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According to the Eastern League schedule, the Bowie Baysox are supposed to host their last home game of the season tonight against the Trenton Thunder. Then comes the end of the Class AA minor league team's season next week and a team full of players hoping to get a call-up to play the final few weeks of the major league season with the Baltimore Orioles.
But the Baysox players will happily put their big league dreams on hold, at least temporarily. Bowie improved to 81-55 after Tuesday's 10-5 victory against Trenton and is on the verge of clinching the team's first Eastern League Southern Division title. And the Baysox already have secured a spot in the league playoffs, where they will face the Akron Aeros
(76-60) beginning Wednesday. The top two teams in each of the league's two divisions qualify for the playoffs. Clinching the division title will give Bowie home-field advantage for the best-of-five series against Akron.
Trenton still holds the Eastern League's best overall record at 82-52 representing the Northern Division despite Tuesday's loss. The Baysox led the Thunder, 10-0, through eight innings. Trenton scored five runs in the top of the ninth.
Chris Tillman won his 10th game for Bowie on the mound, allowing no runs in six innings and striking out eight. Home-run support came from Sebastian Boucher, Nolan Reimold, Mike Rodriguez and Jonathan Tucker.
Bowie's hosts Trenton at 7:05 p.m. tonight to conclude its regular season home schedule.
At one point this summer the Baysox had slipped into third place in the division, trailing front-running Akron by as many as eight games. But Bowie has righted ship since the Eastern League All-Star break and will be making its first postseason appearance in 11 years and its fourth playoff appearance in franchise history. Prior to Tuesday afternoon's batting practice, Baysox manager Brad Komminsk was loose and confident and unaware that he had already been selected as the EL Manager of the Year.
"It's no longer a marathon. Now the season has been turned into a sprint," Komminsk said. "They've all done a great job. Chris Waters got promoted earlier in the year and Monty [Lou Montanez] was having a tremendous season when he got called up and he's done some good things at the big league level. It's been all about pitching and defense. Our starting pitching and our bullpen has been outstanding and defensively we're a lot better than we were at the beginning of the season."
Bowie entered the season with a promising starting rotation that initially included Chris Waters and Corey Spoohne, but the bulk of the team's success over the last two months has come without them. Waters got promoted to Norfolk and eventually to the Orioles after a 5-0 start at Bowie. Spoohne never reached expectations. But other starters such as David Hernandez, Tillman, Jason Berken and Brad Bergesen — recently tabbed as the league's pitcher of the year — have exceeded expectations. Bergesen is 15-5 since being promoted from Class A Frederick on April 21.
"When I first got called up [from Frederick] I just was looking to make the most of the opportunity," said Bergesen, who goes for his 16th win Friday at Harrisburg. "I tried to work on my pitches and improve on my mechanics. The guys in the clubhouse have been great. All three catchers are like veterans. I can't really point to any one highlight. Like my dad always told me, you're only as good as your last game. I just go out looking to get better and hope we can cap this season off with a championship."
Montanez, who was called up to Baltimore on Aug. 5, was named the EL's Most Valuable Player. He becomes only the second Bowie player to win the league MVP, joining Calvin Pickering in 1998.
At the time he was promoted, Montanez was on pace to win a triple crown, and he remains the EL's leader in batting average (.335), home runs (22) and runs batted in (97), along with extra base hits (63), runs scored (90) and slugging percentage (.601). Bergesen eclipsed the previous franchise record for wins (13) held by Rick Forney, Jimmy Haynes and James Johnson.
Komminsk, who sports a 547-424 career mark as a manager, claimed his third such title. He was selected as the league's manager of the year in 2002 when he guided Akron to its first of two straight division crowns. In 2003, he led the Aeros to the league championship and was tabbed by USA Today Sports Weekly as the top manager in the EL.
Bowie catcher/designated hitter Steve Torrealba joins the list of accolades on a smaller scale by being named the EL Player of Week from Aug. 18-24. In five games last week, Torrealba batted .409 (9 for 22) with two homers and one double, drove in six runs and scored five more. In 33 games this season at Bowie, Torrealba is hitting .292 (31 for 106) with eight home runs and seven doubles plus 12 walks, with 25 RBI and 15 runs scored.
E-mail Ted Black at tblack@gazette.net.
