (44) 80 (74) 91 15) 92 (45) 93 (75) 90 16) 00 (46) 93 (76) 90 17) 90 (47) 91 (77) 75 18) 76 (48) 93 (78) 74 19) 92 (49) 80 (79) 92 20) 90 (50) 92 (80) 77 21) 76 (51) 92 (81) 90 22) 79 (52) 92 (82) 91 23) 93 (53) 91 (83) 78 24) 91 (54) 89 (84) 90 25) 91 (55) 82 (85) 91 26) 92 (56) 91 (86) 90 27) 79 (57) 76 (87) 90 28) 93 (58) 90 (88) 89 29) 94 (59) 79 30) 93 (60) 90[/pre] People keep looking for the most overlooked pitcher in the system, continually looking at the soft tossers hoping to capture lightening in a bottle again but my answer is simple, Angel Ventura. I've been pimping him all year and few are listening. He's got an above average FB and the best curve to come through WI in a while. There's enough to at least be a credible MLB relief prospect. He's a top 30 prospect, I'd take him over Brooks Hall today without a second thought.

Rattlers go big to win game and series at Peoria By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/7/5/2/129067752/cuts/6_June_6_Sthervin_Matos_t7nekk4l_irg0mzt2.jpg Sthervin Matos went 4-for-5 with a single, a double, two triples, and three RBI on Sunday in Peoria (Wisconsin Timber Rattlers/Ann Mollica) PEORIA, WI - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers collected sixteen hits in a 9-5 victory over the Peoria Chiefs at Dozer Park on Sunday evening. Sthervin Matos had four hits and just missed the cycle while driving in three runs for Wisconsin. Blake Allemand joined Matos with four hits in the game which gave the Rattlers a victory in both this series and the season series over the Chiefs. Wisconsin (43-81 overall, 20-34 second half) grabbed the lead in the top of the second inning. Tucker Neuhaus started the rally with a leadoff double. Matos was next and he tripled to the gap in right-center to send Neuhaus home. Greg McCall followed with an RBI single and the Rattlers lead 2-0. The Timber Rattlers doubled their lead with two more runs in the top of the third. Allemand singled to start the inning and Neuhaus singled with one out to put runners at the corners. Matos hit an infield single to knock in Allemand. Later in the inning, Neuhaus scored on a wild pitch. Peoria (68-55, 35-20) got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third inning. Darren Seferina singled with two outs and wound up on third after a double by Oscar Mercado. Paul DeJong sent both runners home with a double and Peoria was within 4-2. Wisconsin used some trickery to add to their lead in the top of the sixth. Omar Cotto singled with two outs and Allemand singled - his third hit of the game - to move Cotto to third. Allemand broke for second with Elvis Rubio at the plate and drew a throw. Cotto took off for the plate and beat the throw home for a 5-2 lead. Matos stepped in after Neuhaus singled in the top of the seventh and his bid for the first cycle in Timber Rattlers fell just short, but the result was perfectly acceptable. The Wisconsin third baseman cracked a deep drive to right that banged hard off the wall for an RBI triple and a 6-2 lead. The Rattlers kept adding to their lead when they loaded the bases with no outs in the top of the eighth. Allemand drove in a pair of runs with a single, his fourth hit of the evening. Matos came back to the plate in the top of the ninth and reached on a throwing error. McCall cashed the error into a run as he doubled off the wall in right to score Matos and the Rattlers were up 9-2 heading to the bottom of the ninth. Devin Williams retired the first Peoria batter he faced in the ninth, but he allowed a single, walked a batter, allowed an RBI double, threw a run-scoring wild pitch , and gave up an RBI single. Scott Lieser came on to get the final two outs of the game. Luke Curtis, the second of six Wisconsin pitchers in the game, picked up his team-leading eighth win of the year with 2-2/3 innings of scoreless relief. Matos and Allemand had just the second and third four-hit games of the season by a Timber Rattler. The only other four-hit game by a Rattler this season was when Carlos Leal had one at Burlington on April 10. Wisconsin won the series two games to one over the Chiefs for their first road series victory since taking two of three at Dayton June 10-12. The Timber Rattlers also took the season series with eight wins to seven for the playoff-bound Chiefs. The Timber Rattlers return home on Monday night to start a series with the Burlington Bees. Angel Ventura (6-6, 3.22) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Jake Jewell (5-7, 4.93) is scheduled to start for the Bees. Game time is 7:05pm. Monday night is a chance for you to add to your bobblehead collection. The first 1,000 fans to attend this game will receive a bobblehead of 2011 Timber Rattler and current Milwaukee Brewer Jimmy Nelson courtesy of Bumper-to-Bumper Auto Parts. Purchase an entrée at any Qdoba location in Appleton, Neenah, or Oshkosh on Monday and receive a ticket to the final Monday home game of the 2015 season as part of Qdoba Q*Monday sponsored by NASH FM 99.5 & 104.9. If you can't make it out to Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium on Monday, there are several ways to catch the action. Time Warner Cable SportsChannel will televise the game beginning at 7:00pm. The radio broadcast of Monday's game is on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:45pm. The broadcast is also available on Tune In Radio and IHeartRadio. If you are a subscriber to MiLB.TV, the game is also available on that platform. WP: Luke Curtis (8-2) LP: Landon Beck (0-1) TIME: 2:59 ATTN: 2,805 Wisconsin Boxscore First off, how lame is Peoria for playing a 6 PM game, on a Sunday, on a getaway day? This was just the 2nd or 3rd time the Rattlers have played on a Sunday night all year. Blake Allemand... even though his hitting streak ended on Friday he's still hitting .415 over his last 10 and has pushed his AVE all the way up to .270 from the .220s! Freaking Sthervin Matos has all kinds of talent... he has power, runs well, defends well, is light on his feet, and has a strong arm. The one tool he lacks is the most important, the hit tool, his decision making process at the plate leaves quite a bit to be desired, but every once in a while he'll flash offensive brilliance like he did tonight. For what it's worth Elvis Rubio is a very similar player to Matos all the way around. I love me some offensive explosions and it was nice to see Tucker Neuhaus (3-5,2B) put together a strong game. His last multi hit effort was on Aug 11th and they've been all too rare, with just 15 games in which he's collected more than 1 hit. Greg McCall (2-4,2B,BB) had been in a tail spin with 5 straight 0 fer games but has bounced back with multi hit games the last 2 nights. It's been rough going for Omar Cotto (2-4,BB) since he joined the Rattlers, hopefully he can end the season on an upswing. Wisconsin still has 14 pitchers on the roster and they used nearly half of them in this game; Luke Curtis(2.2IP), Tyler Linehan(.2IP), Gian Rizzo(1.1IP), and Scott Lieser(.2IP) put up zeros. Josh Uhen and Devin Williams left room for improvement. While I'm thinking about it my one criticism of manager Matt Erickson would be his use of Rizzo. He's not a guy to be brought in mid inning to get out of jam, he doesn't have an out pitch. He has pretty good control, mixes well, and catches hitters looking for many of his strike outs. However, hitters aren't going to swing through his breaking stuff very often and his FB is just a tick above average. He's allowed more runs than his ERA would suggest as those runs were charged to the pitchers he came on in relief of. Wisconsin Recap

I see the "look for motorcycles" bumper stickers and what not all over the place, but much like the bike issue isn't there fault on both sides? For example yesterday on my way up north there was someone on a crotch rocket weaving in and out of traffic, speeding of course, while in a construction zone. I drive about 15K miles for work every year so I'm on the highways more than my fair share, and to be fair the most egregious issues with motorcycles seem to be limited to young men on crotch rocket type rides. I've never seen anyone on a Harley, BMW, or custom job riding the medians or going to between cars to get through a traffic jam, or weaving through traffic at a high speed. However while many motorcycle riders are clearly responsible the immense poor decision making of the minority skews the entire argument. Most drivers aren't checking their mirrors anywhere near every 10 seconds and by driving like jackasses these young men are putting themselves at unnecessary risk because they are moving around vehicles of which they weren't near just 20 seconds ago and the drivers have no idea they are there. Look out for motorcycles sure, but riders should also be looking out for themselves considering how vulnerable they are.

Gomber, Peoria beat Timber Rattlers By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/3/5/4/121935354/cuts/5_Apr2_McCall_tu8z6nbz_avy4vc5o.jpg Greg McCall had two of Wisconsin's five hits on Saturday night at Peoria. (Wisconsin Timber Rattlers/Ann Mollica) PEORIA, IL - Austin Gomber picked up his Midwest League leading fourteenth win of the season on Saturday night as the Peoria Chiefs took an early lead and held on for a 4-2 victory over the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers Saturday night at Dozer Park. Wisconsin (42-81 overall, 19-34 second half) put two runners on with two outs in the first inning thanks to an error and a walk, but they could not score against Gomber. The Chiefs (68-54, 35-19) had runners at the corners with two outs in the bottom of the first inning. Harrison Bader smacked a single to left to score the first run of the game. Brian O'Keefe and Nick Thompson followed with back-to-back RBI singles and the Chiefs were up 3-0. Peoria added to their lead in the second inning. Oscar Mercado singled with two outs and stole second, his league-leading 47th steal of the season. Paul DeJong drove in Mercado with a single and Wisconsin was down 4-0. Gomber didn't give up a hit until the fifth inning, but it got him into a big jam. Greg McCall dropped a single into right to start the inning. Luis Aviles followed with a single and Tucker Neuhaus drew a walk to load the bases with no outs. The left-hander escaped with a pair of strikeouts and a grounder to short to keep Wisconsin off the scoreboard. Jon Perrin settled in after the first two innings and set a single-game high as a professional for strikeouts in a game as he punched out seven Peoria batters over five innings, but the Rattlers offense gave him no support. Gomber left with ten strikeouts after six innings of two-hit, shutout baseball in line for the win. He has allowed one run on five hits while striking out seventeen in 13-2/3 innings against the Timber Rattlers this season. Blake Allemand doubled to lead off the top of the eighth against reliever Dixon Llorens, but he was left stranded when the inning ended. The Timber Rattlers staged a rally in the ninth against Llorens. Aviles walked with one out. Then, Tucker Neuhaus singled and Mitch Meyer drew a walk to load the bases and send Llorens out of the game. Chiefs closer Kyle Grana entered the game for Llorens and walked Sthervin Matos to force in a run. Allemand was next and his popup to medium right was dropped by Seferina, the second baseman. Neuhaus scored on the play, but the Chiefs were able to force Matos at second for the second out of the inning. Grana earned his twentieth save of the season by getting the final out of the game on a grounder to third. Wisconsin stranded ten runners on base and went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position in the game. Gomber is 13-0 in his last seventeen starts. He has won six consecutive starts. The final game of the series is Sunday evening at Dozer Park. Josh Uhen (1-3, 5.68) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Landon Beck will make his Midwest League debut as Peoria's starting pitcher on Sunday. Game time is 5:00pm. The radio broadcast of Sunday's game is on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 4:40pm. The broadcast is also available on Tune In Radio and IHeartRadio. WP: Austin Gomber (14-3) LP: Jon Perrin (1-5) SAVE: Kyle Grana (20) TIME: 2:24 ATTN: 5,775 Wisconsin Boxscore ... and on the first day the Lord said, "Losing to the Cards sucketh!"... and said the same every day there after as well. So I suppose I should acquaint everyone with Austin Gomber as he appears to be another savvy Cards later round draft pick who will over achieve his raw stuff. He's in the top 6 in every significant pitching category and is the league leader in Ks with 132. Here's the relevant portion of his BA scouting report from last year's draft: Regardless of what Gomber is or isn't that 5th inning was a missed opportunity. The Rattlers do "battle" right to the end which speaks well to the character of the players even though the results this season haven't been stellar. Wisconsin Recap

Rattlers win second straight with 2-1 victory at Peoria By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/1/4/4/129205144/cuts/6_June_6_Rubio_g3w9ow6k_ml1fqfmi.jpg Elvis Rubio went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a big defensive play for the Timber Rattlers Friday at Peoria. (Wisconsin Timber Rattlers/Ann Mollica) PEORIA, IL - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers edged the Peoria Chiefs 2-1 Friday night at Dozer Park. Cody Ponce, Gian Rizzo, and David Burkhalter combined to hold the Chiefs to one run while Luis Aviles and Elvis Rubio provided all the offense the Rattlers would need. Aviles gave Wisconsin (42-80 overall, 19-33 second half) the lead in the top of the third inning with a leadoff home run. The homer was the first by a Timber Rattlers player on the road since July 22 when Aviles homered at Cedar Rapids. That homerless stretch spanned twelve road games. Peoria (67-54, 34-19) tied the game in the bottom of the fourth inning. Oscar Mercado doubled to start the inning for the first hit off Ponce. Paul DeJong followed with a single and Mercado scored to tie the game. Wisconsin went back in front in the top of the fifth. Sthervin Matos reached on an error and Blake Allemand drew a walk. Rubio came through with a sharp single to center and Matos raced home with the run to put the Rattlers up 2-1. Ponce, the Timber Rattlers starting pitcher, went 5-1/3 innings and held the Chiefs to one run on four hits while striking out four. Rizzo took over with one out and in the bottom of the sixth and quickly got the final two outs of the frame to maintain the lead. Burkhalter relieved Rizzo to start the bottom of the seventh. Burkhalter pitched around a two-out double in the seventh and a one-out single in the eighth to hold Wisconsin's slim margin. Rubio aided the cause with an excellent running catch in right-center for the final out of the eighth inning. The right-hander nailed down his team-leading sixth save with a 1-2-3 ninth inning. The Timber Rattlers are 7-6 in thirteen games against the Chiefs this season, including 2-2 at Dozer Park. Game two of the series is scheduled for Saturday night at Dozer Park. Jon Perrin (1-4, 3.89) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Austin Gomber (13-3, 2.93) is set to start for the Chiefs. Game time is 6:30pm. The radio broadcast of Saturday's game is on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:10pm. The broadcast is also available on Tune In Radio and IHeartRadio. HOME RUN: WIS: Luis Aviles (2nd, 0 on in 3rd inning off Dewin Perez, 0 out) WP: Cody Ponce (2-1) LP: Dewin Perez (2-5) SAVE: David Burkhalter (6) TIME: 2:21 ATTN: 4,584 Wisconsin Boxscore Wisconsin Recap

This will be the last time I post this because I don't want to come off as anti-Lopez when I'm not nor have I ever been. In fact because of his son I have a spot for him and his family. Starting pitchers can get by with 2 pitches if the 2 pitches are *that* good, like a Ben Sheets or Michael Wacha, where you're grading both pitches at or near 80. That's not the case here. BA isn't the gospel, nor is any prospecting site, I'm certainly not either. Hell I didn't like Trea Turner as a hitter and all he's done is rake. I want young impact pitching as much as anyone who posts around here, it's my singular focus, but when projecting a pitcher raw stuff is as important as performance. If memory serves Amaury Rivas once made the best tools in a league as well and while pitchers like Snell are also in the league with Lopez, none of those guys are being projected as top of the rotation starters either. League best tools depend on the number of teams in the league and the relative talent contained within the league. As I said Lopez isn't near the level of a Glasnow or Urias who took that award for the EL and TL respectively... Those are guys with first tier FBs and plus to plus plus curves. I would and always will ask patience, he's having a great season... I'd leave it at that and also hope people have realistic expectations.

Rattlers rally to beat River Bandits in ten innings By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/8/2/6/125459826/cuts/5_19_Sharkey_Web_bum63bwg_wb6peuh6.jpg Alan Sharkey had three hits and three RBI in Wisconsin's 7-4 victory over the Quad Cities River Bandits on Thursday night. (Wisconsin Timber Rattlers/Ann Mollica) DAVENPORT, IA - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers scored twice with two outs in the top of the ninth inning and three times with two outs in the top of the tenth inning to stun the Quad Cities River Bandits at Modern Woodmen Park on Thursday night. Wisconsin picked up a 7-4 win in extra innings over their Western Division rivals. Wisconsin (41-80 overall, 18-33 second half) grabbed the lead in the top of the first inning. Elvis Rubio doubled with two outs. He went to third on an errant pickoff throw by Quad Cities starting pitcher Agapito Barrios. Barrios would strike out Tucker Neuhaus but the ball made it to the backstop for a wild pitch that allowed Rubio to score and Neuhaus to reach first. The River Bandits (77-43, 32-20) answered in the bottom of the first inning. Nick Tanielu singled with two outs and moved to second when Rattlers starting pitcher Eric Hanhold walked Bryan Muniz. Then, Drew Ferguson singled to drive in Tanielu and the game was tied 1-1. Quad Cities took the lead in the bottom of the second inning. Ramon Laureano started the inning with a single and stole second. Kristian Trompiz doubled to left with one out to knock in Laureano with the go-ahead run. Bobby Boyd followed with a single to score Trompiz for a 3-1 lead. Boyd made it 4-1 in the top of the fourth inning. Trompiz doubled with one out. Boyd doubled into the left field corner to send Trompiz home, but Boyd was out trying to stretch the hit into a triple,. Agapito Barrios kept the Rattlers in check after the first inning and through the fifth, but in the sixth the Rattlers staged a rally against the Quad Cities starting pitcher. Rubio singled to start the frame and a botched double play opportunity allowed Neuhaus to reach. Francisco Castillo's sharp single to left didn't allow Rubio a chance to score, but the Rattlers had the bases loaded with no out. Sthervin Matos was robbed of extra bases when his screaming liner down the third base line was snagged by Tanielu with a back-handed grab for the first out of the inning. That was the end of the night for Barrios. Mitch Meyer greeted reliever Zach Davis with an infield single to score Rubio and the Rattlers were within two runs. But, Davis left the bases loaded by getting a popup and a force play at second to end the inning. Natanael Mejia, who had two hits in the game, started the Wisconsin rally in the ninth with a one-out single. Omar Cotto pinch-ran for Mejia and would take second base on defensive indifference with two outs. Alan Sharkey lined a single to right-center to drive in Cotto and the Rattlers were within a run. Blake Allemand, who was hitless in his first four at bats of the game, lined a double on the first pitch he saw in the ninth to drive in Sharkey with the tying run. Allemand also extended his current hitting streak to nine games with that clutch double. The River Bandits had runners at the corners with one out in the bottom of the ninth, but Scott Lieser escaped the inning. Bryan Muniz sent a grounder to short and Allemand's throw to the plate got the runner. Drew Ferguson grounded out to second and the game went to extra innings. The game appeared as if it would go to the bottom of the tenth with the game still tied 4-4 as the first two Wisconsin hitters in the inning were retired. Matos started the rally with an infield single and Meyer continued the rally by taking advantage of a defensive shift and dropping a bunt single. Greg McCall, who entered the game as the Timber Rattlers catcher in the bottom of the ninth, drew a walk to load the bases. Luis Aviles gave the Rattlers the lead with an infield single. Sharkey gave Wisconsin breathing room with a sharp, two-run single to right and the Rattlers were up 7-4. Lieser pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the tenth to close out the game. Thursday night marked a pair of firsts for the Timber Rattlers. The win in Quad Cities was the first for Wisconsin at Modern Woodmen Park this season. They finish the season 1-8 at the home of the playoff-bound Bandits, Thursday was also the first time Wisconsin won a game that they trailed heading into the ninth inning. They had been 0-63 in that situation prior to Thursday night. The Timber Rattlers continue their road trip with the first game of a three-game series against the Peoria Chiefs at Dozer Park on Friday night. Cody Ponce (1-1, 1.29) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Dewin Perez (2-4, 6.56) is set to start for the Chiefs. Game time is 7:00pm. The radio broadcast of Thursday's game is on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:40pm. The broadcast is also available on Tune In Radio and IHeartRadio. WP: Scott Lieser (2-2) LP: Jorge Perez (1-3) TIME: 3:06 ATTN: 5,990 Wisconsin Boxscore I needed this one as much as the T-Rats did, the 9th and 10th innings were just incredible, especially when Blake Allemand came up clutch in the 9th to tie the game. In the 10th 2 swinging bunt singles, a bunt against the shift, and a walk and suddenly the T-Rats had the lead without a ball leaving the infield. Alan Sharkey is like the Rattler version of Lyle Overbay... doesn't have average power, plays an even better 1B, and somehow always comes up clutch. Erickson emptied the bench to get to extras, Chris reminded the listening audience of that fact a couple of times. I mentioned this before but the Rattlers are running with 11 position players and 14 pitchers so Erickson only has 2 substitutions available. Mehring mentioned earlier in the week that Eric Hanhold was going to be a stand alone starter but that didn't make sense given his performance thus far, or maybe I just heard it wrong? Devin Williams was sharp, which was nice to hear and Scott Lieser was pretty good as well to nail down the game. The offense had a nice end of the game, check the boxscore for the multi-hit games! Wisconsin Recap So 1st and 3rd, bottom of the 9th, and 1 out. I couldn't decide if this was really dumb or really smart as the ball was seemed sharply hit and I would have thought turning 2 to end the inning would have been the play. Then it occurred to me that maybe this was the rule quirk and if the run had scored before the double play was completed the game would have ended anyway? In the end it didn't matter. Quad Cities Bottom of the 9th Defensive Substitution: Greg McCall replaces Omar Cotto, batting 8th, playing catcher. Bobby Boyd grounds out, second baseman Tucker Neuhaus to first baseman Alan Sharkey. Garrett Stubbs singles on a line drive to right fielder Sthervin Matos. Nick Tanielu singles on a line drive to center fielder Francisco Castillo. Garrett Stubbs to 3rd. Bryan Muniz reaches on a fielder's choice out, shortstop Blake Allemand to catcher Greg McCall. Garrett Stubbs out at home. Nick Tanielu to 2nd. Drew Ferguson grounds out, second baseman Tucker Neuhaus to first baseman Alan Sharkey.

I actually roll with a mophie for my personal iphone, I love the 120% extra battery when I'm traveling. My work galaxy s4 has an otter box which has held up well.

Quad Cities sweeps doubleheader from Wisconsin River Bandits take game two 8-1 By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/7/0/2/135638702/cuts/Allemand_WEB_aiiwjghs_vm2hsfqr.jpg Blake Allemand was 3-for-4 in game two of Wednesday's doubleheader at Quad Cities to extend his hititng streak to eight games. (Wisconsin Timber Rattlers/Ann Mollica) DAVENPORT, IA - The Quad Cities River Bandits defeated the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 8-1 in the nightcap to earn a sweep of Wednesday's doubleheader at Modern Woodmen Park. Bryan Muniz blew the game open with a three-run double in the fourth inning to put the game out of reach. Wisconsin (40-80 overall, 17-33 second half) took the lead in the top of the first inning. Blake Allemand reached on a bunt single with one out. The hit extended Allemand's hitting streak to eight games. Tucker Neuhaus lined a double into the corner in right to score Allemand for a 1-0 advantage. But, the Rattlers did not lead for long. Quad Cities (77-42, 32-19) scored three runs on one hit against Wisconsin starter Kodi Medeiros in the bottom of the first. Drew Ferguson started the inning with a double and moved to third with one out on a wild pitch. Medeiros would walk Ramon Laureano and hit Bryan Muniz to load the bases before walking Jose Fernandez to force in Ferguson with the tying run. Ryan Bottger made it 2-1 with a sacrifice fly to right that scored Laureano and moved Muniz to third. Another wild pitch by Medeiros allowed Muniz to score and the River Bandits were up 3-1. Medeiros walked Laureano again in the bottom of the third. Medeiros would leave after a stolen base by Laureano and a single by Muniz put runners at the corners. Luke Curtis took over and gave up a sacrifice fly to Fernandez that scored Laureano for a 4-1 lead. Nathan Kirby took over in the bottom of the fourth inning and loaded the bases with one out on a single and two walks. Kirby would get a strikeout for the second out, but Muniz cracked a double to left-center to drive in all three runners and the River Bandits were up 7-1. Dean Deetz, the starter for the River Bandits, allowed one run on four hits and struck out five over five innings to earn the win. Quad Cities added one more run in the sixth inning. Kristian Trompiz reached on a dropped flyball to right. A single and a flyball to center put runners on the corners with one out. Laureano knocked in Trompiz from third with a fielder's choice. Allemand had three of Wisconsin's six hits in the game and went 4-for-8 in the doubleheader. He is 14-for-32 during his hitting streak. The Timber Rattlers are 1-13 in fourteen games against the River Bandits this season. They are 0-7 at Modern Woodmen Park in 2015. Quad Cities has outscored Wisconsin 75-25 this season. The final game of the series is Thursday night at Modern Woodmen Park. Eric Hanhold (0-3, 7.85) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Agapito Barrios (1-1, 1.06) is set to start for the River Bandits. Game time is 7:00pm. The radio broadcast of Thursday's game is on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:40pm. The broadcast is also available on Tune In Radio and IHeartRadio. If you are a subscriber to MiLB.TV, the game is also available on that platform. WP: Dean Deetz (2-1) LP: Kodi Medeiros (4-3) TIME: 2:11 ATTN: 2,562 Wisconsin Boxscore So I've been trying to describe how Kodi Medeiros doesn't throw quality strikes for the majority of the season, that he does his work largely in the upper 3rd or out of the strike zone entirely. The more patient clubs have given Medeiros fits by taking pitches and forcing him to come over the plate. Quad Cities has been especially tough on him and it's no coincidence as they are one of the more disciplined line-ups in the league. I don't mean that specifically from a BB standpoint, though they do lead the league in BBs, I mean they are relatively polished and selective bunch. So when I talk about not being sure if Medeiros in his current state will play at the higher levels, that's what I'm talking about. He might get by at A+ but by AA the majority of the hacktastic scrubs have washed out already and you'd better be able to throw quality strikes because most hitters aren't going chase out of the zone if they don't think you can locate to begin with. Nathan Kirby obviously wasn't sharp either, I talked about him prior to and after the draft in that I'm not sure what to make of his control issues because he doesn't have a glaring flaw as a pitcher. Hopefully all of the little kinks can get ironed out through instructs and spring training next year because like Medeiros he's got the stuff to be a top of the rotation type if he can get to the point of having average MLB control. Blake Allemand has his issues as a SS, but my goodness has his bat come around, he's bounced from the low .200s all the way to .263 after today's double header. Small sample size and all that, though he's approaching 200 ABs in WI, but he's a nice little switch hitter and a .263 AVE is unfortunately a pretty big deal on this Rattler team. Wisconsin Recap

River Bandits take game one from Rattlers By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/8/2/6/125459826/cuts/5_19_Sharkey_Web_bum63bwg_wb6peuh6.jpg Alan Sharkey had two hits, and drove in both of Wisconsin's runs in a 3-2 loss in game one of Wednesday's doubleheader against the Quad Cities River Bandits. (Wisconsin Timber Rattlers/Ann Mollica) DAVENPORT, IA - Justin Ferrell tossed six shutout innings and the Quad Cities River Bandits held off a late charge by the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers for a 3-2 victory in game one of a doubleheader on Wednesday night at Modern Woodmen Park. Wisconsin starting pitcher Angel Ventura retired the first two River Bandits batters he faced. He was ahead of Nick Tanielu 0-2, but the Quad Cities third baseman singled to right. Ventura walked the next two batters to load the bases. Then, he walked Bryan Muniz on four straight pitches to force in Tanielu for a 1-0 Quad Cities lead. The River Bandits (76-42 overall, 31-19 second half) added to their lead in the bottom of the second inning. Ryan Bottger started the inning with a single and went to second on a wild pitch. Jason Martin singled with center with one out and Bottger scored for a 2-0 advantage. Ventura retired eight batters in a row starting with the final out in the bottom of the second, but left the game after allowing a one-out single to Bobby Boyd in the bottom of the fifth. Josh Uhen was summoned from the bullpen to replace Ventura. Boyd would steal second and take third on a passed ball. A walk to Tanielu put runners on the corners. Ramon Laureano followed with a single to center to drive in Boyd and the River Bandits were up 3-0. The Timber Rattlers (40-79, 17-32) struggled to get anything going against Ferrell. The right-hander allowed three hits over his first five innings and all three hits came with two outs and none on base. But, things changed a bit in the sixth. Blake Allemand extended his current hitting streak to seven games with a one out single. Tucker Neuhaus drew a walk and the Rattlers had runners at first and second. However, Ferrell got out of the inning with a flyout to left and a strikeout. He would leave the game after six shutout innings with eight strikeouts. Wisconsin put together a rally against Angel Heredia in the top of the seventh. Elvis Rubio singled to start the frame and was the first Wisconsin leadoff batter to reach in the game. Natanael Mejia followed one out later with a double off the wall in left to put runners at second and third. Alan Sharkey drove in both runners with a two-out single and Wisconsin was within a run. But, Heredia got the final out for his eighth save of the season to close out game one. WP: Justin Ferrell (4-2) LP: Angel Ventura (6-6) SAVE: Angel Heredia (8) TIME: 2:10 Wisconsin Game 1 Boxscore I've mentioned that Angel Ventura, pretty much like every Latin pitcher who's been in WI this year, has a ton of moving parts in his delivery and as such his control will just suddenly disappear from time to time, today was no different. Those limited bouts where he loses control cost him dearly because he doesn't seem to make self corrections quickly on the mound and it's usually a crooked number in those innings. Today he limited the damage to 2 runs across the first 2 innings but the walks and pitch cost him all his runs when he was in the game. At least the boys battled back in the 7th but it was too little too late. As highlighted above Blake Allemand's hot streak at the plate continues and Alan Sharkey (2-4) had a nice game and has been somewhat clutch over the last couple of months. Elvis Rubio (2-3) and Natanael Mejia (2-3,2B) also posted multi-hit efforts in game 1, though Mejia's PB ended up being the difference in the game. Mehring didn't put this is in the game story but the Rattlers are 1-12 vs River Bandits this year. Wisconsin Game 1 Recap

I probably wasn't clear enough on Clint. Yes he's still getting XBHs and yes I understand where he ranks in the league. I won't get into league comparisons simply because I don't have the time, nor did I last night. I don't think he's a comparable hitter to Roache either. Roache chased a ton of breaking stuff out of the zone, Clint swings through hittable FBs. My point is that while all batters are mistake hitters to a certain extent, that's pretty much all Clint is at this point... almost half of his hits each month are for XBH, the problem is he's not able to get hits, and this is a repeatable pattern. His strike out rate isn't alarming, nor was it last year, once pitchers stop challenging him then his production tails off significantly. Space Coast Stadium is not the root cause of his AVE sitting below .240 for much of the season, something else is going on.... the stadium does turn HRs into outs and 2Bs which is why I chose to focus on his XBH trend to make my point. He's a wonderful power prospect but this is the 2nd straight year he's been unable to make adjustments after a hot start. Last year he finished very strong, this year not so much. I said before he needed to make significant adjustments to be better than a .240 hitter at MLB but that may have been far too optimistic because most of our legitimate prospects have started ascending by the time they reach A+. I realize that every prospect has his own unique path but if you're trending Coulter's career how does it look? I've been cautiously optimistic for a long time but now I'm becoming just cautious. Of course I understand he's just 21, and that he can repeat the level again, but I don't think just bumping him to AA is going to solve anything. His HRs might bounce back but I don't see his hit tool holding up better in AA than it did in A+ if nothing changes.

I know I kind of beat this into the ground last year, but Coulter is just so incredibly slow to make adjustments. Here's his season by the splits. [pre]Split G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB Total 118 500 442 56 107 28 3 12 53 6 4 38 81 .242 .322 .400 .722 177 9 16 0 4 0 Last 7 days 5 19 19 3 3 2 0 1 2 0 0 0 2 .158 .158 .421 .579 8 1 0 0 0 0 Last 28 days 23 92 84 8 15 5 1 1 9 0 0 4 15 .179 .239 .298 .537 25 4 3 0 1 0 Last 90 days 79 325 291 32 66 22 1 3 24 2 1 24 53 .227 .302 .340 .642 99 7 8 0 2 0 Home 59 249 222 34 51 13 2 6 19 0 1 16 38 .230 .301 .387 .689 86 4 8 0 3 0 Away 59 251 220 22 56 15 1 6 34 6 3 22 43 .255 .343 .414 .756 91 5 8 0 1 0 vs RHP as RHB 111 363 319 81 20 3 10 43 26 59 .254 .333 .429 .763 137 6 14 0 4 0 vs LHP as RHB 59 137 123 26 8 0 2 10 12 22 .211 .292 .325 .617 40 3 2 0 0 0 April 20 91 77 13 25 3 2 6 15 3 2 10 12 .325 .429 .649 1.078 50 2 4 0 0 0 May 29 128 112 16 22 6 0 3 15 1 1 10 25 .196 .281 .330 .612 37 0 4 0 2 0 June 26 107 90 11 24 8 0 1 9 2 1 12 16 .267 .383 .389 .772 35 0 5 0 0 0 July 27 107 101 10 23 6 1 1 6 0 0 3 18 .228 .252 .337 .589 34 5 1 0 2 0 August 16 67 62 6 13 5 0 1 8 0 0 3 10 .210 .269 .339 .607 21 2 2 0 0 0 2 outs RISP 56 75 66 15 1 1 2 14 9 11 .227 .320 .364 .684 24 0 0 0 0 0 vs. Younger Pitchers 35 89 79 17 7 0 3 6 8 17 .215 .303 .418 .721 33 1 2 0 0 0 vs. Older Pitchers 113 411 363 90 21 3 9 47 30 64 .248 .326 .397 .723 144 8 14 0 4 0[/pre] Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table Generated 8/19/2015. People made excuses for him when he was catching but that wasn't an issue last year when he didn't even catch half the games in the season. His power numbers have declined nearly every month, 11 XBH in April, 9 in May, 9 in June, 8 in July, and so far in August he has 6. That's nearly the same exact pattern as last year, only his valley was much deeper in 2015 than it was in 2014. His slash lines splits are terrible except for the overall season, and while I'll take a .722 OPS from a young middle infielder, I won't take that from a RF. He's still a mistake hitter and as soon as teams learn to just stay away from him, well he struggles, and the pitching is only going to continue to get better... He'll be dropping significantly for me the next time we do a list, if he doesn't start to make significant adjustments to his swing and approach(it appeared he had the way he started the season) then he'll stall out and never get out of AA, maybe he won't reach AA period.

Rattlers and River Bandits rained out in Davenport By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers

I've been a Cravy fan since he was in Helena, but he's starting to make me sad.

Ask BA: Who Is In The Mix To Go No. 1 In The 2016 Draft? August 17, 2015 by J.J. Cooper

Good for him, I never thought he was incompetent or a bad guy, he's just in a similar mold to most baseball people.

Very well said.

Why does MIN want Gatewood? They already have an improving Nick Gordon.

It was hotter than that by mid afternoon, I was at a different game and wasn't listening so I don't have any insight.

Rattlers drop Sunday's game to South Bend Cubs beat Wisconsin 4-1 By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/7/0/2/135638702/cuts/Allemand_WEB_aiiwjghs_vm2hsfqr.jpg Blake Allemand was 3-for-4 with a stolen base on Sunday for the Timber Rattlers. (Wisconsin Timber Rattlers/Ann Mollica) GRAND CHUTE, WI - Ian Happ tripled, homered, and drove in three runs for the South Bend Cubs as they beat the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers 4-1 Sunday afternoon at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. The Cubs won the rubber game of the three-game series between the teams. South Bend (54-62 overall, 25-24 second half) went in front with three runs in the top of the third inning. Charcer Burks reached second when a popup to shallow right-center dropped in. Then, Gioskar Amaya dropped a sacrifice bunt and reached when the throw went to third and Burks was safe. Happ, who was taken by the Chicago Cubs with the ninth pick of the 2015 draft out of the University of Cincinnati, drilled a triple to right to knock both runners for a 2-0 lead. An RBI grounder by David Bote drove in Happ and the Cubs were up 3-0. Elvis Rubio doubled in the bottom of the fourth inning. He took third on a wild pitch. Another wild pitch allowed Rubio to score and the Rattlers (40-78, 17-31) were within two runs. That was the only run that South Bend starting pitcher Zach Hedges allowed in the game. He pitched five innings, gave up four hits, and struck out two to put himself in position for his seventh win of the year. Wisconsin starter Jon Perrin struck out four over five innings and allowed three runs - two earned - on five hits, but was on the hook for the loss. Happ cracked his second homer of the series - and fourth with South Bend - in the eighth inning. He hit a 3-2 pitch from Scott Lieser into the Wisconsin bullpen in right-center to lead off the eighth to put the Cubs up 4-1. A trio of South Bend relievers combined to shutout the Rattlers over the final four innings. The Rattlers had six hits in the game, but went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position and stranded seven runners on base in the game. Blake Allemand, the fifth round pick of the Milwaukee Brewers in the 2015 draft out of Texas A&M, had half of Wisconsin's hit total as he went 3-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to six games. Allemand is 16-for-52 (.308) in thirteen games in August and has raised his Midwest League average from .225 to .252. The Timber Rattlers are off on Monday. They return to action on Tuesday to start a six-game road trip. Wisconsin will begin the journey in Davenport, Iowa against the Quad Cities River Bandits. Angel Ventura (6-5, 3.09) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Justin Ferrell (3-2, 2.22) is set to start for the River Bandits. Game time is 7:00pm. The radio broadcast of Tuesday's game is on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:40pm. The broadcast is also available on Tune In Radio and IHeartRadio. If you are a subscriber to MiLB.TV, the game is also available on that platform. HOME RUN: SB: Ian Happ (4th, 8th inning off Scott Lieser, 0 out) WP: Zach Hedges (7-7) LP: Jon Perrin (1-4) SAVE: Corbin Hoffner (8) TIME: 2:26 ATTN: 5,728 Rattler Radio Postgame Post – August 16, 2015 The usual goodies... Kodi Mederios was interviewed by Fox 11 including thoughts on Denson, audio here, probably video at their website later. Wisconsin Boxscore It's so awesome that Ian Happ started his ascension in this series... or something. The pitching wasn't bad, 8 strike outs, 8 hits, 1 walk in total, but the defense made some costly mistakes. Blake Allemand (3-4) with another good day at the plate, he's hitting .341 over his last 10 and has bumped his AVE up to .252. Rattler batters walked just once in the game which piqued my curiosity as I hadn't looked at the rankings in a while. The T-Rats had 334 walks coming into today, 11th in the league. Brandon Diaz has the most walks on the team with 46 even though he hasn't played in quite a while, Jamie Ritchie a C from Quad Cities leads the league with 70. Wisconsin Recap

Obviously I've really liked David Denson and I could care less about race or sexual orientation... those are things I just don't concern myself with. So whatever works for him... he wanted to tell people, I'm down. I hope he's able to just play baseball but I worry that he'll go the way of Michael Sam and things will get overblown and turn into a distraction for him. He may have washed out regardless because he's so patient to a fault at the plate, but I really wanted him to break out this year and while that didn't happen I certainly haven't given up on him as player. I just hope there's no extra pressure and David can just worry about being a better baseball player but I can see this going the other way as well.

Hit 92 as a senior in HS, that's about it based on what's been published. Here's kind of a generic description:

Rattlers beat Cubs 4-3 By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers http://www.milb.com/assets/images/4/0/6/143415406/cuts/8_August_15_Ponce_WEB_rf7k8p6s_l904h7pd.jpg Cody Ponce pitched four scoreless innings, allowed two hits, and struck out five for his second save as a Timber Rattler. (Wisconsin Timber Rattlers/Ann Mollica) GRAND CHUTE, WI - The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers scored twice in the bottom of the fourth inning to take a 4-3 lead over the South Bend Cubs Saturday night at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium. Zach Cooper and Cody Ponce combined to toss five scoreless innings out of the Wisconsin bullpen to hold that lead to the end of the game for a Timber Rattlers win. Alan Sharkey tripled to start the Wisconsin half of the first inning. Blake Allemand drove in Sharkey with a grounder and the Rattlers (40-77 overall, 17-30 second half) were up 1-0. The Timber Rattlers used a triple and a ground out in the third inning to take a 2-0 lead. Omar Cotto connected for a three-base hit with one out. Sharkey drove in Cotto with a grounder to first. South Bend (53-62, 24-24) stormed back in the top of the fourth. Ian Happ reached on an error and David Bote doubled to put two runners in scoring position against starting pitcher David Burkhalter. Charcer Burks followed with a double to drive in both runners to tie the game. Burks would steal third and score the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly from Erick Castillo. Wisconsin answered in the bottom of the fourth. Sthervin Matos started the rally with a single and a steal of second. He would steal third as Tucker Neuhaus took ball four on a walk. Elvis Rubio ripped a double to left to score Matos with the tying run and send Neuhaus to third. Mitch Meyer put the Timber Rattlers ahead with an RBI grounder to first that scored Neuhaus. Cooper, who came off the Wisconsin disabled list on Friday night, entered the game out of the Wisconsin bullpen in the top of the fifth inning for his first appearance since July 11 and gave up a leadoff double to Jeffery Baez. Cooper got the first out with a grounder to the right side that moved Baez to third. Then, Cooper escaped the inning with a strikeout of Ian Happ and catcher Natanael Mejia's pickoff of Baez for an inning-ending double play. Cody Ponce, Milwaukee's second round pick in the 2015 draft, took over for Cooper in the top of the sixth and Bote got to him for a leadoff double. Ponce struck out the next two batters and ended the inning on a grounder back to the mound. Matt Rose started the South Bend seventh inning with a single and was sacrificed to second base, but Ponce stranded Rose with a ground out and a fly out. Ponce retired the Cubs in order in the eighth and ninth innings to close out the victory. He went four innings, allowed two hits, walked none, struck out five, and earned the save. Wisconsin and South Bend have each won a game in the series with the final game of the series set for Sunday afternoon. Jon Perrin (1-3, 4.55) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Timber Rattlers. Zach Hedges (6-7, 3.81) is set to start for the Cubs. Game time is 1:05pm. Timber Rattlers players and coaches will don special Dora the Explorer Jerseys for Sunday's game as part of Nick Jr. at the Ballpark. These jerseys will be up for bid in a silent auction during the game with the proceeds going to Ducks Unlimited. Be on the lookout for a visit from Dora, too! The Brewers Sunday jerseys worn by the players and coaches all season will be up for bid in a live auction after the game. Proceeds from the Brewers Sunday Jersey Auction will go to Children's Hospital of Wisconsin. Fans may play catch on-field courtesy of Rasmussen College starting at noon. Players will be available for a postgame autograph session sponsored by Tundraland Home Improvements. If you can't make it out to the game, the radio broadcast is on AM1280, WNAM starting with the Miller Lite Pregame Show at 6:15pm. The broadcast is also available on Tune In Radio and IHeartRadio. If you are a subscriber to MiLB.TV, the game is also available on that platform. WP: Zach Cooper (2-1) LP: Jake Stinnett (5-5) SAVE: Cody Ponce (2) TIME: 2:29 ATTN: 6,060 Rattler Radio Postgame post – August 15, 2015 Gary Lucas with a long discussion of Cody Ponce and the pitching situation in general. Wisconsin Boxscore This was a fun one... the only pitching blip was when David Burkhalter fell apart in the 4th, but the fantastic double play highlighted above helped Zach Cooper and Cody Ponce was as sharp as he's been since he arrived in WI. The offense woke up today pounding out 10 hits, 2 each by Alan Sharkey (2-4,3B), Sthervin Matos (2-4), and Omar Cotto (2-3,3B). Here's an interesting fun fact, Matos is up to 20 steals in 27 tries this season despite batting just .204 to this point. Elvis Rubio (3-3,2B) was perfect, easily his best performance since the 2 homer game. Wisconsin Recap

I'm not sure that's true, part of trading from a position of strength is acquire a position of greater need. We really don't have a need in the OF or at SS... we need corner infielders, catching, and impact pitching. I'd prefer pitching and there is a very short list of the position players at positions of need in the minors... there are just aren't many potential impact players at those positions. It depends what teams would what Lucroy. The only time Melvin hit the impact pitching window in season was when he acquired Sabathia as a buyer, and over the winter he was always a buyer of veteran impact pitching with prospects, but he's gone now so it's tough to guess what will happen. As always I'm not concerned with "mlb ready" I'm concerned with getting the best talent back possible.