On Aug 4th, the Polk County Netizens will meet at SPCA, Inc.

The Polk County Netizens are at it again with a get together for fun, something to sip, and conversation. Every six weeks we hold a free mixer for those interested in all forms of new media. If you write a blog, publish a news site, tweet, journal, or send smoke signals you’re invited to join with the Netizens at the SPCA headquarters.

After our last two rain-outs, SPCA, Inc is kind enough to host us in their indoor Education Center!

Date: Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Time: 6:30pm – 9:00pm
Location: 5850 Brannen Road South, Lakeland, FL 33813

(Off of S. Florida Avenue just off the road next to Sonny’s BBQ in South Lakeland

For more information email: polknetizens@gmail.com

Get tweetup info by following @polknetizens

photo credit: Tom Hagerty for Lakeland Local

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The Tigers field a team in the rookie player Gulf Coast League. Often played in the heat of the morning on fields that lack true stands, fans rarely take the time to see the games. That’s too bad, as some of these players will make the big show.

photo credit: Tom Hagerty for Lakeland Local

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Post from: Lakeland Local

Post from: Lakeland Local

July 12 Game 2: Lakeland 2 – Brevard County 1
Box Score | Game Recap

Post from: Lakeland Local

BREVARD COUNTY … Brevard County, winners of the first half of the North Division, are vying for a second half title and lead the North by 1/2 game over Dunedin. The Miracle were rained out Friday, but are 8-2 in the last ten games and winners of four straight. Brevard County is second in the league with a .264 average and has the best staff ERA in the FSL with a 2.68 mark, joining Ft. Myers as the only other club in the FSL with ERAs under 3.00 on the season. Evan Anundsen, who tossed a no-hitter earlier this season, is second in the FSL with a 1.99 ERA to go with his 7-4 record. Robert Wooten leads the league with 18 saves.

THE SERIES … The Flying Tigers have faced the Manatees eight times this season, but have managed just two victories so far. Lakeland has batted .230 in the series with a 3.22 ERA while Brevard County has hit .380 in the eight games with a 2.35 team ERA. Lakeland has two homers in the series – both by Audy Ciriaco in the same game, including a walk-off grand slam in a 10-6 win on May 16 in Lakeland.

ROLLIN’ ROBLES … Mauricio Robles has not been scored upon in his last two starts working 12.1 innings and scattering eight hits with nine strikeouts and five walks.

STEADY STARTERS … The Flying Tiger starting pitching staff has a 1.61 ERA over the last ten games, allowing just nine earned runs in 50.1 innings pitched. The starters have struck out 28 and walked 10 over the 10 games. Starter L.J. Gagnier is third in the FSL with 79 strikeouts.

BULLISH PEN … Meanwhile, the Lakeland bullpen has exhibited some nice control walking just four batters in their last 17 appearances while striking out 41 batters. Scott Green has not walked a batter in his last seven outings while Jared Gayhart has yet to walk a batter in four appearances as a Flying Tiger. Brett Jacobson has issued just one base on balls in his last eight appearances out of the bullpen.

BACK IN THE GROOVE … Scott Green leads Lakeland with eight saves and has two saves in his last two appearances. Prior to that, Green had entered the game in a save opportunity just once in his previous 11 appearances.

CAN’T STEAL FIRST … Lakeland did not draw a walk in the second game of the Dunedin doubleheader on Friday night, marking the eighth time this season the Flying Tigers failed to draw a free pass to first base.

THE NEW GUY … Lakeland’s newest Flying Tiger, Billy Alvino, has at least one base hit in each of his three games played so far and is 4×10 at the plate.

HENRY HIT STREAK … Justin Henry enters the Brevard County series with an eight-game hitting streak in which he is 11×31 (.355) with three doubles and four runs batted in. Henry is batting .324 (24×74) with six doubles and nine runs batted in since June 17.

NEWTON MINI-STREAK … Jordan Newton has collected a base hit in each of his last five games and is 6×18 (.333) in those games. He has hits in 14 of his last 20 games.

THOMAS TRIP … Devin Thomas is hitting .328 (19×58) with four doubles, two home runs and eight runs batted in since June 24.

TUCKER TIME … Joe Tucker is 8×14 (.571) his last four games and is batting .363 (16×44) since June 17 with three doubles and three runs batted in.

HIT STREAK SNAPPED … Michael Bertram had his six-game hit streak snapped in game two of Friday’s doubleheader. During the streak, Bertram was 8×21 (.381) with two doubles, two home runs and seven runs batted in. He leads Lakeland with 16 doubles and 38 runs batted in. Bertram is second on the squad with nine homers and is third with 65 base hits. Lakeland is 6-3 in games in which Bertram homers.

HOMER HAPPY … Chris Carlson homered in three straight games from July 4-6 and is tied for the FSL lead with 12 homers along with Mike Stanton of Jupiter. Carlson also had driven in runs in four straight games (six total) from July 4-9. His 12 homers leads Lakeland, but he is fourth on the team with 24 RBI as eight of his homers have been solo shots and the other four came with just one man on base. Lakeland is 9-3 in games in which Carlson hits a home run. He has double-digit homers in each of his four pro seasons and a total of 43 round-trippers for his career.

CIRIACO SIDETRACKED … Audy Ciriaco was hitting .360 (31×86) with five doubles, three homers and 10 RBI entering the Dunedin series, but was held without a hit in two games played. Ciriaco has two of Lakeland’s three grand slams this season, but his other five homers have been solo homers.

ANOTHER CLOSE ONE … The Flying Tigers lost the second game of their doubleheader on Friday at Dunedin by a 2-1 score and are now 9-15 in one-run games. The doubleheader was Lakeland’s eighth of the season and the team has one sweep, been swept three times and split four others.

THE COMMANDER … Andy Barkett is in his second season with Lakeland with a 102-114 record (67-70 in year one). In his rookie season as manager, he led Oneonta to a 44-32 record in the New York-Penn League in 2007.

Views expressed in “Mission Notes” are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Lakeland Flying Tigers.

photo credit: Tom Hagerty for Lakeland Local

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Don’t worry, Chris Craig’s popular column hasn’t disappeared. It’s just moving..to Sundays..in Metro i4 News. As a matter of fact, a lot of the Lakeland Local content is moving to our sister publication.

In July 2008, Lakeland Local welcomed additional authors when Billy Townsend, Lorrie Delk Walker, and Darby Critendon brought their popular writing to Lakeland Local. Over the last year we’ve had many insightful, engaging, and informative columns about life in Lakeland. That’s not going to change. We’re simply expanding and refocusing our coverage. We will use our two publications to offer different styles and areas of content.

Metro i4 News will feature work of interest to readers from all of Central Florida. Mi4 writers will focus less on breaking news than on how breaking news affects your life. Columnists will have the opportunity to discuss how news in Tampa and Orlando may affect Lakeland readers, or simply publicize events only a short drive away. Our photographer, Tom Hagerty, will have all of Florida as his canvas. In his column, he’ll also have the opportunity to showcase his amazing work no matter where it was shot. (Hagerty’s fans were especially appreciative last week of finding his black and white work from the 1970s. Make sure to stop by today to see his work from the 80s.)

Lakeland Local will continue to feature news and information specific to Lakeland readers. We will focus on presenting useful information — such as our popular maps detailing Lakeland life — and investigative reporting such as our original work on red light cameras. Again, the focus is less on breaking news, and more on local news.

To better serve all readers, we will use email, RSS feeds, and Twitter accounts to present the columns and information where and when you want them. Web readers will have the option to choose from home pages that feature traditional article synopsis, or simply headlines for those in a hurry. Twitter readers will get bonus notices of breaking news.

In addition to our coverage, we’ll offer links to important stories you won’t want to miss. We know you have just a few minutes each day for news. We’re going to make it 10 minutes you’ll look forward to each day.

By August 1st, our rearrangement should be complete. As we move forward we’ll make adjustments where needed. Our goal is to make it easy for you to find the local news and information you can’t find anywhere else.

Photo CC by Chuck Welch for Lakeland Local

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July 10 Game 2: Lakeland 1 – Dunedin 2
Box Score | Game Recap

Post from: Lakeland Local

Anyway, I like Sheriff Judd. Sure he’s, ahem, media savvy, but I genuinely enjoy talking to him and find him smart and generally forthright. I think, in his heart of hearts, Judd probably recognizes the wasted expense and active harm caused by the prohibition of a substance far less harmful than wine. So, I’m asking him to have a conversation with me about marijuana and the strategic advantages and disadvantages to treating it as a criminal substance. I’d love to podcast it, if I can figure how to do that. So email me sheriff, or sheriff’s reps, and we’ll set it up. It’s bitown1@gmail.com. In the meantime, feel free to weigh in folks.

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We have heard that this is peculiar. Is it? Or is this furniture use anarchy a common aspect of the modern marriage and a reflection of generational change? Please help. We may write a paper.

Post from: Lakeland Local

Post from: Lakeland Local

photo credit: Tom Hagerty for Lakeland Local

Post from: Lakeland Local

Post from: Lakeland Local

DUNEDIN … Dunedin is leading the North Division with an 8-3 record and has a half-game lead over Clearwater. The Blue Jays are 7-3 in their last ten games and are coming off a 5-1 win over Daytona on July 7. Moises Sierra (.336) and Darin Mastoianni (.325) are 1-2 in the league in batting average while Kenny Rodriguez is fifth with a 2.43 earned run average. Mastroianni is second in the FSL with 32 stolen bases while Andrew Liebel is fourth with 77 strikeouts. The Blue Jays are second in the league with a .264 team batting average and have scored the most runs of any FSL team. However, the team ERA of 3.82 is third worst in the FSL.

THE SERIES … Lakeland has won four of the five meetings with Dunedin this season taking two of three in Lakeland on May 4-6 as Andy Dirks went 8×10 with six runs batted in in the three games and then sweeping two games in Dunedin. The third game of the series in Dunedin was rained out and lost to schedule as the two clubs did not meet again in the first half.

LAKELAND’S PROBABLE STARTERS:
July 8 – Andrew Hess (3-6, 3.13 ERA) – Andrew Hess ranks 10th in the FSL with a 3.13 ERA and is 1-4 in his last six starts with a 4.14 ERA in those games with 15 strikeouts and 12 walks. However, he is 1-1 with a 0.69 ERA in his last two starts. In his last start he worked 6.2 innings scattering four hits while allowing one earned run against Tampa on the road July 3. Hess is 1-3 with a 2.83 ERA at home and 2-3 with a 3.35 ERA on the road.
July 9 – Mauricio Robles (2-1, 5.28 ERA) – Mauricio Robles is coming off his best outing as a Flying Tiger having tossed 6.2 shutout innings on July 4 at home in front of 5,248 fans. Against Tampa that evening, he allowed just four hits while striking out five and walking three. That effort allowed him to chop 4.07 points off his ERA and dropped it to 5.28 on the season after allowing nine earned runs over 8.2 innings in his first two starts at Lakeland.
July 10 – Matt Hoffman – (2-4, 7.09 ERA) – Matt Hoffman was tagged for five earned runs over 6.2 innings pitched against Sarasota on June 28 in his last start. He has a 1-2 mark and a 10.67 ERA at home and is also 1-2 on the road, but with a 4.34 ERA away from Joker Marchant Stadium. He is 1-4 with a 9.00 ERA since debuting at Lakeland with seven shutout innings on May 21.

BOMBS AWAY … Four Flying Tigers went deep in Lakeland’s 10-6 loss to Clearwater on July 5. Chris Carlson, Devin Thomas, Michael Bertram and Audy Ciriaco all hit home runs marking the first time since June 22, 2008 that Lakeland has had four homers in the same game.

GRAND SALAMI … Michael Bertram hit a grand slam in the eighth inning of the Flying Tigers’ 12-0 win at Clearwater on July 6. It was Bertram’s ninth homer of the season (all against righthanders) and Lakeland’s third grand slam of the season (the other two came off the bat of Audy Ciriaco). Bertram was 3×5 in the July 6 game with three runs scored and has collected a base hit in four straight games and six of his last seven games. Of his nine season homers, six have come in the sixth thru ninth innings.

FSL’S HR LEADER … Chris Carlson has three hits in his last three games from July 4-6 – all home runs – to take over the league lead with 12 round trippers. Strangely enough all three came in the fourth inning of each game (he has five total in the fourth inning this season). He has seven homers against righthanded pitchers and five against lefties. He also ranks fourth in the FSL with a .476 slugging percentage. After hitting his first eight homers at Joker Marchant Stadium, Carlson has hit three of his last four on the road. Five of his last six hits have been homers.

GAGNIER STAYS IN FIRST … L.J. Gagnier is currently tied for the league lead with Darin Downs of Charlotte with 79 strikeouts.

NEW RECEIVER … The Flying Tigers have added a third catcher to the roster as Billy Alvino joined the club on July 5 from the Gulf Coast Tigers and is 3×8 (.375) with three runs scored in his first two games in a Lakeland uniform.

AUDY GOOD … Audy Ciriaco is hitting .360 (31×86) with five doubles, three homers and ten runs batted in since June 9 to raise his batting average 54 points. He has ten multi-hit games during that stretch and has now played 74 of the Flying Tigers 76 games at shortstop.

HOT HENRY … Justin Henry is hitting .364 (12×33) his last eight games with four doubles and eight runs batted in and is hitting .323 (27×83) since June 10 with eight multi-hit games.

THE RIVER JORDAN … Jordan Newton is hitting .343 (8×23) with five doubles and a triple his last seven games with 11 multi-hit games this season.

DEVIOUS DEVIN … Devin Thomas is hitting .333 (17×51) his last 13 games with six multi-hit games with seven runs batted in.

JOLLY JOE … Joe Tucker is hitting .357 (10×28) his last nine games to raise his batting average 75 points.

FABULOUS FURBUSH … Charlie Furbush has not allowed an earned run in his last 11.2 innings pitched over two starts.

100 AND COUNTING … Andy Barkett is in his second season with Lakeland with an even 100 wins in a Flying Tigers uniform. Barkett enters the Dunedin series with a 100-113 record (67-70 in year one). In his rookie season as manager, he led Oneonta to a 44-32 record in the New York-Penn League in 2007.

Views expressed in “Mission Notes” are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Lakeland Flying Tigers.

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On Wednesday night, Dan Barbour, 25, a 2006 graduate with a bachelor’s degree in broadcasting, will compete again. He and the other contestants are working toward the top prize of $250,000.

SEU Librarian Grace Veach hired Dan to work in the university’s Steelman Library while he was a student. She described him as “probably the best” worker she ever had. He was named Southeastern’s student worker of the year his senior year.

“He was always a reality show fanatic, and he and I shared some of the same favorite shows, so we’d always compare notes,” Veach said. “He especially liked The Amazing Race, and for his senior project he actually did a SEU version of it.”

Veach and her student teammate won the competition.

Dan, who lives in Shrewsbury, Mass. and works at the public library there, traveled to Japan in April to film the show. Now he is back home watching the show each week with a group of people at the library.

I talked to Dan’s father, Bob, to gather some of this information today, because Dan isn’t allowed to speak to the media until after the show’s finale.

Bob said Dan loves watching reality and game shows, but this is the first one he has tried out for.

You can read Dan’s bio, along with those of the other contestants here.

The show airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on ABC.

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photo credit: Tom Hagerty for Lakeland Local

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(Reading on iphone/bb? Watch here)

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CLEARWATER … The Threshers are in a three-way tie for first with Dunedin and Tampa. Clearwater is 7-3 while Dunedin and Tampa are 6-2. Overall, the Threshers are 39-37. Batting .255 as a team, Clearwater ranks fifth in the league in hitting and are second in the FSL in runs scored. Their team ERA of 3.80 ranks ninth. Tim Kennelly ranks third in the FSL with a .310 average and third with 44 runs batted in. Kyle Drabek (4-1) and Yohan Flande (7-1) and rank sixth and seventh with 2.48 and 2.52 ERAs, respectively.

THE SERIES … The two clubs have met seven times this season with the Threshers winning five of the match-ups.

TONIGHT’S PROBABLE STARTER:
July 5 – Matt Hoffman (2-4, 7.09 ERA) – tossed a complete-game, seven-inning shutout in his first appearance on May 21 for Lakeland … has a 9.00 ERA since … has allowed four or more earned runs in four of his seven starts … tossed 6.2 innings and allowed five earned runs on seven hits in his last start on June 28 at Sarasota.
Jul 6 – Charlie Furbush (4-4, 4.11 ERA) – 1-3 with a 5.00 ERA in his last eight starts. allowed two or fewer runs in six of those eight starts … last win came back on June 12 … worked 5.2 innings allowing one unearned run on five hits and four strikeouts in his last start on June 29 at home against Ft. Myers.
July 7 – L.J. Gagnier – (5-6, 3.81 ERA) – leads the Florida State League with 79 strikeouts, yet Lakeland has the fewest team strikeouts in the league … leads Lakeland with five wins and 80.1 innings pitched … has lost his last two starts and is 2-4 his last sis starts … struck out a team season-high 13 batters on June 25 at Sarasota, his second double-digit strikeout performance of the season.

SHUT ‘EM DOWN … Mauricio Robles and Brendan Wise combined on a five-hut shutout in Lakeland’s 4-0 win over Tampa on July 4. Robles limited the Yankees to four hits with three walks and five strikeouts over his 6.2 innings pitched while Wise worked the final 2.1 innings, allowing just one hit. It was the Flying Tigers’ fourth shutout of the season.

DOUBLE DIGIT DINGERS … Chris Carlson’s home run on Saturday against Tampa was his 10th of the season and gives him double-digit homers in each of his four pro seasons hitting 11 in his rookie season with the Gulf Coast League Tigers and 10 in each of his last three seasons. He now has 42 career homers.

SERIOUSLY CIRIACO … Audy Ciriaco is hitting .351 (26×74) his last 21 games. Ciriaco, who has started 72 of Lakeland’s 73 games at shortstop, leads the club with 61 hits and 33 runs batted in.

HOT HENRY … Justin Henry is batting .436 (17×39) his last 12 games with five doubles and six runs batted in. He still leads all second baseman in the Florida State League with a .992 fielding percentage. Henry leads Lakeland with 35 runs scored and is tied for the team lead with 13 stolen bases.

TUCK AND ROLL … Joe Tucker is hitting .344 (11×32) is his last ten games.

DON’T WALK THE LINE … The Flying Tigers’ bullpen has issued just three walks in their last 36.0 innings over the last 12 games. Two of those walks came in the same contest.

FIVE TWO BAGGERS … Lakeland cranked out five doubles in Saturday night’s game against Tampa as Justin Henry, Chris White, Michael Bertram, Adrian Casanova and Joe Tucker each doubled. It was the fourth time this season Lakeland has collected five doubles in one game.

PULLED A FAST ONE … Saturday’s game time was just 1:54, the quickest nine-inning game this season eclipsing a 1:56 game against Daytona on June 23. The 1:54 was the shortest game for Lakeland since spending just 1:42 in a 2-1 win over Dunedin on June 22, 2006.

WITHER THE TRIPLE … Lakeland collected nine triples in a nine game stretch from June 12-22, and has just one triple – that by Jordan Newton in last night’s game – in its last 12 games.

A WISE GUY … Brendan Wise has not allowed a run in his last five appearances of the bullpen covering 6.0 innings. He has been scored up in just two of his 14 outings this season.

ONE OR THE OTHER … Lakeland has not homered and stolen a base in the same game since June 22 – a stretch of 12 games.

OVER 10,000 FANS … Lakeland’s Fourth of July crowd of 5,248 was the team’s largest in at least the five years. Coupled with Tampa’s fireworks crowd of 4,760 means the Flying Tigers played in front of over 10,000 fans their last two games.

ONE MORE FOR THE CENTURY … Andy Barkett is in his second season with Lakeland with a 99-111 record (67-70 in year one). In his rookie season as manager, he led Oneonta to a 44-32 record in the New York-Penn League in 2007.

Views expressed in “Mission Notes” are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Lakeland Flying Tigers.

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Post from: Lakeland Local

photo credit: Tom Hagerty for Lakeland Local

Post from: Lakeland Local

Post from: Lakeland Local

On the shore dimly seen thro’ the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?

Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream:
‘T is the star-spangled banner: O, long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Lyrics

photo credit: Tom Hagerty for Lakeland Local

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