The surging Cyclones had a real chance to do some damage against the first-place Staten Island Yankees, but couldn’t rise to the occasion, dropping two of three — with the last game of the four-game series tonight in Staten Island.
Cyclones 6
Yankees 5
July 25 at Keyspan Park
The weekend quartet of games against the Yankees could not have started better, thanks to a solid starting performance by Jenrry Meija (5 IP, 1 ER, 4 Ks) and a 12-hit attack by the Cyclone offense. After the Yankees got on the board in the first, it was all Cyclones: 2007 star J.R. Voyles hit a two-run dinger in the first and Jose Jimenez hit a solo shot in the second.
John Servidio’s SAC fly in the fourth plated Kirk Nieuwenhuis, who had doubled, and two innings later, Servidio had an RBI single for another run. Servidio also doubled in the eighth and later scored to end the Cyclones’ offensive explosion.
Yes, the Yankees did serve up a scare, scoring four runs in the top of the ninth (all of them charged to usually reliable closer Yury Santana), but Steve Clyne closed the door, striking out the last two Yankees.
Yankees 4
Cyclones 1
July 26 at Staten Island
Back on the Rock, the Cyclones looked flat all night, leaving eight men on base and putting up only a single run in the eighth on a Jordan Abruzzo groundout. It’s not as if the team didn’t have chances, though: In the third, J.R. Voyles hit a two-out single with John Servidio on second, but Voyles was gunned down at second to end the inning before Servidio could score.
The Cyclones loaded the bases in the eighth with no outs, but Yankee relief pitcher Brad Rulon, who has handcuffed the Clones all year, got the next three batters in order to preserve the lead.
Brian Baisley had an inside-the-park homer in the sixth for the Yankees. The ball had become lodged under a wall-mounted video screen and right fielder John Servidio’s argued that the ball should have been declared dead. But the umpires did not agree and Baisley kept on running.
Yankees 15
Cyclones 2
July 27 at Keyspan Park
Starter Tim Stronach didn’t even get out of the first inning, giving up five runs on four hits and basically giving away this game before it had barely even started. Relief pitcher Jeff Kaplan was fine — until he ran into his own barrage of hits in the Yankee fourth inning, giving up a single and two walks and then a grand salami to Saturday night’s hero, Brian Baisley. Kaplan gave up another run before he was finally relieved by Erik Turgeon — who promptly gave up a homer!
By the time the Cyclones batted in the bottom of the fourth, the team was down 13–0!
Sure, the Cyclones chipped away — getting a run back in the seventh on a bases-loaded walk to Matt Davis, and a run back in the eighth on a Jose Jimenez solo shot — but this loss was uglier than a combover on a politician.
Indeed, the Yankees added two more runs in the ninth — you know, just another few explosions to the already shell-shocked Cyclones.
The loss dropped the 18–21 Cyclones to six games behind the first-place Yankees. A win tonight on the Rock could salvage the series, but a loss would almost certainly mean oblivion for the inconsistent Brooklyns.
