Where's Wulf? In London

Wondering why Taylor Wulf, who was the Wild Things' closer last year, wasn't listed among the players who had their contract option picked up or declined by Washington last month? Here's why:

Wulf played for Oakland County in 2010 and was acquired by the Wild Things in a special draft of Cruisers players last year. The Cruisers franchise, though dark last year, was purchased in the summer of 2011 by the London Rippers, who will make their debut in 2012. By doing this, the Rippers re-acquired the rights to the players from the 2010 Cruisers who are still in the league. Those players are Wulf, first baseman Joash Brodin (River City in 2011), catcher Dan Killian (Evansville) and pitcher Wayde Kitchens (River City).

The Rippers also picked up Nick Schreiber, a right-handed pitcher who played last season with the Lincon Saltdogs of the American Association. Schreiber played in the PSAC at California University, where he was 10-8 with five saves over his junior and senior seasons. At Lincoln, Schreiber had a 6-1 record.

The longest night

The Wild Things tied their team record Wednesday night/Thursday morning for longest game by innings in a 5-4 loss at Southern Illinois in 17 innings.

The 5-hour, 29-hour minute game was easily the longest in terms of time in team history, and the second-longest is not even close to last night's marathon that the Wild Things had a stranglehold on in the bottom of the ninth.

Washington led 4-2 with two outs and nobody on base in the ninth. One out away from a win, closer Taylor Wulf issued a walk that preceded consecutive doubles that tied the score and forced a whole bunch of extra innings.

Here are some of the notables from the game:

* Washington catcher Blake Ochoa hit two home runs.

* The Wild Things' Davis Bilardello made his debut with 1 1/3 scoreless innings of relief.

* Wild Things reliever Matt Barnes threw six shutout innings and struck out eight. He did not walk a batter.

* Southern Illinois' Trey Manz, who is listed on the roster as a catcher but entered the game by playing right field, was shifted to pitcher during the extra innings. Manz made his pro pitching debut by throwing three shutout innings and getting the win. The 23-year-old Manz said he hadn't pitched since an intrasquad game in his sophomore year of college.

* Southern Illinois pitcher Ryan Quigley had to play right field for several innings.

* The losing pitcher was Sean Allaire, a backup infielder and catcher who relieved Barnes and started the 17th inning. Allaire pitched in one mopup inning earlier this year. Prior to that, he pitched in only one game in college (an alumni game) and one game in high school. The interesting part is that Washington had two relief pitchers they did not use: Kevin Hammons and Mick Mattaliano. Hammons did not appear in any of the Wild Things' first nine games, except to pinch-hit once in a blowout. He finally pitched in a game Tuesday night in the series opener and faced three batters, striking out two. Mattaliano also pitched Tuesday night, facing only one batter.

* The Wild Things' other 17-inning game was played in 2003 at home against Evansville. The Wild Things lost that one, too, 3-2. That game took only 4 hours and 26 minutes to play and here's why: the home-plate umpire that night had the widest strike ever in baseball. EVER! As I recall, all the pitchers had to do to get a strike call was throw the baseball to between Franklin Farms Road and the Taylorstown exit on I-70.

I know, you think I'm exaggerating. Well, I am. But only a little. Want proof? Here goes: There were only two walks in that game. Think about that for a moment. Only two walks in a 17-inning Frontier League game. None of the walks were issued by Washington pitchers. Only one walk came after the second inning. The first nine innings were played in only 1:58.

Washington's best chance to win came in the 16th inning when Joe Cuervo was tagged out trying to score from third base on a short passed ball. Evansville then won it in the 17th on an error and two singles.

Photo courtesy of the Marion Daily Republican.

Dispersing the talent

The Frontier League held its dispersal draft for the Oakland County Cruisers on Monday. The Wild Things, who had the fourth pick, made two selections, selecting a pair of pitchers, right-hander Tyler Wulf (pictured) and lefty Joe Rodriguez.

The Wild Things are only renting Wulf for the 2011 season. His rights will revert back to the Cruisers if they return to the league as planned in 2012. Rodriguez does not have to be returned to the Cruisers.

I like the pick of Wulf, a barrel-chested and hard-throwing reliever who played in college at The U (Miami of Florida). Wulf was the Hurricanes' setup man as a junior before having a season-ending injury. He was brought back slowly last year, pitching in 18 games and posting a 1.72 ERA with 19 strikeouts in 15 2/3 innings.

Wulf joined the Cruisers at midseason and went 1-1 with one save and a 2.66 ERA. He pitched in three games against the Wild Things and overpowered them, throwing seven scoreless innings with six strikeouts and only three hits allowed. The league batted a measly .195 against Wulf.

Rodriguez was used as both a starter and reliever. He had a 1-3 record and 5.15 ERA. He was 0-2 in two starts against the Wild Things, giving up 11 runs in 10 innings.

The most interesting development from the dispersal draft was that right-handed reliever P.J. Zocchi, who led the league in saves last year with 26 and was named Relief Pitcher of the Year, was not selected until the final pick of the second round by the Southern Illinois Miners.

The next order of business for the Wild Things is to pick up the contract options for players from the 2010 team who they want to bring back next year. The deadline for tendering a contract is this week.

TRIVIA: If Wulf joins the Wild Things in 2011, then he will become the second former Miami Hurriance to play for Washington. Can you name the first?