Potomac has moment to savor

By Dave Utnik

Published: September 12, 2008

The sweet smell of champagne filled the air at Pfitzner Stadium Friday night – a joyously pungent aroma of victory that soaked into uniform jerseys and the infield grass.
For the Potomac Nationals this was a moment to savor, not just for one evening or a winter to come, but possibly a lifetime and every player took part in the celebration following an 8-2 triumph over the Myrtle Beach Pelicans. 
A season’s worth of effort culminated last night with a historic Carolina League championship – the first postseason title for any minor league team in the Washington Nationals organization.
“I’ve been here for a couple years now and to be on a winning team feels good,” said outfielder Dee Brown, who started the festivities with a two-run first-inning homer over the center field wall.
“It was fun. We didn’t let it get to us. We just had fun like we have all year,” he said. “We stayed loose and enjoyed it. It’s a time to enjoy.”
It has been 19 years since this Class A franchise last won a league championship. Back then, they were a Yankees affiliate. So for these players, this coaching staff and owner Art Silber this Mills Cup title has a special significance.
“This season has been a dream from beginning to end,” Silber told the crowd as fans leaned over railings and pushed into the first-base gate to get as close to the field as possible. “This is the future of the Washington franchise.”
A trail of discarded bottles led directly to the clubhouse as the celebration gradually moved behind closed doors but before they vanished into the privacy of the locker room, the P-Nats hoisted the long-awaited Mills Cup Trophy into the air and smothered it with a group hug.
With Nationals Director of Player Development Bobby Williams and Carolina League President John Hopkins in attendance, the Nationals concluded a record-setting season that featured 79 regular season wins and a Northern Division pennant in each half.
Potomac, which had not reached the Mills Cup Finals since 1989, lost only once in the playoffs thanks to some dramatic extra inning at-bats and dominating pitching.
In the season finale, Boomer Whiting hit a two-run homer, Brown drove in three runs and starting pitcher Erik Arnesen left the field to a standing ovation after working 6 2/3 innings.
But it was 22-year-old catcher Jhonatan Solano, whose ninth-inning homer set the stage for a 10 inning victory on Thursday, that was named the series Most Valuable Player.
“I feel so excited. This is the first playoff of my career and it’s so exciting,” Solano said. “It’s incredible. I tried doing my best to help my team.”
The P-Nats were the epitome of team this season with players coming and going at a frantic rate. So this accomplishment carried with it some extra meaning.
And that’s why the party lingered. As the final chorus of Kool and the Gang’s Celebration faded into the night, half dressed players ran the bases and slid onto the tarp at home plate – a giddy indication that this Carolina League championship is the beginning of a promise made several years ago to rebuild the minor league system.
From the day they left spring training, the P-Nats were no stranger to drama or intrigue. They spent virtually the entire regular season in first place despite 67 different players appearing in uniform and they became just the third team in club history to win the Mills Cup Championship Series.
The improbable playoff run included a 15-inning victory over Wilmington in the opening game of the Northern Division Championship Series and a pair of 10th-inning triumphs.
Regardless of the circumstances, Potomac found a way to prevail. When the organization’s best young pitchers were summoned to Double A, another group of promising hurlers walked onto the mound and threw strikes. When power hitting first baseman Chris Marrero suffered a season-ending injury, the offense found another way to score runs.
Not even the Pelicans, who had the best overall record of any Carolina League team this season, could prevent the P-Nats from joining the 1982 Alexandria Dukes and the 1989 Prince William Cannons as Carolina League champions. 
“We’ve been sending guys up from Hagerstown and we’ve held the lead all year,” Brown said.
“The whole organization is strong. It’s on the way up.”