The team did play some fundametally sound baseball, and we did get to see some terrific efforts from some wonderful players over the course of the season. The 2008 statistical leaders for the team are recognized below.

As a team the Threshers had the 4th highest batting average in the league on the year. The direction and coaching of Razor Shines and Kevin Jordan also had the team ending the season with the fewest strikeouts of any team in the league and to go along with that they garnered the third most walks showing tremendous plate discipline. The only thing the team lacked offensively was extra base hits, without which they were unable to plate enough runs to get enough wins.

Pitching wise the team had more complete games from their staff than any other club in the league. Joe Savery led the league in innings and was second in strikeouts. Darren Byrd Had a strong second half for the team. Byrd was one of only four pitchers in the league to throw two complete games on the year. One other player to accomplish that feat was his teammate Andrew Carpenter who managed to go the distance in two of his eight mid-season rehab starts with the team.

All-in-all the season has to be considered a success from the Phillies organization perspective despite the teams finish in the league. Fans love to see wins, but mostly we want to see guys move closer to their dreams of playing in the big leagues. That is what many of the guys on the 2008 squad did this year; they got one step closer to helping out our big league squad.

Batting Leaders

(Minimum 50 games played.)

2008 Pitching Leaders

Sorry to all, and especially to James who works so hard to keep this a terrific site for Phillies minor league news for my lack of contribution over the second half of the year. I had a lot on my plate this season. I hope to be able to return to form in 2009 with full coverage of the Threshers. Sometimes real life gets in the way, and this was just one of those times. Thanks to everyone who made this site what it is.

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The Clearwater Threshers have continued to struggle over the last couple of weeks since my last Clearwater report. They have a second half record of 10-18 and are currently 11.5 games out of first. Obviously the biggest news in Clearwater lately was the Phillies trade that sent both Adrian Cardenas and Matt Spencer from the Threshers along with Josh Outman to the A’s for pitcher Joe Blanton.

The team has signed two independent league players to take their place who both joined the team in time for the Threshers 5-1 win on Monday night. Andrew Carpenter threw a complete 9-inning effort in the win giving up just one run (a solo home run) on four hits with seven Ks and no walks in the game. Carpenter has a record of 2-3 in six games with the Threshers and an ERA of 2.55 with 27Ks and just 6BB. It seems he has recovered from whatever ailed him at Reading to start the year, and should probably be moved up to give him a shot at getting back on track at AA before the year is out.

For the Threshers pitching staff Joe Savery has also finally begun to show some consistency in his efforts. He has won his last two starts, and has given up just two earned runs in his last four starts combined. Maybe the little experiment of using him as a DH for a couple of games did the trick.

Darren Byrd has also started to look good for the team after a very rough start to the season. He remains winless on the year with an 0-4 record in nine starts as a Thresher, but seems to be on track after being sent back up to the team from Lakewood.

Drew Naylor also finally picked up a win at Clearwater in his fifth try. In his last outing he went 6.0 innings giving up no runs on seven hits with seven Ks and just one walk. He had four pretty rough outings to start things at Clearwater, so let’s hope he is finally on track.

For the offense Michael Taylor has finally started to get on track after a rough first couple of weeks up with the Threshers. Taylor hit under .200 for his first few weeks, but has finally gotten his average up to .232. He has hit safely in six of his last seven games including three multi-hit games. He is 8 for his last 25 AB (.320) with 8 RBIS, a HR and 3 doubles over that period.

Gus Milner remains strong in the offenseive department for the team as well. With the departure of Adrian Cardenas, Milner now leads the team in hitting at .279 on the season, and leads the team in about 80% of all other offense categories.

NOTE: Every year I give out awards to the players through my website. Fans get to vote for the winners and then I give them out near the end of the season. I’ve put the nominations page up for this year’s awards, it you want a chance to give your input. I’m going to take nominations for two week’s or so and then narrow it down to three finalists in each category for a two-week voting period. View past winners here.

And finally … one shameless bit of self promotion. I’ve started to do some new video updates of the Threshers games that are available on YouTube. I’ve done them daily for about the last two weeks. They are very time consuming to do, maybe not all that informative, but they are pretty funny (maybe). The first video that pops up was a new experiment, so it is kind of lame, but click around and watch a few. There are some funny moments in each one. Unfortunately there won’t be any new videos for the rest of this week because I have company in town, and have to entertain them instead of myself, but check it out if you haven’t already.

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For the first time this season the Clearwater Threshers had a winning record for the week of their report. The team was 4-3 on the week, though they remain at 25-33 on the year and in last place in their division. The good news on the week was the announcement of the F.S.L. All-Star team. Four Threshers were chosen to represent the Western Division at the game this upcoming Father’s Day weekend in Brevard County, FL.

Edgar Garcia, Matt German, Brett Harker, and Gus Milner will all take part in the game. In addition as the defending Western Division champs the Clearwater Threshers coaching staff has the honor of leading the Western Division squad in the game.

As a team the Threshers have been showing significant improvements in the hitting department, especially in the area of extra base hits. The team is now ranked 7th in XBH up from last two weeks ago where they had languished the entire season. The team has the fewest strikeouts in the F.S.L., and the second most walks by any team in the league. They rank fifth in batting average and third in on-base percentage. The pitching has been the inconsistent part of the Threshers puzzle as of late. The starting pitching in particular has been in a constant state of flux for the team not really giving them a chance to get in any rhythmn. Of the original starting five pitchers this season only Joe Savery remains in the current line up, and his struggles have been well documented here and elsewhere.

The other four in our original starting five were Antonio Bastardo (whose fiery start earned him a promotion to AA Reading), Darren Byrd (whose early season struggles sent him to the DL and then to Lakewood), plus Edgar Garcia and Carlos Monasterios who are both out of the rotation with injuries. Zack Segovia and Tyson Brummett were late additions to the Threshers roster who have gotten starts this year, while Dan Brauer and Andrew Cruse have both seen some time starting this year with time also spent in the bullpen, though their success has been sporadic. For the most part the bullpen for the team has been strong with Brett Harker, Brian Schlitter and Sam Walls forming the nucleus of the bullpen staff.

Individual Player reports…
The Pitchers:

Dan Brauer LHP: Dan had just two appearances this past week. Overall he threw 4.1 innings giving up one run one two hits while fanning five but walking seven.

Tyson Brummett RHP: Tyson had two starts in the week earning one loss while going 5.2 and 6.0 innings in those starts. He gave up eleven runs on twenty-one hits, but struck out ten while walking just one.

Andrew Carpenter RHP: Andrew was sent down from Reading this week, but has been placed on the DL and has seen no action for the team.

Reymond Cruz RHP: Reymond was called up from XST about three weeks ago and has appeared sparingly for the team. This week he saw action twice going 2.0 and 1.1 innings with a line of 3R / 7H / 5K / 2BB.

Edgar Garcia RHP: Edgar picked up a nod for the All-Star game this week, but has not appeared for the Threshers since May 25th when he left the game after 3.2 innings of work with an injury. He has not been placed on the official DL, and there has been no real word as to the source of his ailment.

Matt German LHP: Matt joined Edgar and two others in being named to the All-Star squad, and continued his solid work from the pen this last week. He appeared three times for the team giving up two runs on two hits with five strikeouts and two walks in 4.0 innings of work.

Brett Harker RHP: Harker picked up a late but well deserved nod for the All-Star game as well. Brett saw action in three games this week giving up no runs on just one hit in 6.0 innings with four punch outs and one walk. He has not allowed an earned run since May 9th and has only allowed three all year giving him a terrific 0.95 ERA on the year.

Bear Hill RHP: Bear was a late addition to the Threshers after he struggled to get going in Reading at the beginning of the year. He has appeared in nine game for the Threshers including two this past week.

Carlos Monasterios RHP: Carlos was placed on the DL on 5/1 and had not seen action since. Last I heard he had about one week left to go on the DL, so he should be scheduled to return to the lineup shortly before or after the all-star break.

Joe Savery LHP: Joe has struggled with consistency this year looking great in some games and anything but in others. This past week in his one start he was somehere closer to the positive end of the scale, though great would be a stretch. He threw 6.0 innings in the game giving up just two runs on eight hits with three strikeouts, and three walks.

Brian Schlitter RHP: Brian had another solid week for the team and carries a 2.27 ERA so far this year. In his three appearances this week he gave up no hits or runs with five Ks and two BB in 4.0 innings.

Zack Segovia RHP: Zack has been mostly solid as a Thresher this season, but had a rough outing in his one start this past week. He gave up five runs on nine hits in 5.0 innings of work, but did have eight strikeouts versus just two walks in the game.

Sam Walls RHP: Sam has been nearly flawless this season with the team’s best ERA at just 0.88 on the year. He had two appearances this week and has not given up a run in over a month.

The Position Players:

PJ Antoniato INF: PJ has been in a mini slump the past week going just 1-13 in four games dropping his average to .259 from the .300 range where he had been all season long.

Welinson Baez 3B: Welinson has been hit or miss all year, and this week was more hit than miss. He picked up his second and third home runs of the season while going 4-10 in four games.

Quintin Berry CF: “Q” as he is know to his teammates leads the team in stolen bases with 17, and has been caught just three times. He is hitting .244 for the year with a 7-26 (.270) effort this past week, and currently has the most walks on the team with 27 for an OBP of .333.

Adrian Cardenas 2B: “AC” continues to lead the team with batting average of .320 for the season. Had it not been for the fact that he missed a month of the season on the DL he would have certainly been selected to the all-star team. By his standards he had an off week this past seven days hitting just .250 with one home run, one triple and two doubles.

Tuffy Gosewisch C: Tuffy started five of seven on the week and had a solid week at the plate as well as behind it. He hit 7-20 on the week with two doubles.

Clay Harris INF/DH: Clay has split time with John Urick at first base this season, and has seen some time at third base and as the DH. He is hitting .300 in his 22 games after starting the year on the DL. For the week he went 5-14 with a home run, two doubles, and four rbis.

Fidel Hernandez SS: Fidel’s hitting has been weak most of this season, but lately he has been on fire. He currently has a nine-game hitting streak going, and for the week was 12-27 (.445).

Jay Miller OF: Jay has been a solid contributor for the team all season, but as the fourth outfielder has seen limited playing time. He has taken advantage of the time he has gotten and is hitting .297 on the year with a team high .407 OBP.

Gus Milner RF: Gus was the lone Threshers position player selected to the all-star game. He leads the team in runs triples and total bases and has committed just one error this season. For the week he was his usual steady self getting hits in six of the seven games going 8-28 (.286).

Alan Robbins C: Alan had a rough week. He was 0-7 at the plate in two games as the catcher.

Matt Spencer LF: Matt had been in a small slump to start the week going hitless in the first three games, but ended the week by picking up six hits in the last four games including a triple and two doubles.

John Urick 1B: “Johnny U” has been a very solid citizen for the team this year. He leads the team in RBIs, and doubles and is tied for first in home runs. For the week he was 5-19 with four of the five hits going for extra bases including a triple and three doubles.

Get Daily Threshers recaps at http://clearwaterthreshers.jeffcrupper.com

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The Threshers had a pretty good week this week despite going just 3-3 in the process with Sunday as an off-day for Mother’s Day. The week began with the Threshers picking up two wins to extend their streak to four wins-in-a-row for the first time this year; they then lost two tightly contested games on Friday & Saturday.

The team was shut out by their cross-county rivals the Dunedin Bluejays on Monday with Tuffy Gosewisch picking up the team’s only hit in the game, and then they ended the week with a come-from-behind win over the Bluejays thanks to a seventh inning home run from Adrian Cardenas in his first game back since April the 17th.

Noteworthy News for the Week:

The team picked up eight home runs in the six games by six different players after having gotten just eight home runs in the first 33 games of the season. The week’s highlight was the team’s four home run effort in a 12-3 win this past Thursday night with four players each getting their season’s first long ball in that game.

John Urick was named the FSL playeer of the week going 8-19 (.421) and accounted for the game winning run in each of the Threshers’ wins.

Edgar Garcia picked up his fifth consecutive win in that same game to lead all pitchers with five wins on the year.

Joe Savery suffered a loss in his only outing of the week lasting just three innings. He gave up five runs on seven hits in the game with three walks and just one strikeout. The team would rally from down 7-1 in the game, but lost 7-6 in the end.

Gus Milner extended his hitting streak to 18 games before it was ended on Monday in the team’s 4-0 loss to the Bluejays. He picked up a 2-run HR the following night to tie the game before Adrian Cardenas got his game-winning HR to get the team back in the wins column.

Zack Segovia was sent down to Clearwater and looked pretty good in his only start despite taking the loss. He went 5.2 innings in the game though he had only gone 5.0 innings total in four games at Reading this year. He gave up three runs on seven hits with four Ks and no walks.

Darren Byrd was either placed on the DL or sent to extended spring training (depending on which source you hear it from) after going 0-4 in six starts with a 9.25 ERA and 15Ks v 22BB

Nate Johnson was realeased by the team after posting a 6.08 ERA for the team.

Sorry for the shorter than usual report this week, but I started a new job on Monday, and my time has been tight this week. Hopefully I can back to normal for next week’s report – Jeff

Get Daily Threshers recaps at http://clearwaterthreshers.jeffcrupper.com

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The Clearwater Threshers have been rolling lately, and the train just kept on going in Thursday night’s effort versus the Jupiter Hammerheads. The team picked up their fourth consecutive win, and their fifth in the last six games. Coming into the game the team had just eight home runs in the first 33 games of the year, however the club picked up four home runs on the night with Jake Blalock, Welinson Baez, Tuffy Gosewisch and Clay Harris each crushing a long ball all for the first time as a Thresher this season.

In all the team picked up seventeen hits, including a triple by Matt Spencer (his first of the year), two doubles, one by Jesus Villegas (his second) and one by Gus Milner (his sixth). The hit by Milner also extended his hitting streak to sixteen games. All starting players picked up at least one hit on the night with six players getting mulitple hits including Jake Blalock who had three hits in the game including his home run; he was good for two RBIs and two runs on the night.
Edgar Garcia picked up his fifth win in his last five starts going six innings giving up just two runs on seven hits with three Ks and two walks. The bullpen held the Hammerheads to just one more run on four hits with Matt German, Bear Hill, and Darren Byrd combining to seal the win for the Threshers.
For his fifth consecutive win Edgar Garcia picked up the SCHMIDT LIST player of the game award, but a big shout out goes to the entire team in this effort.

Get Daily Threshers recaps at http://clearwaterthreshers.jeffcrupper.com

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