Sep 14, 2014 5 min read

The Wild Things certainly had their critics over the last half-dozen years. And the Frontier League team heard it all from those detractors.

They said the Wild Things no longer played winning baseball.

They said the team, in comparison to its opponents, lacked the kind of top-notch talent major league scouts would be interested in signing.

They said the games were no longer fun.

They said the roster changed too often.

They said they didn’t like the blue uniforms and wanted a return to the original red-and-black color scheme.

And worst of all, they said the team was, well, boring.

For the most part, the fault-finders were right. Then along came 2014 and a season like no other for the Wild Things.

At the best, the Wild Things were stunningly unpredictable. At their worst, they were amazingly dysfunctional. They were, however, never boring.

What they did better than any Washington team since 2007 was win. The Wild Things ended runs of six consecutive years without a playoff appearance and five straight losing seasons by finishing 57-39 in the East Division and defeating Evansville in a one-game wild-card playoff at the Otters’ 100-year-old Bosse Field.

What was most impressive about this team was its ability to focus and play competitive baseball despite taking body blows from unexpected sources on a seemingly weekly basis.

For example:

• Longtime assistant coach Bob Bozzuto underwent heart bypass surgery less than a week before the start of spring training.

• Starting pitcher Tim Flight was lost for the season when he was struck by a line drive during a game at Rockford in June. The blow broke two bones in his arm.

• Pitcher Chris Phelan had five wins in eight starts and seemed on his way to making the all-star team when he suddenly retired at the end of June.

• Second-year manager Bart Zeller guided the team to a 31-19 record, then resigned July 13, one day before the all-star break. The resignation came the morning after he and pitching coach Kevin Gryboski got into an physical altercation in the dugout during a game against Florence.

• Washington went without a manager for two weeks, using a three-person coach-by-committee approach. Hitting coach Bob Didier, a former major leaguer catcher and coach, resigned Aug. 2. Later that day, Bozzuto was promoted to manager and did an excellent job keeping the players’ focus on the task at hand, which was making the playoffs.

• During the first half of the season, right fielder Stewart Ijames was as good as any player in the league, hitting 15 home runs and batting .319 over 50 games. He didn’t play for the Wild Things after the all-star break as his contract was purchased by the Arizona Diamondbacks. He made an immediate impact and was Arizona’s Minor League Player of the Month for August.

• Left fielder C.J. Beatty was second in the league in home runs when the Chicago White Sox purchased his contract Aug. 12. It would have been easy for the Wild Things to refuse to sell Beatty’s contract and keep him for the playoff push, but they did the right thing. The White Sox needed an outfielder at Class A Winston-Salem (N.C.), which is Beatty’s hometown.

The Wild Things spent the majority of the season in first place in the East and were at the top of the standings as late as Aug. 25. The reason why was a group of 15 players who were with the team from spring training to season’s end and were determined to keep the focus on the next game and not on the latest distraction.

In the end, however, the Wild Things simply didn’t have enough hitting. Even with Ijames and Beatty, Washington was an average hitting team that lived off pitching and defense. The offense relied too much on Ijames, Beatty and leadoff hitter Danny Poma. After Ijames and Beatty left, and Poma went on the disabled list in August with an injury, the offense disappeared. Outfielder Scott Kalamar had a breakthrough year and batted. 346 after June 30, but the pitching and defense couldn’t overcome the loss of the Nos. 1, 3 and 4 hitters in the lineup.

The offensive struggles were evident in the playoff series against River City. The Wild Things scored two runs in 21 innings and ended the season with 19 consecutive hitters making outs.

Still, it was a good season by any standards, especially when compared to the last six years. There were many highlights, such as:

• Pitcher Matt Sergey, who at the time was the No. 5 starter in the rotation, throwing the first perfect game in the Frontier League’s 22-year history when he retired all 27 Gateway batters Aug. 24.

• Cecil native Chris Sidick, who roamed center field for seven seasons, becoming the first former Wild Things player to have his jersey number retired during a ceremony Aug. 22.

• Closer Jonathan Kountis setting the league’s single-season saves record with 32. He converted 32 of 34 save opportunities. Half of his saves came while protecting a one-run lead.

• Zac Fuesser, a veteran of five seasons in the Pittsburgh Pirates system, pitching Washington to its first postseason win since Game 2 of the 2007 finals when he came one out away from a shutout in the 4-2 wild-card win over Evansville.

To take the next step, and win the organization’s first championship, the offseason priorities must include bringing some stability to the coaching staff, retaining as many of the current players as possible and upgrading several positions, specifically first base and designated hitter, two spots where impact hitters should be readily available.

Sports editor Chris Dugan can be reached at dugan@observer-reporter.com.