THE FLYING TIGERS (5-12, 42-45) - Lakeland had taken a 2-0 lead after solo homers by Bryan Holaday and Daniel Fields, but Dunedin’s Brian Van Kirk trumped their performance with a grand slam to highlight a five-run Blue Jay sixth as Lakeland fell 5-2 on Monday. Lakeland, which is hitting .259 as a team and scoring 4.18 runs per game this half, has alternated losses and wins their last six games. Overall, the Flying Tigers are fourth in the Florida State League with a .263 team batting average and third with a 3.36 staff ERA.
THE CARDINALS (10-7, 49-38) ... Palm Beach is making its first visit to Lakeland this season. Although they lost 5-3 against Bradenton on Monday, the Cardinals are 4-2 their last six games with a pair of shutouts amongst the six wins. Alex Castellanos is 7x16 (.438) his last four games and ranks second in the league with 24 doubles. Niko Vasquez enters the series with an eight-game hit streak in which he is 12x29 (.414) with two doubles, a triple, two homers and 12 runs batted in. Xavier Scruggs is second in the FSL with 12 homers, but has just one since June 21 and that came on June 28. Matthew Frevert is 6-1 with a 2.20 ERA - all in 27 relief appearances for Palm Beach. The Cardinals are batting .253 as a team while their pitching staff is right behind Lakeland with a 3.36 combined ERA.
PROBABLE STARTERS ...
Wed: Luke Putkonen (6-5, 3.64 ERA, 54 K, 28 BB, 89.0 IP)
Thu: Brayan Villarreal (7-3, 3.50 ERA, 84 K, 23 BB, 79.2 IP)
Fri: Adam Wilk (6-4, 3.02 ERA, 70 K, 12 BB, 104.1 IP)
Sat: Jon Kibler (2-3, 3.49 ERA, 21 K, 9 BB, 28.1 IP)
THE SERIES ... The Cardinals took three of four from Lakeland on May 27-30 in Palm Beach with David Carpenter picking up a save in the three wins. Brayan Villarreal got the lone win for the Flying Tigers in the second game of the series. Billy Nowlin homered in three straight games at Palm Beach on May 27-28-29.
ON THIS DATE ... On July 14, 2004, Lakeland downed Palm Beach 15-1 helped in large part to an amazing 11-run seventh inning. Five different players had two hits each in the game for Lakeland while Chris Maples and Scott Moore each drove in four runs and Alex Trezza plated three more. Joel Zumaya started and combined with three other pitchers to hold the Cards to three hits.
THE HOLADAY SEQUEL ... What does one do for an encore after going 5-for-5 in his professional debut? Well, for Bryan Holaday you add two more hits (and another double) in a 2-for-4 effort on Saturday at Dunedin. He has hits in each of his four games played since signing with Detroit and is hitting .600 (9x15) with three doubles and six runs scored. He hit his first professional home run on Monday at Dunedin.
ALMOST A FIVE SPOT (AGAIN) ... One night after Bryan Holaday got five hits in his professional debut, Billy Nowlin had a chance to match the feat with four hits (including a homer) in his first four at bats on Saturday at Dunedin. But, in his fifth at bat, Nowlin grounded out to short. Nowlin is the sixth player to have four of more hits in a game for the Flying Tigers this season.
LAY ONE DOWN ... Gustavo Nunez is tied for the league lead with nine sacrifice bunts this season.
A NOTE ON NOWLIN ... One of Billy Nowlin’s four hits on Saturday was a solo homer - his team leading ninth of the season. Eight of those dingers have come on the road. His lone home four-bagger came back on June 17 against Brevard County.
DANDY DAN ... Daniel Fields has gotten two hits in each of his last two games including two doubles and a home run. He is hitting 45 points better in Joker Marchant Stadium than in road games.
DIRT ON DOUGLAS ... Brandon Douglas is batting .484 (15x31) his last eight games with six multi-hit efforts. He is hitting .456 (26x57) with 10 runs scored, four doubles and three triples since June 23 - the highest batting average for any Florida State League player in that time span.
MARVELOUS MURRIAN ... Although he was held hitless in Monday’s game, John Murrian is batting .470 (16x34) in his last nine games dating back to July 3. He has had six multi-hit games in that span with eight runs scored, three doubles and a pair of homers for eight runs batted in.
MINI-STREAK ... Ben Guez brings a four-game hit streak into this series in which he is 6x15 (.400) with a double, homer, three runs scored and three runs batted in.
NEW KID IN TOWN ... What’s a week without a roster change? Tyler Conn has been removed from the roster with Jay Voss coming to Lakeland. Voss, an eighth round pick of Florida in 2007, was 1-3 at Erie with a 6.41 ERA in 27 games. He came to the Tigers from the Marlins organization in trade for pitcher Nate Robertson. Voss pitched in 10 games for Jupiter in the Florida State League in 2008 before being promoted to AA Jacksonville.
HE’S BACK ... Jordan Lennerton returns to the Lakeland roster after a brief stint on the temporary inactive list. Lennerton was hitting .297 with a pair of home runs and six RBI.
GETTING THE JOB DONE - PT. I ... Jared Gayhart has two saves and has not allowed a run in his last three outings. Since joining Lakeland on June 27, Gayhart is 0-1 with two saves and a 2.16 ERA. He has struck out eight batters and walked just one in 8.1 innings.
GETTING THE JOB DONE - PT. II ... Another new pitcher earning his stripes is Jose Ortega. Also having pitched in eight games, Ortega has a 1.13 ERA with 12 strikeouts and five walks in 16.0 innings of work.
ORGANIZATIONAL RECORDS
Detroit - 48-38, 2nd in AL Central Division
Toledo - 44-47, 3rd in West Division
Erie - 38-53 - 6th in Western Division
Lakeland - 5-12, 6th in North Division
West Michigan - 6-12, 8th in Eastern Division
Connecticut - 13-11, 2nd in Stedler Division
Gulf Coast - 11-8, T-3rd in North Division
Dominican - 12-23, 4th in San Pedro Division
Venezuelan - 17-28, 7th in VSL
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