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SAL1 Greensboro Grasshoppers

Greensboro Game Notes

May 16, 2008 - South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Greensboro Grasshoppers News Release


Today's Game

Greensboro Grasshoppers (23-17)

@ Delmarva Shorebirds (20-18)

Starting Pitchers

RHP Cristhian Martinez (4-1, 4.67)

vs. RHP Sean Gleaon (1-0, 1.67)

Quick Stats

GBO Team Batting Average: .246 (12th)

GBO Team ERA: 4.01 (10th)

DEL Team Batting Average: .252 (8th)

DEL Team ERA: 3.98 (9th)

Game Information

Start Time: 7:05 p.m.

Ballpark: Arthur W. Purdue Stadium (5,200)

Location: Salisbury, Md.

Today's Game: Is Game 1 of a four-game series against Delmarva and the first of an eight-game road trip for Greensboro that finishes with four games in Lakewood.

Road Work Resume: Greensboro has posted the league's best road record this season at 13-5 (.722); also matched by Augusta... The Hoppers opened the season at Augusta and took three-of-four games... Greensboro has also recorded road series victories against Kannapolis, Northern Division-leading Lake County and Hagerstown while splitting four games against Greenville... The last time Greensboro took to the road, the Hoppers went 6-2 by taking three-of-four games from both Lake County and Hagerstown... Greensboro returns to the open highway with a three-game road win streak after taking the final three games of a four-game set against Hagerstown back on May 3-6.

Gone Ball: The Hoppers hit four home runs in Thursday's 8-5 victory over Lakewood, including two by LF Tom Hickman... Hickman ran his home run total to four on the season with his second multiple-home run game of the year; both came of reigning South Atlantic League Pitcher of the Week Drew Naylor... Ryan Anetsberger hit a leadoff home run in the second inning to get the Hoppers started and Hickman made it back-to-back home runs for Greensboro with his first of the evening... Hickman again homered in the seventh and Ryan Curry followed a few at-bats later with his fourth of the season.

Current Win Streak: Greensboro's current five-game win streak is the longest win streak the Hoppers have had this season and the longest since winning five consecutive games on Aug. 18-23 of last season... All five wins have come at home, marking the first time since Greensboro won seven straight home games on July 21-27, 2007, the most consecutive home wins in Hoppers' history... In all five games, the Hoppers trailed by three or more runs and found a way to battle back for the win.

Parcell Package: RHP Garrett Parcell may have an 0-2 record, but his 11 saves are tied for tops in the South Atlantic League and his 17 relief appearances are more than any other Sally League pitcher... The closer has thrown in four of Greensboro's last five games, garnering a save in each appearance... For the season, Parcell has thrown 17.2 innings and has struck out 15 batters... Parcell is 11-for-12 in save attempts this year.

Bullpen Brilliance: The Hoppers bullpen has actually pitched 2 2/3 innings more during the month of May than the starting rotation; however, due to two suspended games and one rain delay several starters have appeared in "long relief" starts for Greensboro which statistically count as appearances out of the bullpen... Combined the bullpen has a 2.13 ERA this month, but without the work of Hector Correa, Stuart Alexander and Kyle Kaminska from the pen, the actual bullpen staff has an ERA of 1.10 in 49 innings of work with 50 strikeouts in May... Pacing the way for the relief core has been Corey Madden and Don Czyz... Madden has thrown 8 2/3 scoreless innings while Czyz has added 7 2/3 innings of shutout baseball... As a staff, the bullpen is holding opposing batters to a .181 average this month... The bullpen's outstanding work has not come just this month; as for the season, the Hoppers pen has a 2.49 ERA with an 11-3 record and a league-best 16 saves.

Bring Out the Brooms: Thursday's 8-5 victory over Lakewood earned the Hoppers their first sweep of the season at home and their second overall... The Hoppers clinched the series on Wednesday and improved to 6-3-1 in series action this season, including a 4-0-1 mark on the road... Greensboro's other series sweep was a mini two-game series at Kannapolis.

Having A Hay-day in May, Eh?: Greensboro 10-4 record during the month of May is second-best only to Augusta's 11-2 record... The Hoppers are batting .273 for the month, fifth-best in the league, and have a 4.50 ERA.. In 14 May games, Greensboro has belted a league-leading 22 home runs, including the league's only 5-home run performance of the season on May 2; the Hoppers also had a four-home run outing in Thursday's 8-5 victory over Lakewood... Greensboro's home run mark is seven greater than any other team in the league and makes the Hoppers the only team averaging over one home run a game this month.

Mense'd Meat: OF Hunter Mense drove in a career-high three runs in Wednesday's afternoon affair, including Greensboro's game-winning run in the seventh inning... Mense went 3-for-4 from the plate and scored a run of his own... It was the second time in his career he's had three RBIs in a single game; he last recorded three RBIs on Aug. 11, 2006.

Hickman's On-Base Streak Ends: OF Tom Hickman's 19-game on-base streak came to an end Wednesday in front of 8,742 fans... Hickman went 0-for-4 from the plate... His consecutive games on base streak ends as the fourth longest streak in the South Atlantic League so far this season... During his streak, Hickman hit for a .211 average (12-for-57) and had a .446 on-base percentage that was aided by 22 walks.

Unbeaten: Manager Edwin Rodriguez's team has posted a perfect 21-0 mark when leading their opponents after nine innings... On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Hoppers have struggled by posting a 0-14 record when trailing after nine frames.

Walking Notes: The Grasshoppers are a bit greedy when it comes to both issuing and taking walks... The Greensboro pitching staff has issued a league-low 94 walks this season and are the only staff in the league to have not issued over 100 walks... At the plate, patience is paying off for the Hoppers' lineup that has been walked 156 time so far this season, most in the South Atlantic League.

Up Next: Greensboro continues its eight-game road trip with a four-game set against Lakewood beginning May 20... The Hoppers are coming off of a sweep against Lakewood and hold a 4-0 advantage in the season series... All-time, Greensboro has 20-12 mark against the BlueClaws, including a 12-4 ledger at home with an 8-8 record on the road... So far this season, the Hoppers are hitting .279 (38-for-136) against Lakewood and have a 3.50 ERA; Lakewood has countered with a .252 (35-for-139) average and a 7.03 ERA... Six Greensboro batters have posted a batting average greater than .300 against Lakewood in four games this season.

Top Prospects: The Marlins' top pick in the 2007 draft (12th overall), Matt Dominguez, is the highest touted third-baseman on the Marlins' prospect list printed in Baseball America and enters his first full season of professional baseball after playing five games with the Gulf Coast Marlins and 10 games with Jamestown... In the same article, Dominguez was named the Marlins' best Minor League defensive infielder... Mike Stanton, the Marlins' second draftee in the 2007 draft, also split time between the Gulf Coast Marlins (8 games) and Jamestown (9 games) last season... Entering the season, Stanton ranks ninth on Baseball America's top 10 prospects for the Marlins and was tabbed the organization's best power hitter and best athlete in the minors.

Tonight's Starter: RHP Cristhian Martinez (4-1, 4.67) is making his ninth start of the season tonight... Martinez has a team-best, four quality starts, going 3-0 in such outings... After suffering his first loss of the season on April 25, Martinez has bounced back with a 1-0 record and a 3.18 ERA over his next two starts... In his last outing, Martinez pitched five innings and gave up six runs, but left the game with a 7-5 lead and the bullpen held the lead as Martinez earned his fourth victory of the season.

2007 Recap: Last season in Greensboro, Martinez posted a 9-5 record with a 4.08 ERA in 18 starts for the Grasshoppers... After struggling in his first four starts, Martinez went 9-1 in his next 11 starts, including a stretch where he garnered wins in six consecutive starts... Martinez held opponents to a .259 average and struck out 74 batters in 97.0 innings of work... After going 0-2 prior to the all-star break and sitting out the entire month of May, Martinez returned to the rotation and went 9-2 with a 3.64 ERA during the second half of the season.

Career Notes: Originally signed as a non-drafted free agent by Detroit in 2003, Martinez was acquired via the Rule 5 draft by the Marlins in 2006... In five professional seasons, Martinez brought a 25-15 record with a 3.24 ERA into the 2008 season.

Road Warrior: Martinez is 2-0 with a 2.42 ERA in four road games this season... The Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, native has pitched 22 1/3 innings away from NewBridge Bank Park and has allowed six runs on 17 hits while holding opponents to a .207 average in their own parks.

- Martinez's 2008 Starts: 4-1, 4.67 ERA, 8 G, 44.1 IP, 44 H, 24 R, 23 ER, 2 HR, 9 BB, 14 K

- Martinez's Last Win: May 11, 2008 vs. Lake County (8-6 over Chris Archer)

- Martinez's Last Loss: April 25, 2008 vs. Hagerstown (5-9 to Mandel)

- Martinez's Last Complete Game: August 23, 2004

- Martinez's Career High Strikeouts: 10 (September 5, 2006 @ Hudson Valley)

Check out the Greensboro Grasshoppers Statistics



South Atlantic League Stories from May 16, 2008


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