Tony Graham’s story on the second-half clincher last night (click here):

“This is quite an accomplishment for probably the youngest team in the league,” Parent said. “It’s a credit to these guys working out, staying in shape, so they’re strong throughout the season.”

It was over almost as soon as it started. By about 7:45 tonight, Lakewood was already up 6-0 over Augusta and Greensboro was down 4-0 to Savannah. Two hours later, they were both finals and Lakewood had clinched the second half, 73 days after they clinched the first half championship.

Mark Parent called his team in amidst a post-game party on Wednesday night and contragulated them on playing hard for nine innings a game over the first five months of the season.

Trevor May gave up one run over six innings to earn the win, his seventh in 11 starts with Lakewood this year.

“May was so good tonight, I think I could have gotten back there and caught him,” said Parent.

Here is more on the game.

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Other notes…

• The other three teams to win both halves since the current format was put into place in 2000 (Piedmont 2000, Lake County 2003 and Capital City 2004) did NOT win the SAL title.
• Lakewood won their 80th game of the year, becoming the third BlueClaws team to accomplish that feat. They need to go 5-0 to break the franchise wins record, 4-1 to tie.
• The first-round playoff opponent is definitely Hickory. Game one is September 8th at Hickory and game two in Lakewood is September 10th, with game three if necessary on September 11th at FirstEnergy Park.

Welcome back to FirstEnergy Park in Lakewood where the BlueClaws look for their 80th win of the season on a potential clincher night…they clinch the 2nd half title with a win and a Greensboro loss.

Game Notes
Listen Live (at 6:50)

LAK: RHP Trevor May (6-3, 3.05)
AUG: RHP Brian Irving (7-5, 4.50)

Let’s Get This Party Started…The BlueClaws can clinch the league’s second half title tonight with a win AND a Greensboro loss…The Grasshoppers are currently 4.5 games behind Lakewood with six games to play…If the BlueClaws do win the second-half title, they will become the first team since Capital City in 2004 and just the fourth (also Lake County in 2003 and Piedmont in 2000) to win both halves (the SAL switched to the current two-half/two-division format in 2000)…None of the three teams to win both halves went on to win the South Atlantic League title…Piedmont, the Phillies SAL affiliate before Lakewood’s 2001 debut, was managed by current BlueClaws hitting coach Greg Legg.

The First Clincher…The BlueClaws clinched the first-half title on the last day of the half, June 20th in a 6-3 win over Kannapolis…Jonathan Singleton hit two home runs in the win.

May Day…May, 20, makes his 11th start with Lakewood after he went 5-5, 5.01 in 17 starts with Hi-A Clearwater…He gave up four runs (tied Lakewood season-high) in five innings at Hickory last Wednesday…May has struck out 85 in just 59 innings with Lakewood and has walked just 19 (he walked 61 in 70 innings with Clearwater)…On July 27th at Delmarva, he struck out 14 Shorebirds, tying a BlueClaws single-game franchise record…In 10 starts with Lakewood, May has struck out at least nine hitters in six of them…Left-handed hitters are batting just .198 against May (.234 for right- handed hitters)

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Before Lakewood’s game with Augusta on Tuesday, we sat down for a few minutes with Phillies Minor League Hitting Coordinator Sal Rende, who shared his thoughts on a number of different hitters on this BlueClaws team as they head into the post-season next week.

Progress of the collective group of hitters this season?

I think its evident on the field in the way they perform, there’s a lot of little things that goes into it, a lot of hard work with Greg Legg everyday in the cage. Our concern with young guys is that they strike out a lot…this league seems to be a high strikeout league for a lot of teams including us, but that should minimize as they go through their career. Legger does a great job with them, and hopefully they’ll cruise through the playoffs.

(more…)

Congratulations to four BlueClaws: 1B Jonathan Singleton (Most Oustanding Prospect), C Sebastian Valle, SS Jonathan Villar (traded) and manager Mark Parent, who were all selected to the South Atlantic League Post-Season All-Star team, it was announced today by League President Eric Krupa.

Here is the full BlueClaws release:

First baseman Jonathan Singleton was named the league’s Most Outstanding Prospect. He is the first BlueClaw to receive the honor.

The 18 year old from Lakewood, California is batting .296 with 14 home runs and 73 RBIs and joined the BlueClaws on May 13th. He was an 8th round pick of the Phillies in 2009. Singleton hit two home runs when the BlueClaws clinched the first half title on June 20th against Kannapolis. He entered the season as the 20th ranked prospect in the system per Baseball America.

Catcher Sebastian Valle, who turned 20 in July, was named as the league’s All-Star catcher. The Los Mochis San Aloa, Mexico native is batting .256 and leads Lakewood in home runs (16) and leads the league’s catchers in RBIs (74). He entered the season as the seventh ranked prospect in the system per Baseball America.

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The rosters for the prestigious Arizona Fall League were announced today and feature several BlueClaws (including two current ‘Claws). All will represent the Mesa Solar Sox.

• Manager Mark Parent: Parent, the BlueClaws first year manager, will serve as the hitting coach for Mesa. Parent spent 13 years in the Major Leagues before retiring after two seasons with the Phillies (1997-1998). He managed Seattle’s California League affiliate in 2000 and led Chico in the independent Chico Outlaws in the Golden League from 2005-2007.
• RHP Josh Zeid: A current BlueClaw, Zeid is 7-4, 2.99 in a season split between the starting rotation and bullpen. He is the only current BlueClaws player headed to Arizona. Last year, 2009 BlueClaws SS Troy Hanzawa and OF Steve Susdorf played in the AFL. He was a 10th round pick in 2009 (Tulane).
• RHP Tyson Brummett: He made six starts (3-0, 1.99) with the BlueClaws in 2008 and is currently 1-2, 5.01 with Double-A Reading. He was a 7th round pick in 2007 (UCLA).
• RHP Justin De Fratus: He spent the 2009 season with Lakewood, going 5-6, 3.19. He opened the season with Clearwater and as their closer went 2-0, 1.79 with 15 saves. He is now 1-0, 2.28 in 19 games with Reading. De Fratus was an 11th round pick in 2007 (Ventura College).
• RHP Chris Kissock: He spent 2008 with Lakewood, going 4-6, 4.37 and this year went 6-3, 2.17 and is now 1-0, 3.27 in nine games with Reading. He was a 9th round pick in 2007 (Lewis/Clark State).
• RHP BJ Rosenberg: Rosenberg had 19 saves and a 0.87 ERA with Lakewood last year, including a 28.2 inning scoreless streak. This year he has bounced between the GCL Phillies, Clearwater and Reading and has a 5.24 ERA between the three stops. He was a 13th round pick in 2008 (Louisville).
• C Tim Kennelly: Kennelly spent part of 2006 and 2007 with Lakewood but played prominently with the BlueClaws in 2008 (.275-1-27)…This year, he is batting .277-4-57 with Clearwater. He was signed as an amateur free agent from Australia in 2003.
• 1B Matt Rizzotti: A 2008 BlueClaw when he hit .268-10-49, Rizzotti has skyrocketed up the system this year, hitting .344-19-76 between Clearwater, Reading and Lehigh Valley. He was a 6th round pick in 2008 out of Manhattan College.

Here is the full release from MLB on the league, which enters its 19th season and features seven players from all 30 organizations split among six teams.

One night after the 13th walk-off win of the season, the BlueClaws are back in action tonight against Augusta at FirstEnergy Park, with just seven games left in the 2010 regular season.

Game Notes
Listen Live (at 6:50)

LAK: RHP Brody Colvin (6-7, 3.28)
AUG: RHP Andrew Reichard (4-1, 3.50)

Magic Tricks…The BlueClaws magic number to win the second half title is just three.

Record Chasing…BlueClaws CF Jiwan James has 147 hits on the season, just five off Quintin Berry’s single-season franchise record set in 2007…Sebastian Valle, with 89, is three behind Ryan Howard’s franchise RBI record (Valle was placed on the disabled list, retroactive to Saturday with a right hamstring strain).

The Beal Deal…BlueClaws RHP Justin Beal has has only allowed one run in his last 10.1 innings pitched, including 4.2 scoreless on the current road trip…Beal joined the BlueClaws on 6/27 from Williamsport…He began pitching during his senior year of college at Missouri Southern State.

(more…)

Two things from last night…

Bottom of the 9th, 2-2 game, Leandro Castro, who is very fast, is on first. Michael Dabbs hits a long fly ball into deep right-center field.

(For those of you who haven’t been here, we have an 8-foot high padded wall, then an 8-inch gap and behind that a 4-foot high chain link fence. You have to clear both).

Dabbs’ ball bounces up, hits the fence, and rolls along the ledge. Castro by now is standing on third base. If the ball falls one way it’s game over. If it falls the other, ground-rule double. Guess which way it fell.

So now you have 2nd and 3rd with one out. Anthony Hewitt struck out and on 1-2, Kyle Lafrenz won the game with an RBI single. Phew. -

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It was Lakewood’s 13th walk-off win of the season. 13 of their 36 home wins (36%) have ended in walk-off fashion…In addition to Lafrenz, Jiwan James leads the team with three walk-off hits…Jonathan Villar has two…Leandro Castro has a HR (plus a fielder’s choice)…Anthony Hewitt and Domingo Santana each have one (Santana HR)…Jonathan Singleton has a game ending walk…Alan Schoenberger scored on a wild pitch and Keoni DeRenne has an RBI double.

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Here are tonight’s game notes.

The BlueClaws made two transactions today:

1. C Sebastian Valle was placed on the disabled list with a right hamstring strain suffered on Friday night in Hickory. The move is retroactive to Saturday and he’s eligible to return on Saturday, with three games left in the regular season.

2. C Jim Klocke (pronounced Clock-ee) was called up from Williamsport. A 31st round pick this year from SE Missouri State. He was batting .274 with one home run with the Crosscutters. A St. Louis native, he was drafted in the 46th round last year by the Cardinals.

Welcome back to FirstEnergy Park. After the final day off of the regular season, the BlueClaws are set to kick off an eight-game homestand beginning with four against the Augusta GreenJackets (Giants). The teams haven’t met since 2008 and Lakewood beat Augusta in the 2006 SAL Championship Series.

Game Notes
Listen Live (at 6:50)

LAK: RHP Mike Bolsenbroek (0-1, 3.00)
AUG: LHP Kelvin Marte (1-0, 2.70)

Do You Believe in Magic?…The BlueClaws are trying to become the first team since Capital City in 2004 and just the 3rd (Piedmont, a Phillies affiliate managed by current Lakewood hitting coach Greg Legg, in 2000 and Lake County in 2003) to win both halves…They currently lead Greensboro by 4.5 games in the second half standings with eight games left…The BlueClaws magic number is four over Greensboro and three over Hickory and Kannapolis, meaning any combo of four BlueClaws wins and Grasshoppers losses plus any combo of three BlueClaws wins and Kannapolis/Hickory losses would clinch the half for Lakewood.

Barnes Burning Up…On the strength of a 13-30 week, Jeremy Barnes has raised his average up to .296 …Barnes has not been at .300 since May 31st…He is 31-82 (.375) in August with 10 multi-hit games this month…He hit .346 in April, .268 in May, .176 in June, .247 in July.

(more…)

Every year Mike Drago of the Reading Eagle surveys media around the farm system and ranks the prospects in the organization from 1-20. He released his survey results yesterday, and as expected the list had a distinct BlueClaws feel to it.

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Before Saturday’s game at Hickory, we sat down for a few minutes with BlueClaws manager Mark Parent, who talks about the series with Hickory, the upcoming postseason series (also possibly against Hickory) and more.

After dropping the first game, how do you think your guys responded over the last two days? They know they need to matchup against this club. Offensively, during BP, they’ve been taking it very serious, not that they haven’t all year but it’s coming down to the end and they’re trying to take care of all the little things.

Do you view it as a chance to “make a statement” against these guys? I don’t know. The standings kind of look like it’s going to be them because it’s hard for Greensboro to jump two teams (they’ve already jumped one). Messages don’t count for much. You still have to go play the game. There are times that we’ve played well and then go to Delmarva and lose a couple. In a three game series, you’re in trouble if you do that.

The first inning has been big for the winning teams in these three games. How significant is that for your pitcher? That’s very important. When James gets on in the first game, we didn’t get him in. But more importantly is when we do score the runs is when you give back one or two. For a catcher, that’s the most important thing. When we score some runs, throw a zero up there.

Jonathan Singleton, do you think he’s finding his groove again? He’s starting to realize he’s not Superman and he has to shorten his swing and know where the head of the bat is. When we’re young, we’re young and stubborn. We think we’re invincible but sometimes it takes awhile for young people to make adjustment and he’s made a few.

How important has the re-emergence of Jeremy Barnes (.400 in August) been to add another bat in the middle of the lineup? Real big. Here’s a guy staying above water but he made a few adjustments that Greg Legg has been trying to get him to do all year and he’s been swinging the bat really well, staying back and using his hands. When those things happen, you want to make sure the other guys see that too. Even when you’re doing well, you can do better.

What do you want to see the last nine days? I’d give all my pennies to see Valle healthy. He’s got a tweaked hamstring right now. But I’d like to see everyone healthy, win or lose, show what they can do and give it their best and enjoy being in a playoff chase.

With a bunch of guys in different roles lately at the back of the bullpen, how important is it to have organized roles or do you want to see as many guys as possible pitching well? We’ve changed guys around like McGuire just to get him innings or we had a need and he was the guy that fit it. But we’re trying to see who’s been in different roles, who’s throwing strikes and making quality pitches. Certain guys are doing that and certain guys aren’t. Those that aren’t won’t get the opportunity. Those that do deserved it.

Hard to believe but this is the last regular season road game for the BlueClaws as they look to take three of four from Hickory after winning the last two. The winning team has scored multiple runs in the first inning each day and has led throughout.

Game Notes
Listen Live (at 6:45)

LAK: RHP Julio Rodriguez (3-1, 1.85)
HIC: LHP Miguel de los Santos (2-1, 3.99)

Ten In a Row…The BlueClaws have wrapped up a winning record for the 10th consecutive half and 13th among 20 in franchise history…Lakewood had just three winning halves in their first 10 but this would is their 10th straight (beginning with the first half of 2006).

Here Comes Jiwan…BlueClaws CF Jiwan James has 145 hits on the season, just seven off Quintin Berry’s single-season franchise record set in 2007…He has scored 80 runs, 12 less than Michael Bourn’s total of 92 set in the 2004 season.

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The first five years of BlueClaws baseball included a few stars, like Ryan Howard, Cole Hamels and Michael Bourn. But not too much winning baseball. In fact, in the team’s first five years, the BlueClaws had a total of three winning halves.

Since then, however, the team has had only winning halves. That started with the first half of 2006 (after an 0-9 start) and has continued all the way through until now.

With last night’s win at Hickory, the BlueClaws clinched a winning half for the 10th straight half. They had a winning record but missed the playoffs in 2007 and again in 2008 (80-60 was the best record in the league). The BlueClaws won the title in 2006 and 2009 and will return to the playoffs in 2010.

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The BlueClaws are now 3.5 games up on Hickory and Greensboro, which is their largest lead of the year. They are trying to become the first team since Capital City in 2004 to win both halves. That was a Mets affiliate that featured Lastings Milledge.

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Here are today’s game notes.