See what they did there? Paul Hagen wrote this piece in the Philadelphia Daily News that ran yesterday on the five starters for Clearwater (Thresh-ers), all of whom pitched for the BlueClaws last year. Of course, they’re talking about (stats this year):

• Brody Colvin (0-1, 4.96)
• Jarred Cosart (5-3, 2.87)
• Trevor May (3-2, 4.13)
• Jonathan Pettibone (4-3, 1.98)
• Julio Rodriguez (5-3, 2.50)

Said Cosart: “You always say you can’t really put a timetable on anything. You don’t know what’s going to happen with injuries and all that. But with all the big contracts and when they expire and when we’re expected to be ready, I guess you could say it looks like it could fall into place perfectly. We have no problem with that. We try not to look at it, but if it happens like that it’s pretty cool. And like we talk about, we’re going to be ready whenever they make that call, whenever they need our help.”

It was widely noted in spring training this year how the big-league rotation convened around a clubhouse table and held court every morning. The Threshers’ starters also have developed a bond. All were drafted out of high school. All were born within a calendar year of each other. Colvin and Cosart room together and all live in the same general vicinity.

Read the whole article, it’s a good one.

It’s hard to believe that Lakewood ran these guys out there last year one after another, though Cosart and May were never in the same rotation, with May coming back from Clearwater in July the week after Cosart made his final appearance of the season in June. However, it’s no wonder why the BlueClaws had a franchise-best, league leading, and MiLB leading team ERA of 3.04 ERA last year.

BlueClaws OF Domingo Santana was named Phillies Minor League Player of the Week for the week ending Sunday. He went 10-25 last week and hit his 5th home run of the season on Sunday at West Virginia. Here’s the full rundown from Larry Shenk:

**Pitcher: RHR Michael Schwimer, Lehigh Valley.  2 appearances, 1-0, 0.00, 1 save; 5.1 innings, 2 hits, 1 walk, 10 strikeouts.  First save of the season came on Tuesday when IronPigs moved into first place.  Last 10 outings, 1-0, 1.84 ERA, opponents batting .137.  For the season, 2-0, 1.90 ERA, 33 strikeouts in 23.2 innings.  The 25-year-old, 6-foot-8 right-hander was the Phillies 14^th-round selection in 2008 out of the University of Virginia and signed by Paul Murphy.

**Player: RF Domingo Santana, Lakewood.  In 6 games, .400 with an organization-high 10 hits.  Ended the week 6-10 in last 2 games, 2 doubles, a triple, 5th home run and 4 RBI. Hitting .350 in his last 10 games.  The 18-year-old was signed by Sal Agostinelli and Bernardo Perez as an amateur free agent out of Santo Domingo, DR, 3/23/09.

More below

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2010 BlueClaws catcher Sebastian Valle was named Phillies Minor League Player of the Week for the week ending Sunday, Below, find more on that and a few other things from around the farm and the desk of Larry Shenk.

Player of the Week: C Sebastian Valle, Clearwater. Batted .647 in 5 games (11-17) with 3 doubles, 2 homers and 5 RBI. Had 5 multi-hit games.  His homer on Wednesday cleared the Tiki Pavilion roof at Bright House Field (see photo). Left Friday’s game after a home plate collision and was placed on the DL the next day with a concussion.  Hitting .447 in his last 10 games, improving his season average to .337.  The 20-year-old was signed as an amateur free agent, 10/6/06, by Sal Agostinelli and Norman Anciani out of Los Mochis, Sal Aloa, Mexico.

Pitcher of the Week: RHP Brian Gordon, Lehigh Valley.  Made 2 starts, 1-0, 0.66 ERA, allowing 1 run, 6 hits and 1 walk in 13.2 innings.  He struck out 9. Lost a no-hitter in Sunday’s win on a bunt single leading off the 6^th inning.  Wound up with a no-decision, 1 run in 7 innings, 3 hits.  He was also named the IL Pitcher of the Week by MiLB.com.  In 7 games (4 starts), the 32-year-old is 1-0 with a 0.36 ERA.  He was signed as a minor league free agent, 1/29/10 and was originally drafted in the 7^th round by Arizona in 1997.

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Forgot to post this yesterday, but congrats to 1B Joe Savery and RHP JC Ramirez, who were the Phillies Minor League Player and Pitcher of the Month for April. The Phillies announced this yesterday.

Savery, with Clearwater, hit .450 in his first month with Clearwater as a position player (converted pitcher), while, Ramirez, acquired in the Cliff Lee trade, was 4-1, 1.03 with Reading.

Meanwhile…

Player of the Week: RF Domonic Brown, Lehigh Valley.  Hit .409 in 6 games with 7 runs, 9 hits, 2 homers, 5 RBI and a stolen base. Extended his AAA hitting streak to 13 games (.373), dating back to 2010.  Joined LV on Monday after hitting .368 in 5 games at Clearwater I  rehab assignment.  The 23-year-old was signed by Chip Lawrence after being selected in the 20^th round in 2006 out of Redan High School (GA).

Pitcher of the Week: RHS Julio Rodriguez, Clearwater. 2-0 for 2 starts, 13.2 innings, 6 hits, 0 runs, 5 walks, 13 strikeouts.  Extended his scoreless streak to 16 innings. Dating back to Lakewood in 2010, he has won 7 in a row.  Leads the FSL with a 5-0 record and is third with a 1.67 ERA. The 20-year-old was signed by Chip Lawrence after being selected in the 8^th round in 2008 out of the Puerto Rican Baseball Academy.  He has a 13-6 record in 3-plus pro seasons.

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This came across from the great Larry Shenk.

Player of the Week: OF Anthony Hewitt, Lakewood.  Hit .333 in 7 games, leading his club with 10 hits. Included were 3 doubles, 1 triple and 2 homers.  He ended the week riding a 12-game hitting streak that has seen his average rise from .074 to .253.  The 22-year-old was selected by the Phillies in the 1^st round (24^th overall) in 2008 and signed by Gene Schall. He was a player of the week at Williamsport, July 6-12, 2009 (OUR NOTE: Hewitt’s hit streak ended on Tuesday night and finished at 13 games, over which he went 20-55 with two home runs and five doubles…it’s the second straight week a BlueClaw was named Player of the Week [Edgar Duran])

Pitcher of the Week: RHR Justin Friend, Clearwater. Hurled 4 scoreless innings and recorded 2 saves in 2 appearances; 2 hits, 0 walks and 4 strikeouts.  For the season, the 24-year-old has 8 saves in 8 opportunities with a 0.77 ERA.  Opponents are hitting .111.  Selected by the Phillies in the minor league Rule 5 draft last December.  He was originally drafted by Oakland in the 13^th round in 2007.

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Congratulations to BlueClaws IF Jeremy Barnes, who has been promoted to the Clearwater Threshers (Hi-A). It’s Barnes’ first shot at the Florida State League.

An 11th round pick in 2009 from Notre Dame, Barnes was hitting .230-1-10 with Lakewood to start this year, though he was 18-62 (.290) after starting 2-25. He hit .297 with the BlueClaws last year and will likely serve as a jack-of-all-trades utility type player for the Threshers.

Alan Schoenberger, who was Lakewood’s starting SS last year after Jonathan Villar was traded, returns to Lakewood from Clearwater.

Congrats to Jonathan Pettibone (BlueClaws 2010), who was named Florida State League pitcher of the week for his work with Clearwater. He gave up one unearned run in 13 innings last week and has allowed a whopping one eanred run (two total) in 24 innings this year (four starts). Sometimes he fell through the cracks a bit last year but he had a sub-3 ERA over the last three months of the year and did win the clinchers for Lakewood in both playoff rounds last season.

(HT to our buddy Mike Moran for sending this one in)

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Domonic Brown went 2-4 with a home run for Clearwater in his first game back after a broken hand. He’ll likely rehab down there for awhile.

I’m sure this is a big kick for Jiwan James, who is playing CF with Brown in RF. James and Brown are good friends, with Brown coming into the organization a year earlier. James (and Jonathan Singleton) gave Brown a ton of credit for aiding their adjustment to professional baseball.

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Terrible news for 2009 BlueClaws 2B Harold Garcia, who tore his ACL and will miss the remainder of the season. He was added to the 40-man roster in the off-season and was hitting .300 in his first 12 games with Reading. We wish Harold a speedy recovery.

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PhoulBallz spends five minutes with BlueClaws manager Chris Truby. Listen here.

BlueClaws shortstop Edgar Duran has been named Phillies Minor League player of the week for the week of April 18th – 24th. He is the first BlueClaw to be so honored in 2011.

Here’s the full rundown from the great Larry Shenk.

Player of the Week: SS Edgar Duran, Lakewood.  Hit .381 in five games, three runs scored and eight hits, boosting his average from .231 to .286.  He began the week with multi-hit games of 2-3-2.  In his last 10 games, he is batting .324. A switch hitter, Duran is batting .333 vs. LHP, .270 vs. RHP.   The 20-year-old is in his fourth pro season after signing as an amateur free agent, 12/20/07, out of Valencia, VZ. He was signed by Sal Agostinelli and Jesus Mendez.

Pitcher of the Week: RHP Jonathan Pettibone, Clearwater.  Was 2-0 for 2 starts with a 0.00 ERA, 9 hits in 13 innings, 1 walk, 10 strikeouts.  He was also named the FSL pitcher of the week by MiLB.com. He’s 3-0 for the season with a 0.38 ERA, third lowest in the FSL, with just 2 walks in 24 innings.  Opponents are hitting .190. The 20-year-old was selected between the  3^rd and 4^th rounds in June 2008 out of Esperanza (CA) High School.  He was signed by Darrell Conner.  He was 8-6 at Lakewood a year ago and is 13-11 for his minor league career.

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Good read today in the Philadelphia Daily News by Joe Berkery (read here) on Leandro Castro and Austin Hyatt, two former BlueClaws. Castro is off to a hot start with Clearwater due in large part to improved plate discipline, says Phillies Asst. GM Chuck LaMar.

“His pitch recognition has been excellent,” LaMar noted. “He’s an aggressive hitter but he’s been more disciplined at the plate. He’s definitely improved there.”

He’s hit at every level we’ve had him, and he’s certainly off to a real good start this year,” said Chuck LaMar, the Phillies’ director of scouting and player development. “We’ve played him at all three outfield positions and he has the arm strength to play rightfield. He can flat-out play. He loves to play.”

There’s also some talk about right-hander Austin Hyatt who was with Lakewood for the playoffs in 2009 and spent last year with Reading and Clearwater. Hyatt gave up one run in six innings in a Reading loss to Erie last night.

Love when these come in from the desk of the great Larry Shenk.

PHILLIES MINOR LEAGUE REVIEW

April 7-17

Player of the Week: DH-1B Joe Savery, Clearwater. Hit .550 in 11 games (22-for-40), with 4 doubles, 1 homer, 4 RBI and a .725 slugging percentage. Easily led organization in hits and average. First 5 games were multi-hit games, 4-2-4-2-2. Added 3 more 2-hits games along the way. After spending the first four pro seasons as a LHP (28-31, 4.29), the 25-year-old has made the transition to an everyday player, something he did at Rice University. In 68 collegiate games, he hit .355. Last year at AAA, he batted .348 in 23 games. Savery was the Phillies No. 1 selection in the 2007 draft.

Pitcher of the Week: RHR Phillipee Aumont, Reading, 0-0, 1 save, 4 appearances, 5.1 innings, 1 walk, 8 strikeouts. He faced 18 hitters are retired 17, including the last 14 (7 on strikeouts). The 22-year-old was a starter/reliever last year at Reading and Clearwater (3-11). He returned to the bullpen this spring. He came to the Phillies in the Cliff Lee trade with Seattle in December 2009. Aumont was the Mariners No. 1 selection in the 2007 draft.

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As our buddies at Lehigh Valley tweeted last night:

Phillies’ minors go 4-for-4 tonight. @RPhils @Threshers @blueclaws #PIGSFLY #PHILSPHIGHT #THRESHERSBITE #CLAWSPINCH

Here’s a quick rundown:

Lehigh Valley beat Rochester 9-4 behind some strong relief pitching: three shutout from Andrew Carpenter and two from Michael Schwimer. Ronnie Belliard and Delwyn Young each had two hits and Kevin Fransden had three.

Reading got a late home run from Matt Rizzotti (hitting .485-2-6) and pulled away from Akron to win 9-5 when Carlos Rivero added a later HR. Mark Parent in the Reading Eagle on Rizzotti:

“That’s some Babe Ruth stuff right there,” said Reading manager Mark Parent, impressed with Rizzotti’s approach and results.

“He’s been battling, he’s been working hard, he’s been out early, working on his defense,” Parent said. “Everything he’s doing is well-deserved right now.”

Clearwater scored three in the 8th and one in the 9th to beat Brevard County 4-2. Brian Gump had two hits and Travis Mattair a three-run double.

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Tonight in Hagerstown we have Jesse Biddle and Bryce Harper facing off for the first time. That is, of course, weather permitting, and most likely it will not permit. Someone at the park yesterday said that we could see two inches of rain today.

Here are the game notes. Keep in mind that the BlueClaws had 11 runs in seven games going into last night when they scored eight, first time in the road grays.

Jonathan Pettibone had a 2.46 ERA in the second half last year, went 2-0 in the playoffs, and gave up two runs or less in his last seven regular season starts.

Last night, he picked right up from there, throwing five shutout innings on two hits and no walks to win his 2011 debut for Clearwater, in a 3-1 win over Dunedin.

The Threshers have allowed two runs in two games and will now send Brody Colvin and Trevor May, two of the top six prospects in the organization, to the mound over the next two days. Not bad, eh? This after Jarred Cosart threw six shutout innings in an Opening Day win.

Also, Jonathan Singleton is 5-8 and Joe Savery 6-8 for Dusty Wathan’s club, which on paper looks poised to have a monster season.

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Austin Hyatt gave up one run in six innings for Reading as they beat Portland last night to take their first game of 2011.

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Here in Lakewood, a double-header today with David Buchanan throwing game one for Lakewood and Jesse Biddle throwing game two.

Minor league spring training games are finally complete and rosters have been announced. Let’s take a look at some results from yesterday. By the way, after a morning workout today in Clearwater, members of the Lakewood, Reading, and Lehigh Valley clubs will depart Florida for their summer destinations.

Lakewood (Win 6-5 vs Pittsburgh)

• Chris Truby’s lineup: Altherr 8, Collier 7, Barnes 5, Murphy 3, Mendez DH, Santana 9, Rupp 2, Batts, DH, Perdomo 2, Duran 6 (that’s 10, yes).
• Ervis Manzanillo started and allowed four runs in five innings.
• Altherr was 2-4, Collier was 2-4 with a triple, and Barnes was 2-4 with a home run.
• Domingo Santana capped a strong spring by going 2-3 with 2 triples.
• While he did not appear in the BlueClaws game, Mario Hollands, threw three scoreless in the Williamsport game. Hope to get a rotation for you today.

Clearwater (Win 9-2 vs Pittsburgh)

• Jarred Cosart started, allowing just two runs over five innings while striking out five.
• Jacob Diekman, Derrick Loop, Jordan Ellis and Ebelin Lugo each threw a shutout inning.
• Cesar Hernandez, who skipped Lakewood after starring for Williamsport last year, hit 2nd behind Jiwan James and went 2-3.
• Leandro Castro and Troy Hanzawa had two hits each and Brian Gump drove in two.

Reading (Loss 5-4 vs Pittsburgh)

• Chris Kissock needed just 69 pitches to navigate 7 innings (Pirates have a plane to catch or something?), allowing five hits and two earned runs.
• Chris Frey, Matt Rizzotti, Freddy Galvis and Carlos Rivero all had two hits for the R-Phils.

Lehigh Valley (Tied 3-3 vs Pittsburgh)

• Vance Worley, who will start Opening Day on Thursday, gave up three runs in 5.2 innings.
• Strong bullpen for the Pigs, who sent out Mike Zagurski, Michael Stutes, Scott Mathieson, and Tyson Brummett for 3.1 scoreless.
• Jeff Larish homered for Lehigh Valley.

Final records if you care: LHV 8-6-2, REA 7-6-3, CLR 6-7-2, LAK 8-7

We’re a little behind here on these results but let’s catch up, with just a few more days to go until the start of the 2011 season! First, intra-squad action from Monday (when it rained in Florida):

Lakewood (Loss 5-2 to Clearwater)

• Mario Hollands started and allowed three runs on four hits over five innings. He’s on track to start the April 7th opener at FirstEnergy Park against Kannapolis.
• Garrett Claypool gave up two runs in two innings while Bryan Morgado and Tyler Knigge each tossed shutout frames.
• Offensively, Domingo Santana homered off of Jonathan Pettibone and Zach COllier was 1-3 with a triple.
• OF watch: LF Kelly Dugan, CF Aaron Altherr, RF Santana
• Geancarlo Mendez played third while Jeff Cusick played first.

Clearwater (Defeated Lakewood 5-2)

• Jonathan Pettibone allowed the two runs over five innings.
• Clearwater got shutout innings of relief from Jordan Whatcott, Julian Sampson, Joe Esposito, and Justin Friend.
• Jim Murphy homered for Clearwater and added a double.
• 40-man roster infielder Cesar Hernandez played again with Clearwater. Could jump straight there from Williamsport?

In the Reading/Lehigh game, won by Lehigh 3-0…

• Dan Meyer threw four shutout for the IronPigs.
• Mike Zagurski had a scoreless inning, as did Phillippe Aumont, who struck out the side.
• Scott Mathieston pitched two scoreless innings.
• Austin Hyatt pitched well, allowing two runs over five innings.
• Freddy Galvis had two hits in an otherwise quiet afternoon.

Tuesday below the fold.

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