Almost five years to the day after playing his last Major League Baseball game with the New York Yankees, Roberto Kelly made his managerial debut against the Yankees' low Class A affiliate, the Charleston (S.C.) RiverDogs.
Kelly's Augusta GreenJackets - affiliate of the San Francisco Giants - lost the first two games of the series before getting the two-time All-Star his first win April 9. The GreenJackets won nine of their next 10 games and held on with Charleston's prospect-laden team until the last day of the first half of the season, when the RiverDogs clinched the South Atlantic League Southern Division.
The GreenJackets remained in contention for the second-half title until the Kannapolis Intimidators clinched with two games to go in the season. Augusta (77-54) finished behind only Charleston (80-58) for the best overall record in the Southern Division.
"If you look at the numbers, yeah, the season wasn't bad," Kelly said. "But personally, I think we had a team that we could have done a whole lot more with. ... I'm a little disappointed in us not making the playoffs, because we've got nobody else to blame but ourselves."
A seven-game winning streak from Aug. 9 through Aug. 16 pulled the GreenJackets to within a half-game of first place. But a subsequent five-game skid and eight losses in 10 games doomed the GreenJackets' chances at a playoff spot.
"Roberto told us, 'Every game you win now is one you don't have to win later,' " third baseman Simon Klink said. "We kind of went about it the wrong way and left it in Kannapolis' hands."
Right fielder Brian Horwitz ignited a last-ditch spark with a hot bat to start a five-game winning streak Aug. 28. But when Kannapolis held on for a 7-6 win at Greensboro, Augusta was finished.
The result wasn't what Kelly was looking for, but the GreenJackets certainly provided some highlights along the way. Horwitz, shortstop Marcus Sanders, left-handed starter Jonathan Sanchez and right-handed closer Brian Wilson made the Southern Division midseason All-Star team, and Horwitz and Sanders also made the postseason team.
Horwitz hit .613 in his final eight games to win the batting title and set a team record with a .349 average. Jonathan Sanchez struck out eight batters in his final 5 1/3 innings to edge Delmarva's Kevin Hart by two strikeouts for the league lead at 166.
Sanders led the minor leagues in steals for most of the first half and finished second in the Sally League with 57. He hit .300, was named to the Futures Game and was chosen the best base runner and fastest base runner by league managers in Baseball America's best tools survey.
The Giants promoted Horwitz, Sanchez and catcher Nick Conte to high A San Jose for the California League playoffs, and Horwitz, Sanders, Sanchez, Klink, right-hander Craig Whitaker, outfielder Jon Armitage and catcher Greg McCarthy were all selected to go to instructional ball.
Reach Kristy Shonka at (706) 823-3216 or kristy.shonka@augustachronicle.com.
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