THE FLYING TIGERS (14-19, 51-52) - Lakeland is coming off a four-game split with Bradenton. In the opener, Bradenton scored three late runs for a 3-1 win. Game two went to Lakeland as Bryan Holaday’s first career grand slam highlighted a six-run seventh as the Flying Tigers rallied from a 6-0 deficit for a 7-6 win. Game three was a wild one as Bradenton busted open a 7-5 game with 11 runs over the final two frames for a 18-5 win. On Friday, Lakeland plated three runs in the fifth and held on for a 4-3 win. The split with the Marauders gives Lakeland a 6-2 record in its last eight games. The Flying Tigers are fifth in the FSL with a .260 average and fourth with a 3.54 ERA.
THE METS (17-18, 50-53) ... St. Lucie will be looking to snap a ten-game losing streak. The Mets have been shutout three times during the streak and held to just one run in three other contests while being outscored 58-14 in the ten games. Despite the ten-game slide, St. Lucie is tied for second place in the South with a 17-18 record, two games behind Bradenton. The Mets are third in the FSL with a .262 average and second with 68 home runs. Pitching has been the main downfall of the Mets as the staff has the highest ERA (4.20) of any FSL team and has allowed the most runs (501) of any team.
PROBABLE STARTERS ...
Sat: Luke Putkonen (7-5, 3.48 ERA, 62 K, 35 BB, 106.0 IP)
Sun: Mark Sorensen (5-11, 4.85 ERA, 78 K, 21 BB, 104.0 IP)
Mon: Adam Wilk (7-4, 3.29 ERA, 81 K, 16 BB, 120.1 IP)
Tue: Jon Kibler (2-4. 3.91 ERA, 34 K, 15 BB, 46.0 IP)
THE SERIES ... The Flying Tigers took three of four from the Mets when the two clubs first met in St. Lucie back on May 20-23. In game one, Brent Wyatt doubled with two outs in the 11th to lift Lakeland to a 5-4 win in 11 innings. Lakeland won game two, 5-4, behind a four-RBI night by Kody Kaiser. In game three, St. Lucie prevailed 5-2 for its only win in the series while in game four, the Flying Tigers put up six runs in the third for a 10-4 win.
NO FREE PASSES ... Lakeland pitchers have issued the fewest walks of any team in the league while St. Lucie batters have walked the second fewest times of any Florida State League squad.
CLOSE ONES ... Lakeland has been involved in the most one-run games (39) of any Florida State League team and has a 18-21 mark in those games. St. Lucie has had 31 games decided by one-run and has a 19-12 mark in those contests.
WHITE STEPS UP ... Chris White, who began the 2010 campaign with the Flying Tigers, was promoted to Toledo on Thursday. White was batting .177 in Lakeland, earned a trip to Erie on July 21. With the Whitecaps, White hit .211 in 27 games. He now joins two other 2010 Lakeland alums, Charlie Furbush and Ben Guez, with the Mud Hens.
DOUGLAS MOVES ON UP ... Brandon Douglas, who was hitting .394 since June 23 for Lakeland, earned a trip north on Thursday to join the Erie ball club. For the season, Douglas was batting .331 at Lakeland.
HOT BATS ... Jordan Lennerton is batting 7x17 (.412) his last five games while Gustavo Nunez (.294) in his last four games.
ADAM’S IN CONTROL ... Adam Wilk leads the FSL in fewest walks allowed with just 1.20 free passes per nine innings. On the season, Wilk has walked just 18 batters over his league-leading 120.1 innings pitched. In addition, he has struck out 81 batters and ranks sixth in the FSL with a 3.29 ERA.
TAKIN’ A HOLADAY ... Bryan Holaday is 7x19 (.368) over his last five games and has hits in 14 of his 17 games played since signing with Detroit on June 7. On Wednesday, he hit his first career grand slam (and Lakeland’s first this season) to spark a six-run seventh in a 7-6 come-from-behind victory.
SPEED DEMONS ... Lakeland took off on the base paths on Friday, swiping six bases against Bradenton. Brent Wyatt led the way with three steals, while Pat McKenna, Matt Mansilla and Francisco Martinez each swiped one bag. The six steals were the most in a game for Lakeland since 2008.
FIELD OF SCREAMS ... Thursday night’s 18-5 loss to Bradenton was not a night to look back on fondly. The 18 runs scored by the Marauders were the most allowed by Lakeland since dropping a 20-2 loss to Sarasota on April 26, 2006. The 13-run loss was the largest margin of defeat since falling 13-0 to St. Lucie on June 23, 2007. The 19 hits by Bradenton was the most allowed by a Lakeland team since Sarasota collected 19 hits in 17-11 loss on July 24, 2008. The four errors committed by Lakeland were the most in one game since booting four plays in a 11-6 loss to Tampa on August 5, 2009. Finally, the eight walks issued were the most since walking 12 in a 9-3 loss to Clearwater on August 30, 2008.
METS’ FIRST ROUNDER ... St. Lucie hurler Bradley Holt was the Mets’ first round pick (33rd selection overall) in the 2008 draft out of high school.
DON’T WE KNOW YOU? ... St. Lucie pitcher Rhiner Cruz was originally signed by Detroit as a non-drafted free agent in 2003. He went on to play two seasons in the Gulf Coast League before sitting out one season and joining the Mets organization.
CARRITHERS, RHYMES OUT OF THE RUNNING ... Former Flying Tigers Alden Carrithers and Will Rhymes were in the running for the player with the best name in the minors in Minor League Baseball’s Minors Moniker Madness online poll, but both lost in the first round. Carrithers lost to Stolmy Pimental, who takes on C.J. Riefenhauser in the second round, while Rhymes fell to Diego Seastrunk, who now faces Mark Hamburger. Fans can vote for their favorite at www.minorleaguebaseball.com/madness.
ORGANIZATIONAL RECORDS
Detroit - 51-50, 3rd in AL Central Division
Toledo - 53-53, 4th in West Division
Erie - 43-63 - 6th in Western Division
Lakeland - 14-19, 5th in North Division
West Michigan - 11-21, 7th in Eastern Division
Connecticut - 21-18, 2nd in Stedler Division
Gulf Coast - 15-20, 5th in North Division
Dominican - 14-295th in San Pedro Division
Venezuelan - 20-41, 7th in VSL
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