Nice little season recap of the Lexington Legends 2009 season. Highlights:
*68-72 is better than last year's 45-93
*Team ERA dropped from 4.40 to 3.59
*Pitchers 20 or younger made 122 of 140 starts
*The team stole 114 of 191 bases
Manager Tom Lawless:
"We did a really good job based on the age of our team. We were probably one of the younger clubs in the league and, to play almost .500 for the year, it's a credit to the kids. They battled hard. The pitching was probably the highlight of our season. The young kids did a great job of going out there and throwing strikes. Offensively, we were at the bottom of the league most of the year, but we seemed to get hits when we needed them to win some ball games."
Mark Maloney, on Albert Cartwright:
Second baseman Cartwright, 21, finished at .236. However, he was hitting .316 when he suffered a broken bone in his lower arm on May 3. When he returned in mid-June, he went hitless in his first six games and eight of his first nine. He finished the season on a five-game hitting streak (11-for-23).
Lawless, on 2009 5th round pick Brandon Wikoff:
"I think he's done enough to warrant that he gets a chance to go to the next level and continue to do what he's doing. He's a good defender, and he knows what kind of hitter he is. He's not trying to hit the ball out of the ballpark, he's trying to put the ball in play. And he can bunt."
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
