Former Threshers pitcher Michael Zagurski will miss the 2008 season after undergoing 'Tommy John' surgery yesterday.
Mike had a 1.10 ERA and five saves in twelve appearances for the Threshers in 2007. He also saw action in Reading, Ottawa, and Philadelphia.
The Phillies have set their roster for Opening Day.
Cole Hamels and Kyle Kendrick, both former Threshers pitchers, are currently on the active roster.
Scott Mathieson and Michael Zagurski, also formerly part of the Threshers pitching staff, are starting the season on the Phillies disabled list.
Former Threshers Scott Mathieson and Mike Zagurski are looking to return to the Phillies after undergoing surgeries in August 2007.
Scott Lauber has a story in today's News Journal based out of Wilmington, Delaware that reports that Mathieson is scheduled to see Dr. Lewis Yocum in Los Angeles on Monday. A good report, and he could be cleared to pitch.
Additionally, Lauber reports that Zagurski will be held out of agility drills and likely won't be ready to pitch when Spring Training games start.
Former Thresher Mike Zagurski has won the Paul Owens Award for best pitcher in the Phillies minor league system in 2007.
Zagurski started the season in Clearwater and made 12 appearances for the Threshers as a reliever. He struck out 30 in 16.1 innings of work holding FSL batters to a .113 average. He gave up just six hits and two earned runs good for a 1.10 ERA. Zagurksi had five saves for the Threshers before his promotion to Reading (Double-A).
He played in just six games for the R-Phils before being brought up to the Major League roster. Over the next few months he spent a majority of his time (25 appearances) with the Phillies, but also spent time (seven appearances) with the Ottawa Lynx (Triple-A). He was on the major league roster when an injury ended his season in late August.
Past winners of the Paul Owens Award include former Threshers Carlos Carrasco, Chris Roberson, and Cole Hamels.
Former Threshers pitcher Mike Zagurski is scheduled to have surgery on his right hamstring today in Pittsburgh.
The Pittsburgh Steelers team physician, Dr. Jim Bradley, is scheduled to perform the surgery.
Zagurski will miss the rest of the season.
Former Threshers J.A. Happ and Mike Zagurski combined for eight innings of shutout baseball on Friday, August 3 as the Ottawa Lynx beat the Syracuse Chiefs 5-0.
Happ struck out eight and only allowed one hit in 6.2 innings, while Zagurksi struck out three in just 1.1 innings in relief.
Game Time: 6:30pm Gates Open:5:00pm
Tonight's Lineup
TBA
Tonight's starting pitcher is Cruse. This is his first start since being promoted from Lakewood.
Boom Boom Boom
Fireworks will light up the sky post-game.
Vrrrm Vrrrm Vrrrm
Participate
Motorcycle Night returns to Bright House Networks Field. Ride your motorcycle to the game and take part in the Pre-Game Lap around the Field at 6:00pm and during the National Anthem. Participants receive a voucher for one free draft beer (post-lap), a free ticket, free parking, and drink specials at the Frenchy's Tiki Pavilion. Participants should check in with Dan McDonough near the fountain at the West Gate upon arrival to the ballpark.
There will also be a motorcycle show contest judged by Full Throttle Magazine. The contest is FREE to enter. First prize is $500. Second Prize is $250. Third Prize is $100
Register to Win
Fans can register at the booth behind home plate to win a Harley Davidson Dyna Family motorcycle courtesy of Fletcher's Harley Davidson. A name will be drawn if a Threshers player hits for the cycle. Also, motorcycle-related prizes will be given away between innings.
First Start
Nate Johnson picked up his first win of the year yesterday in his first start since he was a member of the Lakewood BlueClaws in 2005. He gave up four hits and struck out three in five innings of work.
Harman's Hot Bat
Brad Harman was two for four yesterday against Sarasota. He hit his seventh home run of the year last night that bounced off the roof of Frenchy's Tiki Pavilion. He's batting .450 over his last six games.
Headed Across the Border
The Phillies optioned former Thresher Michael Zagurski to Ottawa on Friday, July 27 after they activated Brett Myers from the disabled list.
Former Threshers pitcher Michael Zagurski has now appeared in 19 games for the Philadelphia Phillies.
He has struck out 16 batters in 16.1 innings of work and has given up one or more runs in five of his outings, giving him a 4.41 ERA. Batters are hitting only .238 against him.
Philadelphia Inquirer writer Jim Salisbury takes a look at the whole Phillies minor league system in this article on Philly.com.
Many current Threshers such as Jason Donald and Josh Outman are mentioned, and former Threshers Mike Zagurski and Patrick Overholt are also among those with ties to the Threshers who were discussed.
Check out the rest of the names at the whole article here.
Phillies manager Charlie Manuel has decided to pinch-hit Aaron Rowand for Kyle Kendrick ending Kendrick's Major League debut after six innings.
In six innings, Kendrick faced 25 batters and gave up six hits. He struck out four and walked two. His three earned runs give him a 4.50 ERA. Of his 92 pitches, 55 were strikes.
Kyle Kendrick's Major League Firsts:
Out - Jerry Owens (first inning)Updated at 3:33pm: Ryan Madson took Kendrick's place on the mound. Aaron Rowand, who pinch hit for Kendrick in the sixth inning, hit a grand slam in the seventh inning, giving the Phillies an 8-3 lead.
Hit - Alex Cintron (double in the first inning)
K - Juan Uribe (second innning)
Hit by Pitch - Luis Terrero (second inning)
Stolen Base - Luis Terrero (second inning)
Intentional Walk - Jim Thome (fifth inning)
He also singled off of John Danks in the second inning for his first Major League hit.
Michael Zagurski picked up his first Major League win of his career yesterday against the New York Mets.
How it happened: Zagurski replaced reliever Yoel Hernandez in the bottom of the ninth inning with the scored tied 3-3. The first two batters that he faced popped out and grounded out. Julio Franco came in as a pinch hitter and walked. Jose Reyes singled, but that only moved Franco to second. Zagurski than struck out Ben Johnson. Phillies batters knocked in three runs in the Top of the 10th to make the score 6-3. Antonio Alfonseca came in for the Mets half of the 10th and picked up his fourth save.
Jimmy Rollins, Chase Utley, and Ryan Howard, all part of the 2007 Clearwater Bobblehead set, were the Phillies that crossed home plate in the 10th to give the Phillies the win. The fourth member of the set, Cole Hamels, was the starter. He struck out five in his seven innings of work.
Wanted to give thanks again to readers Steve and SF Fan in FL for their comments about Michael Zagurski in the post about Slayden below. Also thanks to Who's on First? for their comment from Phuture Phillies. In case you missed their comments, they mentioned that Zagurksi has gone from the Threshers to the Majors in just two weeks.
Zagurski's contract was purchased by the Philadelphia Phillies from Reading on Friday, May 25 after Brett Myers was put on the 15-day disabled list. He made his Major League debut that night at Turner Field against the Atlanta Braves. He needed only 10 pitches to get three outs. He took the mound in another relief appearance the next day where he did give up his first hit to a Major Leauge batter. However, after Braves second baseman Kelly Johnson singled up the middle, he settled down and it took him just eight total pitches to get four outs. Despite his success on the mound so far, he is still looking for his first Major League strikeout.
Time to recap some of our recent transactions
May 13
Michael Zagurski promoted to Reading
May 16
Eude Brito added from Ottawa's disabled list
Nate Johnson added from Reading
Some background on our new players:
Eude Brito - Played in 11 games for the Philadelphia Phillies over the last couple of years. He has only pitched in four games coming out of the bullpen for Ottawa so far this season. He pitched for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic last year. Brito has never suited up for the Clearwater Threshers, but he did play for the old Clearwater team in 2002 and 2003.
Nate Johnson - He had an 8-3 record with a 2.57 ERA in 45 games as a Thresher in 2006. He has appeared in 11 games this season for Reading. He has struck out 10 batters in only 13.1 innings of work for the R-Phils in 2007. His wife Shannon, who worked in our Diamond Outfitters store during his assignment in Clearwater, gave birth to the couple's first child during the off-season.
The top two teams in the FSL West are set to meet for a three-game series that starts tonight at 7:00pm at Bright House Networks Field. The Sarasota Reds currently lead the Threshers in the standings by one game.
The Threshers and Reds have met up six times already this season, with the Reds leading the series four games to two.
Threshers starters Patrick Overholt and Carlos Carrasco picked up both of the wins. Former closer Michael Zagurski picked up both saves.
Mike Spidale is probably the happiest Threshers' batter to see Sarasota pitching. In his five games against the Reds this season, he's batting .350.
Keep your eye on Jay Bruce of the Reds. He's batting .455 with 4 home runs in six games against Threshers pitching. Threshers batters have struggled against Johnny Cueto and Carlos Fisher. Between the two, they've struck out 19 Threshers. More importantly, the Threshers haven't scored a run against either Cueto or Fisher. There is good news though, Fisher was promoted to Chattanooga (AA) a week or so ago, and he pitched yesterday, so the chances of him taking the mound this weekend at Bright House Networks Field are very slim.
Michael Zagurski has been coming out of the bullpen for the Threshers since the start of the season. He's picked up fives saves in his first 11 appearances. Zagurski has only struggled once this season, giving up his only two runs of the year in a road game at Tampa in the middle of April. His current ERA is 1.17 over 15.1 innings pitched.
He is holding opponents to a .102 batting average. Of the 56 batters he has faced this year, 29 were struck out. Only five have gotten a hit against him.
Here is a closer look at a few of his outings:
4/11 Home vs. Tampa - Struck out five of seven batters faced.
4/13 Home vs. Lakeland - Struck out three of four batters faced.
4/17 Away vs. Tampa - Struck out both batters faced and picked up a save.
4/21 Home vs. Sarasota - Struck out only batter faced and picked up a save.
4/26 Road vs. Lakeland - Struck out five of eight batters faced.
4/30 Home vs. Ft. Myers - Struck out four of six batters faced.
5/9 Home vs. Vero Beach - Struck out all three batters he faced and picked up a save.
Zagurski, age 24, is a 6'0" 225lb left-hander out of Omaha, Nebraska. He was drafted out of the University of Kansas by the Phillies in the 12th round of the 2005 draft. He spent the rest of the 2005 season with Batavia. He struck out 75 out of the 231 batters he faced last season while with Lakewood.
In case you missed it, the game over in Tampa lasted five hours and 14 minutes yesterday. Clearwater scored three runs in the top of the 20th inning to break the 1-1 tie. The Threshers and Yankees meet up again in about a half hour (11:30am) for a morning game. The game last night did not end until 12:15am and the Threshers team bus left the ballpark this morning at 9:30am.
Mike Spidale and Greg Golson both had 10 official at-bats in the game. Brad Harman scored the winning run from third after Golson was forced out at first.
The Threshers used seven pitchers in the game. Derek Griffith (2-0) ended up with the win, while Michael Zagurski picked up his first save of the year.
Updated at 11:35am: ATM: He said, She said has a post about the game last night. You can find it here. According to the post, this is the third time that the Clearwater team has played in a 20 inning game, and it was the longest game (hours, minutes) ever for a Clearwater team.
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