Every now and then a name will pop up in my mind or in conversation around this time of year regarding a former Revs’ player and his potential of coming back to York. Given the success left-handed starter Chris Waters had for the Revs in 2012, I figured he’d be a lock to come back in 2013.

So it surprised me a couple weeks ago when I broached the subject with Revs’ manager Mark Mason, who informed me Waters had found a player-coach deal with a pro team in Hawaii. Now that I’ve found time to get around to this, Revs’ baseball operations manager Andrew Ball recently provided me a phone number for Waters, which I called Wednesday to get to the bottom of what is going with the former big league starter.

Before we get to that, he’s a refresher on what Waters did last season:

Waters joined the Revs in mid-June shortly after the club released Jesus Sanchez. The former Baltimore Orioles starter came to York 15 months removed from Tommy John surgery to his throwing elbow. But the southpaw didn’t suffer the injury in typical fashion. Rather, it was caused in 2010 when Waters was at-bat while playing in a game for Nashville against Albuquerque, the Class AAA affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers. An Albuquerque pitcher drilled Waters in his throwing arm with a pitch. Anyway, Waters had a pretty good year considering his health factors. The 32-year-old posted a 6-7 ERA and 4.38 ERA over 18 starts, striking out 59 and walking 29 in 90.1 innings of work. Among his 2012 highlights, Waters threw a complete-game one-hitter at Sugar Land on Sept. 18, marking the first time he accomplished the feat since 2008 as a member of the Baltimore Orioles. Overall, it was 10th complete game of his now 12-year pro career. He was one of three York pitchers to throw a complete-game nine inning shutout in 2012.

Given his success and his health factors, I figured the 32-year-old Waters would have a good shot at getting picked up in 2013 should he come back to York and post solid numbers again while showing he’s healthy.

Unfortunately for the baseball vet and his family, some factors outside of the game caused him to contemplate retirement.

Paralyzed: It was the day before Waters’ Aug. 28 start when he learned his younger brother, a husband and father to two young kids ages eight and seven months, was involved in a serious motorcycle accident.

“He was an electrician in Florida,” Waters said. “He was on the way home from Universal Studios, where he was working on a ride. He got in a wreck around 3 a.m.”

The accident left Waters’ brother, who will turn 27 later this month, paralyzed from the chest down.

“To be honest after last season I basically hung ‘em up. I was retiring after this past year. My brother getting in the wreck and breaking his neck…the mental side of it being away from my family. That put family in a different perspective for me.”

Waters said his brother is doing as well he can recovering in a hospital in Tampa, Florida.

“He’s in a wheelchair,” Waters said. “He’s paralyzed from the chest down. He’s working hard to gain ground.”

Opportunity: Waters is living in South Carolina with his wife and their two-year-old son this off-season. The couple is expecting is their second child in July. It’ll be Waters’ fourth child – he also had two kids with his ex-wife.

He’s spent the off-season working towards a business degree online through the University of Phoenix while staying in baseball shape at The Dugout, an indoor baseball and softball facility in Myrtle Beach. It’s there he met Jeff Brooks, a former Arizona Diamondbacks’ and San Diego Padres’ prospect who played high school ball across the Susquehanna River in Lancaster County for the Solanco Mules. Brooks last played in 2006 as a member of North Shore (Can-Am League) and is taking over the managerial reigns this season for Na Koa Ikaika, which plays its home games on the island of Maui in Hawaii.

In search of a pitching coach, Brooks kept pushing Waters to help him out and come to Hawaii, a place Waters has never been.

“He (Brooks) is one of the guys who gives lessons down here (at The Dugout). He was the hitting coach last year (for Maui) and asked to be the manager for them this year. He asked me for two months straight to be his pitching coach. We got to talking and were able to work out a deal where I could coach and also continue pitching.”

According to Waters, Maui is a lot like the Atlantic League in that it puts together a new roster of pro players each season. However, the schedule is a bit different to say the least. Maui  plays teams on the Hawaiian islands, in addition to trips to San Francisco, Japan and South Korea. It’s those latter trips that made the deal more appealing for Waters.

“Before I had Tommy John surgery, I was talking with a team in Japan and they were talking big numbers (for a contract) and then I got hurt,” Waters said.

So, there’s a chance Waters could end up pitching against some teams in Japan. And if he does well, it could lead to a gig with a team there. Plus, the Maui deal offers other benefits for Waters. He said he’ll be able to make a lot more money than he would in the Atlantic League. And he’ll be able to test being a coach, something he’s had thoughts of doing after his playing days.

“I figured I’d give it a shot this year and see what happens,” Waters said. “My ultimate goal is to be a scout or a police officer. That’s the two things I can do if I’m done with ball.”

Return to York?: Waters said he’ll be leaving South Carolina for Maui at the end of April. The season starts around the end of May.

“But the season ends at end of August,” Waters said. “I told Mason if they had an opening around that time then I could potentially come back. I really enjoyed it last year. But as far as financially, it wasn’t quite feasible to come back (this season).”

J.Rich update: Waters said he still keeps in touch with former Revs’ pitcher Jason Richardson. The players were high school teammates and later teammates again in the Atlanta Braves’ organization. Richardson had a locker next to Waters’ in York last season while Richardson rehabbed from Tommy John surgery. If you remember, Richardson was putting up arguably his best numbers of his career in 2011, going 4-0 with a 3.33 ERA in 19 relief appearances, before the season was cut short due to injury problems, which led to TJ surgery.

Anyway, Waters said Richardson is still hoping to sign on with a team somewhere this season.

“I told him we don’t have much money (in Maui) to offer, but I would love to have him,” he said.

 

DeSalvo update: Revs’ manager Mark Mason said Wednesday evening that he thinks former Revs’ starter Matt DeSalvo has signed to play in Taiwan again this season. Last season, York was hoping to add the right-hander in September to bolster its starting rotation going into the post-season. But DeSalvo couldn’t give a clear timeline as to when he could become available since his team in the Chinese Professional Baseball League made the playoffs. York eventually had to proceed without him.

DeSalvo helped York capture back-to-back Atlantic League titles in 2010 and 2011 – his first ever championships won as a pro. In 2010, he came to York in mid-August after pitching for Class AAA New Orleans (Marlins). The former big leaguer went on to post a 5-2 record and 4.67 ERA in seven starts and five relief appearances for the Revs. He followed that up in 2011 with a 6-3 record and 3.89 ERA in 18 starts and five relief appearances.

Loudon Hounds update: The Loudon (Va.) County Planning Commission approved plans for a soccer and baseball stadium at a meeting Tuesday night. Should the stadium ever come to fruition, it would be home to the Loudon Hounds, which is aiming to become a member of the Atlantic League. While it’s good news for the Hounds, it sounds like the stadium still has some hoops to jump through before getting a plan finalized. For more more details on it, click here.

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This is a third of a four-part series taking a look back at the 2012 York Revolution. If you haven’t already, check out the recap of the Revs’ infield here or read the recap of outfield here. Also, I finally got around to putting up a recap of the 31 players picked up by big league clubs in 2012, which includes the final results of the what those players did with their respective affiliated and (for a pair of players) big league clubs.

Anyway, before we get to the Revs recap on starting pitching, here are a couple other noteworthy items to check out:

–Atlantic League improvements: Check out my column from Monday about what areas the Atlantic League can improve in 2013. Includes umpires, length of games and drug testing. There were a few other items that could’ve been thrown in there, but for the sake of space those were the top three for me.

–Ducks are the champs: The Long Island Ducks forced a Game 5 with the Lancaster Barnstormers and ended up taking the deciding contest by a final score of 5-4. And the Ducks won the game in dramatic fashion, getting the win run across the plate in the bottom of the ninth with two outs on a suicide squeeze. Gotta say I’m shocked Long Island pulled this off. I thought for sure Lancaster would win this in four games. Check out the full story from Lancaster Intelligencer Journal-New Era reporter Burt Wilson here. With the victory, Long Island earns its second league title and first since 2004.

–Loudoun: The Loudoun (Va) Hounds announced last week that it had reached a new financing deal and a new location for a ballpark, with hopes to begin playing in the Atlantic League in 2014. Then again, we heard much of the same news roughly this time last year, only to see things fall through. I caught up with Peter Kirk about this topic last week. Kirk is the chairman of Opening Day Partners, which owns five of the eight teams in the Atlantic League. Kirk confirmed that Loudoun is not yet an official member of the Atlantic League. Here’s what he had to say:

“The league has given them a period of exclusivity to put a deal together. That’s all they have. The league doesn’t like to have the same people running around in the same market area putting a deal together. Loudoun has done a fantastic job with marketing and positioning of the team. They seem to have most of approvals for a stadium. They seem to have their financing together. They asked the league if they can move to another sight. We didn’t really care about that part. It’s up to them as far as the location they’d like to put a park. It’s a great market and it fits geographically with the league. I hope it works out.”

Second Texas team?: Kirk also gave an update on a possible second team in Texas after the success of the expansion Sugar Land Skeeters in 2012. Kirk has stated numerous times that ODP has been working with towns in the Houston area over the past year with the goal of bringing a second Atlantic League club to the area. Here’s what he had to stay this time around regarding a second Texas club:

“I’m hopeful in 2013 we will have identified at least one more city out there. Hopefully we start bringing them into the league in 2014. That’s the plan. Hopefully we can accomplish it.”

 

With all of that out of the way, here’s the recap of the Revs’ 2012 pitching staff:

York started out with the rotation of RHP Corey Thurman, RHP Ryan Feierabend, LHP Chris Cody as the top four starters. Veteran lefty Jesus Sanchez eventually won the fifth spot, beating out lefty Yunior Novoa and right-handers Omar Javier and Shaun Garceau for the job.

In the end, the Revs relied on Thurman, Feierabend and Cody for most of the year, with lefty Chris Waters and righty Derrick Gordon joining the team mid-season and having decent performances with York.

Picked up: The Revs saw two starters get picked up by big league clubs during the season. The Cincinnati Reds signed Feierabend after he went 3-2 with a 3.24 ERA in seven starts for York. At Class Louisville, the lefty posted a 1-4 record and 6.75 ERA in seven starts before being released by the Reds. Feierabend then returned to York and finished the regular season with a 9-5 record and 2.70 ERA in 18 starts in the Atlantic League for the Revs.

 

 

 

Right-hander Shawn Hill was a bit more successful. The righty started off the year with York out of the bullpen, giving up a combined eight earned runs in two appearances. He then switched to his normal role as a starter and pitched a combined 27.2 scoreless innings, setting a new club record in the process. The Blue Jays signed Hill in June and he went on to put up a 9-2 record and 4.52 ERA at Class AAA Las Vegas. The Blue Jays called him up to the big league roster in the final week of the season. Hill made the most of his one relief appearance. Facing the New York Yankees on Sept. 29, Hill relieved Blue Jays’ starter Ricky Romero and went on to toss three scoreless innings, walking two to pick up his first major league win since 2010 – which came with Toronto. Hill became the first pitcher to return to the majors and earn a win after playing for the Revs.

Garceau, Sanchez: A pair of notable moves were made in June when York released right-hander Shauen Garceau and left-hander Jesus Sanchez. Both made significant contributions for York in the previous year or two, but had drop-offs in 2012.

In 2011, Garceau went 4-11 with a 5.45 ERA in 21 starts and 11 relief appearances going back and forth between the rotation and the bullpen. He had his best stretch that year from June 29 to Sept. 11 when he went 3-3 with a 3.41 ERA in 20 games (10 starts). Additionally, he came within two outs of a complete-game shutout tossing a then career-high 8.1 IP. Two starts later he notched a complete-game shout with a four-hitter and nine Ks against the Road Warriors. In 201, Garceau was plagued by injuries all season. He first pitched for the Revs on May 4, tossing a scoreless inning in relief against Bridgeport. He would go on the inactive list the next day to recover from tendonitis in his throwing arm. He returned a month later and gave up two runs on one hit and a walk in one inning of relief against Camden on June 5. He tossed scoreless third of an inning on June 7, but was released shortly after. The right-hander moved on to the Kansas City T-Bones (American Association) and went 9-6 with a 3.47 ERAin 16 starts and one relief appearance.

The 37-year-0ld Sanchez departed York with a 6.49 ERA in six starts and four relief appearances. Sanchez was on a short leash to start the season after an unimpressive 2011 campaign with York, when he went 3-2 with a 6.67 ERA in just six starts before he abruptly left York to return to his native Dominican Republic. The former big leaguer had been struggling to return to his 2010 numbers, when he posted a 3.65 ERA in 16 starts before getting picked up by the Oakland Athletics.

The Revs also released right-hander Omar Javier after he gathered a 5.67 ERA and 1-6 record in nine starts and 13 relief appearances a year after he had a 5.65 ERA in eight starts and three relief appearances for the Road Warriors.

Spot starts: A pair of pitchers made a couple of notable spot starts during the 2012 season.

James Houser was the first. The former big leaguer came to York after sitting out the entire 2011 season because of open-heart surgery to repair an enlarged aorta. He had hopes of eventually to the starting rotation, where he spent most of his pro career prior to the surgery. The most memorable moment Houser had in his time with the Revs this season came back on June 12 when he started against Southern Maryland in place of Shawn Hill. Houser lived up to the task by tossing 2.2 innings of scoreless ball, giving up four hits while striking out two and walking one. The Revs collected just enough runs and seven pitchers combined to hold the Blue Crabs to just two runs in a 3-2 victory. York later released Houser after he went 2-1 with a 5.51 ERA in two starts and 31 relief appearances. He soon joined the Camden and finished the year with a 3-0 record and 4.01 ERA in 25 relief appearances for the Riversharks.

Left-hander Wade Korpi was lights-out in his three spot starts in the regular seaso. The former Miami Marlins prospect had a stellar 1.93 ERA in 9.1 innings over those three starts for York.

In the end: Right-hander Corey Thurman had another solid season. The longtime Revs’ pitcher went 14-3 with a 3.81 ERA over 27 regular season starts. He broke the club record he set in wins a year before, when he went 13-3 with a 3.32 ERA in 25 starts. The 14 wins tied three Lancaster pitchers for the most in the league. His 3.81 ERA ranked eighth in the league among starters. However, he did give up a team-high 20 homers while striking out 76 and walking 52 over 147.2 innings pitched.

Feierabend proved to be York’s ace. He accumulated 9-5 record and 2.71 ERA in 18 starts in the Atlantic League for the Revs. In between, he got picked up by the Reds and pitched at Class AAA Louisville before being cut and returning to York. He ranked third in the league in ERA among starters.

Left-hander Chris Cody finished the year with a 10-14 record and 4.38 ERA in 28 starts. Though inconsistent at times, Cody still did a good job at eating up innings, tossing a total of 164.1, which ranked seventh-most in the league. The former Milwaukee Brewers and Atlanta Braves prospect also had a steller strikeout-to-walk ratio, with 112 Ks to 29 walks.

Waters joined the Revs in mid-June shortly after the club released Jesus Sanchez. The former Baltimore Orioles starter came to York 15 months removed from Tommy John surgery to his throwing elbow. But the southpaw didn’t suffer the injury in typical fashion. Rather, it was caused in 2010 when Waters was at-bat while playing in a game for Nashville against Albuquerque, the Class AAA affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers. An Albuquerque pitcher drilled Waters in his throwing arm with a pitch. Anyway, Waters had a pretty good year considering his health factors. The 32-year-old posted a 6-7 ERA and 4.38 ERA over 18 starts, striking out 59 and walking 29 in 90.1 innings of work. Among his 2012 highlights, Waters threw a complete-game one-hitter at Sugar Land on Sept. 18, marking the first time he accomplished the feat since 2008 as a member of the Baltimore Orioles. Overall, it was 10th complete game of his now 12-year pro career. He was one of three York pitchers to throw a complete-game nine inning shutout in 2012.

York acquired left-hander Derrick Gordon in mid-July from Sugar Land, where Gordon was 1-4 with a 6.43 ERA in eight starts and seven relief appearances. Gordon turned it around in York, going 5-3 with a 4.02 ERA in 12 starts.

Stay or go?: One would think Feierabend and Waters might get a minor league spring training invite with a big league club. Should that not happen, though, I’d like to see both return. Feierabend can clearly be a dominant pitcher in the Atlantic League. Waters, though inconsistent this season, should be able to improve on his 2012 numbers considering he’ll be a full two-plus years removed from Tommy John surgery at the beginning of the 2013 season. He also proved he has the veteran mindset to overcome pretty much anything considering he played the last month of the season while his younger brother recovered in a hospital from a serious motorcycle accident. In addition, both Feierabend and Waters also have the potential to get picked up by big league clubs in the near future (again, that’s the main purpose of the Atlantic League).

Thurman and Cody both win and eat up a ton of innings. Though at times it may not be pretty – the duo combined to allow 38 homers – pitchers who can find a way to win and last a long time in the process are a rare commodity in the Atlantic League. Thurman, 33, likely no longer draws the interest of big league scouts. But for reasons stated above, and the fact that he’s been great in the community and the clubhouse, he’s a perfect fit to return in 2013. Cody, 28, is just a year removed from being picked up by the Atlanta Braves in 2011. So, he has great potential to earn a big league contract if he can be more consistent in 2013.

That leaves lefty Derrick Gordon. Yes, he had a solid year – 5-3 with a 4.02 ERA over 12 starts for York – but he wouldn’t be a big loss if he doesn’t return to the Revs in 2013. Not only was Gordon inconsistent, he also didn’t go long in games – only three starts did he toss at least six innings. That can be taxing on a bullpen over a long season. Then again, Revs’ manager Mark Mason did a great job turning Gordon around after he went 1-4 with a 6.43 in 15 games at Sugar Land. Plus, Gordon is just two years removed from having a 2.63 ERA in 11 starts for the Somerset Patriots in 2011.

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In case you haven’t check out these blog entries yet, click here to read the final notes and observations from the Freedom Division Championship Series or here to read about former Revs pitcher Shawn Hill making history when picking up a win in the big leagues Saturday with the Blue Jays.

Also, check out my column reflecting on the Revs’ 2012 season.

THANK YOU! I understand if most of you check out on baseball for a little while. So, just in case, I want to say thank you to  all of those who daily check in on this blog throughout the year. It definitely makes me feel like all the hard work I put in for you all is worth it.

For those of you who stick around, I’ll be posting stuff on here at least through October related to the Revs and the Atlantic League, maybe recapping the pitching staff, outfield and infield, notable roster moves made that aided down the stretch (and moves that didn’t happen), as well as recapping the Atlantic League players who earned affiliated contracts this season. There’s also going to be an article on the final 2012 attendance numbers coming looking at the Revs and the rest of the Atlantic League.

Revs playing winter ball: No. York is not going to be suiting up during the months of November and December. Rather, there are quite a few Revs’ players planning on playing winter ball during the so-called “off-season.”

According to York baseball operations manager Andrew Ball, there are at least seven players who have expressed interest in playing somewhere this winter. He said slugger Chris Nowak, short stop Joe Thurston and first baseman Johan Limonta plan on playing in Venezuela. Starting pitcher Chris Waters, reliever Kris Regas, second baseman Andres Perez and outfielder Michael Hernandez also plan on playing somewhere this winter.

Roster moves: There are always outs and ends to tie up at the end of every season, sometimes there are previous deals like “player to be named later” or “future considerations” to seal up. Ball said the Revs could make roster moves right now, but Atlantic League clubs are advised to wait until the playoffs are finished to do so. As a result, clubs will likely start messing with their rosters around Oct. 10. As for the 2013 season, teams can’t begin to put their rosters together until Jan. 1, 2013.

Championship Series: The Long Island Ducks defeated the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, 5-4, in the deciding Game Five of the Liberty Division series on Sunday night. Long Island scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to eventually to win it. Two of those came on a two-run homer from former Rev Bryant Nelson. Former Rev Matt Esquivel scored the final run on Shawn Williams RBI single. The Ducks will now move on to face the Lancaster Barnstormers in the Atlantic League Championship Series, which begins Wednesday in Lancaster. That will mean eight of the last nine league champions will have won a first-half division crown.

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Veteran left-hander Chris Waters threw perhaps his best game since undergoing Tommy John surgery roughly 21 months ago.

The former Baltimore Orioles starter threw a complete-game one-hitter at Sugar Land on Tuesday night, striking out six Skeeters batters in the process. The last time he threw a complete game? In 2008 as a member of the Baltimore Orioles. Overall, it’s his 10th complete game of his now 12-year pro career.

York’s offense provided six runs on 12 hits to score a 6-0 win in the series opener down in Texas in the first of a six-game series to finish off the regular season for both clubs. It was the only game played Tuesday night in the Atlantic League the three others in the northeast part of the U.S. were rained out.

It marked the Revs’ 400th victory in franchise history.

It’s also Waters’ first complete-game effort this year for the Revs. His previous innings-high was seven, twice reaching that mark in August.

The lefty improved to 6-7 on the year and bumped up his ERA to 4.38 in his 18th start of the year.

Though there have been a few seven-inning complete game efforts from Revs’ pitchers this year in shortened double-header games, Waters becomes the third York starter to throw a inning complete game this season. Corey Thurman did it on June 3 at Long Island, holding the Ducks to one run on eight hits with 3 Ks and no walks. Ryan Feierabend did it on May 25 at home against Southern Maryland, allowing two runs on six hits with 8 Ks and one walk.

For what it’s worth, York moved to within 1.5 games of Lancaster for first place in the Atlantic League Freedom Division second-half race. Either way, York has already clinched the wildcard and will play Lancaster in the first round.

 

 

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The York Revolution will return home Monday for the first of a four-game set against Long Island. And the Revs will do so coming off a three-game “sweep” of the Camden Riversharks. I say sweep because York was originally scheduled to play two games at home and two away against Camden over the weekend, but Friday’s home game was rained out.

York took care of the Riversharks in dominating fashion as well, outscoring Camden 28-3 in the three games. The Revs have now gone 5-1 in their last six, 6-2 in last eight, 7-4 in last 11, 10-6 in last 16 and 13-8 in last 21 games.

The Friday rainout has been rescheduled for Thursday, Aug. 30, which was originally going to be an off-day for York.

Standings: It’s been hard for the Revs to gain any ground on Lancaster Barnstormers, who have stayed white-hot in the second half by winning the first-half Atlantic League Freedom Division title by a whopping nine games over the Revs. Lancaster (68-38 overall, 23-13 second half) sits 3.5 games up on York (55-50, 19-16) in the second-half division race (through Sunday). Instead, it looks like York will have to focus on making into the playoffs via wildcard.

After winning the first-half Patriot Division by five games over Camden, Long Island (52-53 overall) is a league-worst 13-23 in the second half of the season thus far. Southern Maryland (50-56, 20-16) and Bridgeport (49-55, 18-16) appear destined to battle it out for the second-half Patriot Division title. As a result, it looks like just one wildcard spot will be open for the taking.The wildcard is determined by a team’s overall record, not just the second half.

As it stands now, York is 3.5 games up on the Somerset Patriots (53-55, 18-20) in the lone wildcard spot. Bridgeport (50-55, 19-16) is five games back, while Camden (48-56, 14-21) sits 6.5 games out and Sugar Land (47-60, 18-19) is nine games back. Looking at York’s schedule, after the Revs play Long Island in four games at home this week, York will finish out the regular season with 19 of their final 29 games on the road. Six more games are scheduled between York and Somerset (at Somerset for three Aug. 24-26, at York Sept. 14-16.

Pitching: While York’s offense has been hot as of late, so has the pitching, especially the starters. York’s starting pitchers have held opponents to a combined nine earned runs in the last eight games, good enough for a 1.52 ERA (53.1 innings). The Revs have held opponents to three runs or less in seven of their last eight games. Since a 17-6 drubbing at the hands of Lancaster on July 27, York has held opponents to an average of three runs over the next 21 games.

That’s good news now that it seems starting pitchers Lorenzo Barcelo and Matt DeSalvo might not be able to join York, if at all, for quite some yet. The cat’s been out of the bag for awhile now that the Revs are interested in bringing the pair of pitchers back to York. Only problem is, York has to wait until either are available after their respective clubs finish the year. Barcelo likely could have been with York earlier this year had his Mexican League club not made the league’s playoffs. But Barcelo’s Veracruz ballclub keeps winning in the playoffs. And there’s really no timetable as to when DeSalvo could get back from playing in Taiwan, where he suits up for the Lamigo Monkeys as part of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (I thought that season would wrap up soon, but Lamigo just picked up Long Island pitcher Mike Loree last week, so I guess not).

Lorenzo, who is 7-5 with a 3.34 ERA in 20 starts in the Mexican League this season, had joined York late last year to help the Revs down the stretch. In six regular season starts for the Revs last year, the 6-foot-4 right-hander had a 3.96 ERA. DeSalvo was even more impressive in the first half of the 2011 season before being plagued by injuries in the second half. Over 106.1 innings last year, DeSalvo accumulated a 6-3 record and 3.89 ERA in 18 starts and five relief appearances. The right-hander struck out 108 batters.

A part of me wonders if the comments made by Revs’ skipper Andy Etchebarren in July has had any impact on the performance of Revs’ starters recently. Back then, Etch’ had said he was looking at possibly bringing in three pitchers in August (DeSalvo and Barcelo were likely two of them), and was hoping his club could just play .500 ball until then.

York starters Corey Thurman (11-3, 4.45 ERA) and Ryan Feierabend (5-3, 2.55 ERA) have been good to dominant for most of the year. Lefty Derrick Gordon has also been pretty good since coming over from Sugar Land, putting together a 3-2 record and 3.38 ERA over six starts in a Revs’ uniform.

So, it’s likely lefties Chris Cody and Chris Waters may have been the odd men out had York acquired any starters this month. Both have been back and forth for most of the year. But they have done a good job of solidifying their starting roles as of late. Cody has held opponents to two earned runs or less and tossed at least six innings in four of his last five starts, bumping his ERA down to 4.34 on the year. He tossed 6.1 innings of scoreless ball against Camden in a winning effort Sunday afternoon. Waters has been equally impressive, holding opponents to three earned runs or less in each of his last four starts over a combined 24 innings. He has looked dominant in his last two starts, combining for 13.2 innings pitched and holding opponents to three earned runs.

York will need that starting rotation to keep up the good work in the final month-and-a-half of the regular season if it wants to have a shot at the playoffs.

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If you haven’t already done so, you’re likely going to want to read the previous blog entries listed below. It was a busy Wednesday for the York Revolution.

To summarize:

- Mid-way through its game against Southern Maryland on Wednesday, the Revs announced that skipper Andy Etchebarren has been suspended and fined for his actions stemming from Friday’s ejection during a game against Long Island.

-The team also announced the signing of former Baltimore Orioles’ starting pitcher Chris Waters and the retirement of outfielder Bobby Kielty.

-Oh, yeah, the Revs won, 10-0, in the series finale against the Blue Crabs behind a stellar effort from starting pitcher Shawn Hill. The right-hander has now tossed 27.2 consecutive scoreless innings in his five starts for York, setting the new club record (he passed Corey Thurman’s previous record of 24 innings set over four starts back in June 2008).

-Also, team president Eric Menzer gave a tour of Sovereign Bank Stadium to representatives from the Hagerstown (Md.) Suns. But Hagerstown isn’t interested in the Atlantic League. Rather, they’re probably looking for ideas on how to renovate their own Municipal Stadium. The city is in jeopardy of possibly losing its Washington Nationals’ affiliate Class A Hagerstown Suns ballclub. Hagerstown City is still trying to figure out the issue of funding renovations to Municipal Stadium. The city owns Municipal Stadium, which it leases to the Suns. Suns’ owners have threatened leaving if renovations are not made.

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