The Slammers’ regular-season finale Sunday was Fan Appreciation Night at Silver Cross Field, a chance for the playoff-bound team to reward its fans with giveaways.
Manager Jeff Isom doesn’t appreciate that the reward for winning a Frontier League division title this year is to start the postseason on the road.
The Slammers will have three straight home games if the best-of-five first-round series against Evansville goes the distance, but their first two games Tuesday and Wednesday are on the road.
“That’s home-field advantage, we go play two on the road,” Isom said. “They say, ‘Well, you get three games at home.’ I don’t see that as an advantage. It’s a tough situation. If we can win one out of two down there, that’d be great. If we get both, that’s awesome.
“It’s not an easy task. I don’t think it’s fair, but I understand from the owners’ standpoint and league standpoint. You’ve got that extra travel day in between, it costs more money. It is what it is. Bottom line is, we’ve just got to win.”
The Slammers won the East Division in 2011 and their best-of-five first-round series started with two home games before two road games. Not this year.
“That’s kind of weird, but we get to finish it at home, the final three,” second baseman Carter Bell said. “I guess it’s cheaper with the travel.”
Joliet won four of six against Evansville this season, including a three-game sweep in late July at Silver Cross Field.
League pitcher of the year Liam O’Sullivan (11-1, 3.33 ERA) will be on the mound in Tuesday’s opener and Sean Townsley (7-8, 3.75) will pitch Wednesday. Both started a team-high 18 games and were first and third on the Slammers in wins.
“It may sound cliche when I say it’s just another game coming up,” O’Sullivan said. “But you prepare yourself each week for a start. You go out there and give the team a chance to win. That’s what my job is as a starting pitcher.
“The more I can do that, the better opportunity we have to win. I’m just going to get ready to throw on Tuesday and do what I need to do to be ready for Evansville.”
It doesn’t matter to the 6-foot-7 Townsley, who played in the Marlins’ organization last year, that his first playoff outing will be on the road.
“No, Evansville is a nice park,” Townsley said. “I got to pitch there and I enjoyed it. Home or away, it’s fine.
“I know they have some guys who are quick on the base paths. They want to take bases, just like anybody else. They have some guys with some pretty good numbers.”
Evansville’s Josh Allen (.356) is the league’s No. 2 hitter and Rolando Gomez and Allen rank third (33) and fourth (29) in stolen bases.
Joliet’s .276 batting average is second in the league and Evansville (.270) ranks fifth. Bell, who leads the Slammers in batting (.312) and RBIs (73), is confident in his team’s chances at Evansville.
“We can take one game and come back,” Bell said. “We’ve got the best home-field advantage in the league. With the way our offense can roll and the way this park plays, we like it.”
Catcher/outfielder Casey Fletcher, who has raised his average to .287, feels the same way
“We want to get rings,” Fletcher said. “We want to win the championship. I don’t think anyone wants to go home yet. We’re ready to keep playing as long as possible.”
Tim Tierney is a freelance writer for the Daily Southtown.
