Blue Claws Drop Opener

01. Site Features, 4. Lakewood

Lake County 4, Lakewood 0

I had long basbeball day yesterday. Went to see the Phills look real ugly in first few inning before storming back. Left it the 8th in time to get to Lakewood for the opener.

Some quick notes and the game recap. 

Drew Naylor took the loss but deserved a better line. Drew Naylor delivers a pitch He officially finished 5ip, 5k 1bb, 3er. He gave up 3 runs in a third inning that included lead off bunt single, slightly misplayed and dropped tailing liner to right ( tough, but make-able catch) and a poorly played ( Brown got terrible jump) 2 RBI single to center. He threw mostly fastballs, 88-90 on the stadium gun. Mixed in an occasional slider at 78-81 and a couple wild curves at 68-72.

The other thing that stood out in the game was Blue Claws catcher Naughton. This guy has an accurate gun! He threw out two at second and very nearly had a third with some dead on lasers.

Couple other notes:

Starting line up

  • Line up was Brown, Mitchell, Bolt (DH),Taylor, Durant, Mattair, Naughton, Galvis, Myers
  • Myers had a nice hustle play. On a VERY routine pop up to second baseman, he ran hard out of the box and ended up on second easily when it was dropped.
  • Brown had two hits, but the first one was a doink infield single, and he seemed to have trouble with the sliders, a few ugly swings & one K. Hopefully it was just this pitcher. He also misjudged a catchable pop fly that turend into a two out two rbi single.
  • Taylor showed real poor effort near the wall in deep left on a foul ball. Maybe just learning the new park.
  • Lakewood left the bases loaded twice, once with one out and had 8 LOB in 3 innings.
  • Mitchells struck out 3 times, all swinging.

From the chilly Jersey Shore:

BlueClaws Drop Series Opener to Lake County
LAKEWOOD, N.J. – The BlueClaws opened the 2008 season with a 4-0 defeat at the hands of the Lake County Captains on Thursday night at FirstEnergy Park.The BlueClaws have not won a home opener since the inaugural 2001 season, but had plenty of chances to get on the board with a win this time around. Lakewood stranded 12 men without scoring, including eight over a three inning stretch, during which they loaded the bases twice and had two.

Drew Naylor (0-1) pitched well in the Opening Day start, cruising through the first two innings while allowing just one hit and striking out three. But the Australian right-hander ran into some difficulty in a three-run third inning for the Captains. He pitched five innings, allowing three earned runs while striking out six and walking one.

Lake County opened the decisive frame with back-to-back hits before Mark Thompson drove in the game’s first run with an RBI groundout. Chris Nash followed three batters later with a base hit to drive in two more.

Lakewood had a series of opportunities to put runs on the board, loading the bases with one out in the fourth and fifth inning. Kelvin De La Cruz (1-0) managed to escape each time with no damage done, impressively striking out Mike Durant and Travis Mattair looking to end the fifth. De La Cruz allowed five hits in five innings of work, while fanning six BlueClaws hitters.

Dominic Brown was the only BlueClaws hitter with more than one hit. The leadoff man went 2-for-5.

The BlueClaws did get some solid help out of the bullpen to keep the game within reach. Moises Melendez allowed one run in two innings of relief, before Chris Kissock and Walter Tejeda pitched a scoreless inning each.

The BlueClaws last won a home opener when they beat the Hickory Crawdads, 3-2, in the first ever game played at FirstEnergy Park. The loss dropped the BlueClaws record on Opening Day to 3-5. Lakewood had never been shutout on Opening Day and had not been shutout in the home opener since a 7-0 loss to Charleston in 2004.

Bringing in the Crowds:Thursday’s crowd of 6,338 marked the seventh time in eight years that the BlueClaws brought over 6,000 fans to FirstEnergy Park on Opening Day.

2 thoughts on “Blue Claws Drop Opener”

  1. An 88 – 90 mph fastball seems to slow to succeed as he moves up the organization unless his other pitches are truly superior. Only 1 BB is a plus, though.

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  2. I have sat behind Joel Naughton a few times in some Local Brisbane League games.. He does have deadset Cannon arm as Catcher..and very safe in defense.
    His batting will improve also this year with the BlueClaws with more game time.

    My PREDICTION for Joel is to play some Thresher Catcher time this year.

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