Last minute notice…our press box suite auction for Friday, May 29th ends at 7 pm on Sunday. You can bid by clicking here. Included in the package…

• Four tickets to your own individual suite in the press box
• Access to the radio booth and broadcasters, production room and PA announcer Kevin Clark
• Your own copy of the BlueClaws media guide, game notes, and statistics for that evening
• $100 to spend on food however you choose
• The best seats in the house to watch the post-game fireworks

Good luck!

Welcome back to FirstEnergy Park in Lakewood for tonight’s game between the BlueClaws and Grasshoppers. Greensboro won the series opener last night 7-4 and the BlueClaws have given back two games over the last two nights and lead the North by just a half game.

Game notes here…Audio here

LWD- RHP Tyler Cloyd (4-2)
GBO- RHP Tom Koehler (2-2)

Back in the Swing…Travis d’Arnaud (3rd) and Jim Murphy (4th) are back in the lineup tonight after a night off yesterday.

Bowling Right Along…Jeremy Hamilton, a high school all-state bowler, is 11-33 in May and hits 6th in the lineup tonight, the highest up for him all year.

Rest below the fold…Enjoy

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Dylan, Mellencamp and Nelson rock FirstEnergy Park. It’s the Bob Dylan Show and it’s coming up on July 23rd. Info here…tickets at 732-901-7000, at the BlueClaws box office or online at TicketMaster.com.

Will be a blast…tickets are $67.50 and are all general admission, so be sure to arrive early for the best seat. Enjoy!

Tonight’s starter, Tyler Cloyd has had a lot of success at FirstEnergy Park this season…and he is back on the mound, looking to end a two game losing streak the BlueClaws have been saddled with after winning four straight. The BlueClaws have not lost three games in a row all season long.

Overall, Cloyd has been very good this season…4-2 with a 3.00 ERA and on a three game winning streak, but at home, he has been outstanding.

In 24 innings at home, Cloyd has yet to surrender a walk (just one walk in his last 35 innings) and is 2-1 with a 1.67 ERA. He has allowed just 24 hits and five runs while striking out 24 in that span…Here is what Cloyd had to say about pitching at FirstEnergy Park.

“I love the atmosphere here, the fans are amazing. You can always tell when they’re behind you, they always cheer for great plays and and good outings…When the team is doing well, they let you know it…Everything is just great about pitching here, the field, just everything…Not just for the pitcher, but the whole team is put in a good mood by the home atmosphere.”

Coaches in all different sports say that the toughest part of their job is telling a player he has been released. But one of the best is telling a player that he has been promoted. Last week, Sergio Escalona (BlueClaws 2007-2008) was called to FirstEnergy Stadium in Reading early in the morning where Steve Roadcap was waiting.

“He said, ‘What were you doing last night? I heard the police had to go to the stadium,’” Escalona said. “I said, ‘No, I was home, watching TV, a movie, with my family.’

“He said, ‘I don’t know — the police are coming.’”

Roady was kidding of course, as Escalona was called up to the big leagues, where he got his first win on Sunday, and Charlie Manuel threw him right into the fire.

“I have absolutely no problem with that; it’s a good way to find out who you’ve got,” Manuel said. “The kid came in here and what I liked about him is he was so happy about getting called up, he was just off the chart. He was into it. That’s what it’s all about.”

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Escalona has been sent down to Lehigh Valley after a week in the bigs to make room for John Mayberry, who has been called up to the big leagues. Escalona threw three shutout innings for the Phils.

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One more move, 2007 BlueClaw Antonio Bastardo, who was 2-2 with a 1.89 ERA with Reading has been sent to Lehigh Valley.

Tyler Cloyd looks to snap a two-game skid on Saturday night at FirstEnergy Park against Greensboro (7:05). The BlueClaws have not lost three games in a row yet this season.

Game notes here.

Welcome back to FirstEnergy Park in Lakewood for tonight’s game between the BlueClaws and Greensboro Grasshoppers. Lakewood leads Greensboro by 1.5 games in the SAL Northern Division.

LWD- Jon Velasquez (5-1, 4.71)
GBO- Johnny Dorn (5-1, 2.63)

First Things First…This is the first of eight meetings in the next 12 days between the two clubs.

Trip Notes…The BlueClaws went 5-3 on their recently concluded road swing to Kannapolis and West Virginia.

Go Go Gose…Anthony Gose has stolen a base in his last four games, and now leads all of MiLB with 26 (in 30 attempts).

Game notes…Audio…Rest below the fold…Enjoy

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Ryan Radcliffe, our head groundskeeper, gave the field at FirstEnergy Park a new cut…. The outfield has been transformed into the shape of pinchy our logo! Check it out:

Remember folks, TONIGHT is Twist Night…in the top half of the 6th inning, head out to left field, between the OF picnic area and LF foul pole. After the 3rd out of the inning is made, we’re gonna “Twist again, like we did last summer!.” Take it Chubby!

Back at the Shore…tonight the BlueClaws kick off a four-game series with Greensboro, the team that trails Lakewood by 1.5 games in the SAL North. Jon Velasquez on the hill for Lakewood, and here are the games notes. From a promo standpoint…

• Friday, 7:05, post-game fireworks (Toyota World of Lakewood)
• Saturday, 7:05, Lacrosse Night
• Sunday, 7:05, post-game fireworks (Toyota World of Lakewood)
• Monday, 1:05, post-game photo on the field

Welcome back to Charleston…getting set for the BlueClaws and Power in the finale of this eight-game trip, on which the BlueClaws are off to a 5-2 start.

LWD- RHP Jesus Sanchez (1-2, 4.97)
WVA- RHP Kyle McPherson (2-1, 7.17)

Blueprint…The BlueClaws have four seperate streaks of at least 3 straight win (currently 4 str) but have not yet lost 3 in a row.

Who’s Hot…Troy Hanzawa is 11-30 over his last ten games and is 5-7 in the series…Harold Garcia is 9 for his last 22.

6:34: Dusty Wathan on the pre-game show today

6:36: The BlueClaws bullpen has allowed just six runs in their last 27.2 innings

Game notes…Audio…rest below the fold…Have a good night!

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Just back from talking with Dusty Wathan for tonight’s pregame show here in Charleston. You can hear the entire interview over at ClawCasts.com or just wait until tonight’s pre-game show. Some thoughts from the skip…

• Playing in pennant race games as a tool for player development: “If you have a chance to win a division, you’re players are devloping also. When the guys do better, most of the time the team wins and everybody has a lot more fun. It teaches them how to win. Our goal is to win games in the big leagues and it will help them in the future.”
• On the bullpen: “Bergh and Rosenberg have been really solid and De Fratus has been outstanding from the beginning.”
• On Anthony Gose: “He can change a game at any moment. He disrupts pitchers and helps the middle of our lineup get better pitches to hit. Everybody loves him and he keeps everybody loose.”

More in the interview…game notes here. See you later.

The BlueClaws announced shortly before the 2009 season that kids 12 and under will eat for free at every game this season. That means every kid will get a free hot dog, bag of chips and soda when they come to the park, every time they come to the park. So far…….14,473 kids have taken advantage of this offer…Let’s break this down even more.

If put end to end, the hot dogs would stretch more than a mile and a half!

The average hot dog takes 8 minutes to make…If I started making dogs now…one by one…I would finish in 80 days! Good thing our staff makes them fast!

14,473 sodas at 12 oz a piece is 2,713 Gallons of soda…at the going rate of $2.30 per gallon…if the free soda the BlueClaws gave out was gas…it would cost $6,241!

The BlueClaws have also given out chips, a lot of chips. There are an average of 21 chips per bag…so that means more than 300,000 chips!

A post-game photo on the field, free for ALL fans…first pitch at 1:05.