All-Decade Team: Starting Pitcher

During the Wild Things' first spring training, back in 2002, I asked manager Jeff Isom what kind of pitcher has a track record of success in the Frontier League. It didn't take him long to come up with an answer. Isom said that left-handers who throw strikes on a consistent basis usually dominate the league.

Maybe Isom was saying that because he was a former left-handed pitcher in the Pirates' system. But, Isom did sign two left-handed starting pitchers for the Wild Things' inaugural season. One was Jason Hickman, a former 8th-round draft pick of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who was Washington's No. 5 starter, had a 6-6 record and threw a no-hitter.

The other lefty was a player who spent one season as a reliever in the Cincinnati Reds' system. Jared Howton had signed with the Reds as a free agent after being a fifth-year senior at Texas-San Antonio.

Howton made only one start for Billings (Mont.) of the rookie-level Pioneer League, but he flourished in the rotation for the Wild Things. Howton was the Frontier League's 2002 Pitcher of the Year after posting an 11-3 record and amazing 1.89 ERA. The latter remains the record for a Washington starting pitcher.

Only one of Howton's first three appearances for the Wild Things was as a starter, but once inserted into the rotation for good on June 7, Howton dominated. His ERA from June 7 on was only 1.45. Only twice in Howton's final 13 starts did he give up more than two runs.

Perhaps Howton's best outing for Washington came in an August game at home against Johnstown when he tossed a three-hit shutout, did not walk a batter and struck out a team-record 13 batters. He retired 16 of the first 17 hitters.

Howton also pitched a five-hit complete game at Kalamazoo to beat the Kings in the first playoff game in Wild Things history.

In Game 1 of the 2002 championship series against Richmond, Howton pitched four effective innings before rain forced the game to be suspended. He never pitched again in the series.

Injuries were the other story with Howton. Bothered by a shoulder impingement that eventually ended his 2003 season at midseason, Howton was limited to 11 starts. He still managed to pitch through the pain and post a 7-2 record.

For two seasons, Howton was 18-5 in the regular season, 1-0 in the playoffs and the 2002 Frontier League Pitcher of the Year. That was more than enough to earn a spot on the all-decade team.

All-Decade Team Starting Pitcher: Jared Howton (2002-03)

How good was that?

From pure baseball standpoint, there have a few really good Wild Things games played at Consol Energy Park, some real hard-to-watch clunkers and a whole lot of games that fall inbetween.

In this guy's opinion, Washington's 3-0 victory Thursday night over the Lake Erie Crushers was the best-played game at the nine-year-old ballpark. There have been more exciting games and wild finishes, but from a quality baseball standpoint that was the best-played game I can recall. There was tremendous pitching and enough outstanding defensive plays to fill a week's worth of games. If pitching defense is your game, that was one for you.

Washington's Jeff Sonnenberg, pictured, faced the minimum 27 batters in throwing a two-hit shutout with no walks. Only one Lake Erie batter reached a three-ball count. After each of the hits allowed by Sonnenberg, the next Lake Erie batter grounded into a double play. At one stretch, Sonnenberg retired 22 consecutive batters, getting 23 outs in the process.

First baseman Eric Stephens made two terrific defensive plays, going far to his right to snag a grounder by Jodam Rivera in the fourth and to a catch a liner by Raphael Turner to end the eighth. Center fielder Luis Rivera also tracked down Arden McWilliams' deep fly ball on the warning track in the sixth inning. Sonnenberg said he thought McWilliams' shot was going to be a home run.

The biggest defensive play came in the first inning when right fielder Mark McGonigle threw out Jodam Rivera, who was trying to score from second base on a single. Catcher Jared Dyer was able to block home plate with his left foot and make the tag.

Lake Erie also made some web-gem-like defensive plays, especially Rivera at shortstop and Andrew Davis at third base.

Was there ever a better performance by a Washington pitcher than the one by Sonnenberg? Washington pitchers have thrown two no-hitters -- Jason Hickman at Kalamazoo in 2002 and Eric Palmer in the second game of a doubleheader at Windy City in 2004 -- but neither was a shutout. Hickman gave up a run on a two-base throwing error, wild pitch and groundout. Palmer gave up a run on two errors.

Aaron Ledbetter had several outstanding games at home, as did Jared Howton, Ben Ally and Dave Bradley, to name a few. The one that stands out to me was Howton's game against Johnstown in 2002 when he threw a three-hit shutout with no walks and 13 strikeouts. Lake Erie, however, is a better team than Johnstown was in 2002.

While trying to think of a game that was better-played than last night's, I came up with a few possibilities. One was a pitcher's duel in 2006 when Rockford's Derek Roper beat Ledbetter 1-0. The other was in 2003, on Father's Day, when Ally pitched Washington to a 4-0 win over Cook County. Ally threw a four-hittter with one walk and 12 strikeouts in a game that lasted only 1:57. Cook County's James Clelland also threw a complete game and didn't walk a batter, striking out six.

Those games, however, fall short of the game played Thursday night because of defensive plays and Sonnenberg facing the minimum 27 batters. The latter, however, was odd because if you weren't watching the game closely or keeping score, you probably didn't know what was happening. After all, Lake Erie had two hits and Washington started the night with an error, the only one of the game.