Crab Notes

Here are a few things I found interesting from today's Game Notes provided by the Charlotte Stone Crabs excellent Media Relations Department (with editing by me):

- The Stone Crabs established a new franchise record losing streak last night after falling 5-2 Daytona Cubs, their seventh loss in a row.

- Despite the loss, Charlotte pitchers struck out five Cubs hitters and now sit in second place in all of minor league baseball with 820 strikeouts on the season. They remain on pace to break the FSL record of 1,132 set by the 2001 Tampa Yankees.

- Tonight the Stone Crabs (9-18 2nd half, 52-44 overall) are at the Clearwater Threshers (12-15 2nd half, 49-48 overall) at 6:30 EDT.

- Tonight’s starting pitchers are two of the best strikeout pitchers in the Florida State League, as Matt Moore takes the mound against Austin Hyatt. Moore is second in the FSL with 133 K’s and Hyatt is third with 128. Joel Carreno of Dunedin leads with 135.

- In his first 11 starts, Moore was 0-7 with a 6.63 ERA. In his last 7 starts, he is 4-2 with a 2.13 ERA and 59 strikeouts in 42.2 innings.

- Despite Moore's early struggles, the Stone Crabs starting rotation still features two pitchers who rank in the top 10 in ERA for the FSL: Nick Barnese in 4th at 2.90 and Joe Cruz tied for 8th at 3.36. Also, Chris Andujar (3.24) and Shane Dyer (3.31) would rank in the top 10 if they met the minimum innings requirements.

- Here are the probable pitchers for games 2-4 of the four-game series at Clearwater:
Friday, July 23rd - Shane Dyer (4-6, 3.31) vs. Edgar Garcia (1-0, 4.47)
Saturday, July 24th - Nick Barnese (7-4, 2.90) vs. Phillipe Aumont (1-1, 4.45)
Sunday, July 25th - Joe Cruz (7-6, 3.36) vs. Heitor Correa (6-9, 5.55)

- After a big series worth of plate appearances against the Daytona Cubs, Stephen Vogt was finally able to qualify for the FSL batting title. Vogt enters tonight in 2nd place in the league with a .333 average on the season.

- Rocco Baldelli is scheduled to DH tonight against Clearwater.