After allowing a combined twenty runs in losing the first three games of the week, the BlueClaws needed to step it up a notch and get strong performances from their starting pitchers if they wanted to keep up with the West Virginia Power in the second-half SAL standings. Behind two extremely strong debuts from rookie pitchers Michael Stutes and Michael Cisco, Lakewood evened the week’s record out to 3-3 and stayed in the hunt for the SAL Northern lead, at 24-13 two games behind the Power.
Tuesday, July 22
Vance Worley made the start for the BlueClaws in a game that took twelve innings to be decided in a 5-6 loss for Lakewood. In his first eighteen innings in Lakewood blue, Worley had been phenomenal, striking out twelve and only allowing two runs with a 1.17 WHIP. This game was decidedly different, as he gave up five runs (two earned) on eight hits, two of which were homeruns. Worley still displayed impressive control, walking none. In his now twenty-four innings of work at Lakewood, he has only walked one.
After allowing a run to score on a fielding error in the first inning, Michael Durant made up for his mistake in the top of the third, crushing his thirteenth homerun, a two-run blast that gave Lakewood a 4-1 lead at the time. Then, in the top of the 7th, Lakewood down a run, Durant grounded into 5-4 forceout that drove in a run to tie the game at five apiece.
In the bottom of the twelfth inning, after Reymond Cruz surrendered a single and an intentional walk to put two men aboard with one out, Moises Melendez came on in relief, who immediately gave up the game-winning single to the first batter he faced.
Other notable performances were had by Derrick Mitchell, who hit 3-6 with a run, Tim Kennelly went 2-5 with a walk on the day. Kennelly wasn’t at his normal positions of catcher or DH, instead, showing up for the game as the starting right fielder. It was a sloppy night for fielding, with Durant (12 errors on the season), Travis Mattair (20), and Mitchell (22) all committing a fielding error.
Wednesday, July 23
It simply was not Julian Sampson‘s day as the BlueClaws were routed 0-10 by the Asheville Tourists, who won the last game of the series, each team taking two games. Not only did Sampson receive a decisive lack of offense output from his team, fielding errors marred a pitcher’s performance for the second day in a row. Alberto Cambero, Matt Rizzotti, and Freddy Galvis each committed an error, resulting in only two of Sampson’s five surrendered runs being earned. In five innings of work, Sampson gave up five hits, three walks and five runs (two earned) while striking out four.
Sampson’s relief, the recently promoted Eryk McConnell (2 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 3 K, 2 HR) couldn’t blame the Lakewood defense, as all five runs given up in his BlueClaws debut were earned.
A dearth of offense would be an understatement for the game, as the ‘Claws were the victims of a no-hitter by Tourists pitcher Bruce Billings, who came into the game with a 4.04 ERA. Definitely not the BlueClaws best game of the season, to say the least.
Friday, July 25
After a night off to think about their no-hit performance against the Tourists, the BlueClaws’ offensive woes continued as they lost 4-0 against the Kannapolis Intimidators. For those keeping score at home, the BlueClaws stretched their scoreless innings streak to twenty-three innings, having not scored a run since the seventh inning in Tuesday’s game.
Lakewood starter Walter Tejada did not have a memorable game by any standards, lasting five innings and giving up five hits, four runs (three earned) and three walks while only striking out one, but it didn’t matter as the BlueClaws bats fell asleep again. The relief pitchers, Moises Melendez and Zack Sterner pitched four combined scoreless innings, Sterner lowering his ERA to 1.65.
While they weren’t no-hit again, Lakewood only mustered two hits, which came off the bats of Matt Rizzotti and Joel Naughton. Mattair committed his twenty-first error of the season in the loss.
Saturday, July 26
After stretching out their run of scoreless innings to twenty-four after a scoreless first inning, the BlueClaws offense suddenly sprang to life, posting eight runs in an 8-1 rout of the Intimidators. Michael Stutes made his Lakewood debut and pitched an absolute gem of a game, only giving up two hits and a walk over six innings of work. He struck out five in the effort. Sergio Escalona, Eryk McConnell, and Reymond Cruz combined for three innings of one-hit ball, with the only Kannapolis run on the night being allowed by Cruz.
Every Lakewood starter at least got on base during the game, with the only two not recording a hit being Freddy Galvis and Joel Naughton. Tim Kennelly swung a smoking bat during the game, going 4-4 with two doubles, three runs and a walk on the night. Travis Mattair hit 2-4 with two RBI and Michael Durant hit a bases clearing triple in the third inning.
In a recurring theme this week, there were two Lakewood errors on the night, Derrick Mitchell’s twenty-third and Joel Naughton’s sixth.
Monday, July 27 (first game)
After Sunday’s rained-out game was rescheduled for Monday, the BlueClaws took part in the great All-American tradition known as the double-header. The offensive output from Saturday seemed to not be affected by the rain in the first game, as the BlueClaws won 7-4.
Chance Chapman had an uncharacteristically bad start for a change. In three and a third innings of work, Chapman allowed four runs (three earned) on five hits and two walks. Thanks to Chris Kissock (2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 K) and a perfect inning from Jared Simon resulting in his twenty-second save, the Intimidators were held scoreless for the rest of the short seven-inning game.
Swinging a hot bat today was Michael Durant, who hit 2-3 in the gamewith a double and three RBI. Freddy Galvis went 2-4 in the game with two runs scored. T.J. Warren, in the midst of a 1-15 slump, hit his first homerun as a BlueClaw.
In what has begun to feel like a redundant sentence, two more errors were committed, one apiece by Freddy Galvis (16) and T.J. Warren (1)
Monday, July 27 (second game)
Lakewood’s bats fell asleep once again, but a stellar debut performance by Michael Cisco proved to be the deciding factor in the 1-0 Lakewood victory. With the win, Lakewood wrapped up a 3-1 series win over the Kannapolis Intimidators.
Michael Cisco, in his first start as a Lakewood Blueclaw was spectacular, holding the Intimdators to just one hit over five innings while striking out three. Unfortunately, as good a game as he had, the win was not his to claim, as Kannapolis held Lakewood scoreless through seven innings. After an eighth inning in which relief pitcher Zack Sterner only allowed a walk, the plague that had stricken the BlueClaws all week long finally worked for them, as a fielding error by the Kannapolis shortstop on a Joel Naughton-hit ball allowed Matt Rizzotti to score the walkoff run, earning Sterner the win.
And…what would a writeup of a game be this week without mentioning Lakewood errors? Travis Mattair committed his twenty-second error of the season – a throwing error in the fourth.
Notes:
– Seems the BlueClaws are converting Tim Kennelly into an outfielder–with an outstanding defensive catcher in Joel Naughton and Matt Rizzotti and Michael Durant alternating between first base and DH, Kennelly has been playing in right field frequently the last two weeks. So far, so good, with a .351 batting average over his last ten games. He’s currently hitting with an .891 OPS clip. Once Dominic Brown returns from his shoulder injury, it will be interesting to see if Kennelly stays in the outfield or slides back over to catcher or DH.
– Geez, this poor fielding bug sure is contagious, isn’t it? Since July 19, a span of 9 games, the BlueClaws have committed 18 errors, with at least one in each game. Here’s the rundown by player by number of errors (Mattair – 4; Galvis, Mitchell – 3; Rizzotti – 2; Brown, Cambero, Durant, Naughton, Warren, Winn – 1)
Phuture Phillies 
Crap, that’s a lot of errors.
If Lakewood is short on outfielders, maybe they should promote Susdoft – he had four hits last night. I don’t know if he’s this years Tyler Mach, or if he’s legit, but I think he should be moved up.
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Phuturephillies could you tell me how vance worley with his numbers in college was picked so high. I went on the site cube. His number of hits per inning and strikeouts was really bad. Can’t figure how they would think so highly of him.
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Probably just the fact that he came out of the Dirtbags program.
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Good stuff. I touched on Kennelly today in my general musings. He’s an interesting guy, has kind of stagnated after a big debut in 2005.
As for Worley. The Phillies obviously like the arm, they drafted him before. He’s always had great raw arm strength and a good fastball, but hasn’t been able to really learn how to pitch. The Phillies must think they can help him refine his stuff and turn the corner. After the first 2 rounds, you’re basically picking guys you like and guys you think have potential. College baseball statistics are really kind of tough to evaluate. Its an entirely different game from the pro game.
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Any info on Zack Sterner? I haven’t seen his name mentioned in a while… where could this guy fit in? Thanks.
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Sterner is likely just an organizational guy going forward.
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got tickets a while back to see the blueclaws this thursday. as my luck will have it it turns out that Eaton is pitching there then. I was hoping to see Worley or Sampson or even now Stutes and now i get Eaton. I want a refund!!!
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Nice report, D. Romano.
Hopefully the offense gets back on track a bit when Brown returns from injury. And the early returns from this draft class of pitchers has been good: four have already made it to Lakewood, and the ones still at Williamsport are generally pitching well.
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Sorry for the ignorance, but “organizational guy”? Does that just mean “career minor leaguer”?
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yea…aka minor league filler. good report as usual…seems like sampson is still inconsistent, but it has to be encouraging the galvis and mattair are continuing to keep their heads above water. kennelly would be interesting for sure if he found a home in right field. always nice to have a guy with real arm out there, and you can never have enough decent looking OF prospects
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Great report. I thought Galvis’ best tool was his D. I don’t want to devolve this into a debate over the merit of errors as indicators of fielding prowess, but you have to see that many not being a good thing.
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What are the nature of Mattairs errors? I saw him one game last month and he did not get any chances. I have great hopes for him. We need a solid third base prospect.
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If I understand correctly, errors in the Minor Leagues aren’t a good indication of fielding prowess. Still, he does have a lot of errors.
My guess is that he may still be adjusting to the position – I believe he was a shortstop in high school – coupled with the fact that he has a lot of range and gets to balls that someone with less range wouldn’t. (I can base that one on first hand experience from a game I went to a few weeks back). Part of it is probably also trying to do too much. I just checked out Scott Rolen’s career numbers for comparison – 24 errors his rookie year, 14 his second year.
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For those who have been to a Lakewood game, what kind of hitter is Durant? He’s obviously got some pop. Does he just swing from his heels every time? Or does he have easy power and just needs to work on pitch recognition?
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I agree Jeff O, an error for him could be a ball another SS wouldn’t be close to so it has to be taken with a grain of salt but it’s not a good thing.
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Brown has too many errors 9 or more and he is clueless to routing and catching balls in centerfield and right. Kennelly seems to play right field better with less errors than Brown, Kennelly should remain in right field. Warren plays centerfield and right field better than Brown with less errors, he can catch a ball better, he is faster and hustles to make a play better than Brown, he should remain in center. Brown should probably try playing in left and work on his defensive skills.
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what does everyone think of giving D’Arnauld and Susdorf a promotion to Lakewood soon? I think they have both earned it so far this season and they should be challenged.
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I think the Phils will let d’Arnaud work his way up a level at a time (which is the right move, in my opinion). He’s young (just 19) and catchers tend to develop more slowly as they learn the nuances of receiving and game-calling, so I’d let him continue to rake in Williamsport this year, send him to Lakewood next year, and only bump him then if he really forces your hand.
As for Susdorf, that’s a tougher call. At 22, he’s old for Williamsport, but given that he’s had a whirlwind past few months and that he’s only had a total of 50 at bats in the NYPL thus far, I think I’d leave him where he is for the time being. If he continues to hit at anywhere near the level he has thus far, then I’d send him to Clearwater to start next season.
And Ken: thanks for that info on Brown. Disappointing to hear that his defense is subpar, but you have to hope with his athleticism that he’ll improve enough to be a legitimate right fielder by the time he’s major league ready in 2 to 3 years.
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anyone have any news about kyle drabek and when he might be returning
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Well, egg on face for me re: Susdorf. He’s in left field and batting third for Lakewood tonight.
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espero que ese joven que juega ss el “TOCO”galvis siga mejorando su bateo para ayudar al equipo
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What’s your take on Michael Durant? Do you consider him a prospect or not?
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Good for Susdorf!
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0 for 5 though, he must have had a rough drive to Jersey, or maybe his new uni didn’t fit quite right. Just kidding – of course I wish him well and congratulations.
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Cut him…CUT HIM NOW!!!
Seriously though, its good to see him moving up so quickly.
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Good move on Susdorf. I think you have to be aggresive on college hitters, as I feel they have been doing with Taylor.
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uh-oh. the claws are being no hit again (thru 5 innings) for the second time in just over a week. Susdorf is out of the lineup, FYI.
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Susdorf got a good number of off days with the Crosscutters too. He’s probably pretty worn down by the college season and CWS at this point.
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good to see i sufficently jinxed West Virginia. Good comeback 7-3 win and a nice performance by Sampson. Going to their game tomorrow night (weather permitting) so I’ll be glad to see Susdorf, Galvis etc. hopefully in person
Eaton, not so much.
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went to the claws game last night. Eaton needs to go to the GCL if he wants to get people out. that’s just sad that anyone ever thought to give this stiff 25 million. That home run was a no doubt about it and he was hearing it from the crowd. What i took from the game was that Susdorf while he only got one hit, hit the ball hard each time. Also Mattair made a great bare handed put out on a bunt attempt that was ML caliber. Kennelley had some good rips too.
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Pretty sad…though I doubt he’s very upset…If you gave me $8 million per I’d run myself out there every 5th day to be humiliated in Lakewood too.
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No Lakewood report lately for a team on a crazy hot streak? I’ll just post here then…
Anybody notice what Worley, Stutes, Cisco, and McConnell are doing there?
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