JetHawks set the standard in 2000

By ED HARBOUR
Valley Press Staff Writer

The New York Yankees have the 1927 team to chalk up to. The Miami Dolphins, the 1972 squad.

And now all Lancaster JetHawks teams will be lined up against the 2000 club.

"This team is by far . . . the best we've seen," JetHawks vice president Matt Ellis said. "They played their hearts out, despite how it ended. I think they were the best team in the league, it just didn't work out in the playoffs."

Tuesday night, the most successful season in the team's fiveyear history came to end in a 4-1 loss to San Bernardino in game five of the Divisional Championship series.

The 2000 team set a franchise record with an 89-51 mark, nine games better than Bakersfield for the best in the Cal League this year.

"We just stumbled there at the end and couldn't get over the hump," JetHawks manager Mark Parent said of his team's inability to advance to the league finals. "There wasn't anything else we could do. We've been out here, playing the game all year, for 140 games before the playoffs . . . going out and winning ball games. It just couldn't happen."

Abbreviated playoff appearance aside, the club did bring home the first three individual league awards in franchise history.

Juan Silvestre emerged as a prospect to look for in the future with his 30 home run, 137 RBI in a year that earned him the title of league MVP.

Silvestre, a left fielder, had a solid season in Class-A Wisconsin last year, but 2000 will always be remembered as his breakout season. His numbers were also impressive enough for Baseball America to include him in the 15 finalists for its Minor League Player of the Year voting.

Second baseman Willie Bloomquist also made his mark on the Mariners organization, in what was his first full year in pro ball.

He played in 64 games for the JetHawks, but they were memorable enough for him to be voted the league's Rookie of the Year. Midway through the year, Bloomquist received a promotion to Class-AAA Tacoma, where he played out the rest of the year.

The team's third award went to the team's headmaster, Parent, as he was named the Manager of the Year for the Cal League.

Parent's first year at the helm was put into perspective well when, as he spoke to the media after Tuesday's loss, a handful of players poked their heads in to thank him for his work during the season and to let him know they'd play for him, "anytime."

Parent has said that he will not return to manage in the Cal League next year but at the end of his stay, looked back fondly on his time in Lancaster.

"I appreciated this city," Parent said. "I've been treated with a lot of respect here and can't thank everyone enough. It's something you don't get very often in baseball."

Besides winning both half-titles in the regular season, Parent's team rolled off a then minor league season-high 14-game winning streak and a set of 21-consecutive wins at home, believed to be a league record.

The also had players at or near the top of every major offensive category. Silvestre led both the home run and RBI races. Teammate Terrmel Sledge took the batting title with a .339 average.

The pitching staff featured the league leader in wins, Jeff Heaverlo at 14 and the second most prolific closer, second-year Lancaster pitcher Brandon Parker at 20.

For the franchise, though, this year was less about statistics and finally getting a legitimate shot at wining a championship, and more about bringing back fans after an abysmal 55-85 season in 1999.

"When you can follow up a year like (1999) by putting out a team like we did this year," Ellis said, "it was good for us, and it showed the fans that we aren't going to have a team that's not competitive every year.

"History shows we've been competitive. We've made the playoffs three times. Our first year, when we didn't make the playoffs, that might have been the most talented from a major league talent view. It says to our market the importance to us that our product is a good one."

The next question for Ellis and his staff, now that the playoffs are over, is where the team's affiliation will lie in 2001. Speculation has run wild from opening day, but the JetHawks front office has been equally tight-lipped. However, Ellis did say he expected an announcement, "in the next seven days, definitely before the end of next week."

For this year's team, though, not seeing this season to its expected fruition was enough to out a damper on an amazing run.

"It's really frustrating since I figured we were the best team in the league," utility man Craig Kuzmic said. "We beat people up all the time. We should have won it all."

Uploaded September 14, 2000