Subscribe
Community
Staying red hot
Blue Crabs win 6th straight, increase lead
Friday, June 25, 2010
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by EMILY BARNES
Travis Garcia looks up to the sky as he crosses home plate after hitting a home run in the third Wednesday.
|
E-Mail This Article
Their downtrodden opponent was Newark, toting the worst record in the league by a substantial margin and in the midst of a freefall entering the three-game set at Waldorf's Regency Furniture Stadium.
Sweeping Newark was essentially served up on a silver platter for the Blue Crabs given the opposite directions both teams are headed, the Southern Marylanders in prime position to claim the first-half division title and subsequent playoff berth with less than two weeks left in a heated race.
Through the first two games of the series, the hot Blue Crabs had no letdowns with a 3-2 victory Tuesday and 4-0 shutout of Newark on Wednesday for their sixth straight win and 12th in the last 15 games.
Thursday's series finale — featuring a favorable right-handed pitching matchup for the Blue Crabs as they pitted Jarrett Santos (4-2, 3.28 ERA) versus Newark's Mike Loree (2-6, 6.17) — finished too late for inclusion into this edition. Newark (18-40) was on a 10-game losing streak entering Thursday.
The Blue Crabs (34-24), boasting the league's best record, increased their division lead to two games over Camden (32-26) entering Thursday thanks to Long Island (30-29) sweeping Camden in a Wednesday doubleheader. The Blue Crabs were only up a half game over Camden going into Wednesday.
Though the Blue Crabs' six-game homestand continues through this weekend with another series beginning at 7:05 tonight, they have a formidable opponent in two-time reigning league champion Somerset (33-25) — tussling with York (34-25) for the Freedom Division first-half title. And Somerset took two out of three from the Blue Crabs the last time it was in Southern Maryland, winning both games by a combined 18 runs.
Only 11 games remain for the Blue Crabs and Camden in the first half after Thursday's scheduled action.
"You always look at [the scores] to see how Camden is doing," said Blue Crabs designated hitter Matt Craig, third in the Atlantic League with a .343 average throughout Wednesday, just 13 points behind leader Kennard Jones of Newark. "We're at home and we play well at home, so it's good timing for us. Hopefully, it'll work out in our favor. You want to win any series. You don't want to say you have to sweep a team, but the more games we can win puts more pressure on Camden.
"So it doesn't really matter if it's Newark, Somerset, whoever's in town, we just got to go out there and win. On paper, it works out in our favor [to sweep Newark], but the way baseball is, any pitcher can go out and shut down another team on any day."
Blue Crabs shortstop Travis Garcia added after Wednesday's game, "This is a good opportunity to take advantage of [Newark] while they're down because you know they're hurting. They're in last place and struggling. You've got to take advantage of that.
"This [six-game win streak] is that roll we've talked about that we've needed, especially at this time."
Unlike most of its recent road trip averaging more than six runs per game, the Blue Crabs offense featured no explosions in the opening two games of the series with Newark.
The Blue Crabs gritted out both wins after jumping out to early leads, scoring all three of their runs Tuesday in the second inning on a Jamar Hill bases-loaded walk followed by a two-run single from Christian Lopez.
Wednesday, Garcia cranked a two-run home run in the third, tying him for second in the league with nine homers. Teammates Eric Crozier and Jeremy Owens also have nine. The Blue Crabs also added a pair of RBI sacrifice flies in the sixth and seventh from the bats of Crozier and Hill to cushion their lead.
A rain delay of 1 hour 14 minutes Tuesday after the fourth seem to stymie the Blue Crabs' momentum as Newark bounced back following the stoppage with two runs in the fifth.
But that was all the runs the Blue Crabs pitching allowed — Tuesday and Wednesday combined — as the league's top mound staff continued to impress this season.
Connor Robertson got the win Tuesday on the mound, going five innings in his start with two hits allowed — one being a two-run homer. The Blue Crabs bullpen, bookended by Jim Ed Warden's 10th save, preserved the three-hitter.
Wednesday, Blue Crabs starting hurler Kenny Rayborn won his fourth straight to improve to 6-3 after he went five innings, scattering five hits.
The bullpen nailed down the shutout, highlighted by Joe Newby's impressive relief — coming in for Rayborn in the sixth with the bases loaded and no outs. Newby retired Newark, fanning two in the process, without yielding any of the inherited runners.
"We're playing well defensively, and we're pitching well," Blue Crabs manager Butch Hobson said. "In the long run that usually wins for you."
While some of Craig's teammates said they have not looked ahead on the team's slate to see that schedule-makers may have hit the jackpot with the Blue Crabs hosting Camden in a four-game series that ends the first half of the season on the Fourth of July, he already is considering a favorable scenario for Southern Maryland come that pivotal weekend.
"I've been in a similar situation in the past with [another] team, and you kind of want to go in with at least a two-game lead," Craig said. "If we get a two-game lead [going into that series with Camden], that's big at home. That's kind of our goal, but we can only control what we do here. The more we win the more pressure it puts on them. They can't gain any ground if we keep on winning."
Second baseman Casey Benjamin, an unheralded key contributor to the Blue Crabs success, extended his hit streak to eight games Tuesday with a 2-for-4 outing. He got a night off Wednesday.
"I feel like I'm seeing the ball well and putting good swings on the ball," Benjamin said. "I'm trying to put together quality at-bats."
Note
The league's rumor mill has been churning lately that Newark will be on the road the entire second half of the season because the team is last in the league in average home attendance with 1,889 fans — a turnout that does not offset hosting expenses. Newark is the only team averaging less than 2,000 in attendance per home game.
However, Newark manager Tim Raines — an accomplished former major leaguer — said after Wednesday's loss to the Blue Crabs that the rumor regarding his franchise is not true. Raines added that Newark plans to play a typical home and away schedule like the other seven teams in the league in the second half.
The Blue Crabs are fifth in the league in home attendance at 3,635 per game through Wednesday, just more than 100 behind York.
Dallas Cogle
Atlantic League standings
(Standings through Wednesday)
Liberty Division W L Pct. GB Streak Last 10
Southern Maryland 34 24 .586 ---- W-6 8-2
Camden 32 26 .552 2.0 L-2 4-6
Long Island 30 29 .508 4.5 W-2 3-7
Bridgeport 27 31 .466 7.0 L-1 5-5
Freedom Division W L Pct. GB Streak Last 10
York 34 25 .576 ---- L-1 7-3
Somerset 33 25 .569 0.5 W-1 6-4
Lancaster 25 33 .431 8.5 W-1 6-4
Newark 18 40 .310 15.5 L-10 0-10
Tuesday
Blue Crabs 3, Newark 2
Newark 000 020 000 — 2 3 0
Blue Crabs 030 000 00x — 3 7 1
WP Robertson (3-2), LP Perkins (0-5), Save Warden (10)
Extra-base hit: HR — Pennino (N, 2)
Wednesday
Blue Crabs 4, Newark 0
Newark 000 000 000 — 0 8 0
Blue Crabs 002 001 10x — 4 6 0
WP Rayborn (6-3), LP Villa (0-1)
Extra-base hit: HR — Garcia (BC, 9)
