High Heels On The Field

Long Island Ducks Coach Jamie Quinn Talks About Gary Carter & Atlantic League Playoffs

When Gary Carter managed the Long Island Ducks, Jamie Quinn listened and learned.

As a player, Quinn,26, began his career with the Ducks in 2010 after stints with the Windy City Thunderbolts and the Capitals of the New York State League. He's also in his first year as assistant coach with Hofstra University. The Gary Carter mentality has become even more important in his coaching duties, especially after Carter died in February of brain cancer.

"We wear the #8 patch in honor of him. He was the utmost professional, hard-nosed and taught everyone how to go about their business," Quinn said Friday. "He'd tell the story so many times about Game Six with the '86 Mets. That he stood in the box thinking, 'I do not want to be a trivia question.' He got the bloop hit and the rest is history. That's a testament to his work ethic."

The Ducks (24-44) work ethic is being put to the test as they play the first round in the Atlantic League playoffs against the Southern Maryland BlueCrabs (39-31). They went into Friday's game needing just one game to advance, but Southern Maryland won 7-5. Long Island leads the best-of-five series 2-1.

The bullpen led the league in saves this year, something Quinn is proud of.

"I'd like to think I helped prepare them mentally and contributed to that."

He thinks this year's team has a better shot of winning the whole thing. But not because it was an easy road. There were times they needed a wake up call to improve as a team.

"We've gotten hot at the right moment. Last year's team didn't hit bottom until the championship. This year's team is more humble. We won the first half [Liberty Division] then hit rock bottom in the second half and we came to realize we had to step up our game," he said.

He credits the pitching of Matt Way, Randy Keisler, and Bob Zimmerman (2nd in the league in strikeouts) for helping get them where they are.

"Way has been phenomenal. He throws a lot of strikes. There's been limited scouting reports on him, so no one really knows about him. That's helped us. Keisler has kept us in games and been gutsy. He's a big game type of pitcher. Zimmerman has been our MVP in my opinion. He's been our workhorse."

Quinn also praises the bullpen, including Bobby Blevins Jr., saying, "They've been damn good."

He believes his closeness with the team has been helpful and that his age helps.

"I'm more like a player than a coach because I'm a younger guy. I hang out with them more and talk to them."

Quinn hung it up as a player, but the Ducks wanted to keep him around and asked him to be the bullpen coach. He keeps Carter's big hearted approach in his own heart at all times.

"He was the first to get your back. I was the low guy on the totem pole and he took time with me. He was there for everybody."

The Ducks will face the Blue Crabs Saturday night and try to wrap it up.

"Hopefully, we can go home and rest for a couple of days, come back and get a ring."

Padres Cody Decker Reflects On Team Israel Experience

Winning is everything in sports, but that doesn't mean nothing else matters.

That might sound like double-talk, but Padres prospect Cody Decker was reminded of that, after failing to advance to the World Baseball Classic. While calling it 'heartbreaking,' that couldn't erase the bond he shared with his teammates.

"This will sound so cliche, but the camraderie was special," he said Thursday. "And maybe it was that little underlined thing, that we were all Jewish, but we just got along so great and spent so much time together."

Israel fell to Spain 9-7 in a modified double elimination game that Decker was actually not immediately aware of.

"That was frustrating. I didn't know at first that we had to win the third game. I would've liked one more shot."

Decker played alongside favorite childhood players such as Shawn Green and fondly recalls time spent with him.

"Being in the batting cage with Shawn Green is not something I'll soon forget. And I was introduced to Eric Gagne. He was a god to me as a kid. I was tongue tied meeting him."

Those memories were part of the collective experience, one that he pursued and was proud to take part in.

"We both played our a**es off. We felt we were the better team and that's not to take anything away from Spain. They were a great team. They earned it. It was exciting to the end, going back and forth."

Now he's looking forward to seeing Team Israel teammate Adam Greenberg play out a one-day contract with the Marlins to get his first major league at-bat since he was injured at the plate in 2005.

"I am ecstatic for him. I'll be giving that my full attention Tuesday night."

Checking In With Indians Pitching Prospect Cole Cook

You had a lot of chances to catch pitcher Cole Cook in a town near you this season. And everywhere the twenty-three-year old went, he experienced a good amount of success, putting together solid results.

After starting 2012 with the Lake County Captains of the Midwest League, the righty was re-assigned six different times, and impressively finished the season with Triple-A Columbus. In 12 innings he didn't allow a run and struck out 10. He went 2-4 overall with a 2.64 ERA, striking out 54, and surrendering just 5 home runs over 78 innings.

Here's what the Indians 2010 5th round pick(Pepperdine) said about the season & looking ahead this winter.

On level jumping: I didn't mind it. It worked itself out.

On the differences in each league: Hitters just get better higher up. But there was nothing very difficult, it was more just the speed up the game moves up. The hitters have a better idea of what they're going to do. There is less room for error.

On what he needs to improve: Developing a secondary pitch. My fastball command was fairly good. But I really believe rounding out my arsenal will help me get from the minors to the majors.

On his redefined off-season program: I've been with my same trainer from college the last two years and am going to do more on my own in addition to my trainer. I'll be doing more yoga and Pilates, and less weight lifting.

You can follow Cole Cook on Twitter @C_M_Cook. His engaging and humorous content landed him at #12 on the Baseball Digest Twitter Twenty.