2005 – The Cyclones continued their series at Aberdeen and gave Jeff Landing a
quick 1-0 lead to work with. But the Ironbirds tied it in the 2nd and scored 4
more in the 3rd to coast from there to a 6-3 win, their first win against
Brooklyn in 5 tries. After allowing 1 hit and striking out 10 in his last
outing, also against Aberdeen, Landing lasted just 3 innings in this one,
allowing 5 earned runs (including a pair of homers) to drop to 1-1. The Cyclones
managed just 6 hits, 2 coming from Jonel Pacheco. Jeff Timmons contributed a
solo homer. Brooklyn fell to 8-3 and their McNamara Division lead shrank to 1
game over victorious SI.

2004 – It was a wild night at Keyspan as the New Jersey Cardinals came to visit
for their first home and home of the season. Michael Devaney had his poorest
outing of the season, lasting only 3 innings and yielding 5 runs (4 earned). He
left trailing 5-1, but he was taken off the hook in the 7th when the Cyclones
put up a 4 spot. Derran Watts drove in the first 2 with a single. Jim Burt later
drove in his first run as a Cyclone the hard way when he was hit by a pitch with
the bases loaded. That was followed by a bases loaded walk to Ryan Coultas that
tied the score. It was then that the Brooklyn defense fell apart. Two errors in
the 8th allowed the Cards to take a 6-5 lead. But, the Cyclones received some
gifts of their own in the 9th when Tyler Davidson doubled leading off and took
third and scored on 2 wild pitches to send the game into extra innings. Three
more Cyclones errors in the 10th (2 by Coultas, who had 3 of the Cyclones team
record 6 errors in the game) allowed 3 more Cardinal runs to score for a 9-6
lead. Brooklyn got a 2 run homer from Brinkley in the bottom of the inning (his
2nd), but fell one run shy in the 9-8 loss. Brinkley went 4-5 in the game while
Corey Coles, Davidson, and Coultas each had a pair. Carlos Muniz took the hard
luck loss. It wasn't his fault, but it was his first defeat as a Cyclone. The
Cyclones had their first losing streak of the season and, at 8-6, fell into a
2nd place tie with Hudson Valley, who lost to Aberdeen, in the McNamara
Division. Both clubs were a game behind the Ironbirds.

2003 – The Cyclones had 11 hits en route to a 7-3 victory over the Yankees at
Staten Island in the middle game of their latest 3 game series. Despite the 11
hits, it was 3 SI errors in the 5th inning that allowed Brooklyn to turn a 2-1
lead into a 5-1 lead. Ian Bladergroen and Stacy Bennett each homered for
Brooklyn in the contest and they, along with Corey Coles and Shawn Bowman, all
had 2 hits. Ivan Maldonado pitched the 5th-7th innings, in relief of Greg
Ramirez, and improved to 2-0. Robert Paulk came on with 2 onand 1 out in the 9th
and induced a double play on the first pitch to end it and get his 5th save.
2002 alums Jon Slack and Blake Whealy returned to the Cyclones and each had a
hit in the game. The Cyclones were now 5-0 against SI, and, at 10-4, Brooklyn
remained a game up on Williamsport and Hudson Valley in the McNamara Division.

2002 - Mahoning Valley and Brooklyn played the rubber game of their
three game series at Keyspan. The Scrappers had won the only series
by a visitor at Brooklyn in 2001 and they now accomplished the feat
again, breaking a 3-3 tie with two runs in the 8th and 2 more in the
9th to post a 7-3 win. Kevin Deaton started the game and survived a
three run 1st inning. He left after 5, trailing 3-1, but Brooklyn
came back to tie, before losing late. Deaton still had no record
after 3 starts. Brandon Kentner took the loss. Blake Whealy homered
(his 2nd) for the 2nd straight game. Chase Lambin and Jimmy Anderson
had the other RBI's. Brooklyn fell to 8-4 but still trailed
Williamsport and SI by a game as both teams were losers.

2001 - The Cyclones and Cardinals wrapped up their 4 game home and
home series at Keyspan. After three straight shutouts, this one was
an 8-2 final in favor of Brooklyn to gain a split of the series. Ross
Peeples started the game and allowed a hit and a walk to the first
two hitters before the rain came and held up the game for almost 3
hours. Once play resumed, the Cyclones supplied their own thunder.
Noel Devarez hit three solo homers and Mike Jacobs added a grand slam
to right to power the Brooklyn offense. Devarez now had 6 homers on
the season. On the pitching side, Peeples didn't return after the
rain. Matt Gahan came on and pitched out of that 1st inning trouble
and ended up pitching 5.1 innings of 3 hit ball to pick up his first
win. Brooklyn was now 6-7 and had begun a stretch in which they'd win
15 of 16. At this point, Brooklyn was next to last in the McNamara
Division, 2 games out of the lead. SI was in last, half a game behind
Brooklyn.