It was a pretty quiet week in Clearwater this week. The team played only four games with Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights all getting rained out. In the four they did play they were 2-2 with back-to-back losses to the Cubs (7-4 & 7-2) followed by a win against the Cubs to save a series sweep winning 6-3. On Sunday in their first game of a three game set with the Flying Tigers the team won 9-8 with a ninth inning rally after blowing an early 5-0 lead. Then as mentioned the next three games were washed out with the two against the Flying Tigers being canceled and not to be made up.
May 14th – L: 7-4 to the Cubs
Drew Naylor took his third loss of the year going 6.1 innings giving up five runs on nine hits with just one K to move his record to 2-3 on the year and put his ERA at 6.35. The defense in the game was horrible as the team committed a season high five errors in what was ultimately an unwatchable game. It was a sad way to see the team’s five-game winning streak come to an end. To add insult to injury Dominic Brown was lifted from the game with an unknown injury. About the only bright spot in the game was Joel Naughton who crushed two home runs in the game good for 3 RBIs.
May 15th – L: 7-2 to the Cubs
Michael Cisco got his second start of the year for the team, and looked good in the outing. He went 6.0 innings giving up just one run while fanning six and walking two, but the offense was quiet. Cisco left the game with a 2-1 lead, but could not get a win as the offense put up no more runs and the bullpen allowed six late runs to lose the game. Dominic Brown sat the game out for the first time this year, but no injury was disclosed though he had left the game early the previous night.
May 16th – W: 6-3 to the Cubs
Yohan Flande got the start for the team and picked up his team best fifth win of the season giving up two runs while scattering eight hits over six innings of work. He had five Ks and 3 BB. Again Dominic Brown missed the game, but the offense managed to put up some solid numbers with out him. Tim Kennelly and Michael Durant hit back-to-back homers in the fourth inning to give the Threshers a 4-1 lead that they would never give up. Manny Ayala saw his first action of the season from the bullpen, and looked pretty rusty giving up a run on two his in two innings of work, and after coming out in the ninth inning left bases loaded for Michael Schwimer before he was lifted and Schwimer was able to get the team out of the game with a 6-3 win.
May 17th – W:
Kyle Drabek got the start for the sharks and looked his usual solid self. He went six innings striking out six and walking three. He left with a 5-3 lead, but a blown save by Chris Kissock forced the Threshers to rally from down 8-6 in the ninth inning for a come from behind win. Dominic Brown was back in action in the game, and it was a ninth inning 2-RBI double from him that tied the game, and he then stole third and scored on a Tim Kennelly single to giet a win for the team.
Who’s Hot:
Dominic Brown continues to rake for the Threshers and leads the team in every offensive category except stolen bases where he trails Javis Diaz by one. There seems little doubt that his days in Clearwater are numbered, though I look forward to seeing him play as long as we have the opportunity.
Tim Kennelly has also been a machine for the Threshers. He has played 1B, 3B, C, LF, RF & DH for the team this year, and is hitting .298 with 23 RBIs, and his 13 doubles lead the FSL.
Kyle Drabek has not had a win since April 27th, but contimues to put up impressive numbers, and has yet to lose a game this year. He leads the FSL with 58 Ks v 15 BB in 46.2 innings of work.
Yohan Flande leads the team, and is tied for the FSL lead with five wins on the year.
Who’s Not:
After a terrific start to the year Matt Rizzotti has just one hit in his four games and is hitting .194 in his last 10. He does continue to reach base on walks, though, so it seems only a matter of time before he gets out of the slump.
Derrick Mitchell has never gotten out of the gate this year, and is hitting just .170 on the year and .125 in his last ten games. Not sure what it is going to take to get Mitch going, but he needs to get going soon because if the team loses Brown in the outfield someone needs to step up.
Michael Durant has shown occasional signs of life, but is still hitting just .200 on the year, and leads the league with 44 Ks in 99 at-bats, yikes!
Roster moves this week:
Chance Chapman was promoted on Tuesday to Reading after putting up a 0.77 ERA so far this year in Clearwater. I was surprised that it took Chapman this long to get to Clearwater in the first place, so not surprised at all to see him move up after putting up more good numbers for the Threshers.
Darren Byrd was activated from XST for the Threshers on the 15th and made two appearances in relief. Byrd had put up good numbers in the second half of 2008 for Lakewood and Clearwater as a starter, so it is good to see him back in action.
Manny Ayala was added to the roster from XST (officially from the Reading DL). He only threw two innings, and didn’t look great, but no big deal for one outing. He spent 2008 mostly in AA for the Padres with one appearance in AAA.
Jared Simon & Zack Sterner were both placed on the DL on the 15th. Simon had been the teams closer, but had struggled lately while Sterner had looked mostly solid. No word as to what the injuries are at this point.
Phuture Phillies 
I’ve heard (may have even seen) Drabek’s great curve, but how fast is he throwing the ball (92-96 is what I would guess)? Is there anyone else lighting up the gun?
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Do you think Kennelly could be a long term option at third? Or is he simply versatile in that he doesn’t stick at any one position?
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Re: Kennelly
I’d say it’s tough to judge him right now. I need to see him hit like this for an entire year, before I get behind him. None the less it would be cool to have a super utility guy like him.
Love the plate discipline.
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Sterner is down for tommy john.
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drabek is 2nd in all of the minors with his 58 so,s. not just the fsl.
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If a guy is playing a lot of LF, RF, 1B, then that probably doesn’t bode well for his defense at third.
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Kennelly has 9 errors in 30 games. Some of that could be rotating positions all the time. It looks like they’re trying to groom him as a jack-of-all-trades. His bat may play as a DH, somewhere else of course. Let’s see what happens as they move him up. If the bat still plays, he’d be very valuable as a C, corner infielder and corner outfielder combo.
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isnt it true donald does not have a single error in his roving at 2nd, ss, and 3rd?
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Kennelly and Donald super bench ,super cheap 2011 or sooner
like it
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Kennelly , I got at 6′ 180 without alot of power production so far , nor seeming much potential thereof, and his production, so far, does not seem to indicate starting time at either 3B or DH. He should continue on and continue to develop to maybe be a utility player in MLB, who can get some irregular playing time.
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Donald made an error in his first game at 3B, not sure if he has any others.
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Donald indeed has one error at third, good for a .994 fielding percentage overall this season. I’d caution though that fielding percentage is not a terribly good indication of fielding skill.
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On that note, baseball-reference now has daily updated minor league statistics, and those include fielding statistics.
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Wow, Fidel Hernandez has a .301 batting average and a .300 obp after 136 at-bats. It must take quite an effort to only draw one walk in 34 games
– Jeff
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obviously fielding % is not the only indication of defensive prowess i.e. garvey, ripkin but in donalds case his range is not the question. his one weakness defenseivlyseemed to be his throwing accuracy which errors do tell the tale. good to know he,s improved.
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Flande’s old for the FSL and has little left to prove at that level, so he’d be the most logical candidate for a promotion. I’m wondering what’s keeping him out of Reading. Any details on Yohan Flande’s stuff? velocity, repertoire, out pitch, groundball vs flyball, etc?
Drabek and Dom Brown could replace Stutes/Worley and Michael Taylor in a few months.
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Bastardo was sent to AAA
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Качество друзей тоже надо учитывать. Дональд Трамп, например, на двадцатку потянет.
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what is this now the 5th game in a row postponed because of rain, whats the record for that
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4th in a row..Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu. Although rain remains in the forecast for the next several days. The team is supposed to play in Tampa tomorrow night, and that field does not hold up well to rain, so it could easily go to five games, and maybe even seven if they all get rained out.
Hate to see it as a baseball fan, but as a homeowner in the middle of a svere drought, my yard is HAPPY to see it!
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marinkina are you here legally?
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Can we please move the Clearwater games out of Florida just until the rain stops? I think it’s the only place in the US where it’s raining. Maybe we should move Brown and Drabek and any other prospects somewhere else for a few days. They need to play.
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” john from philly.ne Says:
May 22, 2009 at 3:34 am
marinkina are you here legally?”
Who would have thought that we’d make first contact on a phillies minor league message board?
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Does anyone know where Hewitt is playing this year? Do you think it will be Williamsport? I’m really having a hard time finding anything on him. We like to travel to all of our minor league parks and follow some of these guys.
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yes fish assuming marinkina is female ” love blooms in the clearwater report”. maybe she looks like kornokova?.
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In case anyone was wondering, Marinkina is Russian and she said:
“Quality friends must also be taken into account. Donald this, for example, the 20 will also drag.”
I don’t think it makes any more sense in English.
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At least thats what some hokey translation gave me.
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perfect sense skunky if your in the kgb. hey wait a minute!
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The more attention you pay to this/these idiots. the more they will post. It is probably some juv in chicago
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