The Lakewood BlueClaws are one win away from winning the South Atlantic League Championship. Game 3 of the best of 5 series is tonight in Greenville, SC at 7:05pm EST. Games 4 and 5, if necessary, would be played Friday and Saturday at 7:05. Ahead are some key quotes from this week, some links to get you ready and some additional notes on the series. The Greenville Drive is Boston's single A affiliate.Catcher Travis D'Arnaud, a supplemental 1st round draft selection in 2007, is in the midst of a 24-for-57 stretch. That's a .421 average.
The BlueClaws were 41-25 (.621 winning pct) on the road in 2009.
Tonight's starting pitcher for Lakewood is 2008 4th round draft choice Trevor May. The 19 year old has gone 14 straight starts without a loss.
BlueClaws pitchers have allowed just 5 runs over the first 4 playoff games...all wins.
Greenville's starter is righty Stolmy Pimentel who was 10-7 with a 3.82 ERA in the regular season. Pimentel is 19 years old and was signed as a free agent out of the Dominican Republic in 2007 by Boston.
Lakewood hitting coach Greg Legg on his confidence level going to Greenville: "I'd love to win the first one. I know how tough they are. We've already been there. They're a good ball club and we'll have to play really good to beat them."
Legg on if he'd still consider the season a success if things don't go the BlueClaws' way in SC: "You want to win it all. ...So close, you want to win it for these guys (the players). I think we had a great year no matter what happens, but it's always good to win the last game of the year. That's a good feeling, to win the last game of the year. And in this situation that would be a great feeling."
Lakewood manager Dusty Wathan on if there are any players that were on Lakewood's roster this year that he wishes could be with the team right now to experience this run through the post season: "Oh, yeah- (BJ) Rosenberg. He was lights out for us. He was pretty much the reason we have this opportunity right now. And, I mean, (Steve) Susdorf came in, and when we needed somebody to get us over the hump, he came back from his surgery and put us over the hump and let us win the first half by a few games. I think it would have been a lot tighter race coming down to the last few days if it wasn't for Steve in the middle of the lineup."
Phillies player Greg Dobbs on spending time around, and playing with, the BlueClaws players while they are in the midst of a potential championship run: "It's a lot of fun. They're really playing for something...there's some energy, some excitement. You can tell, from when I walked in this clubhouse, these guys have worked hard and they're very proud of what they've accomplished so far and you want to keep up with that."
BlueClaws.com fills you in on tonight's match up in Greenville.
Tony Graham of the Asbury Park Press has quotes from players and Wathan on not losing focus and more.
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