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Monday's Daily Menu:

All times Central; pitchers subject to change --

Nashville: RHP Richie Gardner at Memphis (Cardinals), 6:50 PM pre-game; 7:05 PM gametime

Audio link via WNSR, be sure to select the proper date (game will also archive at this link):
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/clubs/ip_index.jsp?sid=milb&cid=t556

Huntsville: LHP David Welch at Tennessee (Cubs), 6:00 PM pre-game; 6:15 gametime

Audio link via WUMP, be sure to select the proper date (game will also archive at this link):
http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/multimedia/audio.jsp?sid=t559

Brevard County: Idle

West Virginia: LHP Mike Ramlow at home vs. Greensboro (Marlins), 5:50 PM pre-game, 6:05 gametime

Audio link via WSWW, be sure to select the proper date (game will also archive at this link):
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/clubs/ip_index.jsp?sid=milb&cid=t525

Helena: LHP Brandon Ritchie at home vs. Missoula (Diamondbacks), 5:50 PM pre-game, 8:05 gametime

Audio link via KCAP, be sure to select the proper date (game will also archive at this link):
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/clubs/ip_index.jsp?sid=milb&cid=t433

Arizona: TBD at the Royals camp in Surprise, 10:30 AM local Mountain Standard Time

Never any audio for the Maryvale Crew...

This link will be included in each daily report when the Nashville Sounds are scheduled to play. Normally it is updated several hours prior to gametime.

Nashville Media Notes (Adobe .pdf format):

www.nashvillesounds.com/pdf/notes.pdf

A mega-update and review from David Weiser at www.starsboxscore.com

Consistency.

If a team expects to finish on top, winning 3 of 5 in every series will most likely not be good enough. A team has to have at least two good streaks to maintain a good hold on first place all the way to the end....... The Stars haven't won more than two in a row since mid-May when they swept a five-game series from the Tennessee Smokies, who then were set up in the basement of the Southern League........ Now, the Smokies are on top and no doubt, awaiting the Stars arrival Monday for a rare four-game series.

Where consistency has been noticeably absent has been in the bullpen........ Since May 15, when the Stars faced the Mudcats at Joe Davis Stadium for the first of a five-game series, the bullpen has gone 4-14 with a 5.01 ERA, 10 saves and 11 blown saves....... In one-run games, the Stars are a record 2-7 in June and a combined 5-14 for May and June....... Patrick Ryan, who has blown five saves since May 15 (more than any other reliever in that period), lost in relief for the 4th time this month -- the first reliever since Matt Grott in 1991 to do that......... In 12 games since May 15 where the Stars had a lead after three innings, the Stars are 8-4. It drops to 5-5 in the 10 games in which they are tied after three, excepting for scoreless contests....... In 16 games since May 15 where the Stars led after 6, they are 12-4. In 7 games where they are tied after six, the Stars are 3-4........ Now let's look at games in which the Stars have a lead after eight innings. There are 21 such games, with the Stars winning 14 and losing 7....... You can call it a winning record, but I see 7 games that the Stars were in, that were lost in the 9th or beyond. Three games were lost in the final at-bat..... Their extra-inning record is 1-6, which so far stands as their worst ever in 23 seasons.

The Huntsville Stars made several changes to their pitching lineup, June 26, although not as a consequence to that problem........ Rather, it cost us our steadiest reliever to date -- Joe Bateman (2-1, 2.47 in 24 games, 3.04 since May 15)....... Joe Bateman's promotion to Nashville (his first to Triple-A after six seasons in the Giants' organization) and Derek Miller and Robert Hinton going on the disabled list gives us three new pitchers, two of which should be familiar to Stars fans........ Nashville sent down pitchers Steve Bray and Nic Ungs. The Stars also picked up left-hander Troy Cate, who was released by the Oakland A's, May 12. He signed a free agent contract with the Brewers, June 24, plucked from the independent Golden League's Orange County Flyers. Cate was 1-0 with a 1.15 ERA with 18 Ks and only one walk in his three starts there.......

Cate had a cup of coffee with the St. Louis Cardinals last year and finished with 14 forgettable appearances, even though he had a 3.38 ERA.

Bray, a former KC Royals farmhand, had a successful 2006 season for the Stars, going 5-4 with one save and a 2.70 ERA in 29 appearances, all but two of them in relief. At one point in the season, he won three straight games in three straight appearances. He was promoted after a July 4 game against Birmingham and that's the last we saw of him in a Huntsville uniform until Thursday in Carolina....... 63 relief appearances, mostly in middle relief for the Sounds followed the next two seasons, with a record of 7-2 and a 1.54 ERA, but this season, he was 1-4 with a 4.21 ERA in 21 appearances.

Ungs, an 11-game winner in 2004, had been on Nashville's DL with a shoulder injury. He has a long history in the minors, going back to 2001. The Iowa native who went to high school in the town that boasts The Field of Dreams, spent three seasons with the Carolina Mudcats (2003-05). In the 2003 Southern League Champsionship series, he forced a Game 5 on the Stars with a 3-hit, 7-1 victory for the Mudcats. He's the author of the only 9-inning no-hitter in Mudcats history (vs. the Diamond Jaxx in 2005)..... He last faced the Stars on May 24, 2005, shutting the Stars out, 8-0........ He signed with the Brewers after seven seasons in the Marlins' organization, last January 14 after going 4-4 with a 5.98 ERA for Class AAA-Albuquerque (PCL) the year before...... More recently, he bombed with the Nashville Sounds, going 1-2 with a 12.86 ERA in four starts.

Ungs was chosen to start against his former team in place of Mike Jones, who followed in relief....... Overall, Ungs did a fair job, getting out of a rough first inning giving up just one run despite issuing a leadoff walk to Cameron Maybin, then giving up back-to-back singles to Manuel Mayorson and Chris Coghlan that scored Maybin........ Half of Mayorson's eight hits were doubles when he came to the plate and hit a grounder through the middle that was knocked down by 2nd baseman Mike Bell. Coghlan slapped a hit past 1st baseman Chris Errecart and Bell. The throw came in to Bell, but his throw to get the lead runner was wild and behind the runner allowed Carolina to tie the game, 1-1....... A double steal on a 2-2 pitch and a walk to Gaby Sanchez to load the bases followed. t Ungs, who was on a 75-80 pitch count, went full on a batter for the 3rd time, but struck out Alberto Concepcion on a fast ball for the first out. Andrew Jenkins then bounced a ball toward third, easily allowing Mat Gamel to go home and force Mayorson at the plate...... The bases remained loaded, but Ungs finally got out of the inning on a force out by Brad Davis....... Ungs did not allow another hit until Andrew Jenkins doubled to lead off the 4th. Manuel Mayorson singled with one out in the 5th before Ungs reached his limit, leaving with a 2-1 lead...... That was gone when Mike Jones walked pinch-hitter Grant Psomas with the bases loaded and one out....... It was Jones' first blown save and the 12th by the Stars' bullpen since May 15.

Jones was on the mound when the Mudcats took a 3-2 lead in the 7th...... Patrick Ryan was already throwing in the top of the inning as Jones walked leadoff hitter Mayorson on four pitches. Angel Salome threw him out stealing on a 1-1 pitch to Chris Coghlan, but Jones walked him, too....... This time Coghlan was successful with a stolen base........ Coghlan was nearly caught off base on a 1-2 count to Gaby Sanchez, a former college teammate of Ryan Braun and Brendan Katin, but Sanchez gave the Mudcats a 3-2 lead on a line-drive double to left-center past Gillespie.

Guilder Rodriguez, who came into the ballgame on a double-switch in the 7th after Mike Jones walked his 5th batter, scored on a sacrifice fly to tie the game again, 3-3, in the top of the 8th when Alcides Escobar popped a ball to 2nd baseman Coghlan in foul territory.

With the score tied in the bottom of the 8th, and Patrick Ryan (1-4, 5.29 since May 15) on the mound, Carolina took the lead for good...... Kris Harvey lined through a hole on the left side. After reliever Jesus Delgado struck out trying to sacrifice, Maybin slashed a double to right-center, sending Harvey to third, his 4th of the series....... With Mayorson batting, Angel Salome could not stop Ryan's first pitch, a low fast ball, which enabled Harvey to score, giving Carolina a 4-3 lead. Mayorson's fly ball to Gillespie made it 5-3........ Although Gillespie homered to deep left make it a one-run game in the 9th, Carolina closer Chris Mobley sealed the deal, striking out Salome, LaPorta, and Errecart for the victory...... Gillespie's HR ended a 105-AB drought going back to May 26 at Mobile. It came off closer Reid Mahon in the 9th, making it (ok, cue the theremin) a 5-4 game won by Mobile.

Interestingly, Errecart and Gillespie have had more value leading off or with the bases empty, than as clutch hitters:

Check out who the clutch hitters are. Just click on the standings page.

Saturday's game was serviced by only two umpires because crew chief Nick Nolde resigned suddenly following last Thursday's game....... Carolina added veteran minor league pitcher Chris Michalak to the roster, Saturday. Michalak, whose pro career goes back to 1993, pitched for the Stars in 1995-96, when they were affiliated with Oakland ...... He was released by the A's the day before the Stars' 1997 season got underway and since has bounced in and out of 12 7 NL and 5 AL) major league organizations...... He was 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA for the Rangers' Class AA-Frisco (Texas) Roughriders, then released on May 19. The Marlins picked him up and now he's back in the Southern League again.

John Haggerty joined the umpiring crew, Sunday......... I guess the last time two starting pitchers made their Stars debut in back-to-back games in the middle of a season was back in 2003 when Jeff Housman and Jason Shelley made their impressive debuts in a July 20 double-header vs. the Diamond Jaxx........ While they didn't match Housman's 6 inning, 1-hit 10-0 win or Shelley's 1-0, 10 K performance, Cate, at least, made it in the win column...... Michael Garciaparra made his first start of the season for the Stars at shortstop and wore the golden sombrero.

Carolina had Cate, a lefty who works from the stretch behind 1-0 in the 1st....... Manuel Mayorson led off the bottom of the 1st with a two-hop opposite-field single. On a hit-and-run, Chris Coghlan then sent a line drive into right-center sending Mayorson to third....... Gaby Sanchez then lined out to Mat Gamel, who made a leaping catch, but Mayorson scored without a throw on Gamel's one-hop relay to Chris Errecart.

The Stars, after failing to take advantage of Gamel's ground-rule double in the 1st, came back -- and they had their hitting shoes on for Cate....... Mat Gamel went 5-for-5, the 14th Huntsville Star in history to have a 5-hit game (Alcides Escobar and Mel Stocker did it last year. Jose Canseco did it twice in 1985)........ Chris Errecart had four hits, including two doubles..... Matt LaPorta singled, doubled and drove in 2 runs to snap out of a 5-game 4-for-18 skid.

Gamel scored on a bang-bang ground out by Cole Gillespie in the 3rd to put the Stars in front, 2-1....... With LaPorta on 3rd and one down, Errecart sent a line drive into left-center making it 3-1.

Cate and the three relievers who followed, were able to hold the Mudcats back, except for Brian Petersen....... Making his Double-A debut, Petersen doubled to right in the 2nd, singled in two runs to make it a 4-3 game in the 4th, singled with two out off Steve Bray in the 6th, and singled in two more runs in the 8th to make it a 6-5 game...... Fortunately, Juan Sandoval, who ends June with a sparkling 0.60 ERA in 11 appearances, picked up his 8th save, his 3rd of the month, did not have to face Petersen in the 9th. He retired the side -- Maybin (.293 vs. Stars pitching), Mayorson (.395), and Coghlan (.351) -- in order.

The Stars have two more series with Carolina -- another one at Five County Stadium later in July and one at the Joe, August 23-27....... Their split with Carolina gives the Stars a 4-7 record against them this year......... Gamel's 5-hit game extends his hitting streak to 10 games and is on a .429 pace. Gamel finished 12-for-25 in this series with 3 doubles and 5 RBIs...... Manny Parra put a stop to the Twins' 10-game win streak, 5-1, with a 7-inning, 2-hitter, Saturday. Mitch Stetter, in relief of David Riske, gave up the Twins' only other hit in the 9th....... Jeremy Jeffress, the Brewers' #1 draft pick in 2007, gave up 3 hits in 6 innings and struck out 9, helping Brevard County to a 10-inning 3-2 victory over Ft. Myers, Sunday....... Evan Frederickson, one of the Brewers' three #1 draft picks this past June, has been promoted from Helena (Pioneer) to West Virginia. He left Helena with a 3.09 ERA after 11 1/3 innings over three starts..... Jonathan Lucroy, the heir apparent behind the plate for the Stars next season, is hitting .317 for Brevard County.

The wires for the new sound system at the Joe are being run as I speak. General Manager Buck Rogers says it should be ready by the time the Stars return for the raucous Fourth of July series, so I guess we'll have to wait to really hear how good the sound system is, but speakers will be placed in back of the upper level seats for the first time, as it is in several Southern League parks.

The gray concrete walls that have divided the upper and lower levels of the stands since Day One in 1985 have been painted a deep blue within the week by the booster club, I'm told. The players rave about it, saying they can pick up the ball a lot better with the walls in the background........ From what I know, the next step will be some murals, possibly starting in October.

The White Sox have released Joe Winkelsas....... Winkelsas pitched in 4 games for the Barons last May, going 0-1 with one save and a 10.80 ERA, but two of those games were against West Tennessee, shutting them out over 2 1/3 innings. Winkelsas was 1-1 with a 1.72 ERA in 13 games for the Stars in 2006. After promotions to Nashville, and then Milwaukee that year. He retired (temporarily as it turned out) on July 4 of that year.