CarL1 Potomac Nationals

Potomac Nationals Game Notes

Published on August 6, 2008 under Carolina League (CarL1)
Potomac Nationals News Release


TONIGHT: The Potomac Nationals and Lynchburg Hillcats meet in the finale of a three-game series...The P-Nats offense was stifled last night as the Hillcats snapped an 11-game losing streak in impressive fashion winning 10-2...Potomac enters today 5.0 games ahead of Wilmington atop the Carolina League Northern Division.

TONIGHT'S STARTER: The Potomac Nationals send right-hander Luis Atilano to the mound to trying to get he and the P-Nats back on track against the Hillcats...The 23-year-old had a personal four-game winning streak snapped with a 5-1 loss to Winston-Salem on Friday night...He allowed four runs in the contest, all unearned, in a disasterous fifth inning...Prior to his last outing, the Puerto Rican gave up just four runs in 20 innings over his four-game winning streak (1.80 ERA) allowing just 11 hits while striking out 13 and walking only three...He earned Carolina League Pitcher of the Week honors after tossing five scoreless innings against both Kinston (7/22) and Frederick (7/27) allowing just one hit to each in those outings...The former supplimental first-round pick of the Atlanta Braves in 2003 (Tom Glavine) was traded to the Washington Nationals in exchange for Daryle Ward on August 31, 2006, 21 days after he underwent "Tommy John" surgery...Atilano is limited to five innings or 70-75 pitches and will not throw more than 100 innings for the season.

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.

STALLED STREAKS: Michael Martinez had his in a season-long 13-game hit streak come to an end after going 0-for-4 last night...The 25-year-old was 22-for-61 (.361) with four doubles, a triple, 14 RBI and 10 runs scored...The Dominican's streak matched Edgardo Baez for the longest this season...He had also reached base safely in 22 straight contests, which was the second-longest current streak in the Carolina League trailing only Salem's Jordan Parraz (37)...Francisco Plasencia also had his hit streak come to an end at eight games after going 0-for-4...Plasencia was 12-for-36 (.333) with a double, a triple, four RBI, and four runs scored during his streak...It was the longest streak with the P-Nats for the 24-year-old...He got the day off in Monday night's game for the first time since May 27 against Lynchburg, a span of 61 games.

DEE-STROYING THE BALL: Dee Brown has hits in five straight contests after going 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored last night...Over his last five games, Brown is 8-for-20 (.400) with four doubles, four RBI, and four runs scored along with three walks and three strikeouts...He has been on a tear over his last 17 games going 27-for-61 (.443) with seven doubles, a home run and 16 RBI...The 25-year-old began the run with a career-best 5-for-5 performance against the Lynchburg Hillcats on July 18 and has raised his batting average from .255 to .297...After hitting just .204 in 16 in May, the former 10th-round pick has bounced back hitting .324 with 22 RBI in 21 games in June and .351 in 21 games in July.

THE SOLANO OF SWAT: Jhonatan Solano has been swinging a hot bat with hits in six of his last seven games including a season-long five-game hitting streak...The 23-year-old is 12-for-28 (.429) with three doubles, a home run, seven RBI, and six runs scored...The long ball was his first since April 15 while playing with the Low-A Hagerstown Suns...The Columbian had to wait 51 games and 161 at-bats between homers...The catcher has also walked four times while striking out just three over the past seven contests.

LAUDING LEFAVE: Since his career-high five RBI against Lynchburg on July 18, Andrew Lefave is 22-for-63 (.349) with five doubles, two home runs, 17 RBI and 16 runs scored in 18 games...The 24-year-old has also walked 16 times over that span and has struck out just six times...The former Brewers farm hand got off to a slow start with the P-Nats hitting just .176 over his first 14 games including starting off 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position...Since getting his first RBI against Salem on July 14, Lefave has gone 13-for-24 (.542) with runners in scoring position.

WATTS GOING ON?: Lynchburg catcher Kris Watts has been a very tough out in his seven games played against Potomac this season...The 24-year-old is 11-for-22 (.500) with two doubles, six RBI, and four runs scored...He was also walked seven times and struck out just once...Against the rest of the Carolina League the Californian is hitting .303 (40-for-132).

PLANNING A GET AWAY: The Potomac Nationals are 9-7 on get away day on the road...The P-Nats were just 5-5 on get away day in the first half including dropping a doubleheader to Frederick to close out the half...After dropping the first two get away days on the road in the second half, Potomac has gone 4-0 since.

Check out the Potomac Nationals Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Carolina League Stories from August 6, 2008


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.

OurSports Central