Keeping up with Mark

Former Wild Things manager and pitching coach Mark Mason is three wins away from a championship.

Mason, who managed the Wild Things in 2009 and spent four years as an assistant with Washington, is the pitching coach for the York Revolution of the independent Atlantic League. York is managed by former Baltimore Orioles catcher Andy Etchebarren.

The Revolution defeated Somerset 3-2 in the best-of-five semifinals and will play Bridgeport in the championship series that begins Wednesday night in York.

York won Game 5, 1-0, Sunday behind the pitching of former major leaguer and Marietta College standout Matt DeSalvo.

Here's a story about Mason and his pitcher from the York Daily Record:

Read the story here.

Biggest losers, again

If there is one post a statistical data on this blog that should scare the hell out of Wild Things ownership, then it's this less-than-sparkling piece. For the second consecutive year, the Wild Things had the largest decline in average single-game attendance in the Frontier League.

Of the 11 returning teams from 2009, the Wild Things were one of five that showed a decrease in attendance. Washington's attendance dipped by 358 fans per game, to a franchise-low 2,431 per game. Last year, the Wild Things showed the league's biggest decline at a mere 189 per game.

The economic decline surely has an impact on attendance, but six FL teams did show an increase this year, so economics can't be the sole cause of Consol Energy Park becoming a place with plenty of extra elbow and leg room. You have to wonder how much longer the team's ownership will put up with dwindling attendance.

If this year's attendance numbers reveal anything, it's that there's hope for Washington. River City is a franchise much like Washington in that it put up impressive attendance numbers in its first few seasons in the league. River City led the FL in attendance in 2002, averaging more than 3,900 fans per game. That average dipped to 1,952 in 2009.

This year, the Rascals made the playoffs for the second year in a row, won the league championship and had the largest boost in attendance at 411 per game. Win and the fans will come. That seems to be the best formula to attendance success for teams that have been around the FL for a decade or so.

Gain/decline (per game) for FL teams in 2010:

+411 - River City
+186 - Evansville
+116 - Lake Erie
+101 - Traverse City
+ 74 - Oakland County
+ 37 - Florence
- 17 - Gateway
-189 - Kalamazoo
-280 - Windy City
-301 - Southern Illinois
-358 - Washington

Quality stuff v.2010

At the all-star break, Washington was dead last in the league in quality starts – at least 6 innings pitched and no more than 3 earned runs allowed - with only 12. Billy Muldowney, Jeff Sonnenberg and Justin Edwards helped the Wild Things climb out of the basement in that statistic over the second half of the season.

Normal, which finished in fourth place in the West Division and was eight games under .500, led the league in quality starts with 60. I've only been tracking quality starts since 2006, but Normal's total is the most in that span, topping Rockford's 56 in 2006.

Quality starts
60 - Normal
53 - Windy City
49 - Lake Erie
45 - Oakland County
45 - Southern Illinois
44 - Gateway
44 - Traverse City
43 - River City
35 - Washington
34 - Evansville
31 - Kalamazoo
30 - Florence

By the numbers

The Wild Things recently completed 38-57 record by the numbers:

0 - The number of wins Washington had in 12 games against Traverse City. It was the first time in Frontier League history that a team went winless in a 12-game season series. Had the Wild Things won at least 3 games against Traverse City, then Oakland County would have made the playoffs instead of the Beach Bums.

1-42 - The Wild Things' record when trailing after seven innings.

2 - Stolen bases Chris Sidick fell shy of Mike Check's single-season team record of 34. Sidick had 28 stolen bases when he pulled a hamstring at Florence on July 11. had he stayed healthy, Sidick would have easily broken the stolen bases record.

5 - Quality starts by Jeff Sonnenberg in his last five outings.

6 - Innings Billy Muldowney fell short of qualifying for and winning the league's ERA title. Muldowney had a 1.80 ERA in 70 innings. Had he pitched six more innings and given up two earned runs or less, Muldowney would have qualified for the ERA title and beaten Southern Illinois' Joe Augustine's 1.97. Muldowney also could have won the ERA title with only one win. It's safe to say that has never happened before in the minor leagues.

8 - The Wild Things' losing streak to end the season, which set a team record.

9 - Positions played by Chris Sidick in a game Sept. 1 at Lake Erie. He became the first Washington player to play all nine positions in a game. Sidick pitched to two batters, getting one out and giving up a single.

9 - Numbers of players who batted in the No. 4 spot in the order.

11 - Times the Wild Things were shut out in 95 games. The previous team record was six in 2008.

12 - The number of quality starts by Jeff Sonnenberg in his last 14 starts.

27 - The number of Lake Erie batters Jeff Sonnenberg faced in 3-0 complete-game win over Lake Erie on July 29. In what was easily the season's highlight, Sonnenberg gave up two hits but still faced the minimum because of two double plays.

29-0 - Washington's record when leading after eight innings.

33 - John Delaney's consecutive game on-base streak from June 17 to July 27.

44 - Home runs hit by the Wild Things, the lowest total in franchise history.

55 - Home runs Jacob Dempsey and Grant Psomas combined to hit in 2008.

497 - Career games played by Chris Sidick.

2,431 - Average attendance at Wild Things home games, the smallest in franchise history.

That's a wrap

Here's a link to the promised season wrapup column:

Read the story here.

Packed house

I don't catch this until checking the Frontier League's homepage today. The Wild Things' game Sunday at Traverse City was played before a crowd of 8,211 at Wuerfel Park. It was the largest crowd to see a Wild Things game in their history, easily surpassing the previous record of 6,820 for a game at Evansville on July 24, 2004.

The Consol Energy Park attendance record is one that won't be broken any time soon. It's 4,247, set Aug. 23, 2003 for a game against Florence.

Cochran back in Triple-A

Former Wild Things pitcher Tom Cochran, pictured, has been promoted to Class AAA Louisville in the Cincinnati Reds organization. Cochran was recently named the top left-handed pitcher in the Class AA Southern League after posting a 2.67 ERA for the Carolina Mudcats.

Cochran has made one start for Louisville but received a no-decision. It's the second year in a row that Cochran has played in Triple-A.

Racin' to Indy?

In the Frontier League, before the regular season ends and the postseason begins is something called the silly season. Rumors about which managers and coaches will be returning, which franchise will be moving, which players will be released or brought back, and which cities are on league's radar begin to pop up on a daily basis. We're smack in the middle of the silly season.

Today's report comes from Westfield, Ind., a suburb north of Indianapolis. Apparently, a company is planning a large mixed-use development (think Southpointe) that will include a 5,000-seat ballpark. Paul Estridge, of a Carmel, Ind.-based development company that is running the project, has said he's trying to attract an independent team to the ballpark and hopes to have a deal in place for a Frontier League expansion team in two months.

Here's guessing that if this happens, the expansion team won't be on the field until 2012 at the earliest.

Read the story here.

Will Kings be overthrown?

Will the Kalamazoo Kings be back in the Frontier League next season? That has become a question that gets asked at the end of each season. This year, there is no clear-cut answer.

According to David Drew of the Kalamazoo Gazette, Kings ownership met this week but did not make a decision on the ballclub's future. That won't happen until late September, at the earliest.

The Kings averaged a league-low 1,280 fans per game at poorly located Homer Stryker Field. This is down from more than 2,500 in 2006, but that was when the Kings were putting highly competitive teams on the field. This year, Kalamazoo has clinched the worst record in the Frontier League.

Team owner Ed Bernard said a decision on the team's future will come after the books are closed on the 2010 season.

“Like any business, you look at reality. The reality is we didn’t do as well this year. The question is, can we do better next year Should there be a next year?" Bernard said. "You evaluate them from a rational standpoint. It becomes a point where even we can’t continue. Not saying we aren’t, but potentially we might make that decision.”

Streak ends

The Frontier League released its annual all-star team today, and for the first time in their nine seasons the Wild Things failed to have a player land a spot on the 11-player team. That shouldn't come as a surprise because Washington has been assured of finishing with the worst record in franchise history.

It seems that the Wild Things officially threw in the towel on the season Wednesday night at Lake Erie when outfielder Chris Sidick played all nine positions, becoming the first Washington player to pull off the feat. While it takes a lot for somebody who is not a catcher by trade to get behind the plate, and for an outfielder to pitch and get an out, I feel stunts like that make a mockery of the game.

You have to wonder about how committed the Wild Things were to winning Wednesday when they put Sidick in to pitch in the seventh inning of a tie game. I wonder how Zach Rosenbaum, the pitcher who started the game and has only one win on the season, would have felt if he was pulled with a one-run lead and it was being protected by an outfielder.

Now, back to the all-star teams so we can play a little trivia: Washington has had 16 different players named to the all-league teams (twice they had four players named in the same season). How many of the 16 can you name?

HBO and the Frontier League

The current edition of HBO's long-running series "Real Sports," which is hosted by Bryant Gumbel, features an interesting segment on Oakland County Cruisers outfielder Robbie Tolan (pictured), who played this season with a bullet lodged in his chest.

Tolan, who is the son of former major league outfielder Bobbie Tolan (Cardinals, Reds, Padres), was shot Dec. 31, 2008 by a Bellaire, Texas, police officer, who mistakenly thought Tolan had stolen a car.

To make a long story short, officer John Edwards entered a wrong license number – off by one digit – from Tolan's license plate when doing a check on the vehicle. The check came back as a potential stolen vehicle. A mere 32 seconds after arriving at the Tolan residence, the police officer fired three shots. One of those shots struck Tolan in his right ribcage.

If you have Comcast, the segment can be viewed through the On Demand feature. It is available through Sept. 27. There are a couple of brief clips of Tolan playing in a game at Lake Erie.

In 66 games for Oakland County, Tolan is batting .248 with three home runs, 30 RBI and three stolen bases.