As the New York-Penn League All-Star Game comes to Aberdeen today, the IronBirds are stuck in third place. Aberdeen is four games behind the McNamara Division-leading Staten Island Yankees and just two games above .500 at 28-26.
Aberdeen?s last home game before the all-star game was a 3-2 loss to the Hudson Valley Renegades on Aug. 8. That and another loss the following night to the Vermont Lake Monsters put Aberdeen below .500 for the first time since the third game of the season. Still, the team has won four of its last five.
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The problem for the IronBirds, as it has been all season, is offense. Manager Andy Etchebarren said that the key to getting his players to hit consistently is patience.
“They are trying as hard as they can try,” Etchebarren said.
The team recently worked with a few Orioles? roving instructors.
“We had a hitting coach here, and we had an infield coach here,” Etchebarren said. “The infield coach worked with all the center infielders and the third basemen and the first baseman. The hitting coach worked in that cage for four days, two hours a day.
“We hope it carries through and they take it from batting practice in the cage to the game. These are young kids and we have to have patience with them. They?re kids coming from college; they have never seen pitching like this consistently every day. They might have, in college, seen one or two pitchers that get drafted. Now, they are facing a top college pitcher or one of the top high school pitchers every night. That is why they have problems.”
Aberdeen?s pitching, however, has been consistently good this season. The team?s ERA has dipped just below 3.00 again (2.95) for the league?s third-best average. As a staff, Aberdeen leads the NYPL in strikeouts (475) but is also tied in the league with the Tri-City ValleyCats for the most walks (197).
Etchebarren and most of the team will enjoy the two-day all-star break. Infielder Miguel Abreu, closer Luis Lebron and first baseman Chris Vinyard will not get a break, though, as they will represent Aberdeen at the game.
The IronBirds take the field again Thursday for a three-game homestand against the State College Spikes.
ALL-STARS TO SHINE
» At the all-star break, Miguel Abreu was batting .281 and had 19 RBI for the IronBirds.
» Chris Vinyard started the year hot and after a slump is coming back around. He is batting .291 with 33 RBI, 20 doubles and four home runs.
» Luis Lebron has an ERA of 1.19 with 16 saves and 36 strikeouts.
