Sunday, July 6, 2008

Navs' bats awaken, Costello wins pitching debut, 10-0

Steve DelVecchio, Navigators Sports Information Department

Making his pitching debut for the North Shore Navigators, Matt Costello could not have asked for a better night. Backed by an offense that came alive after a tough road trip, the Navigators (14-8) defeated the Northern Division leading Keene Swamp Bats (15-7) by a score of 10-0 to win their seventh home game of the year in ten chances. The Navigators had been beaten by Keene in their previous three meetings this season.

With the help of five Swamp Bat errors - four of them on pick-off attempts - the Navigators hitters were able to punish Keene’s pitching throughout the evening while making them pay heavily for their defensive mistakes. Keene starting pitcher Sean Bierman and first baseman Paul Karmas were not able to get on the same page for a number of pickoff attempts throughout the first part of the game.

“My thinking has always been that you want to establish a lead early, because it’s really hard to make comebacks in this league,” Coach Jason Falcon said of capitalizing on his opponents miscues. “I wanted those fourth, fifth, and sixth runs – we were going to continue to put pressure on them and try to make them make mistakes.”

Timely North Shore hits and a string of errors chased Bierman from the game after five innings of work. He yielded six runs on six hits while striking out six and walking one. Only four of the runs were earned

One Navigator who was able to cash in on an error-filled night from Keene was shortstop Nick Belcher, who had three runs batted in on two hits and a sacrifice fly. Belcher seemed to have Bierman’s number each time he stepped into the box to face him.

“[I did the same thing] I always try to do,” Belcher said. “I tried to get a pitch and drive it. His curveball was pretty good tonight, but I just tried to get a good pitch that I could handle and put a good swing on it.”

With the top of the Navigators order (Justin Little, Mike Provencher, Sean McNaughton, Nick Belcher) accounting for six of North Shore’s ten runs, the bottom of the order was also able to make contributions. First baseman Kent Graham was 2 for 4 in the contest, knocking in a pair of runs and joining Mike Provencher in becoming the second Navigators player to homer this season.

“It felt great,” Graham spoke of his break-out evening. “I’ve been struggling, but I feel like tonight was a good stepping stone moving forward. It was nice to just get a win tonight – we really needed it.”

Although a pitcher is always thrilled to be given ten runs to work with in a game, Matt Costello and the rest of the North Shore pitching staff only needed one run to come up with the victory in tonight’s game. Perhaps the most impressive part of Costello’s performance tonight is that he is a rare talent in the NECBL, receiving time as a position player and a starting pitcher. North Shore Head Coach Jason Falcon spoke of the importance of having a player like Costello on your roster.

“He’s new, and we’re still learning him – I didn’t know he had this in him,” Falcon said. “We’re excited about the fact that he gives us another option - he’s another bullet in that pitching staff.”

“I asked him for five [innings],” Falcon continued. “He and I didn’t speak too much before the game, but you could tell by watching him operate that he wasn’t coming out unless he wasn’t doing well. We’re excited to have him as part of our rotation.”

In what has become typical fashion over the course of the season, the Nav’s bullpen came in to close the game out and preserve the shutout. Ryan Krull and Adam Herter pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth inning, respectively, to put the finishing touches on an outstanding start from Matt Costello.

The Navigators take on the Danbury Westerners tomorrow night, July 7th, at 7PM. Mike Gallo will be on the bump for North Shore.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Who ever was doing the live game blog should check with the manager before he said Herter has been yanked from the rotation. Just because a starter gets an inning in relief doesn't mean he is out of the rotation. You guys have a lot to learn about this game and how to present it to the public. You need to show your own team a little respect.

Joe Grav said...

Yah, we definitely don't show the Navigators any respect around here.

"Yanked" was probably not the right word to use, and I edited that line shortly after writing it - several hours before you made your comment.

As for having a lot to learn about the game... guilty as charged. I'm sure we all have a lot to learn - even Terry Francona.

And having to learn a lot about how to present information to the public - well, obviously, that's the whole purpose of being an intern. Learning more is pretty much why I'm here - it certainly is not for the non-existent paycheck. ;)

Thank you for your visit and your interest in our site.

JG

Zander said...

I'm pretty sure Herter was supposed to throw a side session today (since he started 3 days ago) and coach Falcon figured getting some Keene hitters out would be good for his confidence after his last start. Based on the situation in tonight's game, that seems like a pretty good idea to me...

Joe Grav said...

Yes, i.e. I made a boo-boo, therefore I made a correction.

Thanks for adding more info btw, Z.

Anonymous said...

Why an "Intern" has the ability to do the dumb things you do is crazy. No wonder why you tell the world how great it is at other stadiums and how bad it is here. No wonder why you crap on the on field entertainment. Your an intern with nobody watching over you. Why the owner hasn't gotten rid of you is beyond me. I hope he gets some professionalism in the sports information department before it's too late.

Anonymous said...

Hey Joe,
You kids try hard and do a lot. I appreciate all of your effort. I am happy to have what info you folks are able to provide. "Anonymous" that always says it all.
Yours,
David5512@aol.com
wearing the Spirits cap, scoring the game along the first base side, in a Teamsters Local 25 t- shirt. ;)

Anonymous said...

I believe that Adam Herter also came in to pitched the 9th when the Olympic team was at Fraser.

Zander said...

That he did, that was a game that coach Falcon had pointed to as an opportunity for some of his pitchers to get extra work in toward the beginning of the season. Lisowski pitched the first 5, Adams threw the 6th and 7th, and Krull and Herter pitched an inning apiece to finish it off.

You'll probably see a similar thing for the Dominican game, though this time it'll be Kitchens' turn in the rotation.

Joe Grav said...

No wonder why you tell the world how great it is at other stadiums

It's because I really enjoy some of these road trips, and I think the rest of you would enjoy them too. Sorry, next time I'll try to be miserable on the road.

and how bad it is here.

When did I say it was bad here? I love Fraser Field. If I didn't, I wouldn't spend every day there.

No wonder why you crap on the on field entertainment.

Never did that; I said that it was repetitive (a true statement). I think our on field crew does a great job.

Why an "Intern" has the ability to do the dumb things you do is crazy.

If you have issues with some of the 'things' done here, feel free to email me at SID@nsnavs.com or call me any time, 781-632-5610, and I'll gladly discuss these issues with you.

One of the "stupid" things I've done with this space is make it an open forum for honest discussion about the Navigators. It's why I'll never delete your angry attacking posts, even if you do choose to do so anonymously.

I like honest feedback.

I just wish you chose to make productive suggestions instead of going into attack mode.

Again, call or email me at any time.

JG

Joe Grav said...

I'm also proud to say that we provide the most coverage, the most information, the most features, and the most open discussion of any NECBL team. While I'm sure that our operation isn't perfect, I think we're doing pretty well.

I'm happy when we get criticism about, for instance, not including extra details or player interviews in a game story, making a mistake in an article, or not including photos. It proves my belief that we have set a very high standard for ourselves, in light of the fact that the most you get from other NECBL teams is a 400 word game rundown, once a day, with no quotes.

A lot of the other NECBL sites are outstanding, but we set out at the start of the year to try to do things a little bit differently and go much more in-depth. It seems to me like we're doing that pretty well.

JG

Anonymous said...

Normally, I would keep my nose out of this sort of situation, but as a fellow intern working for the Navigators I would just like to give my support for the SID. They do a great job every game with live updates, in-detail articles, incorporating pictures and feature stories with players. Beyond that, they are always willing, as are all of the interns at the Navs, to perform duties that have nothing to do with there "job" but are essential to run the operation. We are a first year team, so although perfection would be ideal, it is unrealistic.

As Joe stated, our website was designed to have an open, honest forum for discussion, suggestions, and criticism. It is important for a new organization to get feedback from fans, and this is an easy way to welcome and keep track of that. However, negative criticism and attacks at the staff does nothing to improve or change anything. So, to those who choose to remain anonymous, your attacks and insults mean nothing and if you care so much about how things are performed or facilitated in our organization, we invite you to post your positive suggestions which we will defiantly take into consideration.

To the SID, keep doing what you’re doing. You are all showing great professionalism in your responses, and let’s not forget that this is a learning experience for all of us! In the long run, we at least get one positive thing from these posts: you are generating interest and learning that people do actually value our work whether it is good or bad!!

See you all Thursday!!

Meg

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