BlueClaws pitcher Colin Kleven was named Phillies minor league pitcher of the week for the week of May 14-20, it was announced earlier by the Phillies. Lino Martinez won the previous week’s award, the only two BlueClaws to win Phillies minor league pitcher or player of the weeks so far this year.

Kleven gave up just one earned run over two starts (seven innings, one unearned run at Delmarva on May 14 and five innings, one earned run at Greensboro on May 19) and won two games, his second and third wins of the year.

Below, find the full rundown courtesy of Larry Shenk. Read Larry’s blog here.

Players of the Week

**Pitcher: RHP Colin Kleven, Lakewood.  2-0, 0.75 ERA for 2 starts, 12 innings, 9 hits, 2 runs (1 earned), 4 walks, 11 strikeouts. In 4 starts this month, 2-1, 1.96 ERA.  For the season, 3-3, 3.38 ERA, 8 starts.  The 21-year-old was a 33^rd round selection in 2009 out of R. E. Mountain High School in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, and signed by Tim Kissner.

**Player: INF-OF Carlos Alonso, Clearwater.  Led organization with a .545 average for 6 games, 12 hits, 5 runs scored and 10 RBI. He had multi-hits in each of his last 5 games. Raised his average from .299 to .360. Alonso has started at second base, shortstop, third base and left field.  The 24-year-old was selected in the 32^nd round of the 2010 draft out of the University of Delaware and signed by Paul Murphy.

Team reports below:

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This was last night in Reading. Matt Rizzotti, a 2008 BlueClaws first baseman, who was traded to the Twins during spring training, was back in Reading yesterday as a member of the New Britain Rock Cats last night. He brought his bat, taking David Buchanan deep in the game.

It was Rizzotti’s fourth game with New Britain after he hit .246 to start the year with Triple-A Rochester.

Also of note was the left fielder retreating on the ball – 2010 BlueClaws 1B Darin Ruf. Ruf played his first game in left field last night for the R-Phils. We know he can hit – BlueClaws fans saw that in 2010 when he hit .330 in the first month of the season before getting promoted (when Jonathan Singleton joined the BlueClaws). Ruf, obviously blocked by Ryan Howard, is getting a chance to see if he can play left field to go along with his great bat (he’s hitting .359 this year for Reading).

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Steve Susdorf was promoted to Lehigh Valley today, from Reading where he was hitting .297 with a home run and 15 RBIs. Susdorf, drafted in the 19th round in 2008, is Rule-5 eligible after the season and spent all of last year with Reading, hitting .339.

With Lakewood in 2009, with the team needing an offensive boost, Susdorf came aboard on Memorial Day and in three weeks, hit .333 with 2 HRs and 15 RBIs in 21 games. Lakewood won 16 of those and came from 5 games back to clinch the first half title.

Lakewood left-handed pitcher Lino Martinez was named Phillies Minor League Pitcher of the Week, the Phillies announced on Monday.

Martinez, a 19-year old left-hander from Zulia, Venezuela, threw seven shutout innings in a 1-0 win over Greesnboro on Thursday night at FirstEnergy Park, though he did not factor in the decision. He became the first BlueClaws pitcher to throw seven innings in a game this year. He is the youngest player on the BlueClaws roster.

The minor league hitter of the week is Cody Asche, a 4th round pick last year from Nebraska who went 11-25 with Clearwater. He’s hitting .364 on the season. Asche skipped Lakewood, going straight from Williamsport to Clearwater.

Below the fold, the full minor league review.

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Tyler Cloyd, a 2009 BlueClaw who opened the season by throwing six perfect innings for the IronPigs as a fill-in for the suspended Dave Bush, is now headed back to Allentown, this time for real. He was promoted from Reading, where he was 3-0, 1.80, along with Tyson Brummett, a BlueClaw in 2008.

Cloyd was a Sally League All-Star with the BlueClaws in 2009, promoted at the All-Star Break, and went 9-3, 2.41 over 22 starts with Reading.

Here’s more from Jeff Schuler of the Morning Call.

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Drew Naylor, also a 2008 BlueClaw, picked up a win for Reading last night in his first start since 2010. He missed all of last year after having Tommy John Surgery in May.

“I wasn’t nervous to go out there,” Naylor said. “I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not. But it was so great to be back, and in Reading too. It’s been so long.

“Overall I’m happy with the outing. Things got a little hairy in spots, but the arm felt great and we won. That’s all I wanted.”

Here’s more from the Republican & Herald.

Darin Ruf and Tyler Cloyd were named Phillies Minor League Players of the Month for April, the Phillies announced yesterday. The full release is below the fold.

Cloyd is 4-0 in five starts this year between Reading and Lehigh Valley, where he threw six perfect innings on Opening Day filling in for the suspended Dave Bush. He’s allowed a combined five runs in 31 innings with 28 strikeouts. Cloyd was with the BlueClaws in the first half of 2009. He was promoted after appearing in the All-Star Game and went 7-3, 3.05 with the BlueClaws that half.

Ruf was with Lakewood for a month in 2010, promoted on May 13th when Jonathan Singleton joined the BlueClaws. This year, he’s hitting a cool .356 with Reading to go along with 2 home runs and 11 RBIs.

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Cloyd also was Phillies Minor League Pitcher of the Week for last week, and has won that award 4 times in the last 8 weeks dating back to last year.

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The first of the year, sent over to us from the great Larry Shenk, and headlined by a pair of former BlueClaws.

Players of the Week

**Pitcher: RHP Tyler Cloyd, Lehigh Valley-Reading.  Started 2 games, 1 at each level and was 2-0, 1.50 ERA.  Scheduled to begin the season at Reading, he was called to start the LV season opener on 4/5 because Dave Bush was suspended for a spring training brawl.  Cloyd threw 6 perfect innings, striking out 8, throwing 73 pitches.  He had 5 3-ball counts. He returned to Reading and won his first start there on 4/12, allowing 2 runs on 6 hits in 6 innings. The 24-year-old was an 18^th round selection in 2008 and signed by Jerry Lafferty. It marks the 3^rd time in the last 6 awards that Cloyd has been named pitcher of the week.

**Player: OF Jiwan James, Reading.  Starting in all 3 outfield positions, James hit .364 in 11 games, 12 hits and a club-high 7 runs.  Among his dozen hits were a double, 2 triples and 2 homers.  He stole 6 bases in 7 attempts. His .697 slugging percentage was tops in the organization.  He had a 7-game hitting streak (.444) end on 4/14.  The 23-year-old switch-hitter was a 22^nd round selection in 2007 and signed by Chip Lawrence.  It is the third time in his 4-year minor league career he was won the weekly honors.

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Sorry for the problems over the last week with the site, but we think we’re back at just fine and are officially activating BlueClaws Blog off of the disabled list.

We don’t have a lot of time here, but the BlueClaws and Greensboro meet in the rubber game of three coming up at 11:05 this morning.

Here are today’s game notes.

The BlueClaws are 4-2 on the current homestand with a team ERA of just 2.62 and try to finish it strong this morning. Ethan Stewart, who has allowed just two runs in 11.2 innings thus far, takes the mound.

In the meantime, take a look at an interview Tony Graham did with Phillies minor league hitting coordinator Steve Henderson over at the Down on the Farm blog.

The “Line of the Day” in today’s papers belongs to Jeff Schuler of the Morning Call:

Tyler Cloyd set the bar pretty high for Austin Hyatt.

Cloyd threw six perfect innings in a fill-in start with the IronPigs (for the suspended Dave Bush).

“One minute I’m sitting at home last night talking to my wife, getting ready to throw Game 2 in Reading and the next thing I know I get a call to come up here and start Game 1,” Cloyd said. “It’s unbelievable.”

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Reading swept a double-header from Portland (love the Opening Day doubleheader by the way). Ralph Trout has the story in the Reading Eagle.

We gave you the BlueClaws roster the other day but might as well give you the others – right?

Here is Reading’s Opening Day roster for manger Dusty Wathan.

Notable: They should have an exceptional defensive outfield with Jiwan James, Tyson Gillies, and Leandro Castro. Congrats to 2011 BlueClaws pitchers David Buchanan and Jay Johnson, who both made the Reading Opening Day roster. In Johnson’s case, he joins Vance Worley, Mike Stutes, and BJ Rosenberg who have gone from Lakewood straight to Reading. Of the “Baby Aces,” Jonathan Pettibone, Trevor May, and Julio Rodriguez all will get tested in Double-A for the first time this year.

Here is Lehigh Valley’s Opening Day roster for manager Ryne Sandberg.

Notable: 2009 BlueClaws RHP Austin Hyatt is the lone “homegrown” starter. Jake Diekman, Phillippe Aumont and Michael Schwimmer head what should be a tremendous bullpen. Tuffy Gosewisch gets his first shot at a full-year in Lehigh Valley. Domonic Brown homered in his first two Triple-A spring training games and he heads the outfield.

Clearwater’s roster hasn’t been released yet but it appears that SPs Perci Garner (2nd rd, 2010) and Adam Morgan (3rd rd, 2011) will skip Lakewood and head there as they obviously aren’t on Lakewood’s roster.

Below the fold as per usual, the minor league spring training game reports from Friday.

(Note – as for the roster, haven’t seen it yet but when we are allowed to release it, you’ll be able to see it right here)

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Below, the minor league game reports for Thursday, including a sparkling pitching performance from the guy that could be Lakewood’s Opening Day starter.

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Below find the minor league game report from Wednesday. Remember, there are just three days of games left – today, tomorrow, and Saturday.

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Minor league game report for Tuesday is below. Enjoy.

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The report on the games from Monday. We’d say that these rosters are really beginning to take shape and playing with any particular club now means more than it did at any previous point.

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