It was a satisfying, gratifying — and fun — season for the IronPigs

FROM THE MORNING CALL

Really, was there any reason to expect a whole lot from the IronPigs this year?

Their Opening Day roster wasn't all that different than the first three had been, full of minor league free agents mixed in with a sprinkling of home-grown Phillies prospects — none considered true impact players.

The biggest buzz centered around the new manager, Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg, and all most fans were hoping for or expecting was that somehow, at some point during the season, the team would have a winning record — something that amazingly had eluded it during its first three International League seasons — and maybe could finish the season with a winning mark as well.

Sandberg and the IronPigs took care of that first hurdle on Opening Night. And it all went uphill from there.

Led by veterans such as Brandon Moss, Josh Barfield, Erik Kratz, Delwyn Young and Brian Bass, and with a mix of that home-grown talent, not only did the IronPigs finish with a winning record, they held first place in the North Division for the better part of three months and eventually earned their first playoff berth. And after sweeping Pawtucket in the semifinals, they were within five outs of winning the first two games of the Governors' Cup finals before Columbus roared back to win a second straight title in four games.

Along the way they sent the Phillies three members of the best pitching staff in baseball — Rookie of the Year candidate Vance Worley and relievers Michael Stutes and Michael Schwimer — and also sent a few spare parts (catcher Dane Sardinha, infielder Pete Orr, pitchers Mike Zagurski, Scott Mathieson and Juan Perez) throughout the season as well.

"A very satisfying season, a great bunch of guys," Sandberg said Friday after the 4-1 loss to the Clippers in the deciding game. "I really didn't know what kind of team we had coming out of spring training … [but] like I've said all year, this is one of the most fun seasons I've spent in a professional baseball uniform. We're a tight-knit group, and it wasn't as long a summer; it was fun to come to the ballpark and be around these guys."

Fun was the operative word for the season, one repeatedly heard from the players to describe the climate in the clubhouse, their relationship with their teammates and playing in front of the more than 9,200 that filled Coca-Cola Park on average every night, the highest attendance in the minor leagues.

"I saw the fan support at the winter caravan, three feet of new snow on the ground and there was 800 people at a banquet, and then they showed up all season," Sandberg said. "The fans were terrific."

They had a lot to cheer about. Worley set the tone on Opening Night, leading the way to a 7-2 win over rival Scranton that made the IronPigs winners for the first time in franchise history. After a slow start, they caught fire in late April, winning 30 of 42 games.

During that stretch they moved into first place for the first time ever on May 11 after a win at Toledo, and four days later returned to the top again with a home win over Norfolk, and stayed there for the next 82 games, leading at one point by six games. Overall they went 46-27 over a 73-game stretch through July 16, and although they later fell victim to a red-hot Pawtucket team, they eventually held off a late charge by Gwinnett for the wild card berth by winning their final four games of the season to finish 80-64.

"We took over first place, it was a big deal — Lehigh Valley in first place — and I think the guys took pride in that," Sandberg said. "The guys we have here are high-character players, guys who bought into being a team and pulling for each other."

Those are the cornerstones of the "Sandberg way" of managing.

"The team developed and took to the concept of team baseball and chemistry — everybody plays, everybody contributes, a happy clubhouse, and the guys play hard," Sandberg said. "Those are simple rules that I have that I asked them to do every day.

"The young guys [Ryan Edell, Cody Overbeck, Justin De Fratus, Phillippe Aumont, Freddy Galvis] joined us through the year, which is all part of this level — guys graduate from Reading to here — and fit into what we're doing here," he added. "Very gratifying."

That same word came up when Sandberg described the focus his players maintained through the season.

"Like I told them, one of the best summers that I've spent, coming to the yard every day with a group of guys that I trusted was going to go out and play the game hard and play the game the right way, do all the things that was asked," he said. "I think I had one or two signs missed all year, which is incredible. The guys were on me, they had the signs, they executed the plays, they did what they did with the talent they had and it took us a long way, and that's very gratifying."

http://www.mcall.com/sports/baseball/ironpigs/imc-ironpigs-wrapup-0918-20110919,0,4855309.story