THE FLYING TIGERS (38-35, 1-2, 1.0 GB) - After opening the second half with a 3-1 win over Brevard County on a Billy Nowlin 3-run homer on Thursday, Lakeland suffered back-to-back 4-3, 11-inning losses to the Manatees and stand at 1-2 in the second half. The Flying Tigers batted .252 in the series and had 22 hits in the two extra-inning affairs. Lakeland is now tied for third in the FSL with a .263 average while the pitching staff is also third with a 3.13 staff ERA.
THE YANKEES (38-33, 1-2, T-1st) ... Tampa took two of three from Clearwater to open the second half, but have lost five of its last eight games, including back-to-back shutout losses to Dunedin on June 22-23. Adam Warren leads the FSL with a 2.86 ERA, but has just a 6-5 record to show for it while reliever Jonathan Ortiz is tied for third in the league with 14 saves. The Yankees are hitting .254 as a team and have the second lowest ERA in the league with a 3.11 mark.
THE SERIES ... Tampa holds a slim 7-6 advantage in the series this season and has won the last two meetings. The first four meetings of the season all ended in a shutout with the Yankees taking three of those games. Lakeland is batting .252 in the series with a 2.95 ERA while the Yankees have a .256 average and a 2.93 ERA in the 13 games.
ROSTER RAID PT. II ... Just prior to the Brevard County series, 1B Rawley Bishop, 2B Alden Carrithers and OF Kody Kaiser were all sent to AA Erie and RHP Wilsen Palacios was sent to the GCL Tigers. RHP Jacob Turner and 1B Jordan Lennerton were then added from West Michigan and IF Carmelo Jaime was brought back to Lakeland from the Connecticut roster while Bryan Pounds was activated from the DL. On June 24, LHP Charlie Furbush and OF Ben Guez headed to Erie while OF Samir Rijo was added from the GCL Squad. The moves continued on Saturday as RHP Lester Oliveros earned a trip to Erie while Miquel Mejia was sent to West Michigan. Taking one roster spot is RHP Jared Gayhart from Erie while Brayan Villarreal was activated from the disabled list.
NEWEST CREW MEMBERS ... Jared Gayhart, who pitched in seven games in Lakeland in 2009, was a 13th round pick of Detroit in 2008 out of Rice University. Carmelo Jaime, who played in 37 games in Lakeland in 2008, was a 24th round pick of the Tigers in 2008 out of Miami Dade Community College. Jon Kibler was a 39th round pick of Detroit in 2007 out of Michigan State University. Kibler, who entered this season with a 23-16 career record, was the Tiger’s Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2008 and the Gulf Coast League Tigers’ Pitcher of the Year in 2007. Jordan Lennerton, who played in 18 games in Lakeland in 2008, was a 33rd round pick that season out of Oregon State University. Samir Rijo was signed as a non-drafted free agent in 2006 and spent the last three seasons in the Dominican Summer League.
WELCOME BACK BRAYAN ... Brayan Villarreal made his first start on Saturday after being activated from the disabled list. Villarreal, who is tied for the Florida State League with seven wins, worked five shutouts innings, holding the Manatees to a pair of hits with seven strikeouts and one walk. He is now eighth in the FSL with a 3.10 ERA and is fourth with a .222 opponents batting average.
NOWLIN STREAKING AGAIN ... Earlier this season, Billy Nowlin strung together a streak of reaching base in 22 consecutive games. He enters this series with a 12-game hit streak in which he is hitting .455 (20x44) with 14 runs batted in. He joins Kody Kaiser (21), Alden Carrithers (13), and Francisco Martinez (13) as Flying Tigers with streaks of 12 games or more this season.
DIG THAT DOUGLAS ... Brandon Douglas has multiple hits in each of his last four games and is batting .643 (9x14) with five runs scored in those games.
GO GUSTAVO ... Gustavo Nunez has two hits in each of his last two games and is batting .400 (4x10) with two runs scored in the two 11-inning losses at Brevard County.
LOOK OUT BEHIND YA ... While he’s got some catching up to do to match Nowlin’s hit streak, Billy Alvino has hits in each of his three games played since joining Lakeland this season.
WILK THE WORKHORSE ... Adam Wilk ranks second in the league with 86.0 innings pitched. He leads the FSL with 1.05 walks per nine innings and is tied for second with a 1.10 WHIP (walks/hits per inning pitched). He has allowed 10.26 baserunners per nine innings this season which is the third fewest total in the league.
STARTING ROTATION ... From opening night through to the All-Star break, the Flying Tiger starting rotation remained intact with the same five pitchers starting every fifth game. With all of the recent roster moves and a doubleheader thrown in, seven different pitchers have started on the mound in the last seven contests.
THE QUARTET ... As Flying Tigers, Rawley Bishop, Alden Carrithers and Kody Kaiser combined for 37 percent of Lakeland’s hits and runs scored while pitcher Charlie Furbush was leading the FSL with 109 strikeouts. The position trio earned promotions to AA Erie just prior to the end of the first half with Furbush earning his trip shortly after that. With the Seawolves Bishop is adjusting with three hits in 16 at bats for a .188 mark. He does have a homer and six RBI so far. Carrither’s took his hot bat with him and is off to a 4x13 start (.308) with three runs scored and a .526 on-base percentage. Kaiser is hitting .235 with four hits in 17 at bats. Furbush gave up three runs in 7.0 innings pitched on eight hits (two were home runs) with four strikeouts and two walks (one intentional) in a no-decision.
55 FLYING TIGERS ... So far this season 55 players have donned the colors of the Flying Tigers. Twenty-three players have gone to bat for Lakeland while 22 have taken the mound. Of the 13 position players currently on the team, eight have played in 30 or fewer of the 73 games contested to far.
SHORT SEASON CLUBS ... Connecticut (formerly the Oneonta club) is off to a 5-4 start in the New York-Penn League and has won three straight. The GCL Tigers are 2-4 in the early going and have lost three in a row.
No comments:
Post a Comment