New link to new blog

I've moved -- http://montgomeryadvertiser.com/biscuitblog

And I bid a tearful adieu to blogger.

I like blogger, but the montgomeryadvertiser.com folk want the hits to go to montgomeryadvertiser.com. They particularly came to this conclusion after us sports people started teasing to the blogs directly here at blogger. At least with the link above, you won't have to go on safari to find my crumby blog.

Also, highly recommended ...
The Hottest Auburn Blog on the Net, by Jay G. Tate -- http://montgomeryadvertiser.com/aublog

No www's required.

Ah, the memories: Being able to put obscure, overly dramatic historical references to describe a mere football game (see November 2007) (and thanks again, Nick Saban), having too many Devil Rays tell me the blog has become required reading, reading the quiz guesses from the Charlie Montoyo figurine (see May 2007), using the same photo of the mayor (left) whenever possible, and, of course, the Super Bowl commercials from February, particularly Summer Glau (right). And the Terminator show is pretty good, if you missed it.

I almost forgot the repeated Chris Mason references.

Top Braves prospect suspended

Outfielder Jordan Schafer, the No. 1 prospect in the Atlanta Braves' system who is with Double-A Mississippi, has been suspended. He'll miss the next 50 games for using human growth hormone.

Monday finale against Lookouts

The Lookouts have lost catcher Chris Kroski, who was 0-for-3 with an RBI in Sunday's first game, to Triple-A Louisville. Former UCLA Bruin Chris Denove joins the team.

By the way, here's a story from last week about Wade Townsend, who is quickly becoming known as a good quote. Townsend hopes to throw with a full deck

LOOKOUTS
Bolivar, 3b
Anderson, 2b
Gutierrez, 1b
Tatum, c
Strait, lf
Dorn, dh
Szymanski, rf
Cumberland, cf
Castro, ss
LeCure, rhp

BISCUITS
Eldridge, cf
Raburn, ss
Jaso, c
Nowak, 3b
Hughes, 1b
Pedroza, rf
Martinez, dh
Andrus, lf
Asanovich, 2b
Wlodarczyk, lhp

Sunday's Game 2: Biscuits 10, Lookouts 1

Richard De Los Santos threw five shutout innings and the Biscuits cracked three home runs in a 10-1 win over the Lookouts in Sunday's second game.

John Jaso, Rhyne Hughes and Josh Asanovich each homered. Every Biscuits starter had at least one hit.

Game 2 lineups

Your second-game starters ...

LOOKOUTS
Bolivar, 2b
Cumberland, cf
Griffin, dh
Dorn, lf
Tatum, c
Strait, rf
Gutierrez, 1b
Eymann, 3b
Castro, ss
Mallett, rhp

BISCUITS
Eldridge, cf
Raburn, ss
Jaso, c
Nowak, 3b
Hughes, 1b
Pedroza, dh
Martinez, lf
Andrus, rf
Asanovich, 2b
De Los Santos, rhp

Does this link work?

Let me know. They probably won't let me double-post for too much longer.

The new blog?

Syzmanski updates grand slam list

Here's the list of grand slams surrendered by the Biscuits.

2004
none
2005
May 21: Mobile's Nick Trzesniak, off Jose Diaz, eighth inning
July 3: Birmingham's Josh Fields, off Brian Lockwood, third inning
July 17: Jacksonville's Sergio Garcia, off Brian Henderson, seventh inning, at Riverwalk
2006
April 15: Jacksonville's Craig Brazell (Montgomery native), off Chris Flinn, first inning
Aug. 6: Mississippi's Josh Burrus, off Josh Kranawetter, eighth inning, at Riverwalk
2007
April 9: West Tenn's Brent Johnson, off Mike Prochaska, first inning, at Riverwalk
May 2: Mississippi's Josh Burrus, off Chris Seddon, fourth inning, at Riverwalk
June 8: Mobile's Javier Brito, off Chris Mason, first inning
Sept. 1: Jacksonville's Blake DeWitt, off Jake McGee, first inning
2008
Sunday: Chattanooga's B.J. Szymanski, off Jeremy Flanagan, eighth inning, at Riverwalk

Sunday's opener: Lookouts 8, Biscuits 4 (8 innings)

B.J. Szymanski hit an eighth-inning grand slam -- on an 0-2 pitch from Jeremy Flanagan -- to give the Chattanooga Lookouts an 8-4 victory over the Montgomery Biscuits.

The Biscuits rallied in the seventh, the finaly scheduled inning, without benefit of a hit to force an extra frame. Ronnie Merrill's flyout brought in Erold Andrus.

Montgomery starter James Houser allowed just two hits and one earned run in five innings.

Marathon Sunday

It's a doubleheader today due to Friday's rainout and here are the Game 1 lineups.

LOOKOUTS
Bolivar, dh
Anderson, 2b
Griffin, 3b
Gutierrez, 1b
Strait, cf
Dorn, lf
Szymanski, rf
Kroski, c
Castro, ss

BISCUITS
Eldridge, cf
Merrill, ss
Hughes, 1b
Nowak, 3b
Martinez, dh
Pedroza, rf
Cottrell, 2b
Andrus, lf
Spring, c

A soggy Saturday

With more rain and tons of clouds, neither team took batting practice, but there should be baseball today.

Lineups ...
LOOKOUTS
Bolivar, 2b
Anderson, dh
Griffin, 3b
Dorn, lf
Tatum, c
Cumberland, cf
Szymanski, rf
Gutierrez, 1b
Eymann, ss
Avery, rhp

BISCUITS
Eldridge, cf
Merrill, ss
Jaso, c
Nowak, 3b
Hughes, 1b
Pedroza, rf
Martinez, dh
Cottrell, 2b
Andrus, lf
Davis, rhp

Special section links

In case you missed them, here are the links to the stories in Thursday's special section about the Biscuits.

McGee, Davis have a lot in common, including talent
A Q&A with pitching coach Neil Allen
Hughes looks ahead after being hit in mouth by pitch
Pedroza hit the shot heard around the city

We originally were going to have a trivia contest, so I made these more difficult than they needed to be. Then, we decided not to have a contest. (Feel free to post your results.)
Trivia questions
Answers

We were also able to PDF some of the graphics pages, but not the Southern League preview page or the Tampa Bay organizational ladder page. The file includes each player's baseball card.

Friday vs. Lookouts, weather -- Rain wins

Rainout. Doubleheader will start at 2:05 p.m. Sunday.

Clouds are looming on the horizon and the radar doesn't look too good, but here are your lineups for Game 2 of the Lookouts-Biscuits series.

LOOKOUTS
Luis Bolivar, 2b
Drew Anderson, dh
Michael Griffin, 3b
Daniel Dorn, lf
Craig Tatum, c
Shaun Cumberland, cf
B.J. Szymanski, rf
Tonys Gutierrez, 1b
Eric Eymann, ss
James Avery, rhp

BISCUITS
Rashad Eldridge, cf
Johnny Raburn, ss
John Jaso, c
Chris Nowak, 3b
Rhyne Hughes, 1b
Sergio Pedroza, rf
Gabriel Martinez, dh
Patrick Cottrell, 2b
Erold Andrus, lf
Wade Davis, rhp

Kline, Newmann out for season

Pitchers Will Kline and David Newmann, both high draft picks by the Rays last year, will miss the season with injuries, farm director Mitch Lukevics said. Kline is out with a shoulder injury and Newmann tore a knee ligament late in spring training.

Kline was a second-round draft pick and Newmann a fourth-rounder.

Thursday vs. Lookouts -- L, 4-1

Chattanooga starter Daryl Thompson gave up three hits and no earned runs over six innings to lead the Lookouts to a 4-1 win over the Biscuits in Thursday's season opener.

EIGHTH INNING
Lookouts add two more on a Michael Griffin double. Gonzalez charged with three runs in two-thirds of an inning.

SEVENTH INNING
McGee is out after six. Final line: 3 hits, 1 run, 0 walks, 7 strikeouts. Jino Gonzalez shaky in his Montgomery debut, issues a two-out walk before giving up an RBI triple. In the bottom half, Biscuits start with two straight singles before Gabriel Martinez waives badly at some off-speed stuff and Ronnie Merrill grounds into a double play. Lookouts 2, Biscuits 1.

FOURTH INNING
A bloop single, steal and solid single allow the Lookouts to tie it. Cody Strait took second on the RBI single. McGee made a double-clutch, one-bounce throw to try to get him. Tied 1-1.

THIRD INNING
McGee snaps off two good curveballs and strikes out B.J. Szymanski to start it. With two outs, he hangs a curve that Jose Castro hits off the left-field wall for Chattanooga's first baserunner.

SECOND INNING
McGee another three up, three down.

FIRST INNING
Jake McGee looks good early. He hit 93 a lot in the first inning and sat down the Lookouts in order. Kc, Kc, F-9. Johnny Raburn gets Montgomery's first hit of the season and, more importantly, his intro music is the same from 2006: Alabama's Mountain Music. The Biscuits score their first run on an error. Biscuits 1, Lookouts 0.

Thursday's Lookouts lidlifter

The Biscuits are taking batting practice and the Lookouts are starting to hit the field for tonight's season opener at Riverwalk Stadium. (I've yet to find a direct link to the new blog at the paper's site.)

LOOKOUTS
Luis Bolivar, 2b
Drew Anderson, dh
Michael Griffin, 3b
Craig Tatum, c
Cody Strait, lf
Daniel Dorn, 1b
B.J. Syzmanski, rf
Shaun Cumberland, cf
Jose Castro, ss
Daryl Thompson, rhp

BISCUITS
Rashad Eldridge, cf
Johnny Raburn, dh
John Jaso, c
Chris Nowak, 3b
Rhyne Hughes, 1b
Sergio Pedroza, rf
Gabriel Martinez, lf
Ronnie Merrill, ss
Josh Asanovich, 2b
Jake McGee, lhp

Special section finished; go buy a copy

The annual Biscuits preseason special section is finally finished. Look for the 24-page tabloid in Thursday's edition of the Advertiser and see what all I screwed up. Those of you outside the circulation area are excused from purchasing, but you should be able to see all the stories at montgomeryadvertiser.com.

Oh, and they're forcing us to change our blogs and we're going away from blogspot. Our newly designed site currently includes the Clarion-Ledger's Mississippi State writer's blog, which is a good read, but none of the Montgomery sports blogs.

I'll post a link here when I get one. Until then, I'll likely post to both places. (We'll see if the bells and whistles you've become accustomed to here will be available over there.)

Here's the Biscuits' lineup for Thursday. (*--Subject to change.)
Rashad Eldridge, cf
Johnny Raburn, dh
John Jaso, c
Chris Nowak, 3b
Rhyne Hughes, 1b
Sergio Pedroza, rf
Gabriel Martinez, lf
Ronnie Merrill, ss
Josh Asanovich, 2b
Jake McGee, lhp

Chattanooga pitching matchups

The Chattanooga Lookouts have set their pitching rotation for this weekend's season-opening series against the Biscuits. The Lookouts also feature outfielder Shaun Cumberland, who was with Montgomery until a trade last summer.

Thursday: RHP Daryl Thompson vs. LHP Jake McGee
Friday: RHP Justin Mallett vs. RHP Wade Davis
Saturday: RHP James Avery vs. LHP James Houser
Sunday: LHP Ben Jukich vs. RHP Richard De Los Santos
Monday: RHP Sam LeCure vs. LHP Mike Wlodarczyk