This was two years ago!
Staten Island Italian group pulls out of July 21 Pizza Rats game, cancels Italian Heritage Night https://t.co/zyjMmvZZ0h LOL..!! #StatenIslandYankees— B'klynTrolleyBlogger (@BTB_MikeII) June 25, 2018
Staten Island Yankees: You Dirty Rat, No Slice For You..!
After a nifty opening day pitching performance and sharply played game, the Rats seem to be suffering some heartburn.
Right now, these guys wouldn't survive two days scurrying around DeKalb Avenue station. I once saw some guy at Lawrence Street station that would eat both them and the pizza. That being said, with ten games under their belt the newly minted Pizza Rats are finding out life as a Staten Island rodent is no more rewarding than those of their less celebrated New York City brethren.
But I digress ...
Re-branding is fine. Sometimes teams actually get it right, somethings they fail miserably. In truth, the name Staten Island Yankees suited me just fine. It had a nice ring to it and worked well within the context of a Baby Bombers vs. Baby Bums rivalry. But the Yankees organization isn't even going all out with this. Said another way, it's a half-ass job. They're limiting their Pizza Rat exposure to just five appearances all season. This past Saturday marks one down and just four to go.
Why bother then?
I myself would have gone with the Richmond County Boogeymen. Imagine the marketing potential; there is actual local history behind the name. Google it ... it could have easily been one of the hottest reboots in all the minor leagues.
But a team by any other name is still a baseball team. After a nifty opening day pitching performance and victory over the rival Brooklyn Cyclones, the Yankee Rats have since lost 7 of their last 9 games. After dropping two of three at home against the Aberdeen Ironbirds, they bowed in front of their home crowd once again during Sunday's series opener against the Tri-City Valley Cats. The St. George Rats end the week with an overall 3-7 record over their first ten games of the regular season and for the moment own the basement of the McNamara Division all to themselves.
On Sunday the Yankees bullpen suffered the quintessential bullpen implosion. Staked to a 2-0 lead, Staten Islander starter Roansy Contreras exited the game after putting in six full innings of work, in which he faced 22 batters, and threw 85 pitches with 52 (61%) going for strikes. He allowed no runs on just two hits and a walk, while fanning ten Valley Cat batters. Relievers Abel Duarte was summoned first, then Daniel Alvarez second. The two joined to allow five runs on five hits (a home run) and two walks, with two strikeouts.
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