THE SERIES .... All four games of this series will be played at George Steinbrenner Field in Tampa with game one on Saturday at 6 pm. After taking Mothers’ Day off, the two clubs go at once again on Monday and Tuesday at 7 pm with the series finale being an 11 am contest on Wednesday.
THE FLYING TIGERS (17-16, 3rd, 5.0 GB) ... Lakeland is coming off a 7-2 loss to Palm Beach on Saturday that saw Cardinal starter Andy Benes strike out 12 Flying Tiger batters in seven innings of work. The Flying Tigers continue to lead the league in hitting with a .274 mark.
THE YANKEES (16-19, 4th, 7.0 GB) ... Tampa shutout Jupiter 4-0 last night on the strength of six scoreless innings by Michael O’Brien who limited the Hammerheads to just one hit on four strikeouts. Nik Turley, currently on the 7-day disabled list, is seventh in the FSL with a 2.23 ERA to go with his 2-0 record. Rob Segedin is tied for third in the league with 64 total bases. The Yankees have the second lowest team batting average in the league with a .239 mark and rank 10th out of 12 teams with a 4.08 staff ERA.
PROBABLE STARTERS
5/12 - LHP Alex Burgos (1-4, 5.67) ... Alex Burgos will be looking for his first win since opening the season with a victory over Tampa on April 5. He has not gone more than 4.1 innings in his last three starts with 16 walks in his last 16.1 innings. This will his sixth road start of the 2012 season.
5/14 - RHP Jacob Turner (1-2, 1.66) ... Jacob Turner got his first win of the season with 7.0 shutout innings against Palm Beach on May 8. The 6’5” righty struck out eight and walked one while scattering four hits. He has not allowed an earned run in three of his four starts.
5/15 - RHP Kevin Eichhorn (3-2, 4.17) ... Kevin Eichhorn saw his three-game win streak snapped in his last start on May 9. Allowing five runs, four earned, in 5.0 innings, he struck out four and walked one while giving up nine hits.
5/16 - LHP Brian Flynn (4-1, 3.32) ... Brian Flynn got back in the win column in his last start surrendering just one run on five hits to Palm Beach on May 10. Flynn struck out three and walked two in earning his fourth win against one loss this season.
THIS YEAR ... The Flying Tigers opened the 2012 season with a three-game sweep of the Yankees on April 5-7. Tyler Collins had three hits in each of the three games while Nick Castellanos and Avisail Garcia each had five hits in the series. Alex Burgos, Brian Flynn and Bruce Rondon all took wins in the series with Rondon getting his in one inning of relief work. Lakeland outscored Tampa 17-9 in the three games.
STILL ON TOP ... Although he has cooled off a little, Nick Castellanos still has a comfortable lead atop the minor league baseball rankings. At .403, the Flying Tiger third baseman is the only minor leaguer hitting above .400 with Darin Ruf of Reading trailing by some 20 points with a .380 mark. Castellanos leads the league with 52 hits (eight more than Dunedin’s Kevin Nolan) and 73 total bases, is second with a .451 on-base and .566 slugging percentages as well as 15 extra base hits, and is fourth with 24 runs batted in.
HANGING TOUGH ... Avisail Garcia and Tyler Collins remain in the top ten in the Florida State League with .328 and .325 batting averages, respectively. Garcia is fourth while Collins is fifth. Garcia is also tied for third with 43 hits.
LUCKY 13 ... With his last at bat on Friday, Nick Castellanos singled to extend his hitting streak to 13 games, second longest active streak in the Florida State League. Castellanos is 21x50 (.420) during his streak with nine runs scored, three doubles, two triples and a homer. He has also driven in 10 runs during the streak. He has only had two games this season in which he has failed to get at least one base hit.
STEPPING IN ... With Daniel Fields on the disabled list, Luis Castillo has stepped into the lead-off spot while taking Fields’ center field role. Castillo is 16x58 (.276) since taking over the #1 spot in the line-up on April 26 and is 6x16 (.375) his last four games with hits in each game.
OH SNAP ... Hernan Perez was held without a hit on Friday, snapping a six-game hit streak in which he went 11x24 (.458) at the plate.
SNAPPING OUT OF IT ... Avisail Garcia was swapping the top spot in the FSL batting average race with teammate Nick Castellanos, but then couldn’t buy a base hit, getting just three hits over seven games. He has snapped out of the mini-slump with six hits in his last four games.
CAN’T WE PLAY AT HOME ALL THE TIME? ... Avisail Garcia tears up the Joker Marchant Stadium turf for a blistering .446 home batting average, but it’s a different story on the road where the right fielder in hitting just .240 on the year. He is not alone as Tyler Collins has a .393 average in 15 home games and a .269 in 17 road games. James McCann dips to .204 on the road after hitting .333 at home. As a team, Lakeland has a .302 average in 15 home games with an average of 5.3 runs scored per game. On the road, the team batting average drops to .251 and run production falls to 3.9 in 18 games. Thirteen of Lakeland’s 18 home runs have been hit in the cavernous Joker Marchant Stadium.
SEEING PINK ... Lakeland wore their special pink jerseys on Saturday for breast cancer awareness. They’ll get to see their opponents in pink on Saturday as the Yankees don custom pink jerseys that will be raffled off following the game with proceeds benefitting the H. Lee Moffit Cancer and Research Center.
THE BEST UP NEXT ... The Flying Tigers’ next series opponent will be the St. Lucie Mets on May 17-20 at Joker Marchant Stadium. The Mets, at 28-7, take the best record in baseball into Saturday’s series with Bradenton. St. Lucie has a 10-game lead over Palm Beach in the South Division.
CLOSING IN ON 1700 ... Manager Dave Huppert is in his second season with Lakeland and his 24th season as a minor league manager. Huppert, who entered the 2012 season as the second winningest active minor league manager, brings a 1,689-1,551 record into the Palm Beach series.
SONS OF THEIR FATHERS ... Friday’s game featured three sons of former Major Leaguers in the starting roles. In addition to the Flying Tigers’ Shawn (son of Tim) Teufel and Marcus (son of Chet) Lemon, the Cardinals countered with starting pitcher Drew Benes, whose father, Andy Benes, spent 15 years pitching in the majors.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LUIS ... Lakeland pitcher Luis Castillo will celebrate his 23rd birthday on May 15.
No comments:
Post a Comment