Silber applauds team's success

Art Silber latched his belt and slipped a blue ball cap on, completing the final touches of his Potomac Nationals No. 42 uniform.

He was ready to talk to the team, give them one final "go get 'em," before facing Myrtle Beach in game three of the Mills Cup Finals Thursday night at Pfitzner Stadium.

Though most will say it's just minor league baseball or that an A-ball championship series doesn't mean much, Silber knows this could be the chance of a lifetime for many of the P-Nats.

"I'm going to talk to the players. It's not a pep talk -- they're professionals," the Potomac owner said, acknowledging he doesn't need to motivate these athletes. "Everybody in life gets to a certain maximum level where they win their own particular championship in whatever they do.

"Some of these players, like (manager) Randy Knorr, may be on a team that wins a World Series," Silber continued. "Some of these guys are going to make it to the major leagues -- most aren't. For many of these guys this is going to be the biggest championship that they have the opportunity to win. I don't know that they all realize that."

Whether they do or don't, there is no denying what has happened with the Potomac club has been special. A nearly wire-to-wire season in first place (the Nationals spent just two days out of first since April 10 and had a 91-day stretch of owning the top spot during the season) is made even more impressive with the fact that Potomac has dealt with continual roster turnover as successes and necessity had P-Nats constantly earning promotions to Double-A Harrisburg or beyond all year.

The only constants have been the coaching staff, a stabilizing force that has kept the club on track no matter who was on the roster through a franchise record 67 different players (including nine major leaguers in rehab assignments).

"That starts with the manager," Silber said. "Randy Knorr has just done an extraordinary job and Randy Tomlin has been outstanding in terms of getting consistent pitching and working with some of the guys."

The pitching has been impressive this year even after surprises Jordan Zimmermann, Cory VanAllen and Craig Stammen were moved up. It seemed whoever was placed in the care of Tomlin thrived.

Some have been returning from surgery (Luis Atilano), others promoted from Low-A Hagerstown (Jack Spradlin) and there was one highly-touted prospect (Ross Detwiler).

Atilano was 5-2 with a 2.32 ERA coming off Tommy John surgery and has been practically unhittable in the postseason with a 1-0 record and no runs allowed in 11 innings.

Spradlin improved on his numbers at Hagerstown (0-1, 7.11) going 5-1 with a 3.16 ERA.

Detwiler has shown marked improvement from the early part of the season when he looked less like the No. 2 prospect in Washington's organization and more like an expensive bust. The lanky left-hander, who started the decisive game three in the Northern Division Series and last night's contest, has been even harder to hit than Atilano in the playoffs. Against Wilmington Detwiler gave up just two hits over five and a third innings while striking out four.

"There's a huge difference between Advanced-A and Low-A," Silber said. "With some of these younger guys coming up, they've made a terrific adjustment. It's probably a little more difficult for the hitters. But the Randys and Jerry (Browne) have really done a terrific job."

The atmosphere surrounding the Washington organization seems to be changing with the system slowly improving. The goal general manager Jim Bowden had when he joined the club is creeping closer, building a championship major league team through the draft and minors.

In fact, nine players who once called Pfitzner Stadium home are currently on the Washington 40-man roster, including pitchers John Lannan, Garrett Mock, Charlie Manning, Mike Hinckley, Collin Balester and tonight's starter versus the Marlins, Shairon Martis. Catcher Luke Montz, outfielder Roger Bernadina and utility man Kory Casto round out the group.

But it seemed no matter who Potomac put on the field, it was a winning combination.

"I knew that we had an incredibly good team at the beginning of the season, especially the start(ing pitchers)," Silber said. "This is really a credit to the Washington Nationals. The lower levels of their minor league system are very strong."