Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Catfish season notes

The 2008 season is over for the Columbus Catfish. This year, that means they no longer exist. Not as the Catfish, anyway.

The team is moving to Bowling Green, Kentucky, and will sport a new nickname next season.

But this season, fans in Columbus ... few that we are ... had some good and bad things happen.

Along the way, some franchise records were broken or challenged.

Now, by "franchise record," we're talking this franchise in Columbus. Not other teams, like the Columbus RedStixx, Columbus Mudcats, Columbus Astros, or any other Columbus team. And I don't mean this franchise when it was in Wilmington, North Carolina or Albany, Georgia.

I'm talking this franchise in Columbus. Which means the 2003 South Georgia Waves, and the 2004-2008 Columbus Catfish.

Still, some records were set.
  • Henry Wrigley's 10 triples are best in franchise history.
  • Maiko Loyola's 45 stolen bases ties the franchise record.
  • Justin Garcia's 41 appearances set a franchise record.
  • Justin Garcia's .249 ERA and Austin Hinkle's .251 beat the old franchise ERA mark of .254, set last season.
Some records were challenged.
  • Greg Sexton's 87 RBIs and 490 at-bats are both good enough to be listed as 2nd most for this franchise (2003-2008).
  • Maiko Loyola and Reid Fronk scored 76 runs, tying for 3rd place.
  • Greg Sexton had 144 hits, including 32 doubles, both numbers are 3rd best for the franchise.
  • Greg Sexton and Reid Fronk played in 124 games. That's good enough for 5th place.
  • Jeremy Hall's 10 wins puts him at 3rd best total.
  • Austin Hinkle's 13 saves are 4th best.
  • Alex Cobb's 139-2/3 innings is 4th best for the franchise.
Not a bad group of stats.

This was a good team. They had some really good talent.

Individually, some of the Dodgers teams (2003-2006) had individuals who were outstanding, but they didn't have that special something that makes for a really good team.

Last year's South Atlantic League champions, a Devil Rays affiliate, didn't have as many stars as the Dodgers teams, but they had some good players, and they had an excellent team.

This year's team, also a Rays affiliate, didn't have quite as many marquee players as last year, and had some rough patches. But they were close, very close, to challenging last year's team.

The 2008 Columbus Catfish ended the season strong, winning 7 of their last 10, the best in the league over that span. They just couldn't catch Augusta to make the playoffs.

In the 1st half, the Catfish were 27-42 (.386), 16 games under 500. They did a near-complete turnaround, going 40-26 (.606) in the 2nd half.

This was a good team. They hit some rough spots. There was some inconsistency on the mound. But, as the season wound down, they believed they could win. And did. Augusta's equally strong finish is the only thing that kept them out of the playoffs.

3 comments:

  1. My heart goes out to you in your grief over the child leaving the nest. Just keep the memories of them when they were in the baby blanket and cooing. You'll get that chance again when they spawn a brood and that brood returns to see grandpa.

    Cards suck, the Cards suck!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Preston in HuntsvilleSeptember 6, 2008 at 5:59 AM

    It pains me greatly that the Catfish have left, but not surprising. Much water under the bridge since David Heller took that catfish hat upon his head and put it on mine after that very first Catfish game. My bride and I were on the front page of the Columbus Enquirer w/ Edward Bloom (google THAT) the next morning. Oh how I miss the days when we would roadie over from Montgomery, giant stuffed catfish in hand. I believe our heckling and cutting up would in fact help the team and make for a more fun product. It certainly helped me. I had intended to come down for the last game but when I heard that GM Ken Clary didn't believe that fans should have fun, I decided to save the $75 I would have spent on gas for a trip to Bowling Green which is 100 miles closer to where I sit. See y'all there !! BG will be about the 86th minor league park for this kid,

    ReplyDelete
  3. Preston in HuntsvilleSeptember 6, 2008 at 6:04 AM

    It appears the new BG team will eventually be moved to the midwest league

    Bowling Green Speedsters

    Bowling Green Cave Shrimp

    Bowling Green Hot Rods

    Bowling Green Bluegills

    Bowling Green Turbos

    Bowling Green Sparkplugs

    Bowling Green Mammoths

    ReplyDelete

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