L.I. Ducks ~ Sharks Feed on Ducks' One Weakness

From the desk of:  THE WEBBED SPIKES NINE





LONG ISLAND DUCKS:  The Webbed Nine Had Their Soft White Feathered Under Belly Exposed in Camden.


What's wrong with the Ducks?


Nothing.  They got swept by the Camden River Sharks; that's all.  When the team is going this well, you can't be taken aback by something like that.  It happens.  They lost a double-header Saturday and lost Sunday after getting rained out Friday evening down in Camden, N.J.


But what really happened to the Ducks besides meeting up with a Camden team playing well at the moment?  Camden is after all 22-12 in the second half, and in second place behind Long Island.


Last week, Mike Loree won his 14th game of the season.  That set the Long Island Ducks' single season record for victories; previously set by Troy Cate (13) in 2009.  He also struck out 10 batters in that game.  This season, Mike Loree is the Atlantic League's leader in wins; strikeouts; and ERA.  And he will be tonight's starter when the Ducks open up a series against Southern Maryland at Bethpage Park.


And now you can start talking about the Ducks' problems.  Between Loree starts, the Ducks are now officially thin.  And Camden caught Long Island within the void as Mike Loree pitched last  Wednesday and goes again tonight. 


Although seemingly moving right along, and continuing to win games at a 67% clip after the contracts of Mike Parisi and Shane Youman were sold, perhaps this is a glimpse into what kind of havoc lack of depth in the starting rotation can cause in a short series.  With the playoffs right around the corner, it's a scary glimpse I'm afraid.


In this most recent turn through the rotation, besides Mike Loree's victory last Wednesday, the only other Ducks' pitcher to record a win was Mark Diapoules; when he followed Loree last Thursday and completed a sweep of the Road Warriors.


With Long Island's need for starters, Diapoules stepped out of the bullpen and into a starting role.  As a relief pitcher through mid-June, he record was 1-1 and by then his ERA had grown to 3.96.  Since then, he's amazingly 6-0 as a starter, and his 4.06 ERA is not much higher than previous to starting his new role.


Then came a weekend series in Camden; a trio of loses; and three questions moving forward.


Regular starter; Joselo Diaz; pitched the first game of a double-header Saturday; ...well, technically anyway.  He lasted all of 1.1 innings and gave up seven runs; six earned.  It falls right in line with his overall struggles this season.  He's 5-7 as a starter this season with a 6.90 ERA.  He's walked almost as many as he's struck out in 19 starts for the Ducks.


In game two Saturday; staff regular; Ruddy Lugo took his turn and coughed-up 4.2 innings pitched.  He allowed 10 hits; 6 runs/4 earned.  In sixteen starts this season, Ruddy is 5-3 with a 5.91 ERA.  In 74 innings pitched, he too walks as many as he strikes out; 39/40.


Sunday, Dave Williams; like Diapoules who was summoned from the bullpen to start games; made his third start of the season, and eighteenth appearance over all.  Of the three weekend starting pitchers against Camden, Williams went the longest, but suffered the same fate as the others; he lost.  He pitched 6.0 innings, while surrendering five runs on eight hits.


Now tonight, Ducks' Ace Mike Loree; who is the League leader in all three Triple Crown categories for a pitcher; must also play stopper for Long Island.


But what could be wrong?  Southern Maryland can either expose the dilemma I spelled out, or put some of these anxieties to rest with this series opening up tonight.


We know how in the playoffs, what you have left to compete against is good pitching.  And the saying goes, good pitching stops good hitting.  The Ducks have basically been pounding opponents into submission with their offense; with League batting leaders, and League leaders in RBI.  They have the highest team batting and have scored the most team runs.


But their pitching is now depleted.  Will they be able to slug their way through the playoffs?  Ideally, Mike Loree only gets one start in a round of playoffs.  If he makes two starts, it's because the series went to a fifth and deciding game.


Are you comfortable with that?





Mike.BTB

L.I. Ducks ~ Turn Back The Road Warriors

From the desk of:  THE WEBBED SPIKES NINE



LONG ISLAND DUCKS:  Winning Streak Hits Seven Games.


A first inning 1-0 deficit meant little to Long Island.  Picking up where they left off before Monday's break in the schedule, the Ducks waisted no time erasing that deficit with two runs in the second inning, and for good measure, two more in the third.


Freddie Thon doubled home both runs for Long Island in the second inning scoring Matt Esquivel and Matt Padgett.  In the third inning, back-to-back doubles by J.T. House and Matt Esquivel scored Javier Colina and John Rodriguez respectively, making the game a 4-1 affair favoring the Ducks.


After that first inning, starting pitcher Dave Williams kept things quiet and departed the game on the winning side after five innings against the Road Warriors.  In only his second start for the Ducks in seventeen appearances this season, the Road Warriors touched him for eight hits, but only mustered the one run against him.  He walked one batter and struck out five before giving way to Bob Zimmermann for the sixth.


That's when the Road Warriors made things close.  After pitching a scoreless sixth inning, Zimmermann needed help from Valerio De Los Santos and Jeremy Hill to keep the Ducks on top after being charged with two earned runs in the top of the seventh inning.  De Los Santos allowed a hit and one of those runs while Hill allowed a hit and plunked a batter before getting the third out.


The Ducks struck again in the home half of the seventh.  Kinnard Jones led off the inning with a double.  He advanced to third and then scored on a Javier Colina sac-fly to make it a 5-3 game.


Jeremy Hill stayed in to pitch the eighth inning and struck out two of the three batters he faced.  Then, Ehren Wassermann was called upon to close the game for Long Island in the ninth inning.  The Road Warriors made a go of it.  But Wassermann finally closed out the game after giving up a run for his tenth save of the season.

The Ducks are now winners of seven straight.  They improved their second-half record to 24-7; 4.5 games ahead of second place Bridgeport.  Overall, the Ducks are now 64-30 this year.  So far this season, they are the only Atlantic League team above sixty victories.





Mike.BTB