Before we get to Thursday’s game, feel free to check out a feature on reliever Josh Judy, who got picked up by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and assigned to Class AA Arkansas.

The Revs beat the Riversharks, 7-4, on Thursday to avoid the series sweep and get back to a .500 record at 7-7. They’ll next welcome the defending Atlantic League champion Long Island Ducks (3-10) on Friday in the first of a three-game series.

York had five players with multiple hits in Thursday’s victory, led by Johan Limonta, who went 3-for-5 with two runs and two RBIs. Revs’ short stop Andy Gonzalez (2-for-4, run scored, RBI) also had the go-ahead RBI single in a three-run seventh inning that broke a 4-4 tie. Click here to read the game story.

York now has four players batting above .300, one of them being catcher Salvador Paniagua.

That’s quite surprising considering Paniagua, 29, batted a collective .242 in 97 games for York the last two years. But Paniagua split catching duties in 2011 with Octavio Martinez and in 2012 with Travis Scott. This season marks his first as the everyday catcher to start a season since 2010, something he says has helped.

“Sometimes when you’re not playing everyday you have to be ready. It makes it more easy for you if you play everyday because if you go 1-for-4 or 1-for-5 today you know you can play the next day and make adjustments,” Paniagua said. “That’s what I’ve been working on.

A Dominican Republic, Paniagua started the year going 4-for-22 at the plate (.182 average). Since then, the former New York Mets’ and Boston Red Sox prospect has gone 9-for-17 in the last four games to pump his average up to .333, which is tied with third baseman Andy Marte for second-best on the team. Revs’ skipper Mark Mason has noticed a more patient approach at the plate from Paniagua.

“He’s staying more consistent in really trying to hit the other way,” Mason said. “He’s a natural pull hitter. If they throw him inside he can handle it. His problem is waiting on the off-speed away. He’s done a really good job of sitting back and then when they (pitchers) throw him inside he reacts. And when they throw away he’s been hitting it that way. He’s been patient at the plate and he’s getting good results.”

A former prospect of the New York Mets and Boston Red Sox, Paniagua has shown flashes of productivity at the plate throughout his 10-year pro career. At Class High A Lancaster (Red Sox) in 2007, he batted .286 with 11 homers and 42 RBIs in 46 games.

Later playing in the independent United League in 2010, he batted above .300 in 86 combined games split between Laredo and Rio Grande Valley. After being released by York mid-way through last season, Paniagua went on to hit .333 in 20 games with San Rafael in the independent North American League.

That’s exactly why San Angelo (North American League) skipper Doc Edwards wanted to bring Paniagua on board in 2013. (If you’re thinking Doc Edwards sounds familiar it’s probably because he played in the majors from 1962 to 1970 with the Cleveland Indians,  Kansas City Athletics, New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies or because he managed the Cleveland Indians for three season from 1987 to 1989, going 173-207).

“At the end of 2011 he basically was our playoff and championship game catcher,” Mason said. “He handled the bullpen. There was a big difference in our ERA when he was behind the plate. Last year he got jammed up with Travis (Scott) and him. That was last year.

“When I signed him I had (catcher Salomon) Manriquez here. Manriquez had already signed before I signed Salvador (Paniagua). I actually called Doc to see if Doc would trade him (Paniagua). Doc just basically released him so there wasn’t a trade. He told me ‘Mace, promise me if you’re not going to keep him around, just send him back here.’”

Pitching: Making his third start of the season for York, left-hander Chris Cody allowed four runs on nine hits with seven strikeouts and two walks in 5.2 innings pitched. Mason said Cody left some of his pitches up, which might have accounted for him getting just two ground-ball outs, which is uncharacteristic.

“Everything felt good,” Cody said. “I think most of their hits, not every single one, but most were off fastballs. I was just a little elevated with my fastball. It’s probably the first time in my career I didn’t get a ground-ball out.”

Cody threw 62 of 91 pitches for strikes and first-pitch strikes to 18 of 28 batters faced. He now has a 3.05 ERA through three starts (six earned runs allowed in 17.2 innings).

Relievers Joe Torres, Stephen Penney (1-1), Rommie Lewis and Juan Rincon combined for 3 Ð scoreless innings. Rincon picked up his second save.

Notes: Infielder Eric Patterson did not play Thursday. He left Wednesday night’s game after pulling up lame when running down the line in the bottom of the ninth inning…All but two of York’s games this season have been decided by three runs or less…York’s 14 hits were one short of a season-high…Brian Burgay (2-for-4) scored twice to increase his league lead in runs to 13, while drawing his league-leading 15th walk.

Rally plantain: A gentleman named Angel Clander has shown up York’s last two home games and got the crowd involved in various chants while holding a “rally plantain” as a good luck charm. Clander apparently owns a restaurant somewhere in York. Hopefully he continues to show up at games the rest of the season when more fans than the 2,000-plus that were at Thursday’s game. Click here to check out video of Clander cheering. Click here to read more about the rally plantain, which apparently became popular in the World Baseball Classic earlier this year.

Roster: York’s active roster is now at 26 players with the departure of Judy on Thursday. Atlantic League clubs can carry a maximum of 27 players through the end of May, when rosters have to be paired down to 25 players. Mason said he doesn’t expect to make any roster moves in the coming days.

“We’re at 26 (active players) and we’re gonna hang there a little bit,” he said. “Obviously with Josh (Judy) getting signed it took one (roster spot) away and that’s usually how things go here. Stuff works itself out. We could have another guy signed here before the homestand is over.”

Next series: Here are the pitching match-ups for the weekend series against Long Island:

Friday, 6:30 p.m.: York RHP Nick Green (0-0, 3.60 ERA) vs. RHP Nick DeBarr (0-1, 4.36 ERA)

Saturday, 6:30 p.m.: York RHP Matt Fox (0-0, 1.29 ERA) vs. LHP Bill Murphy (0-3, 9.75 ERA)

Sunday, 5 p.m.: York RHP Corey Thurman (1-2, 2.95 ERA) vs. RHP John Brownell (0-2, 5.28 ERA).

Fans can check out a special promotion related to the Kentucky Derby and Saturday’s game that could score you some free tickets. Click here to read more.

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Before we get to what happened Wednesday in York’s first exhibition game of the year against visiting Southern Maryland, just wanted to point out a few newsworthy items.

–The Atlantic League is aiming to speed up games this year by implementing new pace-of-game rules. Check out that article by clicking here and check out reaction from Revs manager Mark Mason and his players, plus thoughts from Atlantic League executive director Joe Klein and chairman Peter Kirk, by clicking here.

–York signed infielder Andy Gonzalez, a 31-year-old former big leaguer, on Wednesday. Click here to check out that story. Gonzalez was in York’s clubhouse following Wednesday’s exhibition and Mason said he intends to start Gonzalez at short stop in Thursday’s exhibition at Somerset.

–Former Revs reliever Matt DeSalvo told me he’s “retired” but is leaving the door open to returning to York this season. Mason also isn’t ruling out bringing DeSalvo back. Click here to check out that full story.

Spring training: In its first exhibition game of the year, York defeated Southern Maryland, 10-4, on Wednesday at Sovereign Bank Stadium. At the plate, Tyler Graham, Eric Patterson, Jeff Fiorentino and Jason Repko had big days. Graham went 2-for-4 with two doubles, a run scored and a walk. Patterson went 2-for-4 with a solo homer, RBI single, two runs scored and a walk. Fiorentino went 2-for-5 with an RBI double – he also had a laser hit right at the first baseman for it’s worth. Repko was a double shy of hitting for the cycle, going 3-for-4 with a solo homer, a triple and two runs scored. Brian Burgamy also had a solo homer.

“Offensively I thought we were really good,” Mason said. “We ran the bases well. We were aggressive. I told the guys we weren’t going to steal bases today even though Wilson Batista wanted to run (Batista stole a base mid-way through the game). But I told them I didn’t want them to steal bases today because we don’t have our legs under us yet and I don’t want anyone to get hurt. Overall the outs were hard. Defensively we played pretty good.”

On the mound for York on Wednesday was starting pitcher Chris Cody followed by starting pitcher Nick Schumacher and relievers Joe Torres, Stephen Penney, Yunior Novoa and Mike Wuertz.

Cody had a rough 30-pitch first inning that seemed to get out of control after he walked the second batter of the game with one out. He then gave up back-to-back singles before getting the next two batters to ground out. The left-hander ended up going three innings, tagged with three runs (two earned) on four hits, two strikeouts and one walk.

“The arm feels great,” Cody said afterwards. “A 30-pitch inning will get you a little winded no matter what time of year it is. I felt like the pitches ended up where I wanted them to be. For the most part they (batters)  just did a good job of fighting off what I thought to be quality pitches. I thought I did a good job of getting ahead of a lot of hitters today. (York pitching coach) John (Halama) said it was 13 out of 16 first-pitch strikes, which is something I always strive to do. Obviously now the thing is to figure out how to put them (hitters) away once the count is in your favor.”

Schumacher went two innings, allowing one earned run on two hits with a walk and two strikeouts. He also had a tough go of things in his first frame, allowing a solo homer to Cyle Hankerd, then getting the next two outs before allowing a single and a walk until he worked out of trouble with a strikeout.

“Nick and Chris had really shaky first innings,” Mason said. “Chris’ first inning got set up when he walked the two-hole hitter, maybe a couple pitch selections maybe he should’ve went after him a little bit more. In Nick, this is the first time you’re seeing live hitters and you’re trying to do too much. The second inning he scaled himself back. I was pleased with the pitching. We can definitely get better but I thought it was OK.”

Torres, Penney, Novoa and Wuertz each threw a scoreless inning. The most notable performances of that bunch were Penney and Wuertz. Using his trademark slider, Wuertz was getting batters to swing at pitches down in the dirt. Revs pitching coach John Halama said he has been really impressed with Wuertz thus far.

As for Penney, the right-hander was throwing in the low 90s, at least according to the radar gun being held up by Revs baseball operations manager Andrew Ball. That’s a good sign for Penney, who only reached the high 80s last season. Halama is also really on high on Penney, a former Seattle Mariners prospect who went 2-1 with a 3.20 ERA in 60 games last year for York.

Chatting with the 6-foot, 7-inch Penney afterwards, he credits his improvement to an off-season workout program that requires him to grip a weighted ball in his hand while he goes through various arm motions – I got to see him in action doing the drills following Tuesday’s practice and while they don’t look physically demanding, I can see how they build up stamina in the arm muscles. It’s the first time he did such a workout program. In previous years as a Mariners prospect, he followed the routines laid out for pitchers in the Seattle farm system.

“I did a velocity program,” he said. “It’s weighted balls. There are weighted balls where it just builds up your muscles. There’s a whole science behind it.”

Penney, 26, said he worked out in front of a handful of pro scouts in December out in San Diego, where he lives during the off-season.

“It’s completely different.” “I didn’t do it so much other off-seasons because I was so beat up. But this off-season I felt great. I didn’t take off any time.”

Liriano: Reliever Pedro Liriano still isn’t in camp yet as the team is dealing with visa issues with the Dominican Republic native.

Thursday: York will travel to Somerset on Thursday for an exhibition game.

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The York Revolution announced the first player signings of 2013 today. The club announced it has inked starting pitcher Chris Cody and third baseman Andy Marte for the 2013 season.

Cody, who turned 29 earlier this month, will return to York for the third straight year while Marte, 29, will make his Atlantic League debut with the Revs.

Marte will come to York with 301 major league games under his belt, mostly with the Cleveland Indians. Signed by the Atlanta Braves as an undrafted free agent in 2000, Marte was once considered a big time prospect. His .275 batting average, 20 homers and 74 RBIs in 109 games at Class AAA Richmond in 2005 earned him a call-up that season to the Braves’ big league club, where he played in 24 games.

That off-season, the Braves re-signed third baseman Chipper Jones to a three-year contract but lost short stop Rafael Furcal in free agency to the Los Angeles Dodgers. As a result, Atlanta traded Marte to the Boston Red Sox for short stop Edgar Renteria. A month later, the Red Sox traded Marte to the Indians as part of a seven-player deal.

Marte, a Dominican Republic native, saw significant action with Cleveland from 2006 to 2010 but never batted above .229 at the plate. For his career, Marte holds a .219 big league batting average with 20 homers and 96 RBIs.

The right-handed batter spent 2011 with the Pittsburgh Pirates Class AAA Indianapolis club, batting .202 with seven homers and 37 RBIs in 97 games. He spent last season playing in the Dominican Summer League.

“We kicked his name around a little bit last year but being that we had (Ramon) Castro and (Chris) Nowak there was really no need for a corner infielder,” Revs baseball operations manager Andrew Ball said.

Cody: Cody has a 19-19 record and 4.38 ERA in 46 combined starts the last two seasons with York. In 2011, the left-hander started the season with the Revs by going 9-5 with a 4.39 ERA before being picked up by the Braves and assigned to Class AA Mississippi, where he went 3-1 with a 3.46 ERA in six starts.

A former eighth-round draft pick of the Detroit Tigers in 2006, Cody later reached Class AAA Nashville (Milwaukee Brewers) in 2009.

 

 

Venezuela: Revs’ play-by-play man Darrell Henry posted info on the the York Revolution flavor in the Venezuela Winter League Championship Series, which features slugger Chris Nowak going head-to-head with infielder Joe Thurston.

Riversharks signing: That’s right. You read that correctly. The club that normally decides to wait until the last minute to announce any player signings has apparently inked a position player already. According to the league’s transaction page, Camden has signed catcher Raul Padron. The Venezuela native batted .270 with 10 homers and 43 RBIs in 83 games with the Riversharks in 2012, his third season with Camden.

Revs choose Boy Scouts: The Revs announced Thursday that the Boys Scouts of America-New Birth of Freedom Council has named as the team’s 2013 presenting sponsor. Click here for all the details on the deal.

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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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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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His numbers haven’t been great this year, certainly no where near what he’s done throughout his career.

Yet, there is reason for optimism for Matt Chico. The newly acquired starting pitcher made his debut for the York Revolution on Monday night, but he gave up five runs on six hits with four walks and three strikeouts in just four innings of work.

It was a continuation of the struggles he’s had this season.Chicocame over toYorkafter being released from the New Jersey Jackals (independent Can-Am League) late last week.

In five starts forNew Jersey, the 29-year-old lefty posted an 0-4 record and 9.39 ERA. He struck out 13 and walked 11 in 23 innings of work.

In need of starting pitching, Revs’ pitching coach Mark Mason had Chico travel to Somerset over the weekend (York was in the middle of a four-game series at Somerset) to throw a bullpen session. And Mason liked what he saw.

“He had good movement on his pitches,” Mason said ofChico. “I thought his arm strength is good enough. He probably wasn’t at his best there (New Jersey).”

Bullpen:Chico’s fastball topped out at 88 miles per hour on Monday. He said that’s the normal speed he’s been at most of his career, mainly relying on off-speed pitches. And that’s probably why he feels more comfortable as a starter than a reliever.

Just a year ago, the Washington Nationals tried movingChicointo the bullpen for the first time in his career.

The 5-foot, 11-inch, 190-pound southpaw bounced between Class AA Harrisburg, Class AAA Syracuse and GCL Nationals, combining for a 5.87 ERA in 27 games (two starts).

“I’ve never been in the bullpen before. I didn’t know how to just get ready. I’m used to throwing 40 pitches before a game trying to get hot. I struggled out of the bullpen,”Chicosaid. “I feel like I’m better as a starter just stuff-wise. I’m more of an off-speed pitcher. A bullpen guy…most guys are throwing 90 to 95 (miles an hour).”

Chico is trying to work his way back into a role where he’s found the most success in his now 10-year pro career.

A former third-round draft pick of the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2003, Chico would be traded along with right-hander Garrett Mock to the Nationals August 7, 2006 in exchange for righty Livan Hernandez.

The following season, the Florida resident made the Nats’ starting rotation out of spring training. He would make 31 starts that year in his rookie season, going 7-9 with a 4.63 ERA. Having never previously pitched above Class AA,Chicothat year led the Nats’ staff in starts, innings, strikeouts and wins while ranking No. 2 in the majors in starts by a rookie behind Boston’s Daisuke Matsuzaka (32).

Chico would be the Nats’ No. 2 starter coming out of spring training in 2008, but went 0-6 with a 6.19 ERA in 11 games (eight starts) and was optioned to Class AAA Columbus. He made just one appearance for Columbus before undergoing Tommy John surgery.

He made it back to action in 2009 and reached the majors again with the Nats’ in 2010, starting in just one game.Chicohas totaled 43 games (40 startes) in the majors with Washington, going 7-15 with a 4.95 ERA from 2007 through 2010.

Reclamation project: Mason has proven before he can help pitchers turn things around. The most recent example is probably York’s left-hander Chris Cody, who had a 9.92 ERA in his first four starts this year. After Cody worked on some of his mechanics with Mason, Cody has a 1.80 ERA in his last six starts.

So, maybe Mason can help out Chico, too. After all, Chico has enough velocity to succeed in the Atlantic League, but it’s his control that needs to be fixed.

“He kind of lost his rhythm after the first two innings. I don’t know if it was because runners were on base and he was trying to be perfect,” Mason said. “He has a tendency to get fast. We’re going to work on some stuff in the ‘pen. He threw the ball good enough except for that one inning (on Monday).”

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