ANALYSIS 'FACING THE FALL ALONE' JETHAWKS' BIG YEAR IN PAST.Byline: Gideon Rubin Staff Writer LANCASTER - ``It breaks your heart, '' the late A. Bartlett Giamatti Angelo Bartlett "Bart" Giamatti (April 4, 1938 – September 1, 1989) was the former President of Yale University, and later, the seventh commissioner of Major League Baseball in the United States. wrote of the hurt baseball inflicts on fans at the end of each season, in an essay titled ``Greenfields of the Mind.'' ``It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come it stops, and leaves you to face the fall alone.'' The words of the former baseball commissioner and president of Yale University Yale University, at New Haven, Conn.; coeducational. Chartered as a collegiate school for men in 1701 largely as a result of the efforts of James Pierpont, it opened at Killingworth (now Clinton) in 1702, moved (1707) to Saybrook (now Old Saybrook), and in 1716 was likely reflect the feelings JetHawks fans are experiencing, after their season ended too soon in their view in Game 5 of the California League The California League is a minor league baseball league which operates throughout the state of California. Before 2002, it was classified as a "High-A" league, indicating its status as a Class A league with the highest level of competition within that classification, and the fifth South Division Championship Series - a game they weren't supposed to lose. The JetHawks were the winningest team in the league during the regular season, when they compiled an 89-51 record and became the only team in California League history to have sole possession of the best regular-season record one year after they had - by far- the league's worst record at 55-85. Statisticians Statisticians or people who made notable contributions to the theories of statistics, or related aspects of probability, or machine learning: A to E
But the legacy of the 2000 JetHawks will not be measured against what previous teams in this franchise have done. Future JetHawks teams most likely will exceed this team's total for victories, and will likely someday capture the California League championship which has so far eluded them through the first five years of existence. But minor-league baseball is not just about winning and losing. The primary function of a farm club - as any minor-league player-development director will tell you - is to grow talent. In that sense, the numbers the JetHawks put up this season only tell part of the story. What was truly remarkable was the extent to which coaches and players fostered an environment which allowed each other to improve. As is the case on almost every team, cliques develop among players who share similar ethnic and racial backgrounds, and given that some of the JetHawks players of Latin descent spoke limited English - or none at all - it would have been understandable if the language barrier had limited the interaction between players. It didn't. From day one, second baseman second baseman n. Baseball The infielder who is positioned near and to the first-base side of second base. Noun 1. second baseman - (baseball) the person who plays second base second sacker Willie Bloomquist William "Willie" Paul Bloomquist (born November 27, 1977 in Bremerton, Washington) is a Major League Baseball utility player who plays for the Seattle Mariners. He bats and throws right-handed, and he has played every position, aside from either of the battery positions, during , who spoke little Spanish, reached out to shortstop Antonio Perez - a native of Bani of the Dominican Republic Dominican Republic (dəmĭn`ĭkən), republic (2005 est. pop. 8,950,000), 18,700 sq mi (48,442 sq km), West Indies, on the eastern two thirds of the island of Hispaniola. The capital and largest city is Santo Domingo. - who spoke even less English. The cohesive environment in the JetHawks clubhouse created countless success stories: --Relief pitchers Kenny Rayborn and Denny McDaniel - free-agent signees the Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are a professional baseball team based in Seattle, Washington. The Mariners are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Mariners have played in Safeco Field. plucked pluck v. plucked, pluck·ing, plucks v.tr. 1. To remove or detach by grasping and pulling abruptly with the fingers; pick: pluck a flower; pluck feathers from a chicken. out of the Texas-Louisiana Independent League. Rayborn pitched well enough to earn a promotion to Double-A and McDaniel emerged as one of the league's most effective situational left-handers. --Pitchers Julio Ayala and Josue Matos both started the season in Lancaster and pitched well enough to be sent to Double-A as well. --Outfielder Terrmel Sledge Terrmel Sledge (born March 18, 1977 in Fayetteville, North Carolina) is a Major League Baseball player for the San Diego Padres. Sledge is an outfielder whose career began in 2004 with the Montreal Expos. won the league's batting title, league MVP (Multimedia Video Processor) A high-speed DSP chip from Texas Instruments, introduced in 1994. Officially introduced as the TMS320C80, it combines RISC technology with the functionality of four DSPs on one chip. Juan Silvestre put up monster numbers, leading the league in home runs and RBI RBI abbr. Baseball runs batted in Noun 1. rbi - a run that is the result of the batter's performance; "he had more than 100 rbi last season" run batted in , and JetHawks manager Mark Parent never found a task that switch-hitting utilityman Craig Kuzmic couldn't do. --JetHawks fans probably won't ever forget Perez's compact power stroke, Bloomquist's tenacity or the imposing presence converted closer Brandon Parker brought to the mound before he struck out the side in the ninth inning. --Pitcher Jeff Heaverlo, who went into a slump after being dominant in each of his first three starts, rebounded to finish the season strongly. To be sure, the 2000 JetHawks will be missed. For their fans, the mourning which began Tuesday night had little to do with the missed opportunity at a league title. ``It's more just that the season is over,'' said booster-club member Pat Weithofer, a JetHawks season-ticket holder since the team's inaugural season in 1996. ``A lot of us are going into withdrawal now,'' she said. ``It's always sad to see the guys go, but it's been a wonderful, wonderful season.'' CAPTION(S): photo Photo: JetHawks fans may not soon forget Antonio Perez's compact swing, one of many memorable aspects of the 2000 season. Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer |
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