THE SERIES ... The Miracle come to Joker Marchant Stadium for a four-game series, May 20-23. Games 1, 3 and 4 are slated for 6:30 p.m. with Tuesday’s game (May 21) scheduled for a 10:30 a.m. start in the second Education Day Game of the year.
THE FLYING TIGERS (15-27, 6th Place North, 10.0 GB) ... Lakeland is looking to snap a five-game losing streak after being swept in four games by Daytona. The Flying Tigers have now lost 13 of their last 17 games and are 5-16 at home. Lakeland’s team batting average of .246 is now the second lowest in the league while the 164 runs scored by the Flying Tigers ranks fourth fewest. The staff ERA of 3.99 is fifth highest in the FSL.
THE MIRACLE (31-11, 1st Place South, 6.5 Game Lead) ... Fort Myers brings the best record in baseball into this series, but ironically, was shut out in yesterday’s game by Charlotte, 2-0. The Miracle began the 2013 season by winning its first 12 games and were 23-4 on May 3. Since then, they have gone 8-7. Fort Myers has won nine of their series so far this season with sweeps in five of those. Only Palm Beach has won a series this season versus Fort Myers while Tampa and Dunedin have gained splits. The Miracle are second in the league in batting (.281) trailing Clearwater by one point. The team also leads the FSL in runs scored (230) and home runs (36 – seven more than the second place team). The staff ERA of 3.26 ranks third.
BEST IN THE FSL ... No surprise that the Miracle have the top hitter in the league in Miguel Sano who tops all Florida State League players with a .354 batting average, 11 homers, .448 on base percentage, 99 total bases, .673 slugging percentage, and 37 runs scored). Fort Myers also has the league’s top pitcher in DJ Baxendale who leads with a 6-0 record, a 1.07 earned run average and a 0.77 WHIP (walks and hits allowed per nine innings).
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS
5/20 - RHP Wilsen Palacios (2-3, 4.68 ERA) ... Wilsen Palacios is coming off 6.0 shutout innings in a win over Palm Beach in his last start on May 15. In that game, he struck out a team season-high nine batters and walked two while holding the Cardinals to three hits. Palacios had allowed a combined 11 earned runs in his previous two starts. He has a 1-2 record and a 3.50 in three home starts.
5/21 - LHP Kyle Ryan (3-4, 3.44 ERA) ... Kyle Ryan is winless in three starts in May with a 4.05 ERA. He has gone 7.0 innings in each of his last two outings with 11 strikeouts and four walks while allowing six runs on 12 hits. In his last start on May 16, Ryan gave up four runs on six hits in a loss to Palm Beach.
5/22 - RHP Jeff Ferrell (0-3, 5.34 ERA) ... Jeff Ferrell is looking for his first win of the season. In his last start on May 17 against Daytona, he surrendered three runs on seven hits over 5.0 innings with a pair of strikeouts and four walks. Ferrell began the season in the bullpen where he was 0-1 with a 3.86 earned run average. As a starter, he is 0-2 with a 5.82 ERA.
LAST YEAR ... The two teams split their eight-game series in 2012 with each team winning twice in the other’s ballpark.
INSIDE THE MIRACLE ... Pitcher Tom Stuifbergen played for Team Netherlands in the 2013 World Baseball Classic while outfielder Eddie Rosario played for Team Puerto Rico ... infielder Miguel Sano was ranked No. 1 among Twins prospects by MLB.com entering the 2013 season while Rosario was No. 8 and pitcher Corey Williams No. 16 ... infielder Levi Michael was a first-round pick of the Twins in 2011 out of the University of North Carolina ... Fort Myers manager Doug Mientkiewicz is in his first year as the Miracle’s manager. Mientkiewicz played parts of 12 seasons with seven Major League teams and is one of only five American major league players to win a World Series and an Olympic Gold Medal ... Miracle coach Jim Dwyer played 19 years in the majors with seven teams.
NOT A GOOD MATCH-UP ... Lakeland is 5-16 at home this season while Fort Myers is 15-5 on the road.
ONE MIRACLE FLAW ... The only visible kink in Fort Myers’ armor is behind the plate where Miracle catchers rank 11th in the league with a .243 caught stealing efficiency, throwing out just nine would-be base stealers in 37 attempts.
MIGHTY MIKE ... Michael Hernandez has hits in four straight games (5x14, .357); eight of his last nine (11x33, .333); and ten of his last 12 (14x46, .304). Despite his luck at the plate, he has scored just four runs in that span of 12 games.
SNAPPED ... Jason Krizan saw his six-game hit streak snapped on Sunday in which he was 11x26 (.423). He has hits in 11 of his last 14 games in which he has 19x46 (.413). Krizan has scored just four runs in his last 14 games. On the season, Krizan ranks third in the league with 9.77 plate appearances per strikeout.
DICEY DREW ... Drew VerHagen saw his consecutive scoreless inning streak come to a close on Sunday. He ranks fifth in the league by keeping opponents to just a .222 batting average
WILL THE THRILL ... Will Clinard worked 3.0 shutout innings on May 17 against Daytona, stretching his consecutive scoreless inning streak to 13.2 of relief work dating back to April 23.
NEW CREW MEMBER ... The latest Flying Tiger to join the squad is pitcher Matt Davenport who came up from Extended Spring Training on May 17 to take the roster spot vacated when Ryan Robowski earn a trip to AA Erie. Davenport was a 34th round draft pick of Detroit’s in 2012 out the College of William and Mary where he was the conference pitcher of the Year as a senior.
A MONTH TO FORGET ... So far in the month of May, Lakeland is 4-13. Offensively, the Flying Tigers have hit .229 during the month with Aaron Westlake (.327) and Jason Krizan (.317) leading the way. On the mound, Lakeland posted a 5.01 ERA during the month. In April, Lakeland was 11-14 with a .257 team batting average and a 3.32 ERA.
TRIPLEY GOOD ... Jeff McVaney leads Lakeland with five triples helping the team tie for second in the league with 17 triples, trailing just (guess who?) the Miracle’s total of 19.
IMPROVED DEFENSE ... Lakeland had committed 15 errors in the first seven games of the season. They have had 15 errors in their last 22 games and now ranks fourth in the league with a .977 fielding percentage, just two points behind Fort Myers which ranks third best.
THE SKIPPER ... Manager Dave Huppert, who was inducted into the Florida State League Hall of Fame in 2012, is in his 25th season as a minor league manager and is the active winningest manager in the minors with a 1,760-1,606 record entering the Daytona series. Last season, he led Lakeland to the 2012 Florida State League Championship to record his fourth overall championship and his third in the FSL. He also led the 2001 Brevard County to a co-championship while his 2007 Clearwater squad won the crown outright. In addition, he coached the Lakeland Blue Claws (Phillies) to the 2006 South Atlantic League title.
UP NEXT ... Lakeland heads back on the road to once again play Daytona on May 24-26 for the fourth series between the two clubs. After taking a day off, Lakeland returns to Joker Marchant Stadium for three games against Dunedin (May 28-30) and one against Tampa (May 31).
No comments:
Post a Comment