MWL1 Dayton Dragons

Dragons GameDay

Published on July 8, 2009 under Midwest League (MWL1)
Dayton Dragons News Release


Wednesday, July 8, 2009 Game # 83 (13)

Alliant Energy Field Clinton, Iowa 8:00 p.m.

Radio: WING 1410 AM "ESPN Radio"

Dayton Dragons (4-8, 32-50) at Clinton LumberKings (5-7, 45-37)

LH Matt Fairel (5-4, 3.11) vs. RH Alfredo Venegas (3-3, 4.50)

Today's Game: The Dayton Dragons (affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds) meet the Clinton LumberKings (affiliate of the Seattle Mariners) in the first game of a three game series.

Season Series: Clinton 2, Dayton 1. (At Clinton: first meeting). Dayton on the Current Road Trip: 1-3 (first four games at West Michigan).

Last Game: West Michigan defeated Dayton 5-4 on Tuesday afternoon. The Whitecaps took three of four in the series. They broke a 4-4 tie with a run in the bottom of the seventh on a two-out RBI triple by Brett Wyatt. Dayton had nine hits. Miguel Rojas led the attack with three hits and three runs batted in. Tony Brown had two doubles and an RBI for Dayton.

Today's Starting Pitcher: Midwest League All-Star Matt Fairel makes his 16th professional start tonight. His last start was Friday vs. Fort Wayne and he suffered the loss (5.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 5 SO). Fairel pitched one perfect inning in the All-Star Game at Clinton. Fairel was the Midwest League Pitcher of the week for April 20-26 (1-0, 1.38, 13 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 20 SO). Fairel was selected by the Reds in the 35th round in June, 2008 but did not sign in time to play professionally last summer. Fairel was drafted after his sophomore year at Florida State University (eligible to be drafted because he turned 21 years old within 30 days of the draft). Fairel enjoyed a great college season last spring at Florida State, posting a record of 12-2 (second in ACC in victories). He was honored as a 2nd Team All-Conference choice and was also named Academic All-Conference.

Skipper: Todd Benzinger makes his professional baseball managerial debut in 2009. Benzinger enjoyed a nine-year major league playing career from 1987-1995 with the Reds, Red Sox, Royals, Dodgers, and Giants. Todd is a former first baseman who recorded the final putout of the 1990 World Series with the Reds to complete their four-game sweep of the Oakland A's. Benzinger is a native of the Cincinnati area and currently resides in West Chester, Ohio. He has enjoyed a highly-successful career coaching girls' high school basketball since 1999.

Individual Notes

- Byron Wiley is batting .385 with four doubles, a triple, seven HR, and 22 RBI in his last 14 games, posting a slugging percentage of .904. Wiley is 5 for 10 with four HR and four walks in the last three games.

- Kevin Coddington is batting .326 over his last 25 games, raising his average from .281 to .296.

- Andrew Means is batting .323 over his last 17 games.

Team Notes

- After 12 games in the second half, the Dragons are in a three-way tie with Great Lakes and Lansing for the final spot in the second half playoff race.

- Dayton has lost six of their last seven games after starting the second half by winning two of their first three.

- The Dragons are 23-25 over their last 48 games. They are 31-38 over their last 69 games after starting the season 1-12.

- The Dragons are 1-42 this season when trailing at the end of the seventh inning with the one win coming Monday night in West Michigan.

- Twenty of the Dragons 43 road games this season have been one-run games. They are 5-15 in one-run road games.

Team Batting Notes

- The Dragons are batting .280 as a team over the last 20 games.

- The Dragons lead the league in July home runs with seven. The Dragons are 1-6 in July with a team batting average of .245 and a team ERA of 7.05.

- The Dragons are batting .273 in the second half (12 games) after batting .250 in the first half (70 games).

Team Pitching Notes

- From Opening Night (April 9) through May 15, Dragons starting pitchers were a combined 4-14 with a 5.87 ERA. Since May 15th, Dragons starting pitchers are 15-15 with a 3.91 ERA.

- The Dragons have posted a 3.87 ERA as a team in their last 48 games.

- The Dragons second half team ERA has jumped from 3.58 to 5.07 since Saturday's game.

Upcoming Probable Pitchers (All game times are Dayton time)

Thursday (8:00 p.m.): Dayton RH Curtis Partch (4-7, 5.47) at Clinton RH Aaron Pribanic (7-4, 2.28)

Friday (8:00 p.m.): Dayton TBA at Clinton RH Kenn Kasparek (4-5, 2.73)

Check out the Dayton Dragons Statistics

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Midwest League Stories from July 8, 2009


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