IL1 International League

IL News & Notes

Published on August 20, 2009 under International League (IL1) News Release


BUFFALO BISONS (www.Bisons.com)

CHIPS AHOY: OF Chip Ambres has been swinging the hottest bat in the Bisons lineup of late. The veteran outfielder lost a 10-game hit streak last night in Syracuse. During the stretch from August 9-18, Ambres hit .410 (16-39) with seven doubles, a home run, 10 RBI and nine runs scored. He's been a different hitter for the Herd once the team hit the All-Star Break. Ambres has averaged .324 (33-102) since the break. He averaged only .180 in his first 100 at-bats with the Herd after being acquired by the Mets.

NO LONGER IN THE FIELD: In consecutive days, the Bisons saw two hot-hitting infielders get promoted to New York. First was INF Andy Green, who had his contract selected after Sunday's game. Green left with a nine-game hit streak where he had averaged .444 (16-36). Then on Monday, the Mets promoted INF Wilson Valdez. The slick-fielding shortstop hit just .198 (24-121) in 41 games with Columbus to begin the year but was averaging .298 (34-114) in 36 games with the Herd. To fill their roster spots, the Bisons have received C Rafael Arroyo and INF Luis Rivera from the Mets minor league system.

OFFENSE COMES ALIVE: It was a rough start to the season for the Bisons hitters, but now it's the offense that is carrying the team. The Herd had hit .293 (194-662) as a team in August with 98 runs in only 19 games (5.2 runs/game). The Bisons have hit 17 home runs this month after hitting just 48 long balls in the season's first four months combined. Leading the charge for the Bisons this month are INF Argenis Reyes (.372, 29-78), INF Mike Lamb (.319, 23-72), C Robinson Cancel (.474, 9-19) and OF Chip Ambres (.313, 21-67).

CHARLOTTE KNIGHTS (www.CharlotteKnights.com)

LEAGUE LEADER: RHP Carlos Torres pitched 4.0 innings of relief Tuesday and lowered his ERA to 2.36 which is the tied for the 2nd-best ERA in the League. Torres also struck out five, giving him 119 on the season. Torres is ranked 3rd in the IL in strikeouts.

PEAVY ON ASSIGNMENT: RHP Jake Peavy made his second start in his major league rehabilitation assignment Tuesday night at Durham. The right-hander pitched 4.0 innings, allowing no runs off of one hit. He had five strikeouts and struck out the side in the first inning. Peavy went to Chicago today to be reevaluated by the White Sox training staff. The 2007 NL Cy Young Award Winner was acquired by the White Sox on July 31 in exchange for former Charlotte Knights Aaron Poreda, Clayton Richard, Adam Russell and Low-A pitcher Dexter Carter. Peavy, 28, is 6-6 with a 3.97 ERA (36 ER/81.2 IP), one complete game and 92 strikeouts in 13 starts with the Padres in 2009.

FIELDS HITTING IT: Charlotte INF Josh Fields hit safely for the seventh consecutive game last night. Fields is now 13-25 (.520) with three home runs and seven RBI in his last seven games. He was 1-3 with and RBI Tuesday night.

COLUMBUS CLIPPERS (www.ClippersBaseball.com)

PACKING THEM IN: The Clippers will break the franchise record for regular season attendance tonight (584,010, 1990), provided that 4,453 fans show up for this evening's matchup between Toledo's Nate Robertson and former Ohio State star, Scott Lewis. Columbus currently leads all of Minor League Baseball with an average of 9,501 fans per game, 410 more than 2nd place, Lehigh Valley. Keeping up the current pace over the last nine games, Huntington Park will see over 665,000 fans in its first year as the home of the Clippers, a nearly 14% increase over the previous record.

ARSONOUS MARSON: Lou Marson raised his average over .300 for the first time since 7/23 with Monday night's 2-4 game. He is hitting .360 (18-50) with five multi-hit games since joining the Clippers. He has raised his average 105 points to .307 since 6/4, hitting .365 (61-167) with 18 multi-hit games over that stretch with Lehigh Valley and Columbus.

APPROACHING INFAMY: Tuesday night's loss at Toledo, coupled with Louisville's win, knocked Columbus out of the IL West race. The Clippers are technically still alive in the Wild Card, as their elimination number stands at two. They are the only team in the IL that is out of division contention. Last night's loss guaranteed a losing record for Columbus this season, the 11th in the team's 33 year history (6th this decade). It is also a franchise-high fourth consecutive losing season for Columbus, stretching across three affiliations (2006 New York Yankees, 2007-08 Washington, 2009 Cleveland). With 19 games left, the Clippers need to go 9-10 (.474) in order to avoid becoming the worst team in franchise history (59-83, .415, 2002).

DURHAM BULLS (www.DurhamBulls.com)

PLAYOFF PICTURE: Durham remains three games behind Gwinnett in the South Division. It's the furthest the Bulls have been from first place this season. Gwinnett lost 5-2 at Norfolk yesterday, snapping a five-game win streak, while the Bulls fell 8-1 to Charlotte. While the Bulls trail in the division, Durham remains the Wild Card leader. The Bulls are only 1.5 games ahead of Syracuse, 3.0 games in front of Norfolk. Syracuse, Durham's next opponent, has doubleheaders each of the next two days against Buffalo, which has the IL's worst record. Durham has 19 games left, 9 at home and 10 on the road. All but the five against Charlotte are against clubs with winning records. Among the teams in the playoff hunt, Durham has four at home left against South Division leader Gwinnett, six against Norfolk (three at home, three on the road), and four at Syracuse.

GOING DEEP: Durham went homerless last night, and now is second in the IL behind Toledo with 120 (Mud Hens have 122). Durham now has been out-homered 18-12 in the month of August. Of Durham's 12 homers this month, 10 have been solo shots. Chris Richard has 61 homers as a Bull with one on Sunday. That's one shy of Durham's Triple-A career mark, set by Scott McClain from 1998-1999.

SOME RELIEF: The Durham bullpen has allowed a run in 13 of 14 games after giving up three runs in three innings yesterday. Durham had given up 28 runs in 51.1 innings out of the pen over the 14 games, a 4.91 ERA.

EXTRA, EXTRA: Jon Weber went 1-3 with an RBI yesterday. Weber, who was without an extra-base hit, has an IL and Minor League-high 44 doubles, and League-best 56 extra-base hits. Weber is five doubles shy of tying Durham's single season Triple-A record. Steve Cox had 49 doubles in 1999 as the IL MVP.

GWINNETT BRAVES (www.GwinnettBraves.com)

RED HOT REDMOND: Gwinnett starter Todd Redmond is the only current starter that was in the Opening Day rotation. He has made a team-high 21 starts with Gwinnett, eight more starts than Jonny Venters. For a club that has seen 19 different starters, Redmond has logged 128 1/3 innings for the G-Braves. No other pitcher has been on the mound for more than 75 innings. With the promotion of Tommy Hanson and Kris Medlen and the trade of Charlie Morton, Redmond has stepped up, pitching to a 5-0 record with a 2.68 ERA (57.0 IP, 17 ER) in his last 10 games. The G-Braves have won nine of those 10 games. He has allowed just two earned runs in his last four starts, pitching to a 3-0 record with a 0.74 ERA (24.1 IP, 2 ER). Redmond hasn't dropped a decision since June 19 at Louisville. He will take the mound tonight at Norfolk.

HOME RUN DROUGHT (NO MORE): Clint Sammons' fifth-inning home run on Tuesday ended a six-game drought of homers. The Gwinnett Braves hadn't gone yard since August 11 when Brandon Jones went deep for the walk-off win against the Durham Bulls. It tied the most games this season without a homer. Gwinnett was also without a homer in six-straight games from June 30-July 8. Gwinnett hit three home runs in Tuesday night's win. It was the first time on the road and just the third time this season (6/12 vs SWB and 6/30 vs LOU) that Gwinnett hit three home runs in a single game. Sammons hit two of the three home runs on Tuesday, both solo shots, to become just the fourth G-Brave to go deep twice in a single game. Sammons joined Reid Gorecki (6/5 @ ROC), Kelly Johnson (7/20 vs NOR) and Alvin Colina (8/1 @ COL). Gwinnett has been out-homered 94-75 this season, including 50-35 on the road.

TIMMONS' STREAK SNAPPED: Wes Timmons' International League-best on-base streak came to an end in Monday's 3-2 win against the Pawtucket Red Sox. Timmons reached base in 48 consecutive games from May 27-August 16. During the streak, Timmons batted .346 (56-162) with 38 runs, 11 doubles, a triple, 15 RBI and 42 walks and struck out just 16 times. It was the third-longest streak at the Triple-A level since Minor League Baseball began recording on-base streaks in 2005. Timmons fell just seven games shy of the record, held by Andy Green of the Tucson Sidewinders. Green reached base safely in 55 consecutive games in the 2005 season, from June 12-August 11. Timmons was 0-4 with two strikeouts on Monday, ending the incredible streak. Still, Timmons leads the IL with a .425 on-base percentage and is tied for second in the League with 58 walks. Andy Tracy of Lehigh Valley leads the League with 63 walks.

INDIANAPOLIS INDIANS (www.IndyIndians.com)

LOPEZ LIGHTS UP THE COMPETITION: With his 2-for-4 effort in the Tribe's 4-2 victory over Louisville on Wednesday, INF Pedro Lopez has now collected multiple hits in each of his last five contests. During his current five-game streak Lopez has posted a jaw-dropping .591 batting average (13-for-22), while scoring at least one run in four of five contests and driving in four runs. The current multi-hit streak is the longest in Lopez's career, exceeding his streak of four-straight games with multiple hits from August 8-11, 2002 when he was a member of Single-A Bristol. The right-handed slugger has seen several interesting trends in his play this season as he is batting .438 (14-for-32) against left-handers versus .268 (11-for-41) against right-handers, hitting .413 (19-for-46) in 13 games on the road versus .222 (6-for-27) in 11 games at home, batting .455 (15-for-33) when he plays at second base, hitting .481 (13-for-27) in the month of August, batting .450 (9-for-20) when he leads off an inning and hitting .800 (4-for-5) in the ninth inning.

EXTRA MARKS THE SPOT: With four extra-base hits in their victory over Louisville on Wednesday, the Indians have now collected at least one extra-base hit in each of their last 40 games dating back to July 8. This streak of 40 games comes after the Indians posted an even more impressive extra-base hit streak of 50 games in-a-row to begin this season, a streak which also extended to 84 games in-a-row dating back to July 29, 2008. In total this season Indianapolis has had only three games in which they have not collected an extra-base hit (June 3, July 5 and July 8).

PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Daniel McCutchen, who is scheduled to start against Louisville tonight, was named the IL's Pitcher of the Week for August 10-16. The right-hander didn't allow a run during the week in either of his two victories, while he also tied for second in innings pitched (13.2) and third in strikeouts (12). In that week McCutchen turned in his longest outing of the season against Columbus on August 10, blanking them for 7.2 innings on seven hits and no walks while striking out seven. The 26-year-old continued his domination of the Clippers with six more shutout frames in his most recent start on August 15. McCutchen gave up just five hits and struck out five for his 12th victory of the season, second to only Justin Lehr of Louisville (13) in wins for the IL. McCutchen has gone at least 6.0 innings in each of his last seven starts (5-1), and has a 1.35 ERA so far in August.

CLOSE CALLS: With their 6-4 win over Louisville on Wednesday, the Indians have now seen 26 of their last 34 games be decided by two runs or less. Indianapolis has also had 13 one-run contests over their last 23 games and currently lead the International League with 46 single-run games this season. Indianapolis has now had only five of their 18 August contests decided by more than two scores and continue to lead the IL and all of Triple-A Baseball with 74 of their contests having been decided by two runs or less. The Tribe also has the best winning percentage (.875) in all of Triple-A Baseball with a 7-1 record in games that go to extra frames.

LEHIGH VALLEY IRONPIGS (www.IronPigsBaseball.com)

PIG-TAIL SPIN: Lehigh Valley is now 7-10 in the month of August. The IronPigs finished August 2008 with a 7-23 record -- and are now just 14-33 (.298) in the month in franchise history. With Tuesday's loss, the IronPigs (who were postponed on Wednesday) have fallen seven games below .500 for first time since June 17 (29-36) and are 11.5 GB in the North for the first time since June 16. The 'Pigs have a four-game losing streak for the first time since being swept in a four-game series at Louisville, 6/6-6/9/09 (a span of 64 G) and have a four-game losing streak in the North Division since being swept by SWB in the opening series of 2009 (4/9-4/12).

WAY TO GO, RODRIGO: RHP Rodrigo Lopez will try to set a LHV franchise record Thursday when he goes to the mound looking to win his fifth consecutive start. So far, he's gone 4-0 with a 2.08 ERA in his last 4 GS (26.0 IP, 6 ER). Last season, LHP Brian Mazone set the record by winning in three straight starts. That mark was surpassed this season by both RHP Carlos Carrasco -- who won four straight 6/15-7/2 -- and then LHP Gustavo Chacin -- who won four in a row 7/9-7/28.

TAYLOR NAMED IL BATTER-OF-WEEK MONDAY... BUT: OF Michael Taylor has not played since his final AB on Saturday due to a strained right oblique on a pop out to second in the 9th inning. He remains day-to-day and could be out for up to a week. He won the award by batting .417-2-8 in six games while becoming the first LHV outfielder to record two assists in one inning (Tuesday), then becoming the franchise's first player to hit for the cycle (Wednesday). Taylor become just the second LHV batter to win the award, following 1B Andy Tracy, who has won three times (2008-09).

PITCHING FITS: Since the trade of C Lou Marson on July 30, the 'Pigs pitching staff is 7-11 with a 5.16 ERA & .319 AVG against. Prior, they had a 3.75 ERA (908 IP, 378 ER) and a .258 AVG against in the first 105 G of 2009. The 'Pigs staff allowed 14 more hits Tuesday and has yielded 62 hits in the last 5 G (62-166, .373). Until holding Buffalo to seven hits on Sunday, the 'Pigs had allowed a franchise-record eight-straight double-digit hit totals.

LOUISVILLE BATS (www.BatsBaseball.com)

STUBBS RECALLED BY REDS: OF Drew Stubbs was recalled by the Reds yesterday and made his ML debut last night; he doubled off the Giants' Barry Zito for his first career hit and went 1-for-4 on the night. Stubbs is the sixth Louisville player to make his ML debut with the Reds this year (RHP Carlos Fisher, LHP Matt Maloney, IF Drew Sutton, RHP Robert Manuel and C Craig Tatum). At the time of his promotion, he led the Bats in games (107), at-bats (411), runs (57), hits (110), doubles (25) and stolen bases (46) and was second on the team in walks (51). Stubbs was the starting right-fielder in the Triple-A All-Star Game this season and hit a two-run homer in the contest.

AT HOME (42-24): This season marks Louisville's fourth straight winning season at LSF and since 2000, when LSF opened, it's the seventh time in nine seasons they have at least 40 wins at home. In 2009 Louisville has played 66 home games and far and away has the best home record in the IL with a mark of 42-24 (.636). Louisville is the only team in the IL with 40 or more home wins while Sacramento is the only team in Triple-A with a better home record at 41-22 (.651). The Bats have six games remaining at Louisville Slugger Field and are on pace to win four more games at LSF. If the Bats reach the 46-26 mark, it would tie the 2000 and 2003 home records of 46-26 for most in stadium history.

CRAZY EIGHTS: Louisville is on pace for another 80+ win season (83-60) which would give the franchise their first back-to-back 80-win seasons and just their third since 1982. The 2001 RiverBats went 84-60 and won the Governors' Cup while last year's 88-56 team lost in the first round of the playoffs to Durham.

NORFOLK TIDES (www.NorfolkTides.com)

POWER OUTAGE: Norfolk collected 10 hits in last night's contest, the 12th time in the last 21 games the Tides have reached double digits in hits. However, Norfolk has hit just two home runs over that span, an inside-the-park home run by Jeff Fiorentino on August 1 and a solo shot by Fiorentino at Charlotte on August 17. Over that 21-game stretch Norfolk has gone 10-11, aided by the fact that Tides opponents have connected on 28 home runs. For the season, Norfolk has hit 70 home runs while surrendering 96.

SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY: Norfolk has 19 games remaining on the season, 15 of which will come against the IL South division. Of those 15 games, 11 will come against Gwinnett (5) and Durham (6), the two clubs Norfolk trails in the division race. All five of Norfolk's remaining contests with the Braves will come at Harbor Park, while the Tides will play three home games against the Bulls next week before closing the year with three games on the road at Durham.

HIT MAN: With another hit last night, Justin Turner's average is now at .314, 4th-best in the International League. Turner has a team-leading 29 multi-hit games this season, and he's hit safely in 35 of his last 45 contests, hitting .352 (57-for-162) with a home run, 18 RBI and 25 runs scored over that stretch. For the season, the 25-year-old has only gone hitless in three straight starts on one occasion (April 11-14), and he is the only player on Norfolk's current roster who was in the starting lineup for the Tides on opening night.

PAWTUCKET RED SOX (www.PawSox.com)

FRIDAY WAKE-UP CALL: RHP Tim Wakefield will make a second rehab start for the PawSox tomorrow night vs. Rochester at 7:05 p.m. at McCoy Stadium. Last Saturday night at Gwinnett he took the loss against the Braves in a 10-1 PawSox defeat - 3.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO, as he began his comeback from a lower back strain along with a left hamstring and calf strain that has had him on Boston's disabled list since July 21 (retroactive to July 18). Wakefield, who turned 43 on August 2, made the American League All-Star team for the first time in his 17-year major league career this season and is 11-3 with a 4.31 ERA in 17 GS for the Red Sox this year. Wakefield is one of three members of the Red Sox currently rehabbing with the PawSox along with catcher George Kottaras (lower back strain) and Rhode Island native outfielder Rocco Baldelli (left ankle contusion).

BYRD'S NEST: RHP Paul Byrd made his Pawtucket debut as the starter and took the loss on Wednesday night at McCoy vs. Rochester, 5-1 (4 IP, 3 R). Byrd, a 38 year-old veteran of 13 major league seasons, was signed by the Red Sox as a free agent on August 5 and had not pitched this season until joining the Gulf Coast (Rookie) Red Sox in early-August. He is 108-93 in 338 big league games (250 starts) including a 4-2 record with a 4.78 ERA in 8 starts for Boston last season after being acquired in a trade from Cleveland last August 12. Byrd and another newcomer INF Chris Woodward became the 57th and 58th different players used by the PawSox this season (33 position players & 24 pitchers) when they both appeared in their first PawSox game on Wednesday night. While that's a healthy number it is still short of the franchise-record 70 players used in 2007, but there are two and a half weeks remaining this season!

UNDERGROUND: Currently at 52-71 on the season, the Sox are a season-high 19-games under .500 for the first time in almost seven years since they ended the 2002 season with a 60-84 record. The Sox were 6-games above .500 as late as July 2 (at 42-36). They have lost 35 of their last 45 games since that point, including a current season-high 9-game losing streak which is their longest in nearly 16 years since they lost 10 straight to end the 1993 season.

BLANKETY BLANK: Pawtucket leads the League by being blanked 16 times this season (including 11 shutout losses since June 2) as they are 10-16 in shutout games on the year. Pawtucket was 9-5 in shutout games after a 2-0 win in Louisville on May 27. Since that point, however, the Sox have just one shutout to their credit (a 4-0 win at Charlotte on August 11). They have been shutout themselves 11 times during that stretch however. Pawtucket's franchise-record for most times shutout in a season is 21 during the 1989 season.

ROCHESTER RED WINGS (www.RedWingsBaseball.com)

HISTORY LESSON: The 12 runs Syracuse scored in the ninth inning Monday afternoon vs. Rochester at Frontier Field is not the record for the most runs scored in an inning at Frontier Field. That record goes to the 1998 Red Wings! Rochester scored 13 runs in the third inning July 20, 1998 in a 20-7 win vs. Indianapolis at Frontier Field. The Wings sent 18 batters to the plate collecting nine hits, six walks and Willis Otanez and Julio Vinas hit back-to-back home runs. After the game Red Wings Hall-of-Famer P.J. Forbes received his first ever promotion to the Major Leagues.

HOW ABOUT AN IL HISTORY LESSON: The 12 runs Syracuse scored in the ninth inning Monday was the first time an IL team has scored at least 12 runs in an inning since August 15, 2007 when Durham scored 12 runs in the 5th inning vs. Charlotte in a 15-5 Bulls win at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

I LOVE A (HIT) PARADE: The Red Wings offense has heated up the last 12 games batting .311 (135-for-434) as a team. Rochester had 10 or more hits in 11 of the 12 games. The Red Wings have hit 13 home runs, including five multi-home run games, during this 12 game stretch.

SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE YANKEES (www.SWBYankees.com)

RUSSO RAKING: The Yankees leadoff man continued his assault on IL pitching on Tuesday night as he reached base three more times on a single and two walks in a 10-5 Yankees win over Lehigh Valley. Kevin Russo is now hitting .434 (36-83) over his last 23 games. By going hitless in a four game series vs. Gwinnett at PNC Field, he lowered his average to .284, but he has been on a tear since hitting safely in 17 of 23 (has not gone hitless in back-to-back games) and raising his average to .330 and his on base percentage from .359 to .410. Russo has scored 17 runs and drawn 14 walks over the stretch. KNOCKING ON THE DOOR: With a .330 average entering play on Tuesday, Russo would have the third highest batting average in the IL if he had enough plate appearances to qualify. To rank among the League leader's an individual must have 2.7 plate appearances per team game. The Yankees have played 120 team games in '09 so the number to reach is 324. Russo currently has 273 AB and has drawn 36 walks, has been hit by pitches three times and has three sacrifice flies and three sacrifice bunts for a total of 318 plate appearances in 2009, six shy of the required amount.

KNOCKING HOME IN BUNCHES: Shelley Duncan knocked in four runs on Tuesday night to increase his IL leading total to 82, six better than Lehigh Valley's Andy Tracy and seven better than his Yankees teammate Juan Miranda. Tuesday was Duncan's first multi-RBI game since a three RBI night at Toledo on July 24, when he homered twice to tie his own SWB franchise record at 25 (which he then broke with his 26th HR of the season at Norfolk on August 13).

CAN'T SEEM TO GET PAST 16 OVER: Since starting 23-5 out of the gate in 2009, the Yankees are 43-47 in the 90 games played since. The high water mark of 18 games over .500 has been approached on six different occasions but each time has stalled out at 16 over .500. Since May 9 when trying to go from 16 to 17 games over .500, SWB is 0-6, having lost games on May 11, June 1, June 22, July 18, August 13 and August 15. The two latest attempts to get to 17 over .500 have occurred on the team's most recent road trip.

SYRACUSE CHIEFS (www.SyracuseChiefs.com)

ATILANO JOINS ROTATION: With the Chiefs playing two doubleheaders on consecutive days August 20-21, the Nationals will move right-handed starting pitcher Luis Atilano up from Double-A Harrisburg. The 23-year-old native of Puerto Rico was 7-8 with a 4.16 ERA in 21 starts. Over his last five starts he was 3-2 with a 1.34 ERA allowing only 5 earned runs in 33.2 innings. Atilano was signed by the Atlanta Braves and traded to Washington in 2006 for current Chiefs first baseman Daryle Ward.

KENSING RETURNS TO CLOSE: The Nationals recalled infielder Mike Morse this week and assigned right-handed pitcher Logan Kensing to the Chiefs. While with the Chiefs from May 25 through July 18 Kensing saved 12 games.

HOPPER TAKES THE LEAD: Since joining the Chiefs on August 7 from Charlotte, left-fielder Norris Hopper was inserted into the leadoff role and has hit in 10 of the last 13 games batting. .313 (15-48). He has also scored 9 runs and stolen 5 bases during his time with the Chiefs.

TOLEDO MUD HENS (www.MudHens.com)

THE SKIPPER: Larry Parrish has 489 career wins as Mud Hens manager and is one away from tying Casey Stengel (1926-31) for third place all-time (490). Cal Ermer (1978-85) leads the way with 540, and Charles Strobel (1896-1902) is second with 497.

MILESTONE: Mike Hessman has been on a tear all month. He is batting .284 with 6 HR and 15 RBI in August. He now sits at 19 home runs this season and his 20th would extend a very impressive streak. If he gets to 20, it would be his sixth straight season to reach the mark and 11th time in his 13-year career that he has done it. He is three HR shy from another milestone, his 200th career Triple-A home run.

FLAVORFUL FACT: Toledo needed a grand slam by Jeff Frazier for an 8-3 win over the Columbus Clippers on Monday. The grand slam by Frazier on Monday was his first since April 29, 2006 when the Lakeland Flying Tigers (Single-A) beat the Clearwater Threshers 5-2. In that game, he hit it off J.A. Happ, now a pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies. Clete Thomas, Jeff Larish, Brent Dlugach and Eddie Bonine also played in that game for Lakeland. It was Frazier's tenth HR with the Hens this season and was Toledo's first grand slam since Mike Hessman hit one on April 21 vs. Indianapolis.

RIGHTING THE SHIP: The Hens have won their last three games against the Columbus Clippers, and in the process, a couple Hens players were able to "right the ship" against the Clippers to salvage what was otherwise an unproductive season versus the division foes. RHP Ruddy Lugo had two previous outings against Columbus this season, entering play with a 14.29 ERA (9 ER/5.2 IP). He tossed a quality outing for the victory on Monday, and is now third in the League in wins (11). 3B Mike Hessman hit home runs in two of the games to make up for some lost ground - they were his first two against the Clippers this season. Last year, Hessman had a team-high 6 home runs against the Clippers.

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International League Stories from August 20, 2009


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


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