While the Ducks didn’t win the first half division crown, quality pitching propelled the club to a first-place start in the second half. But the Ducks will need to demonstrate resiliency again after the Blue Jays signed Troy Cate to a minor league deal Friday.

Cate earned the ace moniker following Ray’s departure, recording a team-high seven wins. The lefthander was 7-2 with a 3.23 ERA that was lowest among starting pitchers. The left-hander won his fourth straight start and held opposing batters to a .224 batting average against in 78 innings. Cate will be assigned to the Eastern League’s Double-A New Hampshire franchise, becoming the fifth Ducks this season to sign with an affiliated organization.

“We couldn’t be happier for Troy and wish him the best in this great opportunity,” Ducks manager Gary Carter said. “He was really dialed in as of late and we’re excited that he will have the chance to get back to the big leagues.”

Cate’s signing continued to deplete the Ducks original starting rotation. Ray is still in Indians farm system while Opening Day starter Brad Halsey was released July 1. The front office hasn’t sought much outside help. Reliever Cory Doyne is the only pitcher signed this month, leaving pitching coach Dave LaPoint and the rest of the coaching staff to look for in-house replacements.

“He’s pitched well all year and has been one of the better pitchers in the league,” pitching coach Dave LaPoint said. “For us as a team, it was crippling because right now they aren’t a lot of names out there that we can replace him with.”

Ray started 4-0, earning victories in all but one of his starts before going to Triple-A Columbus May 27. The former Atlanta Brave is struggling for the Clippers, starting 2-5 with a 8.67 ERA. Like Ray, Cate is also an ex-big leaguer. The one-time Cincinnati Reds hurler will be looking to return to the majors for the first time since 2007.

“We’ve had to get on the horn and try to call as many people as we can,” LaPoint said. “We need a guy who can throw strikes like Troy did. We can’t hire any more guys who are going to be wild and keep taxing the bullpen.”

The pitching staff will get a rest thanks to Monday’s off-day after Bridgeport completed a three-game sweep at Citibank Park. The Ducks will look to regroup when it hosts first-half division winner Southern Maryland in a three-game series with the Blue Crabs trailing the Flock by a single game.

The organization wanted a ballpark that played large. Historically Shea Stadium was a pitchers park and there was no reason to make any changes as the team moved next door.

So they designed Citi Field to be a pitchers park. And it’s a good one – even better than Shea. Balls that would have been out in the newly minted parking lot, are either off the wall in the young edifice or caught on the warning track.

Look at the doubles by Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran yesterday. Both would have been out of Shea, yet bounded off the Citi Field walls.

What it’s doing is giving the Mets and their young staff a tremendous home field advantage. The starters are now willing to take chances, knowing they won’t get burned by too many mistakes.

“I tell all my pitchers, just throw strikes,” said pitching coach Dan Warthen. “You have such a large field and a gold glove center fielder out there.”

With Beltran catching almost everything hit to him, the Met pichers have gotten aggressive in the zone, not willing to dabble on the corners, which makes them much, much more effective.

“We have to use the ballpark to our advantage,” said yesterday’s winner Livan Hernandez. “We’ve got to help [Johan] Santana. He can’t do it all by himself.”

Hernandez said he is trying to help John Maine and Mike Pelfrey in order to get them to throw strikes. And it already has helped the youngster Jon Niese, who pitched very well at Citi Field on Friday.

“He threw strike one, That’s the biggest thing,” said Warthen.

Of course there has been an adjustment period with a lot of fly balls getting dropped on the corners. In left, that’s just the inexperience of impressive hitter Dan Murphy, but in right, there may be a blind spot due to the shadows as the sun goes down and also the light towers on the third base side.

Beltran denied this, but there just have been a number of catchable balls that seem to have been lost in the lights.

Yet, that’s another advantage for the Mets, since both teams have to play the same right field. The Mets will eventually learn the blind spots, but other teams may have trouble.

All of this means the Mets will have a tremendous chance to dominate at home. With the ability to take advantage of the home field, the team could become world beaters in Queens, while do well on the road as well, since the starters will continue with their smart pitching.

“I think the ballpark is giving our pitchers more confidence to throw strikes and pitch to contact,” said Mets manager Jerry Manuel.

Also as an added benefit, the new park will attract solid free agent pitchers, a rare commodity, while the Mets can fill the lineup with line drive hitters to take advantage of the gaps.

So much for the three-run home run, the Mets will be a small ball team, because they did this park right.

But LaPoint is now the club’s pitching coach after Hall of Famer Gary Carter was named manager over the winter. The two will be in charge of leading the Ducks to success on the baseball field, though a meeting at a hockey venue might emerge into an early turning point for the 2009 season.

It was during an Islanders game that Carter asked LaPoint if there were hard feelings about the shakeup, and Carter said the two former World Series champions quickly developed a rapport.

“I just want to win a championship and he’s put together a great nucleus here,” Carter said. “Just because I have a title doesn’t make a difference. It’s a family and that’s a feeling I want everyone to have. My door is wide open.”

LaPoint continues to be the point man on personnel decisions, a role the Yankees former Opening Day starter relished during his managerial tenure. This year’s Ducks roster contains the usual litany of ex-big leaguers, highlighted by Preston Wilson, Lew Ford and Dan Miceli.

Serving as pitching coach isn’t a drastic move. LaPoint served in that capacity in Long Island from 2002-05, which includes the franchise’s only championship in 2004. Meeting with owner Frank Boulton and co-owner/coach Buddy Harrelson helped convince LaPoint to stay on as Carter’s assistant.

“It didn’t get tough until spring training, when I found out it’s tougher not to manage than it is to manage,” LaPoint said. “You’re so used to managing that you yell out things and you realize that it’s not your job anymore.”

The Ducks improved to 3-2 on the young season following a 7-5 win in Lancaster Tuesday night. After two more games in Pennsylvania, the team will return to Suffolk County for its home opener Friday.

LaPoint said the fans who pack Citibank Park will be treated to a rotation that features former major leaguers Brad Halsey and Ken Ray along with long-time Ducks and Long Island native Randy Leek, giving the rotation a nice balance of lefties and right-handers. The bullpen also features six players who LaPoint said can top 90 miles per hour on the radar gun.

Joe Valentine closed for the Ducks last season and returns in the role of set-up man now, joining a relief corps that features MLB veteran Miceli and closer Bill Simas.

“I think it’s the best one we have,” LaPoint said. “We’ve never had a strong bullpen with all six guys [before].”

Since the Atlantic League moved to a grueling 140-game schedule last season, a premium has been placed on pitchers who can soak up innings. The heavy workload, combined with the usual high turnover rate, means LaPoint is still working the phones and filling e-mail inboxes of potential hurlers.

“You need all the pitching you can get,” LaPoint said. “I might still another left-handed reliever. That’s why Frank expanded the roster to 27 men the first month so you don’t hurt any arms and don’t get strapped. If we lose somebody within the first month, we have starters ready to come in. So we’re prepared.”

As the Ducks enter its 10th season, LaPoint said both the organization and the league’s reputation has made it easier to attract talent.

“It’s not like 5-6 years when you had to really persuade a guy to come here,” LaPoint said. “Now, they now all about you before you call them. Most of them call you first. It’s gotten easier over the years. When you have messages on your desk that pretty good players want to play for you, it makes it easier.”

Though his dual roles keep him busy, LaPoint still needs to resist the urge to fill out the lineup card after managing the Ducks the previous two season and the Bridgeport Bluefish in 2006.

“It was difficult at first but I’m a baseball lifer and I’ve been with the Ducks forever,” LaPoint said. “So after sitting down with Buddy and Frank; who am I to say who is going to run the team?

“Once I met Gary, everything’s been really good. We came up in the same era of baseball. We played the game the same way. Once we got down and talked, everything fell right into place.”

For the record, Carter logged 11 base hits in 42 at-bats against LaPoint for a .262 average. LaPoint struck out the “Kid” seven times, though Carter blasted one home run and collected five RBIs.

The former great Mets backstop will look to add another line to an impressive baseball resume and once again be part of a contending New York team when he makes his Long Island Ducks managerial debut Thursday night.

Opening Day features the Ducks kicking off its 10th season against the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs. Speaking at the team’s media day at Citibank Park on Wednesday, Carter said he has moved on from the criticism he endured for openly campaigning for the Mets managerial job last season.

Carter said he still would like to manage in the major leagues but insisted on numerous occasions that he is focused on bringing the Ducks its second Atlantic League title.

“I didn’t come here for any attention,” Carter said. “I wanted to challenge and I wanted to manage on the East Coast. All I’m concentrating on in this team.”

Dave LaPoint spent the last two seasons as Ducks manager. He returns as the pitching coach and the point man for personnel decisions and  said he is excited to see one of the more impressive pitching staffs the organization has compiled to start a season.

Former Yankee Brad Halsey will get the Opening Day start. Ken Ray, who last pitched in the majors for Atlanta in 2006, will go the second day and Ducks holdover Randy Leek will be third in the rotation, keeping him in line for the home opener start May 1.

Ray, a right-hander, will break up lefties in Halsey and Leek. B.J. Lamura is slated to start the year as the fourth starter. LaPoint said he is also excited about the bullpen, where the closer represents a link to the Ducks past.

Bill Simas, who closed for the Ducks 2004 championship team and was out of baseball from 2006-07 before coming back to the Mexican League last season, is penciled in as the closer. Setting him will be Dan Miceli, a veteran of 631 major league games. Joe Valentine closed games for the Ducks last season and is back for another term. Ed Buzachero rounds out the set-up corps.

“We have four relievers who can throw in the 90s,” LaPoint said. “When a guy needs a day off, we have options.”

The offense also features its share of former major leaguers, headlined by Preston Wilson and ex-Twin Lew Ford. Among the notable returnees is Ray Navarrete, who logged 103 RBIs in batting .307 for the Ducks last season. With those accomplished hitters and stable of veteran pitchers, Carter said he’s excited after seeing the Ducks go 2-0-2 to conclude last week’s exhibition schedule in Florida.

“Our lineup will score runs,” Carter said. “We only had a short time in spring training, but what I enjoyed most was the chemistry in the clubhouse and on the field.”

Halsey said playing for Carter, a catcher on the 1986 Mets and a 19-year major league veteran, is a special experience and one he cherishes more now than he would have when he was a 23-year-old coming up with the Yankees in 2004.

“It’s something that I’ve grown to appreciate through my two years away from the game while rehabbing,” Halsey said. “When you’re forced into a situation when you’re not able to play, that’s when you appreciate the game the most.”

Leek is the probable starter for the Ducks home opener after the club starts with seven road games, including a season-opening four-game set against the Blue Crabs followed by a three-game series in Lancaster.

Brad Halsey’s acclimation process lasted exactly one start. As a 23-year-old Yankee prospect in 2004, Halsey limited the Dodgers to just two runs on five hits in 5 2/3 innings, earning the win in his major league debut.

As a reward, Halsey’s next two starts came in front of sold-out Yankee Stadium crowds who agonized and analyzed every pitch the Houston native threw. Asking someone barely out of college to pitch against the Mets and Red Sox-the Bombers top two rivals in terms of fan passion-can be a daunting task for any pitcher. While Halsey lost to the Mets, he held his own against the Red Sox and picked up a no-decision.

Five years later, Halsey is coming off arm surgery and looking to revive his career. That journey can take a positive turn tonight when Halsey takes the mound as the Ducks Opening Day starter against Southern Maryland.

Halsey last pitched in the majors in 2006, going 5-4 for Oakland. In 40 career starts, he is 14-19 with a respectable 4.84 ERA. The Yankees former eighth-round draft pick and University of Texas standout is just 28 and looking to complete a comeback following his July 2007 surgery to repair a torn labrum.

“I just take it one second at a time and enjoy every time I’m able to throw a ball and my arm feels good,” Halsey said.

The 6-1, 187-pound left-hander impressed Ducks manager Gary Carter and pitching coach Dave LaPoint enough to warrant the Opening Day assignment, which Halsey said is an honor at any professional level.

“It absolutely is an honor,” Halsey said. “There are a lot of guys in this clubhouse who have as much or even more major league experience than I do. Anytime you have an opportunity to start Opening Day, it’s a great thing.”

Former Ducks Bill Pulsipher was one of the players Halsey consulted in researching the Ducks. Earlier in the decade, Pulsipher parlayed a stint with the Ducks into another major league job, giving players like Halsey someone to emulate in trying to make a comeback into affiliated baseball.

Before coming to Long Island, Halsey pitched winter ball in Puerto Rico, where his new team got an endorsement.

“Just knowing some of the guys and for the last two years sitting at home doing rehab, I noticed there were a lot of good players in this league,” Halsey said. “For someone in my situation who has a lot to prove; this is a good place to do it.”

LaPoint said the Ducks signed an outstanding defensive catcher in John Pachot, who spent the last two seasons playing against the Flock for the Newark Bears. Pachot’s game-calling could help Halsey, along with playing under a Hall of Famer catcher in Carter.

“My experience is that catchers make the best managers because they have knowledge of the entire game” Halsey said. “Not only are they immersed in the relationship between the battery, they also have to take a bat up there all the time, which as pitchers, we don’t always have that experience.

“As a catcher, he [Carter] knows all facets of what goes on out there.”