August 23: Season Winding Down…

Well, it has been awhile—-too long in fact—but I am back with another blog entry while watching it sprinkle in Allentown.  The Wings meet the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs for the final time tonight and need a win to take the season series.  Cole DeVries—up from New Britain—makes his 1st Triple A start replacing the promoted Nick Blackburn.

The Wings have 15 games left counting tonight and need to go at least 7-8 to avoid becoming the 1st Red Wings team since 1945 to lose 90 games in a season.  Since 1979, only two IL teams have lost 90 games:  the 1985 Pawtucket Red Sox (48-91) and the 2000 Richmond Braves (51-92).  That 1945 Red Wings team went 64-90 and was managed by Hall of Famer Burleigh Grimes.  Grimes is famous for being the last “legal” spitballer.  For more on Grimes, check out this.

The Wings currently have a winning percentage of .372.  That is nowhere near the worst in Rochester history.  The 1920 Rochester Hustlers, for example, went only 45-106 for a .298 winning percentage.  The manager of that team was named Arthur Irwin who committed suicide the next year when he jumped off a boat sailing between New York and Boston.  He apparently led a double life which included complete families in two cities. Seriously.  Here is more.  Here is the good news…the Rochester bunch won 100 games in 1921 under George Stallings and were on their way to a great run.

On the flip side of the Wings, the Durham Bulls are still on pace to win 90 games.  The Bulls recently clinched their fourth straight IL South title.  If they do win 90, they will be the first team to win 90 in the IL since Scranton/Wilkes-Barre went 91-53 in 2002.

Happy Birthday Wishes today to a couple of former Red Wings…Wings Hall of Famer Jeff Manto is 46 today and Ed Barnowski turns 67.  You can make a good argument that Barnowski should be in the Wings Hall of Fame too since he not only pitched for the Wings but was later the team General Manager.

Hope to see you out at Frontier Field before the season is over.  Only eight more home games left with some great promotion still on the calender.  Make sure you head to www.RedWingsBaseball.com for all the latest.

Keep your fingers crossed for the weather tonight in Allentown.

Go Wings!

-Josh