Sept. 3, 2002
Reprinted from the Fresno Bee courtesy of Danny Summers:
The Fresno Grizzlies ended their season Monday the same way they started it in April.
With a victory.
Facing Colorado Springs in the season finale for both teams, the Grizzlies pounded out 13 hits in a decisive 11-2 victory in front of 4,323 at Sky Sox Stadium. On April 4, Fresno defeated Memphis 8-0.
Fresno manager Lenn Sakata announced after the game that four Grizzlies had been promoted to the San Francisco Giants -- shortstop Cody Ransom, pitchers Joe Nathan and Kurt Ainsworth, and catcher Trey Lunsford. The players are expected to join the Giants today in San Francisco, where they are playing the Colorado Rockies. Ainsworth's 3.41 ERA is fourth-best in the PCL.
Fresno outfielder Jason Ellison finished the season on a positive note, too, doubling in his first at-bat to increase his hitting streak to 12 games. The leadoff hitter added another double, a single, and scored three times.
"There was a big incentive for us to go out on a positive note,'' Ellison said. "It didn't matter whether today was the first or last game of the season. You always want to be competitive, come out and give it your all.''
Grizzlies right-hander Jerome Williams also finished strong. The native of Hawaii allowed one run (unearned) over six innings to earn the victory and improve to 6-11. He struck out five, walked two and allowed three hits. He entered the game with the PCL's eighth-best ERA at 3.72.
"I just wanted to end on a good note,'' Williams said. "I threw well the last four or five games and wanted to keep it up.''
In between the Grizzlies' first and last victories, they managed to lose 87 games -- one more than Colorado Springs. No other club in the 16-team Pacific Coast League lost 80 games.
"They went out and played hard like they have all season,'' Sakata said of his players. "Even when they struggled, they played hard.''
Three Grizzlies belted home runs. Kevin Jordan hit a two-run shot in the second, Ransom an inside-the-park home run in the second, and Deivis Santos a two-run blast in the fifth. Ransom's was the first inside-the-park home run by a Fresno player this season.
Fresno's Jeff Urban pitched two innings of relief, then reflected on a difficult season.
"It was a tough year for our team,'' said Urban, who was 5-7 in 35 games. "It's my first year in Triple-A. A pretty successful year. At the end of any season you have to sit down and ask yourself, 'Did I have a good season, or a bad season?' You have to look at the positives.''
