Everson out as manager

The worst-kept secret in the Frontier League became official today as the Wild Things announced that Darin Everson will not return for a third season as the team's manager.

Everson managed the Wild Things to an 80-110 record and a pair of fifth-place finishes in the East Division during his two seasons with Washington. A former manager in the Florida Marlins' minor-league system, Everson guided the Wild Things to a 38-57 record in 2010. This year, Washington improved to 42-53 and were 13 1/2 games behind division winner Joliet.

“After several discussions, we decided it would be better to part ways,” said Stuart Williams, managing partner of the Wild Things. “Darin is a fine man, and we wish him the best as he moves on.”

While Everson was able to put together highly competitive pitching staffs, his teams were never able to generate enough offense to become a playoff contender in a league long known for its high-scoring games. In 2010, Washington finished next-to-last in the 12-team league in runs scored. This season, the Wild Things were last in batting average, runs, hits, walks, on-base percentage and slugging percentage.

The lack of offense was why Washington, despite having perhaps the best starting pitching in the league, never topped the .500 mark all season. The Wild Things led the league in ERA and set the league record for most quality starts.

Everson, who acted as his own director of baseball operations this year, seemed to be hamstrung by a lack of connections to pro scouts and affiliated organizations. Far too often during the season, the Wild Things signed players with little or no pro experience instead of players recently released by major league organizations.

Despite this, Washington did have a successful season this year in one area: Everson helped four pitchers -- Vidal Nuno (Yankees), Alan Williams (Brewers), Mark Williams (Brewers) and Casey Barnes (Phillies) -- get signed by major league organizations. Until this year, Washington never had more than two of its players picked up during a season.

Washington already has started its search for a new manager, the sixth in franchise history.

"I want to thank the front office staff, the fans, and especially the players we have had in Washington the past two years," Everson said. "They have made my two seasons there very special. I will be exploring other baseball opportunities in the future and will always wish the Wild Things the best."

A complete mentality

In this age of closely monitored pitch counts and six inning "quality starts," the Wild Things' Justin Hall (pictured) arrives for work every fifth game with a refreshing outlook to his craft as a starting pitcher.

Hall (8-6, 3.44) wants to finish what he starts.

The right-hander has four complete games, and it would not have been surprising if Hall had been allowed to pitch the ninth inning of the Wild Things' 5-2 win Wednesday night over the Joliet Slammers.

But after throwing 115 pitches, Hall's night was over. Washington manager Darin Everson had decided to call upon closer Tyler Wolf to get the final three outs for his 10th save. That, however, doesn't mean Hall couldn't have completed the task.

"We were thinking about maybe letting Justin go out for ninth, but it was a save situation, so you've got to go to your closer," Everson explained.

That was disappointing for Hall, who seems to be a different breed of starting pitcher in the Frontier League. While other starters generally start looking to the bullpen for help after pitching five or six innings, Hall has a nine-inning mentality.

"Most of our starters don't have that six-inning mentality," Everson said. "From day one, we've told our starters that we'll let them go as long as they can. They built up their arm strength to pitch nine innings and are in great shape, which is a credit to (pitching coach) Mark (Dewey).

"Lately, it seems I've been going out to the mound in the sixth and seventh innings just to ask a pitcher how he feels, not to take him out of the game."

While Joliet is enjoying a 6 1/2 game lead in the East Division, Hall has a 2-0 record in as many starts against the Slammers. Back in the second game of the season, Hall threw a four-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts at Joliet.

"The key is Hall throws strikes, gets ahead of the hitters and makes them hit his best pitches," Joliet manager Bart Zeller said. "It's a real simple formula, but it's really effective. He's always pitching ahead in the count."

Zeller said he was impressed by Hall in the fifth inning, after Joliet scored twice in the fourth to pull to within 3-2.

"He didn't get flustered after we scored those two runs," Zeller said. "He got six straight outs after that. That's the sign of an outstanding pitcher."

Hall ended up retiring 13 of the last 14 batters he faced.

Getting offensive

The rock group Blue Oyster Cult had a hit in 1977 with its song "Goin' Through the Motions." The Wild Things, their manager suggested, had not hits over the last six innings Thursday night against River City in part because they went through the motions at the plate.

"We need to become more offensive and be able to make adjustments throughout the game, not just go through the motions with our swings," Everson said following the 7-1 loss to the West Division-leading Rascals.

Thirty-seven games into the Frontier League's 96-game schedule, the Wild Things' offense is producing at a rate clip. But it's the wrong kind of record pace.

Washington is batting an anemic .225 as a team. The league record for lowest batting average for a season was set by Lake Erie last year at .229. That the Wild Things are even five games from .500 with that kind of offense is a credit to its pitching staff. Despite losing two lefties to affiliated ball, Washington is second in the league in ERA (3.35) and quality starts (21). The pitching staff deserves better support than it's getting.

The Wild Things' offense has been so poor this season that it would take their first 39 batters reaching base via hits tonight just to raise the team batting average to tie Rockford (.249) for 11th place in the 12-team league.

I don't think that's going to happen.

Second baseman Scott Lawson (.310) and center fielder Chris Sidick (.283) have been the only consistent threats in the lineup, and the former has had trouble staying on base because of baserunning mistakes. Other than those two, the offense has struggled mightily all seasson.

Even the designated hitter position has been a bust. Washington's DHs are hitting .191 with one home run, seven RBI and 41 strikeouts in 136 at-bats.

So what is manager Darin Everson to do about his offense? He brought in DH Bryan Fogle (.292) and third baseman Ryan Ditthardt (.143) last week. Does Everson continue to make changes or hope that his current players can fight their way out of what has been a collective funk?

"Fran the Man" back in FL

Fran Riordan, pictured, is back in the Frontier League.

The winningest manager in Frontier League history, Riordan has been hired as manager of the Florence Freedom. Riordan replaces Toby Rumfield, who had an 87-105 record in two seasons with Florence.

This will be the fourth Frontier League team for Riordan, who has won three championships.

“I’m very excited to join the Freedom organization. The Frontier League has been a huge part of my life since 1997," Riordan said. "I’ve seen the league grow from its infancy and it’s been a great ride for the league. I’m very excited to be back."

Riordan was a player/manager for the DuBois County Dragons and the Richmond Roosters, guiding the latter to back-to-back championships in 2001 and 2002. After playing one season in the independent Can-Am League, Riordan returned to the Frontier League as manager of the Kalamazoo Kings in 2004. He guided the Kings through the 2008 season and won a league title in 2005.

Riordan has a 435-341 career record in the Frontier League.

Last year, Riordan managed the expansion Lake County Fielders of the independent Northern League. The Fielders had a 41-59 record.

Frontier League commissioner Bill Lee said, "It is fabulous to have Fran back in the league. He has been a great influence in the Frontier League, both as a player and as a manager."

More manager talk

- The Wild Things currently do not have a manager under contract for the 2011 season. Darin Everson had a one-year contract, but Wild Things executive director Todd Marlin said he's hopeful that Everson will return to Washington next season. Like most Frontier League managers, Everson has expressed a desire to return to affiliated ball. Whoever is running the Wild Things' baseball operations has until Dec. 22 to offer contracts to returning players.

- Former National League Manager of the Year Hal Lanier will return for a second season as the Normal CornBelters' manager. Normal had a 44-52 record and finished in fourth place in the West Division last year.

Wild day in the Windy City

Perhaps it was a case of poor umpiring. Maybe it was the wrong thing being said at the wrong time. Or maybe it was just old-fashioned rage that boiled over, the result of the Wild Things' maddening start to the Frontier League season.

Whatever it was, it set off Washington manager Darin Everson (pictured in a game earlier this month) during the seventh inning Monday afternoon at Windy City.

Recapping the call of WJPA Radio's Randy Gore, here's what happened:

Washington relief pitcher Ben Rodewald walked Windy City's leadoff hitter in the bottom of the seventh. The first pitch to the next batter, Ryne White, was called a ball.

After the pitch to White, home-plate umpire Jeff Spisak took off his mask and began pointing toward the Wild Things' dugout. Spisak then turned around and play was set to resume. Just before Rodewald could throw his next pitch, Spisak called timeout, turned again toward the Wild Things' dugout, pulled his mask off and ejected Everson, who bolted onto the field to argue. Before leaving, Everson did his best Billy Martin impersonation, covering home plate by kicking dirt over it. Everson apparently reached his breaking point.

According to the radio call, Spisak was clapping as Everson left the field. Obviously, I wasn't there to know if Spisak was clapping in a manner as if to say "OK, let's play ball, guys," or to say "I'm glad I got rid of you. Good riddance." Spisak then followed Everson back toward the dugout (at Standard Bank Stadium, you have to exit through the dugout to get to the clubhouse).

The situation became even more bizarre when, before the next pitch, White asked Spisak to clean home plate. According to one source, Spisak refused to clean the plate, so White "suggested" that the umpire should to do his job. Spisak quickly ejected White.

The count was two ejections -- one for each team -- without a pitch being thrown.

***

I still love going to the games. I still walk into the ballpark, football stadium, gymnasium or arena sure that I'm going to see something that night I’ve never seen before in my life. That hope is one of the things that keeps me coming back.

Had I been at the Wild Things' game Monday, I would have seen something in the top of the first inning that I had never seen before. Windy City starting pitcher Andrew Werner had a case of wildness in the inning, hitting Chris Sidick with a pitch to start the game, walking three batters and throwing a wild pitch. Washington also stole two bases in the inning.

When the inning ended, the Wild Things didn't have a run.

Think about that: a hit batsman, three walks, a wild pitch and two stolen bases in one inning and no runs. The inning went like this: hit batsman, strikeout, stolen base, caught stealing, walk, stolen base, walk, wild pitch, walk, flyout.

Another day, another loss

The Wild Things lost another game Monday, 6-2 at Lake Erie. It was the 12th loss in 15 games for Washington, but at least this contest was memorable for a few incidents.

One was a blunder by the umpires that led to the ejection of Washington pitching coach Mark Dewey in the eighth inning. Here's what happened: Lake Erie's Dom Duggan apparently swung and missed at a pitch from Eryk McConnell but home-plate umpire Dan Diem ruled it a check-swing. Washington asked for an appeal, so Diem asked first-base umpire Gary Rosplohowski for help. The problem was that Rosplohowski wasn't paying attention. According to WJPA's Randy Gore, an appeal was requested "for about 10 seconds" before Roplohowski realized there was a game going on and called a no-swing. That led to Washington manager Darin Everson charging out of the dugout and Dewey getting ejected for yelling from the dugout.

Then, after the game, it seemed that Lake Erie starting pitcher Josh Roberts called out Washington catcher Alan Robbins. At least that's the way the story in the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram read. Washington had hit three Lake Erie batters in the game before Robbins was plunked in the leg by Roberts in the seventh inning. After getting hit, Robbins took a couple of steps toward the pitcher's mound before going to first base.

Read story here.

Tuesday night leftovers

If Darin Everson has proven anything in his short stint as the Wild Things' manager, it's that he's not afraid to call for a squeeze play, whether the suicide or safety variety. It was the latter that produced the winning run Tuesday night in Washington's 6-5 victory over Gateway.

Billy O'Conner put down a bunt on the first pitch he saw from Grizzlies reliever David Miller to score Luis Rivera from third base and give the Wild Things a 6-5 victory.

It's at least the second time Everson has used the squeeze play in the season's first three weeks. John Massarelli called for a couple of squeeze plays -- I recall one was with Brett Grandstrand batting and beat Kalamazoo -- with success during his four years as the Wild Things' manager. I don't recall any squeeze bunts called by Washington's other managers. I asked one of those managers why he never uses the squeeze and his response was "Scouts want to see hitters drive people in, not bunt them in."

Everson has shown he's playing to win and isn't afraid to try anything to get a victory.

* For the past week, the best job in the world was to be a Gateway Grizzlies relief pitcher. During a six-game homestand, while the Gateway starters toiled just about forever, the Grizzlies' hitters outscored the opponents 73-18 and hit eight home runs in a 25-1 rout Sunday over Lake Erie. The guys out in Bullpenville had less to do than the night guard at a sewerage treatment plant. David Miller, the Grizzlies' 6-foot-10 reliever, could have visited the family in Fort Worth for a week and nobody would have noticed.

So when Grizzlies were finally locked in a close game Tuesday, you had to excuse reliever Eric Gilliland if he was a little rusty when it came to recognizing the signal to enter a game. While Grizzlies manager Phil Warren held court on the mound during the bottom of the seventh inning, Gilliland trotted into the game from the left-field bullpen at Consol Energy Park.

The only problem was that nobody had called for Gilliland to enter and replace starter John Flanagan. Gilliland nearly made it to the infield before Warren and several Grizzlies began waving frantically for him to get off the field and return to the bullpen.

* One item of concern for the Wild Things has to be left-handed hitting Jacob Dempsey's .059 batting average (1-for-17) against lefty pitching.

* While Washington won in the 10th inning Tuesday, the key frame for the Wild Things was the fourth. That's when they scored two runs after having two outs and nobody on base. O'Conner, the No. 8 hitter, singled to right field and Chris Raniere followed with a line-drive single up the middle. O'Conner made it to third base on the play.

Chris Sidick then chopped a risky two-out bunt past the pitcher's mound for an infield single that scored O'Conner, and Michael Parker hit a sharp single off the glove of sliding Gateway shortstop Tyler Heil to give Washington a 5-3 lead.

Teaching with video

For years, the only videos in the Frontier League were the ones played on the team bus during long road trips. The Wild Things' current coaching staff, however, seems to be raising the bar for instruction in the league and video analysis is one of their favorite tools.

Manager Darin Everson says the Wild Things take video of roughly half of the team's hitters each night. They'll record all the lefties one night, then all the right-handers the next. He also has video of the pitchers, fielders and outfielders that can used for analysis of a player's mechanics.

"I'm a big video guy," Everson said moments after pitching coach Mark Dewey concluded a video session with pitcher Tim Smith. "Teaching through video analysis is something I do during the offseason.

"Athletes are very visual learners, especially baseball players. That has held true everywhere I've been. If an athlete can see it, then they will adjust to it."

Everson adds that a coach must be careful not to over-analyze. Sometimes giving a player too much information about his swing or pitching mechanics can do more harm than good.

"Sure you can overdo it. I've seen that happen, even in affiliated ball," he said. "It can be overdone. But for me, video is how you can get a struggling player back to being good. You can show him what they're doing wrong."

Meeting the manager

New manager Darin Everson, pictured, was in town Thursday and Friday for the Wild Things' media luncheon and an invitation-only tryout camp.

My first impression of the new manager? The guy likes to talk. That's good news for the players, fans and media. It's probably not so good for the Frontier League's umpires.

Among some of the items Everson talked about Thursday:

* Though the Wild Things have not announced the contract signings, Everson mentioned outfielder Chris Sidick, second baseman Michael Parker, catcher Alan Robbins and pitcher Justin Edwards will be back with the team. Sidick will fill one of the three Veteran roster spots, while Parker and Robbins are two of the three L2 players.

Washington has one Vet spot and one L2 to fill. The decision to re-sign Robbins is an interesting one because his .234 batting average last year was a career-high in four pro seasons. You usually don't see an L2 hitter with a .215 career batting average. Robbins is more valuable as a defensive catcher. He threw out 23 percent of opposing base stealers last year (the league average was 25.8 percent).

* Everson already has contracts out to "seven to 10 guys" who were cut from minor league spring training.

"I'm looking for pitchers who pound the strike zone," Everson said. "Independent baseball leagues are generally known as offensive leagues. Washington had a .263 batting average last year – which is good – but was in the middle of the pack in the Frontier League. You know the offense is going to be there. If you have pitchers who pound the zone with strikes, then you have a chance to be special."

Washington led the league in walks allowed for most of last season and finished with 427. Only Gateway (428) issued more. It was no surprise that Washington finished 15 games out of first place in the East and Gateway was 16 out in the West.

* Everson likes his coaching staff of Wild Things holdover Bob Bozzuto, pitching coach Mark Dewey and hitting coach Dana Williams. Dewey, who spent part of his major league career with the Pittsbugh Pirates, has been a coach in the New York Mets' system and Williams spent 12 years coaching in the Seattle Mariners' system.

"I think our coaching staff, in terms of experience, rivals that of any coaching staff in minor-league baseball," Everson said.

Coaching staff announced

The Wild Things announced Wednesday its three-member coaching staff for first-year manager Darin Everson. The coaches include one holder from previous seasons, one former Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher and one former coach in the affiliated ranks.

Bob Bozzuto will be back for his fifth season with the Wild Things as the team's bench coach. Last year, Bozzuto was the third-base coach for the Wild Things.

“Bob brings a great factor to our coaching staff with his experience with the Frontier League," Everson said. "He really knows the ins and outs of the league.”

Mark Dewey, pictured, who spent six seasons (1990 and 1992-96) in the major leagues including two as a relief pitcher with the Pittsburgh Pirates, will be Washington's pitching coach. Dewey had a 12-7 career record with the Pirates, San Francisco Giants and New York Mets. Dewey spent the 1993 and '94 seasons with the Pirates, appearing in 66 games with a 3-3 record and eight saves.

Dewey was the pitching coach at Emory & Henry College last spring. His previous coaching experience includes working as the pitching coach with the Kingsport Mets in 2000 and 2002 and with the Aiken Foxhounds of the independent South Coast League in 2007.

“I am excited to join the Wild Things organization and am looking forward to working with Darin,” Dewey said. “I'm also excited to return to the Pittsburgh area, as I enjoyed the two summers I spent with the Pirates.”

The third coach will be hitting coach Dana Williams. A Weirton, W.Va., native, Williams spent 12 years coaching in the Seattle Mariners' system, serving as manager of the Mariners' team in the rookie-level Arizona League for two years and as a hitting coach with various affiliates for 10 years. He played minor league ball for seven seasons (1983-89) in the Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox systems. Williams made it to the majors in 1989 and appeared in eight games for Boston.

One interesting note about Williams is he had one major-league hit (1-for-5). It was a double off Minensota's Allan Anderson in a June game.

“Dana has significant minor-league coaching experience. He not only has expertise in hitting, but also in base running and outfielding, so we look for him to help our players in those areas as well," Everson said.

Todd Marlin, the Wild Things' managing director, said, “We are very excited to have a coaching staff with this amount of experience for the 2010 season. We feel these four coaches will do an excellent job putting a quality team on the field and give Washington a great opportunity to capture our first Frontier League championship.”