Pitching Matchup; Game of the Day 8/22/11

7:00pm
Harrisburg Senators (Tanner Roark 8-8, 5.23)
vs. Portland Sea Dogs (Chris Balcom-Miller 3-6, 5.26)

7:05pm
Syracuse Chiefs (Craig Stammen 9-6. 4.41)
vs. Pawtucket Red Sox (Tony Pena Jr., 8-5, 3.60)

Reading Phillies (J.C. Ramirez 8-13, 4.82)
vs. New Britain Rock Cats (Blake Martin 3-4, 5.40)

Trenton Thunder (Cory Arbiso 4-5, 5.15)
vs. New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Chad Jenkins 5-5, 4.08)

Aberdeen IronBirds (Tyler Wilson 0-0, 1.93)
vs. Connecticut Tigers (Luis Angel Sanz 5-4, 3.13)

Hudson Valley Renegades (N/A)
vs. Vermont Lake Monsters (J.C. Menna 2-6, 6.93)

Staten Island Yankees (Wilton Rodriguez 1-3, 3.76)
vs. Lowell Spinners (Raul Alcantara 0-1, 27.00)

Game of the Day – RPhils vs. Rock Cats – Reading (65-62) and New Britain (64-63) are in a heated battle for the second playoff spot in the E.L. Eastern Division (with Trenton lurking directly behind them). With one game separating the teams, both come into the series riding modest win streaks; the RPhils with four in a row and the Cats winners of three straight. New Britain is fresh off of a three game sweep of first place New Hampshire which has allowed Reading to pull within 4 games of the division lead. Reading's J.C. Ramirez will get his 24th start of the season. He has earned a decision in 21 of his prior 23 starts, but unfortunately five of his eight wins came in the first two months of the season. Ramirez does lead the Eastern League with three complete games. He picked up a loss versus the Rock Cats back on June 17th when he allowed 6 hits and 4 walks that lead to 3 earned runs. Blake Martin will hit the hill for his tenth start of the season with New Britain. He has picked up victories in his last two starts, going 5 innings and allowing three runs in both, but he also allowed 9 combined walks in those games. On the season his strikeout-to-walk ratio is 1:1.25 and he allowed a season high 8 walks over 4 1/3 against Erie at the beginning of the month. Martin has not faced the Rock Cats this season…These two teams have only faced off in one other series this season when the Rock Cats swept three games in Reading back June. New Britain outscored the RPhils 13-4 in that series. Last season New Britain and Reading played 11 games with the RPhils taking the season series 2-9…Despite already reaching a high water mark for home runs during any month this season (6), New Britain center fielder Joe Benson is batting .225 in August. Ten of his sixteen hits have been for extra bases…After starting 95 games in 98 appearances over his first five pro seasons, Rock Cats’ reliever Tyler Robertson has appeared in 49 games this season (most in the E.L.), all out of the pen, and he has compiled an 8-3 record with 15 saves (tied for third most in the E.L.)…As a team, Reading is tied for the league lead in batting average (.272) and leads in home runs (127).

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