Playoff-bound Ducks open second half

The Long Island Ducks, the first-half Liberty Division champions of the Atlantic League, opened the second section of their season with a 13-2 win over the Road Warriors last Friday.

More than 5,800 paying customers dropped by to watch their local heroes take on the Road Warriors and celebrate their first-half success. The aptly named Road Warriors are a team without a home, so they’ll play all of their 126 games as someone else’s guest.

In contrast, the Ducks have made themselves a permanent fixture on Long Island during their 12 seasons of operation. Attendance at cozy, fan-friendly Bethpage Ballpark in Central Islip, where the Ducks are 25-9, routinely surpasses 5,000, and earlier this season the Ducks drew 6,719 for a game against the York Revolution. Sometime this summer they’ll welcome their five millionth fan, a testament to their popularity and staying power. 

The Ducks’ 40-23 first half was four games ahead of the pace, earning them their third First Half Title in franchise history. With the title, they qualified for the postseason for the seventh time. The memorable 2004 team won the Atlantic League championship, led by then-shortstop Kevin Baez, who is now enjoying his first season as the Ducks manager. In the 1990s Baez appeared as a player in 63 games over three seasons for the Mets, the same number he managed in half a season with the Ducks. Everything that could have possibly gone right in those first 63 games did.

“It’s been a complete team effort,” Baez said. “When the weather got warmer, the Ducks got hot.”

They started 15-12, but ran away from everybody with a 20-7 June. Led by catcher J. R. House (.288 average, 11 homers, 47 RBIs), shortstop Javier Colina (.308, 11, 43), DH John Rodriguez (.296, 7, 42) and center fielder Kennard Jones (.285, 47 runs scored), the Ducks averaged a whopping 6.1 runs per game. Lew Ford, Matt Padgett and Freddie Thon gave the team potent bats up and down the lineup. Even when Ford and Rodriguez had to miss time due to injury, the Ducks used it as an opportunity to get Kraig Binick (.359 average) and Matt Esquivel (.325) some eye-opening at-bats.

On the pitching side, the Ducks boasted a 3.84 team ERA. The biggest star was 24-year-old right-hander Mike Loree, who in the first half went 10-1 with a 1.71 ERA. Loree lost 3-0 on May 21 and hasn’t tasted defeat since. Since that time, he’s won nine straight starts, or once every fifth day.

It was more of the same as the second half got underway. House, Colina, Rodriguez and Ford all homered as the Ducks flexed their muscles against the Road Warriors. Loree was nicked for two runs in the first inning, but then settled in and allowed just one hit over his last 4 1/3 before yielding to the bullpen on his way to win No 11.

“I just hung in there,” Loree said. “I knew our offense would pick me up.”