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 |
Duggan Rebounds; Shuts the Door on Diamonds |
July 22, 2008. Vienna, Va. -- Baseball closers go from the extreme of hero to goat daily. They have to handle the pressure of wrapping up the efforts that every other player on their team has put in that day. If they fail, those efforts have been wasted. If they succeed, they did their job. Vienna Senators closer Jimmy Duggan has experienced both extremes the last two nights.
One night after Duggan lay face first in the dirt at home plate after allowing the winning run to score, Duggan bounced back to shut the door on the Arlington Diamonds and secure a 5-3 victory for the Senators.
Duggan was wild in last night's defeat, and when he walked two batters with two outs in the ninth, it appeared that he was headed down a familiar road. However, pitching coach Mike Wallace came to the mound for a visit and calmed down Duggan. Duggan then struck out Graham Sullivan to end the game.
“Tonight I came out more focused,” said Duggan. “I think I tried to be too fine with location when I walked those guys. In a situation like tonight, I knew I was going to get that save. [I] have to keep the mentality that they're not going to hit [my] stuff, and not let my confidence waver.”
The Senators' bullpen, which has been a concern the past week or so, only had to finish off two innings after starter Eric Cantrell went seven innings. Cantrell was up and down in his start, hitting his stride near the end. He retired the last six batters he faced.
Cantrell has had similar up and down starts the past couple outings. He will be dominant for a few innings, and then be touched up for a few runs, and then return to his dominance.
“I don't know why, but I felt stronger at the end of my start,” said Cantrell. “I feel like I'm getting back on track with my starts. I thought that this start was a good sign.”
Cantrell said that he eventually wants to pitch deeper into the games, but right now he is trying to conserve his innings for the NBC World Series.
Matt Goulas, who leads the Clark-Griffith League in RBIs, came up huge in the last few innings to break a 3-3 tie. In the seventh inning, he led off the inning with a triple to left field, which just missed going out of the park. Diamonds left fielder Anthony Ragos made a valiant leaping attempt to catch the ball, but it went off of his glove and rolled around for a while allowing Goulas to go to third. Goulas then scored on a Wes Joy ground out.
In the eighth inning, Senators shortstop Seth Henry started the inning with a single to left field. He then stole second base for his fourth stolen base of the day. Goulas then singled into left field to bring home the speedy Henry.
Henry continued to be a dominant offensive force for the team, reaching base all five times tonight. He attempted to steal five times, only being caught once. In the last week of play, Henry has four home runs and fourteen RBIs.
With the Senators leading 5-3 heading into the bottom of the eighth, the team turned to Mason Griffin to start the inning. Griffin, the closer the past two years, is still adapting to his new set-up role with the team. Griffin, a right-handed sidearmer, was brought in for one batter. Griffin allowed him to reach on a single, and he was promptly pulled.
Kyle Hald, a jack of all trades for pitchers, came on and retired the next three batters. Hald has been the long reliever for most of the season, but started last week, and now could see a later-inning role out of the bullpen.
Andrew Struckmeyer
Vienna Senators