STATEN ISLAND, NY- They say speed kills which is especially true in baseball.

Try telling that to many Staten Island Yankee opponents and they’d probably just nod in agreement. It’s just one of the reasons they lead the wildcard by four games over Lowell with eight days left in the New York-Penn League regular season entering tonight’s home game against Hudson Valley.

They might not possess a speed demon but with opportunistic players such as leading base stealer Taylor Holiday, D.J. Hollingsworth and Austin Krum on the basepaths, it’s not necessary.

“We’ve got good enough athletes on this team to guys who could run,” Krum said after hitting his first homer and driving in two in Staten Island’s 14-4 win over Aberdeen Wednesday night.

“We’ve got a lot of good team speed. Pretty much everybody up and down in the lineup has the ability to steal bases and also has the ability to put the ball in the play on hit and runs when they’re hitting and it’s a big weapon for us. Speed definitely is one of our good attributes.”

Krum’s eight stolen bases in 11 attempts are tied for fourth on the club with leading RBI man Damon Sublett who also has added eight swipes of his own to 48 runs knocked in which are tied for the league lead.

“It’s definitely something we try to utilize,” the team’s leading base stealer Holiday with 16 pointed out the other day.

“We’ve been stealing bases, hit and run. All those different things that get you to score runs. That’s something we do well and we take pride in. So it’s definitely something that as an offense, we’ve done well to help us score runs.”

The center fielder who played first last night and had a runscoring double also made a point as to why they’ve had success.

“You got to try to get good reads and picking a good time to run. That’s the key to being a good base stealer.”
Perhaps the team’s quickest base runner is Hollingsworth who stole his ninth base in 12 attempts to go with a couple of hits and three runs scored in last night’s win.

“We actually talked about that Monday before our game,” the left fielder noted before a 1-0 win over Aberdeen in their final at bat Tuesday night.

“We stole home a couple of nights ago with [Chris] Raber and I think that kind of brought it to Mike’s [Gillespie] attention that he wanted to let us know that, ‘Hey, we can run.’”

What makes the Bombers speed on the basepaths so effective is that it’s not just limited to one or two guys. Something which Hollingsworth eluded to.

“There’s probably 10 guys on the team that can really fly. The other ones that don’t think maybe they can run can run and Mike loves to put us in motion and be aggressive on the basepaths. It’s definitely an advantage. It opens up holes and gets things rolling if we’re struggling offensively to that point.”

“It’s not just the top of the lineup. We got guys who come through everyday and they come in and do a great job. Obviously, Krum can run real well and DJ’s been a mad man out there on the bases. I kind of have given him the nickname The Microwave cause he can fly.”

Another player who’s contributed on the base paths is Raber, who stole home in a recent game on the road and has five of his own to the 93 the club has which places them second in the league just a couple behind Hudson Valley.

“It’s pretty big. A walk and is like a double if you steal a bag. So I’d say it helps out quite a bit. You can create a little offense and get things going for yourselves instead of just relying on the home run,” the first baseman/DH expresseda day before a huge four hit six RBI performance in Wednesday’s win.
As for his swipe of home in last Saturday’s loss at Lowell, it wasn’t something the Coastal Carolina product was too familiar with.

“That was definitely a first for myself. It was definitely a unique situation. … You just got to catch a guy that’s slow to the plate and he’s not really paying attention to you, you have an opportunity to get a good enough jump to steal the base. It doesn’t happen very often.”

“We don’t have a bunch of guys who are really fast. We just have a bunch of guys that have good speed,” leadoff hitter Justin Snyder added last night after walking scoring two runs and stealing his ninth base to tie Hollingsworth.

“Everyone can steal bases and get a good jump off the pitcher. I think it’s just a style of baseball that everyone’s used to. Krum’s a nutcase anyway. Krum’s always going 100 miles an hour at everything he does. … He’s always been there loosening things up and getting things going. He’s keeping things loose and then DJ coming in and hitting and starting something like seven straight.”
“I think like Justin said earlier, we have pretty good team speed in general,” noted right fielder David Williams who also has swiped seven bases and drove in a run Wednesday night. “I think Gillespie comes from a college program. That’s what you do to win. I think he uses that to our advantage. … I think our coaches put us in a situation where we can succeed. Not all of us are like Holiday. You have to rely on other people.”

Williams also notices that his teammates have developed a good chemistry entering the home stretch.

“I think we do have really good chemistry,” the sarcastic Rutgers product remarked while being teased by his locker buddy Snyder. “As a team, the guys like making fun of each other. So I think that sorta takes the pressure off in certain situations.”

On the verge of a third consecutive postseason which would give them a chance to defend their last two Penn League championships, Krum realizes how vital this kind of aggressive baseball can be in crunchtime.

“You get guys on base early in innings and early in the game and you can pretty much run teams to death and kind of control the tempo of the game and use your speed to a huge advantage. That’s what it’s all about.”