THE FLYING TIGERS ... The Flying Tigers snapped a four-game losing streak with a 7-2 win at Charlotte on June 18, their last game before the All-Star break. The win puts Lakeland at 27-33 on the season with five games left in the first half. The Flying Tigers are batting .242 as a team with a 3.58 team ERA and a .972 team fielding percentage. Lakeland is 24-1 when leading after seven innings and 1-32 when trailing after seven innings. The Flying Tigers are 17-5 when scoring the first runs of the game and 6-10 in 1-run games.
THE CUBS ... Daytona is 31-31 on the season and in second place in the North Division 9.5 games behind Brevard County. The Cubs are hitting .248 as a team with a 3.35 team ERA. Catcher Chirinos Robinson, a converted second baseman, is third in the FSL with 10 homers.
THE SERIES ... These two clubs have met six times this season with each winning two of three on their own home field. Their last series, May 22-24, was rained out in Daytona.
FIVE IN THREE ... Thanks to the rainouts in Daytona, the Cubs and the Flying Tigers will play doubleheaders at 5 p.m. Monday and Wednesday with Camp Day game Tuesday at 10:30 a.m.
START ALL OVER AGAIN .... The first half of the 2009 season comes to a close for Lakeland with Wednesday’s doubleheader as the second half begins June 25.
STAR OF STARS ... Daytona Cubs’ shortstop Starlin Castro hit an inside-the-park home run to highlight a 6-run fourth inning as the North Squad posted a 6-4 win over the South in the FSL All-Star game on Saturday. Castro finished 4-for-4 to pick up the “Star of Stars” honor as the game’s Most Valuable Player. Castro was one of three All-Stars from Daytona joining Robinson Chirinos and Ryan Searle.
WEBER WITH THE WIN, HESS WITH THE STOP .... Lakeland’s Thad Weber tossed one scoreless inning in the third frame as the North Squad downed the South Squad, 6-4, in the FSL All-Star game Saturday at Ft. Myers. Weber gave up one hit in his scoreless outing. The North scored all six of their runs in the top of the fourth while the South notched each of their four runs in the bottom of the fifth. Flying Tiger pitcher Andrew Hess came on in relief in the fifth to shutdown the South rally and worked the fifth and sixth innings allowing no runs on one hit.
GRAND OL’ TIME ... As noted before the Flying Tigers’ Audy Ciriaco has hit two grand slams this season. Cubs’ catcher Robinson Chirinos tops that with two grand slams on May 31 against Sarasota. The next day he followed with two more homers.
K-VILLE ... Lakeland batters struck out 44 times in the four-game series at Charlotte. Ironically, their worst game at the plate (17 strikeouts) came in the same game they won, 7-2.
THE BER-TRAM ROLLS .... Michael Bertram has hit safely in 15 of his last 17 games, batting .379 (22x58) with seven doubles, two triples, four home runs and 13 RBI. He brings a seven-game hit streak into tonight’s game (.400, 10x25). All seven of his homers have come off righthanders.
CARLSON A’ ROLLIN ALONG ... Chris Carlson is hitting .328 (21x64) with six doubles, a triple, two home runs and four RBI over his last 19 games. He is 6x18 (.333) his last five games and is tied for the team lead with seven homers - all at home.
SERIOUSLY CIRIACO ... Audy Ciriaco is 10x33 (.303) his last nine games. Each of his 10 walks have come vs. righthanders.
UP AND DOWN CHARLIE ... Charlie Furbush is a roller-coaster ride his last four games, giving up 1-6-1-4 runs in the four games. He has eight strikeouts and seven walks his last four games.
GONE-YAY WITH THE WIND ... L.J. Gagnier has won each of his last two starts and has brought his ERA down almost a full point (4.99 to 4.00) in his last six games dating back to May 17.
JUST IN CASE ... Justin Henry is 10x34 (.294) his last eight games. He is hitting 85 points better on the road than at home (.206 at home against .291 on the road). He leads all FSL second baseman with a .990 fielding percentage with just two errors on the season.
NO FRETT, BRETT’S HERE ... Brett Jacobson has compiled a 0.75 ERA (12.0IP/1ER) over his last seven outings with eight strikeouts as well.
GLAD TO BE BACK AT HOME ... Kody Kaiser has hit safely in eight of his last 10 games and is hitting over 100 points better at home (.308 at home, .197 in road games). All five homers of his have come at home.
NO JUNE SWOON ... Lester Oliveros has compiled a 1.00 (9.0 IP, 1 ER) over his five appearances in the month of June.
DON’T BE SAD, HERE’S THAD ... Thad Weber is fifth in the Florida State League with a 2.13 ERA and has 14 strikeouts and just three walks his last 27.2 innings pitched.
HAVE A HEART ... Robbie Weinhardt has a 0.59 ERA (15.1 IP, 1 ER) in his last 11 outings dating back to May 9. He has been scored upon in just two of his 20 appearances this season.
LAKELAND MANAGER ANDY BARKETT … Andy Barkett is in his second season and enters this series with an 94-103 record in Lakeland (67-70 in year one). In his rookie season as manager with Detroit, he led Oneonta to a 44-32 record League in 2007.
_________________________________
Views expressed in “Mission Notes” are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Lakeland Flying Tigers.
No comments:
Post a Comment