ABOUT SUNDAY: The Rattlers lost 5-3 to the Quad Cities River Bandits. Wisconsin had a 1-0 lead after a first inning run, but the River Bandits scored two runs in the fifth, one run in the seventh, and got a two-out, two-run homer from Jarred Bogany in the eighth. Wisconsin scored twice in the bottom of the ninth inning and had the winning run at the plate. But, Matt Frevert got the final out. Quad Cities took two out of three from the Timber Rattlers.
JUMP START: Juan Sanchez reached to start the bottom of the first on a bunt single and a throwing error. Pete Fatse followed with an RBI double to left.
TWO-THIRDS: The Rattlers totaled nine hits in yesterday’s game. Sanchez and Fatse each had three hits.
HAD TO SEE IT TO BELIEVE IT: The River Bandits had runners at second and third with one out in the top of the fourth inning against Rattlers starting pitcher Evan Frederickson. Frederickson threw a wild pitch to the backstop and the runner at third looked to score an easy run. But, the ball hit off a railing, popped back to Frederickson near home plate and the pitcher tagged out the runner.
MAKING MOVES: The Milwaukee Brewers announced today that shortstop Michael Marseco has been transferred to Helena (Pioneer League) and infielder John Delaney has been placed on the disabled list retroactive to July 30. The Brewers have moved infielder Josh Prince and pitcher Michael Fiers to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers roster from Helena.
MEET THE NEW GUYS: Prince was the third round pick of the Milwaukee Brewers in the 2009 draft. In his final season at Tulane University, Prince earned Second Team All-Conference USA and tied for the NCAA Division I lead in stolen bases with 48. Fiers was a 22nd round pick out of Nova Southeastern University and had 145 strikeouts. Prince was hitting .298 with 26 stolen bases for Helena since beginning his pro career. Fiers was 1-0 with eight saves, 35 strikeouts, and one walk in 21 innings pitched with Helena this season.
A NOTE ABOUT ATTENDANCE: The attendance on Sunday was 3,530 to bump Wisconsin’s home attendance to 186,319 for an average of 3,515. There are 15 home games remaining on the schedule. The single season attendance record for Wisconsin was set in 1996 with a mark of 233,797. If the Timber Rattlers hit their average attendance over the final 15 games of the season, that will give them 52,725 more fans for a total of 239,104.
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS: The Kane County Cougars are the Midwest League affiliate of the Oakland Athletics. The Cougars are in the Midwest League playoffs as the first half champions of the Western Division. They were 43-29 in the first half. So far in the second half, Kane County is 16-20. In their most recent series, they lost the final two games of a three game series at Lansing. They enter the series with Wisconsin with a 3-7 record in their last ten games.
SEASON SERIES: Wisconsin is 6-5 against Kane County this season, including a 3-1 record at Time Warner Cable Field. Wisconsin was 1-2 in a three game series at Kane County May 20-22. The Rattlers won three of four from Kane County in Grand Chute from June 10-13. The teams split a series at Elfstrom Stadium June 18-21.
COMPARE AND CONTRAST: The Timber Rattlers are hitting .239 as a team. They have scored 422 runs (4.0/game) and hit 49 home runs. The Cougars are hitting .244 as a team. They have scored 476 runs (4.5/game) and hit 69 homers. Wisconsin pitchers have a team ERA of 4.24 while allowing a total of 519 runs (4.9/game). Kane County pitchers have a team ERA of 3.60 while allowing 438 runs (4.1/game). The Timber Rattler defense has committed 124 errors. The Cougars defense has committed 126 errors. Wisconsin is 32-24 at home this season. Kane County is 27-28 on the road this season.
PROSPECTING: Baseball America’s Prospect Handbook placed no current Cougars on their list of Top 30 Prospects in the Oakland organization before the start of the season.
OUT OF THE DRAFT 2009: The Athletics have placed four members of their 2009 draft class on the current Cougars roster. Infielder Steve Parker, a 5th round selection, is the highest pick of the A’s with Kane County. Fellow infielder Mike Spina (11th) and pitchers Murphy Smith (13th) and AJ Huttenlocker (44th) were also drafted in June and are now with the Cougars.
ALL-STARS: Kane County had seven players make the Western Division squad for the 2009 Midwest League All-Star game and five of those players were in the starting lineup. Steve Kleen (1B), Jason Christian (3B), Dusty Coleman (SS), Jeremy Barfield (DH), and Kenny Smalley (SP) made up a half of the starters for the West. Pitchers Shawn Haviland and Jamie Richmond were also 2009 MWL All-Stars. Of those seven players, only Barfield, Haviland, and Smalley are still on the active Kane County roster.
KANE COUNTY STARTING PITCHER: RHP Mathieu Leblanc-Poirier was the 21st round pick of the Athletics in the 2008 draft out of College Ahuntsic in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Leblanc-Poirier made his professional debut with the Arizona League affiliate of the Athletics in 2008 and was 0-1 with a 7.89ERA in 11 games (two starts) covering 21-2/3 innings. Leblanc-Poirier also appeared in six games – all in relief – for the Vancouver Canadians of the Northwest League in 2009. He went 1-0 and had an ERA of 0.93 over 9-2/3 innings for the Canadians. Leblanc-Poirier started his 2009 campaign with the Stockton Ports of the California League in May and made 10 appearances (nine starts) for the Ports. He was 0-3 with a 5.88 ERA and had 28 strikeouts and 24 walks in 46-1/3 innings. Leblanc-Poirier joined the Cougars in the second half of the season and is 2-5 in seven games (six starts). In his start prior to tonight, Leblanc-Poirier lost at Cedar Rapids on July 29. The Kernels scored two runs on six hits in 5-2/3 innings against Leblanc-Poirier. Tonight is his first appearance against the Timber Rattlers. Leblanc-Poirier made two appearances (one start) against the Arizona League affiliate of the Brewers in 2008. He had no record, but allowed one run on two hits over five innings against the AZL Brewers.
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