Threshers Start Four Game Homestand Against the Cubs

Game Time: 7:00pm      Gates Open: 6:00pm

Tonight's Lineup
Burgamy, CF; Harman, 2B; Thayer, LF; Slayden, RF; Marson, C; Blalock, DH; Donald, SS; Harris, 1B; Antoniato, 3B

Tonight's starting pitcher is Carpenter

Quench your Thirst
It's Thirsty Thursday where all drinks are 2 for 1.

Silver Sharks Club Meets Tonight
It's Silver Sharks Night. Seniors 55 and over receive 2 for 1 Senior Field Box tickets on Thursdays. That's 2 tickets for just $4.

Road Trip Recap
The bats came alive in Vero as the Threshers took three of four from the Devil Rays. The Threshers twice scored 12 runs in a game and at least three players had two hits or more in each game. Six players had multi-hit games yesterday.

Stars of the Trip
Hard to pick just one with everyone picking up so many hits. Who do you think had the best trip?

Jake Blalock - Had one game in which he had three hits including two home runs. His five hits in 16 at-bats was good for a .313 batting average. He had one other home run on the trip. This was his first home run as a Thresher since August 14, 2005.

Jason Donald - Had three multi-hit games. His seven hits in 15 at-bats was good for a .467 batting average.

Brad Harman - Had three multi-hit games. His six hits in 19 at-bats was good for a .316 batting average. He also hit his 10th home run of the year on the trip.

Lou Marson - Had two multi-hit games including one game with four hits. His six hits in 18 at-bats was good for a .333 batting average. He also hit is fifth and sixth home runs of the season on the trip.

Jeremy Slayden - Had two multi-hit games including one game with three hits. His six hits in 19 at-bats was good for a .316 batting average. He also had a grand slam on Tuesday which was his eleventh home run of the season.

Matt Thayer - Had three multi-hit games. His six hits in 13 at-bats was good for a .462 batting average.

Bonus Baseball
Due to heavy rains in our region throughout the month, we are playing a doubleheader here against the Flying Tigers on Wednesday, August 15 and Friday, August 31. The third game is TBD. They are seven-inning games. Game 1 on August 15 and August 31 will now start at 5:00pm with Game 2 scheduled to start approximately 30 minutes after the completion of Game 1.

Pitch for Pink is Friday, August 10
Early Gates
Gates Open at Bright House Networks Field at a special time of 5:30pm. The first 2,500 women recieve a commemorative pink beach bag or pink baseball cap.

Survivor Lap
Get here early for the pre-game ceremony that includes a walk for breast cancer survivors. The lap is scheduled to start at 6:35pm. Survivors are to meet at the bottom of Section 102 at least 10 minutes prior to the start of the lap.

Raffles and Auctions
During the game, a silent auction will be held to auction off pink baseball bats autographed by players from the Philadelphia Phillies and Threshers, and pink jerseys worn by the players. Winning bidders will receive the jersey and a chance to meet the Threshers player who wore it during the game.

There will also be several other types of items offered in auctions and raffles throughout the night.

The raffles and auctions open at 5:30pm and will close just after the first pitch in the top of the sixth inning.

Launch-A-Ball Special
Launch-A-Ball will be at a special price of $2. There will also be 150 pink tennis balls in addition to our regular yellow tennis ball selection.

Extra! Extra!
It's another St. Petersburg Times Family Friday on Friday, August 10. Check your local St. Petersburg Times for the coupon that gets you 4 Field Box seats, 4 hot dogs, 4 sodas, and 4 bags of chips for only $25!

Boom Boom Boom
Fireworks will light up the sky post-game on Saturday, August 11.

Plug in your Toaster
Sara Lee Bread Giveaways continue on Saturday, August 11. Be sure to get your Sara Lee coupon and free loaf on your way out of the ballpark.

Prepare to get Wet and Wacky
Wear Your Swimsuit on Sunday, August 12! Wet-N-Wacky Day features all types of water activities including a water slide, water balloons, water guns, water games, sprinklers, showers, misters, and more!

Kids 13 and Under receive a Box Seat at a special Wet-N-Wacky price of $1.

Bring the Family for just $25
As you've probably seen all over your TV, Sundays are Bright House Networks Family Days. You can choose between the $25 pack for 4 people or the $15 pack for just 2. The 4-pack includes 4 Premium Box Seats, 4 Hot Dogs, 4 Sodas, 4 bags of Cracker Jack, and 2 Game Programs.

Get to the Bookstore
There is a brand new book out about former Clearwater star Ryan Howard. It's written by Robert Merz and it's called, Ryan Howard: King of Swing. It's 120 pages and retails for just under $10. Click here to read the press release.

A look at a current Thresher: Michael Zagurski

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.

Threshers start eight game homestand tonight!

This will be your only chance of the year to catch the Brevard County Manatees (May 5 - 8) and Vero Beach Devil Rays (May 9 - 12) at Bright House Networks Field.

The series against the Manatees starts tonight at 6:30pm. Come celebrate Cinco de Mayo and enjoy post-game Fireworks!

Noon update

For whatever reason, blogger wouldn't let me update my previous post...

Updated at Noon: After splitting yesterday's doubleheader with Tampa, the Threshers record sits at 3-3 which ties them for second place in the FSL West with Dunedin and Tampa. Sarasota leads the division with a 5-1 record. Sarasota and Dunedin play tonight in Sarasota, while Clearwater and Tampa finish off the series tonight. Gates open at 6:00pm for the 7:00pm game.

The Threshers are currently the hottest hitting team in the FSL with a team batting average of .289. Jeremy Slayden and Greg Golson are leading the team and are still in the FSL Top 10 in batting average. Slayden is batting .400 with six RBIs and Golson is batting .375 with four RBIs through their first six games. Golson's five extra-base hits so far put him in second place in the league.

Clay Harris is tied for the FSL league lead in home runs with two.

We had a couple transactions on our roster yesterday. Pete Shier was promoted to Reading, and Freddy Garcia has officially completed his rehab assignment.

Looking outside of Clearwater, former Notre Dame wide receiver Jeff Samardzija is scheduled to start tonight for the Daytona Cubs in their game at Vero Beach.

Updated at 2:15pm


Just caught a picture (above) of our hat for our give-a-way tomorrow.
The first 1,000 guests receive a hat. The give-a-way is sponsored by Richard's Charter.

Threshers will face Devil Rays affiliate next season

The Clearwater Threshers will be seeing even more new faces in the opposing dugout next season, as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays have moved their Class A affiliation from Visalia in the California League to Vero Beach of the Florida State League. The Devil Rays had a FSL team located in St. Petersburg from 1997-2000.

Thanks to Garrett for the tip!

Update 10/2/06 at 12:45pm: Baseball America has a story (subscription needed) written by Laurel Scheffel about the move and speculates whether or not the Vero Beach FSL team will be moving to Port Charlotte in 2009 to coincide with the Devil Rays Spring Training move. They also mention the Vero Beach FSL team will get a new nickname, but don't know what it is yet.