Relaxed Scrappers rolled

TROY, N.Y. -- Corks popped Monday night at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium, and upstate New York air smelled like sweet champagne. The Mahoning Valley Scrappers had become New York-Penn League champions.
Like giddy Little Leaguers who crave postgame ice cream, Mahoning Valley players showered one another with champagne and beer, drenched their coach with water and partied into the night.
After sweeping Tri-City in the best-of-3 series and accepting the league's championship trophy from president Ben Hayes, the Scrappers never stopped laughing, chanting and shouting.
Their season was complete.
Road loss motivates teamdown the stretch
Manager Mike Sarbaugh wasn't sure how his club would close the season after an unsettling road loss in Oneonta, N.Y., in early August. The Scrappers (42-34) had slipped, losing a late lead, a 5-4 game and much of their morale.
After that loss, Sarbaugh began to see change.
"They came together and rolled with it," said Sarbaugh, whose team proceeded to win 20 of its last 27 regular season games to clinch a playoff berth.
With first-year players feeling the fatigue of a long combined college and professional season and many of them simply wanting to return home, they changed their outlook.
"The more we let go and relaxed and weren't concerned with it, we played better baseball," pitcher Justin Hoyman said.
With no worries or expectations, the Scrappers played care-free baseball, sneaking into the playoffs and then stunning the league and themselves with four straight wins to capture the championship.
"We went out and played every day like we had nothing to lose," shortstop Brian Finegan said. "We rolled right through, got hot at the right time and that's the key to baseball."
It didn't matter that Auburn had the league's best record or its top offense. The Scrappers dismissed the Doubledays in two games.
It didn't matter that Tri-City's team was well-balanced, with the league's best hitter (Ben Zobrist) and slugger (Mario Garza) and three pitchers who ranked 1-2-3 in wins. The Scrappers dismissed the ValleyCats in two games.
Burning question begs to be asked
So how did all of this happen, especially on a team with no superstars?
On the mound, pitchers Chris Niesel and Dan Cevette set the tone early in the season, and when they were promoted in the Cleveland Indians organization, others were forced to fill the void.
Aaron Laffey, Tony Sipp and Hoyman stabilized the Scrappers' starting rotation, and the bullpen, anchored by Mark Harris and Matt Knox, held up in critical situations.
The offense's trademark was balance: from Argenis Reyes' impact as the Scrappers' speedy leadoff batter -- who happened to set the team's single-season record for hits with 101 -- to Fernando Pacheco's improvement in the No. 8 batting position.
Chris Gimenez had a propensity for power (10 home runs) and getting hit -- he set the league's single-season record for hit-by-pitches (24).
Mike Butia was consistently among the league leaders in batting (.315), and he finished the season by playing through a nagging groin injury.
The Scrappers probably expected Brett Parker and Brian Finegan to shore up the middle infield more than produce at the plate, but they came through with clutch at-bats down the stretch.
Parker drove home the winning runs in the opening playoff games against Auburn (eighth-inning triple) and Tri-City (ninth-inning single).
Teo Encarnacion, the No. 9 batter who struggled for much of the season, even jump-started Mahoning Valley in the deciding game Monday by doubling and later scoring the first run on Finegan's sacrifice fly.
Mahoning Valley teams of 1999 and 2000, which both reached the league championship series before losing in three games, probably had more individual talent -- catcher Victor Martinez (Indians), pitcher Brian Tallet (Indians), outfielder Ryan Church (Expos) and infielder Hector Luna (Cardinals) are all in the big leagues.
But the 2004 Scrappers revealed the true concept of team, timing and taking advantage of opportunity -- a true underdog story.
XBrian Richesson is a sports writer for The Vindicator. Write to him at richesson@vindy.com.