SAL1 Lexington Legends

Legends Finish Season

Published on September 2, 2008 under South Atlantic League (SAL1)
Lexington Legends News Release


Recapping Monday Night... The Lexington Legends found a variety of heart-breaking ways to lose during the 2008 season, so a walk-off extra inning loss in the final game of the season seems a fitting cap to a disappointing year. Thomas Hickman sent the Legends home for good with a walk-off home run to lead off the 12th inning against Carlos Ladeuth. Lexington jumped out to an early lead with a single run in the first inning when Eric Taylor drove Chris Jackson home with a sacrifice fly. Lexington and Greensboro traded rallies through the first seven innings before the dramatic conclusion. The Legends six-run output was highlighted by RBIs from Brandon Barnes, Bryan Brown, Jonathan Fixler, Russell Dixon and Taylor. Eric Taylor broke the Legends' career hits record with his RBI-single in the seventh inning. Greensboro rallied to within a run with a three-run seventh when two runs scored on a would-be double play that saw Craig Corrado commit his 33rd error of the season. Michael Stanton sewed up the South Atlantic League home-run race with his 39th blast of the season, his tenth blast of the year against Lexington. Greensboro proved it wasn't ready for its season to end yet when Hunter Mense reached on an error in the ninth, moved to second on a wild pitch, advanced to third on a single and scored the tying run on a groundout from Ryan Curry. Hickman's blast in the 12th inning gave Greensboro its second consecutive walk-off victory. Carlos Ladeuth took his eleventh loss for Lexington and Steven Cishek earned his third win for Greensboro.

Taylor Breaks Hits Record... Eric Taylor became the Legends' all-time hits leader with his RBI-single in the seventh inning. Taylor entered the final game of the season two hits shy of tying Tommy Witeman's careerhits record of 230. Eric recorded a single in the fourth and tied the record with a double in the fifth inning. The first baseman came up with two men on in the seventh inning and lined his 231st hit as a Legend into center field to break the career record. Taylor entered August 23 hits shy of Whiteman's record but slumped during the month to the tune of a .208 batting average. Taylor rallied to record eight hits in his final five games to break the record. Eric also leads all South Atlantic League first baseman with a .993 fielding percentage and leads the team in games played with 132. Taylor will end his Legends career on the leader-board of several important offensive categories. The first baseman ranks first in at-bats (897), second in games played (242), second in runs scored (127), second in walks (93), third in RBI (110) and fifth in doubles (42). Taylor has even added speed to his game this season by leading South Atlantic League first baseman with 27 stolen bases. Taylor recorded 108 hits in 110 games during the 2007 season with Lexington and added 123 hits in 132 games this season.

Corrado Closes Season on 13-Game Streak... Lexington Legends second baseman Craig Corrado ended his season with a team-high 13-game hitting streak with a 2-6 performance Monday. Corrado is 19-59 (.322) with five RBI and eight runs scored during the 13-game streak. Corrado's streak is just the third by a Legends' batter longer than 10 games this season. Brandon Barnes also recorded hits in 13 straight games between May 14 and June 24. Matt Cusick has the only other hitting streak of longer than 10 games by a Legend this season. Cusick recorded hits in ten straight games between April 20 and May 1. Craig batted .309 in 29 games in August with seven RBI and 20 runs scored. That month's average is Corrado's highest since April. The speedster batted .319 in April and .297 in May before slumping to .217 in June and .227 in July. For the season Corrado batted .275 with 60 runs scored and 43 RBI. Corrado's 139 hits lead the Legends and are fifth most by a Legend in one season in franchise history. John Topolski has the single-season record for hits by Legend with 158. Corrado's 43 stolen bases are third most by a Legend in a single season. Felix Escalona is second on the list with 46 steals, and Josh Anderson has the record with 47 stolen bases in the 2004 season.

Legends among Astros Leaders... The Lexington Legends finished the season with a disappointing record, but several Legends did rank among the leaders in several statistical categories in the Houston Astros' organization. Lexington's .238 team-batting average ranked last among Astros's farm teams, but their 4.40 team-ERA was good for fourth lowest among the six Astros' affiliates. No Legend finished in the top ten in batting among Astros' farm hands, but Brian Pellegrini did finish fourth in home runs with 21. Pellegrini's 21 long balls ranked behind Round Rock's Mark Saccomanno (27), Ray Salder (25) and Salem's Collin DeLome (22). Twelve of DeLome's 22 home runs came during his time with the Legends in the first half of the season. DeLome also finished fourth among Astros' farm hands with 71 RBI, 36 of which came as a Legend. Craig Corrado led Astros' minor-leaguers with 43 stolen bases and Eric Taylor ranked third with 27. Several Legends' pitchers ranked among the best in the Houston system statistically. Leandro Cespedes (4.02), Carlos Ladeuth (4.15) and Anthony Bello (4.17) ranked sixth, seventh and eighth among Astros' minor-league pitchers in ERA. Bello's seven wins were third most in the system, and Jay Pacella led the organization with 12 saves as a Legend. The Lexington staff cornered the market on strikeouts in the Astros' system. Cespedes led the organization with 137 strikeouts, Jeff Icenogle ranked second with 116 and Carlos Ladeuth ranked fourth with 107 strikeouts.

Legends Offensive Player of the Year???... The decision as to who is the Legends' team-MVP will be a difficult one due to several strong seasons and defections during the year. Matt Cusick was the lone offensive representative on the South Atlantic League mid-season All-Star team after batting .301 with six home runs and 24 RBI in the first half. Cusick batted .285 with nine home runs, 38 RBI and 55 runs scored in 94 games with the Legends before being traded to the New York Yankees for major-league reliever Latroy Hawkins on July 30. Cusick finished the season by batting .174 in seven games with the Florida State League Tampa Yankees. Among players who remained with the Legends for the majority of the season, Craig Corrado leads the team with a .275 average, 139 hits, 26 doubles, 176 total bases, 43 stolen bases and ranked second in games with 132 and runs scored with 60. Brian Pellegrini led the team with 21 home runs and 69 RBI despite playing in only 87 games but batted only .226 for the year. Eric Taylor led the team with 132 games played, 67 runs, 48 walks, a .332 on-base percentage, a .992 fielding percentage and 1167 total defensive chances. The .992 fielding percentage and 1167 total chances led all South Atlantic League first baseman. Jonathan Fixler threw out 42 percent of base-stealers and led the team with a .328 batting average with men on base, a .367 average with runners in scoring position and a .419 average with runners in scoring position and two outs.

Legends Pitcher of the Year???... The race for Legends' pitcher of the year will be almost as hotly contested as the offensive player of the year. Anthony Bello leads the team with seven wins and ranks second with 23 starts, ranks fourth with 116.2 innings pitched and fifth with 80 strikeouts. Leandro Cespedes led starting pitchers with a 4.02 ERA, 27 games started, 130 innings pitched, 137 strikeouts and ranks third with four wins. The 137 strikeouts were fifth most in the South Atlantic League. Cespedes closed the season with a 2-2 record and a 2.43 ERA in the second half of the season. Cespedes was the Legends' Opening Day starter and led all qualifying pitchers in the South Atlantic League with a 0.71 ERA in July. Jay Pacella was the Legends' pitcher of the month in June and July and recorded 12 saves in 13 chances with 73 strikeouts in 59 and two-thirds innings and ranks fourth on the team with 38 games but was promoted to Salem on August 11. Fernando Abad led the team with 45 appearances and struck out 94 batters and only walked 13 batters in 76 and one-third innings.

Legends Finish in the Cellar... The Lexington Legends finished the second half of the season at 24-45, second worst in the South Atlantic League. Their first half record (21-48) was the worst in the league and their overall record (45-93) was six and one-half games worse than Hickory for the dubious distinction of worst team in the league. The Legends' .326 winning percentage was better than only five teams in minor-league baseball. All five teams were short-season clubs that played in fewer than half the number of games as the Legends. Among full-season teams, the Legends were the only team to lose 90 games this season. Lehigh Valley and Reading, both Philidelphia Phillies affiliates, finished with 89 losses for second most in minor-league baseball. The Houston Astros finished the minor-league season with a 334-501 record and .400 winning percentage. The .400 winning percentage was 31 points lower than the second worst franchise, the Arizona Diamondbacks, who finished at .431.

Legends Fall Short of Several Records... Several Lexington Legends fell just short of recording single-season records for the franchise. Brian Pellegrini finished the season with 21 home runs in just 87 games, four shy of Hunter Pence's and Beau Herod's Legends' record of 25 home runs in a season. The 21 long balls place Pellegrini sixth on the Legends' single-season home run list. Both Collin Delome and Matt Cusick finished their tenure with the Legends with six triples, fourth most in one season by a Legend. Edwin Maysonet holds the team-record with 10 triples in 2004. Eric Taylor finished the season with 132 games played, second most by any Legend and four games shy of John Topolski's record 136 games in 2001. Craig Corrado finished the year with 43 steals, third most by a Legend and four fewer than Josh Anderson's record 47 steals in 2004. Corrado also finished the year with the fourth most at-bats with 505 in one season by a Legend. Topolski recorded 550 at-bats in 2001. Jake Leonhardt did break the single-season record for losses by a pitcher with 13, and Carlos Ladeuth finished with the third most losses in franchise history with 11. Leandro Cespedes broke the record for home runs allowed in a season with 19 but finished one start shy of Wandy Rodriguez's and Fernando Nieve's record of 28 starts.

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South Atlantic League Stories from September 2, 2008


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