Former Yankees Leaving a Mark in Bridgeport

Former Yankees Leaving a Mark in Bridgeport

By Christopher Saunders
Prior  to  Friday night’s game against the New Britain Bees,  the Bridgeport Bluefish were three and five, two games below .500. With the help of former Yankee right-handers ,starting pitcher Jonathan Albaladejo and closer David Carpenter the wins have just kept on coming.
Coming into Friday‘s game,  Albaladejo had struggled at the beginning of the season, pitching only three and two- thirds,  surrendering five runs(12.27 ERA) that included a home run in the process.  Baseball is a game of adjustments, however, and if Friday night’s game was an indication of things to come,  Albaladejo’s arrow might be trending upward.  Albaladejo pitched a strong five innings, surrendering only one run, striking out five, and at one point retiring six batters in a row.
NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 22:  Jonathan Albaladejo #63 of the New York Yankees walks back to the dug out during a game against the Tampa Bay Rays on September 22, 2010 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx borough of New York City.  (Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 22: Jonathan Albaladejo #63 of the New York Yankees walks back to the dug out during a game against the Tampa Bay Rays on September 22, 2010 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

 

“I felt pretty good coming out of the bullpen”, Albaladejo said, “especially my breaking ball; it was working very well.” Of Albaladejo’s five strikeouts, three of them came on the breaking ball.  What also helped Albaladejo was first pitch strikes and attacking the Bees’  hitters.  The team as a whole is one of the most patient teams in the Liberty Division having thirty-eight base on balls.
I asked Albaladejo what his game plan was with his catcher,  Rossmel Perez.  Would he attack the Bees’ hitters? “My plan at the beginning of the game was to attack the strike zone…fastballs and a lot of them.  But when I came out for the second inning, I noticed they weren’t making adjustments, so I kept attacking with (a) fastball until the fourth inning,” he stated.   Only until then did the Bees finally make an adjustment, but Albaladejo was more than prepared to snap off some nasty curveballs that had both depth and tilt at about eleven to five break.
As with any baseball game when the game is tight and with less than a four-run lead going into the ninth inning (and your team is ahead), you bring in your closer.  For the Bluefish, David Carpenter was their man. Carpenter shut down the Bees,  striking out two.   He throws with power out of the bullpen combining a trade mark live fastball and good hard slider with late darting action towards the bottom of the strike zone.
“It was a very good team win today,” Carpenter said.  “Guys put the bat on the ball; defense made some nice plays. Albaladejo really ate up some innings for us and did a nice job,” he added. ”  David Kubiak just keeps doing what he’s doing as it’s dog= gone impressive.”  Carpenter being the class act he is,  didn’t talk about himself at all or how he did on the mound. He was more into talking about his teammates and what helped the team win.
“He’s got a great breaking pitch,”  Carpenter said when speaking about Kubiak.  “I don’t know if it’s a slider or curveball, but that pitch is nasty.”
Being able to make it back to the big leagues is a dream everyone wants to achieve, but one that is not easily reached. For Jonathan Albaladejo and David Carpenter their dream of reaching the promised land is still within their grasp.  Keep busting your butt, guys, knowing that no matter what it takes, all you need is one person to see you do something great or impressive enough who will give you a shot.  That goes for any player,  not just those on the Bluefish roster, but all those in the Independent League.
 Keep fighting, don’t ever give up, never give in,  and forever believe in yourself.

Comment-  Twitter- @C_Broadcaster, Facebook- Chris Saunders, Email Chrisweather16@yahoo.com

Print Friendly, PDF & Email