Swing make the most of home-field edge

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By Steve Batterson | Tuesday, May 23, 2006 1:38 AM CDT | () comments

It took a lucky rabbit’s foot and a cold shower Monday night for the Swing of the Quad-Cities to cool off Clinton.

Timely hitting, good pitching, and a solid defensive effort            didn’t hurt, either.

It all added up as the Swing halted a three-game losing streak that included a pair of frustrating losses to the                  LumberKings with a 10-5 win at John O’Donnell Stadium.

“We looked like a totally                different team from the one that’s been out there the past couple of days,’’ Quad-City infielder Randy Roth said.

He wasn’t the only person who felt that way.

“It was like night and day,’’ Swing outfielder A.J. Van Slyke said. “We’ve probably had eight, nine, 10 games this season that we should have won but didn’t for one reason or another. This was more like the way we’re capable of playing but haven’t been. It doesn’t make a lot of sense.’’

Not much did Monday night during a game that saw play halted twice by strange                 occurrences.

In the fourth inning, play was stopped for several minutes as a rabbit hopped around in front of home plate.

The varmint eventually made its way to the top step of the Swing dugout to watch as           Quad-Cities broke open a 1-1 game with a four-run inning.

In the seventh, the infield sprinklers sprang into action, sending Clinton reliever Gerry Oakes scrambling for drier ground and forcing Quad-Cities to wait a couple minutes before scoring its final two runs of the game to open a 10-1 lead.

Bryan Anderson drove home the Swing’s last two runs with a double, his fourth hit of the game.

The effort, part of a 14-hit attack by Quad-Cities, was            complemented by three hits apiece from Roth and Van Slyke.

“That’s the way it should work every night,’’ Van Slyke said. “When you look at our lineup, we should be doing this a lot more often. I think what we learned the last couple of days is that you can’t win a game with just one guy getting it done.’’

Roth and Anderson hit              back-to-back doubles twice in the game, and the Swing worked together to break a 1-1 tie with a four-run fourth inning.

A one-out double by Roth was the first of five straight hits by Quad-Cities, sending LumberKings starter Zach Phillips to the showers when the first four batters reached in a three-run fifth that extended the Swing lead to 8-1.

The effort allowed Cory Meacham (3-2) to earn his second straight win. Meacham gave up one run while scattering six hits over seven innings, the only run he has allowed in his past 17 innings.

“Our good hitters were getting big hits and putting them together, and that’s how this is supposed to work,’’ Quad-City manager Keith Mitchell said. “Meacham is getting stronger with every start and had good sink on his fastball. The pieces just all came together.’’

As that happened, things fell apart for the LumberKings, who hit into a pair of tone-setting double plays and hurt themselves with four errors.

“Come off of a couple of wins, our performance was a little disappointing,’’ Clinton manager Andy Fox said. “Our guys have to understand they have to bring their best every day, or in this league you won’t win.’’

Steve Batterson can be contacted at (563) 383-2290 or sbatterson@qctimes.com.