Lowell Spinners 2007 Season-Ending Notes

TEAM

MANAGERIAL DEBUT: Billerica, MA native and former Major League All-Star Gary DiSarcina made his managerial debut with the Spinners in 2007, leading the team to a second-place finish, four games behind Oneonta in the Stedler Division.

WON/LOSS: The Lowell Spinners finished the season with a 40-36 record…A half-game better than their 2006 record, the Spinners’ .526 winning percentage was fourth-best in team history...Lowell’s 23-15 record at home tied with 2005 for the second-best home record in team history (2003, 24-13).

FENWAY FUN: A ninth-inning walk-off 2-1 win over Hudson Valley at Fenway Park on August 11 keyed a 10-3 stretch (August 11-22) that propelled Lowell back into the playoff hunt.

HITTING: Lowell’s .258 team batting average was sixth in the league…As a team, Lowell batters drew a league-leading 289 walks…In three seasons as the Spinners hitting coach, Alan Mauthe has led the Spinners to their three best team batting averages in franchise history: .261 (2005), .259 (2006), and .258 (2007).

PITCHING: Lowell’s 3.83 team ERA was eighth in the league…Spinners pitchers struck out 632 batters, the second-highest mark in the NYPL.

ALL-STARS: A record five Lowell Spinners were selected for the August 14 All-Star Game at Hudson Valley: 1B Mike Jones (did not attend due to promotion to Greenville), CF Ryan Kalish (did not attend due to injury), SS Yamaico Navarro, RHP Felix Ventura, and C Ty Weeden…Ventura picked up the win after pitching a scoreless eighth inning while Navarro keyed the American League’s come-from-behind 6-4 win with a lead-off eighth-inning single and a stolen base before scoring the tying run…Weeden caught three innings of the game, a span in which the National League scored only one run.

RECORD-SETTING ATTENDANCE: Buoyed by a split-gate attendance of 17,373 at the August 11 Futures at Fenway showcase, the largest crowd ever for a Spinners game, Lowell set a new franchise record for attendance at 198,453…It was the second consecutive season to set a franchise attendance record…Lowell finished its home schedule on August 31 with its 308^th consecutive standing-room only sell-out, a streak dating back to August 2, 1999…The team celebrated its 300^th consecutive sell-out on Saturday, August 18 and honored its 2,000,000^th fan the following day.

MAJOR LEAGUE DEBUTS: Seven former Spinners debuted in the Major Leagues this season, the most ever: 2000 C Brian Esposito (STL), 2005 CF Jacoby Ellsbury (BOS), 2001 RHP Phil Dumatrait (CIN), 2003 OF Brandon Moss (BOS), 2005 RHP Clay Buchholz (BOS), 2004 RHP Harvey Garcia (FLA), and 1999/2000 RHP Dan Giese (SFG).

ROOKIE NO-HITTERS: Buchholz (9/1/07) became the second former Spinner in as many years to pitch a Major League no-hitter as a rookie, just two years after playing in Lowell…2004 Spinners RHP Anibal Sanchez tossed his rookie no-hitter on 9/6/06.

INDIVIDUAL

HAGADONE: LHP Nick Hagadone set the franchise record by twirling 23 consecutive scoreless innings to finish the season (1996 RHP Matt Kinney, 18.0 IP, 8/25-9/4)…Over a span of nine starts (7/24-9/5), the Red Sox No. 1 Draft Pick did not allow a run after being roughed up in his first professional appearance (5 ER in 1.1 IP at Aberdeen on July 18)…Hagadone finished the season 0-1 with a 1.85 ERA, a 0.90 WHIP, and 33 strikeouts in 24.1 IP.

CRAFT: RHP Jordan Craft finished the season 10^th in the league with a 3.31 ERA…Craft was named New York-Penn League Pitcher of the Week for the week spanning August 23 to September 2, during which he went 1-0, allowing no earned runs over two starts while striking out eight in 11 innings…Craft went 7-3, tying the franchise record for wins in a season, a mark last reached by LHP Ryan Phillips in 2005.

VENTURA: RHP Felix Ventura recorded 14 saves, third in the league, two short of the Spinners season record and the most since RHP Chuck Beale’s 16, set in 1996, the inaugural season of Spinners baseball...Ventura tied for the league lead with 28 appearances.

CAPELLAN: LHP Jose Capellan, the ace of Lowell’s pitching staff, went 4-3 with a 3.69 ERA in 14 starts…He struck out 71 and walked only 11 in 75.2 innings.

JIMENEZ: 3B/1B Jorge Jimenez set a franchise record with 23 doubles, breaking OF Moises Rojas’ mark of 21 set in 1998…Jimenez led the team with 44 RBI and finished second on the team with a .303 batting average…His 30 extra-base hits (23 doubles, 3 triples, 4 homeruns) broke the Spinners record for extra-base hits by a left-handed batter, which had stood at 26 (set by OF Brandon Moss in 2003, matched by 1B Jason Twomley in 2005)…His 44 RBI were the most by a left-handed Spinners batter (1999 1B Mike Dwyer, 41)…Jimenez also led the league’s third basemen with a .958 fielding percentage (6 errors in 144 total chances) and did not make an error in 10 games (69 total chances) at first base.

WEEDEN: C Ty Weeden led NYPL catchers with a .997 fielding percentage (1 error, 386 total chances) and started his professional career with a .321 batting average (9x28) over nine June games.

BLACKLEY: LHP Adam Blackley tied a franchise record by striking out seven consecutive batters in four innings of relief work at Tri-City on August 21 (set 8/30/01 by Phil Dumatrait, matched 8/31/05 by Hunter Jones).

TEJEDA: SS Oscar Tejeda was tied to the day with 1998 Spinners SS Ronnie Rodriguez for the youngest player in franchise history at 17 years, 7 months, and 22 days when making his Spinners debut on August 17…Tejeda collected five three-hit games in a span of seven games from August 20-26 and collected nine multi-hit games in his 22 games as a Spinner.

KALISH: CF Ryan Kalish was batting .368 (32x87), leading the league in runs scored (27) and stolen bases (18), and was the reigning NYPL Player of the Week (July 9-15) before his season ended with a broken hamate bone in his right wrist during his first at-bat on July 16…Kalish won Player of the Week after going 12-for-15 (.800) with three doubles, two homeruns, five RBI, six runs scored, and four stolen bases in four games, giving him a 1.533 slugging percentage over that span…Kalish collected three hits in all four games that week, a Spinners record, and reached base in 11 consecutive plate appearances during that span (July 12-14), to tie a Spinners franchise record (2005 OF Jay Johnson).