Published Saturday, September 15, 2001, in the Lexington Herald-Leader and copyright by them
The stats are of course copyright Howe Sportsdata

Stacked Legends swamped SAL

By Tom Lasseter
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER

In their first game of their first season, the Lexington Legends looked lifeless. Mustering only two hits, they lost 2-0 to the Charleston Alley Cats.

``It was first-game jitters, or whatever you want to call it,'' Legends Manager J.J. Cannon said that night.

The team got over those jitters in a big way during their next game, romping to a 20-7 win.

After that, there was no stopping the Legends, who ended the regular season at 92-48, the best record in all of minor-league baseball.

They swept the South Atlantic League's Northern Division playoffs and were ahead 2-0 in the best-of-five championship series before the Asheville Tourists conceded Wednesday because of Tuesday's terrorist attacks.

In 70 regular-season home games -- without a single rainout -- a league-record 451,076 fans passed though the turnstiles.

``Coming out and playing in front of six to eight thousand people a night is huge,'' said Legends left fielder Jon Topolski.

To say it was a good year would be an understatement.

``One of the finest that we've had,'' South Atlantic League President John Moss said of the team.

Moss, in his 42nd year as league president, has seen literally hundreds of Sally league squads.

The 2001 Legends, he said, are easily in the top five.

Lexington led the league in batting average, runs scored, hits and home runs.

The pitching staff's 1,235 strikeouts not only led the league, but broke the all-time record of 1,169.

The team also surpassed all-time league marks for most extra-base hits (493), total bases (2,163) and doubles (297).

Their dominance didn't stop there.

Lexington sent more players (seven) to the midseason all-star game than any other club. And when the votes came in for the league's annual all-star team, the Legends, again, had more representatives (five) than anyone else.

``Kind of a Cinderella story, isn't it,'' said Tim Purpura, director of player development for the Houston Astros, the Legends' parent club.

Few weaknesses

Of course, the deck was a little stacked from the beginning.

While most major-league teams field both low- and high-level Class A teams, the Astros have no high-A team.

The Legends roster was made up largely of players from either the Astros' other low-A team (which won the 2000 Midwest League championship) or its former high-A team.

In other words, Lexington was a de facto high-A club playing in a low-A league.

The difference showed.

Topolski, for instance, could have been on many Class AA teams. Instead, he spent the year dominating Class A pitching.

The left-handed batter was tops in RBI (96), hits (158) and runs scored (98). Additionally, he stood fifth in home runs (24) and second in extra base hits (58).

Then there was pitcher Rodrigo Rosario, a converted reliever who was third in the league with a 2.14 ERA.

But it was more than any one player's statistics that made the Legends the Big Green Machine of the league.

``It was going to be tough to beat us,'' Cannon said shortly after the season ended.

As a quick review of the lineup shows, the club had few weaknesses:

Leadoff -- Recent call-up Fehlandt Lentini batted .295 with 27 runs and 21 RBI in 29 games.

No. 2 -- Second baseman Felix Escalona was third in the league in hits (155), first in extra-base hits (60) and third in runs (92).

No. 3 -- Topolski

Cleanup -- Right fielder Mike Hill took his average from .267 on July 19 to .305 by season's end.

No. 5 -- Third baseman Ramon German was second in the league in RBI (93) and fifth in extra-base hits (53). He really turned on the gas for the post-season, leading all batters at .625.

No. 6 -- John Buck, the Astros' projected catcher of the future, was third on the team with a .483 slugging percentage, and second in home runs with 22.

No. 7 -- Before missing most of June with an injured wrist, Brian Schmitt was a solid .265-.270 hitter. After coming back, though, he struggled. Of the Legends' starters, the first baseman had the team's lowest batting average (.242), on-base percentage (.314) and slugging percentage (.388).

No. 8 -- A rotation of two primary designated hitters -- Paul Lockhart (.264 in the position), Mickey McKee (.290) -- got the job done.

No. 9 -- Before being shipped to Class AA, shortstop Tommy Whiteman batted .319.

``That's what you want -- stability and consistency,'' Cannon said.

Because the Astros have two low-A teams, it's unclear which players will be staying in Lexington and which will be moving to Class AA.

``When you take those 50 and try to make a team of 23 next year, you're going to have some repeaters,'' Purpura said.

It's a good guess, though, that the Astros' 2002 Class AA Round Rock Express will bear a strong resemblance to this year's Legends.

Talking before the last home game of the season, Legends President Alan Stein said he was pleased with the franchise's financial returns. (He estimated the company would generate $8-10 million.)

As a fan, though, Stein said he already felt the sadness of an empty stadium.

``I'm going to miss a lot of those guys next year; it's kind of a melancholy feeling,'' Stein said, turning to leave and find his family. ``We're going to watch this game together and we're going to root for the home team. And if they don't win, it's a shame.''

As they had so many times, the Legends won that night.


Season wrap-up


Lexington Legends Official Site
    Copyright by SportsTicker, Fish Pier, West #1, Boston, MA. 02210 (617) 951-1379

    LEXINGTON LEGENDS    Individual Statistics Final Unofficial -- 2001    W-L Record:  92- 48

    PLAYER                      AVG   G  AB   R   H 2B 3B HR RBI  BB  SO  SB CS   SLG   OBP  E
    Buck, John,C               .275 122 443  72 122 24  1 22  73  37  84   4  9  .483  .345  6
    Escalona, Felix,2B         .289 130 536  92 155 42  2 16  64  30  85  46 12  .465  .342 23
    Fatheree, Danny,C          .230  21  61   8  14  3  0  1   9   7  13   0  0  .328  .319  1
   #German, Ramon,3B           .265 129 461  72 122 37  3 13  93  55 107  21  9  .443  .352 16
    Hill, Mike,OF              .305 119 465  82 142 31  6 12  65  48 102  27  9  .475  .381  5
    Joyce, Jesse,DH            .113  18  53  12   6  1  0  2   4  15  16   3  1  .245  .329  0
    Lentini, Fehlandt,OF       .295  29 122  27  36 11  2  1  21  10  16  10  4  .443  .351  0
   #Lockhart, Paul,OF          .247  99 320  48  79 17  4  6  40  29  73   3  2  .381  .317  3
    Lucas, Matt,C              .269  29  67   9  18  8  0  3   8   0  18   0  1  .522  .279  1
    McKee, Mickey,1B           .269  73 238  35  64 16  4  5  35  21  61   4  3  .433  .333  7
    Nelson, Nate,1B            .234  19  64   3  15  1  0  0   6   1  10   2  3  .250  .242  3
    Rosamond, Mike,OF          .266 101 394  62 105 19  3 16  55  37 112  32 13  .452  .336  7
    Ruiz, Reinaldo,C           .200   3   5   0   1  0  0  0   1   0   0   0  0  .200  .200  0
   *Schmitt, Brian,1B          .242  99 376  51  91 22  3  9  50  31 100   5  8  .388  .314 16
   *Topolski, Jon,OF           .287 136 550  98 158 27  7 24  96  75 128  28 11  .493  .375  1
    Toven, John,2B             .257  56 167  34  43  5  0  2  16   8  32  12  5  .323  .304  6
    Truitt, Steve,OF           .295  28  88  18  26  7  0  3  13   9  26   7  1  .477  .364  1
    Whiteman, Tom,SS           .319 114 389  58 124 26  8 18  57  34 106  17 13  .566  .380 23
              All Others       .000       0   0   0  0  0  0   0   0   0   0  0  .000  .000 19

       Total-All Batters       .275    4799    1321    43    706    1089    104        .346
                                            781    297   153     447     221     .451      138

                                                                                            OPP
    PITCHER               W-L    ERA    G GS CG SHO SV  IP     H   R  ER HR HB  BB  SO WP   AVG
    Dorn, Grant           0- 0   2.05  10  0  0   0  1  22.0  23   6   5  2  1   2  17  2  .274
    George, Chris         5- 1   3.88  40  0  0   0  2  51.0  43  26  22  7  2  30  65  9  .216
    Jamison, Ryan         4- 2   2.28   9  8  0   0  0  55.1  40  17  14  3  6   9  63  6  .203
    Krysa, Jonathan       1- 3   3.68  16  0  0   0  1  29.1  24  13  12  3  3   8  25  5  .226
    Middleton, Brian      1- 1   5.30  11  1  0   0  0  18.2  18  13  11  2  0  11  19  1  .250
    Nannini, Mike        15- 5   2.70  28 27  4   1  0 190.1 176  70  57 17  6  36 151  7  .246
   *Peguero, Darwin       8-10   4.05  34 15  0   0  2 124.1 112  67  56 14  6  37 134  8  .244
    Pluta, Tony          12- 4   3.20  26 26  0   0  0 132.1 107  52  47  7 12  86 138 11  .231
    Ramirez, Santiago     8- 2   3.63  45  0  0   0  4  79.1  69  35  32  2  3  28  85  8  .237
    Roberts, Nick        10- 1   2.95  20 20  3   1  0 137.1 118  49  45 10  4  21 128  3  .232
    Rosario, Rodrigo     13- 4   2.14  30 21  1   0  2 147.0 105  46  35  8 10  36 131  3  .198
    Saarloos, Kirk        1- 1   1.17  22  0  0   0 11  30.2  18   5   4  1  1   7  40  2  .165
    Santillan, Manny      6- 5   3.54  38  7  0   0  1  96.2  83  43  38  4  6  43  90  7  .237
    Stanford, Derek       0- 2   6.94   3  3  0   0  0  11.2   9   9   9  2  1   7   5  0  .231
    Stiehl, Rob           2- 3   1.98  14 12  0   0  0  50.0  28  17  11  2  2  34  59  5  .164
   *Tremblay, Max         6- 4   4.14  48  0  0   0  4  67.1  74  37  31  9  3  29  84  7  .275
              All Others  0- 0   0.00   1  0  0   0  0   2.0   2   0   0  0  0   0   1  0  .250

      Total-All Pitchers 92      3.10    140     15   1245.1     505     93    424     84
                            48                8     28      1049     429    66    1235     .230

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