Almost two months into the 2009 SAL season, and the Lakewood BlueClaws find themselves right where they want to be – first place in the SAL North, one game ahead of the Delmarva Shorebirds.

This week the BlueClaws put up a 4-3 record against the 2008 SAL runners-up, the West Virginia Power, and the Greensboro Grasshoppers. Again, they lived and died by their pitching, as the BlueClaws offense averaged less than four runs a game (excluding one notable outlier).

Tuesday, May 19

Lakewood 4
West Virginia 2
W: Santo Hernandez (2-1); L: L. Welker (0-5); SV: B.J. Rosenberg (5)

Lakewood had to rely heavily on its bullpen for this win, as starter Jason Knapp only lasted 3.2 innings. Knapp had trouble locating his pitches all game, as evidenced by the five walks given up. His overall line (3.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 5 BB, 5 SO) could have been worse, all things considered. The BlueClaws bullpen, which has been spotty in the past, came through in a big way. Santo Hernandez replaced Knapp in the long-relief role and posted 4.1 strong innings of relief work, not allowing a run and only giving up one walk and one hit while striking out four. B.J. Rosenberg closed out the game with a perfect 9th inning, striking out two for his fifth save of the year.

The Lakewood offense led off the game with back-to-back doubles by Harold Garcia and Anthony Gose, which (along with Gose’s twenty-fourth steal of the season) led to a two-run first inning. Finding themselves tied at two in the second inning, Sebastian Valle led the inning off with a double, and would soon be brought home by a Leandro Castro single for the go-ahead run. The BlueClaws would later tack on an insurance run in the 9th inning.

The offensive player of the game was catcher Sebastian Valle, who hit 2-4, with two doubles and a run. Harold Garcia and Jim Murphy also had two hits on the evening.

Wednesday, May 20
Lakewood 4
West Virginia 3
W: Justin DeFratus (2-0); L: W. Ortiz (0-1); SV: Ryan Bergh (6)

Again, the BlueClaws bullpen was the difference in the game, as Lakewood took the third straight game from the Power. BlueClaws starter Heitor Correa allowed the first run of the game on a sacrifice fly from Chase D’Arnaud (brother of Lakewood backstop Travis) in the first inning, putting the ‘Claws in an early 1-0 deficit. Overall, it was a serviceable game from Correa, who lasted 5.1 innings, giving up three runs on five hits and four walks, and striking out four. Justin DeFratus pitched a perfect 1.2 innings of relief work, striking out two, and Ryan Bergh would get the two-inning save, striking out four and allowing a single hit.

Offensively, Lakewood was silent until the top of the 5th inning, when a leadoff double by shortstop Troy Hanzawa sparked the BlueClaws offense to a three-run inning. After Gose doubled in the second run of the inning and stole his twenty-fifth base of the year, Travis D’Arnaud would answer his brother by doubling to bring in Gose. With the game tied in the top of the 7th and the bases loaded, Zach Collier drove in the winning run with a forceout to second.

Hanzawa went 3-3 at the plate, with a double and a run scored. Travis D’Arnaud also had a standout game with two hits in four at-bats, a double, an RBI and a walk. Antony Gose and Jim Murphy also each had two hits and a run, with Gose tacking on an RBI.

Thursday, May 21

West Virginia 6
Lakewood 1
W: K. McPherson (3-1); L: Jesus Sanchez (1-3)

Both the Claws’ offense and defense seemed to fall asleep, causing Lakewood to drop the final game of the series against the Power, and preventing the sweep. Jesus Sanchez pitched six innings, allowing six runs (three earned), but was the victim of two back-to-back costly errors which led to a five-run 3rd inning. After Sanchez surrendered a leadoff walk to start the ninth, Troy Hanzawa committed a fielding error on the next batter to put men on first and second. The next batter would attempt a sacfice bunt, but would reach base safely due to a throwing error by catcher Travis D’Arnaud to load the bases. Sanchez then melted down for a total of five runs in the inning, only two earned.

Zach Collier would score the only run for Lakewood in the game, leading off the 5th inning with a double and later being driven in by a Jeremy Hamilton sacrifice fly. Besides Collier, the only other offensive BlueClaw of note was Anthony Gose, who stole a base in his fourth consecutive game, his twenty-sixth of the season.

Friday, May 22

Greensboro 7
Lakewood 4
W: J. Dorn (6-1); L: Jon Velasquez (5-2); SV: P. Andrelczyk (8)

In the battle of five-win pitchers (Jon Velasquez and Johnny Dorn), neither one really looked the part, as neither pitcher lasted six innings and both gave up four or more runs. Still, it was Velasquez who had undeniably the worse outing, lasting only three innings before giving way to the bullpen. Velasquez exited the game having given up seven hits, a walk and five runs in his worst pitching appearance of the season. Jacob Diekman would come in to the game as the long reliever, pitching four innings and allowing two runs (one earned) on four hits, three walks, and five strikeouts. Justin DeFratus and B.J. Rosenberg would combine to pitch the final two frames, neither allowing a baserunner.

Jeremy Hamilton would double and later score in the 3rd, giving Lakewood its first run of the game. In the 4th, with two outs and two on, Hamilton hit a two-run triple and would score on the next play, a single off the bat of D’Arby Myers.

Accounting for all four of the BlueClaws’ runs, Jeremy Hamilton went 2-4, with two runs, two RBIs, a double and a triple. Troy Hanzawa and Harold Garcia each had two hits as well.

Saturday, May 23

Lakewood 4
Greensboro 3
W: Santo Hernandez (3-1); L: B. Todd (0-1); SV: B.J. Rosenberg (6)

While Lakewood’s Tyler Cloyd had a good start, he was bettered by Greensboro’s Tom Koehler, who held the BlueClaws to one run in his six innings. Cloyd allowed only two runs through the first six innings, and was sent back to the mound for the seventh, where he was pulled after getting a forceout to second, leaving a runner on first. Santo Hernandez entered the game in relief of Cloyd (6.1 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 5 K) and allowed the runner to score, saddling Cloyd with the third run. Hernandez pitched 1.2 innings, only allowing one hit before being lifted for closer B.J. Rosenberg who put the nail in Greensboro’s coffin.

Lakewood scored the first run of the game in the 2nd when, after two walks by Jeremy Hamilton and Travis Mattair, a Zach Collier single put the ‘Claws ahead 1-0. With the BlueClaws behind 1-3 in the bottom of the 7th, Collier lead off the inning with a single and advanced to third on a hit-and-run by Troy Hanzawa. Collier would score on the next play, a forceout off the bat of Korby Mintken, who himself would later score on a throwing error during a Travis D’Arnaud at-bat. Travis Mattair scored the go-ahead run in the 8th, after singling, scoring on another throwing error by Greensboro.

Collier hit 3-4 in the game, with an RBI and a run scored. Troy Hanzawa continued his hot streak with a 3-4 game, and Harold Garcia hit 2-5.

Sunday, May 24

Greensboro 9
Lakewood 3
W: J. Yecker (2-2); L: Jason Knapp (2-4)

Jason Knapp’s struggles continued as he suffered one of his worst starts of the year, as he gave up seven runs in five innings to suffer his fourth loss of the season. In his last two starts at home, he has given up thirteen runs in just eight innings. More alarming is that in his most recent four game stretch, his WHIP is sitting at 1.98. Hopefully he’ll begin to turn things back around soon.

Knapp seemed to have settled down after a 3-run 1st inning, but was victimized for two hits, two walks, and a total of four runs in the 6th. Even after Knapp left the game, Greensboro’s hitting continued. Justin DeFratus entered the game in relief with the bases loaded and no outs, he let all three inherited runners score and tacked on two runs allowed of his own accord before getting out of the inning and pitching a scoreless 7th. Esmelvin Jimenez pitched a perfect 8th inning – the last inning before the game was called due to rain – striking out two.

All three of Lakewood’s runs came in the bottom of the 4th. Zach Collier got the scoring started with an RBI single (on which he advanced to second on the throw home). The next batter, Troy Hanzawa would ground out but score Travis Mattair and advance Collier to third. Korby Mintken hit a single to drive in Collier for what proved to be the BlueClaws’ final run of the game.

Only Collier had more than one hit, going 2-3 with a run, a double and an RBI.

Monday, May 25

Lakewood 11
Greensboro 1
W: Heitor Correa (1-1); L: B. Hand (2-5)

Lakewood could do no wrong as they evened up the series with Greensboro – the offense was on fire and Heitor Correa had his best game of the season. Correa posted seven innings of shutout baseball, striking out four and allowing six hits and a walk. Ryan Ariail posted a scoreless 8th to continue the bid for the shutout, but Ryan Bergh allowed a run in the 9th to spoil the bid.

Lakewood was held without a run until the fourth, when a Jim Murphy groundout scored Anthony Gose for a 1-0 lead. In the 5th inning, the BlueClaws shifted into gear and broke the game wide open. Travis Mattair got the inning started with his signature play- the walk, and Zach Collier reached base on a fielding error. With Troy Hanzawa batting, Mattair and Collier perfectly executed a double-steal before Hanzawa singled to bring in Mattair to make the game 2-0. After Korby Mintken drove in a run on a fielders choice, D’Arby Myers brought in the third run of the inning with an RBI single. Gose flashed his speed yet again on the next play, a bunt single to load the bases with no outs. Lakewood would score one more run in the inning, off a sacrifice fly by Jim Murphy.

The ‘Claws would score four more runs in the 7th off a 2-run triple by Sebastian Valle and a 2-run homerun by Jim Murphy. Murphy and Mattair would both add RBI singles in the 8th to give the BlueClaws an 11-0 lead.

Every BlueClaws starter, with the exceptions of Zach Collier and Korby Mintken, had at least one hit. Steve Susdorf made his first appearance of the season as the DH, getting one hit. Offensive standouts were Troy Hanzawa (3-4, R, RBI), Jim Murphy (2-4, R, HR, 5 RBI), Sebastian Valle (2-4, 2 R, 2B, 3B, 2 RBI, BB), and D’Arby Myers (2-5, 2 R, RBI)

Prospects of the Week

1. Troy Hanzawa, SS

Starting to show the contact he displayed last year, Hanzawa gave opposing pitchers fits this week, going 11-21. He’s batting .438 in his last ten games and had an OPS of 1.136  this week.

2. Sebastian Valle

Valle hasn’t hit for a high average yet this season, but he’s flashing power. He hit 5-17 this week, but all five hits were extra base hits – four doubles and a triple, leading to a slugging percentage of .647 this week.

3. Santo Hernandez

Hernandez picked up two wins in relief this week, and was nearly unhittable in his seven innings of work. He did not allow a single run, struck out five and had a WHIP of 0.43 this last week.

4. Heitor Correa

Correa has rebounded very nicely after a year away from baseball. Monday was his best game of the season, with seven shutout innings, and he only allowed three runs in 12.1 innings of work this week. For the week, his WHIP was at 1.32. He seems to share a propensity with Knapp for HBP, as he hit two batters in each of his two starts this week.

5. Jim Murphy

Murphy has been the most consistent offensive performer for the BlueClaws this season, maintaining an average of .313 and an OPS of .882 for the season thus far. This week he had the only homerun hit by a BlueClaw while hitting 8-21 with six RBI. He walked three times and posted an OPS of .909. He did strike out eight times, though.

League Leaders

– Jim Murphy is T-11th in the SAL with a .313 batting average, 3rd in OBP at a clip of .422, and 8th in OPS at .882

– Travis D’Arnaud is T-9th in the league in RBIs with 25

– Mattair is tied for the lead in walks with 24

– Anthony Gose (26) leads the league (by ten) while Harold Garcia (14) is T-5th and Zach Collier (11) is 11th in steals

– Zach Collier is T-11th in doubles with 11

– Anthony Gose (26) is T-8th and Zach Collier (25) is T-10th in runs scored

– Jim Murphy (43) is T-11th and Anthony Gose (42) is T-13th in strikeouts

– Tyler Cloyd leads the SAL in Innings Pitched with 57.1

– Jason Knapp is 2nd in the SAL with 63 strikeouts while Tyler Cloyd is T-5th with 54

– Jonathan Velasquez is T-4th and Tyler Cloyd is T-8th in wins with 5 and 4, respectively

– Justin DeFratus is 6th in ERA at 1.78

– Justin DeFratus (0.82) is 1st and Tyler Cloyd (1.08) is T-13th in WHIP

– Justin DeFratus is tied for the lead in holds with 5