Rocks bats and Lamb arm spark win in Virginia...

Woodbridge, VA - John Lamb and the Wilmington Blue Rocks had a game full of bang and glitter as they squared off against the Potomac Nationals. The Blue Rocks set the pace early by scoring five runs in the top of the first inning, which proved to be more than enough runs support for the teenage lefty, Lamb.

Lamb matched a season high for the length of his performance last night while he allowed only 3 hits, 0 runs, 10 strike-outs and 0 walks. The 10 Ks also matched his professional baseball career high totals and seemed to put an exclamation point on his recent acknowledgement by Baseball America’s mid season All-Star “honorable mention” award. The Kansas City Royals were the only Major League Baseball team to have 4 players mentioned by the Baseball America honor.



All but a couple of Blue Rocks had hits on "Independence Day" as they pounded the Nationals pitching staff to win by the final score of 13-4. The standouts were Eric Hosmer with two home runs and Salvador Perez with a 4-for-5 effort and a game high 4 runs batted in. Jamie Romak also had 4 hits as the Rocks sent a total of four out of the ballpark. Colon, Francis and Myers all had multiple hits during the lopsided game which allowed for some extra players to get involved, as well.
 
 
The Advanced Class A Carolina League contest was seen by more than 9,000 minor league baseball fans and surely most were happy to see it end for the second phase of fireworks following the game. Tonight’s win has positioned the Rocks on top of the standings and with their amount of talent it should be a productive balance to the season.

Lamb will have his last scheduled start as a teenager on Friday, July 9 at the Lynchburg to conclude the recent seven day road trip by the Wilmington Blue Rocks.
 
 
- - - James Lamb

Lamb runs into 1 tough inning and suffers loss...

Road starts for my son always seem to ignite more nerves than usual. Following the Blue Rocks Thursday night beating, of the Dash, only added to my fears based on a typical occurrence that bats seem to sleep after those types of performances.

A large crowd was not an issue for John Lamb in North Carolina Friday night, I am sure. The challenge of a successful minor league line-up turned into some reality in the 2nd inning, as witnessed by more than 6,000 fans. The Winston-Salem Dash, High A team of the Chicago White Sox, has the 3rd highest team batting average throughout all levels of professional baseball and they simply proved that stature in one inning.


Lamb was unscathed in the first inning, but needed every bit of the 33 pitches in the second inning to get three outs for the Wilmington Blue Rocks. The four earned runs matched all runs allowed in four previous outings by the 19 year-old since coming to the Carolina League. Despite giving up the runs, Lamb did record 3 strike-outs in the frame. The second inning was the only blemish of the lefty's five inning performance, but certainly nothing to be ashamed of by most standards.


During the shortest start of his Carolina League career, Lamb threw 84 pitches with seventy percent as strikes. He allowed 7 hits, 2 walks, 4 earned runs and struck out 5 before handing the ball off to the bull-pen to finish the game.


The Blue Rocks 4-3 loss also witnessed the hitting streak for Jamie Romak come to an end, at 18 straight games. Romak is now a single game shy of equaling the longest hitting streak in franchise history. Corey Hart established the franchise mark by hitting safely in 19 straight from July 30-September 1, 2001. His streak was matched by Justin Cowan from June 29-July 26, 2002.
 
 
Good luck Blue Rocks trying to stay alive for a first place finish in the first half of the season.
 
 
 
- - - James Lamb

Lamb dazzles again as Blue Rocks take the series!

Wilmington Blue Rocks took the series from the Potomac Nationals in front of a nearly 4 thousand fans earlier today with a 9-4 victory. Starter John Lamb (2-1, 1.50) was given an early lead by his team. Lamb matched a season high nine strike-outs and allowed only one run during the six inning performance.

Five of the six frames Lamb faced the minimum to get the outs. The only inning of miscue started with a lead-off triple in the fourth, but the threat was closed by a couple of strike-outs to leave two Nationals’ base-runners on the pond. Lamb finished the game strong by retiring the last eight batters he faced and getting five consecutive whiffs in that process.



I believe that every Blue Rocks hitter contributed with a hit during today’s win, except one. Salvador Perez was a home-run shy of hitting for the cycle. Eric Hosmer continues to hit the Carolina League pitching and Jamie Romak extended his streak to hitting safely in 14 games.



Next series will start tomorrow night in Wilmington, DE against the Kinston Indians at 7:05 ET.



GO BLUE ROCKS!



Some extra thoughts:



We were all simply losing our mind today, just prior to the scheduled first-pitch, due to the technical troubles on the Blue Rocks radio broadcast. Fortunately, the Nationals feed of the game was working and we would sincerely like to thank them for the kind words rendered during the game, while my son was shutting them down. I have always believed that the game of baseball encompasses a tremendous class of people and the opposing broadcast crew, reassured that stance.



The Lamb family would like to thank all of you that are involved with professional baseball, both on and off the field. Without your efforts the challenges associated with the lives of young men in professional baseball would be even more difficult. We look forward to meeting some of you in the very near future to thank you in person for all your services to the game.



- - - James Lamb

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