|
|
Patriots
Struggling In First Half
by Mike Ashmore
June 22, 2006 - Hunterdon County Democrat
Their best hitter left for Taiwan and their closer left for
Mexico. They just lost two out of three in a critical series
in Long Island and could only win three out of five against
Newark, the worst team in the league. If the Somerset
Patriots are going to make a run at the first half
championship like they did last year, they're going to need
to make up a lot of ground over the next 15 games.
For the second straight season, the Patriots turned to a
former Pawtucket Red Sox center fielder to anchor their
outfield. But their attempts to catch lightning in a bottle
like they did with Jeremy Owens last year would only last so
long, as Mike Lockwood left the team to play in Taiwan.
Easily the team's most consistent player, Lockwood was
hitting a team high .336 with six home runs and 15 RBI at
the time of his departure.
"I think it's going to be tough for foreign guys to go
over and pitch in Korea, Mexico, Taiwan and Japan because
they've been dropping their foreign guys," said Hector
Almonte back in May.
A little more than a month after making those statements,
Almonte left for the Mexican League, the same league where
he finished his 2005 season.
Almonte was 2-1 with a 3.05 ERA, and led the team with eight
saves when he left. His batting average against of .192 was
second on the team only to Mike Johnson, who will take over
for Almonte in the closer role. After allowing seven earned
runs in his first six games, Almonte put together a string
of 11 consecutive scoreless appearances, giving up only six
hits in that timeframe.
Combine the loss of two of their best players and the team
hitting an Atlantic League low .238, and the only three-time
champions in Atlantic League history just isn't scaring the
opposition any more.
"I'm not really worried about them," said Atlantic
City Surf manager Jeff Ball, whose team entered the weekend
tied with the Patriots for second in the South Division.
"We've just got to worry about winning ballgames and
things will take care of themselves," Ball said.
Lancaster Barnstormers manager Tom Herr, in his second year
at the helm of his division leading squad, knows that losing
players is a problem for all eight teams in the league, not
just Somerset.
"We're losing guys too," he said. "We lost
(Jason) Bowers and now we just lost (Scott) Patterson, but
that's the nature of this league. When guys do well, they
go. You're happy for the guys, because that's what this
league is for, but you deal with it the best way you
can."
Baseball and Sports Associates officials, who did not return
a call for comment, handle player procurement for the
Patriots and they'll be forced to take on the impossible
task of replacing two irreplaceable players.
While listed as a utility player, surely Tony Gsell never
thought he'd find himself on the pitching mound, but that's
exactly what happened last Wednesday. Gsell threw an inning
of scoreless baseball and gave Somerset's exhausted bullpen
a break.
Patrick Boran has been moved into center field to replace
Lockwood, but the bullpen is clearly where the team needs to
add a player. With the Bluefish and Ducks recently adding
three pitchers between the two of them, you've got to wonder
when Somerset's going to make their move.
Around the Atlantic League: Ducks outfielder Mel
Stocker took a 24-game hitting streak into Monday's games,
just three games short of tying the record of 27 set by
Somerset's Billy Hall last season...Bridgeport added
ex-Royals pitcher Eduardo Villacis, while Long Island signed
former Red Sox reliever Kevin Tolar and got Melvin Pizarro
on loan from the Road Warriors.
|
|
All
media files and information are property of Mike Ashmore and
may not be copied, transferred or used outside this web site
without permission. All media outlets are not
affiliated with MikeAshmore.com in any way. Site is
best viewed using Microsoft Internet Explorer.
|
|
|
|
