PALM BEACH ... The Cardinals have lost two straight and are third place in the South Division with a 12-16 record, 4.5 games behind first-place Charlotte. Overall, Palm Beach is 41-57. Adron Chambers leads the FSL with 12 triples while Curt Smith is second with 103 hits and eighth with a .298 average. Nicholas Additon is eighth with a 3.06 ERA. while Adam Reifer is fourth with 12 saves. The Cardinals are 11th in the league with a .245 team batting average and last with a 4.15 team ERA.
THE SERIES ... Lakeland took three of four games from the Cardinals earlier this season in Palm Beach with three of the four games in the series being decided by one-run. The Flying Tigers captured the opener 7-6 in ten innings behind 10th inning singles by Jeramy Laster, Chris Carlson and Chris White. Lakeland then won the next night in their last at bat as well as Michael Bertram drove in two runs with a two-out single in the top of the ninth. Starting pitching was the story in games two and three as Charlie Furbush held Palm Beach to two hits in six innings of work in a 4-1 win and then Lakeland wasted a 10-strikeout night by L.J. Gagnier as they left the bases loaded in the ninth in a 2-1 loss.
HIT STREAK ... Jordan Newton doubled in the fifth inning of Saturday’s game to extend his hit streak to 12 games. He is batting 17x44 with four doubles, a triple and four runs batted in during the streak. It is the longest hitting streak for any Lakeland batter this season and is the longest since Brennan Boesch had a 13-game streak from May 21 to June 4 of last season. He will have a ways to go to catch a recent hit streak of 23-games established by Michael Woods during the 2003 season for Lakeland.
CARLSON KEEPS PACE ... Chris Carlson hit one of two Lakeland homers in the first inning of Saturday’s game at Jupiter to give him 13 home runs on the season, keeping him in a second-place tie in the FSL with Carlos Guzman of St. Lucie. Carlson began the season by hitting his first eight home runs at home, but four of his last five have come on the road.
LASTER MOVE UP LAKELAND HR LIST ... Jeramy Laster also homered in the first inning on Saturday for his 32nd career homer in a Lakeland uniform over the last two seasons. Laster is now tied for fourth on the Lakeland all-time home run list with Roland Rollin (1980-83). Leo Daigle (2000-02) holds the franchise record with 41 home runs in his three seasons while Garth McKinney (2005-06) and Alejandro Freire (1997-98) rank second and third, respectively with 35 and 34 round-trippers.
ALVINO MAKES THE MOST OF HIS CHANCES ... New Flying Tiger Billy Alvino has made the most of his opportunities at the plate, batting .364 in his seven games played so far for Lakeland. He had his best game to date on July 22 in the Jupiter series opener going 3x4 with a pair of doubles and a run batted in. It was his first three-hit game of his brief nine-game pro career for Alvino, who batted .400 as a senior this spring for High Point University.
TUCK AND ROLL ... Joe Tucker also got on the three-hit bandwagon for Lakeland rapping out a trio of hits including his second triple of the season in the Flying Tigers’ July 23 game at Jupiter. Tucker also drove in three runs and now has nine multi-hit game for Lakeland.
CASANOVA SEES THE WORLD FROM A DIFFERENT SIDE ... After spending 153 games behind the plate, Adrian Casanova saw the game from a different perspective in the second contest of the Jupiter series. Casanova worked the eight inning as a pitcher for Lakeland, but found life on the mound a tad rough, surrendering three runs on four hits. The fourth-year catcher did not walk anyone and did not record a strikeout in his brief career from the other side of the plate.
BERTRAM EARNS A TICKET TO ERIE ... Michael Bertram’s hot bat earned him a promotion to AA Erie. Bertram, who hit for the cycle on July 18, batted .765 (13x17) with three doubles, a triple, a homer and seven runs batted in his last five games. The third baseman was batting .283 with 19 doubles, 10 homers and 47 RBI on the season.
NEW CREW MEMBER ... The Flying Tigers welcomed Luis Grullon to take the place of Michael Bertram who was promoted to Erie. Grullon, who signed with the Detroit organization as a non-drafted free agent in 2005, comes to Lakeland from the Gulf Coast League Tigers where he batted .267 with five doubles and eight RBI in 17 games. He spent three season in the Dominican Summer League and played in the GCL last season.
KETCHNER GETS THE NOD ... Ryan Ketchner, who joined Lakeland on July 17, got his first start of his Flying Tiger career on July 24 at Jupiter. The 6’1” lefty, who had come out of the bullpen his first two appearances, worked on 2.2 innings and allowed one run on four hits and struck out three and did not walk a batter.
FLYING HIGH ... Maurico Robles has not allowed an earned run in his last 21.1 innings pitched dating back to July 4 ... Jeramy Laster has hits in eight of his last nine games for a .400 clip ... Chris White had a string of four consecutive with two hits in each games snapped Saturday and is now 8x20 (.400) his last five games ... Scott Green has five saves his last seven appearances has has not allowed an earned run since July 5.
THE COMMANDER … Andy Barkett is in his second season with Lakeland with a 109-121 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.
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Views expressed in “Mission Notes” are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Lakeland Flying Tigers.
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