A Look Back at the 2010 Season
Success results from
several items: hard work, a never-say-die attitude and perhaps the most
overlooked aspect - consistency. The Charleston RiverDogs have staked
their claim as the most consistent team in the South Atlantic League having
posted seven consecutive winning seasons since 2002. Even though the parent club New York
Yankees provided the Holy City with 17 players from the New York-Penn League
Champion Staten Island Yankees, that consistency and that resolve were mightily
tested during the 2010 campaign.
Opening Night on April 8
at Joseph P. Riley, Jr. Park saw Charleston come from behind in the seventh
inning for a 5-2 win over the Lexington Legends in front of 7,587 fans, the
third-largest crowd in the history of The Joe, to give first-year manager Greg
Colbrunn his initial win.
That season-opening
series against Lexington ended in dramatic fashion, as the RiverDogs erased a
6-1 deficit to win, 7-6, in 12 innings on Taylor Grote's RBI
double.
Charleston enjoyed
another walkoff win two nights later against the West Virginia Power, courtesy
of Luke Murton's RBI single for a 3-2 triumph.
After a 4-4 homestand,
the RiverDogs experienced early road troubles with a 2-6 mark against Augusta
and Hickory, with three of those defeats being walkoff
losses.
A five-game losing skid was quickly swept
under the rug through a four-game home sweep of the Rome Braves. The first of those wins -- on April 24 --
was the third walkoff win of the season, a 4-3 decision in 12 innings. Ray Kruml singled to lead off the inning,
and then Murton doubled to deep left. While Kruml rounded second, he collided
with Rome's shortstop and was awarded home on a defensive obstruction
call.
Even though the good
vibes were flowing in Charleston, the RiverDogs lost the next four games to
Hickory to split that eight-game homestand and conclude the month of
April.
Even though the
roller-coaster was in full swing, Murton remained one of Charleston's rocks of
consistency, registering a league-best 14-game hitting streak and a 29 game
on-base streak.
Next on the slate was an
eight-game road trip beginning in Lakewood, N.J. with another extra-inning
affair. Kelvin Castro's two-out RBI
double in the ninth tied Game One at 1-1 and it remained that way until the
14th inning, when former South Carolina Gamecock DeAngelo Mack hit a
go-ahead RBI single to start the five-run frame. Murton capped off the scoring with a
mesmerizing three-run home run and a 6-1 final.
Two days later, the
RiverDogs and BlueClaws locked horns in a day affair at FirstEnergy Park. The events of that May 5 game not only
yielded a 2-0 Charleston win, but featured a landmark performance by RiverDogs
starter Graham Stoneburner. The
former Clemson Tiger proceeded to toss two-hit ball over 7.0 innings with a
career-high 11 strikeouts. The
Virginia native fanned seven straight batters between the second and fourth
innings and had 10 strikeouts after four. Charleston staked him to a 2-0 after the
sixth, but in the eighth, it was the defense that stole the show. Lakewood put men at first and third with
no one out, but reliever Ronny Marte induced a ground ball to the mound which he
threw to second for one out, onto first for the second out, then the ball worked
its way home to complete the team's first triple play since 2003 and preserve
the masterpiece.
The RiverDogs ended up
splitting with Lakewood and taking three of four from Delmarva in Salisbury, MD
before returning home for a four-game set against Augusta. Charleston took the first two games of
the series, but needed a pickoff at second base on a wild game-ending rundown to
complete a 3-2 win.
When that final out was
recorded, it set off a trying stretch that saw the RiverDogs lose seven straight
games, the most since 2006.
Riley Park proved to be
a temporary remedy for those ills, as Charleston took the next two games against
Savannah. A five-run first inning
led the team to a 9-6 win, but the next night, the RiverDogs fell behind, 6-2,
heading to the ninth inning. But,
the Never-Say-Die R'Dogs revved up the engine, getting a solo home run from
Hector Rabago and a game-tying three-run home run with two outs from Zoilo
Almonte to tie the game at 6-6 and send the contest to extra innings. Charleston took the reins in the
11th on a Kruml sacrifice fly and a dramatic 7-6
win.
Even after a 1-0 walkoff
loss to Greenville three days later that set the RiverDogs at 19-27 - a
season-high eight games under .500 - Charleston bounced back less than 24 hours
later when Sean Black hummed 7.0 shutout innings in a 5-0 victory over the
Drive.
After the team sojourned
back to the Lowcountry, adversity once again reared its ugly head on June 1, as
the RiverDogs had 25 consecutive batters retired in a humbling 8-0 loss to
Hickory in which the team collected only two base hits. The very next night, Charleston
celebrated its fourth walkoff victory of the season as 2009 1st round
selection Slade Heathcott hit a walkoff RBI single in the 10th inning
in his SAL debut for a 5-4 win.
Alternating wins and
losses occurred until a landmark game on June 16 against Augusta when the team
pounded a franchise-record 22 base hits in a 15-6 thrashing of the GreenJackets,
led by a 5-for-5, three RBI, four run, two stolen base performance from Emerson
Landoni.
Even though the record
books received a positive boost, the flip side surfaced in the final four games
of the first half, when Charleston was swept at Rome for the second time in the
half, giving the team a record of 31-38 to mark the first time since 2002 that
the franchise experienced a losing half.
Three RiverDogs were
named to the SAL Midseason All-Star team, as infielder Luke Murton, outfielder
Zoilo Almonte and right-handed reliever Ryan Flannery were selected to represent
the Southern Division at the 51st SAL All-Star Game at Fluor Field in
Greenville, S.C.
When the second half
began, the four-game skid that ended the half turned into a season-worst
nine-game losing streak when the RiverDogs dropped five in a row to visiting
Greenville, three of the losses coming by one run. The nine-game losing skein was the
longest for the franchise since May 2006.
Almost immediately
things improved mightily, largely facilitated by four straight victories in
Augusta on the ensuing road trip for the first time under the Yankees umbrella,
although the GreenJackets won the fifth and final game, 7-6, in 10
innings.
Independence Day 2010
ushered in 7,536 patrons for the second biggest crowd of the year, yet the
RiverDogs fell to Asheville by a 6-4 final.
Charleston kept its hard
charge going in the second half, flashing a league-best 20-12 record over the
next 32 games following the five-game Greenville sweep. The RiverDogs got their revenge on the
Drive by sweeping the Upstate rivals in four straight at The Joe from July
28-31, all part of a season-high six-game winning streak.
After the four-game
whitewashing closed a 6.0 game deficit in the Southern Division standings down
to just 2.0 games with over a month play, Charleston could not sustain that
momentum over the rest of the half and finished 13-17 in the last 30 games,
while never getting closer than 2.0 games.
Several bright spots
came out of the late season mudslide, including a five-game series at Hickory
from Aug. 12-16 in which the RiverDogs not only took the final four contests,
but also posted 48 runs on 64 hits in the series; by far the best offensive
showcase of 2010.
August 13 was
particularly memorable as Charleston jumped to an 8-0 lead after four innings
and cruised to an 18-4 victory.
That production accounted for the most runs scored by the team since May
2008.
Six different players
may have had multi-hit games and eight starters may have scored, but starting
catcher J.R. Murphy stole the show, going 3-for-6 with two home runs and nine
RBI. The former second round pick
crushed a third-inning grand slam - the first for the franchise since June 2008
- a fourth-inning three-run homer for his first career multi-home run game, a
RBI groundout in the sixth and a RBI single in the eighth for the most runs
driven in by a RiverDog since becoming a Yankees affiliate. Murphy also missed the SAL single-game
RBI record by one, which was a 10-RBI performance by Asheville's James Barbe on
April 22, 1978.
From the pitching side
of the ledger, right-hander Brett Marshall flirted with history on Aug. 25
against Savannah by retiring the first 16 batters he faced before allowing a
one-out double in the sixth inning. The Texas native finished the inning
scoreless in a game that was shortened to six frames by rain in an 8-0 RiverDogs
triumph. Marshall, who underwent
Tommy John surgery in 2009 after making his professional debut with the
RiverDogs, did not walk a batter, struck out four and finished just one batter
shy of the second perfect game in SAL history.
Savannah rebounded to
take the final three games of the series and to guarantee Charleston's first
losing season since 2002.
Playoffs would not be in
the cards for the 2010 RiverDogs, but the last eight-game homestand of the year
provided incredible bookend contests to close effectively the season's
curtain.
Game One versus
Greenville on Aug. 30 saw the Drive take a 1-0 in the second, which lasted all
the way to the bottom of the ninth inning, when Taylor Grote stepped to the
plate. Grote, who had missed 106
games earlier in the year due to injury and had not hit a home run at Riley Park
since May 2009, crushed a 1-2 pitch from All-Star Dennis Neuman off the
centerfield batter's eye to knot the game at 1-1 and move the festivities to
extra innings. With a man on and
two outs in the 12th, it was Heathcott who played hero when he
launched his first career walkoff home run over the right-centerfield wall for a
thrilling 3-1 victory.
Exactly one week later
on Sept. 6 in the final game of the season, a 0-0 tie between Charleston and
Greensboro navigated itself to the 10th inning, when the Grasshoppers
seized a 1-0 lead. In the bottom
half, the first two RiverDog batters were retired, catcher Hector Rabago walked
and was lifted for a pinch-runner. Heathcott came calling again, this time
with a game-tying RBI double, setting the two-out stage for Rob
Lyerly.
Lyerly, who days before
was the lone RiverDog named to the SAL Postseason All-Star Team, blooped a
walkoff RBI single to right field for a dramatic 2-1 victory, the second season
in a row that has ended with a walkoff victory.
A former standout at UNC
Charlotte, Lyerly led the RiverDogs in six offensive categories and ranked third
in the league with a .312 average, third with 157 base hits and tied for sixth
with 36 doubles. Lyerly also staked
his claim as one of the best RiverDogs in history with his double total ranking
third in single-season team history, and his average and base hit count each
finished in the top-10 in the single-season annals.
In 2010 the RiverDogs
finished with a 65-74 overall record and a 35-35 mark at Riley Park, which was
the 12th time in the 14-year history of the ballpark that the team
ended .500 or better. The final attendance figure of 269,023
fans resulted in the third-best season mark in the history of Riley
Park.
It might not have been
the year of the winning season or the year of the playoffs, but the RiverDogs
once again showed the best fans in Minor League Baseball a year-full of walkoffs
and records being set, making 2010 a very successful
season.
THE RIVERDOGS: BY THE
NUMBERS
3,556,828 - Total
attendance in the 14-year history of Riley Park.
269,023 - Total
attendance for 2010. Ranks as the third-highest attendance figure in Riley Park
history.
7,587 - Total attendance
for Opening Night on April 8, marking the fifth largest crowd in the history of
Riley Park.
1,166 - Number of
victories in the history of the RiverDogs franchise dating back to
1994.
530 - Number of
victories in 14-year history of Riley Park. The RiverDogs recorded their
500th win in the park's history in a thrilling 4-3, 12-inning triumph
over the Rome Braves on April 24.
36 - Number of doubles
hit by post-season All-Star Rob Lyerly, which tied him for sixth in the SAL and
third in RiverDogs single-season history with Cliff Pastornicky, who smacked 36
doubles in 1982.
29 - On-base streak
registered by Luke Murton from April 11-May 12, the fourth-longest skein in the
SAL.
22 - Number of hits
notched by the RiverDogs in a 15-6 victory over Augusta on June 16, the highest
total by the team since becoming a Yankees affiliate in
2005.
20 - Number of batters
retired consecutively by starter Graham Stoneburner on April 24 versus Rome.
The former Clemson standout would
take a no-decision in Charleston's 4-3, 12-inning victory.
18 - Season-high run
total for the RiverDogs in an 18-4 drubbing of Hickory on August 13, the highest
output for the team since a 20-2 win over Greenville on May 21,
2008.
17 - Number of batters
retired in a row by the Charleston bullpen to end a 5-0 shutout of Hickory on
August 16.
14 - Hitting streak
posted by mid-season All-Star Luke Murton from April 13-April 27, tied for the
ninth longest in the SAL in 2010.
12 - Number of shutouts
posted by the RiverDogs, tied for third-most in the SAL.
11 - Number of batters
fanned by Graham Stoneburner on May 5 at Lakewood, marking the first time a
RiverDog starter struck out double-digit batters since Dellin Betances sunk 12
Lakewood batters in August 2008.
10 - Walkoff victories
in 2010, capped off by a 2-1 comeback win over Greensboro in 10 innings in the
final game of the season at The Joe on Sept. 6.
9 - J.R Murphy's RBI
total on August 13 in the 18-4 victory over Augusta. The No. 8 prospect in the Yankees system
according to Baseball America cracked
a grand slam, a three-run home run, a RBI groundout and a RBI single to account
for the most runs batted in by a RiverDog since becoming a Yankees affiliate in
2005.
7 - Number of batters
fanned in succession by Graham Stoneburner on May 5 at Lakewood. The Virginia native struck out seven
straight between the second and fourth innings in a 2-0 victory over the
BlueClaws.
6 - Longest winning
streak of the season for the RiverDogs spanning from July 27-August
2.
3 - Number of mid-season
All-Stars for the RiverDogs. Outfielder Zoilo Almonte, reliever Ryan
Flannery and infielder Luke Murton were all named to the Southern Division squad
for the 51st SAL All-Star Game at Fluor Field in Greenville,
S.C.
3 - Outs recorded in a
triple play recorded on May 5 at Lakewood. It was the only triple play in the SAL in
2010 and the first for the RiverDogs since 2003.
2 - Number of grand
slams hit by the RiverDogs: J.R.
Murphy on August 13 at Hickory; and Emerson Landoni on September 4 versus
Greensboro. Charleston had been
without a grand slam since June 2008, when Taylor Holiday turned the trick
against the now-defunct Columbus Catfish.
1 - Number of
post-season All-Stars: infielder Rob Lyerly garnered those laurels ranking in
the top five in the SAL in average and base hits and tied for sixth in
doubles.