I hope you all enjoyed my coverage of the Brooklyn Cyclones this summer. I certainly did! It was great to meet and interact with many of the team’s recent draft picks to see what’s in store for the future. And of course, Rich Donnelly is an awesome baseball mind, so it was great to hear his perspective each night. Below is a Q&A between myself and the MMO staff discussing the...
Normally, the lower levels on the minor leagues serve the purpose of developing young players fresh out of the June MLB draft and to get them accustomed to life in professional baseball. But for the Brooklyn Cyclones, making the playoffs has basically been a perennial feat. However, the 2013 summer short season ended without a postseason berth for the Cyclones for just the fourth time in the...
The AL affiliates of the New York-Penn League defeated the NL affiliates (including the Brooklyn Cyclones) 4-3 in the 2013 All-Star Game played in Norwich, Conn. The NL took a 3-2 lead into the bottom of the ninth, but it was Cyclones’ closer John Mincone that wound up with the blown save and the loss. He gave up a leadoff homer in the inning that tied the game and then allowed an unearned...
Every official baseball game features a top of the third inning. The Brooklyn Cyclones (23-24) likely wish that were not the case after a 4-1 loss to the Connecticut Tigers – the Single-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers – Tuesday night. The Tigers scored all four of their runs – three of which were unearned – in the top of the third. Lefty starter Dario Alvarez hit the leadoff man and walked the...
The Brooklyn Cyclones will have plenty of representation at the 2013 New York-Penn League All-Star Game to be played Aug. 13 in Norwich, Conn. Starting pitchers John Gant, Miller Diaz and Robert Gsellman, closer John Mincone and second baseman L.J. Mazzilli will all represent the National League Affiliates in the game. Diaz will be the starter for the NL. With just over a week to go to the game,...
Finally, a Brooklyn Cyclones that did not include a rain delay or extra innings… The Cyclones continued their climb to the .500 mark on the season with a 7-5 victory Wednesday night at MCU Park in Coney Island over the Mahoning Valley Scrappers – the Single-A short season affiliate of the Cleveland Indians. Brooklyn moves to 13-16 on the season. It was Nintendo night at the ballpark, and there...
It really should have been Johan Santana dangling left arm night based on his injury history with the Mets, but instead Wednesday night at MCU Park in Coney Island was Johan Santana bobblehead night. And the Brooklyn Cyclones did not disappoint, as the team scratched out a 2-1 victory over the Staten Island Yankees in 10 innings to improve to 6-11 on the year. Brooklyn had lost four straight...
Former Mets’ star Lee Mazzilli made the borough of Brooklyn his stomping grounds growing up. Abraham Lincoln H.S. in Coney Island was his home until the Mets drafted him right out of high school in 1973. Located just a mile and half from Lincoln down Ocean Parkway and on Surf Avenue is MCU Park. Though the stadium wasn’t there during Mazzilli’s playing days, he now has a special connection to...
Many of the old-time baseball clichés are often true, and that’s why we keep using them. In Friday’s contest between the Brooklyn Cyclones and the Aberdeen Ironbirds, “good things happened when the leadoff man got on base.” The Ironbirds – the Single-A short-season affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles – had leadoff hits in four of the first five innings to take a 2-0 lead, but the Cyclones caught...
