Nice timing, no? Right off his near no-hitter, Nick Hernandez on this week’s Catch of the Day cover…

One of the ways that we are going to celebrate our tenth season is through a special feature in the Catch of the Day game program that is handed out free to all fans. This year, we’ll have a special section called the BlueClaws All-Time Ten. In each of the ten issues, we will highlight one former (or perhaps current, we’ll see how the season goes), BlueClaw.

First up on the all-time ten is 2009 BlueClaws OF Anthony Gose, who we spoke to earlier this off-season.

It’s going to be a fun feature, I think you’ll like it. But you’ll have to come to the ballpark to get your copy.

Hopefully you can collect all of the issues too!

Gose’s cover and the 2009 champions on the right.

A battle between first and second place pits the BlueClaws and the Shorebirds in a three-game series at FirstEnergy Park. Tonight’s game is a doubleheader (two seven-inning games), with a regularly scheduled game following a makeup of the June 5th game at Delmarva which was rained out. However, Lakewood will be the home team for both games

LWD: RHP Jason Knapp (2-4, 3.92)
LCO: RHP Ryan O’Shea (5-2, 3.05)

The Magic Number is…: Seven. However, if Delmarva fails to make up a game with the Hickory Crawdads it could be six. That means, if the BlueClaws amass a combination of wins and losses from their closest opponent (now Delmarva) totaling seven, they will clinch the first half championship in the South Atlantic League Northern Division and a playoff spot. Their lead in the division is four, with ten games to play.

Streaking Towards the Playoffs…The BlueClaws have six separate win streaks of at least three games this year, including the current one, and have yet to lose three games in a row at any point this season. They are on a four-game win streak after the sweep if Lake County.

They’ll Play Two: After game one, the teams will break for 30 minutes before game two, both seven innings. The game two starters will both be making their season debut, RHP Trevor May for the BlueClaws and RHP Patrick Kantankevich for the Shorebirds

Game notes…Audio…Rest below…Enjoy

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BlueClaws pitcher, and 2008 Phillies second-round pick, Jason Knapp was featured in USA Today earlier this week. Paul White was up in Lakewood and sat down with the right-handed pitcher, who will start tonight’s BlueClaws game in Hickory. Knapp is 1-2 with an ERA of just 1.85. The BlueClaws have only scored seven runs in his four starts.

Anyway, here is the article. And some snippets…

“He’s an animal,” Phillies minor league pitching coordinator Gorman Heimueller says. “He believes he’s good. That’s something you’ve got to have, that cockiness in a good way.”

“I’ve never had a problem throwing inside,” Knapp says. “If they’re in the box and they’re too close, they’ve got to expect they’re going to have to get out of the way.”

The last quote from Knapp echoes something that he told us yesterday on the BlueClaws pre-game show. Asked about who he compared himself to or admired, Knapp wasted no time in talking about Roger Clemens (the good parts). Knapp said he loves to throw inside and back hitters off the plate, something that is quite impressive for an 18-year old pitching in a league full of 22-24 year olds.

We’ll have more on Knapp in an upcoming issue of the Catch of the Day.