Bombers Look to Make Up Ground Against 'Clones

Staten Island looks to close the gap in the McNamara Division

By: Robert Pimpsner

August 17, 2007 – It has been almost 2 months since the Staten Island Yankees and the Brooklyn Cyclones faced off in the Battle of the Boroughs.  In fact the inter-borough rivals have not meet since July 6 in Staten Island.  The Baby bombers lost that game 9-3 to the Baby Bums, which brought the season series to 2-4 in the Cyclones favor.

                Saturday these 2 teams will meet again as they start a 4-game home and home series.  The first game will take place at Keyspan Park, with them coming back to Staten Island on Sunday and Tuesday.  Zach McAllister, Adam Olbrychowski, Chris Farley and Ryan Pope are all scheduled to make an appearance for the baby bombers.

McAllister was the lone Yankee pitcher in the All-Star Game, allowing 1 hit in 1 inning of relief work for the American League All-Stars.  On the year the Yankee prospect has a 2.98 ERA with 56 strikeouts in 51.1 innings of work spread out between 11 starts.

McAllister’s first game was at Keyspan Park, where he allowed 5 runs in 3 innings before a 2 and a half hour rain delay.  In his second game against the Cyclones, McAllister allowed just 1 run in 5 innings, again in Brooklyn.  Sunday will be the young prospects first start against the Cyclones at home, where he has a 2.33 ERA.

Chris Farley is scheduled to make his sixth appearance for the Baby Bombers in the series.  Farley has yet to pitch against a division opponent, but has a 3.68 ERA so far this season.  Farley has struck out 21 batters in his short time with the defending NY-Penn League Champions while walking just 6.  Farley has made just 1 start on the road, against the Oneonta Tigers where he went 4 innings and allowed 3 earned runs.

Ryan Pope will get his first taste of the Battle of the Boroughs this week.  Pope has made 6 starts for the Staten Island Yankees.  Pope is coming off his first professional win on August 16 when he pitched 5 innings of 1 run, 3 hit ball.

Adam Olbrychowski, the Yankees fifth round pick in the First Year Player Draft this past June is also scheduled to make an appearance for the Baby Bombers.  The young hurler is 0-4 this season with a 4.93 ERA.  Olbrychowski has never faced the Cyclones yet this season, making 8 of his 9 starts against opponents out of the McNamara Division.

Offensively the Staten Island Yankees are led by Justin Snyder, Damon Sublett, Braedyn Pruitt, Taylor Holiday, and David Williams.  Snyder, the team leader in Batting Average (.380), Runs Scored (73), Doubles (16) as well as the league leader in hits has been solid as the leadoff man.  Snyder (32) trails just Damon Sublett for the team lead in RBIs and is in a 3-way tie for the team lead in homers (5).

Damon Sublett is batting .283 on the year with 39 RBIs and 14 doubles.  Sublett’s real contribution to the defending NY-Penn League Champs has been his great defensive skills at second.  Taylor Holiday has a .291 average hitting behind Snyder in the 2 spot with Braedyn Pruitt (.379) behind him batting third.

On the Bench the Staten Island Yankees have DJ Hollingsworth; the young outfielder is batting .365 in limited action for the bombers.  Hollingsworth has good speed and a good eye at the plate working 8 walks this season.

This looks to be a fun series between the cross-town rivals as the Yankees look to be a different team since the last time they faced the ‘Clones.  A sweep by the SI Yankees would put them with in 1 game of the Division, but if they get swept they could fall out of the lead for the NY-Penn League Wild Card.