Shark tank showdown

Evidently the East Coast appeals the Threshers. Clearwater pounded out 17 hits for 12 runs to win 12-3 over the Jupiter Hammerheads in the battle of the sharks.

Four different Threshers hit home runs including Tuffy Gosewisch (pitctured above).

Clearwater chased Jupiter starter Graham Taylor off the mound, taking 8 runs on 7 hits and 3 walks over 2 innings, including a 6-run first inning.

Edgar Garcia picked up this 5th win for the Phillies farm, allowing 2 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks while striking out 3 in six innings.



The Threshers won on Wednesday night as well, topping Jupiter 6-5. Southpaw Dan Braur took the start, allowing 3 runs on 5 hits and 3 walks in 4 innings. Andy Curse picked up the win in relief, going 2.1 innings and allowing 2 runs on 2 hits and 1 walk.

In other East-West league action, Sarasota topped the D-Cubs 5-1 on Wednesday, Tampa doubled up Brevard County, 2-1, Lakeland downed Vero Beach 8-4, and Dunein pasted Palm Beach 10-5.

On Thursday the Red Birds took their revenge, pecking the Jays 5-1; Sara again won over the D-Cubs, 3-2; Fort Myers played their first game against St. Lucie winning 7-2 with a pair of back-to-back home runs from Wilson Ramos and Whit Robbins; Tampa again doubled up Brevard County, 4-2; and Lakeland again won over Vero Beach, 4-3.

Manatees to host Damn Yankees night

The Brevard County Manatees come up with some very amusing promotions.

With the Tampa Yankees coming to Space Coast Stadium for a four game set starting on Wednesday, Brevard will be kicking off the festivities with Damn Yankees Night.

Damn Yankees were an American hard rock supergroup. The band was formed in 1989, consisting of Tommy Shaw of Styx, Jack Blades of Night Ranger, Ted Nugent of Amboy Dukes and his own solo career, and Michael Cartellone. Presumably inspired by the musical of the same name, Nugent once also explained that he coined the name because whenever someone asked him how he and Tommy Shaw would sound playing together, he would always reply by saying they would sound like "a bunch of damn Yankees." With Shaw from Alabama, Blades from California, Cartellone from Nebraska, and Nugent from Michigan, it did seem as if the band represented all four corners of the nation.

1990's chart-topping rock ballad "High Enough" featured a passionate duet between Shaw and Blades, backed by a string section in the studio. Backed by a popular video, it rose to #3 on U.S. Top 40, and #1 on AOR charts. Ironically, "High Enough" happened to be the first #1 pop single in Ted Nugent's career, despite the fact his career had been built on his "Motor City Madman" image.

How does the promo work? Any male that comes to the ticket office with hair longer than their shoulders will receive $2 off their ticket to the game. Wigs are acceptable. Shades are optional, but recommended, as you probably wouldn't want to be recognized in that wig.

Meanwhile, Space Coast Stadium has added a new video board that can be used for commercials, statitics, information and entertainment.

Brevard is currently in Clearwater and is 1-2 against the Threshers. Clearwater lost ace Antonio Bastardo to Reading this last week.

Tampa is currently hosting the Jupiter Hammerheads, and has won the three games they've played so far in the 4-game series. While the Manatees promotional mailing invites fans out to Spacecoast on Saturday to "see the 'Tees finish off the sweep of the Yanks," that might be a tall order for the East Division team.

Jupiter will play host to Clearwater then they return. The Marlins farm is 16-15 on the season, 4 games back from the Division leading Palm Beach Cardinels, while Clearwater is 11-20, still down in the cellar, and 7 games back in the West Division.

The Red Birds are currently facing the Reds in Sarasota, where they have won 2 of the three games played so far in Sarasota. They will host the Blue Jays when they return home on Wednesday for a four game set.

Dunedin is currently hosting Vero Beach, and has lost 2 of 3 to the Rays affliate. The Rays will host the Lakeland Flying Tigers when they return home. After a poor start, the Flying Tigers have won their last five and are part of the pack in the West, tied with Dunedin and Sarasota for 2nd place, 2 games back from the division leading Fort Myers Miracle and Tampa Yankees.

Lakeland has befitted from having the hapless St. Lucy Mets in, having won their last three by wide margins. Fort Myers should benefit from their East Divison swing as they take on Port Saint Lucie starting on Thursday. They have not faired so well against the Daytona Cubs, who had lost six coming in Sunday's game, including Saturday night to the Miracle. Sunday however, they broke the Miracle's home win streak and went on to win 9-1 on Monday. Daytona will host the Reds on Wednesday for a four game series.

Transactions: Tampa has added Anthony Claggett to their roster from Trenton, and Stephen Artz from Staten Island. Palm Beach added Brandon Garner, received from extended spring training. Aside from losing Bastardo to a high league, Clearwater also lost Carlos Monasterios to injury as he went on the disabled list on Thursday, May 1.

Current Standings:

FSL East
  Club           W  L  PCT  GB   Home  Away  L 10  Streak
 Palm Beach     20 11 .645   -  13- 4  7- 7   5-5    W1
 Brevard County 17 14 .548 3.0   9- 5  8- 9   5-5    L1
 Daytona        16 15 .516 4.0   6- 8 10- 7   4-6    W2
 Jupiter        16 15 .516 4.0  11- 3  5-12   4-6    L3
 Vero Beach     15 16 .484 5.0  11- 6  4-10   5-5    L1
 St. Lucie       7 24 .226 13.0  4-13  3-11   5-5    L3

FSL West
  Club           W  L  PCT  GB   Home  Away  L 10  Streak
 Fort Myers     18 13 .581   -  12- 5  6- 8   5-5    L2
 Tampa          18 13 .581   -  11- 6  7- 7   7-3    W5
 Dunedin        16 15 .516 2.0   7- 6  9- 9   4-6    W1
 Lakeland       16 15 .516 2.0   8- 5  8-10   7-3    W5
 Sarasota       16 15 .516 2.0   8- 6  8- 9   5-5    L1
 Clearwater     11 20 .355 7.0   9-10  2-10   4-6    W1

League Leaders - Batting:

Name          Team POS  G  AB  R  H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB CS  OBP  SLG  AVG  OPS
Chris Valaika  SAR  SS 31 130 19 49  9  0  7  31 79  7 25  1  0 .403 .608 .377 1.011
John Matulia   VER  OF 19  78 14 28  3  2  0   5 35  6  9  4  2 .412 .449 .359  .860
James Adduci   DAY  OF 31 117 20 41  7  2  0  14 52 21 23  2  2 .453 .444 .350  .898
Garrett Groce  VER  OF 22  83 17 29  7  1  1  12 41  4 15  3  3 .375 .494 .349  .869
Justin Turner  SAR  2B 26 107 18 37  7  1  0   8 46  9 12  2  1 .407 .430 .346  .837
Logan Morrison JUP  1B 30 111 12 38 11  0  3  18 58  8 17  1  0 .382 .523 .342  .905
Rene Tosoni    FTM  OF 28  95 18 32  6  1  0   9 40 13 25  3  4 .439 .421 .337  .860
Daryl Jones    PBC  OF 22  79  8 26  3  2  1   7 36  9 24  4  1 .411 .456 .329  .867
Brian Dopirak  DUN  1B 28 107 16 35  9  0  3  15 53 16 30  0  0 .415 .495 .327  .910
Cesar Suarez   VER  3B 31 127 11 41  4  0  2  19 51  4 10  6  0 .346 .402 .323  .747

League Leaders - Pitching:

Name             Team W L  ERA G GS CG SHO SV   IP  H  R ER HR HB BB SO WHIP HLD  GF
Eric Hacker       TAM 2 1 0.86 7  7  0   0  0 42.0 22  6  4  0  1  5 28 0.64   0   0
Antonio Bastardo  CLE 2 0 1.17 5  5  0   0  0 30.2 20  4  4  2  1 10 47 0.98   0   0
Jeremy Hellickson VER 3 0 1.29 6  6  0   0  0 35.0 28  6  5  1  3  2 46 0.86   0   0
Jordan Smith      SAR 5 1 1.52 7  7  0   0  0 47.1 41 11  8  1  2  5 31 0.97   0   0
Luis Marte        LAK 3 1 1.54 6  6  0   0  0 35.0 22  8  6  0  1 10 35 0.91   0   0
Jeff Allison      JUP 0 4 1.60 7  7  0   0  0 33.2 23 13  6  1  3 15 24 1.13   0   0
Jesse, Todd       PBC 3 0 1.65 7  4  0   0  1 27.1 18  7  5  0  1  7 35 0.91   1   1
Rick Porcello     LAK 2 4 1.98 7  7  0   0  0 36.1 25 13  8  1  4 12 22 1.02   0   0
Travis Wood       SAR 3 2 2.05 6  6  0   0  0 30.2 24  8  7  0  1 14 31 1.24   0   0
Kyle Winters      JUP 3 0 2.14 6  6  0   0  0 33.2 26  8  8  0  1 10 17 1.07   0   0

Red Sox contemplate move to Sarasota

A couple of articles - one in the Fort Myers News Press, the other in the Cape Coral Breeze - indicate that the Boston Red Sox may be contemplating a move to Sarasota, Florida.

Team Chief Operating Officer Mike Dee has told Lee County officials the team is exploring moving its spring training home from City of Palms Park in Fort Myers to Sarasota.

Sarasota is pitching a new 50-acre facility on the current site of Ed Smith Stadium, the previous home of the Cincinnati Reds. Currently, the Red Sox facility is split between two parcels in Fort Myers with the stadium miles (like 2 or 3) away from the training facility.

Dee said the separated situation is not conducive for spring training and is complicated by Red Sox Nation, which flocks to Southwest Florida every spring.

"It's not ideal for any team," said Dee. "It's extremely challenging for us when we have 4,000 fans show up on any given day at the practice facility."

Dee said the team was approached by officials from the city of Sarasota after the Cincinnati team announced they’d be moving to Arizona before 2010. The contact came while Red Sox officials were negotiating a lease extension with Lee County officials.

(One has to wonder why the City of Sarasota did not have the money to upgrade the existing facilities for the Reds, but will do it for the Red Sox.)

Meanwhile, Lee County is scrambling to see what they can do to keep the team in Fort Myers. The Red sox pay the city $320,000 each year on the stadium. However, it's true that their training facility, while greatly improved, is far down Edison from City of Palms Park. Both sites have inadequate parking.

Now here's an interesting piece from Charlie Whitehead's story in the Breeze:

"Florida locations could continue to fight over the state’s teams. Lee Commission Chairman Ray Judah sent off an urgent memo to legislators Wednesday, asking them to oppose an amendment to a House bill that would allow Sarasota to use state grant money to woo the Red Sox.

"That money, Judah said, was meant to allow Florida locations to fight to keep the teams they have, not lure away other Florida teams."

One thing that the move to Sarasota could do for the Red Sox which remaining in Fort Myers can't, is allow the Red Sox to move their High-A team back into the Florida State League. They have long wished to play in Fort Myers, the Fort Myers Miracle, who serve as the High-A team for the Minnesota Twins, have the FSL territorial rights and will not waive them.

The Red Sox played their High-A team in the FSL and Ed Smith Stadium through 2004. The Sara-Reds have played in the facility since.

I should note that this entire scenario could be a ploy for the Red Sox to gain lease concessions from the city of Fort Myers.

Meanwhile the Reds have considering their move, and seem likely to join the Cleveland Indians in the city of Goodyear, Arizona.

After searching, I did find an article in the Naples Daily News. The Sarasota Herald Tribune has a whole section on story, with a photo gallery and video talking about Sara's history with the Red Sox organization.

Palm Beach, Dunedin lead divisons at end of April

The Palm Beach Cardinals lead in the East division for the week ended April 26, 2008, posting a 16-7 record. On the other end of the scale, St. Lucie finally added another win to their incredible 3-20 record, taking a 9-2 win over the Cards on Saturday night.

Dillon Gee picked up the win in that game, allowing 1 run on 4 hits while striking out 5 in 4 innings worth of work. It was his first win of the 2008 season. The Mets pounded out 12 hits to the Cards 6.

During the rematch between the best and worst in the East on Sunday, the game ran to 14 innings before Brahiam Maldonado homered to bring in three, giving the Mets yet another win, this time 6-3 over the first placed Cards.

John Matulia of the Vero Beach Rays leads the East in batting with a .359 average over 19 games. James Adduci of Daytona was posting a .349 average through 24 games and Palm Beach's Steve Hill is showing a .346 average through 21 games.

Todd Jesse of Palm Beach holds a 3-0 record with a .87 ERa in the East after 5 starts and 20.2 innings. Jeremy Hellickson of Vero Beach is right behind him, with a 2-0 record and .93 ERA in 29 innings of work.

Brevard County and Daytona are in a 2-way tie for 2nd place in East, but with 14-10 records. Both teams head out for Western road swings at the end of this week, with the Manatees facing the FSL Defending Champion Clearwater Threshers and the Cubbies off to face the Twins affiliated Fort Myers Miracle.

Clearwater has been a lightweight in the West Division thus far this season, with the exception of pitcher Antonio Bastardo, who leads the Minor League with 47 strike outs of 30 2/3 innings. The 22-year old fanned 13 and allowed just 2 hits over 8 inning in a 5-0 shutout. There is some question as to how long Bastardo will stay with the Phillies Florida farm. Some predictions have him cracking the Major League roster before the end of the season.

Four West Division teams went into the new week in a tie for first, but Sunday's game put Dunedin back on top with Clearwater knocking off the Yankees and the Flying Tigers knocking off the Miracle. Dunedin's defeat 3-2 defeat of Sarasota gave them the division best record of 14-10. Both Clearwater and the Lakeland Flying Tigers are starting to show some promise off dismal starts to the season.

Johan Nickerson had his bid for a perfect game ended in the 8th inning Saturday night when he outdueled major leaguer Kevin Slowey at Joker Marchant Stadium. Making the second of three rehab starts, Slowey tossed five hitless innings for the Fort Myers squad.

The Most Outstanding Player at the 2006 college world series, Nickerson was off to a terrible start on the season that had him sporting 7.64 ERA by the time he got done facing Fort Myers earlier in the week. Johnny Woodard's late inning single finished off his no-no bid for the night, but the Tigers are hoping that Nickerson will lead the team, which has been strugging with its pitching staff, onto better things.

Sarasota's Justin Turner and Chris Valaika lead the West in batting with a .395 and a .359 average respectively. Dunedin's Brian Dopirak is not far behind with a .350 average over 21 games. Valaika has also put up 4 home runs as has teammate Juan Francisco, but it is Tampa's Edwar Gonzalez who is currently leading the lead with 6. Not surprising if he is making use of the short porch on right to find the fence at Legends Field. Vero Beach's Matthew Fields has 5 yarders, and 5 other players besides the Sarasota pair have 4 on the season.

While you might think Bastardio leads the West in pitching, you'd be mistaken. Tampa's Eric Hacker holds a 2-1 record over 5 games with a .82 ERA over 33 innings. He has only 24 strike outs to Bastardo's 47 however. Lakeland's Luis Marte is showing a 2-1 record with a 1.64 ERA in four games and 22 innings. He pitches tonight as the Tigers look to finish off their series against Fort Myers with a sweep.

Flying Tiger Layouts

Tyler says "Oh, you're doing their guys too?" Well, yeah, some of them. I like the Tigers. They're my second favorite team.

These use the Baseball Grunge Paper Mini from Scrap Girls. The Tiger's logo is a hand made gif from their masthead, and the little gold brads on the Below piece are from Raspberry Road Designs' Freedom Rings kit.

The Metal Alpha are from Scrappin' Dead Girls, and while it includes upper and lower, I only used the upper on these pieces.

These are all created to 8 x 10 so I can get them printed out and signed. As with any of the pieces on this blog, if you click on them, you can see a bigger version.

So Long Sarasota

A $16 million bond referendum to help fund a $45 million plan to rebuild Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota failed Tuesday's vote by a narrow margin. With goes any long term plans for the Cincinnati Reds to continue on in Sarasota.

The Reds hold a lease on the Stadium through the 2008 season, and have signed a year-to-year deal to extend it three more years while they search for a new home.

The Cleveland Indians recently agreed to leave Orlando for Goodyear, Arizona. That is one of the cities in line for the Reds as well, as it tries to lock up the monopoly on Ohio Spring Training fans.

Lee County, Orlando and Vero Beach have also been tossed around as possible new homes for the Reds.

Vero Beach is currently housing the Tampa Devil Rays FSL affiliate, but plans appear to be in place to move the team to Charlotte County once the renovations on the Charlotte County stadium are completed.

The Reds had received a promise of $15 mil from the state if they could receive matching funds from locally, but with defeat of the referendum that deal becomes void. It's possible however that the State will agree to match funds for a diffrent location in the state of Florida.

Locations in Bonita Springs and Cape Coral have both been talked about previously as potential locations for a new spring training facility. However as of Thursday, Jeff Maultsby, director of Florida operations for the Reds, has said nothing has been done in terms of a search for a new home.

"We'll get moving here in the next couple days," Maultsby was quoted as saying in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

"It's like a blank canvas, which is kind of exciting," said John Allen, the Reds' executive vice president and chief operating officer, in the same publication. "We can look at a lot of different options."

The fate of Ed Smith Stadium is also up in the air. While the city will save money on the stadium operations, they will not be able to make up the revenue they receive from the Reds being in town. The void in the budget is estimated to be as high as $1.3 million per year.

The Herald Tribune noted that the city gets about $20 mil from a Reds Spring training game, with multiple dates available, vs. $7,000 from the Sarasota Blues Festival, an annual activity.

Jupiter's Sinkbeil sinks Beach Boys

(Photo courtesy Missouri State)

Waikiki 1 at North Shore 8

W: B. Sinkbeil (2-0, 1.13); L: J. Sullivan (0-2, 6.75); SV: S. Walker (1)
HR: None.

Who ever said Threshers and Manatees don't play nice together? In the Hawaiin Winter League, members of both teams are playing side by side on North Shore Honu.

The Hanu picked up a win Friday over the Waikiki Beach Boys, but it was neither a Manatee nor a Thresher that was the story of the game.

Rather, Jupiter Hammerhead's ace Brett Sinkbeil picked up his second win of the season, allowing only 1 run on 3 hits and 1 walk while striking out 4 over 5 innings. He holds a stellar 1.13 ERA in Hawaii, having worked 16 innings in 4 games.

Waikiki's only run came in the fifth when Jermaine Mitchell (Oakland) reached on a fielding error by Lakeland Flying Tigers' shortstop Danny worth. Lucas Duda's (NY Mets) single moved him to second before Sinkbeil walked Oakland's Justin Sellars to load the bags. Mitchell would score on Sean McCraw's (NY Mets) force out, but Sinkbeil would then get Antoan Richardson (San Francisco) to strik out and Hector Pillot (NY Mets) to fly out to end the inning.

Steve Chapman (Milwaukee) walked with 2 outs in the 1st lead of North Shore's offense. Lou Santangelo (Houston) also drew a walk before Mat Gamel (Milwaukee) reached on a fielding error and Jamie Romak's (Pittsburgh) double served to bring all three in.

Shintaro Yoshida (F/A) singled his way onto base in the bottom of the second and was followed onto the bags by Michael Griffin (Cininnati) before Chris Valuika (Cincinnati) walked. Michael Champman's (Milwaukee) ground ball to right brought in Yoshida and Griffin, although Chapman would find himself out at 2nd as he tried to strech the single into a double. Santangelo's ground ball to left brought in Valaika before Mat Gamel (Milwaukee) would pop out to end the inning.

Hanu's production fell off after that though, and North Shore would not add the final 2 runs until the 8th inning. Gamel walked to lead off, but Jamie Romak (Pittsburgh) hit into a force out to nab him at 2nd. Dusty Ryan's (Detroit) walk pushed Romak to 2nd and Worth would push Romak over the plate when he reached on a throwing error by Waikiki's Sellers. Yoshida hit a sac fly to score Ryan, but Griffin would pop out to end the inning.

Milwaukee's Kevin Roberts pitched 1 inning of relief for North Shore, striking out 2 before Houston's Sean Walker came in to close the game, walking 2 and striking out 4 in 3 innings.

Colorado's Josh Sullivan suffered the loss, lasting only 3 innings and giving up 6 runs (3 earned) on 5 hits, and 3 walks while striking out 1. Kyohei Muranaka (F/A) finished off the game, both his runs were unearned. He gave up 1 hit, walked 2 and struck out 5 in 5 innings.

The two teams rematach Saturday at 6:30 PM Hawaiin Time,

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