22 June 2006

Mets, Red Sox off to shaky starts

It could be "A Tale of Two Ball Clubs," but the part about the best of times is missing. 

The Hyannis Mets and the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox, one team trying to rebound from a disastrous season and the other trying to regain its championship form after a fourth place finish, are struggling through some tough times so far this season. 

The Mets (1-4) loss to Brewster Sunday was their 16th straight to the Whitecaps, going back to the 2002 season. But the Mets, who set a record for most losses with 36 last season, broke a 12-game losing streak Monday with a 3-1 victory over Chatham. 

The 1-3 Red Sox have had trouble getting it together in all three facets of the game, hitting, pitching and fielding. 

After getting solid pitching in Saturday night’s 3-1 win over the Harwich Mariners, Red Sox manager Scott Pickler said, "Right now the pitching is ahead of the hitting. The hitters will catch up three weeks into it." 

Chance Corgan (Texas A&M) and Terry Doyle (Boston College) looked good against the Mariners. And Matt Meyer (Boston College) got off to a good start Friday against the Chatham A’s before leaving the game. 

"So far, I’ve got two very good starters who’ve given me quality starts going into the sixth or seventh inning," Pickler said. 

"I’m still feeling it out. It takes about a week ... no four days to get all the pitchers on the mound so I can see what they’ve got and what they’ll give me," said Pickler. 

Despite Pickler’s assessment, Yarmouth-Dennis ranks dead last in the league in team pitching, while it is in sixth place in team batting. 

In addition, the Red Sox have had their problems in the field. Several errors put men on base and led to big innings against the Red Sox, and they’ve also given up runs on a passed ball and a wild pitch. 

Mets manager Greg King felt his team’s situation was just the opposite. 

"The hitting is ahead of the pitching," he said, which is unusual early in season in the Cape League, especially when hitters are just trying to adjust to the wooden bats. 

Thursday’s postponement put the pitchers back an extra day, said King. "You’re looking at guys who haven’t thrown in three or four weeks, some not for more than a month." 

King said it’s one thing to see a pitcher with a lively arm throwing in warm-ups, but quite another to see what he can do in the game. "It’s going to take some time for them to get in the groove," he said. 

In Saturday night’s 9-3 loss to the Cotuit Kettleers, the groove was not there as the Mets’ pitching staff gave up 14 walks. And like the Red Sox, the Mets had trouble on defense, committing errors at the most inopportune times. 

While the hitting has been pretty good - Hyannis is ranked third in the league -the Mets have not capitalized on opportunities. 

"We hit into three or four double plays, and that killed us and we hit into a bases loaded double play," said King. 

But hitting is reason for King to be optimistic. 

"We’re swinging the bat, and we’re not striking out a lot," King said. "I love the way these kids pound the ball. We went through the whole lineup twice in the first game without a strikeout. We’re making contact and that’s a good sign." 

And while the Mets are not exactly lighting up the scoreboard, they are scoring. "We lost 5-3 to Wareham and then we scored three runs last night against Cotuit. In this league if you can score three runs a game, you should be able to win," said King. 

Brian Juhl (three-run home run Sunday), Sean O’Brian and Ryan Flaherty have gotten off to good starts at the plate, but King says "The guys are not in game shape, yet. The more the starters pitch the better they’ll get." 

Unlike the Mets, who have all the players they selected already on the active roster, Pickler and the Red Sox are still waiting for seven players who are still playing in the NCAA College World Series tournament. 

They are: catcher Danny Lehmann and outfielder Tyler Henley from Rice; Sean Ratliff, Nolan Gallagher and Michael Taylor from Stanford and shortstop Gordon Beckham and pitcher Josh Fields from Georgia. 

When they get into town, the Red Sox should be able to get things going and make a run at recapturing the Cape League title. 

But when they finally arrive may be a problem. 

The three from Stanford just finished school Friday. 

"I’m not sure when they’ll get here. Who knows? And if they win, they’ll have a parade, and the celebration and they’ll go see their girlfriends. They’re not usually in a hurry to get here," said Pickler. 

But Pickler, like King, remains optimistic. "We’ve got good kids. They are coming in here with a team orientation. It’s not about themselves. You only have trouble when you have selfish kids."

By George Kostinas