THE FLYING TIGERS (20-23, 57-55) - Winners of six of their last nine, the Flying Tigers are 20-23 in the second half and 57-56 overall. Lakeland had won three of the last four, including two games by shutout. Wednesday’s game was postponed due to wet grounds and will be made up as part of a doubleheader in Clearwater during the Aug. 15-17 series.
THE MANATEES (27-18, 55-60) ... Brevard County, an affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers, rebounded from a dismal 27-42 first half and is now nine games over .500 in the second half, 2.5 games behind Tampa and 1.5 games behind Daytona. The Manatees have split their last six games, but are winners of three of the last four. Like Lakeland, Brevard County did not play Wednesday night, but for the Manatees, it was a scheduled off night.
PROBABLE STARTERS ...
Thu: Luke Putkonen (7-6, 3.51, 67 K, 39 BB, 118.0 IP)
Fri: Mark Sorensen (7-11, 4.50, 87 K, 22 BB, 116.0 IP)
Sat: Adam Wilk (9-4, 2.99, 91 K, 16 BB, 135.1 IP)
THE SERIES ... Lakeland has a 7-5 advantage in the series, but the Manatees have won two in a row and four of the last five meetings. The two clubs are almost equal at the plate in the series as Lakeland has a .242 average against Brevard County while the Manatees are hitting .244 against the Flying Tigers. Brevard County has scored 42 runs in the 12 games while Lakeland has crossed the plate 39 times. The big difference comes in the pitching as the Manatees have a 2.97 ERA while Lakeland has a 3.44 ERA in the series.
WILK EARNS FSL HONOR ... Adam Wilk was named the Florida State League Pitcher of the Week for the week Aug. 2-8. Wilk started and won two games in the week, allowing just one run on 10 hits with 10 strikeouts and no walks for a 0.60 ERA over 15 innings. He is the second Lakeland pitcher to earn the honor this season, joining Charlie Furbush who was picked for the week of May 24-30. In addition, Brett Wyatt was named as FSL Player of the Week for May 17-23.
THE UNTOUCHABLES ... Lakeland starting pitchers have combined to throw 20.1 scoreless innings over the last three games while the bullpen has been touched for just one run over 6.2 innings. Mathematicians out there will realize that’s 27.0 innings (or three nine inning games) with just one opponent crossing the plate. Adam Wilk got the ball rolling with eight scoreless innings on Aug. 7 at Charlotte in a 1-0 win. Jon Kibler followed on Aug. 8 with seven innings of zeros while Jacob Turner did his part on Aug. 10 tossing 5.1 shutout innings at Clearwater on two hits. All three hurlers struck out five batters in their outings. Turner is 3-1 with a 1.84 ERA with 20 punch-outs and five walks in his last six starts.
MARVELOUS MARK ... Starter Mark Sorensen is 2-0 with a 1.47 ERA in his last three starts with 16 strikeouts and just one walk in 18.1 innings pitched.
THE HITTER JORDAN ... First baseman Jordan Lennerton has carried a hot bat to the plate as of late, going 12x28 over the last seven games for a .429 clip. He is also 20x58 (.345) in his last 14 games.
PAT THE BAT ... Second baseman Patrick McKenna has started 11 games for Lakeland since joining the club on July 19 and has responded with a 14x37 effort at the plate for a .378 average as a starter.
CATCHER OR DH? ... Bryan Holaday has started 16 games behind the plate and six games as the designated hitter since joining Lakeland on June 7. In his 16 games behind the dish, Holaday is 15x57 (.263) with two homers and six runs batted in. As the DH, the former sixth-round pick is 12x31 (.387), and has driven in one run with no homers.
RED-HOT RIJO ... Outfielder Samir Rijo is 8x22 in his last seven games for a .364 batting average in that stretch.
HIGH NOON-YES ... Shortstop Gustavo Nunez is 15x46 during the last 10 games for a .326 mark. He now has a team-best 28 multi-hit games, including four games with three hits.
WICKED WYATT ... Outfielder Brett Wyatt is 11x36 (.306) in his last 13 games.
FEASTING ON TIGER ... Brevard County’s Brock Kjeldgaard is batting .295 in 12 games against Lakeland and has hit four home runs int he series - the most of any Flying Tiger opponent this season.
CLOSE ONES ... Four of Lakeland’s last five games have been decided by just one run with the Flying Tigers splitting the four contests. This season, Lakeland has a 20-23 in one-run games, but has won eight of the last 11 games decided by one run.
BLANK ‘EM ... The last three Lakeland games have ended in a shutout with Lakeland coming out on top in two of those outings. Overall, Lakeland has a 10-9 record in shutout games.
TEN GAMES OVER ... Lakeland finished with a 29-19 record against the South Division including a eight-game season series sweep of Jupiter. Lakeland was 6-2 against St. Lucie and 5-3 against Charlotte. Fort Myers and Palm Beach each posted a 5-3 record against Lakeland while the Flying Tigers split eight games with Bradenton.
TEN, NINE, EIGHT ... After Thursday’s home game, Lakeland has just ten home games left in the 2010 season. The Flying Tigers will host Brevard County for a two-game series once again on Aug. 18-19 and then the Tampa Yankees come to town on Aug. 21 and 22. The squad then hits the road for two three-game series at Dunedin and Daytona before returning home on Aug. 31 to close out the season with a six-game homestand against the Blue Jays and Cubs.
ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERS ... Jordan Lennerton is batting .289 to rank fifth in the Detroit minor league organization. Gustavo Nunez leads all Tiger minor leaguers with 23 stolen bases. Adam Wilk ranks third with a 2.99 ERA and is tied for second with nine wins. Luke Putkonen is eighth with a 3.51 ERA.
ALUMNI REPORT ... Alden Carrithers leads Detroit minor leaguers with a .310 batting average while Kody Kaiser is third with a .300 mark and fifth with 60 runs batted in. Rawley Bishop is ninth with a .276 stat and is second with 67 RBI. Bryan Villarreal is sixth with a 3.31 ERA while Charlie Furbush is 10th with a 3.69 ERA. Furbush has a huge lead in the strikeout department with 163 - 53 more than Villarreal’s second place total of 110. Lester Oliveros has 15 saves to rank second in the organization.
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