Mission Notes vs. St. Lucie (July 13-16)

SERIES SCHEDULE ... All four games of this series will be played at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland. The first three games are slated for 7 pm starts with the series finale Saturday at 6 pm.

THE FLYING TIGERS (44-42 all, 8-8 2nd half, T-3rd, 1.0 GB) ... Lakeland has won three in a row to pull within two games of Dunedin and Tampa in the win column. The Flying Tigers are tied with the Blue Jays and Yankees in the loss column. Lakeland took three straight in the recent four game series with Bradenton, including a 9-2 triumph in their last game on Tuesday. In the three wins, the starting pitchers allowed just two earned runs for a 1.29 ERA with 11 strikeouts and just three walks. On the other side, the Flying Tiger bullpen has a 3.89 ERA in the last nine games. Lakeland has climbed to eighth in the league with a .257 team batting average and is in fifth place with a 3.83 staff earned run average.

THE METS (48-39, 10-7 2nd half, T-1st, 0.0 GB) ... Coming off a split of a four-game series with Tampa, St. Lucie sits atop the FSL South standings along with Palm Beach. The Mets were met with a 10-1 defeat in their last game on Tuesday, losing to the Yankees at home and is now 4-4 its last eight games. Juan Lagares leads the Florida State League with a .339 average while teammate Pedro Zapata is fifth with a .319 mark and second with 25 stolen bases. The league’s top two pitchers are also Mets in Darin Gorski and recently promoted Matt Harvey. Gorski is a perfect 8-0 with a lowly 1.56 ERA to go with his 96 strikeouts (second in the FSL). Harvey was 8-2 with a 2.37 ERA and 92 K’s prior to his promotion to AA. St. Lucie has the third highest team batting average in the league at .270 while the staff ERA of 3.94 ranks eighth in the FSL.

LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS ... (With two rain outs last week and a doubleheader Saturday coupled with a day off Tuesday, these probable starters are definitely in the probable category.)

• Wednesday (7/13) - Victor Larez (5-3, 4.00) gets the nod in the series opener and will be making his first start for Lakeland since June 2. Originally in the starting rotation, Larez was moved to the bullpen in late May. He was 4-3 with a 3.97 ERA in ten starts and has a 1-0 mark with a 4.11 ERA in seven relief appearances. He last worked on July 7, tossing three no-hit innings against Dunedin in a relief role striking out three and hitting one batter.
• Thursday (7/14) - Jared Wesson (9-6, 4.85) was tagged early and often in his last start on July 9, lasting just 1.2 innings at Bradenton. The Marauders jumped on Wesson for six runs on five hits, including a homer while the Lakeland starter didn’t help himself with three walks and a hit batter. In his previous start, he held Clearwater to one run on four hits in 5.0 innings of work to get the win. He was 8-4 with a 4.32 ERA in the first half, but has stumbled to a 1-2 mark with a 8.25 ERA since.
• Friday (7/15) - Drew Symly (4-3, 3.18 ERA) held Bradenton to one run on three hits in 4.0 innings of work in his last start on July 9 with four strikeouts and a pair of walks. He has struck out 22 batters and walked four over 20 innings in his last four starts while giving up 18 hits and just six runs (four in one game) for a 2.70 ERA. Smyly is 3-1 with a 3.70 in four home starts and 1-2 with a 2.84 in seven road outings. In five starts in June he was 4-0 with a 1.94 ERA and 31 strikeouts and three walks.
• Saturday (7/16) - Luke Putkonen (1-4, 6.19 ERA) picked up his first win as a Flying Tiger this season with 2.0 shutout innings of relief on July 9 in the second game of a doubleheader at Bradenton. In his last start on July 4, Putkonen gave up four runs on seven hits to take the loss to Dunedin. He began the season at AA Erie and made his first start for Lakeland on June 9.

THIS SEASON ... The two clubs split a four-game series on May 10-13 in St. Lucie. Lakeland took game one, 10-2, as Jordan Lennerton drove in four runs with a grand slam and Brent Wyatt plated two more runs with a home run of his own. The Mets posted back-to-back shutouts in games two and three by scores of 6-0 and 7-0. The Flying Tigers rallied back from a 5-0 deficit in game four with a five-run sixth inning enroute to a 7-6 win.

ROSTER SHUFFLING ... Kenny Faulk was placed on the disabled list on Monday with newcomer Trevor White joining the club from the Gulf Coast League club. Also making the move across the complex from the GCL is Alexander Moreno who was with Lakeland from June 10-25, but did not participate in any games. White was a 20th round pick by Detroit in 2010 out of the University of Alabama. He played in the GCL and at Connecticut last season and was 0-0 with a 1.80 in five innings over four games this season with the Gulf Coast Tigers. Moreno played in six games with the GCL club going 4-for-18 in those half dozen games.

FORMER FSC MOC RETURNS TO LAKELAND ... St. Lucie shortstop Robbie Shields was the Mets’ third-round draft pick out of Florida Southern College in 2009 (the first Division II player chosen in the draft that year). Shields started the 2011 season with the Savannah Sand Gnats and was named to the South Atlantic League All-Star team, but was promoted to St. Lucie prior to the game. He has played in 11 games with the FSL club but has not played since June 30 due to back stiffness.

FUTURES GAME PARTICIPANTS ... St. Lucie’s Jefry Marte played for the World Team in the recent XM All-Star Futures Game in Phoenix as part of the festivities leading up to the Major League All-Star Game. Pitcher Matt Harvey, who played for the USA Squad, was promoted in late June and was leading the FSL in strikeouts with 92 at the time of his move to AA.

TITAN TRIO ... St. Lucie’s Jeffrey Kaplan and Lakeland’s Corey Jones and Michael Morrison were all teammates on the Cal State Fullerton baseball team in 2008. Kaplan was drafted in 2008, Morrison in 2009 and Jones in 2010.

BEAVER BUNCH ... Lakeland’s Jordan Lennerton and St. Lucie’s Greg Peavey were teammates on the 2008 Oregon State baseball team.

BIG LEAGUE DAD ... The Mets’ Francisco Pena is the son of former Major League catcher Tony Pena.

BACK IN THE INFIELD ... Brent Wyatt started at shortstop for Lakeland in the second game of the Flying Tigers’ doubleheader at Bradenton on Saturday. It was his first start at shortstop since 2009 when he played six games there for West Michigan. Wyatt did start 18 games at short for Oneonta in his first year as a professional in 2008.

JONES CRANKS IT UP ... Corey Jones’ bat was a big reason Lakeland won its last three games over Bradenton. The Flying Tiger second baseman homered to drive in two runs in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader and followed with a second two-run blast on Sunday. In Monday’s game, Jones was 3-for-5 with a double and three runs batted in.

PLAGMAN BACK AT IT ... Tony Plagman must not like talking to first base coach Larry Herndon. In the last three games, Plagman has had four hits – all for extra bases including a triple and three doubles.

LAKELAND IN THE FSL ... Jared Wesson is second with nine wins ... Kenny Faulk is second with 20 saves and third among relievers with 11.27 strikeouts per nine innings pitched ... Tony Plagman is third with 63 runs batted in ... Brent Wyatt is second with a .418 on-base percentage ... Jordan Lennerton is second with 64 walks ... Trevor Feeney is first with 111.2 innings pitched and third among starters with 1.53 walks issued per nine innings ... Lakeland dropped to second with a .981 fielding percentage ... two current Flying Tigers lead their respective positions in fielding percentage: Corey Jones (2B, .980); Wade Gaynor (3B, .959); Brent Wyatt (OF, .993) ... Julio Rodriguez has thrown out 36.9 percent of opposing would-be base stealers, a mark which ranks second among all league catchers.