Lying in bed in my hotel suite here in Winnipeg, watching the final moments of the replay of our game Friday night on Shaw TV, I can’t help but relive my day, and reflect on the season.
The past couple of days have been quite hectic for the Winnipeg Goldeyes. After a seasonlong grind, we are close to checking off a couple of goals on our to-do list.
With our 9-6 victory over the Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks on Thursday night, we clinched one of the precious four postseason berths in the American Association’s playoffs. After the win there was a brief celebration in our clubhouse, where we all showered ourselves in beer and drank some, too. Our team decided not to break out the champagne yet, since we’ve yet to clinch a North Division title.
So when I arrived at the stadium early Friday afternoon, I was a little curious to see how our team would respond. A Winnipeg win, coupled with a loss by the second-place St. Paul Saints would give us a five-game lead in our division with four to play, and with it bring our organization its first division title in eight seasons.
This year, many felt we had the team to do it. With a pitching staff that leads the league in team ERA, a speedy, athletic lineup and a collection of talented hitters, we have held onto the division lead for most of the season.
We have come to the ballpark each day, willing to do whatever it takes to win. Some nights we’ve relied on pitching and situational hitting. Other nights we’ve used our speed to steal bases or take extra bases to sneak out a win. On rare occasions, we broke out the big sticks and used the long ball. The constant with our ballclub has been a different hero in every game.
Friday night was no different. We got a two-run homer from right fielder Kody Kaiser in the bottom of the first and two-out RBIs from former Kalani High standout Ridge Carpenter and Price Kendall later in the game to complement a strong outing by starter Isaac Hess to vault us to 20 games over the .500 mark at 58-38.
The entire night was one big celebration. In what was deemed "Fan Appreciation Night," there were giveaways and promotions, and team awards were handed out as well. Our veteran corner infielder, former major leaguer Brian Myrow, was voted the team’s most valuable player by the fans and received a trophy from general manager Andrew Collier in the third inning.
In the fifth inning, it was announced manager Rick Forney was voted the American Association’s Manager of the Year in a league-wide vote by managers and the media.
In the seventh, we learned that St. Paul lost, leaving the door open for us to clinch, much to the joy of our fans. But the biggest moment followed the final out of the ninth inning, when our team rushed the field. Members of the support staff and front office ran bottles of champagne and we proceeded to spray anybody and everybody on the field with the bubbly. First we shot it on each other. Then our guys got creative.
Led by long-time minor league outfielder Jon Weber, our players moved with SWAT-team-like precision in dousing our television broadcaster, our general manager and then Forney with coolers full of Gatorade, much to the joy of the more than 8,000 fans who showed up to watch us win our final regular-season home game of the year.
It was a great time for us all to release a little bit of joy, but just a little. With a bus trip to Sioux Falls, S.D., and our last four regular-season games remaining before we start the playoffs, we know we still have unfinished business. We qualified for the playoffs, and won our division crown. Now we have to keep winning to build momentum to take into the playoffs, where we hope to accomplish our ultimate team goal.
