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LAKEWOOD, NJ- With a chance to clinch a spot in the South Atlantic League finals, the Lakewood BlueClaws couldn't muster the offense it was going to take to get themselves an extra day off before travelling to the host city for the next round's opening game. Struggling to put the ball in play when it counted against the Rangers affiliate Hickory Crawdads, the BlueClaws stranded 4 runners in scoring position, with the game tied in the 7th and 9th innings. Lakewood fell short again when they came to the plate trailing in the 10th inning and lined themselves out of a chance to tie the game or walk off with a victory. A lead off walk for Leandro Castro and a double by Jeremy Barnes, that began the 7th inning, were wasted when Hickory reliever Miguel De Los Santos refocused and struck out the next 3 batters. This occurred in the midst of a stretch where 13 of 14 outs made by BlueClaws batters were on strike outs. In the 9th inning Castro led off again drawing a walk. Barnes bunted ...

Keoni Ruth is currently an infielder with the Phillies' Class A affiliate, the Lakewood BlueClaws. Singed as a free agent this month, while playing independent ball in Maui, the 25 year old Hawaiian is a versatile fielder who can play multiple positions. Ruth, a righty batter, was drafted by San Diego in the 21st round of the 2007 amateur draft. He played 3 seasons in the Padres system before finding himself as a free agent this year. Ruth is a friend and off-season training partner of another Hawaii native Keoni DeRenne, who has had three stints with Lakewood this season. In 18 games thus far with the BlueClaws, Ruth has posted a .224 batting average, laced 6 doubles and driven in 10 runs. In 109 games at 2 minor leagues levels last year, Ruth batted .284 with a .670 OPS. I had the opportunity to speak with Keoni recently about his transition back into affiliated baseball, his time with the Padres organization and plenty more. Check out the media player below to listen to the full...

Combine Phillies minor leaguer Keoni DeRenne with Babe Ruth and what do you get? Keoni Ruth, of course! The Phillies are expected to announce on Friday that they've signed Hawaii native Keoni Ruth and will assign him to Class A Lakewood to fill the void left when the organization traded All-star shortstop Jonathan Villar to Houston, along with two other players, for Roy Oswalt on Thursday. Ruth, who plays multiple infield positions, was drafted in 2006 by the Padres and played as high as Triple A in their system. In 3 season of minor league ball with the Padres, Ruth posted a .277 batting average in 239 games. DeRenne and Ruth are close friends, as the two are from the same state and train together in the off-season. The addition of Ruth could very well mark the first time that two Keoni's have played for the same professional team at the same time. Keoni DeRenne told me, in an exclusive interview, that on Wednesday the director of Phillies minor league operations Steve Noworyt...