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Fowl Ball! It would be hard to argue against Pete Rose, Jr. being the Long Island Ducks' most valuable player for the 2007 season. Carl Everett and Ray Navarrete, among others, have also had record breaking performance but nobody has been as consistent as Rose right from opening day on through to this last week of the regular season. Rose has played in 111 games this year for Long Island. He is batting .345 (third best in the Atlantic League) and has 91 RBIs (fifth best in the league), but as Ducks manager Dave Lapoint regularly points out, there is much more that Rose brings to the team than simply just his numbers. "Petey is probably the best clubhouse guy I have ever been around and he obviously takes pride in being a team leader," says Lapoint, "He is one heck of a hitter and has shown that all season. But even more importantly, he also knows how to win and just loves to play the game." Rose has developed a close relationship with Lapoint over the past three seasons, beginning in 2005 when he first came to the Atlantic League and played with the Ducks while Lapoint was the team's pitching coach. After some off-field legal problems resulted in Rose serving prison time, Lapoint, then managing the Bridgeport Bluefish, gave him a chance at restarting his career by signing him for the remainder of the 2006 season. It is no coincidence that when Lapoint came back to Long Island to manage the Ducks this year, it did not take long for Rose to join him. "I swung the bat well for Dave last year in Bridgeport and had a good playoff but that was over about a month-and-a-half," says Rose, "This year from day one I have been feeling good and everything just came together. It has definitely been the best season I have had since coming to this league." One conversation with Rose is all that is needed to see that he is the kind of player who always looks to put the team's success before his own, and there is no individual feat that is more important to him than his team making the playoffs. "That is the bottom line, the only real goal is to get into the postseason," says Rose, "I screw around and call myself the captain and all that stuff to make everybody laugh, but the only thing I really care about is trying to go out there and help my team in any way that I can. We have a great group of guys and I think we are going to give it a good run here." With an almost unreal amount of roster moves over the last month, having a guy like Rose in the clubhouse has helped keep the team together and focused on the task at hand. "With the core players we have here on this team, it doesn't really matter how many moves we have made be- cause all of the guys coming in are quality people and that is a tribute to Dave," says the 37-year-old Rose, "He always manages to bring in guys that fit right in with us and that is what makes this team so special, everyone is so close and we all get along so well." After the season he has had up to this point, the only thing left for Rose to accomplish in 2007 would, in his mind, to help lead the Ducks to their second Atlantic League title. "We need a team effort every night and guys have been doing that again recently," says Rose, "Now hopefully we can get everything clicking on all cylinders over this last week and create some momentum heading into the playoffs." Ducks Clinch Playoffs for Fourth Consecutive Season It took longer than the team and their fans would have liked, but the only thing that matters now is that the Ducks have officially qualified for the postseason. After winning five of their seven games during the past week, Long Island clinched the final postseason spot and will face the Newark Bears in the first round of the playoffs. "It doesn't get much more exciting than playoff baseball," says Ducks general manager Michael Pfaff. "We hope we can count on all Ducks fans to come out and cheer on Long Island's hometown team as we attempt to bring an Atlantic League championship back to Long Island." Long Island will play out this final week of meaningless games and probably rest a bunch of their regular starters along the way. The whole team will get a much needed day off next Monday before the playoffs open the following night. Tickets for all five potential home playoff games are currently on sale and can be purchased at the Citibank Park Box Office, by calling 631-940- TIXX or by visiting www.liducks.com and clicking on the tickets icon. The 2007 Atlantic League playoff schedule is as follows: North Division Playoffs (best of three)
Atlantic League Championship Series, if Ducks qualify (best of five) | |||||
