Quad-City Times from Davenport, Iowa • 48

EAGUE D6 Quad-City Times Sunday, September 3, 2000 STANDINGS Angels: 1990 Q-C title team had flair for dramatic CM fj r. Photos by Greg Boll QUAD-CITY TIMES Henry Threadgill, who now works for BMW in its Greenville, S.C., plant, leads the celebration after the Quad-City Angels won the Midwest League championship in 1990. Henry Threadgill Works for BMW in its Greenville, S.C., automobile factory. He and his wife became parents of a son two weeks ago. Outfielders Rick Hirtensteiner Owns a master's degree in business administration and is in his fourth year as an assistant coach at Pepperdine.

He also has worked as an assistant at Lamar and San Diego since his pro career ended in 1995. Bobby Jones Lives and works in the Sacramento, area. Edgal Rodriguez Operates a baseball school in the Dominican Republic. Coachliig staff Don Long, manager After managing at every level of the Angels' minor-league system, Long joined the Phillies' organization in 1 999. He currently works as a roving instructor.

Joe Georger, pitching coach Is the pitching coach with the Tigers' Midwest League affiliate at West Michigan, a club that leads the league with a 2.95 ERA. Mitch Seoane, hitting coach After being fired by the Angels as the manager of their Cedar Rapids club in May, he landed a job as the hitting coach at Staten Island, a Yankees' affiliate in the New York-Penn League. Continued from Page D3 the pen and wondering if I was going to be able to get anybody out," Haffner said. "My arm was killing me. I threw to three different catchers that game because we kept pinch hitting for them, but what a feeling it was when we won that game.

It was incredible." Haffner, who now teaches emotionally disturbed youths in Tampa, credits Long with molding the team that finished 81-59, but needed a win on the final night of the second half Haffner to win the Southern Division title. "He wouldn't let us quit," Haffner said. "He had us busting our butts from spring training until the day the season ended, and he wouldn't take a lot of crap from anybody" "That's one of the reasons we won," relief pitcher Justin Martin said. "It was a good group of guys, the mix was there and there weren't any egos. We just wanted to play baseball and win games.

The coaching staff kept us heading in the right direction." Ron Ortegon, an infielder whose 99 hits trailed only Chad Curtis and Easley that season, is now a head baseball coach at a high school in suburban Dallas. "I find myself using a lot of the same approaches that Don used," Ortegon said. "I find myself trying to get kids to work that hard and develop the same drive that he developed in us. I learned a lot that year." He also Ortegon learned what it was like to be part of a championship experience. "That's the only championship I was ever associated with, and just how special that is is something that I try to get my teams to appreciate.

It's an opportunity that doesn't come around every day, and when it's there, you have to seize it," Ortegon said. "I'll never forget that year in Davenport, and although we've all gone our separate ways, I'm sure that's the case for a lot of guys on that team." Like Ortegon, several have gotten into teaching and coaching. Outfielder Rick Hirten- steiner is on the staff at Pepper-dine. Bruce Vegley heads high school football and baseball programs in California. Fifteen of the players called California home, and many still reside there.

Seven played professionally at some level this season and an eighth, relief pitcher Norm Montoya, is preparing for a comeback in 2001. Curtis, now an outfielder for the Texas Rangers but then an infielder, and Easley, now working the infield for the Detroit Tigers, are the only players from the 1990 Angels to see substantial time in the major leagues. Pitchers Erik Bennett and Marcus Moore, still pitching for independent teams in the Western League, spent some time in the majors, while others such as Montoya enjoyed lengthy minor-league careers. Montoya reached the AAA level in the Angels and Brewers organizations. He pitched for the Angels' Pacific Coast League affiliate in 1999, but contractual f'Kf I I 1 ii Eastern Division Michigan (Astros) 47 x-West Michigan (Tigers) 42 Oayton (Reds) 37 Fort Wayne (Padres) 36 Lansing (Cubs) 33 Bend (Dmndbcks) 30 Western Division Pet 21 .691 GB 26 .616 30 .552 5 32 .529 11 34 .493 13 38 .441 17 40 37 36 31 29 27 26 22 Pel 26 .586 31 .544 32 .529 35 .470 37 .439 41 .397 42 .382 46 .324 Wisconsin (Mariners) Kane County (Marlins) Clinton (Reds) Peoria (Cardinals) x-Seloit (Brewers) Quad-Cities (Twins) Cedar Rapids (Angels) Burlington (White Sox) x-won first had title Friday's results Beloit 2.

Kane County 1 W. Michigan 6, Burlington 2 Fort Wayne 9, Clinton 4 tansing 5, Dayton 3 Michigan 10. Cedar Rapids 7 Quad-Cities 4, South Bend 1 Wisconsin 7, Peoria 6 Saturday's results South Bend 8, Quad-Cities 2 Fort Wayne 7, Clinton 4 Beloit 8, Kane County 7 W. Michigan 16, Burlington 2 Oayton at Lansing, rain Michigan 1 1 Cedar Rapids 3 Wisconsin 2, Peoria 1 Today's games Kane County at Beloit W. Michigan at Burlington Clinton at Fort Wayne Dayton at Lansing Cedar Rapids at Michigan South Bend at Quad-Cities Peoria at Wisconsin Monday's games Kane County at Beloit W.

Michigan at Burlington Clinton at Fort Wayne Dayton at Lansing Cedar Rapids at Michigan South Bend at Quad-Cities Peoria at Wisconsin RIVER BANDITS THIS WEEK Today-Monday What: South Bend Silver Hawks at Quad-City River Bandits. When: Today-Monday, 4 p.m. Where: John O'Donnell Stadium, Davenport. FYI: Javier Fuentes and Julius Foreman lead the Silver Hawks with .288 batting averages. South Bend's Billy Martin is one off the league lead with 25 home runs.

He also ranks third in the Midwest League with 90 runs batted in. Silver Hawks are affiliated with the Diamondbacks. Quad-Cities has assured itself of a winning record at home this year. On tap: Today, Team of the Century Day with appearance by Quad-Cities player of the century Carney Lansford and Roox CorporationScott County Family Rookie Collector Card Series giveaway to the first 500 kids; Monday, Fan Appreciation Day and QC Pools and Cable hot tub giveaway. Steve Batterson LUMBERKINGS THIS WEEK Today-Monday What: Clinton LumberKings at Fort Wayne Wizards.

When: today-Monday, 1 p.m. Where: War Memorial Stadium, Fort Wayne, Ind. FYI: The regular season concludes with a pair of road games for the playoff-bound LumberKings. Clinton's Andrew Beattie and Mark Burnett rank sixth and seventh in the league in hitting with averages of .305 and .302 respectively. As a team, Clinton's current .253 average ranks fourth in the league.

Pitching has been the Wizards' strength. The Padres affiliate has a 3.66 team earned run average. Pitching staffs from Fort Wayne and Clinton rank 1-2 in the league in strikeouts. The Wizards have retired 1 ,099 batters while the LumberKings have sat down 1 ,091 batters. Steve Batterson Trio gets Twins organization promotes 3 from Gulf Coast League By Steve Batterson QUAD-CITY TIMES The final days of the 2000 Midwest League season are providing the three newest members of the Quad-City River Bandits with a potential preview of the future.

Infielder Brett Tamburrino and pitchers Colby Miller and Jeff Randazzo all were promoted by the Twins from the Gulf Coast League last week, giving them a one-week sample of life at the full-season Class A level. Tamburrino has seen daily placing time and Miller and WHERE ARE THEY The current whereabouts of key members of the 1990 Quad-City Angels team that won the Midwest League championship: Pitchers Dave Adams Posted a 3-2 record this season at Bridgeport, an independent team in the Atlantic League. Erik Bennett Pitching for a playoff-bound Chico team in the independent Western League. He's 1-0 with 1 1 saves in 39 appearances. Les Haffner Teaches emotionally disturbed youths at the fourth- and fifth-grade level in Tampa, where he is also a third baseman for one of that area's top traveling Softball teams.

Mike Hook Works in the traffic engineering department for the city of San Diego. Justin Martin Earned degrees in public policy and public administration after his release in 1992. Based in Salem, he works as a lobbyist for an Oregon-based Native American tribe. Fili Martinez Lives in his hometown of Los Angeles, where he works with youth athletic programs. Norm Montoya Drives a truck for Federal Express in Freemont, and is working on comeback plans for the 2001 season.

He pitched at the AAA level last year for the Angels. Marcus Moore Owns a 4-8 record in 14 games this season for Yuma, an problems kept him off the mound this year. "I'm working out and I'm probably in the best shape of my life. I'm ready to get back at it next year," said Montoya, who is driving a truck for Federal Express in Fremont, to pay the bills as he works toward a spring training opportunity in 2001. "I'm ready to get back at it next year.

One of the things I learned at Quad-Cities was how to compete, and that will help me now. My first year there, I was just out of the draft and I arrived at Quad-Cities late. I remember that I pretty much had to prove myself right away. The rest of the team had it going and they weren't going to let anybody bring them down." The starting pitching staff was led by Fili Martinez, Steve King and Dave Adams in addition to Bennett and Moore. It had an earned run average of 2.91 and led the league with 1,047 strikeouts.

The bullpen was built around Vegley, John Marchese, Martin, Montoya, Haffner and a strong-armed closer, Mike Hook, whose nickname "Wild Thing" described both his 92 mph fastball and his personality 'A NOW? independent team that plays in the Western League. Bruce Vegley Teaches physical education and is the head football and baseball coach at Mariposa High School, Mariposa, Calif. Catchers Jeff Gay Lives with his wife and two children in Laughlin, where he is employed. Larry Gonzales Involved with another former Quad-City Angels player, Kevin Flora, in a baseball instruction business in the suburbs of Los Angeles. Mick Billmeyer Works as the bullpen catcher for the Anaheim Angels Infielders Chad Curtis An outfielder with the Texas Rangers.

Damion Easley Remains a regular in the infield for the Detroit Tigers. Corey Kapano Played third base this season for Bridgeport, an independent team that plays in the Atlantic League. He hit .21 5 this year. Ray Martinez Still plays the infield in the independent Mexican League, where he hit .309 this year for the Mexico Diablos Rojos. Ron Ortegon Is the head baseball coach at Forney High School in Forney, Texas, where he also teaches at the alternative high school.

Vegley Hook "The guy was crazy," Vegley recalls. "But our team needed that. He kept the mood light in a year where there was some pressure." Arm troubles eventually ended Hook's career in 1995, and he now works in traffic engineering for the city of San Diego. "I think I've settled down a bit since then, but I've got a lot of great memories of that year," Hook said. "The thing I remember the most is that I was able to play with an old high school teammate.

Jeff Gay and I figured when we signed that we never would play together again, but we were both there all year and that was great. We had a blast." Vegley, now teaching physical education and coaching football and baseball at the same east-central California high school his father coached at for more than three decades, understands life in the in," Cliburn said. "That will give them some things to work on during the off-season as they get ready to come back for spring training." Close calls can help In a season filled with close calls, Clinton LumberKings manager Jay Sorg said the experience probably has been beneficial to his playoff-bound team. "I've gained a few gray hairs, but from a development standpoint, I feel like playing close games can be beneficial for players," Sorg said. "We haven't Sorg really blown many teams out, and we haven't been blown out ourselves too often this year.

The scores have been close, the game9 have been competitive, and when you're out tfpre with the hi Damion Easley went 5-for-5 with two home runs in Game 2 of the Q-C Angels' opening playoff series. RUN TO TITLE Highlights of the Quad-City Angels' 1990 postseason run, which followed an 81-59 regular season: The Cedar Rapids series Jeff Gay's 12th-inning home run lifted Quad-Cities to a 5-4 win over the Reds affiliate in the first game of the best-of-three Southern Division championship series at John O'Donnell Stadium. "I had never asked for somebody to hit me a home run before or since, but I asked him to hit one that night," reliever Mike Hook said. "I had been out there a couple of innings and my arm didn't have anything left." Damion Easley, sidelined by injury much of the month of August, went 5-for-5 and hit two home runs to lead the Angels to a 10-3 win in Game 2. Quad-Cities had 16 hits in i-the game, including a three-run homer by Edgal Rodriguez.

The South Bend series A squeeze bunt by Ray Martinez in the top of the sixth inning opened the door for a four-run inning and a 6-2 win in the opening game of the championship series. Ron Ortegon and Chad Curtis opened the inning with singles before Jim Aylward drove home the first run of the game with a single to center. Marcus Moore struck out eight to earn the win. In the second game, Fili Martinez gave up four runs in a first inning that included a brawl when the Quad-City starter hit Scott Cepicky with a pitch. "They had nine runs before we knew what hit us," manager Don Long said after the loss.

The series shifted to John O'Don- nell Stadium for the third game, and a one-out, bases-loaded walk to Ortegon in the bottom of the ninth gave Quad-Cities a 6-5 win. The Angels trailed 5-0 after three innings before rallying for the win over South Bend pitcher Bob Wickman. The next night, Les Haffner pitched five innings of one-hit relief and Aylward scored Easley with a game-winning double in the bottom of the 13th inning of a 3-2 game that gave the Quad-City franchise its fifth Midwest League pennant. Chad Curtis, who now plays outfield for the Texas Rangers, played second base for the Q-C Angels. Austin, Texas, Cole hit .288 this season.

-He had a team-high 93 RBIs and hit 21 home runs. Two more years I Cedar Rapids came to an agreement last week to extend its player ment contract with the Angels organk zation through the 2002 season. The Angels have been affiliated with -the Kernels since they left the Quad-Cities after the 1 992 season. Full house Dayton has established a single-sea-' son Class A record for attendance in its first year of operation. Heading into their final homestand of the year, the Dragons have played In front of 565,565 fans in their first year at Fifth Third Field, an average of 8,550 per game.

i Another Midwest League Lansing, owned the previous record. The Lugnuts drew 547,401 fans In 1996. htittf- Hook's feelings. "That season was one of the best experiences in my life. It was a great place to play baseball, especially because of the fans.

They were great," Vegley said. Winning a championship didn't hurt, either. "The way that team scrapped and clawed for everything is something that will stick with me for the rest of my life," he said. Because of the playoffs, the season stretched into September, something that left a lot of players scrambling to resume college when the season finally ended. Vegley and his roommate, catcher Larry Gonzales, had plane tickets home for the day after the series ended.

"We'd bought an old car for $300 that year, and after that game we didn't have time to do anything with it," Vegley said. "We just loaded our stuff in it, drove it to the airport, left the keys in it and flew home. It was a great year. The best." 3 Questions? Comments? Steve Batterson can be reached at (319) 383-2285 or by e-mail at NOTEBOOK crash course on Midwest League chance to get a feel for what this league is about and what this level is about." Tamburrino is a free-agent signing of the Twins from Sun-bury, Australia, while Miller and Randazzo are both draft picks out of high school. Miller was a third-round pick in the June draft.

The 6-foot-2 right-hander is from Weather-ford, Okla. Randazzo signed with Minnesota late last summer after being chosen in the fourth round of the 1999 draft. A 6-7 left-hander, Randazzo pitched and played basketball at Cardinal O'Hara High School in Brooman, a suburb of Philadelphia. "Bringing guys up late gives them a sample of what it takes to compete here. It's also a reward fo" the work they've put Randazzo will make their sec ond starts for Quad-Cities during the final two days of the season.

River Bandits manager Stan Cliburn said it's a perfect opportunity for all three players. "The organization has provided them with a chance to see what this level is all about, and the type of first impression that they leave can be important," Cliburn said. "It's like anything else, the first impression is usually the biggest one. and in the case of the two pitchers, I think both Miller and Randazzo gave a good account of themselves." Randazzo said the chance to pitch in Quad-Cities was a welcome one. "This is where I hope to be when the season starts next year," said.

"This gives me a game on the line, I think that's good for a player. It keeps you on top of your game." Saving the day Fort Wayne's J.J. Trujillo established a new Midwest League record for saves in a season when he worked a hitless ninth in the Wizards' 4-1 win over Beloit on Thursday. The save was his 42nd of the season, topping the previous mark of 41 set by Springfield closer Mike Perez in 1987. Trujillo signed with the Padres last fall as a non-drafted free agent.

He has converted on his last 13 save opportunities and over the course of the year, he has limited opponents to a .156 batting average. Ex-Bandit honored Former River Bandits outfiolder Eric Cole has been named to the Texas League postseason all-star team. Playing at Round Rock, the Astros' AA farm club located just jorth of.