THE FLYING TIGERS ... With the 5-4 win Wednesday at Ft. Myers, Lakeland snapped a five-game losing streak and now stands at 23-29 on the season. The Flying Tigers are in a last place tie in the North Division with Dunedin which is .004 percentage points ahead of Lakeland. The Flying Tigers are now 6-10 against the South Division and will look to improve against Sarasota, another non-division series.
THE REDS ... Like Lakeland, Sarasota finds itself on the bottom looking up with a last place record of 23-24. And, like the Flying Tigers, the Reds have company in the cellar as they are tied with Palm Beach. Sarasota lost 7-3 to Tampa on Wednesday and is 3-7 in its last 10 games.
THE SERIES ... This is the first meeting between the two clubs in 2009. Last season, with both squads competing in the East Division, the Reds won 10 of the 18 match-ups.
WELCOME BACK BATS ... The Flying Tigers amassed 11 base hits in their game on Wednesday including two triples and a pair of home runs. It marked their first double-digit total in hits since totalling 10 base knocks on May 30 at Palm Beach. The two triples by Chris White and Kody Kaiser gave the Flying Tigers their first double-triple game of the season. Jordan Newton and Michael Bertram joined the extra-base parade with solo home runs. Bertram’s blast, his 4th of the season, proved to be the game winner.
EMPTY SACKERS ... The solo homers by Jordan Newton and Michael Bertram on Wednesday are nothing new for Lakeland. Of the Flying Tigers’ 27 homers this season, 17 of them have come with nobody on base including all six homers by Kody Kaiser.
NO FREE PASSES ... It was a good thing the Lakeland bats were alive on Wednesday as the Miracle pitchers had perfect control and did not walk a single Lakeland batter. It was the fifth time this season that the Flying Tigers could not draw a base on balls.
CLOSE ONES ... Three of the four games are Ft. Myers were decided by one-run. Lakeland has been involved in 17 one-run games this season with a 6-9 record in those contests.
FLYING HIGH ... Chris Carlson has 15 hits in his last 42 at bats for a .357 mark and has hits in 11 of his last 13 games played ... Santo De Leon is 6-for-20 (.300) over his last seven games ... Chris White is 7-for-24 (.292) his last seven games and has hits in 10 of his last 13 games.
TUCK AND ROLL ... Lakeland’s newest member is Joe Tucker who rejoins Lakeland after a stint at AA Erie where he was hitting .239. He began the 2009 season at Lakeland.
LAKELAND MANAGER ANDY BARKETT … Andy Barkett is in his second season with Lakeland with an 89-96 record (67-70 in year one). In his first year with the organization, he led Oneonta to a 44-32 record in the New York-Penn League in 2007.
HE’S OUTTA HERE ... Andy Barkett was ejected in the 1st inning of game two of the Ft. Myers doubleheader on June 9, his second time in the span of ten games, having been tossed on May 31 at Palm Beach. Prior to the May 31 game, Barkett had gone 70 games without getting an early exit. The Flying Tigers’ Commander has not been tossed at home since May 29 of last season – a streak of 96 home games.
READY FOR PRIME TIME ... Lakeland’s July 11 game at Brevard County is set to be broadcast live on Bright House Sports Network (Channel 47 on Bright House in Polk County).
ACES FULL ... The Flying Tigers pitching staff features three of the top ten pitchers (in terms of ERA) in the Detroit organization. Thad Weber leads the organization with a 2.44 ERA while Matt Hoffman has compiled the second best ERA of 2.49 in his combined West Michigan and Lakeland stints. Andrew Hess is 8th with a 3.81 ERA. Hoffman also leads all Detroit minor league pitchers with seven wins while Scott Green is third with six saves and L.J. Gagnier is fourth with 52 strikeouts. The staff ERA of 3.62 is second best among the four minor league affiliates for Detroit.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW ... With the Major League Draft concluding today, let’s take a look back are when the top ten Tiger picks in last year’s draft are today.
1. Ryan Perry - Detroit (0-1, 3.13)
2. Cody Satterwhite - Erie (1-4, 3.65, 7 SV)
3. Scott Green - Lakeland (3-1, 3.92, 6 SV)
4. Brett Jacobson - Lakeland (1-1, 3.86, 1 SV)
5. Alex Avila - Erie (.295 - 5 - 26)
6. Tyler Stohr - West Michigan (2-1, 1.86, 10 SV)
7. Jade Todd - West Michigan (0-0, 0.00)
8. Andy Dirks - Erie (.287 - 1 - 11)
9. Anthony Shawler - West Michigan (2-3, 5.49, 1 SV)
10. Robbie Weinhardt - Lakeland (0-1, 0.83, 3 SV)
THE BIRD IS THE WORD ... The Flying Tigers are honoring the memory of Mark “The Bird” Fidrych, with a free T-Shirt premium at Friday’s game. Fidrych was 5-9 with a 3.77 ERA for the 1975 Lakeland Tigers and returned for a four-game stint in 1976 posting a 1-1 record and a 3.46 ERA.
NORTH, SOUTH, EAST, WEST ... The Florida State League is divided this season into North and South Divisions after 16 seasons of East/West Divisions from 1993-2008. From 1985 to 1992 the league was split into three divisions - Western, Central and Southern. The splitting began in 1967.
FSL FUN FACT … The record for being hit by a pitch in one game is three shared by eight players including the Detroit Tigers’ Curtis Granderson.
____________________________
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