THE FLYING TIGERS (35-32) - With this series, the first half comes to a close and the end can’t come soon enough. For a brief afternoon on June 2, Lakeland was in first place as Dunedin had lost a morning game, but the Flying Tigers also fell that evening and have dropped 11 of their last 16 games (including nine of the last 12) to drop into a tie for third place with Clearwater. Lakeland is also tied with Clearwater for second in the FSL with a .263 team batting average while the staff ERA has climbed to 3.15 and is now second best in the league. The Flying Tigers have the most hits of any team in the league with 602 and are third with 227 walks drawn. That number could increase with this series as Daytona has walked the third most batters of any team in the FSL. The pitching corps has issued the fewest walks (142) in the league.
THE CUBS (33-34) ... Daytona is coming off a series win over Dunedin, taking two of three from the Blue Jays, including the last two straight. The Cubs are in fifth place in the North Division and are 18-13 on the road compared to their 15-21 home record. Brett Jackson is the Cubs’ offensive star, leading the Florida State League with 48 runs scored. Jackson, who is second to Lakeland’s Alden Carrithers in the league with 42 walks, is fifth in the FSL with a .408 on base percentage and third with seven triples. Daytona is batting .252 as a team and the pitching staff is fourth in the league with a 3.51 team ERA.
THE SERIES ... Daytona has won five of the nine games played this season between the two clubs, including three of the last four. Lakeland took two of three in the first series in Daytona on April 27-29, while the Cubs returned the favor in Lakeland, taking two of three, on May 3-5. Last week, the Cubs again took two of three in Daytona with two of the games heading into extra innings.
PROBABLE STARTERS ... Mon: Charlie Furbush (4-5, 3.39); Tue: Adam Wilk (4-3, 3.30); Wed: Mark Sorensen (4-7, 4.52).
THE NORTH RACE ... Dunedin heads into the final three games of the first half with a 3.0 game lead over second place Tampa with their final series of the half against the Yankees in Dunedin. One win in the three games gives the Blue Jays the first half pennant. A sweep by the Yankees would leave the teams tied, but Tampa would then take the pennant on a tiebreaker by virtue of what would be a 9-3 advantage in their head-to-head series.
PITCHING STAFF STRUGGLING ... The Flying Tigers pitchers have found the going a bit on the tough side as of late. Having one of the few staff ERA’s under 3.00 in the minors for much of the first half, Lakeland now has a 3.15 ERA. The starting pitchers have a 6.45 ERA in the last seven games while the relief corps has a 3.14 ERA over the same span.
CALLING BATMAN ... Someone seems to have snuck into the club house and taken away the Lakeland bats as the team has stumbled to a .198 batting average in the last eight games with 61 strikeouts and 65 runners left on base. Lakeland, which once lead the FSL in batting, is now tied for third in the FSL with a .263 team batting average.
CONN MAN ... Reliever Tyler Conn has not allowed an earned run in his last six appearance and has a 1.42 ERA in his last 13 games out of the bullpen.
FSL LEADER ... Alden Carrithers continues to hold on to his lead in the FSL batting race with a .355 average. He also leads the league with a .462 on base percentage and is tied for the lead with 43 walks. Carrithers is third in the FSL with 77 hits and fifth with 41 runs scored and is on an eight game hit streak in which he is batting .400 (12x30).
PLAYING THE FIELDS ... Centerfielder Daniel Fields is hitting .407 (11x27) over his last eight games.
NO JUNE SWOON ... Francisco Martinez is batting .364 in the month of June with 20 hits in 55 at bats this month.
BILLY BALL ... Billy Nowlin enters this series with a seven-game hit streak in which he is batting .391 (9x23) and has hits in 19 of his last 12 games for a .368 average (28x76) during that time.
NEW CREW MEMBERS ... Just prior to the Brevard County series, Lakeland made a series of roster moves that resulted in three new players joining the club. With Brayan Villarreal on the DL, Julio Rodriguez being sent to West Michigan and Gabriel Purroy for just one day, being assigned to Connecticut (formerly the Oneonta team), the squad had three openings. John Murrian was activated from the disabled list where he had been since May 2 to take one roster spot. Billy Alvino rejoins Lakeland where he played some last season and Wilsen Palacios was added from the Connecticut roster.
LOOKING FOR BEST FINISH IN FOUR YEARS ... If the Flying Tigers would finish in second or third place this half, it would be their highest first-half finish since the 2006 team placed third, just 1/2 game out of first. The season prior, the 2005 squad captured the first half pennant.
ONE ALUM UP, ONE DOWN ... With former Lakeland Flying Tiger Rick Porcello sent down to AAA Toledo, another Lakeland alum get his shot as Jay Sborz joins the big club. Sborz racked up 15 saves for Toledo this season.
LAKELAND ALUMS ON THE FARM ... Toledo’s Jeff Frazier leads the International League with 23 doubles, 38 extra base hits, 45 runs scored, 144 total bases, while second with 77 hits. Wilkin Ramirez, now at Toledo, still ranks third in the Eastern League with 15 homers and fifth with a .543 slugging percentage while Andy Dirks is fourth with 73 hits. Trevor Feeney is fifth in the Midwest League with 76 strikeouts and first with 95.1 innings pitched.
ORGANIZATIONAL RECORDS (thru Saturday):
MLB Detroit – 38-30, 2nd in the Central Division
AAA Toledo – 39-31, 2nd in West Division
AA Erie – 30-38, 6th in Western Division
A+ Lakeland – 35-32, T-3rd in North Division
A West Michigan – 26-43, 8th in Eastern Division
SS Connecticut – 2-1, T-1st in Stelder Division
R VSL Tigers – 11-14, 6th in VSL
R DSL Tigers – 7-11, 4th in DSL
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