Giants looking to stop tailspin
Holyoke's four-gamelosing streak has put the Giants five games below .500, jeopardizing their playoff chances.
© 2004 The Republican Company. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

Wednesday, July 14, 2004
By MIKE BOGEN
mbogen@repub.com

HOLYOKE - Just like that, the Holyoke Giants are looking at hard times.
The Giants, who only last Saturday approached a rare day off in their 43-game New England Collegiate Baseball League schedule in the fourth and final Southern Division playoff spot - only a half-game out of second place - are riding a four-game losing streak.
They'll try to end that skein tonight at 7 against the Southern Division-leading Newport Gulls at MacKenzie Stadium.
It is a streak which has dropped the Giants into fifth place. They're a game (two in the loss column) behind the Danbury Westerners, who now occupy that final playoff position.
The Giants are three games behind the Manchester Silkworms and Riverpoint Royals, who are tied for second place, two games behind the Gulls.
It is a streak which has dropped Holyoke to 11-16, five games below .500 for the first time. The Giants had only once before been as many as three games below that mark, when a four-game losing streak from June 22-25 dropped them to 5-8.
It is, fortunately for Holyoke, a streak that's occurred as time is only beginning to become a factor for the league's playoff-berth chasers. But it's one that has to end sooner rather than later for the Giants to keep the postseason within hailing distance.
And ironically, it is a streak which, for the first time this season, is probably as much attributable to the team's pitching and fielding as its hitting.
"I told the guys last (Monday) night that we have to play a complete game," Holyoke coach Joel Southern said. "Last night (a 6-5 loss to Riverpoint), Blake Hamilton pitched well, and we scored some runs, but we got in that one inning and didn't make plays.
"We have to play complete games; that's been a challenge lately. We've lost a couple of games we should have won, and last night was a prime example of that," he said.
The Giants, who scored a total of two runs during the June losing streak, were victims of a nice pitching job by Torrington's Jeff Hourigan and a couple of relievers Sunday.
Since then, though, they've scored 13 runs in the last three games. That's 4.3 runs per game, which wouldn't be anything to write home to mother about ... unless you compared it to the 3.1 they averaged in the first 24 games.
Wilson Matos has gone 11-for-26 in his last six games, the number of consecutive games he's played at second base, to take over the team batting leadership. He's hitting .329.
Still, outfielder Isidro Fortuna has remained the Giants' greatest threat. He's hitting .321 and has all three Holyoke home runs, and 12 of it 31 extra-base hits.
He's driven in a team-best 14 runs and leads the club in on-base percentage (.392) and slugging average (.508).
"I've said this before, and I hate to keep harping on it, but there's an adjustment period to wood (bats)," Southern said. "We knew Matos had a huge year in the spring (at Quinnipiac College) and that he has a lot of pop in his bat for someone who's not a big guy.
"We like him in the number two spot, because he can not only get us hits, but he's also does the little things situationally.
"We've been really pleased with him in the infield, too," Southern said. "He had a little rough start, but he's settled down. Yeah, I'd have to say he's at second until he needs a rest, or he cools off."
Matos playing at second would move Seth Gordon, who's about ready to return from some hamstring issues, and James Chapman to third base, along with Matt Untiet.

© 2004 The Republican Company. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.