BANGOR – Monday was supposed to be a day off for the Bangor Lumberjacks, but after a hastily called postgame locker room meeting between manager Kash Beauchamp and his team Sunday afternoon, it became an early workday.

Well, maybe not so much work as it was practice.

Beauchamp was understandably frustrated, bothered, and even embarrassed by his team’s performance this weekend after the Lumberjacks were swept at home by the New Haven County Cutters to prolong a six-game losing streak.

“I’m not going to take it lightly and watch it snowball,” Beauchamp said. “I’m going to stop it. It’s going to be dealt with now, off day or no.”

Bangor (10-14) has dropped nine of its last 11 games despite ranking among the Northeast League’s top offensive teams.

Unlike the Lumberjacks of last season, this year’s team is among the offensive leaders. Through Sunday, they were fourth in batting average at .271, first in stolen bases (25), second in home runs (26) and fourth in runs (113).

Yet they were shut out twice by New Haven, held scoreless for 19 consecutive innings, and committed seven errors and several other mental miscues in the last three games.

“The defense has really been questionable. It’s killing us,” said Bangor general manager Curt Jacey. “We’re giving away extra outs and extra bases to guys and you just can’t do that.”

“If we’re going to get beat, it’s not going to be because we can’t execute,” Beauchamp said. “Missing cutoff men or something like that are things we shouldn’t be doing.”

Team leader and veteran catcher Brad Hargreaves thinks most of Bangor’s troubles are mental.

“I think the main thing to do is relax,” he said. “I think we’re too tight and high-strung right now.”

Beauchamp is at a loss when trying to explain it.

“I have no idea. I know coming out of spring training, I felt really good about the way we executed things. I don’t know if guys have forgotten or what,” he said. “If they’re pressing, they’ve got to get mentally tougher. I mean, suck it up and let’s go. Maybe I can’t manage today’s player, but I don’t ask anything of these guys that I didn’t expect from myself when I played.”

So Monday was a back-to-basics day as the team met for a morning practice emphasizing fundamental defensive skills and situational drills. It’s a good bet the 9 a.m. wakeup call didn’t generate a lot of smiles.

“These guys have a choice to make. They either get on board or get the hell out because I’m doing things my way until [team owner] Chip Hutchins decides to fire me,” Beauchamp said. “If my way isn’t the right way, then I’m going out in a blaze of glory and my head up, whatever happens.”

Another paradox that’s making Bangor’s losing streak hard to figure out is pitching. Bangor got consecutive quality starts by Lance Calmus, a converted reliever, and Matt Scheuing but was unable to win as the offense mustered just seven hits in those two games.

“I’m asking Lance to start and he’s been a setup guy his whole career, but he’s done his job and pitched well enough to win. They both did,” Beauchamp said.

Still, the pitching staff’s numbers aren’t as glowing as they were a year ago. This staff is sixth in team ERA (5.16) and wins (10), and tied for fourth in strikeouts (144). Besides ERA, the most glaring number is walks. Bangor’s 92 free passes rank second in the NEL.

“You look at why we’re losing and I think the biggest reason is walks, which are killing us, and mistakes,” Beauchamp said. “We’re not getting up in the count like we were earlier and we’re not pitching inside and that’s something that will happen with a young staff.”

To that end, Bangor has signed former major league lefthanded pitcher Clayton Andrews to provide a more veteran presence in the clubhouse as well as lead by example.

“We’re pretty excited about him,” said Jacey, who plucked Andrews off waivers from the traveling Aces team.

The 26-year-old Andrews pitched for the Toronto Blue Jays and Cincinnati Reds.

Roster retooling

Clayton Andrews’ signing isn’t Bangor’s only recent personnel move.

Backup catcher and designated hitter Ryan Sienko was released last week and replaced with free agent rookie Hide Misawa, a Los Angeles native who was with the Los Angeles Dodgers’ extended spring training camp.

Sienko was batting .189 with one home run and seven RBIs in 12 games. The 6-foot-4, 240-pound Californian had a slugging percentage of just .324.

“He had some good games, but the bottom line in this league is if you’re a veteran, you’ve gotta get the job done every night,” said Jacey. “Hide is a catch-and-throw guy who’ll be your typical rookie backup guy and catch every sixth or seventh day. He’s solid defensively.”

Bangor also released relievers John Gangemi and Ernie Miller, who both struggled with control in their brief Bangor stints. The Lumberjacks are also in the market for another lefthander.

“The main thing is we’re not healthy right now,” Jacey said. “Our hottest hitter, Willie King, has a hand injury which we won’t know about for sure until he has X-rays Monday, and we lost our closer, who went on the inactive list, and John Rohlfing’s on the DL.”

Work in progress

While Beauchamp is revamping his roster, Jacey is making some changes off the field.

Jacey hopes to make travel to and from Husson College’s John Winkin Complex easier and more convenient.

“I’m still trying to set up some kind of a tram or shuttle service for fans parking in the outer lot, and we’d like to see the bus stop for the BAT moved a little closer to the stadium,” he said.

Team officials have been disappointed by the lower-than-expected turnout in terms of fan attendance, but ticket sales are brisker than they were a year ago and Jacey expects things to pick up.

“Two thousand [fans per game] is our goal and will continue to be,” he said. “I still think once we hit July, we’ll be doing much better. I don’t want to use weather as an excuse. It has been bad, but I still think we’ll be around 2,000 a game with our presale numbers. I’m not panicking, but would I like to see more people here? Yes.”

Bangor has been hit by problems ranging from unusually cold weather to delays caused by power outages and thunderstorms.

“We probably lost about 200 fans or so from the other night with the power outage,” Jacey said. “Our typical walkup crowd is between 300 and 500 people.”

Team employees already have revamped various areas of the stadium, turning the beer tent into more of a beer garden with a bar or pub type of feel to it and have added an arcade tent with plenty of video games. To guard against another potential power outage, the arcade has been hooked up to a separate power source (gas generator).

In order to better clean the stands, which are more enclosed than the ones used at Mahaney Diamond in Orono last year, the team bought backpack Shop Vacs to vacuum up trash. The stands are also power-washed every third or fourth day.

“It’s a work in progress and we’re always looking for ways to improve things and make it more enjoyable for our fans,” Jacey said.

Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600 or at aneff@bangordailynews.net