2008 Rochester Red Wings season

2008 Rochester Red Wings
Class-level
Minor league affiliation
  • International League (Since 1899)
    • North Division (Since 1998)
Major league affiliation
  • Minnesota Twins (Since 2003)
Location
2008 information
Owner(s) Rochester Community Baseball, Inc.
General manager(s) Dan Mason
Manager(s) Stan Cliburn
Local television Time Warner Cable SportsNet
Local radio Sportsradio 1280, News Power 1040
Stats The Baseball Cube
Baseball-Reference

The 2008 Rochester Red Wings season was the franchise's 110th season and their sixth season as the Triple-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. The team, a member of the International League since its inception, attempted to win their first Governors' Cup Championship since their inaugural season at Frontier Field in 1997; however, the team went 74–70, good for third place in the IL North Division. The Wings finished 14 games behind the first-place Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees and 11½ games behind the second-place Pawtucket Red Sox; both the Yankees and the Red Sox earned playoff berths.

Contents

Regular season

First half summary

The Red Wings entered the season with high expectations, with many predicting a playoff berth. However, the team failed to live up to the expectations in the first half of the season.[1] The Red Wings went into the All-Star break with a 45–54 record, putting them in fourth place in the International League's North Division. The mark was 16½ games behind that of the first-place Pawtucket Red Sox, who posted a league-best 61–37 record in the first half.

Although the team struggled as a collective unit in the first half, several players fared well individually. Randy Ruiz, the Wings' first baseman and designated hitter, entered the All-Star break on a 22-game hitting streak. The streak was the longest of the season to that point in all of Triple-A and the longest by a Red Wing since 1985.[2] Francisco Liriano, the 2005 International League Rookie of the Year and 2006 American League All-Star, starred for the Red Wings as he recovered from Tommy John surgery. He went 7–2 with a 3.53 ERA in the first half; additionally, in his last three starts prior to the break, Liriano pitched 20 consecutive scoreless innings for Rochester.[3] Outfielder Darnell McDonald was voted to start for the International League in the Triple-A All-Star Game in Louisville, Kentucky, after a hot start to his season. He was the Red Wings' lone representative on the team.[4]

Second half summary

The Wings' play greatly improved in the second half of the season. At one point in August, Rochester won 10 of 11 games (from August 4 to August 14) to reach the .500 mark (64–64) on August 14. The team had last been at .500 on April 13, when the Red Wings were 13–13. Rochester continued to remain around .500 until August 22 when they defeated the Pawtucket Red Sox to improve to 68–67. The Red Wings remained over .500 for the rest of the season.

Rochester closed out its season in dramatic fashion on September 1 at home against the Buffalo Bisons. With the score tied at six and two runners on base in the bottom of the ninth, Garrett Jones, playing in what was ultimately his final game with the Red Wings, drilled a three-run home run into the Red Wings' bullpen to win the game 9–6. The win moved Rochester to 74–70, their high-water mark for the season, and closed out a second half in which the Wings went 29–16. They finished 11½ games behind Pawtucket—a gain of five games compared to the standings at the All-Star break—but also 14 games behind the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, who surged in the second half to pass Pawtucket and win the North Division.

Standings

International League North
W L Pct. GB
x – Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees 88 56 .611
y – Pawtucket Red Sox 85 58 .594
Rochester Red Wings 74 70 .514 14
Syracuse Chiefs 69 73 .486 18
Buffalo Bisons 66 77 .462 21½
Lehigh Valley IronPigs 55 89 .382 33

x – division champion
y – Wild Card winner

Game log

2008 Game Log[5]

Roster

2008 Rochester Red Wings roster
Players Coaching staff
Pitchers

† disabled list
‡ temporary inactive list
Roster updated September 1, 2008

Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Manager

Coaches

Regular season transactions

Player stats

Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At Bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting Average; HR = Home Runs; RBI = Runs Batted In

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Chris Basak 56 173 45 .260 6 17
Brian Buscher 53 185 59 .319 8 30
Alexi Casilla 32 96 21 .219 2 18
Jeff Christy 36 90 19 .211 0 5
Howie Clark 93 338 99 .293 6 48
Michael Cuddyer 4 10 3 .300 0 1
Casey Daigle 1 1 0 .000 0 0
Adam Everett 5 19 6 .316 0 3
Mariano Gomez 1 1 1 1.000 0 0
Danny Graves 1 2 1 .500 0 0
Luke Hughes 29 106 30 .283 3 21
Garrett Jones 138 527 147 .279 23 92
Ryan Jorgensen 65 198 49 .247 8 25
Bobby Kielty 16 55 12 .218 2 8
Jon Knott 17 55 10 .182 1 3
Alejandro Machado 54 195 66 .338 2 31
Matt Macri 89 313 81 .259 11 48
Darnell McDonald 93 369 99 .268 11 57
Felix Molina 3 2 0 .000 0 0
José Morales 54 197 62 .315 4 15
Brock Peterson 11 40 7 .175 2 6
Trevor Plouffe 66 250 64 .256 6 39
Jason Pridie 138 559 151 .270 13 61
Randy Ruiz 111 416 133 .320 17 68
Sergio Santos 86 297 72 .242 5 43
Denard Span 40 156 53 .340 3 14
Tommy Watkins 76 233 51 .219 1 18
Eli Whiteside 8 24 4 .167 1 1

Starting pitchers

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Brian Bass 2 9 1 0 4.00 6
Brian Duensing 25 138.2 5 11 4.28 77
Danny Graves 25 84.1 4 6 6.30 32
Philip Humber 31 136.1 10 8 4.56 106
Francisco Liriano 19 118 10 2 3.28 113
Kevin Mulvey 27 148 7 9 3.77 121
Glen Perkins 7 33.1 2 1 2.97 27
Tom Shearn 6 28.2 1 2 5.34 26
Kevin Slowey 1 5 0 1 3.60 9
Anthony Swarzak 7 45 5 0 1.80 26

Relief pitchers

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Ricky Barrett 50 4 5 2 3.21 81
Carmen Cali 50 5 1 2 4.52 49
Casey Daigle 44 1 5 1 3.78 65
Julio DePaula 51 3 5 2 5.70 65
Mariano Gomez 54 5 2 1 2.76 45
Bobby Korecky 53 6 5 26 2.91 71
Tim Lahey 48 5 5 8 5.43 53
Heath Totten 16 0 2 0 5.79 21

References

  1. ^ Jim Mandelaro (2008-06-13). "Red Wings fail to live up to expectations". Democrat and Chronicle. http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080613/SPORTS0105/806130349/1015. Retrieved 2008-07-17. 
  2. ^ "Bulls down Rochester Red Wings in North Carolina". Democrat and Chronicle. 2008-07-14. http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008807140331. Retrieved 2008-07-17. 
  3. ^ Kelsie Smith (2008-07-17). "Minnesota Twins have to find a place for Francisco Liriano, assistant GM says". St. Paul Pioneer Press. http://www.twincities.com/ci_9899665. Retrieved 2008-07-17. 
  4. ^ Jim Mandelaro (2008-07-03). "Rochester Red Wings' McDonald selected to Triple-A All-Star Game". Democrat and Chronicle. http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080703/SPORTS06/807030375/1007/SPORTS. Retrieved 2008-07-17. 
  5. ^ "Rochester Red Wings Game Day Notes". Rochester Community Baseball, Inc.. http://www.redwingsbaseball.com/pressbox/Notes.pdf. Retrieved 2008-09-01. 

External links