In Which Southern Maryland Makes Me Think All Those John Waters Movies Were Actually Documentaries...

With the Atlantic League season almost at an end, and our beloved Riversharks languishing in the sub-basement of the Liberty Division (still 6.5 games up on the woeful Long Island Ducks, who were, you'll remember, you first half Liberty Division winners) I've stopped paying so much attention to standings and recaps and stats, and started enjoying the more...esoteric details of this team and the game they play.

Earlier this week, I traveled to Waldorf, Maryland to see our boys take on the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs in what was thought to be a crucial four game series. If the 'Sharks could win 3 of 4, or maybe sweep, they'd make up some serious ground on the first place 'Crabs, and at least make September interesting.

They didn't win.

Well, they one one game. On Thursday.

Kevin Reese pitched an absolute gem. He threw seven and two-thirds innings, giving up one run on four measly hits. He struck out seven. And, miracle of miracles, the bullpen held up it's end, one-hitting the 'Crabs the rest of the way. 'Sharks win in 10 innings 3-1.

But the victory wasn't the best part of Thursday night, for me. The best part of Thursday night was watching Alvin Colina play the role of World's Greatest Wingman for the 'Sharks clubby.

The 'Crabs have a few female 'street teamers' that help with the on field promotions between innings. Two of these girls, a blonde and brunette, made their way down to the railing beside the visitors dugout, apparently to hassle the batboy.

Alvin was in the hole, and caught the brunette's attention. Hey, are you single? There's a guy that works with us, and he'd like to get to know you. Why don't you come down after the game? C'mon, he's a good guy!

Now, I'm secure enough in my masculinity to admit: Alvin Colina is a handsome, well built, professional athlete. Made it to the Show. Talks a good game.

So these girls had no chance.

After some hemming and hawing on their part, I do believe the deal, as they say, was sealed. Or at least numbers exchanged. I also believe clubby owes him a beer, cause that might have been the greatest case of wingmanitude I've ever personally witnessed.

GORECKI, YOUNG FORGET THERE'S NO CRYING IN BASEBALL

Look, I don't know the specifics of the trade that brought former Long Island Ducks OF Reid Gorecki over to Camden, but I do know this: he ain't too happy about being here. Check his tweet from yesterday:

Clearly something's amiss. Either he said something he shouldn't have to the wrong person, or someone in the Ducks organization had it in for him. Or who knows what.

But his gripe turns quickly to sour grapes, as evidenced in his tweet earlier today:

Ahh, Reid, in the words of Ed Lover, "C'mon, Son!!" There's no crying! There's no crying in baseball!!

So, Gorecki and Young have apparently not endeared themselves to everyone in the clubhouse. Good thing the season's almost over, they've got a lot of down time coming to sulk. 

In Which The Long Island Ducks Beat The Riversharks Like They Owed Them Money...

Mike Loree pitched seven strong innings of shutout ball tonight at Campbell's Field, as the visiting Long Island Ducks crushed the Riversharks 8-0. Loree gave up three hits while striking out five.

Absolutely nothing good happened for the Riversharks this evening. This was an ugly game, with a capital "Ugh." I don't feel like running through all the scoring plays in this one-sided snoozefest. It went down kinda like this:

Alvin Colina's #25 jersey made YET ANOTHER appearance at home, this time worn by newly acquired reliever Josh Walter:

Ah Yes, The Old 3-5-2-5-4-5 Double Play. That Old Chestnut.

Colina is never, EVER getting this jersey back.

It didn't take long for Scott Knazek to make an impact with his new squad.

The 27 year old catcher was released from the Rockland Boulders of the Can-Am League on Wednesday. Tonight, inserted into the 'Sharks lineup and wearing Alvin Colina's #25 jersey, Knazek launched the first pitch he saw from 'Stormers righty Mark Brackman over the left field wall.

The Barnstormers got on the board first, when in the top of the first Fehlandt Lentini took a Keith Weiser fastball deep over the wall in left center. But the 'Sharks answered back in the bottom of the frame when Drew Macias homered to right to tie it at 1-1.

Macias blasted a line drive over the right field wall to tie the game.

Billy Rice took advantage of right fielder Ryan Harvey's fielding error in the bottom of the second, stretching a ball that should have been caught into a one out triple. Then Steven Doetsch hit into the weirdest double play I've ever seen, going 3-5-2-5-4-5 to get Rice breaking for home and Doetsch halfway between 2nd and 3rd.

Knazek's 2 run homer followed in the 3rd. Lancaster would tie the game at 3 in the fourth, when a Jaime Pedroza single scored Jesus Merchan and Kody Kirkland. But the Riversharks pulled ahead in the bottom of the frame when RBI singles from Knazek, Chris Walker and Lloyd Turner made it 6-3.

The bullpen combo of Kyle Reese, Jason Bergamann and John Lujan combined for 7 strikeouts in relief of Weiser, and shut the door on any hopes of a 'Stormers late inning rally. Weiser gets the win, his first of 2012. Lujan gets the save, his second.

Sharks win!! 

The 'Shea Harris Era' To Be Postponed For Yet Another Season

The Camden Riversharks have offered fans a first glimpse at 2012 team, announcing today via their website the signing of six players: Alvin Colina, Raul Padron, Jake Eigsti, Carlos Vasquez, Mike McGuire, and Mariano Gomez. All but Gomez played for the Sharks in 2011.

Goodbye. Farewell. Amen.

The Camden Riversharks closed out the 2011 season with a 10-0 shutout victory over the Somerset Patriots tonight at Campbell's Field. Newly acquired pitcher Zac Cline earned his first win as a Shark throwing six innings of 2 hit ball, while striking out three.

Shortstop Jake Eigsti went 2 for 4 with a home run and three RBI. Eigsti also made a spectacular stop in the 4th on a hard hit ball from Pats third baseman Jeff Nettles.

Camden began the scoring in the third inning when Noah Hall singled in Lloyd Turner to make it 1-0. In the fourth, the Sharks plated three more runs when Eigsti singled in Danny Richar, Toby Hall singled in Eigsti, and Turner's sac fly scored Jonel Pacheco to make it 4-0.

But the Sharks really broke it open in the seventh. Pats reliever Ron Villone was tagged for three runs, first an Alvin Colina single to left that scored Ruddy Yan and Turner, and next Brian Burgamy's single to right that scored Colina and made it 7-0.

The Riversharks weren't done. After a pitching change for Somerset, Danny Richar's ground out to first scored Colina. Then Jake Eigsti launched a 2 run home run over the left field wall to make it 10-0.

Relievers Joe D'Allesandro and Mike McGuire combined for 3 scoreless innings innings in relief of Cline.

Miracle Late-Inning Rally Propels Sharks To Victory

Things looked bleak early on for the Riversharks.

The Lancaster Barnstormers batted around in the second inning, scoring 6 runs on 5 hits to take an 8-2 lead and knock starter Humberto Sanchez out of the game. It looked like Sharks fans were in for a long night.

But Camden slowly chipped away. Single runs in the 4th and 5th, and two more in the 6th made it 8-6, Lancaster. No longer a blowout, it seemed the momentum had shifted. Stormers starter John Halama exited after 6, having surrendered 6 runs on 11 hits.


Meanwhile Zac Cline, on in relief of Sanchez, was cruising. Over 5 innings of work, Cline allowed just one run on four hits. He was relieved by Santos Hernandez, who struck out 3 Stormers in an inning an a third of work, allowing only one hit.

Lancaster made it 9-6 in the 7th when an Iggy Suarez single scored Travis Metcalf, and it seemed like the Sharks rally was squashed.

But Jonel Pacheco lead off the top of the 9th with a solo homer to right off reliever Jonah Bayliss, and suddenly the rally was on again.

Toby Hall singled. Juan Francia reached on an error. Lloyd Turner singled. With the bases loaded and no outs, Noah Hall grounded into a fielder's choice that scored one run. Next, Alvin Colina, who earlier had blasted his 14th home run of the 2011 season over the centerfield wall, smoked a double down the left field line that scored two more runs. The Sharks lead 10-9 going into the home half of the 9th.

Enter Fernando Hernandez, who retired the Stormers 1-2-3 in the bottom of the frame to pick up his first save and seal an incredible comeback victory for the Camden Riversharks.

Both teams gave up a combined total of 27 hits. The game took nearly four hours to complete.

The Hernandii combine for the win (Santos) and the save (Fernando).

Jake Eigsti blasted a 2 run dinger in the 6th and came up with two huge defensive stops at second later in the inning.

Eigsti's First HR Spoiled In Loss

Much like last night, the Riversharks jumped to an early lead. This time, it was behind the bat of Alvin Colina. The game led-off with a Jonel Pacheco walk, a Lloyd Turner single and the finishing touches were put on by Colina’s two-out single.

The scoring halted for both teams until an offensive explosion by the Revs in the 6th. Chris Nowak singled, Jose Herrera walked, and then a single by Bryant Nelson tied the game at one. That was short-lived after Vince Harrison blasted his ninth homerun of the season over the centerfield wall to extend the lead to 4-1.

The ‘Sharks answered back with a run of their own; again, off the bat of Alvin Colina. This time it was a solo shot to left field.

The bats went silent until the top of the ninth when Scott Grimes led the inning off with a stand-up triple. Some miscommunication between Brian Burgamy and Jake Eigsti led to a bloop-single by Chris Walker. A bang-bang play at the plate saw Grimes beat the throw home.

In the bottom of the ninth down 5-3 and on their last strike, the newly-acquired Eigsti delivered on his first hit as a ‘Shark. A no-doubter over the left-center field wall pushed the ‘Sharks to within one. However, it wasn’t enough and the ‘Sharks dropped the series finale against the Revs.

So, I Took A Lot Of Pictures At Today's Game.

Sharks Blown Out by Bluefish

The Bridgeport Bluefish pounded out five home runs and fifteen hits en route to a convincing 12-6 victory over the Camden Riversharks. Camden has now lost eight of their last nine games.

Paul Oseguera (11-3) picked up the win despite allowing six earned runs and nine hits in 6.1 innings.

Eddy Camacho (6-6) took the loss surrendering five runs on six hits in just two innings including four home runs.

Luis Lopez wasted no time giving the Bluefish the lead in the top of the 1st with a two-run home run, his 10th, to make it 2-0 Bridgeport.

Camden fought back to tie the game in the home half of the 1st. After Noah Hall drove home Lloyd Turner with an RBI triple, Willis Otanez brought him in with an RBI groundout to tie the game at 2-2.

Bridgeport added to their home run parade in the 2nd inning with three more in the 2nd inning. Prentice Redman, Luis Rodriguez, and Andres Perez all left the yard to give the Bluefish a 5-2 advantage.

The fireworks continued in the bottom of the 3rd as Alvin Colina launched a two-run home run, his 12th, to cut the deficit to 5-4.

The Bluefish added three runs in the 5th inning highlighted by a two-run double by Prentice Redman.

Bridgeport blew it open in the 6th inning with four more runs against the Riversharks bullpen. Luis Lopez collected his 4th hit with an RBI single and Steve Moss hit a two-run home run to extend the lead to 12-4.

OMG, GI(4)DP WTF? FML...

Starter Wilkin De La Rosa battled control issues, and the Riversharks just couldn't plate enough runs to overcome the Lancaster Barnstormers early onslaught. The Stormers piled on the runs early and held on to beat the Sharks 7-5.

Lancaster batted around in the 2nd, but tallied just three hits, in what was really a nightmare inning for De La Rosa. A combination of walks, errors and timely hits, including a bases clearing RBI double from Lancaster first baseman Tommy Everidge eventually plated six runs for the Stormers.

The Sharks got one run back in the bottom of the frame when designated hitter Alvin Colina absolutely CRUSHED a J.D. Durbin fastball over the left field wall.

Camden cut the deficit to 6-4 in the 3rd, but caught a really bad break in the process. With the bases loaded and no outs, first baseman Willis Otanez grounded into a 4-6-3 double play that scored shortstop Juan Francia. Next, Colina singled in Lloyd Turner, and finally a Danny Richar triple scored Colina. The inning ended when left fielder Brian Burgamy struck out swinging.

In the 4th, Wayne Lydon scored on a double from left fielder M Watson to make it 7-4, and the Sharks added one more in the 9th to again cut the deficit to 2, but Otanez grounded into another 4-6-3 double play, and two batters later Richar lined one right to shortstop Iggy Suarez to end the game.


The Sharks outhit the Stormers 17-7, yet they scored only 5 runs. Part of the problem was Otanez grounding into THREE rally killing double plays (combined the Sharks grounded into four. FOUR. IN ONE NIGHT), and Burgamy narrowly avoiding the titanium sombrero, going 0 for 3 with three K's.

If you want to look for a silver lining in all of this, look no further than the Sharks bullpen. In four innings of relief, the combination of Zach Hammes, Fernando Hernandez and Mike Koplove allowed just two hits and no runs, while striking out five.

Also Colina, who apparently was so thrilled he didn't have to squat for 3 hours he went 4 for 5 with a homer and two RBI's.