Unfortunately for the people of Queens, the Long Island Ducks have been generating more electricity than Con Edison over the last week. The biggest story in the New York area recently has been lengthy blackouts which are affecting thousands of people all around the state. However, there has been no shortage of power for the Ducks at Citibank Park, as the team continues to win one home game after another in front of standing room-only crowds.

The Ducks took the first two games of the series against Atlantic City to tie their old record of eleven straight victories, which occurred back in the 2002 season. Highlights from these games include Pat Ahearne improving his record to 8-0 and Pat Mahomes pitching his third straight complete game. Mahomes, who picked up his ninth victory of the season tying him for the league lead, has allowed just four earned runs in his past 27 innings of work.

This meant that Long Island had the chance to break the record last Thursday on the final night of a thirteen game home-stand which started back in the first-half. Everybody was expecting a pitcher's duel between Ducks starter Tony Fiore, who was a perfect 4-0 heading into the game, and Atlantic City starter Lincoln Mikkelsen, who currently has the lowest ERA and is widely regarded as the best pitcher in the Atlantic League. They did not disappoint, as Fiore barely outdid Mikkelsen, leading the Ducks to a thrilling 1-0 victory over the Surf and setting a new franchise record with twelve wins in a row.

"These two guys [Fiore and Mikkelsen] are, by far, two of the better pitchers in the league and they certainly proved it tonight," said Ducks Manager Don McCormack. Mikkelsen pitched seven innings allowing five hits and the games only run, while Fiore kept his perfect record intact by throwing 7-2/3 shutout innings, striking out five batters and giving up only six hits. "I knew that I would be matching up against Mikkelsen ahead of time," said Fiore. "So even though our team has been swinging the bats well, I told myself going in, that with the way this guy has been pitching, I was going to have to battle and come up with a good performance."

The other hero on this night was Massapequa resident Kevin Haverbusch, who is suddenly streaking since hitting the home run which clinched the firsthalf title for the Ducks. Haverbusch had half of Long Island's hits on the night, going 3-for-3 at the plate and knocking in the lone run. After back-to-back walks for Juan Gonzalez and Elvis Pena in the fourth inning, Haverbusch singled to score Gonzalez as the eventual game-winning run. Haverbusch, who is currently on a eight game hitting streak, has hit over .400 since the start of the second-half and his manager has certainly noticed improvement in his play. "Without question he is being more patient at the plate now as he gains more and more confidence," McCormack says, "Kevin really had to work for his hits tonight against a tough pitcher and it shows he is on the climb to get back to where he was over the past few seasons."

At this point, the Ducks had won 18 of their last 19 games to go along with the twelve straight victories, but manager Don McCormack did not consider the record-breaking streak to be that big of a deal. "For me, this record is obviously nice but it is not something I have really been focusing on," says McCormack, "The most important thing, I think, is that we won the first half and that we are back in first place to start the second half."

However, every streak has to end at some point and this one came to a screeching halt for the Ducks during their series in Newark. Playing on the road for the first time in over three weeks, Long Island lost all three games to the Bears over the weekend. This bump in the road does not at all take away from what the team has accomplished recently and they will look to rebound during this week's key series in Bridgeport. Another Duck Flies Away

Disregarding this past weekend in Newark, just about the only thing the Long Island Ducks have lost lately is yet another key player being signed away by a Major League team. Just a few days after playing in the All-Star Game, Tony Schrager was quickly picked up by the Florida Marlins organization. Schrager led all Atlantic League shortstops in batting during the first-half and becomes the second Duck in the last month to migrate south to Florida (joining Dominick Ambrosini).

"Having never really spent time on Long Island previously, I have really enjoyed it here," Schrager says, "I got to play with a lot of great guys and it also gave me the chance to make the short commute into Manhattan once in awhile to visit my sister." The Marlins announced that they had assigned Schrager to their Double-A team in Carolina. "Our organization is very proud of Tony," says general manager Michael Hirsch. "We will surely miss him, but we wish him the best of luck with the Mudcats."

Schrager is the fifth player overall to leave the Ducks for a return to major league-affiliated ball so far this season. While all of the players enjoy their time with the Ducks, the ultimate goal at this level is to catch the eyes of scouts from major league teams. "Everybody in this league would like to be in affiliated ball or back in the big leagues," says Ducks slugger Bucky Jacobsen, who previously played for the Seattle Mariners, "But the way I look at it, we might as well win some games and have fun while we are here because that is the only way you will get noticed."

Manager Don McCormack says he is not overly concerned about losing any more players because the minor leagues only have about six weeks left in their seasons so most of those team's rosters are set.

EXTRA INNINGS:

Despite losing three straight in Newark, Long Island heads into Bridgeport this week still clinging to first place in the North Division by a single game over both the Bears and Bluefish. After the three games against the Bluefish (Tuesday-Thursday), the Ducks return home for six more games at Citibank Park starting with this weekend's series against fellow first-half champions, the Lancaster Barnstormers.

 The Ducks and Commerce Bank have joined together to offer four local kids the chance to bring a Ducks player to school with them. Fans can stop by any Long Island Commerce Bank to pick up an application, which asks entrants to write an essay answering the question: "Why My Community is Important to Me." All applications must be mailed to the Long Island Ducks by August 31st. Students from Kindergarten through eighth grade are welcome to enter the contest, which will be broken into two categories, elementary (grades K-5) and junior high (grades 6-8). Two winners will be selected from each of these groups by a judging panel from the Ducks front office and the four lucky students will get to bring a Ducks player to class for one hour at some point during the upcoming school year.

"We are proud to be able to team up with Commerce Bank for this great promotion," says Ducks general manager Michael Hirsch. "Our organizations are proud members of the Long Island community and we look forward to promoting community pride in our area schools."