THE FLYING TIGERS ... Lakeland enters the Clearwater series with a 3-6 record in second half after shutting out Tampa, 4-0, on the Fourth of July in front of 5,248 fans - the largest crowd of the season for Lakeland. The Flying Tigers are in last place in the North Division and trail a trio of teams tied for first place - Dunedin (6-2), Tampa (6-2) and Clearwater (7-3). Overall, Lakeland is 33-42 on the season. Lakeland is ninth in the FSL with a .244 average, 10th in runs scored and seventh with a 3.59 team ERA.
CLEARWATER ... The Threshers are in a three-way tie for first with Dunedin and Tampa. Clearwater is 7-3 while Dunedin and Tampa are 6-2. Overall, the Threshers are 39-37. Batting .255 as a team, Clearwater ranks fifth in the league in hitting and are second in the FSL in runs scored. Their team ERA of 3.80 ranks ninth. Tim Kennelly ranks third in the FSL with a .310 average and third with 44 runs batted in. Kyle Drabek (4-1) and Yohan Flande (7-1) and rank sixth and seventh with 2.48 and 2.52 ERAs, respectively.
THE SERIES ... The two clubs have met seven times this season with the Threshers winning five of the match-ups.
TONIGHT’S PROBABLE STARTER:
July 5 - Matt Hoffman (2-4, 7.09 ERA) - tossed a complete-game, seven-inning shutout in his first appearance on May 21 for Lakeland ... has a 9.00 ERA since ... has allowed four or more earned runs in four of his seven starts ... tossed 6.2 innings and allowed five earned runs on seven hits in his last start on June 28 at Sarasota.
July 6 - Charlie Furbush (4-4, 4.11 ERA) - 1-3 with a 5.00 ERA in his last eight starts. allowed two or fewer runs in six of those eight starts ... last win came back on June 12 ... worked 5.2 innings allowing one unearned run on five hits and four strikeouts in his last start on June 29 at home against Ft. Myers.
July 7 - L.J. Gagnier - (5-6, 3.81 ERA) - leads the Florida State League with 79 strikeouts, yet Lakeland has the fewest team strikeouts in the league ... leads Lakeland with five wins and 80.1 innings pitched ... has lost his last two starts and is 2-4 his last sis starts ... struck out a team season-high 13 batters on June 25 at Sarasota, his second double-digit strikeout performance of the season.
SHUT ‘EM DOWN ... Mauricio Robles and Brendan Wise combined on a five-hut shutout in Lakeland’s 4-0 win over Tampa on July 4. Robles limited the Yankees to four hits with three walks and five strikeouts over his 6.2 innings pitched while Wise worked the final 2.1 innings, allowing just one hit. It was the Flying Tigers’ fourth shutout of the season.
DOUBLE DIGIT DINGERS ... Chris Carlson’s home run on Saturday against Tampa was his 10th of the season and gives him double-digit homers in each of his four pro seasons hitting 11 in his rookie season with the Gulf Coast League Tigers and 10 in each of his last three seasons. He now has 42 career homers.
SERIOUSLY CIRIACO ... Audy Ciriaco, who got just his second night off of the year on Saturday, is hitting .351 (26x74) his last 21 games. Ciriaco, who has started 72 of Lakeland’s 74 games at shortstop, leads the club with 61 hits and 33 runs batted in.
HOT HENRY ... Justin Henry is batting .436 (17x39) his last 12 games with five doubles and six runs batted in. He still leads all second baseman in the Florida State League with a .992 fielding percentage. Henry leads Lakeland with 35 runs scored and is tied for the team lead with 13 stolen bases.
TUCK AND ROLL ... Joe Tucker is hitting .344 (11x32) is his last ten games.
DON’T WALK THE LINE ... The Flying Tigers’ bullpen has issued just three walks in their last 36.0 innings over the last 12 games. Two of those walks came in the same contest.
FIVE TWO BAGGERS ... Lakeland cranked out five doubles in Saturday night’s game against Tampa as Justin Henry, Chris White, Michael Bertram, Adrian Casanova and Joe Tucker each doubled. It was the fourth time this season Lakeland has collected five doubles in one game.
PULLED A FAST ONE ... Saturday’s game time was just 1:54, the quickest nine-inning game this season eclipsing a 1:56 game against Daytona on June 23. The 1:54 was the shortest game for Lakeland since spending just 1:42 in a 2-1 win over Dunedin on June 22, 2006.
WITHER THE TRIPLE ... Lakeland collected nine triples in a nine game stretch from June 12-22, and has just one triple - that by Jordan Newton in Friday’s game - in its last 12 games.
A WISE GUY ... Brendan Wise has not allowed a run in his last five appearances of the bullpen covering 6.0 innings. He has been scored up in just two of his 14 outings this season.
ONE OR THE OTHER ... Lakeland has not homered and stolen a base in the same game since June 22 - a stretch of 12 games.
OVER 10,000 FANS ... Lakeland’s Fourth of July crowd of 5,248 was the team’s largest in at least the five years. Coupled with Tampa’s fireworks crowd of 4,760 means the Flying Tigers played in front of over 10,000 fans their last two games.
ONE MORE FOR THE CENTURY … Andy Barkett is in his second season with Lakeland with a 99-111 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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