Shorthanded Ducks Lose to Crabs

By Brian Bohl on May 28, 2009

CENTRAL ISLIP, NY- Facing the league’s winningest pitcher isn’t usually something a club anticipates eagerly.  But squaring off against Southern Maryland’s John Halama Thursday night might be the best news the Ducks received in the past three days.

The Ducks lost its best pitcher and top-two hitters in a 72-hour period. That didn’t include the on-field action, where the Ducks dropped two in a row to the first-place Southern Maryland Blue Crabs following a 4-2 defeat Wednesday night at Citibank Park.

Before the game, the Cleveland Indians organization signed away staff ace Ken Ray. A day earlier, Raul Gonzalez had his contract purchased by Tabasco of the Mexican League. Replacing a surging pitcher and hot-hitting slugger is daunting enough, though the news was worse after the the Ducks dropped 4 ½ games behind the Blue Crabs in falling to 15-15, the first time the club was .500 since May 1.

“They’re positioned in the right place,” Ducks manager Gary Carter said. “They are playing solid defense and their pitching has been good, too.”

Southern Maryland moved in position for the three-game sweep with league win-leader Halama on the hill Thursday. The former Duck left-hander is off to a 6-0 start with a 2.36 ERA.

“Hopefully the guys will step it up a notch and beat the league leader in wins,” Carter said. “Halama’s a professional and has done it at the major league level. We’re going to have a tough go to try and beat him.”

But the Ducks still must worry about internal problems. Former Montreal Expos right-hander Julio Manon was lackluster in his first start of the season. Manon was tagged for three runs (two earned) in 4 2/3 innings. That production won’t make the Ducks forget about Ray, who was tied for second in the Atlantic League with a 4-0 record and 3 ERA.

Manon, who also pitched for the Orioles, surrendered two runs in the first. Richard Giannotti and James Shanks each belted doubles that rolled to the wall in the gap to start the game and opened the scoring. After Manon retired the next two batters, Travis Garcia’s run-scoring single to left made it 2-0.

Southern Maryland took advantage of fielding miscues. Suarez was charged with two errors on the same play, one for fumbling the ball and the other for throwing it into the dugout to allow the leadoff man to move to second base. Shanks added a two-out RBI double, extending the lead to 3.

Manon settled down, only running into trouble with two fifth-inning singles before getting the hook. The 35-year-old gave up six hits, striking out four while walking two in picking up the loss.

The Ducks could only get to Southern Maryland starter Ryan Bicondoa in the fourth via RBI hits from Ray Navarrete and Estee Harris. Four of the Ducks six hits came in that inning, as Bicondoa limited the opposition to six hits in six innings, improving to 3-1.

Johnny Hernandez worked a leadoff walk for the Ducks to start the eighth before Blue Crabs reliever Matt Hensley forced a line out. Matt Cavagnaro was called out on a questionable check swing call by the second base umpire. Thanks to the league’s three-umpire system, there was no one at third with a runner at first, and the punch out drew a protest from Cavagnaro and Carter from the third base coach’s box.

A weak groundout ended the eighth and the Blue Crabs tacked on another run in the ninth to close the win.

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