Columnist Dean Juipe: Memorable season? Not for the 51s

Dean Juipe

Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2003 | 9:41 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4084.

It hardly seemed like the fourth-best year in franchise history. The team was out of its division race by the end of May, it failed to send anyone of note to the major leagues, it closed the season with three consecutive losing months and attendance was mediocre.

Yet ask anyone around Cashman Field how the Las Vegas 51s played this season and the answer varies from "good" to "not bad."

Such is the drawback of being stuck in the same division with a team that appeared, at times, as if it could have played in the major leagues. Sacramento, 92-52 and the dominant team in the Pacific Coast League this season, was that much better than the 51s, who closed their season Monday with a 10-1 victory against the South Division champions.

The 51s end up 76-66, winning more games than all but three of their 20 predecessors. Only in 2002 (85 wins), 1986 (80 wins) and 1983 (83 wins) did Las Vegas win more games than it did this year.

And yet the season seemed so nondescript, so unimportant.

"I'm sure a few of our guys are looking forward to getting home," manager John Shoemaker said as the 51s hit the finish line, his own season being extended by an invitation to join the parent Los Angeles Dodgers in an unofficial capacity for September.

Shoemaker's first -- and only? -- season in Las Vegas was something of a mixed bag. His team was respectable yet dwarfed by Sacramento's great record, and the guys he sent to the Dodgers were often returned to the 51s after they hit the expiration date on their usefulness.

The fans certainly noticed the team's limitations, as the 51s finished 13th in the 16-team league in average attendance per game. Blame the ballpark, its location or the players who comprised the 51s, but the crowd-count numbers weren't good.

"We had high expectations this season," Shoemaker said. "The way I view it, the effort the players gave and the professionalism they showed was a plus.

"But we didn't win enough games. We won some early when we weren't hitting and maybe other teams were making mistakes, and then the season kind of evened out. There were a lot of teams in the league that were on the same level, a lot that were pretty good."

Las Vegas was one of that lot.

The 51s had no individual league leaders, no one who challenged for titles in home runs, RBIs, stolen bases, wins, ERA or any number of lesser categories. There was no one to stoke the fans' interest, no one who captivated attention as a top prospect can do.

What they had was a number of good players but no obviously great ones.

Three years into their relationship with the Dodgers, the 51s have found a willing co-conspirator in their attempt to get a new stadium built in Southern Nevada and have played satisfactory baseball. But the Dodgers raided the 51s before their 2002 playoff run, then, last winter, got rid of a bunch of guys who played on that club and gave the appearance throughout 2003 that they were biding their time in Las Vegas until a better group of prospects arrives here next year.

Perhaps that air of indifference will dissipate by then.

Perhaps the best is yet to come.

Perhaps next season will have the vitality and energy that this one seems to have lacked.