ALLEY CATS ON DECK Today: Lakewood Blueclaws, 6:05 p.m. Todayspitchers: Lakewood TBA vs. Charleston RH Tom Mastny (1-1, 1.42)Wednesday: Hagerstown Suns, 6:05 p.m. Thursday: Hagerstown Suns,10:35 a.m. Friday: Hagerstown Suns, 6:05 p.m. Saturday: LakewoodBlueclaws, 6:05 p.m. Sunday: Lakewood Blueclaws, 2:05 p.m. Nexthomestand: May 19-21 vs. Lake County Captains Tickets: $4, $6, $7Radio: WBES, 1240-AM Call: 344-CATS
Charleston's Watt Powell Park has recently been called a lot ofthings.
Most of them are not printable.
Formerly a Class AAA minor league baseball park, the 55-year-oldstadium has aged less than gracefully and will, construction pending,be replaced next season by a new multi-million stadium on the city'sEast End.
Yet in its final season of existence, the old park is finallyproviding what many hope the new stadium will deliver every year.
A fan-filled, home-field advantage.
After dropping their home opener, the Charleston Alley Cats havereeled off 13 straight wins at Watt Powell including Monday night's 4-2, 1-0 doubleheader sweep of the Lakewood BlueClaws.
A crowd of 605 - OK, so not fan-filled every night - braved chillytemperatures to watch as the South Atlantic League Northern Division-leading Alley Cats improved to 20-4 on the season. Lakewood fell to 8-16.
"I'm glad to be back at the park," Alley Cat second baseman RyanRoberts said. "To be honest with you, people (opponents) don't wantto play here. You can see it when they go on the field.
"But the field's not that bad. It helps give us an advantagebecause while they're worrying about the field, we're getting readyto play."
Alley Cat Manager Ken Joyce also believes the park is helping out,but credits his team's desire to win for its hot start, as well.
"This has been a great home field," Joyce said. "This field hasits advantages, but I give a lot of credit to our players. We knewwhen we had them together in the final days of spring training thatthese guys would come out and play hard for nine innings.
"It would be nice to play in front of 5,000 people every night andto play on a perfectly manicured infield. But whether it's in frontof 10 people or 5,000 people, these guys are going to come out andplay. I credit them for their attitudes."
Along with attitude and an unexpected home-field boost, the AlleyCats have used timely hitting and dominant pitching to build theirfirst-place perch.
Monday was no different as the Cats received sterling pitchingperformances by starters Shaun Marcum and Davis Romero.
Marcum retired the first 12 hitters he faced in improving to 4-0.A third-round pick in 2003, Marcum allowed five hits and two runs,while striking out six and walking one in six innings.
Brian Reed pitched the seventh inning for his fifth save.
"I'm pitching okay, but it's more the team scoring runs andplaying defense behind me that's helped me so far," said Marcum, anExcelsior Springs, Mo., native.
"My objective is to throw strikes and work quickly. I'm a commandpitcher. I try to change speeds and control the pace of the game.
"I try to make it an up-tempo game. I don't like long games andthat helps keep the defense on its toes."
After falling behind 2-0, Charleston answered with a pair of fifth-inning runs on a solo homer by Mike Galloway and a two-out, RBIsingle by Roberts.
Charleston took the lead in the sixth when Morrin Davis' fielder'schoice scored David Smith with the go-ahead run and a throwing errorscored Galloway with an insurance run.
In the nightcap, Davis Romero (1-0) stymied BlueClaw batters byallowing just one hit over five innings, striking out four andwalking none.
Reliver Felix Romero fanned five and allowed one hit in the finaltwo innings to earn his third save.
"I was just taking advantage of the opportunity to pitch," Romerosaid his second start this season.
"In spring training, I had some work as a starter, so the key wasto just focus on throwing strikes and locating my fastball andbreaking pitch."
A first-inning, RBI single by Clint Johnston scored lead-off manJuan Peralta for the game's only run.
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