Brooklyn Papers Cyclones Coverage AUGUST 6 , 2005 ISSUE
Cyclones half-time report
Yogi Berra said, “It gets late early there,” about afternoon shadows that appear in left field at Yankee Stadium.
Well, it gets late early in the New York-Penn League, too.
It seems as if the season just started, yet completion of play on July 30 marked the halfway point for the Cyclones, 38 games down and 38 to go.
Brooklyn finished the first half of the season at 23-15, in third place in the McNamara Division, a half game behind second-place Williamsport and one-and-a-half games behind the first-place Staten Island Yankees.
Let’s look at the Cyclones’ first half and examine their prospects for the second half. (All stats are for the first half of the Cyclones’ season)
We’ll start with the pitching, which has been fine, with Brooklyn third in the league in ERA at 3.42.
The starting pitching has featured two aces in Bobby Parnell and Waner Mateo.
Parnell has a record of 2-0 with a 1.47 ERA and Mateo is 4-1 with a 1.87 ERA.
First-rate stats for those aces, but Cyclones pitching coach Steve Merriman has a plan for Parnell, Mateo and Jeff Landing, and lefty Kevin Tomasiewicz — four of the starters, plus the relief core.
“We’ve done a good job with the change-up [in the first half], now we’ll work on the breaking ball,” says the Cyclones pitching mentor.
“In college, the top coaches need to win to keep their jobs, so they have pitchers pitch away, away, away.”
“On the pro level, with wooden bats, hitters can’t hit the inside pitch as they can in college with aluminum bats, so pitchers need to develop a consistent curve, and then they can pitch inside,” Merriman said
“In the first half, we’ve only been at 40 percent strikes with our breaking balls, and we have to improve on that.”
An exception among the starters is Jorge Reyes, who Merriman feels already has a decent curve, so Reyes will continue to work on his change-up.
As far as relievers go, Merriman has gone to Manager Mookie Wilson with a plan that wouldn’t feature a conventional closer, but rather a group of hurlers, one of whom could come into a game in the seventh inning and pitch to the end of the game.
Relievers Sal Aguilar, Eric Brown, Travis Hope and Kyle Risinger, and later in the season possibly Tomasiewicz, could all fill that role.
As far as position players are concerned, the Cyclones have a solid defensive catcher in Drew Butera. This fifth-round draft pick has thrown out 16 of 26 attempted base stealers. However, Butera is only hitting .147 and has shortened his swing to deal with a wooden bat.
At first base is Nick Evans, who started the season at Kingsport where he had six homers and 22 RBIs in his first 15 games.
With the Cyclones, he got off to a slow start, then hit his stride.
“As soon as you get up here, you’re tense, being around all these people,” said Evans. “But once you get used to it, then it’s great.”
At second is Jon Malo, who has essentially been shifted from shortstop. Ivan Naccarata, has been playing some second and Armand Gaerlan may return from Hagerstown.
The new regular shortstop is speedy Yury Santana. Mookie Wilson raves about his defense.
“Hitting is the question for him,” the manager says.
Josh Petersen has been doing the bulk of the playing at third base, with Tim Grogan possibly out for the season with an injury.
Petersen has struggled defensively, but has hit a solid .324.
“His power numbers [one homer] are not there yet, but they will come,” said Wilson. “He’s been our most consistent hitter all year.”
Caleb Stewart, a left fielder, has hit six homers on the road, but none at home. A good pull hitter, the relatively short left field at Keyspan could have been too much of a tempting target for Stewart so far.
In center, Joe Holden, from Wantagh, Long Island, has been a real surprise. Holden has hit .366 with nine stolen bases.
“I can’t get him out of the line-up,” said Wilson. “By baseball numbers, he’s an average runner, but he runs much better than average because he gets good jumps and has base running savvy.”
In right has been Jesus Gamero. After hitting .323 at Kingsport last year, Gamero has only hit .229.
Outfielder Kyle Brown is at .275 and is recovering from a strained Achilles tendon, which has limited his outstanding speed.
Another speedy outfielder has been Joel Pacheco, who is at .274 with a team leading 13 stolen bases.
With Brown and Pacheco leading the way, the Cyclones are on top of the league in stolen bases with 58.
Wilson is pleased with the starting pitching and the base running, but says, the “team has to do better in situational hitting. Getting guys in, getting guys over with less than two out, and bunting.
Normally a strong team at home, the Cyclones were 12-5 on the road in the first half and only 11-10 at home.
“A lot of times it’s tougher to play at home,” explained Wilson. “Often they try to do so well to please 8,000 people that they go out of their box to do it.”
Brooklyn plays its final 25 games against divisional opponents, with five games each against rivals Staten island and Williamsport.
Whether the Cyclones win the division or even get a wild card playoff berth is up in the air.
It should be an exciting five weeks.
