HARRISBURG SENATORS

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The Washington Nationals named Leonard Davis their Minor League Player of the Year and Jordan Zimmermann their Minor League Pitcher of the Year on Tuesday, honoring a pair of players who suited up for the Class AA Eastern League's Harrisburg Senators this season.

Davis, 24, who played both outfield and infield, played just 10 games for the Senators but made quite an impression. He hit .488 with eight runs, a double, four home runs and 10 RBIs after a promotion from Class A Potomac and before another promotion to Class AAA Columbus, where he finished the season.

Zimmermann, 22, began the season in Potomac before an early May promotion to Harrisburg, where he closed the season. Overall, he finished 10-3 with a 2.89 ERA in 25 games, leading Nationals farm hands with 134 strikeouts.

Continue reading "Davis, Zimmermann honored by Nationals" »

The Washington Nationals on Saturday announced a two-year player development contract with the International League's Syracuse Chiefs. The Class AAA Chiefs were previously affiliated with the Toronto Blue Jays (31 years), and the Nationals have ended a two-year contract with the Columbus Clippers. The Clippers are expected to sign a deal with the Cleveland Indians.

Syracuse is closer to Washington D.C. than Columbus and is approximately 250 miles north of Harrisburg, where the Nationals' Class AA Senators play. The Nationals' minor league clubs finished with an overall record of 432-405 this past season, the first time the organization's farm system finished with a winning record since the major league club moved from Montreal to D.C. That includes championships for the Class A Potomac Nationals and the Nationals' top Dominican Summer League team.

The Potomac Nationals, high Class A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, won the Carolina League championship Friday night with an 8-2 victory over the Myrtle Beach Pelicans (Atlanta Braves affiliate). Playing one level below the Class AA Harrisburg Senators, Potomac features a handful of former Senators on the roster, including 1B Andrew LeFave (2-for-4, RBI double), OF Dee Brown (2-for-3, two-run homer, three RBIs) and LHP Jack Spradlin (0.1 scoreless innings of relief).

This marks the first full-season championship for a Nationals' affiliate since the National League East club moved from Montreal to Washington in 2005. In rookie level ball, the Nationals claimed a second straight Dominican Summer League title last week while the Gulf Coast Rookie League team reached the championship round before losing to the GCL Phillies.

The Orioles have not done much right over the last 11 seasons.

On Friday, they did, renewing manager Dave Trembley's contract for 2009 with an option to renew it again for 2010.

They kept Trembley not because is a decent guy, which he is, but because the onetime Harrisburg Senators manager is right person for this job.

Continue reading "Trembley deserves to stay" »

Roger Bernadina left Harrisburg to join the Washington Nationals roster in June, but stuck around long enough to garner 2008 MVP honors from The Patriot-News.

For each Senators win, The Patriot-News rewarded three star players with five points (W1), three points (W2) or one point (W1). In each Senators loss, a value of two points (L) was assigned to one player. At season's end, Bernadina's 64 points led the way, followed by outfielder Mike Daniel (51) and catcher Luke Montz (48).

Continue reading "Bernadina named Patriot-News MVP" »

Seventy-three times this year, the Harrisburg Senators celebrated victory. While that might not seem like a big deal, especially for a team with six Eastern League crowns since returning to City Island in 1987, it's a heck of a lot better than 2007. And 2006. And 2005.

In fact, the Senators' 73-69 finish this year -- tied with Binghamton for the fifth-best record in the league -- was the finest for the Washington Nationals' Class AA affiliate since 2002, when the team last made the playoffs with a 79-63 campaign.

Continue reading "Senators' final report card" »

The Orioles have exercised their option for the 2009 season on the contract of manager Dave Trembley. The club has also added a team option for 2010 to retain Trembley, the onetime Harrisburg Senators manager.

This season is Trembley's 24th in professional baseball. He compiled a 1369-1413 record, won two league titles and earned Manager of the Year awards in three leagues in 20 years managing in the minor leagues --- including three in Harrisburg from 1987-89 -- before joining the Orioles as bullpen coach and field coordinator in 2007.

After spending most of the first three months of that season as the club's bullpen and interim bench coach, Trembley was named interim manager on June 18, 2007, replacing Sam Perlozzo.

The interim tag was removed and Trembley became the 17th manager in Orioles history on August 22, 2007. He began Friday's game with a 103-129 record as the Orioles' manager.

Shairon Martis called his mom in Curacao, setting off shrieks of joy when he relayed the news. Mike Hinckley raced to the Cooper Stadium parking lot in Columbus, Ohio, to find and embrace his wife before they got busy with the phone calls. Luke Montz, tired and hungry after a 17-hour drive from Columbus to Lafayette, La., was about to get food with his roommate and buddy, Justin Guidry, when his cell phone rang.

"Justin said he sort of knew because I just stood there for a few seconds, not moving," Montz said. But my hand was in the air." When a lifelong dream is finally fulfilled -- getting that first call to the big leagues, in these cases -- circumstances might be different but reactions are mostly the same. Theres an explosion of pure joy mixed with a dash of tears, pinches of disbelief and relief, then accentuated with smiles and screams that accompany any major accomplishment.

Continue reading "Taking it all in: Former Senators talk about first big league experiences" »