FLYING TIGERS – Lakeland enters this series with a 18-22 record and is in 4th place in the North Division, 10.5 games behind Brevard County … The Flying Tigers lost three of four games against Jupiter in their first inter-division series of the season, winning the opener 9-3 before dropping three straight to the Hammerheads … Lakeland is 9th in the Florida State League (FSL) with a .239 team batting average and 5th in the FSL with a 3.47 team ERA.
THE CARDINALS – Palm Beach brings a 20-27 mark into the series and is in last place in the South Division, 10.5 games behind first place Fort Myers … The Cardinals have won four straight, taking a four-game series from Daytona … Palm Beach ranks 8th in the FSL with a .242 team batting average and 6th with a 3.59 team ERA … The Cardinals are 15-5 when leading after seven innings and 3-17 when trailing after seven.
THE SERIES … This is the first meeting between the Flying Tigers and Cardinals. Last season, Palm Beach took five of the eight games in the series. The four-game set in Palm Beach turned out to be memorable as each of the first three games went 10 innings and three of the last four were decided by just one run.
LAKELAND PROBABLES … May 30 – Thad Weber: rain has shortened his last two outings going just 2.0 innings in his last start on May 26 before rains suspended that game. Weber, who has 8 strikeouts and 1 walk over his last 10.0 innings pitched, has three outings with 7.0 IP including a scoreless stint on two hits against Tampa on May 29 … May 31 – Charlie Furbush: lost his last start working 4.0 innings against Jupiter on May 27. Furbush surrendered two earned runs on five hits in that game. He has five starts with 5.0 innings pitched … June 1 – L.J. Gagnier: has had two wins in his last three starts including a 5.0 inning stint on May 27 against Jupiter. He has had four outings with 6.0 or more innings pitched with a season-high of 6.2 innings on May 12 at Dunedin … June 2 – Andrew Hess: Suffered his worst outing in his last start, allowing 9 hits and four runs in 4.0 innings against Jupiter on May 28. Prior to that game, he had three starts with 6.0 innings pitched in each, including a stint allowing two runs on four hits at Tampa on May 21.
LAKELAND MANAGER ANDY BARKETT … Barkett is in his second season with Lakeland with an 85-92 record (67-70 in year one). In his rookie season as manager, he led Oneonta to a 44-32 record in the New York-Penn League in 2007.
LAKELAND INSIDE THE NUMBERS … 16-1 when leading after seven innings and 0-21 when trailing after seven … 7-9 on the road this season (11-13 at home) … 2-6 in one-run games … 11-3 when out-hitting its opponent, 4-19 when being outhit and 3-0 when the two teams have the same number of hits … 17-3 when scoring four or more runs and 1-19 when scoring three or fewer runs … 1-6 on Fridays and 1-3 on Sundays … best day of the week is Wednesdays with a 6-3 mark and are .500 on remaining days.
CARDINALS INSIDE THE FSL … Adron Chambers ranks third in all of minor league baseball with a FSL-leading 7 triples … Shane Peterson ranks 8th at .316 and is 3rd with 55 hits.
A NIGHT TO FORGET … If the Flying Tigers’ last outing was a movie, it may be likened to The Titanic. Lakeland trailed Jupiter 4-0 after 3-1/2 innings on Thursday before the skies opened up. Consider that the iceberg on the horizon. The game resumed and that’s when the ship hit the ‘berg as Jupiter cranked out 21 hits. Included in the onslaught was Brandon Tripp hitting for the cycle. The damage continued in the regularly scheduled game as the Hammerheads rapped out 14 more hits for a total of 35 base knocks in the two games including seven doubles, a triple and four home runs. It was the most hits allowed in back-to-back games by Lakeland since Sarasota totaled 34 with 17 hits in each end of a doubleheader on Aug. 4, 2004.
GRAND AUDY … Audy Ciriaco has hit two grand slams already this season. His first came in dramatic style as it came on a walk-off homer in Lakeland’s 10-6 win over Brevard County on May 16 in front of a home crowd of 4,718. It was the shortstop’s second round-tripper of the game and was Lakeland’s first walk-off grand slam since Kevin Lidle socked one on June 5, 1996 against the Charlotte Rangers. On that opposing team that night was one Andy Barkett who is now the Lakeland manager. Ciriaco’s second grand slam came on May 26 in a 9-3 win over Jupiter.
CARLSON, HRs AND WINS … Chris Carlson leads Lakeland with six home runs and the Flying Tigers are a perfect 6-0 in games in which he has hit a homer. Four of his homers have been solo shots while the other two game with one man on.
KEEP IT IN THE PARK, KODY … While the Flying Tigers are 6-0 in games in which Chris Carlson homers, conversely, they are 0-4 in games in which Kody Kaiser goes yard.
FLYING HIGH … Michael Bertram is 9-for-25 (.360) over his last seven games to raise his batting average 26 points from .219 up to .245 on the season … Chris Carlson is 6-for-13 (.462) over the last four games … Mike Gosse is 5-for-15 (.333) his last five games with three doubles … Justin Henry has a five-game hit streak and is 5-for-19 (.263) during that time and is hitting .298 on the road … Jordan Newton had an eight-game hit streak snapped on May 29. During his streak he hit 13-for-35 (.371) and now has hits in 12 of his 18 games played since joining Lakeland on April 27.
THE GRINCH IS GREEN … Reliever Scott Green has not allowed a run in his last four outings and just one run over his last eight appearances.
ROBBIE HOOD … Reliever Robbie Weinhardt has allowed just one run in his last five outings and has been scored upon in just two of his 14 appearances this season.
WEBER AND RAIN … Staring pitcher Thad Weber has had his last two starts cut short by rain. He started May 15 against Brevard but rains stopped that game after the first inning. In his last start, he worked two innings before Mother Nature ruled once again suspending that game.
MOTHER NATURE 9, LAKELAND 8 … Speaking of rain, Lakeland has had nine games postponed, suspended or outright cancelled in the last 17 days, playing just eight times.
BLAST FROM THE PAST … Joe Staton set the Lakeland Tiger record for season batting average in 1970 hitting .346 on the season. The all-time Lakeland franchise record was set in 1923 as Bud Ammons batted .360 for the then Lakeland Highlanders.
FSL FUN FACT … What do Major League Hall of Famers Johnny Bench, Rod Carew and Stan Musial, have in common? Each played in the Florida State League during their minor league careers. Bench batted .248 in 68 games played for the 1965 Tampa Tarpons while Carew batted .303 in 125 games played for the Orlando Twins in 1965. Musial hit .311 in 113 games played for the Daytona Beach Islanders in 1940.
