``It was first-game jitters, or whatever you want to call it,'' Legends Manager J.J. Cannon said that night.
After that, there was no stopping the Legends, who ended the regular season at 92-48, the best record in all of minor-league baseball.
They swept the South Atlantic League's Northern Division playoffs and were ahead 2-0 in the best-of-five championship series before the Asheville Tourists conceded Wednesday because of Tuesday's terrorist attacks.
In 70 regular-season home games -- without a single rainout -- a league-record 451,076 fans passed though the turnstiles.
``Coming out and playing in front of six to eight thousand people a night is huge,'' said Legends left fielder Jon Topolski.
To say it was a good year would be an understatement.
``One of the finest that we've had,'' South Atlantic League President John Moss said of the team.
Moss, in his 42nd year as league president, has seen literally hundreds of Sally league squads.
The 2001 Legends, he said, are easily in the top five.
Lexington led the league in batting average, runs scored, hits and home runs.
The pitching staff's 1,235 strikeouts not only led the league, but broke the all-time record of 1,169.
The team also surpassed all-time league marks for most extra-base hits (493), total bases (2,163) and doubles (297).
Their dominance didn't stop there.
Lexington sent more players (seven) to the midseason all-star game than any other club. And when the votes came in for the league's annual all-star team, the Legends, again, had more representatives (five) than anyone else.
``Kind of a Cinderella story, isn't it,'' said Tim Purpura, director of player development for the Houston Astros, the Legends' parent club.
While most major-league teams field both low- and high-level Class A teams, the Astros have no high-A team.
The Legends roster was made up largely of players from either the Astros' other low-A team (which won the 2000 Midwest League championship) or its former high-A team.
In other words, Lexington was a de facto high-A club playing in a low-A league.
The difference showed.
Topolski, for instance, could have been on many Class AA teams. Instead, he spent the year dominating Class A pitching.
The left-handed batter was tops in RBI (96), hits (158) and runs scored (98). Additionally, he stood fifth in home runs (24) and second in extra base hits (58).
Then there was pitcher Rodrigo Rosario, a converted reliever who was third in the league with a 2.14 ERA.
But it was more than any one player's statistics that made the Legends the Big Green Machine of the league.
``It was going to be tough to beat us,'' Cannon said shortly after the season ended.
As a quick review of the lineup shows, the club had few weaknesses:
``That's what you want -- stability and consistency,'' Cannon said.
Because the Astros have two low-A teams, it's unclear which players will be staying in Lexington and which will be moving to Class AA.
``When you take those 50 and try to make a team of 23 next year, you're going to have some repeaters,'' Purpura said.
It's a good guess, though, that the Astros' 2002 Class AA Round Rock Express will bear a strong resemblance to this year's Legends.
Talking before the last home game of the season, Legends President Alan Stein said he was pleased with the franchise's financial returns. (He estimated the company would generate $8-10 million.)
As a fan, though, Stein said he already felt the sadness of an empty stadium.
``I'm going to miss a lot of those guys next year; it's kind of a melancholy feeling,'' Stein said, turning to leave and find his family. ``We're going to watch this game together and we're going to root for the home team. And if they don't win, it's a shame.''
As they had so many times, the Legends won that night.
Stacked Legends swamped SAL
Few weaknesses
Leadoff -- Recent call-up Fehlandt Lentini batted .295 with 27 runs and 21 RBI in 29 games. No. 2 -- Second baseman Felix Escalona was third in the league in hits (155), first in extra-base hits (60) and third in runs (92). No. 3 -- Topolski Cleanup -- Right fielder Mike Hill took his average from .267 on July 19 to .305 by season's end. No. 5 -- Third baseman Ramon German was second in the league in RBI (93) and fifth in extra-base hits (53). He really turned on the gas for the post-season, leading all batters at .625. No. 6 -- John Buck, the Astros' projected catcher of the future, was third on the team with a .483 slugging percentage, and second in home runs with 22. No. 7 -- Before missing most of June with an injured wrist, Brian Schmitt was a solid .265-.270 hitter. After coming back, though, he struggled. Of the Legends' starters, the first baseman had the team's lowest batting average (.242), on-base percentage (.314) and slugging percentage (.388). No. 8 -- A rotation of two primary designated hitters -- Paul Lockhart (.264 in the position), Mickey McKee (.290) -- got the job done. No. 9 -- Before being shipped to Class AA, shortstop Tommy Whiteman batted .319.
Season wrap-up
Copyright by SportsTicker, Fish Pier, West #1, Boston, MA. 02210 (617) 951-1379
LEXINGTON LEGENDS Individual Statistics Final Unofficial -- 2001 W-L Record: 92- 48
PLAYER AVG G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB CS SLG OBP E
Buck, John,C .275 122 443 72 122 24 1 22 73 37 84 4 9 .483 .345 6
Escalona, Felix,2B .289 130 536 92 155 42 2 16 64 30 85 46 12 .465 .342 23
Fatheree, Danny,C .230 21 61 8 14 3 0 1 9 7 13 0 0 .328 .319 1
#German, Ramon,3B .265 129 461 72 122 37 3 13 93 55 107 21 9 .443 .352 16
Hill, Mike,OF .305 119 465 82 142 31 6 12 65 48 102 27 9 .475 .381 5
Joyce, Jesse,DH .113 18 53 12 6 1 0 2 4 15 16 3 1 .245 .329 0
Lentini, Fehlandt,OF .295 29 122 27 36 11 2 1 21 10 16 10 4 .443 .351 0
#Lockhart, Paul,OF .247 99 320 48 79 17 4 6 40 29 73 3 2 .381 .317 3
Lucas, Matt,C .269 29 67 9 18 8 0 3 8 0 18 0 1 .522 .279 1
McKee, Mickey,1B .269 73 238 35 64 16 4 5 35 21 61 4 3 .433 .333 7
Nelson, Nate,1B .234 19 64 3 15 1 0 0 6 1 10 2 3 .250 .242 3
Rosamond, Mike,OF .266 101 394 62 105 19 3 16 55 37 112 32 13 .452 .336 7
Ruiz, Reinaldo,C .200 3 5 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .200 .200 0
*Schmitt, Brian,1B .242 99 376 51 91 22 3 9 50 31 100 5 8 .388 .314 16
*Topolski, Jon,OF .287 136 550 98 158 27 7 24 96 75 128 28 11 .493 .375 1
Toven, John,2B .257 56 167 34 43 5 0 2 16 8 32 12 5 .323 .304 6
Truitt, Steve,OF .295 28 88 18 26 7 0 3 13 9 26 7 1 .477 .364 1
Whiteman, Tom,SS .319 114 389 58 124 26 8 18 57 34 106 17 13 .566 .380 23
All Others .000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 19
Total-All Batters .275 4799 1321 43 706 1089 104 .346
781 297 153 447 221 .451 138
OPP
PITCHER W-L ERA G GS CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR HB BB SO WP AVG
Dorn, Grant 0- 0 2.05 10 0 0 0 1 22.0 23 6 5 2 1 2 17 2 .274
George, Chris 5- 1 3.88 40 0 0 0 2 51.0 43 26 22 7 2 30 65 9 .216
Jamison, Ryan 4- 2 2.28 9 8 0 0 0 55.1 40 17 14 3 6 9 63 6 .203
Krysa, Jonathan 1- 3 3.68 16 0 0 0 1 29.1 24 13 12 3 3 8 25 5 .226
Middleton, Brian 1- 1 5.30 11 1 0 0 0 18.2 18 13 11 2 0 11 19 1 .250
Nannini, Mike 15- 5 2.70 28 27 4 1 0 190.1 176 70 57 17 6 36 151 7 .246
*Peguero, Darwin 8-10 4.05 34 15 0 0 2 124.1 112 67 56 14 6 37 134 8 .244
Pluta, Tony 12- 4 3.20 26 26 0 0 0 132.1 107 52 47 7 12 86 138 11 .231
Ramirez, Santiago 8- 2 3.63 45 0 0 0 4 79.1 69 35 32 2 3 28 85 8 .237
Roberts, Nick 10- 1 2.95 20 20 3 1 0 137.1 118 49 45 10 4 21 128 3 .232
Rosario, Rodrigo 13- 4 2.14 30 21 1 0 2 147.0 105 46 35 8 10 36 131 3 .198
Saarloos, Kirk 1- 1 1.17 22 0 0 0 11 30.2 18 5 4 1 1 7 40 2 .165
Santillan, Manny 6- 5 3.54 38 7 0 0 1 96.2 83 43 38 4 6 43 90 7 .237
Stanford, Derek 0- 2 6.94 3 3 0 0 0 11.2 9 9 9 2 1 7 5 0 .231
Stiehl, Rob 2- 3 1.98 14 12 0 0 0 50.0 28 17 11 2 2 34 59 5 .164
*Tremblay, Max 6- 4 4.14 48 0 0 0 4 67.1 74 37 31 9 3 29 84 7 .275
All Others 0- 0 0.00 1 0 0 0 0 2.0 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 .250
Total-All Pitchers 92 3.10 140 15 1245.1 505 93 424 84
48 8 28 1049 429 66 1235 .230
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