Pitching Matchups; Game of the Day 8/24/11

12:00pm
Harrisburg Senators (Oliver Perez 3-4, 3.13)
vs. Portland Sea Dogs (Jeremy Kehrt 2-0, 4.52)

7:00pm
Pawtucket Red Sox (Greg Smith 1-0, 1.29)
vs. Syracuse Chiefs (Tom Milone 10-6, 3.43)

Lowell Spinners (Madison Younginer 1-4, 5.44)
vs. Staten Island Yankees (Evan DeLuca 3-3, 4.27)

7:05pm
Trenton Thunder (Chase Whitley 3-3, 2.75)
vs. New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Drew Hutchison NR)

Reading Phillies (Austin Hyatt 11-6, 3.94)
vs. New Britain Rock Cats (Bobby Lanigan 7-9, 4.49)

Connecticut Tigers (Brennan Smith 2-3, 1.88)
vs. Aberdeen IronBirds (Mathew Hobgood 0-5, 11.63)

Vermont Lake Monsters (Tyler Vail 1-4, 5.16)
vs. Hudson Valley Renegades (N/A)

Game of the Day – RPhils vs. Rock Cats – For some reason I am big-time intrigued by this three card monte going on for the second place playoff spot in the Eastern League’s Eastern Division. It’s also fun to see the Rock Cats (65-64) playing some meaningful ball this late in the season, especially after such a dismal 2010. After last night's dramatic 4-3 win in twelve innings New Britain is back to being just one game behind Reading (66-63) for second place with thirteen games to play. Tonight will be the rubber match of the final series that these two teams will play against each other this season, and two of the more experienced pitchers in the league will take them out. Austin Hyatt will get his 26th start of the season, most in the Eastern League. He is also first in the league with 11 wins, second in strikeouts with 157 and fifth with a 1.19 WHIP. Hyatt picked up a win against Altoona in his last outing after allowing no earned runs in 6 innings. Since the All-Star break Hyatt is 4-1 with a 2.63 ERA and he has allowed only 1 home run after allowing 16 prior to the break. His counterpart, New Britain’s Bobby Lanigan starts tonights for the 25th time this season, the most of any Rock Cats player and second most in the league. After a brutal July, Lanigan has been trying to right the ship in August and has done well over his last two starts, allowing only 2 earned runs in 13 innings and collecting a win against first place New Hampshire….New Britain is 10-11 in the month of August; Reading is 11-11. So far this month New Britain has endured 3 and 4 game losing streaks and a 3 game win streak. Reading has had a 6 game losing streak this month and a 5 game winning streak.

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