Shane Youman
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Shane Youman 4-4, 5.22 ERA |
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Aaron Rakers 10-8, 4.46 ERA |
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Back on Sept. 8, when it became apparent the Barnstormers had a remote chance of reaching the playoffs, the objective for the team was clear. It needed to pull within three games before the season-ending, five-game series against York.
Lancaster didn’t get there.
It wasn’t the Barnstormers’ fault, necessarily. They did their part. They went 7-3 during the 10-game stretch leading into this late-season showdown. The problem was York matched Lancaster every step of the way. The Revs also went 7-3 to cement their status as the frontrunners.
As a result, the Barnstormers’ hopes are slim. They are four games out and need a five-game sweep to pass York. Could it happen? Sure. This team has won five games in a row twice before. If Lancaster can pull it off when the stakes are the highest and there’s no margin for error, it would forever go down in local baseball lore.
The more likely scenario is York pops the champagne. If not tonight, then at some point between now and Sunday. The Revolution is on the brink of matching the Barnstormers’ accomplishment of making the playoffs in the second year of existence. York isn’t nearly as good as that Lancaster team. The Revs are 67-68 while the Barnstormers went 75-51 in 2006, but quality is something that seems to diminish every year in the Atlantic League.
The Barnstormers’ goal is to delay the party as long as possible. They can’t think about winning five in a row. They have to focus on winning tonight. Each night that Lancaster stays alive puts a little more pressure on the team that’s seemingly in control.
Lineups …
33-32 |
37-28 |
|---|---|
| Mike Woods, LF | Keoni De Renne, SS |
| Gary Harris, CF | Kenny Perez, 3B |
| Matt LeCroy, DH | Chris Ashby, 1B |
| Ian Bladergroen, 1B | Jason Aspito, RF |
| Bryan Sabatella, RF | Matt Esquivel, LF |
| Lloyd Turner, 2B | Edgard Clemente, CF |
| David Castillo, C | Matt Dryer, DH |
| Mike Caruso, SS | Luis Taveras, C |
| Argenis Tavarez, 3B | Jose Enrique Cruz, 2B |
Scoring summary …
| Barnstormers | 011 | 300 | 000 | 5 | 8 | 1 |
| Revolution | 001 | 305 | 50x | 14 | 15 | 1 |
FINAL: Revolution 14, Barnstormers 5
Stormers 2nd: Castillo’s single scores Sabatella.
Lancaster leads 1-0.
Stormers 3rd: LeCroy’s groundout scores Harris.
Lancaster leads 2-0.
Revs 3rd: Perez hits solo home run.
Lancaster leads 2-1.
Stormers 4th: Caruso’s single scores Turner. Harris’ single scores Caruso and Tavarez.
Lancaster leads 5-1.
Revs 4th: Taveras’ single scores Aspito and Esquivel. Enrique Cruz’s sacrifice fly scores Clemente.
Lancaster leads 5-4.
Revs 6th: Perez’s single scores Taveras. Aspito’s grand slam scores Enrique Cruz, De Renne and Perez.
York leads 9-5.
Revs 7th: Taveras hits solo home run. Ashby’s home run scores Perez and Enrique Cruz. Esquivel’s double scores Aspito.
York leads 14-5.
You are right Jason, one game at a time.
I ain’t heard no fat lady singing yet. It’s been an interesting month and I am excited to see what will happen in these last five games. My cohort Scarlet5 and I will be cheering, as always, to the end. With that said, I leave you to ponder the eternal words of Queen:
“We are the champions – my friends.
And we’ll keep on fighting till the end.”
don-don-don
“We are the champions. We are the champions. No time for losers ’cause we are gonna be the champions….Of the Atlantic League!”
Okay – so maybe they aren’t Queens exact words.
The days are numbered, but what days they will be.
Go Stormers!
Jason:
You allude to it and I have noticed it too. Why has the quality of the league weakened? The league does not seem to have the same level of guys with MLB and AAA experience it did in the past. I still enjoy watching the games but the league used to bill itself as being somewhere between AA and AAA but to be fair it’s now probably more in the range of high A.
The # of callups this year has got to have had an impact. I never remember having this many from the League in 1 season.
Heck Booby, just the number of guys from the Stormers is impressive
Exactly Rad….and speaking of Yuck……There are blogs from…uh….2 people on their Blog??!?!?!?! They only have 2 fans???
Attention Dork!!!!!
You must respect our authority!
GO ‘STORMERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Go get’em tonight guys!!!
sorry i am not there!!!
I don’t think anyone blogged from Ddork last year… nice improvement
York didn’t have electricity until this year. I’m listening to the crowd on the radio to pull out that first “Y’ins sock!” (say it out loud).
What happened to Lancaster pitching?
Son of a *****.
Man oh day, what is going on!
IT aint over yet.. come on boys.
Although its not over yet, it’s looking pretty dim tonight. We can still win the War of the Roses! Come on boys don’t give up.
Well, it didn’t work out tonight, fellas, but you gave a good run the last couple weeks! So congrats for that.
We can still play hard for the next 4 games and see what happens!
I’ll be there for the last game at the Clip next week. See ya then!
Way to go guys!!! You had a great season finish it with a bang!!!
Thanks for the great effort the last few weeks. keep plugging away and let’s keep the cup!
congrats York way to go. Well Deserved. Now hopefully the momentum keeps going strong into the postseason
Does anyone know if there will be an autograph session before the game on Sunday?
What a heartbreaker. But we knew going into York they were clinch it, just a question of when this weekend. Congrats to York and good luck.
Thanks for a great year. You gave it your all, did not roll over and play dead, and you came up a few games short. A lot of people wrote you off but you did not let that stop you.
Now let’s take the cup and finish York off. Thanks to all the Stormer faithfull who stayed till the end. York makes the playoffs and most of their fans leave before it’s over. The Stormer fans were loud until the end and gave the team a standing ovation as they left the field.
I am proud to be a Stormer fan.
BTW York. Enjoy your very short playoff ride. Somerset is going to sweep you.
I think the Somerset-York series is going to be an all-out war. It should be a lot of fun to watch. I’m headed over to York on Tuesday.
Somerset is going to beat York 2 games to 1 in the Divisional Series.
Everyone gave us a good run. It was nice to have a dream ending alive, the team fell short but fought hard until almost the very end.
I hope some of the guys get the chance to move on and I hope that Von is back next year with more of a say on how the team is put together. He did a great job in September using his contacts to put together a few real hungry players.
Good job team.
Nice try guys.It has been a long hard season.
I can not belive it is over, I hope to see some of you back next season.. Take care of the winter..
Dave, see you there too.
Even though I am not a York fan, I love Atlantic League ball and even though I feel Somerset is going to win the series, you are right, it will be a fun one to watch.
Guys it has been great getting the chance to talk to you, hope you all take care over the winter and i hope to see you all back next year and i hope von is back. Great Season!!!
Now wait a minute! The season is not over yet. We have the Commuinty Cup to win. Let’s show York who is the best team in Pennsylvania!
Go Stormers!
We (The York Revolution fans), welcome you to come on over and enjoy a great game of baseball with us, no need to hate.