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7/9/11

Savannah Sand Gnats Pre-Game Notes

Savannah Sand Gnats (13-3/52-33, 1st, Southern) vs. Greensboro Grasshoppers (7-9/47-39, 6th, Northern)



Game #86 - Home Game #45 - Saturday – 6:05


RHP Yohan Almonte (3-4, 3.61) vs. RHP Jheyson Manzueta (2-8, 7.16)Historic Grayson Stadium, Savannah, GA


Radio: News/Talk 630 and sandgnats.com


Tonight: After splitting the first two games, the first-half champion Gnats play game three of a four-game series with the Greensboro Grasshoppers, SAL affiliate of the Florida Marlins. The Gnats are 3-2 on their current seven-game home stand.

Last Night: The Gnats rapped out a season-high 18 hits on their way to blowing out the Grasshoppers 11-4. The teams traded the lead in the third inning, before the Gnats scored five runs in the fourth inning to turn a one-run game into a 10-4 affair.



Now Pitching: Yohan Almonte is scheduled to make his 14th start of the year today. Almonte has given up two runs in each of his last two starts, both against Rome, in seven innings on the road on June 29 and in six and two thirds innings at home on July 4th. Almonte has walked 1.3 batters/ 9 IP, which would be good enough for third among SAL starting pitchers. After tonight’s start, will need 6.2 innings to appear on the league leader board tomorrow morning. In 2010, Almonte led the New York-Penn League in ERA (1.91), IP (89.2) and WHIP (0.93), averaging nearly six innings per start. He had the second-lowest batting average against among New York-Penn League starters at .207 and the third-lowest unintentional walk/9 IP (1.41) with a K/BB ratio of 4 (60 K/15 BB). The Mets signed Almonte as a non-drafted free agent in 2007. The Gnats are 7-6 when Almonte starts and have supported him with 3.46 runs per game, the second-lowest run support among Gnats’ starters.



Cordero Connects: After going 5-for-5 last night, Albert Cordero is now hitting .347/.396/.449 in 13 games in the second half with four extra-base hits and three walks. In 45 games in the first half, Cordero hit .219/.248/.297 with eight extra-base hits and four walks.

New Highs: The Gnats’ 18 hits last night were a new season-high, surpassing their 16 hits in a 12-2 win in Rome on May 14. The 11 runs the Gnats scored were a new season-high at home.



Tied Highs: The Gnats tied team season-highs with four doubles and five runs scored in an inning in last night’s game…. Albert Cordero, matched Gnats’ season highs for the most hits (5), doubles (2) and runs (4) in a single game this year. Joe Bonfe matched his own best with four hits.



Top Gnats: The Gnats’ 52-33 overall record is the best in the SAL. The Gnats (.612) are the only team in the SAL playing better than .600 baseball. The Gnats have the fifth-best record among all full-season minor league baseball teams and are one of eight teams with a record of .600 or better.


Forsythe Feeling It: In his last seven games, C Blake Forsythe is 8-for-22 (.364) with three doubles, a triple, a home run and eight walks against four strikeouts.


Strong Arms: The Gnats have the SAL’s best ERA (3.12), 43 hundredths better than second-place Lakewood. The Gnats are now tied with Hickory for the fewest hits (656) allowed, 230 fewer than Asheville, which has allowed the most. The Gnats have the fourth-most strikeouts in the SAL (685).

from team press release



Vs. Greensboro: The Gnats are 1-1 against the Grasshoppers so far. This is the first of two series between the Gnats and Grasshoppers in 2011. The Gnats return the visit to Greensboro, July 28-31. This is Greensboro’s first visit to Savannah since the Hoppers took three of four games from the Gnats July 30-August 2, 2007. The Gnats were 5-2 in Greensboro last year, and 2-2 in both 2008 and 2009.

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