“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.”

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.

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)

More…

Hard to Believe, It’s September…The BlueClaws went 14-13 in August (they have had a winning record every month this year (the only team in the league to do so)…Jeremy Barnes hit .383…Stephen Batts hit .340…Leandro Castro led the team with 15 RBIs despite hitting .209…Kyle Carr gave u two earned runs in 13 innings and Julio Rodriguez gave up three earned runs in 23 innings.

With a Win…The BlueClaws will get to 80 wins on their next win…It will be just the third time in franchise history (2006 at 84-59 and 2008 at 80-60) that the BlueClaws reach the 80-win plateau…The BlueClaws have already clinched a winning record for the 10th straight half (beginning with the first half of 2006).

7:30: Three in the first for Lakewood with the help of two Augusta errors…3-0 Claws. Batts and Ruth had RBI singles.

8:07: Augusta has made four errors and has three passed balls. 0 outs in the 3rd and it’s 9-0 Lakewood.

8:19: Through 3 innings, it’s 12-0 Lakewood. 25 Claws have come up to bat. 8 have been retired (1 DP). Watching the Chicken and the chicklets.

8:20: By the way there were some sarcastic cheers from the BlueClaws fans when Augusta finally got out of the 3rd inning.

8:30: 2 run double for Singleton. 14-0 in the 4th.

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…

Thoughts on Jiwan James’ season?

He’s just at tremendous athlete. Obviously this is his first full year as a player and a lot of times going through that first season…140 games, a lot of hard travel days and nights. He’s done a really good job. He’s gotten consistent with his at bats and understands what he needs to do up there. He’s one of the guys where we’re a little concerned about the strikeouts but overall JJ has done a tremendous job and he has a tremendous upside for us.

How hard is it for him to stay sharp from both sides of the plate while he’s relatively inexperienced as a hitter?

It’s hard for switch hitters. All of them seem to have one side that’s a high maintenance side. I was talking to [James] the other day about when I had Shane Victorino in AAA. His high maintenance side was left-handed. He could go a week without hitting right-handers then hit a rocket in his first at bat against a left-hander. JJ is the other way around…his high maintenance side is right-handed and that’s something he’ll have to work on his whole career; spending time working on his mechanics and doing things like that in the cage as opposed to just being left-handed and athletic.

What have you seen from Jonathan Singleton over the last few weeks compared to the month before?

Talking to Greg everyday I think he got too un-aggressive at times. He did a tremendous job taking walks when he wasn’t getting anything to hit but on the other hand he could have been a little more aggressive when he’d get the one of two pitches a night to hit. He’s a young kid out of high school and this is all new to him: the heat, the travel, seemed to knock him down a bit, but he’s seemed to get a second wind.

Big Picture on Singleton?

He’s one of the best young hitters that I’ve come across. As far as being patient at the plate, not expanding his strike zone regularly. Everyone is going to chase but to have the strikeouts and walks pretty similar is quite impressive for an 18-year old.

Valle, how is he better than last year?

I think he understands himself a bit better. He still has a tendency to swing too hard but when he does it he knows now. Last year he wouldn’t know when he was doing it and would just keep doing it. Now he might take a big swing and then he’ll kind of cut it back down and get back to trying to make good contact. Having the number of home runs that he does in this park is good. I think he’s really made some good strides offensively even though he got off to a really bad start.

Similar for Leandro Castro?

Definitely, Castro is one of those players that could go to AA right now and do the same thing. He just seems to be that kind if player where he’s going to play to a certain level no matter where he is. He too can cut back a little bit. He’s a big free swinger and at some point he’ll need to get a bit better plate discipline ad he goes up to the next level.

Barnes and Batts…big months in August. What were you working on them with?

Batsy…his direction was what we worked on with Legger. Just staying through the middle and his approach going to the middle of the field. He did a real nice job with that.

Barnesy, he needed to shorten his swing. It was a little long and there was one point in the strike zone that he could hit but he’d have trouble moving up, so we tried to shorten his swing and he gave in to us about halfway through the season

Lineup…how does this group compare to a typical Low-a lineup?

I think this is a pretty good lineup; they’ve got some good components. They have some guys that can run, some that can knock the ball out of the park, and some guys that grind away. So I think this is a real good club, they’ve been consistent all year long with the wins and losses and have had a good attitude and kept working.

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.

Shortstop Jonathan Villar, who hit .272 with a team-leading 38 stolen bases, was named the league’s All-Star shortstop. The 19-year old from La Vega, Dominican Republic was traded on July 29th as part of a deal that brought the Phillies Roy Oswalt from Houston and is currently playing for Lancaster in the Hi-A California League.

First year manager Mark Parent was named the league’s All-Star manager. Parent, a 13-year big league catcher, managed one year in Seattle’s system (2000) and for three years with Chico in the independent Golden Baseball League.

It’s the second consecutive year the BlueClaws have had the league’s All-Star manager, as Dusty Wathan received the honor last year.

2006, when Matt Maloney was named the league’s All-Star left-handed pitcher and Carlos Carrasco was named the league’s All-Star right-handed pitcher, and 2009, when Wathan was the All-Star manager and Anthony Gose was an All-Star outfielder, were the other years the BlueClaws had multiple honorees.

OF Quintin Berry made the team in 2007 and SS Freddy Galvis made the team in 2008. The BlueClaws did not have a representative on the SAL All-Star team in their first five seasons.

• 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.

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…

Perdomo to Lakewood…Carlos Perdomo has been transferred to Lakewood from Clearwater, where he was batting .237 in 30 games…Perdomo, a 20 year old from Venezuela, hit .307 with the Venezuelan Summer League Phillies last year.

7:31: Four strikeouts in a row for Colvin…96-96-96 and 95.

8:12: Colvin out w/ runners on the corners and nobody out in the 5th. Wertz in.

8:30: Both inherited runners score plus one more on Colvin, who threw 58 pitches.

8:47: Alan Schoenberger goes deep to make it a 4-2 game, but Lakewood strands two. Down 4-2 and Beal comes in for Lakewood.

9:52: Not Lakewood’s night, 6-2 final.

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.

Monasterios, the Opening Day starter for the BlueClaws in 2007, has a tough act to follow, as Hiroki Kuroda took a no-hitter into the 8th inning last night for the Dodgers in a series-opening win over the Phillies. He was taken in the Rule-5 draft by the Dodgers from the Phillies in December and has had a very good year, pitching to a 3.54 ERA (2.79 after the All-Star break). All the more impressive, before this year, he had only thrown seven innings above Double-A!

Kendrick, who was with Lakewood between 2004 and 2006, was here again a month ago to throw a bullpen session. He is 8-7, 4.64 and is 1-3 with a 6.23 ERA in his last four starts. The right-hander gave up four runs and nine hits over six innings in Thursday’s 5-1 loss to Houston.

We might be a year away from some Carlos Carrasco (Indians) and Gavin Floyd (White Sox) match-ups next year in the American League Central.

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.

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…

The Bat-man…Stephen Batts went 8-15 in Hickory with five RBIs and is batting .364 (32-88) in August…He has raised his average up from .255 this month.

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.

7:42: The rare but effective 7-7 DP. Castro catches a fly ball in LF, runner was going, he runs in back in and steps on 1st for DP…1-0 Augusta.

8:46: A pretty quiet night here, with Lakewood down 2-0 at the stretch. Bolsenbroek gave up two runs in four. Two scoreless from Kyle Carr and Eric Massingham pitched the 7th.

8:54: A SAC fly by Michael Dabbs cuts it to 2-1 Augusta…1st and 3rd one out for Anthony Hewitt. Jonathan Singleton started the inning with a double.

8:56: Hewitt ties the game with an RBI single…1st/3rd for Schoenberger w/ 2 outs.

8:57: Schoenberger pops up to first…2-2 to the 8th inning.

9:18: This would be walk-off win number 13 for Lakewood.

9:57: Walk-off single for Kyle Lafrenz wins it for Lakewood…3-2 final…13th walk-off win of the year. More later.

• Monday: Phillie Phanatic appearance and Kids Eat Free (video from the Phanatic’s last visit)
• Tuesday: Pink tote bag giveaway (click here) for the first 2,000 women 18 & older plus Seniors Eat Free
• Wednesday: Unused Ticket Night (click here), an appearance by the Famous Chicken and Dollar Dog Wednesday
• Thursday: Last Thirsty Thursday of the regular season
• Friday: Post-game fireworks plus a Lady Gaga ticket raffle
• Saturday: Packed night (click here): Buster bobblehead giveaway, bring your dog to the game, and an appearance by Yo Gabba Gabba’s Brobee and Foofa
• Sunday: 7:05 start because of the post-game fireworks, Kids Eat Free and Kids Run the Bases after the game
• Monday: 1:05 start on Labor Day with a post-game photo on the field and a Dollar Blowout of items (click here), meaning each inning we’ll have one thing on sale for one dollar around the park (last year’s items included mini bats, playoff tickets, hot dogs and beers in the WRAT Trap).

1. Jonathan Singleton: Just 18 and in his first full professional season, the eighth-round pick out of Long Beach, Calif., got off to a sizzling start with Lakewood, hitting over .400 his first month and homering 10 times in his first 41 games. He has tired over the second half of the season; before Aug. 1 his walks equaled his strikeout total.

2. Jarred Cosart: The 20-year-old right-hander has electric stuff, with a fastball in the 97-98 mph range. He was blowing away Sally League hitters in his first pro season (77 strikeouts in 71 innings) before being shut down in late June with elbow issues.

3. Vance Worley: The 22-year-old right-hander bounced back from a rough second half at Double-A last season to excel this season, earning a brief mid-summer call-up to Philadelphia. He’s at Triple-A, where he has been strong, and could get a September call-up.

4. Trevor May: The 20-year-old right-hander got off to a poor start at Clearwater (5-5, 5.01), then rebounded when he was returned to Lakewood (85 strikeouts in 59 innings) in early June. A bit of a setback for a guy ranked by Baseball America as the top pitcher in the organization coming into the season.

5. Sebastian Valle: The 20-year-old is the Phils’ top catching prospect and has continued to show power at Lakewood, with 16 HRs and 74 RBIs in 115 games. Not great behind the plate or at throwing out basestealers.

Four of the first five are current BlueClaws. Brody Colvin was ranked seventh (we ranked him first).

Here is the full top 20 list.

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.

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.

More…

Hewitt Digs the Long Ball…Anthony Hewitt homered on both Thursday and Friday nights, his first second and third home runs of the second half after he hit seven home runs in the first half…Darin Ruf, Jonathan Singleton, and Sebastian Valle (twice) have homered in two straight games and Valle (8/2 – 8/4 at GRE) has homered in three straight.

Strong First...In Hickory’s Wednesday win and Lakewood’s wins on Thursday and Friday, the winning team scored multiple 1st inning runs and led the whole way…There have been zero lead changes in this series and the game has not been tied after the first inning in any of the three games.

7:43: A passed ball on Lafrenz leads to an early run…1-0 Hickory top 3.

8:27: Lakewood gets three runs on one hit, four walks, two wild pitches and a partridge in a pear tree in the 4th. 3-1 BlueClaws.

8:32: Nice job by Rodriguez putting up the zero in the 4th after Lakewood put up three. What Mark Parent talked about before (see above post). 7 Ks thru 4 for Julio.

8:51: Three more for Lakewood…RBI single for Castro and Lafrenz…3 of the 6 Lakewood runs have scored on wild pitches.

9:24: Final line on Julio: 5.2 IP, 1 ueR, 3 H, 4 BB, 10 K…he’s at 3 ER in 33 innings since 7/26.

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.

Game Notes
Listen Live (at 6:50)

LAK: RHP Jonathan Pettibone (6-6, 3.57)
HIC: RHP Braden Tullis (6-1, 3.64)

The Pettibone…Pettibone, 20, makes his 23rd appearance and comes off a career long (tying) eight inning outing against Hagerstown on Saturday…The only run he gave up was an 8th inning home run to Sandy Leon…Pettibone has not allowed more than three earned runs in a start since he gave up six in 1/3 of an inning against Greensboro on June 6th…Since then he has an ERA of 2.33, lowing his ERA from 5.98… Pettibone has walked just one hitter in his last three starts and four in his last 39.1 innings pitched…He is 3-1 with a 1.83 ERA over his last six starts.

More…

Don’t Look Now…But here comes Greensboro…The Grasshoppers have won seven of their last nine games and are just 2.5 games in back of Lakewood (and one game ahead of Hickory) in the second half standings…Greensboro can make the playoffs if they win the second half, while Hickory would qualify by winning the second half or if the BlueClaws win and Hickory has the next-best overall record (they lead by seven games with 10 to go).

Dig the Long Ball…Anthony Hewitt’s home run on Thursday night was his first since June 14th…The BlueClaws have hit 19 home runs this month, the most of any month this year…Sebastian Valle has hit five in August and seven players have hit two.

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.

7:19: Big inning…Jiwan James stole third w/out a pitch…RBI single for Jonathan Singleton…2 run double for Stephen Batts…3-0 bottom 1

7:26: Jiwan James just made a great running catch in left-center. Off the bat I thought he had no chance…took a hit and a run off the board.

8:11: Anthony Hewitt tatoos a 3 run HR (left the park in about 1 second)…6-2 Lakewood.

8:28: Barnes a SAC fly to score Singleton…Valle went to 3rd and got greedy, tried to score when the throw got away and was out by 10 feet…2 hits tonight for Singleton…7-2 Lakewood bottom of the 5th.

8:58: Pettibone out after 6…6 Hits, 2 Runs, in line for his 7th win…Claws up 7-2 at the stretch.

9:36: Final was 7-2 Lakewood. Valle did leave in the 8th, pulled up at first after a base hit to right. Limped off. Didn’t appear to be too serious.

As of now the opponent would be Hickory (Rangers) but Greensboro is just 2.5 games out of first place with 10 to go. If they come back and beat the BlueClaws, they would be the opponent. If not, then it’s the Crawdads.

Click here for a BlueClaws Playoff Commercial with Jonathan Singleton and Jiwan James.

BlueClaws individual game playoff tickets are on sale, with a reminder that fireworks will in fact follow the first home playoff game on 9/10.

Lakewood opens the first round series on the road on Wednesday, September 8th (opponent TBD).

We will have a lot more coming up about the playoffs, obviously, and we’ve begun work on the 2010 BlueClaws Post-Season Media Guide with some cool facts and info (one of which is the BlueClaws are 10-2 all time in the playoffs and have never faced an elimination game).

Hope to see you at the park for the playoffs!

What adjustments have you been working on at the plate over the last few weeks? Just keeping my hands in a good spot and getting more on my back foot…just trying to square up some balls.

Approach in this series with Hickory, knowing that you could well be back here facing them in the playoffs in two weeks? Trying to…just want to be competitive. That was a tough loss last night but they saw us scrap back a bit at the end. We want to compete and show them we have a good team. The teams in the league know we’re good, but to show it against them from a mindset. This game is all about mind. We want to put it in their heads that we can hit. We have some good starters and we have some good guys coming in out of the pen.

From the mental side, is it more important to have a strong mental approach in this year, a 140 game season, than it was last year when you played 76? I think it is, but you can’t start now and be mentally strong. You have to start in spring training and the first month of the year. Our coaching staff has prepared us for the long season, not just for the first month or the first half. It’s a long year and a big grind on your body and your mind. For me, you might not play for a week then play three weeks straight.

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How are you a better player now than in April? Just mentally I guess. Just sticking to a routine and not letting the game override your mind. There are ups and downs. You have to take the bumps and try to compete.

You’re from North Carolina (Greenville), how has it been in this league where you get to make a bunch of trips down to NC…It’s good. My family comes out when they can. A few of my friends will come out. If I played in another league I wouldn’t get to see them in six months. Even though I’m 4.5 hours away from home, it’s good to know that you’re in the same state, a car ride away.

How has the adjustment gone at third base? It’s gone well, but it’s still tough. You’re trying ot get your reps but there are still balls that you haven’t seen. Some backhands, forehands, slow rollers.

Toughest play at third base? Porbably the ball hit hard and right at you. You don’t know to charge it, drop step it, block it. It’s just a matter of getting the reps.

The balance trying to gear up for the playoffs knowing, as you have for two months, that your spot is secure? We’re trying to get some rest, knowing that you’re getting close, but this next homestand we want to compete and come out like it’s a playoff atmosphere. Two games, you could be home. You have to get your body ready to play at a really high level.

Game Notes
Listen Live (at 6:50)

Don’t Look Now…But here comes Greensboro…The Grasshoppers have won six of their last eight games and are just 2.5 games in back of Lakewood (and tied with Hickory for second place) in the second half standings…Greensboro can make the playoffs if they win the second half, while Hickory would qualify by winning the second half or if the BlueClaws win and Hickory has the next-best overall record (they lead by eight games with 11 to go).

The Comeback Kids…The BlueClaws have won nine games that they have trailed after eight innings this year…No other team in the league has won more than four.

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Barnes Burning Up…On the strength of a 10-19 week, Jeremy Barnes has raised his average up to 296 …Barnes has not been at .300 since May 31st…He is 28-71 (.394) in August with nine multi-hit games this month…He hit .346 in April, .268 in May, .176 in June, .247 in July…In his last five games, Barnes is 10-19 with four doubles and two triples…Barnes also has two three-double games this month, one off the franchise record of four (Jeremy Slayden, 2006)…He was an 11th round pick last year out of Notre Dame who played shortstop for Williamsport last year…This year, he has played second and third base with Lakewood.

Carrying the Load…The BlueClaws are batting .224 in their last 10 games (81-362)…If you take out Jeremy Barnes, who is 13-32, the team is hitting just .206…Leandro Castro is 4-46, Stephen Batts is 6-32, and Alan Schoenberger is 4-26 over that stretch.

7:13: Big start for Lakewood, 3 in the first…RBI 2B for Jeremy Barnes and a 2 run single on a 1-2 pitch for Stephen Batts.

7:22: That lead almost very short lived…Travis Adair homers to start the first for Hickory, they add another run…3-2 to the second.

7:41: Singleton triples and Valle brings him in on a groundout…He’s within four of Ryan Howard’s franchise RBI record.

7:55: Hewitt just tatooed his 9th home run of the year…5-2 Lakewood.

8:29: Hickory gets one back on a bloop single by Leury Garcia, but Zeid has settled in since the two in the first.

9:00: Huge DP by Barnes…catches a liner at 2nd and dives back to the base before the runner Castillo…Beal pitched the 7th for Lakewood, up 5-3 to the 8th.

9:19: McGuire gets a huge out to end the 8th inning, coming in with the tying run at first for Beal. 5-3 to the 9th.

9:33: Lakewood adds two in the top of the 9th…Lafrenz on four pitches fouled one off his foot, then singled, then stole second, then went to 3rd on a wild pitch. He came in on a Schoenberger RBI single and Dabbs later drove in Jiwan James with a FC groundout.

9:45: Final was 7-3 Lakewood. Mike McGuire, who started Tuesday’s game (3 IP) got the save.