THE SERIES ... Lakeland opens its longest home stand of the year with four games against St. Lucie at Joker Marchant Stadium with all four games have different starting times. The series opens Thursday at 6:30 pm followed by a Friday game at 7:11 pm. Saturday’s contest is set for 6 pm with the finale on Sunday at 1 pm.
THE FLYING TIGERS (43-52, 13-14, T-4th North, 2.5 GB) ... Lakeland split a doubleheader at Bradenton to start the week, losing the first two and then taking the next two behind back-to-back games with 13 hits. The Flying Tigers are 8-3 since July 9.
THE METS (54-42, 17-20, T-2nd South, 1.0 GB) ... St. Lucie got rained out at Daytona on Wednesday and split a double-header with the Cubs on Tuesday, getting shut out 7-0 in the second game. The Cubs are 9-2 their last 11 games. Dustin Lawley leads the league in homers and RBI (any many other categories; see note below) while T.J. Rivera leads with 106 hits. The Mets’ closer, T.J. Chism, is second in the FSL with 15 saves.
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS (none have faced the Mets this season)
7/25 - RHP Wilsen Palacios (5-6, 3.54 ERA) ... Palacios had his last start on July 20 against Palm Beach rained out in the middle of the second inning. The Cardinals had scored two runs on two hits and two walks before rained forced the game to be cancelled. Palacios had won his two previous starts and has not allowed more than three runs in any of his eight starts in which he has a 3-2 record and a 2.19 ERA.
7/26 - RHP Kevin Eichhorn (1-4, 4.44 ERA) ... Eichhorn, who was on the disabled list from Apr. 26 to July 21, made his first start on Sunday and was tagged with the loss after allowing four runs on two hits and four walks with three strikeouts in 3.2 innings pitched. He has last his last three starts while allowing 10 earned runs on 18 hits in 12.2 innings.
7/27 - RHP Josh Carr (1-4, 4.50) ... (This is the slot normally occupied by Kyle Ryan, but he was placed on the disabled list on July 23. Carr moving back into the rotation is simply speculation on my part) ... Carr has not started since July 8, but has made two appearances out of the bullpen since then. In his last start on July 8, he allowed one unearned run on three hits to Clearwater in 5.0 innings of work. In his last bullpen stint, he was tagged for three runs on 4.0 hits in 1.1 innings against Bradenton on July 22.
7/28 - RHP Tommy Collier (1-2, 4.66 ERA) ... Collier struck out seven and walked two while holding Bradenton to one run on four hits in his last start on July 23 to notch his first win on the year. He now has allowed just five runs in his last 19.0 innings over four starts for a 2.36 ERA since returning from the disabled list on July 6.
SEASON SERIES ... Lakeland won the first three games of the series played at St. Lucie in the first half, outscoring the Mets 11-3. Game four was rained out. The Flying Tigers starting pitchers surrendered just two runs, both unearned in 20.0 innings in the three games. Tyler Hanover was 6x12 in the series while Jason Krizan and Jeff McVaney each had four hits for Lakeland.
METS’ LAWLEY NAMED FSL PLAYER OF THE WEEK ... St. Lucie’s Dustin Lawley was named the Florida State League Player of the Week for the week ending July 21. Lawley batted .444 (8x18) in five games with a pair of doubles, a homer and six runs batted in. Lawley leads the FSL in home runs (20), RBI (74), extra-base hits (53), and total bases (196) and tied for first in doubles (28). He is second in slugging percentage (.540); tied for fourth in hits (98); and fifth in runs (55).
ROSTER MOVES ... On Wednesday, Lakeland brought infielder Dean Green up from the GCL club where he had been on a Minor League Rehab assignment, activated him from the disabled list, and then sent him to West Michigan. In addition, pitcher Kyle Ryan was placed on the DL after leaving his last start on July 23 at Bradenton after catching a line-drive to end the third inning.
I KNOW YOU ... St. Lucie pitcher Cody Satterwhite was Detroit’s second round pick in 2008 and pitched in 17 games for Lakeland that season.
AWAKEN THE BATS ... The Lakeland offense is getting back in the swing of things (so to speak) as the club has reach double digits in hits in five of the last nine games, including back-to-back contests with 13 hits each. The Flying Tigers are hitting .310 as a team since July 12 with 19 doubles, two triples and six homers (four coming in the last three games alone). However, the hits aren’t producing a lot of runs as the team has scored an average of 5.8 runs per game during that stretch and posted a 6-3 record.
TRACKIN’ TRAVIS ... Devon Travis brings a 12-game hit streak into the St. Lucie series, matching Dean Green for the longest streak on the Flying Tigers this season. Travis is 22x52 during the streak for a hefty .423 mark. He has scored nine times with five doubles, a homer and six RBI. In his last seven games, Travis is 15x32 for a .469 average.
THE KRIZAN GROOVE ... Jason Krizan has been one of the big weapons as late with back-to-back games of three hits each. On Tuesday, he fell a double shy of hitting for the cycle with a single, triple and homer for three runs batted in. He has hits in eight of his last nine games for a 14x39 (.359) clip and has scored six runs and driven in five.
FRANKLY FRANCISCO ... Francisco Martinez has had another hot bat with hits in 14 of his last 16 games for a .354 streak (23x65) with nine runs scored, five doubles, and six runs batted in.
MIGHTY MAC ... Although he was held hitless in Wednesday’s contest, Jeff McVaney has hits in 17 of his last 21 games dating back to June 2, for a .283 average.
AN A FOR AARON ... Aaron Westlake has hits in seven of his nine games since coming off the disabled list on July 12 and is 11x41 (.268) with five runs batted in.
RACKIN’ UP THE K’S ... Jeff Ferrell struck out nine batters in his start at Bradenton on July 24, matching Wilsen Palacios’ team high set on May 15 at Palm Beach. Tommy Collier mowed down a personal season-high seven batters the night before in his start. Kyle Ryan punched out four in his limited outing on July 23. Overall, Lakeland starters have struck out 20 batters in the last 15.0 innings of work while allowing just a pair of runs on 12 hits in the three contests.
THE SKIPPER ... Manager Dave Huppert, a member of the 2012 Florida State League Hall of Fame Class, is in his 25th season as a minor league manager and is the active winningest manager in the minors with a 1,788-1,635 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 (Brewers) to a co-championship while his 2007 Clearwater (Phillies) squad won the crown outright. In addition, he coached the Lakewood Blue Claws (Phillies) to the 2006 South Atlantic League title.
TIGER GREAT TO APPEAR JULY 27 ... Detroit great Denny McLain, the Majors’ last 30-game winner will be at Joker Marchant Stadium on Saturday, July 27. He will throw out the first pitch and be available during the game to sign autographs for fans for free. McLain went 31-6 in 1968 and posted a 1.96 ERA to earn Cy Young and MVP honors as Detroit led the American League from wire-to-wire.
UP NEXT ... Lakeland continues its longest home stand of the year with four games against the Charlotte Stone Crabs on July 29-August 1.
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