Historic deed fires up Fish By Paul Wiecek

That is precisely how many times the Winnipeg Goldeyes have turned a triple-play in franchise history -- until Friday night.

The Goldeyes infield authored one of baseball's rarest feats in the second inning of Game 3 of their opening-round Northern League playoff series with the Fargo RedHawks en route to a decisive 5-0 victory and a 2-1 lead in their best-of-five series.

"I don't know how many games I've seen in my 19 years of pro ball," said Fish manager Rick Forney, "and that's the first triple-play I've seen. And it couldn't have come at a better time.

"That was a must-win for us. We didn't want Fargo to build any more momentum. And the guys delivered. I haven't seen a game like that in the Northern League in a long time."

Indeed, after a heartbreaking loss in Fargo in Game 2 Thursday night, the Goldeyes desperately needed a win in Game 3 to get their championship hopes back on track. They jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but Fargo was threatening in the second inning with runners at first and second and no outs.

And that set the stage for some history. For posterity, the triple-play went 5-4-3 -- third baseman Vince Harrison spearing a grounder off the bat of Fargo's Ruben Salazar, tagging (more or less) DH Nic Jackson running by, throwing to second baseman Josh Asanovich who touched second to put out Fargo's Mike Coles and then throwing to first baseman Cody Ehlers to get Salazar for the third and final put-out.

Almost lost amidst the triple-play was another piece of history last night -- the best outing, by his own admission, in the history of right-hander Andrew Cruse's career.

"I don't ever remember pitching that well," said Cruse, who recorded a complete-game four-hit shutout. "That's got to be the best I've pitched in pro ball."

Simple game, this baseball. When it's played right. And the Goldeyes did a lot of that on a night that saw them not only defeat the RedHawks, but do it with such ruthless efficiency of pitching, defence and long ball that they maybe also smothered the spirit of a Fargo team that is still playing today only because of a fluke error Thursday night that snatched a Goldeyes defeat from what was certain victory.

Take away Fish closer Chris Homer's bad throw to first in the 10th inning of Game 2 and the Goldeyes would have swept Fargo out of town Friday and would this morning have a ticket to the Northern League Championship Series and be awaiting the winner of the other opening-round series between the Gary SouthShore RailCats and the Kansas City T-Bones. (Gary leads 2-1).

Fargo now not only needs to win both games of this best-of-five series in Winnipeg, they're going to have to win the first one tonight against arguably the most dominant pitcher in the Northern League this season, Winnipeg right-hander Ace Walker.

Walker led the league this season in wins, was second in ERA and comes in off a complete-game victory in his last start against Schaumburg Monday night. Perhaps the only silver lining for Fargo coming into tonight is that Walker had two bad starts against them this regular season and comes into the game with a bloated 13.94 ERA against the Hawks.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

An artisT, on the mound and off it D7

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 5, 2009 D1