After slogging through the first month and a half of the 2008 season, the Brooklyn Cyclones have begun to make their move.
As of Monday, August 4, the ‘Clones had just completed a 6-1 week, surpassing the .500 mark and placing themselves within two games of the suddenly struggling Staten Island Yankees in the New York Penn League’s McNamara Division.
Of Brooklyn’s six wins this past week, four of them were by a one-run margin, not including another two-run victory in extra innings. If not for some clutch hits and pitches, the Cyclones could be dead and buried right now.
Instead, a palpable sense of excitement surrounds a team that seems to have finally shaken off its early-season malaise.
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What turned out to be a week of tense, heart-stopping victories began uneventfully in Staten Island with an easy 5-2 Cyclones win on July 28.
Scott Shaw, a 13th round draft pick this past year out of the University of Illinois, tossed 5 innings of one-run ball, striking out 8 batters.
With Shaw in command, Brooklyn’s offense was paced by three solo home runs by Josh Satin, John Servidio, and Sean Ratliff, all members of the Mets 2008 draft class.
Coming after two lopsided losses to the Yankees, the win allowed the Cyclones to feel good about themselves on the long bus trip to Burlington, Vt., where they took on the Vermont Lake Monsters – a Washington Nationals chain – in a three-game series.
In the series’ first game on Tuesday, July 28, Brad Holt, the hard-throwing righty who has been Brooklyn’s most impressive player by far this season, struggled mightily with his control, walking seven batters while surrendering three runs in just over 3 innings.
But reliever Matias Carillo stopped the bleeding, tossing 3.2 scoreless innings to keep Brooklyn in the game.
With Carillo keeping the Lake Monsters off the board, Brooklyn’s offense finally came alive in the eighth inning, exploding for four runs. The attack was paced by doubles by Eric Campbell and John Servidio, and was capped off by two-run single by J.R. Voyles that provided the 4-3 margin of victory.
Similar late inning offensive heroics – helped along by sloppy play by Vermont – propelled the Cyclones to a 2-0 victory the next night.
Trailing 1-0 in the seventh, Brooklyn capitalized on an error and then a passed ball by Lake Monsters catcher Derek Norris to tie the game. Kirk Niewenhuis then singled up the middle to plate teammate Sean Ratliff, giving his team a 2-1 lead the bullpen would preserve for Brooklyn’s third straight victory.
The ‘Clones looked to complete the sweep Thursday night, but fell behind 4-1 going into the eight inning.
But the suddenly plucky Brooklyners showed they had a rally left in them when first baseman Jose Jiminez drove a home run to right that tied the game.
As the game went into extra innings, the tension mounted as neither team was able to scratch across a run. Finally, with two outs in the 14th, J.R. Voyles roped a double and was subsequently driven in by Jason Jacobs, a game-winning rally sparked by two returning Cyclones.
The ‘Clones held on in the bottom of the inning to preserve the sweep, sending them back to New York on a four-game winning streak.
In the series’ first game Friday night, Chris Swinden, a 22nd round draft pick this past year out of Fresno State who has been utterly dominant over 28 innings this year, got things off on the right foot by pitching 6 innings while allowing just one run.
In the seventh inning, Brooklyn broke a 1-1 tie by taking advantage of two hit batsmen and a wild pitch to score two runs. The bullpen locked down the 3-2 win, the ‘Clones fifth straight.
And while the streak ended the next night – a 6-2 loss – Brooklyn showed its resiliency by winning yet another close contest the next night, a 5-3 extra-inning tilt that closed out their best week of the season to date.
