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Fowl Ball! Weekly report on the DUCKS "It's a nice night to be from Massapequa." These were the words of Ducks manager Dave Lapoint shortly after his team had beaten the Somerset Patriots for the second time in one night last Thursday at Citibank Park. Lapoint was referring to infielder and Massapequa Park native Rob Cafiero, as well as outfielder Kevin Haverbusch, who is from Massapequa. Both players played major roles in Long Island's sweep of the doubleheader. In the first game, Cafiero came to the plate in the bottom of the fifth inning and with one powerful swing, hit a solo home run over the centerfield fence. This was the first run scored in the game and it gave the Ducks a lead which they would not surrender. However, this was also a very special moment on a personal level for Cafiero, as it was his first home run in his three years wearing the Ducks uniform. "It feels good to finally get the monkey off my back there," says Cafiero, "I went through the past two seasons without hitting one so getting the chance to run around the bases here at home was really nice." Minor injuries to regular starters Carl Everett and Damian Rolls have allowed Cafiero the chance to get more playing time on a regular basis over the last week. It is obvious that the 27- year-old first baseman has the full confidence of his manager and teammates, all of whom believe he can contribute when in the lineup. "Rob has done really well from the beginning of spring training so I know we don't lose anything by having him in the lineup," says Dave Lapoint, "He has looked calm and comfortable at the plate, he does not make any mistakes and he definitely came up big for us tonight." Teammate and fellow Massapequan Kevin Haverbusch proved on this night that he is not only a talented ballplayer but might also have a future as a psychic. "Actually you can go and ask Rob but I told him before the game that I had a feeling he was going to hit a home run tonight," Haverbusch said after the doubleheader, "I knew he would have the chance to play in both games and get more at-bats than usual, I don't know, I just sensed it would happen tonight and I called it." (Cafiero would later confirm this to be true.) When Haverbusch was not predicting home runs he was getting in on the fun himself. The suddenly streaking outfielder hit a solo home run of his own early in game two of the doubleheader. After a ridiculous spring training that saw Haverbusch hit two homers and knock in ten runs over just three exhibition games, it was a surprise when he got off to a slow start over the first few games of the season. The struggles are now a distant memory, as Haverbusch comes into play this week with an eight game hitting streak and has reached base in 14 straight games. Through the first nine games of the season Haverbusch had zero home runs and only five RBIs, but during the last week alone, the 30-year-old has re- sponded with three home runs and seven RBIs raising his batting average more than 30 points to get over the .300 mark. This is the kind of play that prompted manager Dave Lapoint to declare in the preseason that Haverbusch, a former draft pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates, was one of his players "who might not be here for very long if he keeps hitting this well." Haverbusch, who has been hitting in the clean-up spot with Carl Everett out of the lineup, says he just wanted to put last season out of his mind and focus on this year. "I don't want to rem embe r anything about last year to be honest, right now I feel good and I am seeing the ball much better since getting Lasik eye surgery over the offseason," said Haverbusch, "It does not even matter where I am hitting in the lineup, I just go to the plate with the same mindset and it seems to be working right now." Ducks catcher Jamie Pogue also got involved in the home run derby, smacking his first two of the season over the outfield wall in the second game of the doubleheader. Dave Lapoint joked that Pogue, who is from Ontario, Canada, "enjoyed playing in the chilly and windy conditions because it was hockey weather." In total, the Ducks had hit four home runs by the end of the night, which was one more than the Somerset pitching staff had allowed all together over the previous ten games of the season. "Oh wow, that is interesting, I didn't know about that," said Haverbusch after being told of this stat, "I can tell you they [Somerset] do have a really good pitching staff but I guess they just left a few pitches up and when they did we didn't miss any of them." Extra Innings: Last week the Ducks announced the signing of outfielder Ron Acuna and the 27-year-old Venezuela native made his Long Island debut during the series with Somerset. "Ron is a legitimate centerfielder and will help alleviate the pressure off some of the guys who are not normally centerfielders but have been forced to play there," says Dave Lapoint, "He has not played recently so it might take him a little while to get going, but he certainly hasn't looked too bad so far." Acuna, who spent seven years playing within the New York Mets' farm system, is batting .250 with two RBIs his first six games as a Duck. +The Ducks also announced this week that infield coach Kevin Baez has accepted a coaching position within the New York Mets' minor league system and will immediately report to the team's spring training facility in Port St. Lucie.
+Long Island returns home from their five game road trip for a three game series against the Road Warriors at Citibank Park (Thursday-Saturday). The Ducks will then head to Bridgeport over the Memorial Day holiday for their first encounter with the division rival Bluefish. This series will mark the return of Ducks manager Dave Lapoint to the ballpark at Harbor Yard since managing the Bluefish last season.
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