|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Going Down Swingin'
Despite enormous odds and the threat of relocation, the Ottawa Lynx stepped up to the plate to make a great championship run.
OTTAWA -- This was not just another season.Not to the small but loyal cadre of Ottawa's baseball remnant, who saw the Lynx exceed the hopes of even the most wild-eyed optimist.
Especially not to the players and coaching staff who were thrown together just before the season, refined by adversity, and emerged with their lives changed.
Rather than becoming the final season of Lynx baseball (see MLN story Crisis in Canada), as feared earlier in the season, 2003 will instead be remembered as one of the best.
The Cats racked up a 79-65 regular season mark, second best in franchise history, earned their third ever playoff berth as the wild card, and came within a whisker of making it back to the finals.
That they extended the Pawtucket Red Sox to a full five game semi-final series, before finally falling in Sunday's deciding contest, 3-1, took away none of the luster.
"I'll never forget this club," said manager Gary Allenson. "Even though we didn't get to the championship (series). The way these guys persevered and hung in there. It was a great run."
Perseverance became a hallmark of this squad, as they recovered from a 5-11 start, leapfrogged over two clubs to make the playoffs, then almost dispatched of the Red Sox despite clinging on the brink of elimination after dropping the first two games of the series.
"We've got some gamers on this team," said outfielder Pedro Swann, who was tabbed the club's Player of the Year, and was a strong clubhouse influence from Day One. "We played our hearts out. Things just didn't come through for us. You don't find too many teams who go through as many player changes as we did this year, and get as far as we did."
Swann was one of the few constants in a sea of change. All told, Allenson's club endured a whopping 123 player transactions involving 49 players.
Still many of those player moves worked to the Lynx benefit, particularly the late season acquisitions for Ottawa by the parent Baltimore Orioles, whose hookup with Ottawa before the season had the appearance of a shotgun marriage.
The Orioles had been booted out of Rochester following a 42-year affiliation with the Red Wings. Many blame the split on the O's for sticking the locals with dismal clubs for the last several seasons of their affiliation.
This year, Baltimore stepped up to the plate and sent such tested vets as Raul Casanova, Ruben Rivera, Tim Harikkala, and Luis Lopez to Lynx Stadium.
All of the above were invaluable to the Lynx late season playoff push, which included a franchise record 10-game winning streak just before the regular season wrap up.
"This is the best ball club I've ever been part of," said Lopez, a former big league infielder who had played for Milwaukee when Allenson was a coach there. "This was nothing but a bunch of blue collar players. Guys who never gave up."
page 1 of 2
Top Stories | Business | Media | Basketball | Baseball | Hockey | Football |
Your Takes | Editor's Rave | MLN Store | Maps | Jobs | Contact Us |copyright ©2000-2004 MLN Sports Group LLC. All rights reserved. See our privacy policy.
