The Barnstormers are getting close to being the team they envisioned at the beginning of this season.
That's the exciting part.
The frustrating part is how close they've come to a 7-2 or even 8-1 start to the second half of the Atlantic League season.
Lancaster outslugged York 7-5 Saturday in the first game of a day-night, York-Lancaster "Route 30 Showdown" doubleheader before 4,397 at York's Sovereign Bank Stadium. The second game was played up the road at Clipper Magazine Stadium Saturday night.
Lancaster had 13 hits, including three home runs, as it built a 7-2 lead, then held on through a rocky finish.
"It was a good win," Barnstormers manager Von Hayes said afterward, "not a good game."
Hayes was referring to York's near-rally in the late innings, to which he felt his troops contributed more than they should have.
In the seventh, the Revolution got men on first and second via a pop-up lost in the sun and a walk. Reliever Ross Peeples escaped with a strikeout and liner that shortstop Vic Gutierrez, who had lost the pop-up, turned into an unassisted double play.
York got two in the eighth, the key blow a double by Jason Aspito.
Former Phillie Antonio Alfonseca pitched a hitless ninth to get his fifth save, but even then there was weirdness.
With York's Keoni DeRenne on first (via an error) and two outs, Matt Padgett sent a bouncer to second, again misplayed.
But DeRenne rounded second and kept running, getting easily thrown out at third to end the game.
Other than that …
"Games like this we need to nail down," Hayes said. "There's a killer instinct we need to get. When we do, we'll be a very, very good team."
The Barnstormers are 5-4 in the second half. But in the last week they blew two ninth-inning leads and one eighth-inning lead. They even led York 4-0 Friday, and blew all of that lead before Matt Watson's home run won it, 5-4.
Watson, a McCaskey grad with big-league experience and a deserved rep as a professional hitter, was acquired to start the second half.
He got off to a modest start, lots of 1-for-4s, but now seems to be finding a groove. He, with Aaron Herr and L.J. Biernbaum, make a 3-4-5 middle of the batting order which should drive AL pitchers nuts the next couple months.
"That's what we anticipated, picking up Matt Watson and getting L.J. back," Hayes said.
Through nine second-half games, the Barnstormers have scored 57 runs, more than six a game.
Watson went 3-for-4 in Friday's defeat of York, including a game-winning home run and a broken-bat shot off the fence in right, both off left-handers.
The Barnstormers scored a first-inning run Saturday on singles by Watson, Herr and Biernbaum.
In the third, that trio produced two runs on a Watson walk, a Herr single and a Biernbaum double.
Those three scored five of Lancaster's seven runs. The other two came on solo homers by Gerard Haran and Ryan Mulhern.
Biernbaum was the man of men on this day, going 4-for-5 with a homer and four RBI.
Starting pitcher Ricardo Gomez went five innings to get the victory, allowing two runs on three hits.
You know how that goes, though. If the starter only goes five, you're all but forced to use four or five pitchers. Odds are, not all of them will be effective every night, especially when the days grow hot and the doubleheaders pile up.
"I have confidence in our entire staff to be competitive in this league," Hayes said. "But the innings might be starting to pile up in some cases."
That doesn't just go for the pitchers. Saturday night's game would be the Barnstormers' 25th since the all-star break — a stretch of 24 days.
It also would be their third game since arriving home at 3 a.m. Friday morning from Long Island, N.Y, and an 11-day road trip. And they play again at 6 p.m. today.
"It's less tiring when you win," Hayes said. "But, we're still catching up on our sleep. I have to tip my hat to the team. The guys are doing a great job of grinding it out."
Mike Gross is assistant sports editor of the Sunday News. E-mail him at mgross@lnpnews.com. 