CarL1 Potomac Nationals

Potomac Nationals Game Notes

July 24, 2008 - Carolina League (CarL1)
Potomac Nationals News Release


TONIGHT: The Potomac Nationals and Kinston Indians meet in the finale of a four-game series...The P-Nats fell into an early 6-1 hole yesterday afternoon and fell short on a comeback bid dropping game three of the series 6-4....Potomac enters today 2.0 games ahead of Lynchburg atop the Carolina League Northern Division.

TONIGHT'S STARTER: The Potomac Nationals send left-hander Ross Detwiler to the mound in the finale of the four-game set trying to give the P-Nats the series victory...In his last outing, the 22-year-old was up and down over a five inning performance against Lynchburg...The former first-round pick was great in the first, third, and fifth frames facing the minimum and throwing only 33 pitches...In the second and fourth innings, he threw 59 pitches...Overall, Detwiler allowed only two runs on four hits while striking out four, walking two, and hitting a pair of batters...Overall in July, the St. Louis native has posted a 3.86 ERA in four starts while striking out 19 in 23 1/3 innings and walking only four...The Missouri State product hasn't won since he helped the P-Nats clinch the first half title against Winston-Salem on June 9 going 0-3 with a 4.60 ERA over that span (17R/16ER in 31 1/3 IP)...Since walking a career-high seven on June 28 at Myrtle Beach, which was also a season-high for a Potomac pitcher, Detwiler has issued just four free passes over his last 23 1/3 innings covering four starts.

STILL STANDING TALL: The Potomac Nationals have only spent two days were they were not in or had a share of the division lead since moving to the top spot on April 10...Potomac had a string of 91 straight days in first place snapped with a 4-1 loss to Wilmington on July 9...Last season the Nationals spent 31 consecutive days in first from April 5 through May 5...The P-Nats ended the first half in last place, 10 games under .500 and only saw first place for one day, June 21, after May 5.

BOOMER BUNTS FOR BASE KNOCKS: Brandon "Boomer" Whiting went 0-for-4 yesterday with a strikeout...The 25-year-old has 14 hits with the P-Nats and seven are bunt singles.

BULLISH PEN: Jack Spradlin and Josh Wilkie cooled off the K-Tribe offense last night tossing five scoreless innings...Potomac relievers have not allowed a run in four games totaling 16 innings...Since Wilkie blew a save and took the loss against the Salem Avalanche on July 14, the bullpen has given up just three runs, one earned, in 26 1/3 innings over the last seven games (0.34 ERA)...Potomac relievers have allowed just 13 hits over that span with 15 strikeouts and eight walks...No surprise, the P-Nats are 5-2 over that span...Overall this season Potomac is 53-2 when leading after seven innings.

STARTING A TREND: With the promotion of right-hander Zack Segovia to Double-A Harrisburg yesterday, the P-Nats have now sent seven starting pitchers to the Senators including Cory VanAllen, Jordan Zimmermann, Craig Stammen, Joe Norrito (made one spot start), Adrian Alaniz, Justin Jones and Segovia....Four members of Potomac's Opening Day five-man rotation (VanAllen, Zimmermann, Alaniz, and Jhonny Nunez) are currently on the Harrisburg roster...Not counting rehabs, the P-Nats have used 12 different starting pitchers this season (Nunez, VanAllen, Zimmermann, Alaniz, Stammen, Jones, Segovia, Norrito, Terrence Engles, Jeff Mandel, Luis Atilano, and Ross Detwiler).

SEUSS ON THE LOOSE: Aaron Seuss has been on a roll over his last five games going 8-for-21 (.381) with five extra-base hits including four doubles and a home run...The 23-year-old has driven in five runs and scored four over that span and has raised his batting average from .236 to .276.

FRIEND TURNED FOE: Former Kinston Indian Brian Finegan has gotten the best of his former club in this series going 2-for-6 with four RBI in two games...Overall the 26-year-old is 4-for-15 (.267) with a home run and seven RBI in five games against the K-Tribe...The former 2004 15th-round pick of the Cleveland Indians hit .275 (11-for-40) with two doubles, a home run, one RBI, and four runs scored against the Tribe's Double-A affiliate, the Akron Aeros, while a member of the Altoona Curve...Finegan also stole three bases in his 13 games against Akron.

TURNING THE TRIBE: The Potomac Nationals struggled against the Kinston Indians in 2007 going 7-12 overall against the K-Tribe and just 1-8 at home opposite the Indians...The 2008 season has been a different story as the P-Nats are a win away from clinching the season series posting a 10-6 mark against the K-Tribe this year...Potomac is 6-3 at Pfitzner Stadium against Kinston entering the final meeting between the two at the Pfitz today...The Nationals have a .291 batting average this season against the Indians as opposed to a .266 average a year ago and with four games remaining in the season series including tonight, Potomac has scored 22 more runs (109/87) and hit just two fewer homers (18/20) than 2007...The pitching has been decidedly in the P-Nats' favor posting a 3.43 ERA against the K-Tribe in 2008 while having a 6.07 ERA in 2007...Kinston's pitchers meanwhile have fared worse in ‘08 putting up a 6.26 ERA versus a 4.04 ERA in ‘07.

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