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Follow Sunday's action as it happens:
Here's what you do, right click on each of the links below and choose "Open in New Tab or New Window". Choose "Recap". While you're listening to your minor league game of choice (or watching/listening to the big league Crew when they are playing), simply refresh your game log browsers every so often.

MiLB.com now has Gameday available for AA as well as AAA this season.

Nashville:

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2009_06_21_nasaaa_orhaaa_1

Huntsville:

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=t559&t=g_box&gid=2009_06_21_hunaax_biraax_1

Wisconsin:

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?t=g_box&gid=2009_06_21_wisafx_kccafx_1&did=t572&sid=t572

Arizona Rookie (Maryvale):

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=g_box&gid=2009_06_21_giarok_brrrok_1

Be sure to check out Chris Mehring's blog posts, with specific Timber Rattler pre-game updates for Sunday, available shortly before gametime.

Pacific Coast League (AAA) - PCL American North Division Standings
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Team                   W     L     PCT     GB     HOME      ROAD      STREAK   
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Nashville              41    29    .586    -      23-15     18-14     L1       
Iowa                   37    33    .529    4.0    20-15     17-18     W1       
Memphis                32    37    .464    8.5    19-15     13-22     L1       
Omaha                  27    42    .391    13.5   11-21     16-21     L1       
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Southern League (AA) - SOU North Division Standings
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Team                   W     L     PCT     GB     HOME      ROAD      STREAK   
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Carolina               37    31    .544    -      21-14     16-17     L2       
Huntsville             37    31    .544    -      14-16     23-15     L6       
Tennessee              31    38    .449    6.5    18-19     13-19     W2       
Chattanooga            29    39    .426    8.0    16-18     13-21     W1       
West Tenn              27    43    .386    11.0   14-21     13-22     W1       
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Florida State League (A+) - FSL North Division Standings
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Team                   W     L     PCT     GB     HOME      ROAD      STREAK   
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Brevard County         40    21    .656    -      15-11     25-10     L3       
Daytona                31    31    .500    9.5    16-13     15-18     L2       
Clearwater             31    32    .492    10.0   15-16     16-16     W1       
Dunedin                30    34    .469    11.5   12-21     18-13     L1       
Lakeland               27    33    .450    12.5   15-17     12-16     W1       
Tampa                  28    36    .438    13.5   15-21     13-15     L5

David Weiser's starsboxscore.com

Thank you, Tennessee
Smokies sweep Carolina, allowing Stars to take 1st half title

You couldn't ask for a more dramatic, and good to say, a happy ending to this first half of the season....... On the 2nd anniversary of his 3-0 no-hitter against the Stars, Mark Holliman recovered from a shaky 1st inning to beat the Birmingham Barons with a clutch six-inning, three-hit, 91-pitch performance that was absolutely necessary for the Stars to win to capture the first half title........ With a flair for the dramatic, the Stars, blundering their way to losses in each of the first five games of this series (12 errors in five games) against the best team in minor league baseball (48-21), were able to stay alive down to the last day.

Thanks to the Tennessee Smokies, the team Holliman pitched that no-hitter for just two years ago.

The Smokies were playing at home against the Carolina Mudcats, who were in back of the Stars by a game-and-a-half when this series began....... The Mudcats beat Tennessee in the nightcap of Thursday's double-header, but Tennessee won a pair of one-run games, 7-6 in 12 innings, Wednesday, and 8-7 with a two-run 9th, Friday, while the Stars lost a double-header, creating the tie....... Saturday, as the Stars were handcuffed, 8-1 on three hits, the injury-ridden Mudcats were blanked, 7-0....... Sunday, the last day of the regular season, arrived with Carolina and Huntsville tied for 1st. The Mudcats had two key players, Yonder Alonso and Juan Francisco on the DL. Zach Cozart, who was hit in the right hand by a pitch Saturday, was pressed into the lineup and coming fresh off the disabled list, Alexander Smit, was called on to come up with a clutch start.

Meanwhile, at steamy, spacious Regions Park, the best toughest park for hitters in the league, the Stars and Birmingham were already underway....... Holliman was taking up the slack lost when Chris Cody was promoted June 2. In his last five starts going back to May 24, Holliman was 3-0 with a 1.55 ERA.

It didn't start out well for Holliman. He threw 25 pitches in the 1st and was behind, 2-0 after a two-out single by David Cook........ Then realization must have set in for the Stars. Someone had to light a fire under their offense. They had hit just .197 in the five losses they suffered in this series....... With one gone, Kevin Melillo, 3-for-16 in the series and hitting just .147 since the start of the Jacksonville series, singled to right on the first pitch he saw from starter Kyle McCulloch. McCulloch had lost to the Stars on June 3 and was carrying a 3-5 record and 4.68 ERA since May...... Melillo scored with a 1-1 pitch that Taylor Green belted over the right field wall to tie the game at 2-2. It was Green's 4th home run of the year for the Stars, all of them hit since June 7....... After Freddy Parejo flied out for the 2nd out, Yohannis Perez kept the inning alive by walking on four straight pitches after taking a called strike. Vinny Rottino, who walked after Green's HR, moved into scoring position....... Adam Stern came up struggling with a .197 average in June, after hitting .321 in April and .327 in May. He had three RBIs in 22 games, but he came through in the clutch, lining a single to left, scoring Rottino, giving the Stars the lead they would never relinquish.......

The Stars scored five of their eight runs with two out in this game and after going 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position in their last three games in this series, they were 6-for-19 on this afternoon....... Shane Justis followed with an RBI single to score Perez to make it 4-2...... The Stars made it 5-2 in the 3rd on a two-out double to left by Rottino, set up after Melillo singled and stole 2nd base, his 4th of the season and first since June 9....... They pulled ahead further in the 4th, 7-2, thanks to two-out hits from Melillo and Green. Melillo snapped out of his slump just in time, getting his first three-hit game since June 2, which was also against Birmingham.

The Stars' Holliman got the offensive support that was overdue for the Stars (15 runs in the six-game losing streak, a .186 average). The clutch hits they were getting all season had stopped coming and you may say it actually began when Drew Anderson struck out with runners on 2nd and 3rd in the 7th inning of a 4-3 loss to Jacksonville Monday, a week ago...... In the nick of time, the Stars found themselves, going 6-for-19 (.316) with runners in scoring position. At the same time, Holliman found the key, meanwhile, to stuffing Birmingham's bats. Other than the Stars, they were the best clutch-hitting team in the league. After hitting .349 with runners in scoring position in this series, the Barons were calmed down to 1-for-6 in this game...... John Axford, unscored upon in his last two appearances, finished the game and picked up his first save as a Huntsville Star, giving up two of the three hits charged to him in the 9th inning, and not allowing a runner to get to third....... The tie was clinched. It was up to Tennessee again, and they had just scored four runs in the 2nd inning to take away an early 2-0 lead from Carolina.

A year ago, the Stars had a five-game lead beating the Smokies, 3-2, on May 14. They came home to play Carolina and lost 11 of their next 16 games. Their five-game lead turned to a game-lead in less than a week. Ten days after they came home to play the Mudcats, they lost it, and although they would get it back, their lead up to the final series of the first half was never more than a game. They lost three of five to Jacksonville, forcing a one-game playoff against the Diamond Jaxx, which was a lethargic 5-1 loss.

Now players and fans were huddled around a computer, as Carolina fought back....... Off starter Casey Lambert, they strung together a one-out double, a sacrifice fly, and a single to bring them within one, 6-5, in the 5th inning. Tennessee manager Ryne Sandberg then brought in Jake Muyco for a couple of innings, throwing 16 of his 19 pitches for strikes, and holding the Mudcats, despite a leadoff double by pinch-hitter Shane Cumberland in the 7th...... Tennessee, meanwhile, added runs in the 6th and 7th to increase their lead to 8-5. Tony Thomas delivered what turned out to be the key hit, a 6th inning one-out single set up by a Wellington Castillo single and sacrifice...... Safe, but not sure...... Carolina came back in the 9th against closer Brian Schlitter. With just two pitches, Eric Eymann and Chris Denove had back-to-back singles. Schlitter struck out pinch-hitter Denis Phipps on three pitches for the first out and got Sean Henry to fly out for the second. But Jose Castro singled to score Eymann, with Denove stopping at second. Now the go-ahead run was at the plate....... Schlitter had one more to get -- MVP candidate and league-leading hitter Chris Heisey, who also happened to have 13 home runs, as well........ Heisey fouled the first pitch off, took the second high for a ball, then found pitch #3 to his liking, right over the plate, and flew out deep to left for the final out....... The Huntsville Stars now had a playoff date.

In a ten-team league, it's strange, but not unusual to find strange bedfellows. It seemed like Tennessee had done us a big favor, but in baseball, it's really all about players competing to win. That's all it is. But let's give thanks to Tennessee, who had done us a big favor.

Mid-point is usually the time you see a lot of roster changes. Carolina will have plenty to be sure. The Florida State League has already had its All-Star game and Brevard County, as well as Fort Myers, have won playoff spots. So with the Stars coming home Monday to start the second half of the season against the Chattanooga Lookouts, I'll be looking to Brian Massey for news....... Josh Butler, who pitched well last Wednesday, leaving with a 3-2 lead over the Barons, will get the 7:00 PM start against Travis Chick, who beat the Stars, 6-3, May 12. Chick will be making his 17th appearance against Huntsville. Going back to 2005, he's 6-5 with a 5.47 ERA. Against the Stars, he has worn uniforms for Mobile, Chattanooga, and West Tennessee.

Four of Mark Holliman's five victories have come on the road....... John Axford's three scoreless innings lowered his ERA to a nifty 3.52....... Mike McClendon has been scored upon in four of his last five relief apperances. Birmingham has pounded him for 10 hits and 11 runs in 3 2/3 innings. The six runs he allowed Saturday, however, were all unearned, which leads to the subject of errors........ The Stars have committed 17 in their last seven games, but that's far from the club record for consecutive games with an error (18 in 1991, Athletics organization). The six errors they made with McClendon on the mound in Friday's 2nd game is the most since August 26, 2002 - in a 10-9 loss to Tennessee...... There are four other teams in the league with more errors than that Stars...... Adam Stern leads SL outfielders with a 1.000 fielding pct. in 64 games.......

Shane Justis was a modest 4-for-23 (.174) against Birmingham pitching in the series. He's had just three extra-base hits in his last 18 games........ Drew Anderson has left 16 runners on base in his last six games, while going 3-for-21 at the plate. He has not homered since May 29...... Taylor Green raised his average over .300 for the first time since he's joined the Stars. Four of the five errors he's been charged with since he joined, came in three straight games in this series....... Freddy Parejo raised his average to .240 for the first time this season with a 3-for-5 day. He's hitting .273 for June........ Huntsville hitters have struck out the fewest times in the league -- 367 -- and is 3rd in bases on balls....... The 15 hits the Stars assembled Sunday are the most this month and the most since May 16.

Lou Palmisano has signed with the Sioux City (Iowa) Explorers of the American Association. Thanks to brewerfan.net for that information..... Outfielder Cristian Guerrero, who hit .223 for the Stars in 2002, has been activated by the Gary RailCats of the independent Northern League..... The Schaumberg Flyers (Northern) signed Travis Ezi on Wednesday...... Former Diamond Jaxx players Aaron Trolia and Tydus Meadows have also been signed to Northern League contracts....... Wednesday, Jeff Eure, who hit .248 in 106 games for the Stars in 2006, was traded by the independent York (Atlantic) Revolution to the St. Paul Saints of the American Association for future considerations....... Former Stars outfielder Steve Moss is struggling with the low Class A-Clinton LumberKings, a Mariners' affiliate in the Midwest League. Moss is hitting .170 in June, dropping his average to .221 in 26 games w/3 HRs and 15 RBIs.