Impressive Renegades launch 13th season

 

First round pick Evan Longoria has helped Renegades get off to a fast start.

by Martin Wilbur
The opening week of the Hudson Valley Renegades' 2006 season has surely been filled with excitement.

Come-from-behind wins, tight extra-inning games, an early divisional lead and the treat of seeing the Tampa Bay Devil Rays' first-round selection, Evan Longoria, has made for a memorable start to the Renegades' 13th season in Fishkill.

While Longoria is not expected to remain with the team long-he's anticipated to be moved up the minor league ladder by the weekend after hitting .407 with two homers and six RBI in his first six games-the Renegades (5-2) are optimistic everything else stays the same.

"When it comes down to it we've made things happen," said second baseman Joseph Callender, who went 3-for-4 and scored the winning run in Saturday night's 2-1, 11-inning triumph over the Staten Island Yankees. "I guess we've been pretty good at that lately."

That would be an understatement. After dropping their season opener last Tuesday at home to the Aberdeen IronBirds, 5-3 in 14 innings, they've responded with five wins in their ensuing six games. They have trailed at some point in all of their victories.

First-year Manager Matt Quatraro said he's been impressed with the confidence exuded by the players.

"It's nice to see the guys never give up," Quatraro said before Saturday's win against Staten Island. "We've been battling, we got behind (Friday night) and we just chipped away and chipped away."

Longoria was assigned to Hudson Valley, reportedly to ease his transition into professional ball. The highly touted 20-year-old out of Long Beach State, taken third in the country in this month's Major League draft, said the team will continue to perform once he moves on.

"They'll do good," said Longoria who hit his first two professional homers in consecutive games Saturday and in Sunday's 5-3 loss in Staten Island.

"We've got good team chemistry in the locker room and there's guys to fill holes. I mean it's not like I'm the team. There's a lot of guys doing a lot of things good and that's always important in a team game."

For the first week that has certainly been true. Shortstop Jairo De La Rosa earned New York-Penn League Player of the Week honors by going 11-for-25 (.440) with two home runs and two steals.

Quatraro said the entire pitching staff, particularly the bullpen, has been outstanding in shutting down the opposition, giving the Renegades a chance in each of their five come-from-behind wins.

Twice during the past week a reliever has worked out of a second-and-third-none-out situation, he said.

Covering 40 innings over the first seven games the bullpen has yielded just six earned runs (1.35 ERA).

"They've thrown strikes, they've even gotten out of jams that they haven't created themselves and battled out of them," said Quatraro.

Following the opening night 14-inning loss, the Renegades came back with a 6-5 win Wednesday against Aberdeen, then took the rubber game of the series with a 5-4 win in the bottom of the ninth.

Hudson Valley found the road to their liking in their first away contest of the season, erasing deficits of 3-0 and 7-5 on Staten Island Friday night to win in the late innings 8-7.

After their 2-1 win Saturday night, the Renegades lost Sunday in Staten Island 5-3, but came back Monday with a strong 4-1win in Brooklyn to end the opening week a half game in first place in the McNamara Division, in the newly configured New York-Penn League.

With the St. Louis Cardinals moving their league affiliate from New Jersey to State College, Pennsylvania, the Renegades are now in a four-team division with the Yankees, Cyclones and IronBirds.

The Pinckney Division now has six teams, mainly from Western New York, Pennsylvania and the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, who play their home games in Niles, Ohio. The Stedler Division consists of Lowell, Tri-City, Oneonta and Vermont. Vermont, an affiliate of the Nationals, are now called the Lake Monsters, ridding themselves of the Expos moniker.

The Renegades continue their exclusive play against division rivals with home games last night (Tuesday), Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. They face either the Yankees or Cyclones the rest of the week in home-and-home series through July 4. Next Wednesday they head out to start a three-game series in Aberdeen.