6 games, 6 questions

The Wild Things begin a season-ending six-game homestand Tuesday night with a series against the Kalamazoo Kings. Here are six questions to be answered during the homestand:

1. How long will it take for Chris Sidick to set the Frontier League record for career hits? Sidick tied the record of 458 hits held by Mike Breyman (Gateway, 2004-08) during Washington's win Sunday at Midwest.

2. Can the Wild Things avoid the basement? Washington is currently in fifth place, two games ahead of last-place Midwest, thanks to beating the Sliders in the last two games. The best-case scenario for Washington is a fourth-place finish.

3. Can Jacob Dempsey break the league's single-season RBI record? Dempsey needs nine RBI (I think - Midwest still hasn't reported the boxscore from Sunday's game) to tie the league record of 100 RBI set by Kalamazoo's Pete Pirman in 2005.

4. Will there be retaliation against Florence? Washington and Florence had a benches-clearing incident during their last series, played in July at Champion Window Field. The incident happened after a home run by Washington's Ernie Banks. Florence manager Toby Rumfield left the dugout and knocked Washington first-base coach Jon Cahill to the ground with a forearm shiver. Rumfield was suspended for five games. If there is going to be retaliation by the Wild Things, you'd think there would be no better time than the final series of the year, right? If you're not going to return to the league next year, then it doesn't matter if you get suspended, right?

5. What will the attendance be? The Wild Things are on the verge of finishing with their worst year, not only on the field but at the gate as well. They could, however, exceed last year's per-game attendance but that will be a difficult task because mid-week games after school has started never draw well.

6. Will Washington again be kind to Chuck Tiffany? You probably have never head of Chuck Tiffany, but the left-handed pitcher for Florence etched his name in the city's baseball lore in 1999 when he led Covina, Calif., to the Pony League World Series championship. Tiffany turned in perhaps the best world series performance by any player. He tied a series record with five home runs, including three in one game, and tied the record for wins (3) in a series. In the championship game against Chinese Taipei, Tiffany pitched a two-hitter, struck out 13 and hit two home runs. He went on to become a top-5 prospect in the Los Angeles Dodgers' system (he threw a no-hitter in the minors) before a shoulder injury derailed his career. Now with the Freedom, Tiffany has a 4-2 record. There is a chance Tiffany might pitch the Friday night game.

Suspensions from the Florence fiasco

Suspensions handed down from the Frontier League for the benches-clearing incident Wednesday night between the Wild Things and Florence Freedom:

Florence manager Toby Rumfield - 5 games
Washington hitting coach Jon Cahill - 2 games
Washington pitcher Andy Schindling - 1 game

According to WJPA Radio's Randy Gore, Schindling's suspension was not for anything directed at Florence players or coaches, it was for saying something to umpire Jim Scahly.

There was no mention of the league's five-ejection rule that requires a manager to serve an automatic three-game (or is it five-game?) suspension after his team's fifth ejection. Washington has six ejections on the season.

Florence free-for-all

If you're not listening to the Wild Things' game at Florence tonight – and with Florence leading 9-0 in the fourth inning, nobody can blame you for not listening - there was a benches-clearing situation in the sixth inning.

After Ernie Banks hit a long home run to left centerfield to make it 9-2, Florence manager Toby Rumfield took exception to Banks' reaction to the homer and got into a confrontation with Wild Things first-base coach Jon Cahill. According to Florence radio (I'll let you tell me what Radio Randy's version was), Rumfield took two swings at Cahill as the benches emptied.

Rumfield was ejected, as was Cahill and Washington pitcher Andy Schindling.

There have been hard feelings between these teams dating back to the second game of a doubleheader in mid-June when Florence was stealing bases with a 10-run lead during its last at-bat.

Early in tonight's game, Florence's Elvis Andrus was hit by a pitch from Craig Snipp, then stared down the Washington pitcher as he walked to first base. Later, Andrus scored and collided with catcher Alan Robbins and the two had words.

The ejections of Cahill and Schindling gives the Wild Things six ejections for the year. According to Frontier League rules, when a team has five ejections the manager will be suspended for three games. At least I think it's three games. It might be five games. I don't know if the manager gets suspended for any additional games when the ejections total reaches six.

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."