2008 Recap

I thought that a good place to begin talking about the 2009 Frontier League season would be by looking back at the 2008 campaign...So, without further adieu (Did I spell that right??) I start my look ahead to the 2009 season with a look back at 2008...

RECAP
Its tough to top the season that the Windy City ThunderBolts had in 2007, setting a league record for wins (68) on the way to their first ever Frontier League Championship...But all the T-Bolts did in 2008 was go through a season of ups and downs that culminated with their becoming just the second team in league history to capture back-to-back titles (Richmond being the other in 2001-02)...Windy City also became only the fourth franchise to own more than one championship (In addition to Richmond, Johnstown and Springfield have each won a pair)...

The season for the ThunderBolts began with struggles...They opened with just one win in their first eight games under first year Manager Brian Nelson...The returners on their pitching staff really struggled ending with the release of Eric Fussell (Who was 12-2 in 2007) and Brock Hunton (Who as a rookie was sixth in the league with a 2.96 ERA to go with a 10-6 record)...Windy City was 6-13 after losing to the Beach Bums on June 10...They crawled back around the .500 mark but made a managerial change on July 8 sitting at 24-22...Bench Coach Mike Kashirsky took over the helm and things were never the same as the Bolts streaked to a 37-14 mark under their new leader and ran to the top of the West Division, finishing 60-36...

Windy City's first playoff opponent was the Southern Illinois Miners, who were making their first ever postseason appearance after finishing two games behind the ThunderBolts in the West...The Miners also had a topsy turvy season, slumping to a 16-19 mark near the end of June, but Manager Mike Pinto turned his team around and they clinched with a 58-38 mark...

The ThunderBolts bettered the Miners in four games, touching Frontier League Pitcher of the Year Ryan Bird for six runs in a 9-8 win during the series opener and overcoming seven errors in the process...Game two saw Isaac Hess walk eight but only allow one hit as Windy City captured a 7-2 win...Southern Illinois captured their first ever playoff win in their first ever playoff home game, winning 4-2 to stave off elimination for just a day as the ThunderBolts again touched Ryan Bird for six early runs in a 10-6 decision...

In the Championship Series, Windy City faced Kalamazoo, who led almost wire-to-wire to win the East Division with an identical 60-36 mark...The Kings took first place from the Beach Bums on June 22 and were never behind the rest of the year...Kalamazoo escaped a feisty Gateway team in the first round...Gateway took the league's final playoff spot on the second to last day of the season, finishing a game ahead of the Beach Bums to make the postseason for the second straight year...

Gateway won the opener at Kalamazoo 6-1 behind the solid pitching of closer turned starter Eric Ridener...A 3-1 lead entering the ninth, Gateway plated three runs to secure the win...The Kings came back in the second game and blanked the Grizzlies 6-0 as John Brownell tossed a complete-game one-hit shutout...A ninth-inning run in game three proved to be the difference as Kalamazoo overcame a Gateway complete game from Derek Blacksher to win 3-2...Five early runs off Justin Lilly sealed the fate of Gateway with Kalamazoo winning 6-4...

Weather forced the delay of the Championship Series a full week as Kalamazoo, who had earned the top seed by winning the season series with Windy City, was forced to play the entire series on the road when Homer Stryker Field was completely enveloped by water...

Kalamazoo never fully recovered as Windy City rolled to a sweep, winning the opener 8-2 behind a complete game from Ross Stout, who earned Series MVP Honors...Mike Coles posted four hits while Phil Hawke and Wes Long each homered for the eventual champs...The Kings mustered only three hits in game two, losing 6-2...The series finale saw Windy City go up 4-0 only to see the lead vanish with four Kalamazoo runs in the fourth off of Stephen Flake, but again the T-Bolts rallied, scoring a pair of runs in the fifth to win 6-5 and hoist the Championship Cup for the second straight season...

ALL-STAR GAME
Wuerfel Park hosted the All-Star Game on July 16 in what was a four-day break from league play for two days of fun...The Beach Bums hosted the first ever Skill Competition on the 15th, giving All-Stars the opportunity to earn cash prizes...

Among the competitions were catcher's pop time, won by Gateway's Charlie Lisk, a timed first-to-third run, captured by Washington's Chris Sidick, and an outfield accuracy throw, won by Traverse City's Mike Epping on the 10th overtime throw...

Angel Molina won the impressive homerun derby, a prelude of things to come...He outdueled Tim Dorn, of Southern Illinois, and three others in the finals...The Homerun Derby featured 26 entrants...Among the highlights was Jason James, of Rockford, belting 10 in the opening round...Washington's Jacob Dempsey was right behind with nine...

The All-Star Game went to a tie-breaking homerun derby for the fourth time in league history after ending in a 2-2 tie...The West Division scored twice in the ninth inning off Kalamazoo closer Brandon Parillo, who was the league's leader in saves, to force the tie...The East got out to a 2-0 lead with runs in the fifth and sixth...

In the homerun derby, Kalamazoo's Mike Russell hit a pair of homers to give the East a 3-0 lead in the second round and Tim Dorn managed just one as the East won the game...Angel Molina hit the tying homer in the first round to force the decisive second session and earned the Alex Gamez MVP Award...

SIGNINGS
The Beach Bums had three players plucked from their roster to join the affiliated ranks, but they weren't the only team to lose players during the 2008 campaign...That's what the players are Traverse City had pitching ace Bryan Rembisz signed by the Angels and leading hitter Mike Goetz acquired by the Pirates in addition to losing catcher Joe Blackburn to the Phillies...

Mike Benacka, who had been terrorizing Frontier League hitters all season long as the closer for the River City Rascals, was signed by Oakland shortly after the All-Star Game...He had allowed just one run in 26 innings of work to go with 51 strikeouts...

NO HITTERS
On August 5, Windy City's Isaac Hess threw the first no-hitter in franchise history...Hess blanked the Midwest Sliders 13-0 and finished with two walks and nine strikeouts in tossing the first no-no in the league since 2006...That game wasn't without controversy as an earlier hit was changed to an error...In addition, the win made Hess the winningest pitcher in Windy City history and also earned national recognition for broadcaster Jesse Goldberg-Strassler, who broadcast the entire game from Windy City's front office without seeing any of it after storms knocked out power and internet in the press box...He broadcast the game through text messages...The attention he got helped move Goldberg-Strassler up to affiliated ball with the Lansing Lugnuts and he was also a finalist for Ballpark Digest's National Broadcaster of the Year...

Just three days later another no-hitter was thrown as Gateway bested Kalamazoo 5-2...Converted closer Eric Ridener made his first start since 2004 in a spot start for Adam Revelette, who was injured...Ridener threw seven no-hit innings and struck out 10...He did allow a pair of first inning runs after showing some wild nerves with a walk, a hit batter, and an error...Zack Gray pitched the eighth and ninth wihtout allowing a hit to preserve the no-no, which was the second in Gateway history...

CYCLE
Its been well-documented on Calderwood's Corner...On September 1, Brad Miller became the first Traverse City player to hit for the cycle in franchise history...He hit for the natural cycle, capping it with a walk-off homer against the Kalamazoo Kings...Miller's cycle was the first in the Frontier League since O.J. Garza of Evansville early in the 2004 season...Two major leaguers also hit for the cycle on that day...

AWARD WINNERS
Morgan Burkhart MVP Award
Phil Hawke, Windy City

Brian Tollberg Most Valuable Pitcher Award
Ryan Bird, Southern Illinois

Jason Simontacchi Rookie of the Year Award
Brendan Murphy, Kalamazoo

Roger Hanners Manager of the Year Award
Fran Riordan, Kalamazoo

Fran Riordan Citizenship Award
Steve Young, Traverse City

Organization of the Year
Traverse City Beach Bums

Executive of the Year
Bryan Wickline, Chillicothe Paints

Assistant Coach of the Year
Joe Thomas, Kalamazoo Kings

Trainer of the Year
Chris Stone, Southern Illinois

Broadcaster of the Year
Randy Gore, Washington Wild Things

Groundskeeper of the Year
Craig Kuhl, Gateway Grizzlies

Newspaper of the Year
The Observer-Reporter (Washington)

Reporter of the Year
D.W. Norris, The Southern (Southern Illinois)

Umpire of the Year
Dan O'Connell

2008 Post-Season All-Star Team
1B - Phil Hawke, Windy City
2B - Joe Anthonsen, Rockford
SS - Wes Long, Windy City
3B - Kelly Hunt, Florence
OF - Jason James, Rockford
OF - Angel Molina, Florence
OF - Joey Metropoulos, Southern Illinois
C - Charlie Lisk, Gateway
DH - Tie; Mike Breyman, Gateway and Jacob Dempsey, Washington
SP - Ryan Bird, Southern Illinois
RP - Brandon Parillo, Kalamazoo

CAREER
One of the perks, or quirks, that makes the Frontier League unique is the age-limit rule...A player can't be older than 27 before January 1 of a year or else they are not eligible to play in the league...Here is a look at some players who aged out in addition to other noteables who hung it up after 2008 (For a full list of retirees check out each team's preview when I write them up)...My personal belief is that 2009 will be a good chance for some players who perhaps were overshadowed the past few seasons to step up after the big names departed...

Chillicothe/Lake Erie - Joe Brown, at times the most dominant closer in the league, struggled down the stretch but finished 4-2 with a 3.75 ERA out of the Paints bullpen

Evansville - Adam Rogers, Led the Evansville pitching staff in wins, innings, starts, and strikeouts

Florence - Kelly Hunt, Threatened the league's single season homerun record and finished with 26 while hitting .306 and driving in 73 runs...Mid and Postseason All-Star; Angel Molina, All-Star Game MVP led the team in hitting at .327...Mid and Postseason All-Star...Hit .367 against the Beach Bums with five homers and 15 RBI;

Gateway - Mike Breyman, FL's career leader in several offensive categories...2008 Mid and Postseason All-Star; Brandon Williams, started 17 games and provided depth to the starting rotation following a season that saw him finish second on the staff in wins;

Kalamazoo - Mike Russell, All-Star catcher hit .285 with 19 HRs last year and was a three-year member of the Kings; Jeff Long, Another three-year King, Long was the opening day starter in 2008 and finished 9-4...He won 24 games in his career with the Kings...

River City - Scott Fogelson, Beach Bums fans will be sad to see him go after the lefty posted a career mark of 0-6 in two years against the Beach Bums...2008 All-Star

Rockford - Garrett Bauer, Three-year member of the RiverHawks and two-time All-Star including the starting pitcher in 2006...Led team in wins, starts, complete games, and strikeouts...Finished his final season 10-4 with a 2.98 ERA and a career high 151 strikeouts

Southern Illinois - Brandon Jones, All-Star starter at third base hit .276 with 18 HR and 75 RBI in his lone Frontier League season; Chris Little, Starter on the mound for the West Division All-Star team finished his fifth Frontier League season with his best year, going 9-4 with a 2.90 ERA; Mike Scanzano, The lone player in the All-Star Game to boast more than one-hit after starting at short...A two-year starter for the Miners at shortstop he hit .256 in his final season of eligibility and will now try his hand in the Atlantic League

Traverse City - Steve Young, a three-year veteran, Young holds most career offensive records and was the 2008 recipient of Fran Riordan Sportsmanship Award; Jeff Brown, spent two years as a super utility man; Ted Gjeldum, set the single season record for appearances out of the bullpen as one of the top lefty relievers in the league during his lone season in Beach Bums blue; Drew Taylor, started six games on the hill at the end of 2008

Washington - J.J. Hollenbeck, Three-year pitcher who started the past two seasons; Nate Messner, the starter at first base the past two seasons and a 2007 All-Star...Batted .261 with seven homers in 2008; Aaron Ledbetter, Owner of every career league pitching record...Had been in the league since 2003, entire career spent with River City and Washington;

Windy City - Anthony Rebyanski, a four-year Frontier Leaguer, he got two rings as a reliever for Windy City following two seasons with Gateway...He made 99 appearances in his career...

STORYLINES
Following the 2008 season, the Frontier League became the first professional baseball league to ban the use of maple bats by a unanimous decision...Maple bats had become popular but when shattered go flying...An incident in 2008 at the major league level had a fan seriously injured from a flying maple bat...Any player using a maple bat in 2009 will be immediately ejected...

BIG LEAGUES
2008 was a banner year for former Frontier League athletes making appearances in the big leagues...

George Sherrill was an All-Star closer for the Baltimore Orioles...When Justin Christian appeared in left field for the Yankees, he became just the second position player from the Frontier League to make the leap...Christian, formerly of the River City Rascals, was the 16th Frontier League alumnus to debut in the big leagues...Mike Cervenak, formerly of Chillicothe, would also debut in the bigs during 2008, earning a late call-up to the World Champion Philadelphia Phillies...Scott Patterson, formerly of Gateway, debuted with the Yankees just before Christian and appeared later in the season with the San Diego Padres...