Wrapping up the first round
Before moving on to the championship round against Windy City, let's wrap up the first-round series against Gateway.
About a month ago, during a game at Consol Energy Park, Frontier League commissioner Bill Lee was checking the scores from around the league when he said to nobody in particular, "Windy City and Gateway are head and shoulders above everybody else in the league." There was probably a lot of truth to that statement. The ThunderBolts and Grizzlies were both on pace to break the league's single-season record for wins.
So, how did the Wild Things manage to sweep hard-hitting Gateway in the first round? Let us count the ways:
1. Pitching – What do they say about good pitching stopping good hitting? The Wild Things have good pitching. Pitching, however, was not Gateway's strength. The Grizzlies' staff was rather pedestrian as evidenced by the Wild Things scoring in 11 of 26 innings in the series. The Grizzlies' pitchers struck out only 10 batters in three games compared to 32 strikeouts by the Wild Things' staff.
2. Hitting - The Wild Things' team batting average hovered around the bottom of the Frontier League statistics for much of the second half of the season. But against Gateway, Washington looked like the team that led the league in hitting. There was much talk and concern about GCS Ballpark's small dimensions helping Gateway's power hitters, yet it was Washington that benefited most from the park. Chris Sidick and Jarod Rine wore out the tall left-field wall and Matt Sutton and Mario Garza homered over the low right-field wall. It should be noted that Garza's first home run in Game 2 would have been out of any park, including Yellowstone.
3. Composure - The Grizzlies' absolutely lost their cool and focus. Even before Chris Sidick's hard slide took out Gateway shortstop Ryan Saltzgaber in Game 1, the Grizzlies seemed more concerned about the umpires than the Wild Things. In all three games, outfielder Jon Armitage, the Grizzlies' MVP, was visibly upset by every strike call against him. In Game 3, Gateway players argued with the umpires, threw their gloves and yelled at the fans in the lawn area. I'm willing to bet that had Gateway not argued so much with the umpires, then Nathan Messner would have been called out instead of safe on his slide into second base that preceded Pat O'Brien's three-run homer.
What was most puzzling about the Grizzlies' gripes with the umpires is that, to the best of my knowledge, none of the three - Tony Maners, Jeff Spisak and Dan O'Connell - had ever umpired a game in Washington before Friday. The Grizzlies' can't say they got homered. O'Connell is the league's chief umpire in the St. Louis area; Spisak, who spent three years at the Class AA level, is from Indianapolis and Maners, who is from somewhere in the southeast, spent 10 years umpiring in Class AAA and has worked several College World Series.
4. Overconfidence - Were the Grizzlies overlooking Washington and expecting a matchup with Windy City in the finals? Washington manager John Massarelli thinks that might be the case.
"We've been there before. You clinch your division early with 60-plus wins and for young kids it's hard to handle that," Massarelli said. "After I read some of their quotes in the newspaper, I felt more comfortable. They were saying that if they don't win it all, then it won't be a successful season. They've already had a successful season. To base a successful season on winning a playoff series or two is absurd. After reading those remarks, I knew that if we could get a game up on them they would put pressure on themselves."
* Washington's win means the team with fewer regular-season victories has won 9 of the last 14 playoffs series. Why does the underdog do so well? Gateway manager Phil Warren offered this analysis:
"I don't know if it has anything to do with seeding. When you get the top four teams in this league, they're all good teams and deserving of being in the playoffs. In the playoffs everyone starts out equal. You see it at every level. You just hope you get hot and play your best when you get in. Records mean nothing in the playoffs because it's a whole new season. Everyone starts out 0-0."
About a month ago, during a game at Consol Energy Park, Frontier League commissioner Bill Lee was checking the scores from around the league when he said to nobody in particular, "Windy City and Gateway are head and shoulders above everybody else in the league." There was probably a lot of truth to that statement. The ThunderBolts and Grizzlies were both on pace to break the league's single-season record for wins.
So, how did the Wild Things manage to sweep hard-hitting Gateway in the first round? Let us count the ways:
1. Pitching – What do they say about good pitching stopping good hitting? The Wild Things have good pitching. Pitching, however, was not Gateway's strength. The Grizzlies' staff was rather pedestrian as evidenced by the Wild Things scoring in 11 of 26 innings in the series. The Grizzlies' pitchers struck out only 10 batters in three games compared to 32 strikeouts by the Wild Things' staff.
2. Hitting - The Wild Things' team batting average hovered around the bottom of the Frontier League statistics for much of the second half of the season. But against Gateway, Washington looked like the team that led the league in hitting. There was much talk and concern about GCS Ballpark's small dimensions helping Gateway's power hitters, yet it was Washington that benefited most from the park. Chris Sidick and Jarod Rine wore out the tall left-field wall and Matt Sutton and Mario Garza homered over the low right-field wall. It should be noted that Garza's first home run in Game 2 would have been out of any park, including Yellowstone.
3. Composure - The Grizzlies' absolutely lost their cool and focus. Even before Chris Sidick's hard slide took out Gateway shortstop Ryan Saltzgaber in Game 1, the Grizzlies seemed more concerned about the umpires than the Wild Things. In all three games, outfielder Jon Armitage, the Grizzlies' MVP, was visibly upset by every strike call against him. In Game 3, Gateway players argued with the umpires, threw their gloves and yelled at the fans in the lawn area. I'm willing to bet that had Gateway not argued so much with the umpires, then Nathan Messner would have been called out instead of safe on his slide into second base that preceded Pat O'Brien's three-run homer.
What was most puzzling about the Grizzlies' gripes with the umpires is that, to the best of my knowledge, none of the three - Tony Maners, Jeff Spisak and Dan O'Connell - had ever umpired a game in Washington before Friday. The Grizzlies' can't say they got homered. O'Connell is the league's chief umpire in the St. Louis area; Spisak, who spent three years at the Class AA level, is from Indianapolis and Maners, who is from somewhere in the southeast, spent 10 years umpiring in Class AAA and has worked several College World Series.
4. Overconfidence - Were the Grizzlies overlooking Washington and expecting a matchup with Windy City in the finals? Washington manager John Massarelli thinks that might be the case.
"We've been there before. You clinch your division early with 60-plus wins and for young kids it's hard to handle that," Massarelli said. "After I read some of their quotes in the newspaper, I felt more comfortable. They were saying that if they don't win it all, then it won't be a successful season. They've already had a successful season. To base a successful season on winning a playoff series or two is absurd. After reading those remarks, I knew that if we could get a game up on them they would put pressure on themselves."
* Washington's win means the team with fewer regular-season victories has won 9 of the last 14 playoffs series. Why does the underdog do so well? Gateway manager Phil Warren offered this analysis:
"I don't know if it has anything to do with seeding. When you get the top four teams in this league, they're all good teams and deserving of being in the playoffs. In the playoffs everyone starts out equal. You see it at every level. You just hope you get hot and play your best when you get in. Records mean nothing in the playoffs because it's a whole new season. Everyone starts out 0-0."
posted by Chris Dugan at
5:00 PM
3 Comments:
Asserting that you're "willing to bet that had Gateway not argued so much with the umpires, then Nathan Messner would have been called out instead of safe on his slide into second base" is EXACTLY the issue the Grizzlies argued.
And it's an assertion that ought not sit well with the League offices.
The Grizzlies were grizzled by their perception of a lack of prefessionalism on the part of the umpires, particularly Spisak.
IF your point is accurate, Phil Warren and his band of whiners have a legitimate beef in their protests.
Messner appeared to have pulled his left hand back on the head-first slide, then reached the bag with his right, ahead of the tag attempt. The right call was made. The fact that it went against the Grizzlies is the way baseball works. At most, only half the people are going to like any call an umpire makes.
My bet is--these three umpires will continue to work the Frontier League, that at least one of them will work the Championship Series.
Randy Gore of WJPA Radio mentioned to me tonight that Messner did appear to pull his left hand back and touch the bag with his right. Maybe that was the right call. I'll have to ask Nathan about that one.
Dan O'Connell, the third-base umpire Friday night, is working first base in Game 1 of the championship series. Jim Schaly is the home-plate umpire with Dave Yeast at third base.
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