Playoffs set

Southern Illinois clinched the final wild card playoff spot Sunday by defeating Lake Erie in the second game of a day-night doubleheader. The Miners, who are in the playoffs for the fourth time and trying for their first series victory, will begin the playoffs Wednesday at East Division champion Traverse City.

Two teams that made late-season playoff pushes will meet in the other series. West Division champion Gateway will host Florence, which finished in second place in the East. Florence is in the playoffs for the first time in the franchise's 10-year history.

Windy City and Schaumburg each missed the playoffs by two games. The Boomers led the West Division for the majority of the season. Lake Erie fell 2 1/2 game shy of the postseason.

Of the four playoff teams, only Gateway (2003) has won a league championship.

The Rippers reaction, from the other dugout

Greetings, Wild Things fans. Jason Mackey here, the new guy hired Monday to replace Mike Kovak on the O-R's sports staff. My second assignment -- got to thinking that maybe my boss, Chris Dugan, figured it'd be enough to get me to quit -- was to cover the Wild Things and the Florence Freedom less than 24 hours after the London Rippers disbanded, with five players (four for the Wild Things) from that organization here tonight. Here's a snapshot from my pregame talk with Florence manager Fran Riordan (pictured), one of the more trustworthy voices in the Frontier League.

Riordan has seen quite a bit during his 14-year career in the Frontier League, four of those as a player and nine as a manager when he won three league championships and was named the Manager of the Year while with the Kalamazoo Kings.

But what transpired this week when the Rippers announced they would cease operations as a franchise Tuesday night at Consol Energy Park, leaving players either to become free agents or play for a travel team called the "Road Warriors?" That's a new one on Riordan.

"This is the first time I’ve ever seen anything like it," said Riordan, who, with a career record of 506-429 after Wednesday's 9-8 Freedom win, is the league's all-time wins leader among managers.

While Washington traded for four former Rippers -- designated hitter Mark Samuelson, second baseman Brad Augustin, catcher Jim Vahalik and center fielder Chris Lloyd -- and inserted all four into the starting lineup, Riordan elected to sit the London player his team acquired, Stephen Cardullo, whose named was comically squeezed into the roster handed out to media members.

Riordan met with Cardullo -- who was still in street clothes, having just arrived from London -- for a few minutes shortly after 6 p.m. Wednesday. The message? Take tonight, relax, start fresh tomorrow.

"He drove for 16 hours," Riordan said. "He didn’t get a chance to swing the bat. So I just figured I'd give him a day to get his legs underneath him and get him in there [Thursday]."

Gotta be tough, right?

"Logistically, for him, it was probably a nightmare," Riordan said. "But for us, it was just looking to see who we had interest in and getting that player in here."

Closed the interviewing by asking whether this was a black eye for the league. Sure is wacky enough.

"It doesn’t look good from the league perspective, but it’s completely out of the league’s control," Riordan said. "It’s a matter of one organization that wasn’t minding the ship. When that happens and things get away from you, it makes it important for the league to have the strength and authority to step in. Make sure that the league stays viable. They really didn’t have a choice in the matter. But it doesn’t look good."

Useless information, V2.0

Some random thoughts and notes about the Wild Things and Frontier League:

* Has any Wild Things player ever had a better road trip than the one Chris Sidick (pictured) is having? In the first five games of the current six-game trip to Traverse City and Rockford, Sidick is 14-for-21 with 11 runs, 5 RBI, 2 home runs and 5 stolen bases. He has raised his batting average from .243 to .286.

A few other guys I recall having good road trips were Josh Loggins, Chris Carter and Mike Arbinger.

Loggins had a trip to Evansville and Chillicothe in 2003 in which he went 7-for-17 with 3 home runs and 9 RBI and was signed by Colorado during the trip.

When Washington ran off a 13-game winning streak in 2005, Arbinger and Carter were the catalysts. During a nine-game road trip to Gateway, River City and Mid-Missouri, Arbinger was 17-for-44 with 2 homers and 16 RBI. On the same trip, Carter went 15-for-38 with 5 homers and 15 RBI.

* According his Twitter account, Chris Smith, a right-handed pitcher who has been playing with the White Sands Pupfish of the independent Pecos League, has signed a contract to play with the Wild Things. Smith, who is from Louisville, was Lake Erie's first-round draft pick in the Frontier League draft in 2010. He played two games for Traverse City this year, including a rough outing out of the bullpen against the Wild Things at Consol Energy Park in May. Smith later signed with White Sands. In the Pecos League, Smith had a 3-0 record and 1.39 ERA in four outings. He struck out 28 in 26 innings.

According to the Twitter post, Smith said he will be a starting pitcher with the Wild Things.

* Former Wild Things relief pitcher Alan Williams, who was signed by the Milwaukee Brewers early in the Frontier League season, has been promoted from rookie ball to Class A. Williams was sent from Helena (Mont.) to Appleton (Wisc.), where he will play for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers of the Midwest League. Williams pitched in nine games with Helena and had a 1-1 record, 4 saves and 2.57 ERA. He struck out 28 in only 14 innings.

* When Luis Rivera homered in the fifth inning Wednesday at Traverse City, it was the first time all season the Wild Things received a home run from the cleanup spot in the batting order. That one came 52 games into the season.

* Remember Steve MacFarland, who pitched for the Wild Things last year until an injury ended his season? McFarland was the Pittsburgh Pirates' 9th-round draft pick in 2006 but never made it past low-Class A with the Bucs. He was traded by Washington to another independent league last offseason. Since then, MacFarland has been released from three different indy leagues but is back in the Frontier. He was signed this week by the Florence Freedom.

Some would say the Bengals aren't NFL players anyway ...

Here's one of those tongue-in-cheek press releases/promotions you can only get with minor-league baseball, courtesy of the Florence Freedom:

With an official lockout looming and a Collective Bargaining Agreement seemingly out of reach, NFL players are preparing for a summer without organized workouts and an uncertain future. The Florence Freedom Professional Baseball Team would like to help out Cincinnati Bengals players by giving them the opportunity to stay active and employed this summer. Please accept our invitation to attend our team tryout on April 23rd.

Chad Ochocinco’s (pictured) recent tryout with Major League Soccer showed that there are numerous opportunities available for players to pursue other athletic ventures. Located right in Cincinnati’s backyard, the Florence Freedom play a 96-game schedule from late May to early September. Any and all Cincinnati Bengals players under the age of 27 (per league rules) are invited to try out for a spot on the 2011 roster. The tryout will be free of charge to Bengals players as we’d like to lend a hand during these troubled times and help the players stay in shape this offseason.

Deion Sanders and Bo Jackson excelled on both the gridiron and the baseball diamond. Even the greatest basketball player of all time took his shot at America’s pastime. Now, we are giving Bengals players the opportunity to be the next great two-sport star. Please accept our invitation to come “play ball!” with the Freedom.

"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.

More fake stuff

FieldTurf is currently being installed at Florence's Champion Window Field, replacing the old grass surface. The playing field apparently was settling unevenly and the Bermuda grass was unsuitable for the Northern Kentucky climate, so the change was made.

This means only Washington and Kalamazoo in the East Division will have all-grass fields. Florence, Traverse City and Lake Erie are turf and the Midwest Sliders will be play at Eastern Michigan University's Oestrike Stadium, which has an artifical turf inifled and grass outfield.

UPDATE: The photo was updated to show work as of May 7

No surprise: Rumfield new manager in Florence

I had been waiting for something to appear in print on this, but ...

The Florence Freedom have hired Toby Rumfield as their new manager. Rumfield, a former second-round draft pick of the Cincinnati Reds, spent the last two years as manager of the River City Rascals, compiling an 83-109 record. This past season, River City finished 47-49 and 13 games out of first place.

Rumfield replaces Jamie Keefe, who "resigned" after four season as Florence's manager. The Freedom did not make the playoffs during Keefe's tenure.

While this looks like a simple transaction of replacing one manager with another, let's face it, you could see this one coming a year ago. Florence's general manager is Kari Rumfield, who happens to be Toby Rumfield's wife. The Freedom will probably deny it and deny it, but it sure looks like Keefe was forced out so Toby Rumfield can work with the same organziation as his wife.

It reminds me of when former Marquette University basketball coach Al McGuire - one of my all-time favorites - was asked why his son Allie was the starting point guard instead of a more experienced player. Ole Al simply replied, "Because I sleep with his mother."

There is one catch to the hiring. Florence owner Clint Brown said it's a one-year deal for Toby Rumfield and the ballclub will have a different manager in 2010.

"I'm confident this is the first instance in professional baseball of a married couple simultaneously occupying leadership roles in both the front office and in the field," Brown said. "While we are fortunate to have a highly experienced baseball man like Toby Rumfield available to us, this will be a one-year arrangement. After coaching the Freedom next season, Toby will continue to chase his dream of coaching in affiliated baseball and we will begin our search for a permanent manager for our ballclub."

Another managerial opening

A managerial job in the East Division became vacant today when Jamie Keefe informed the Florence Freedom that he will not be returning for the 2009 season.

In four seasons with Keefe, the Freedom compiled a 180-201record and failed to make the playoffs. In 2008, the Freedom were 47-49 and finished in fourth place in the East, 13 games behind division winner Kalamazoo.

Keefe spent four years as manager of the Chillicothe Paints before moving on to Florence. He is third on the FL's all-time wins list for managers with 367.

The River City Rascals recently filled their managerial vacancy by hiring Chad Parker, who recently worked as a scout for the Atlanta Braves. In 2007, Parker was manager of Macon Music of the now-defunct independent South Coast League.