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All-Star impact
Blue Crabs shine for Liberty Division
Friday, July 9, 2010
 Click here to enlarge this photo File photo by EMILY BARNES
Casey Benjamin, celebrating a home run against Bridgeport in May, hit a homer in Tuesday's Atlantic League All-Star Game.
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Blue Crabs second baseman Casey Benjamin led off the bottom of the first inning by smacking the opening pitch over the right-field wall for a mammoth home run, as Southern Maryland's seven-player representation boasted four RBIs, five hits, two runs scored and a pair of scoreless innings on the mound to pace the Liberty Division All-Stars to a convincing 7-1 victory over their counterparts from the Freedom Division.
"It was a bomb to right-center," Blue Crabs shortstop Travis Garcia said of Benjamin's blast. "When he cranked that, the whole dugout went nuts. It broke the ice."
"It went pretty far," Blue Crabs designated hitter Matt Craig added. "I punched him a couple times [in the dugout after his home run trot]. It was pretty cool. We got on the board with the first pitch of the game. I was happy for [Benjamin]."
"It is a rarity," Blue Crabs manager Butch Hobson, also the Liberty skipper, said of Benjamin's first-pitch jack. "He hit it good. He got all of it. It's good for the fans to see something like that."
The Blue Crabs proved they were worthy of a league-best seven All-Stars, matching the same amount as fellow first-half division winner York, of Freedom.
After Benjamin's tone-setting shot in the first, Craig and Garcia played major roles in Liberty's offensive firepower.
Craig and Garcia each went 2 for 4 to help lead Liberty's explosive 14-hit parade.
Craig had two RBIs on singles in the fifth and sixth when Liberty broke the game open, while Garcia drove in a run and doubled in addition to having a productive night defensively, being part of turning double plays in the second and third.
Blue Crabs pitchers Dan Reichert and Ryan Speier each tossed one shutout inning in contributing to a dominating, combined three-hitter from eight arms, as Hobson used all of his hurlers.
Freedom manager Sparky Lyle, of Somerset, did the same thing.
Had the game been tied after nine frames, players were told that a home run derby would have decided the outcome.
Speier struck out two of the three batters he faced to match a Liberty high for any single pitcher. Liberty fanned seven on the night. Reichert surrendered one of Freedom's hits but was seamless otherwise.
"We definitely showed well for the Blue Crabs," Craig said. "That's pretty rare [to allow three hits in an All-Star Game]. All our pitchers came on and threw real well. Anytime you're facing good pitchers for one inning, that's tough. It says a lot for our hitters to put up seven runs."
"The pitchers I picked were outstanding," added Hobson, whose duty as an All-Star manager was to select his mound staff with two representatives from every team. Each division has four teams. "Reichert and Speier threw well. The Freedom Division was well-represented; we happened to pitch well.
"Every [Blue Crabs All-Star] did well. They did what they always do to put on a good show."
Bridgeport's Steve Moss was the game's most valuable player, going 2 for 2 with a two-run homer to account for his RBIs, a pair of runs scored and a walk. Moss leads the league in hitting with a .343 average, 11 points better than third-place Craig.
Moss and Camden's Garrett Guzman joined Craig and Garcia with sporting a game-high two hits apiece.
Long Island's Randy Leek, who leads the league with nine wins, was the winning pitcher for Liberty after he went two hitless innings with the starting nod.
York pitcher Jesus Sanchez, second in the league with a 2.37 ERA, was tagged with the loss for Freedom thanks to Benjamin's solo homer in the first. Sanchez went one inning as Freedom's starting pitcher.
Liberty increased its lead to 2-0 in the second on a Garcia RBI single, slapping a chopper over the shortstop's head against a drawn-in infield with runners on second and third.
Freedom then cut the deficit in half with an RBI single from Matt Hagen, of Somerset, in the fifth. But 2-1 was as close as Freedom would get.
In the bottom of the fifth, Craig delivered an RBI single and then Moss followed with his two-run shot to put Liberty comfortably ahead, 5-1.
Liberty tacked on a couple more runs in the sixth to punctuate the pull-away victory, as Craig again plated a run with a single following an RBI double from Long Island's Erick Monzon.
"I think it's safe to say we did [have the better division of talent]," Garcia said. "Our pitchers were so dominant. All-Star games are usually always an offensive thing. I guess our pitching was so much better. We threw a lot of fastballs, and I guess it wasn't [Freedom's] night.
"We definitely had the better team."
Craig nearly became the second straight Blue Crabs player to win the All-Star MVP award. Last year, Blue Crabs second baseman Mike Just captured the honor.
In Craig's final at-bat in the eighth, he struck out against Freedom's Ryan Houston — the league's leading save man with 16.
Houston was brought in just to face Craig.
"Without [hitting] a home run, it's tough," Craig said about what it takes to usually claim the All-Star MVP. "I was trying to get that home run in my last at-bat, but I ended up striking out. That's the way it goes. I'm happy for Steve [Moss]. I don't set out looking to be the All-Star MVP, but if I have a shot, I'll go after it."
"It was up for grabs," Garcia said of Craig coming close to being the MVP. "He faced Somerset's closer [at the end] with a mid-90s fastball."
Garcia, like Benjamin, was also in the MVP discussion. Garcia, one of the few Liberty players to go all nine innings, was hardly thinking of claiming the MVP, though. He just wanted to get on base.
In his five previous All-Star games — one coming in the Atlantic League last year — he estimated that his lively bat had only produced one hit. He doubled that figure Tuesday.
"It was fun," Garcia said. "The first three runs came from [RBIs by Blue Crabs players]. I had a good game. When you get involved early, you get the adrenaline going more.
"Our dugout was the loudest. We had the most fun. It didn't look like [the Freedom All-Stars] were having as much fun."
"The whole couple days [of the All-Star break] were just awesome," Craig added. "That's why you go to All-Star games — to hang out with guys from other teams. It's a good time. I was excited to be there."
Blue Crabs center fielder and hitting coach Jeremy Owens and first baseman Eric Crozier each went 0 for 2 in the game.
Liberty 7, Freedom 1
Freedom 000 010 000 — 1 3 1
Liberty 110 032 00x — 7 14 1
WP Leek, LP Sanchez
Extra-base hits: 2B — Monzon (L), Guzman (L), Garcia (L),
Monaghan (L); HR — Benjamin (L), Moss (L)
How the Blue Crabs All-Stars fared
Matt Craig, DH: 2-4, 2RBIs, R
Travis Garcia, SS: 2-4, RBI, 2B
Casey Benjamin, 2B: 1-3, RBI, R, HR
Ryan Speier, P: 1.0 IP, 2K
Dan Reichert, P: 1.0 IP, 1H
Jeremy Owens, CF: 0-2
Eric Crozier, 1B: 0-2
Butch Hobson, Liberty manager:
Second straight year leading Liberty All-Stars to win
