It's been bad before. But never quite like this.

The door to the York Revolution locker room closed, and it stayed shut after the Lancaster Barnstormers trounced a punchless York squad, 12-2, in front of 4,049 fans at Sovereign Bank Stadium on Friday night.

After a closed-door meeting, York manager Chris Hoiles relayed that he wouldn't talk to the media after the game -- a rarity for Hoiles.

The former Orioles catcher joked that he didn't have a panic button during his first season in York when the Revolution struggled to win with an inferior team. But it appears Hoiles has seen enough from a onetime promising club on the verge of falling out of the Atlantic League Freedom Division race after only 20 games.

Adding to York's concerns, the worst team in the league handed out the latest beating.

Check that, York is now tied with Lancaster for the worst record in the league. Both teams have matching 7-13 marks, relegated to the Freedom basement -- four games behind first-place Somerset.

Lancaster was supposed to be the hapless club.

The Barnstormers had the same road record as York (1-9) entering the night. But their entire team looked solid Friday. So much for York stealing some easy wins in the War of the Roses.

"It's just like an individual player," Lancaster manager Von Hayes said. "You're looking for one night to get a hit and break out of it. And I think it can be the same for a team."

York looks lost. The Revs managed four hits against

game ranked sixth in the league in team ERA (4.66). And York's league-worst team batting average dropped to .220.

Lancaster right-hander Mike Nannini (1-2) earned his first win of the season, even though he didn't have command of his fastball all night.

To illustrate the Revs' inability to hit, just look at the outcome of one of York's most consistent batters, Matt Padgett. He reached base three times -- and never moved.

Padgett hit a leadoff triple in the fourth, and that's where he stayed as York dribbled and swung its way to another wasted opportunity.

And Lancaster only needed one inning to turn the game around.

York starter Aaron Myette (1-3) struggled with control in the third. After breezing through the first two innings, facing the minimum six batters, he walked three of the first four men he faced in the third.

Gonzalez snapped out of a 3-for-20 skid by slapping a two-run single to right-center field.

Myette walked another batter and Ian Bladergroen hit a grand slam off the right-field picnic tents. It was his league-leading 13th extra-base hit.

The game was out of reach, and Lancaster needed two swings to do it. The inning's final tally told the story: four walks, two hits and six runs.

Before Friday night Lancaster received little production from proven hitters Danny Gonzalez -- who started the night batting .197 -- and Jutt Hileman (.203). They snapped out of it in a big way at the Revs' expense.

Gonzalez went 4-for-4 and reached base five times, blasting a solo homer to start the fifth. Hileman crushed his third homer of the season in the fourth and added two singles.

"A game like that. ... takes the pressure off," Bladergroen said.

And it showed.

"They're coming around," Hayes said about Gonzalez and Hileman. "They've been hitting the ball a little bit better. I've seen them hit it hard, but right at people. I see them coming around, slowly but surely."

The only player who couldn't put the ball into play for Lancaster was the one guy who had been hitting well. Michael Woods carried a 17-game hitting streak into the game, one game shy of tying the club record. But Woods struck out three times and walked twice, going 0-for-3.

jseip@ydr.com; 771-2025

TODAY'S GAME

   Who: Lancaster Barnstormers (7-13) vs. York Revolution (7-13)
   When: Today, 7:07 p.m.
   Where: Sovereign Bank Stadium
   Starters: Lancaster RHP Tim McCaskey (1-1, 7.91 ERA) vs. York RHP Corey Thurman (0-3, 11.86)
   Radio: WSBA-AM 910