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Everything matters more

BY D.W. NORRIS, FOR THE SOUTHERN

Saturday, September 6, 2008 9:19 AM CDT

CRESTWOOD - This is why Frontier League teams play 96 regular season games - it cuts out the pretenders.

"There are only two Frontier League games on tonight, and we're just happy to be one of them," said Windy City manager Mike Kashirsky.

Each of the four teams in the Frontier League playoffs - Southern Illinois (58-38), Windy City (60-36), Kalamazoo (60-36) and Gateway (51-45) - is obviously tough. Coming out of a grueling schedule with at least 51 wins is an accomplishment, but none of those wins means anything right now.

Regular season statistics are a nice starting point for comparison, but the batting averages and ERAs start over again at zero. Still, past success is a nice confidence boost.

No team was more successful over the last month of the season than Windy City. The ThunderBolts won their final seven regular season games.

"That's always a big concern - how hot they were," said manager Mike Pinto. "Here's a team that went 21-5 in their last 26 games. That's ridiculously hot, but we're fortunate that two of those losses came to us and prior to that we swept them."

Pinto had reason to be serenely confident as he charted Windy City batting averages over the final five and 10 games of the season before the start of Friday's postseason opener. The Miners are more than capable of knocking out the defending FL champions in a best-of-five series, though both managers said Windy City's playoff experience would help � a little.

Windy City returns six position players and three pitchers from their 2007 championship squad, including league MVP Phil Hawe and 2007 championship series MVP Isaac Hess, tonight's starting pitcher.

"Does it help?" Kashirsky asked. "Yeah, but they've still got to lace it up, too."

Pinto said the ThunderBolts had that winning intangible, but the Miners had some intangibles of their own.

"We've fought through a lot of adversity and injuries," Pinto said. "We've had come-from-behind wins that give us advantages in many ways."

The Miners beat Windy City in their season series, 7-5, with a mixture of solid hitting and even better pitching. Southern Illinois outscored Windy City 63-47 and won the shutout battle, 2-1.

Then there is the Miners' "road warrior" mentality. Southern Illinois was a league-best 30-15 away from Rent One Park. The Miners took five of six games at Standard Bank Stadium from a Windy City team that went 32-19 at home.

Still, Windy City is loaded.

"They've got guys who can run in (Gilberto) Mejia and (Mike) Coles and (Wes) Long," Pinto said. "Phil Hawke is certainly a seasoned hitter and there is also the home run production he puts up."

Pinto admitted he felt a sense of disappointment when Southern Illinois did not win the FL West title, a preseason goal for everyone associated with the team. Obviously fulfilling the team's major off-season goal - a league title - would wipe away the sting of falling short in the regular season.

Monday's starting pitcher Chris Little said it was all up to the Miners before the team found out whom they would play.

"If we do what we have to do as a team, I don't think it really matters who we play in the playoffs," Little said. "If we don't do what we have to do, I don't think it really matters who we play in the playoffs. I feel like we can beat either one of those teams."

One of Pinto's favorite phrases is, "everything matters." It all matters more now that a championship is on the line.

Now batting: Both teams entered the playoffs with top-notch offensive resumes. The Miners and ThunderBolts tied for the league lead in team batting average, each hitting .284. Windy City scored more runs (608-587), but the Miners had more hits (938-933). Southern Illinois had more home runs (102-100) and took more walks (409-384). No club in the 12-team FL had fewer than the Miners' 591 strikeouts while at-bat.

Swing and a miss: The Miners' 3.81 team ERA ranked second in the league. Windy City's pitchers had a 4.51 ERA (No. 4). Southern Illinois ranked third in strikeouts (734), four behind the second-place T-Bolts. The Miners' pitching staff had the second lowest walks total in the league.

Tim Dorn: Dorn paced the Miners with 18 hits, a .391 average, 12 runs scored and a .756 slugging percentage in 11 games against Windy City. Dorn hit four home runs and four doubles with 10 RBIs and a1.179 OPS.

Top of the order tops: Switch-hitting second baseman Gilberto Mejia batted ..410 with a double, two triples and two home runs with six RBIs in nine games. Outfielder Mike Coles (.333 BA) had two doubles, two home runs and a team-high eight RBIs in 12 games. First baseman Phil Hawke hit .324 with three doubles, one home run and six RBIs. Hawke took a team-high 17 walks while striking out 10 times and finished with a 1.049 OPS in the cleanup spot.

dw_norris@yahoo.com@yahoo.com