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Reichert rebounds for Blue Crabs with quality outing
Team unable to string 2 straight wins vs. Bridgeport
Friday, May 28, 2010
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by EMILY BARNES
Blue Crabs designated hitter Travis Garcia hits a home run in the bottom of the first inning of Wednesday night's loss to Bridgeport.
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It was a case of good and bad news for the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs through the opening two contests of their brief three-game homestand versus Bridgeport at Waldorf's Regency Furniture Stadium.
Tuesday, righty Dan Reichert was sharp on the mound in his start after struggling throughout much of the season.
The 34-year-old sinkerballer –– the Blue Crabs' first-ever player to sign with a major league organization, doing so in late May 2008 with the Cleveland Indians –– had command of his signature pitch in going 6 2/3 innings with only one run allowed on six hits.
The Blue Crabs edged Bridgeport, 2-1, to end their four-game skid as Reichert claimed his second straight win to square his pitching mark at 3-3. The quality outing dropped his ERA from 5.58 to 4.82.
Wednesday, however, the Blue Crabs continued their season-long pattern of inconsistency as they fell, 8-5, with their pitching staff surrendering 16 hits to the Atlantic League's worst offense entering the night.
Bridgeport scored the final four runs of the game in the last three innings as the Blue Crabs bullpen failed to protect a 5-4 lead once starting pitcher Jarrett Santos left after six innings.
"When we came into the clubhouse today, everyone was loose and relaxed, and I had the sense something [good] was about to happen," Reichert said Wednesday. "We won a close one last night, and the guys were talking about the game and that's usually the last thing they talk about the next day.
"We kind of fell apart [in Wednesday's loss]. We were not getting ahead of the hitters. Guys came in [from the bullpen] and were nibbling on the corners and falling behind hitters, then forced to throw a pitch the hitters were looking for. But one of the great things about baseball is we come back tomorrow and hopefully we'll have that same positive chemistry in the clubhouse."
The Blue Crabs (15-16) played Bridgeport (14-16) in the rubber game of the series Thursday, finishing too late for inclusion into this edition.
The Blue Crabs were two games behind first-place Long Island and Camden, both 17-14, in the Liberty Division entering Thursday.
"We've got great arms in the bullpens," Reichert added. "We're kind of hanging our heads right now, and all I can do now [until my next start] is be the biggest cheerleader I can to lift the team up. [Manager Butch Hobson] preaches everyday that we're the best team in the Atlantic League, and I truly believe it. I still trust any of those guys in the bullpen with a close game that they'll protect the lead. I definitely believe the bullpen is going to save us."
Reichert's problems on the mound this season have come when his sinker drifts high in the zone, basically turning into a flat, hittable fastball.
In four of his starts, he's given up at least five runs. Three of those outings saw him yield at least five earned runs.
The long ball has been Reichert's biggest issue when he's off. Though he allowed his team-leading fifth home run this season in his seventh start Tuesday, it was only of the solo variety.
And that was the only extra-base hit Bridgeport managed against a zoned-in Reichert.
"Consistently, [Tuesday] was definitely one of the top performances you could say I've had [this season]," he said. "I was throwing a lot of strikes. My rhythm, my tempo, my thought process was all good. It was just the catcher and me. I tuned out the crowd. Every pitch [catcher Christian Lopez] called, I already had that thought process in mind. We're definitely on the same wavelength."
Reichert's improved pitching is even more imperative now that the Blue Crabs have lost ace John Halama to the Oakland A's organization.
Halama, leading the league with a 1.62 ERA at the time of his Blue Crabs departure last Saturday, leaves a massive void in the pitching rotation.
