L.I. Ducks: Open Season on Flock Continues

From the desk of:  THE WEBBED SPIKES NINE

Long Island Ducks: Brownell was brilliant; Barnstormers gain split; Flock getting fleeced!

Foreign leagues and Major League Baseball continue enjoying open season on Ducks players.

The pennant race in the National League East between the New York Mets and Washington Nationals in particular is starting to take a toll on the Long Island Ducks as well.

Kinda...

The Mets purchased the contract of starter Mickey Jannis on the 1st of the month.  On July 16th, Reegie Corona was sold to the Washington Nationals organization.  He will report to AA-Harrisburg, and follows Lew Ford's recent departure to Mexico.

That means the Atlantic League's top two hitters are now out of the circuit.

Reegie Corona was an offensive force at second base.  He was batting .331 with 3 home runs and 31 RBI.  As such, he was the league's 2nd leading hitter, behind only Lew Ford.  Reegie also ranked 3rd in OBP and 5th in slugging, and was additionally 5th in hits and ranked 2nd in runs scored.

Back on July 9th, pitcher Andrew Barbosa was also sold to the Atlanta Braves organization.

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In Wednesday's 5-0 win over the Lancaster Barnstormers, starter John Brownell tossed the Ducks' first complete game victory of the season.  Brownell faced 31 batters, and threw 128 pitches with 86 (67%) going for strikes during his whitewashing of the Barnstormers.  He allowed a mere 4 hits, walked a pair, and fanned 5 batters.  John now leads the Atlantic League with 72 strikeouts.  He additionally improved his season record to 7-2, and lowered his ERA from 3.22 to a 2.92 mark.

The Barnstormers gained a 4-game series split, however, with an 8-1 drubbing of the Ducks on Thursday.   Making his third start since returning from Taiwan, Bobby Blevins pitched 6 hit or miss innings, allowing 7 runs (6 earned) on 10 hits, no walks, with 7 strikeouts.  Recently signed right fielder Steve McQuail hit his first home run in only his second game with the Ducks.

Up next, the Ducks will resume hostilities against the Somerset Patriots in a weekend series at Bethpage Ballpark.



Mike