THE SERIES ... All four games in this series will be played at Tradition Field in Port St. Lucie with 6:35 pm start times. The games can be heard on the Mets website at www.stluciemets.com.
THE FLYING TIGERS (21-34, 6th Place North, 9.5 GB) ... After opening the Yankees series with a 2-1 win at home on Friday, the Flying Tigers took to the road for two games at Tampa on Saturday and Sunday, falling 5-2 and 4-1. The club has now lost four of the the last five contests and has scored two or fewer runs in each of those five games. The Flying Tigers are 11-14 on the road this season and are 6-12 overall since May 16. Melvin Mercedes leads all FSL relievers with a 8.05 baserunners allowed per nine innings. Jason Krizan is fourth in the Florida State League with a .392 on-base percentage and is the third toughest batter to strike out with 11.13 plate appearances per strikeout. Brandon Loy is third with 28 walks and Drew VerHagen is fifth with a .221 opponents batting average.
THE METS (30-24, 2nd Place South, 9.5 GB) ... St. Lucie split a doubleheader with Charlotte on Sunday, losing game one 4-7 and winning 5-3 in game two and are now 8-13 since May 10. Travis Taijeron, who is eighth in the Florida State League with a .303 batting average, brings a seven-game hit streak into this series in which he is 11x22 (.500) with five runs scored and nine runs batted in. He is 20x45 (.444) in his last 13 games and ranks second with 20 doubles and a .562 slugging percentage. Taijeron is also tied for third with 29 extra base hits. Charley Thurber has an eight-game hit streak in which he is 9x28 (.321). Dustin Lawley is tied for third in the FSL with 11 homers and tied for fourth with 40 RBI. He is second with 31 extra base hits and fifth with 107 total bases. Noah Syndergaard ranks 10th with a 2.73 ERA
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS
6/03 - RHP Jeff Ferrell (1-4, 4.35 ERA) ... Ferrell allowed three runs on a season-high nine hits in his last start on May 29 against Dunedin. He has recorded at least a pair of strikeouts in each of his last seven starts. Ferrell is 0-2 with a 7.59 ERA in two starts and two relief appearances on the road and was 1-2 in May with a 3.71 ERA in five starts.
6/04 - RHP Hudson Randall (0-5, 6.49 ERA) ... Randall carried a no-hitter through 6.0 innings in his last start on May 30 against Dunedin, facing the minimum 18 batters before allowing a lead-off single and three unearned runs in the seventh inning. He finished that game allowing just two hits after surrendering a combined 21 hits in his previous two starts.
6/05 - RHP Drew VerHagen (3-3, 3.31 ERA) ... VerHagen picked up the win in his last start on May 31 against Tampa after giving up one run on three hits in 5.2 innings. He has now got a win in his last three decisions over four starts. VerHagen, who is 2-1 with a 1.64 ERA in four previous road appearances, has a 3-0 record and a 2.15 ERA in his last five stats.
6/06 - LHP Kyle Ryan (5-4, 3.32) ... Ryan has won each of his last two starts and and has gotten a decision in nine of his ten starts. In his last start on May 26 at Daytona, he allowed two runs on five hits in 6.0 innings. Ryan has recorded 18 strikeouts over his last five starts and has a 2.83 ERA in eight starts since May 18.
LAST YEAR ... St. Lucie won six of the eight meetings between the two clubs last season, taking three of four at both Tradition Field and Joker Marchant Stadium. The Mets outscored Lakeland 48-28 in the series and hit five homers in the eight games.
INSIDE THE METS ROSTER ... Pitcher Hamilton Bennett became the 20th player in NAIA history to throw a perfect game on May 1, 2010, pitching for Tennessee Wesleyan College ... infielder Robbie Shields played collegiately at Florida Southern College in Lakeland.
MLB REHABBERS ... St. Lucie pitchers Scott Achison and Jeurys Familia are both on Major League rehab assignments.
MLB.COM PROSPECTS ... The St. Lucie pitching staff is loaded with top Mets prospect as ranked by MLB.com entering the 2013 season: Noah Syndergaard (#3); Jeurys Familia (#5); Luis Mateo (#9); Domingo Tapia (#11); Hansel Robles (#13). In addition, infielder Matt Reynolds was ranked No. 18.
MIKE LIKES YANKS ... Michael Hernandez had one hit in each of the three Tampa games, doubling and scoring in game one, homering in game two, and doubling in a run in game three. He had entered the Yankees series 0x17. On a side note, Hernandez once played for the St. Lucie Mets during the 2008 season.
FLYING TIGERS DEFENSE ... Lakeland has risen to third in the Florida State League with a .977 fielding percentage. The Flying Tigers have committed just four errors in their last nine games with half coming in the second game of Sunday’s doubleheader at Tampa.
BULLISH PEN ... The Lakeland bullpen has continued to impress, allowing just five earned runs in the last 36.1 innings over 13 games for a 1.24 ERA dating back to May 21. Relievers have recorded 38 strikeouts and walked just five batters during that span.
OFFENSE SLUMPING ... Lakeland has now scored just eight runs in the last five games and has hit just .196 in this five games. Going back 10 games, the Flying Tigers have hit .210 with an average of 2.9 runs scored per game.
CLINARD CALLED UP ... Will Clinard was promoted to AA Erie on June 1 with Matt Davenport rejoining the club from extended spring training. Clinard was 1-2 with 2 saves and a 1.59 ERA in 15 appearances for the Flying Tigers and had allowed one run in his last 10 outings.
NOT THE THIEVIN’ KIND ... St. Lucie has stolen a league-low 24 bases while Lakeland has swiped the second fewest bases with 28.
POWER OUTAGE ... Michael Hernandez homered for Lakeland on June 1 at Tampa for Lakeland’s first round-tripper since May 21, Overall, Lakeland hit just 19 home runs as a team – fewest in the Florida State League. In comparison, St. Lucie’s Dustin Lawley has hit 11 HRs himself.
BATTING ORDER SHUFFLE ... Eight different players have batted in the No. 2 spot in the Flying Tigers batting order while eight hitters have carried their bats to the No. 8 spot in the line-up.
CRACK IN THE STAGE FRIGHT? ... Heading into the last home game at Joker Marchant Stadium, Lakeland was 1-8 while playing in front of crowds of 1,000 or more. With 1,105 fans in attendance on May 2, many from Mulberry Dixie Youth Baseball and the Royal Rangers, the Flying Tigers held on for a 2-1 win over Tampa.
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 1,766-1,617 record entering the St. Lucie 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 ... The Flying Tigers set their sights on the Tampa Yankees once again, flip-flopping last weekend’s series with a road game on Friday, June 7 and then hosting the Yankees on Saturday and Sunday, June 8-9.
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