THE SERIES ... This series is a battle for second place in the North Division as both teams trail Daytona with Lakeland 5.0 games behind and Clearwater a 1/2 game behind Lakeland. All three games at Bright House Field in Clearwater with the first two games Friday and Saturday, Aug. 23-24 at 6:30 p.m. and the finale at 1 pm on Sunday, Aug. 25.
THE FLYING TIGERS (56-63, 26-25, 2nd, 5.0 GB) ... Lakeland will be seeing its first action since splitting a doubleheader to Brevard County on Tuesday, Aug. 20 as the last two dates were rained out. The Flying Tigers have lost three of their last four games and six of their last eight. Lakeland has scored the third fewest runs of any Florida State League team and has hit the fewest homers of any league club. Jason Krizan now ranks fifth in the FSL with a .293 batting average while Aaron Westlake is eighth with a .282 mark. Krizan is also fourth in the league with a .391 on-base percentage and is now second with 10.67 plate appearances per strikeout. Kyle Ryan is tied with Clearwater’s Hoby Milner with a league-best 11 wins and ranks fifth with a 3.16 ERA. He also is fifth with 128.0 innings pitched. Wilsen Palacios is eighth in the FSL with a 3.46 earned run average and is fourth with 100 strikeouts. Jeff Ferrell has moved into the top ten in the league with a 3.49 ERA.
THE THRESHERS (63-61, 28-28, 2nd, 5.5 GB) ... Clearwater saw its six-game win streak snapped on Wednesday, Aug. 21 with a 4-2 loss to Tampa (last night’s game was rained out). The Threshers have outscored their opponents by a 37-17 margin in the last seven games. Cameron Perkins is fourth in the Florida State League with a .294 batting average while Aaron Altherr leads the circuit with 34 doubles and is second with 51 extra base hits and fifth with 195 total bases. Carlos Alonso is third in the FSL with 68 runs scored. Hoby Milner is tied with Lakeland’s Kyle Ryan with a league-high 11 wins and is fifth with 99 strikeouts and third with 132.1 innings pitched. The Threshers are third with a team batting average of .260 and second in runs scored but the staff ERA of 4.05 is highest in the Florida State League.
LAKELAND PROBABLE STARTERS
8/23 - LHP Kyle Ryan (11-6, 3.16) ... An end-of the year FSL All-Star, Ryan got the win in his last start on Aug. 15 at Dunedin despite tying his season-high with seven runs allowed—six earned—on eight hits in 5.0 innings as he left the game with a 12-7 lead. He is 8-2 in his last 14 starts with a 2.97 ERA. Ryan ranks fifth in the FSL with a 3.16 ERA and is tied for the league leading with 11 wins. He also ranked fifth with 128.0 innings pitched.
8/24 - RHP Tommy Collier (2-3, 4.78 ERA) ... Collier allowed a season-high six runs and nine hits in 5.0 innings in his last start on Aug. 16 at Tampa. He is now 0-1 with a 6.60 ERA in his last three starts since posting his last win on July 28. Collier has worked exactly 5.0 innings in each of his last seven outings.
8/25 - RHP Jeff Ferrell (6-5, 3.49 ERA) ... Ferrell worked one scoreless inning in relief on Aug. 18 at Tampa. Prior to that, he tossed 7.0 shutout innings in a “relief” role, coming on to start the second after MLB rehabbing Octavio Dotel started the game for Lakeland. He is 3-0 with a 2.67 ERA in his last five appearances, including three starts. He has not taken a loss since June 18 against Brevard County.
SEASON SERIES ... Lakeland holds a slim 8-7 lead in the series so far and won the last two meetings, 7-6 in 11 innings on Aug. 11 and 4-0 on Aug. 12. Prior to those two games, the Threshers had won seven of nine games.
FSL ALL-STAR ... Kyle Ryan was named to the Florida State League end-of-the-year All-Star Team on Aug. 22 as the Flying Tigers’ sole representative. Ryan is tied for the league-lead with 11 wins with a 3.16 ERA. St. Lucie’s Dustin Lawley was named the FSL Player of the Year while Jupiter’s Justin Nicolino earned Pitcher of the Year honors. Lawley leads the FSL with 25 home runs, 90 runs batted in, 61 extra-base hits and is second with 67 runs scored and a .512 slugging percentage. Nicolino was 5-2 with a 2.23 and a 1.11 WHIP in 18 starts for the Hammerheads before being promoted in late July.
KEEPING IT REAL ... Jason Krizan is hitting .361 (35x97) since July 15 with 13 runs scored, six doubles, three triples and a home run for 19 runs batted in. He has struck out just eight times in 115 total plate appearances during that stretch.
ALONE AT THE TOP ... Devon Travis now sits atop the Class A (combined) leader board with a .353 combined average over his games played in Lakeland at West Michigan. His .353 average is fourth best among all minor league hitters through Thursday’s games. The Flying Tigers second baseman is batting .356 in 42 games in the Florida State League and hit .352 in 77 games at West Michigan in the Midwest League before joining Lakeland. Travis has a lofty .400 mark in 21 homes games with four of his five homers coming at Joker Marchant Stadium. On the road, he is batting .318 in 21 games.
STEADY AS SHE GOES ... Luis Sanz has hits in 12 of his last 14 games played for a .370 pace (17x46). He has scored nine times in those 14 games and driven in nine runs as well. Sanz likes batting on the road as the Flying Tigers catcher is hitting .299 in 25 road games this season as compared to .217 in 26 games at Joker Marchant Stadium.
SHUTTING ‘EM DOWN ... Nick Avila has not allowed a run to score in his previous 10.0 innings over six appearances ... Patrick Cooper tossed 5.0 shutout innings in his last start on Aug. 20 against Brevard County ... closer Jose Valdez has not been scored upon since July 26. He has a stretch of seven scoreless outings (5.2 innings) and has 13 saves this season in 14 opportunities. His only blown save was back on June 24 in is second outing as a Flying Tiger.
IT’S RAINING AGAIN ... Lakeland had two games rained out during its most recent home stand with one game (Aug. 21) to be made up Aug. 26 at Brevard County. The second game (Aug. 22) was lost to the schedule as any possible make-up date would force the Flying Tigers to play four doubleheaders in a seven-day stretch which is against league rules. Lakeland has now lost 17 openings to rain.
RAINY DAYS (BUT NOT MONDAYS) GET ME DOWN ... Overall, Lakeland has had 17 games delayed at some point during the game by rain this season. Fourteen games have been postponed while six games have lost to schedule. At home, eight games have had rain delays; 12 have been postponed and five cancelled. As for the Mondays, Lakeland is 8-8.
THE SKIPPER ... Manager Dave Huppert, a member of the 2012 FSL Hall of Fame Class, is in his 26th season as a minor league manager and is the active winningest manager in the minors with a 1,801-1,656 record entering the Clearwater series. He is just the 21st minor league manager to record 1800 or more wins. 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.
UP NEXT ... Following this series, Lakeland continues its road tip on Monday, Aug. 26 at 5 pm with a doubleheader at Brevard County to make up a game rained out in Lakeland on Aug. 21. The series continues with games at Space Coast Stadium on Aug. 27-28 at 6:35 both nights.
TWO DATES, FOUR GAMES LEFT AT HOME ... Lakeland fans have just two more chances to see the Flying Tigers in action this season at home as the club closes out their 2013 home season with a pair of dates with Tampa on Aug. 30-31. Thanks to Mother Nature’s antics, both dates will be doubleheaders. The twinbill on Friday, Aug. 30 gets under at 5 pm with the final doubleheader slated for Saturday, Aug. 31 at 4 pm.
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