By MICHAEL RADANO
Courier-Post Staff
CAMDEN

The magic number for the Camden Riversharks is now 23.

Twenty-three games left in their lost season, that is.

Lehigh Valley, which suffers the distinction as the only team to play all of its games on the road, beat the Sharks 4-1 in front of 3,218 at Campbell's Field Sunday.

The day held a lot of despair for the Sharks, who have now lost four consecutive games, including a sweep at the hands of Somerset, and trail the season series with Lehigh 8-6. Lehigh (32-72 overall, 14-27 second half) remains a half game back of the Sharks in the standings but has two more games at Campbell's to change that.

``Am I disappointed? Yes,'' general manager John Brandt said. ``I'm with (manager Wayne Krenchicki) and we want to come out and win every game. But this is as upset with any loss as I have been all season."

Krenchicki's frustration was evident after the loss when he pointed out that there was nothing to say because he's had to comment on the same type of game all season.

``Lehigh is a hard-nosed team. They work hard and they have bonded as a team," Brandt said. "But I still see this as a series we should win and a game we should have won. We didn't get the big hit and we haven't gotten the big hit all year.''

So which missed opportunity was the worst on this day?

The obvious choice was in the ninth, when the Sharks loaded the bases with no outs and down 4-1.

Isaias Nunez led off the inning with the sixth hit of the day for Camden. A walk to Dwight Maness and a single by Nelson Abreu set up a potential rally. For a team that has won once in the 51 times it has entered the ninth down, this was seen as a great achievement.

But the Sharks returned to earth and Joe Goodwin popped out to keep the bases loaded.

Guillermo Garcia then pinch hit for Andres Duncan. Garcia could have hit for Goodwin, who was in the eighth slot of the lineup, but on this day he was the backup catcher to Goodwin. On Saturday, Garcia strained a calf muscle and was unavailable to catch.

With the count 3-1, Garcia drove the ball back to reliever Angel Miranda who started the routine 1-2-3 double play to end the game.

To compound matters, the Sharks blew yet another strong start by a member of its pitching staff. On this day Anthony Briggs went 7˜ innings allowing four runs on 11 hits. Briggs reached the eighth with the score tied 1-1 but couldn't keep Lehigh off the board.

``That's a positive we can take out of the second half,'' Brandt said. ``We're down a full point since the All-Star break. We've had one quality start after another. We just have to be able to support them.''

In the eighth, Briggs got the first two outs on a 5-4-3 double play. That's when the game fell from his grasp.

``This is the type of game we should have won all year,'' Brandt said.

``We can still win two out of three. That's how you have to look at the season all year anyway. Just win two out of three in each series. Each series is like a little season.''

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