2011 Louisville Bats Final Game Notes

• ALL WE DO IS WIN: With a 73-71 record, the Bats secured their sixth consecutive winning season. Louisville’s record over that six year period is 473-387 which is good for a .550 winning percentage. It marks only the third time in the 135 year history of Louisville professional baseball that an organization had sustained a winning season in six straight years. The .550 winning percentage is the 2nd highest winning percentage out of the three occasions. The best stretch in Louisville professional baseball history was when the Louisville Colonels went 9 straight seasons with a winning record from 1913-1921 and had a record of 770-601 which was good for a .562 winning percentage.

• MESORACO NAMED MARY E. BARNEY TEAM MVP: C Devin Mesoraco was named the 2011 Mary E. Barney Team MVP. Mesoraco played in 120 games with Louisville and batted .289 (126-436) with 15 HR and 71 RBI. He led the team in doubles (36), total bases (211), walks (52) and tied for the team lead in hits (126) with Jeremy Hermida. His 36 doubles ranked fourth in the International League and his 53 extra-base hits tied for fifth. He made his ML debut on 9/3 at St. Louis and doubled in his first career at-bat. He set career highs in games played, at-bats, hits, and doubles. He was named to the Triple-A All-Star Game in Salt Lake City, UT and the MLB Futures Game in Phoenix, AZ at the All-Star Break and was then named to the International League Postseason All-Star Team. He entered the 2011 season as the third rated prospect in the Reds’ organization by Baseball America.

• COZART, MESORACO NAMED IL POSTSEASON ALL-STARS: Zack Cozart and Devin Mesoraco were named to the 2011 International League Postseason All-Star Team. Cozart played his last game in the IL on 7/6, but he did enough in his 77 games to earn a slot on the Postseason All-Star Team. Cozart hit .310 with 26 doubles, 7 home runs, 32 RBI and 9 steals before earning a promotion to Cincinnati. The 26-year-old hit .324 for the Reds in 11 games before an elbow injury prematurely ended his season. The last Louisville shortstop on the IL Postseason All-Star Team was Chris Sexton in 2000. Devin Mesoraco, a former 1st round draft pick, hit .289 with 15 home runs and 71 RBI in his first full season at the Triple-A level. Before Mesoraco, Ryan Hanigan in 2008 was the last Bats catcher to make the IL Postseason All-Star Team.

• HERE FOR THE DURATION: The Bats had only six players that were on their roster the entire season (Scott Carroll, Danny Dorn, Jerry Gil, Michael Griffin, Corky Miller, Kristopher Negron). Dorn, Gil and Negron are the only three players to be on the Bats active roster the enitre season as Carroll was placed on the DL (left oblique strain), Miller was placed on the DL (sprained thumb), and Griffin was placed on the temporarily inactive list. The Bats had eight players on their roster on the final game of the season that were also on their opening day roster (Tom Cochran, Chad Reineke). Both, Cochran and Reineke had their contract purchased by CIN during the season. Cochran did not appear in a game, but Reineke went 0-1 with a 6.75 era in two games, one start.

• LOUISVILLE SLUGGERS: The Bats finished the regular season with 146 home runs, which was second most in the IL to Columbus (152). They had five players end the season with 15 or more home runs in Juan Francisco (15), Todd Frazier (15), Devin Mesoraco (15), Jeremy Hermida (17) and Danny Dorn (18). As a team, the Bats ranked first in the IL in total bases (2093), first in doubles (288), tied for first in slugging percentage (.424), second in batting average (.266), second in hits (1,315) and fourth in runs (654).

• DENIS THE MENACE: Since being called up from CAR on 7/23, OF Denis Phipps hit .380 (60-158) with 12 2b, 2 3b, 5hr and 26rbi in 40g for LOU. He had 21 multi-hit games, seven three-hit games and hit safely in all but eight games. Just once did he go two straight games without a hit. He set career highs in doubles and RBIs this season and tied his career high in triples and home runs. At the conclusion of the season, he was named to the Southern League Postseason All-Star team. Phipps, who was batting just .197 with Carolina at the end of May, hit .421 from June 1 until earning a promotion to Triple-A Louisville on July 23rd. He hit .328 in his 82 games with the Mudcats, adding seven home runs and 38 runs batted in.

• ARIZONA FALL LEAGUE: Bats relievers Brad Boxberger, Nick Christiani, Travis Webb will represent the Reds in the 2011 Arizona Fall League along with C Yasmani Grandal. They will all play for the Phoenix Desert Dogs. Boxberger was 1-2 for the Bats with a 2.93 ERA in 25 games. Christiani appeared in 33 games with the Bats and has a 2-3 record with a 5.30 ERA. Both pitchers have set career highs in saves and games pitched this season. Boxberger has 11 saves (CAR-4, LOU-7) in 55 appearances (CAR-30, LOU-25). Christiani has 10 saves (CAR-3, LOU-7) in 53 appearances (CAR-20, LOU-33). Grandal and Webb both received late promotions to LOU after the September call-up. Prior to getting the call to Louisville, Grandal spent time with both Single-A Bakersfield and Double-A Carolina. In 56 g with BAK he batted .296 with 14 2B, 10 HR, and 40 RBI. In 45g with CAR, he batted .301 with 15 2B, 4 HR and 26 RBI. In four games with LOU, Grandal batted .500 with two RBI. Webb appeared in one game with LOU, pitching a scoreless inning. Prior to his promotion, Webb spent the entire season with CAR, pitching in 36 games, five starts, and going 1-7 with a save and a 4.41era.

• MALONEY SETTING RECORDS: LHP Matt Maloney made 13 starts and 14 appearances for the Bats in 2011, going 7-1 with a 2.99 era. He has appeared with LOU in every season since 2007. Maloney is the Louisville franchise leader (dating back to 1982) in wins (39), strikeouts (435), innings pitched (516.1), games started (86) and hits allowed (505). Overall, he has appeared in 88 games (2007-2011) with the Bats and has a 39-23 record with a 3.57 era (516.1ip, 205er). He has walked 97 and struck out 384 (3.96-to-1 K/BB ratio).

• ATTENDANCE: Louisville finished the 2011 season second in all of Minor League baseball with 8,716 fans per game, trailing only Lehigh Valley (9,249). With a total attendance of 601,372 fans in 2011, the Bats join the Sacramento RiverCats as the only Triple-A franchises to draw at least 600,000 fans every season since 2,000.

• BATS WIN BASEBALL AMERICA’S BOB FREITAS AWARD: At the 2010 Baseball Winter Meetings, Baseball America announced that the Louisville Bats franchise had been awarded the 2010 Bob Freitas “Organization of the Year” Award for the Triple-A level for their successful 2010 season and continued contribution to Minor League Baseball. The Freitas Award is named in honor of longtime Minor League Ambassador Bob Freitas and is awarded to franchises that are “on a path of long-term excellence and true parts of their communities.” This marks the second time Louisville has won this prestigious award, the first time being in 1999.

• WALK-OFF HOME RUNS: The Bats had three walk-off home runs in 2011. Devin Mesoraco hit his 2nd career Triple-A walk-off home run on 4/12 vs. COL in the bottom of the 8th inning in game 2 of a double header at Louisville Slugger Field. His other was a walk-off grand slam 8/18/2010 vs. Syracuse (First career Triple-A home run). Brian Barton’s 2-run walk-off home run in the 13th inning on 4/17 vs. IND gave the Bats a 6-4 win over the Indians. On 6/4 vs. COL, OF Brent Clevlen’s 2-run home run in the eighth inning gave the Bats a 5-3 lead and his solo shot in the bottom of the tenth gave them a 6-5 win.

• EIGHT STRAIGHT: After losing their opener, the Bats won eight straight. The eight-game winning streak tied for their longest winning streak of the 2011 season. They also won eight straight from 5/30 to 6/6. Louisville started the season 8-1 for the first time since 1998 when the Louisville Redbirds started the year off 9-1. That Redbird team lost their next three to fall to 9-4 and then after winning two straight, they lost nine consecutive games to fall to 11-13. They did however regroup and ended up winning the IL West with a 77-67 record. In 2010 the Bats had just two winning streaks that equaled or exceeded eight games and they both came during a stretch from 7/22 to 8/12 that saw the Bats win 19 of 20 games. From 7/22 to 8/3 they won 11 straight, falling one game short of a franchise-best 12-game streak that occurred from 5/18 to 5/30 in 2003. After falling 9-8 at COL on 8/4 they went on to reel off an 8-game winning streak from 8/5 to 8/12.

• CLIPPERS PUT UP 19 RUNS: On 4/21 at COL the Bats fell to the Columbus Clippers, 19-3. The 19 runs given up by a Bats team was the most since they lost 19-3 at Columbus on 4/30/99. The franchise record for most runs given up in a game is 21 and that took place on 8/27/98 when the Redbirds fell 21-6 at Columbus. The 19 runs allowed is the most ever for a Louisville Bats team managed by Rick Sweet. The previous high was 16 in Sweet’s first season with the Bats when they lost 16-8 on 5/14/05 at Richmond. A season ago, the Bats gave up double digit runs just three times (13-4 L 5/14 at ROC, 10-7 L 6/2 at COL, 12-4 L 8/13 at COL). Just 15 games into the 2011 season and the Bats already gave up three double digit run games (11-6 L 4/7 vs. TOL, 10-4 L 4/18 vs. IND, 19-3 L 4/21 at COL). The Bats allowed double digit runs in nine games in 2011.

• APRIL KINDNESS: The Bats went 16-7 in the month of April tying the record for the most wins in April since 1982. They also won 16 games in 2008 (16-11) and that is the only two times it has happened. In the month of April they batted .266 (203-764) with 120 runs (5.21rpg) and hit 27 home runs. Their pitching staff compiled a 3.70 era. In 2010, Louisville went 7-15.

• THE COZ-ART OF HITTING: Bats SS Zack Cozart was 5-for-5 with a home run and four doubles on 4/30 vs. NOR. The five hits were a career high, beating his previous mark of four on 8/21/2008 as a member of the Dayton Dragons. The four doubles were also a career high (3, 4/11/2010) and set a new Louisville franchise record (3, 17x, Francisco 5/3/2010). Cozart’s average jumped from .179 to .225 in one game.

• START OFF RIGHT: A big reason why the Bats got off to a 16-7 start was their starting pitching. Through 23 games, Bats starters went 11-2 with a 2.98era. The staff was led by LHP Dontrelle Willis who went 2-0 with a 1.13era in 4 starts and RHP Chad Reineke who went 3-0 with a 2.10era. Even more impressive was that the rotation was able to perform at this level while using 8 different starters in their first 23 games. In 2010 the team used 18 different starters including pitchers on rehab from Cincinnati. The Bats used 15 different starters throughout the 2011 season.

• TOUCHDOWN IN THE FIRST: The Bats jumped out to a 7-0 lead after one inning on 5/13 vs. BUF. The seven run inning tied for the largest inning of the season for the Bats. They also had 7 runs in the 2nd inning on 7/29 vs. ROC. The seven runs in the first inning on 5/13 marked the first time in the history of Louisville Slugger Field that the Bats had scored seven runs in the first inning and it was the first time since 4/10/1999 against COL.

• THE HIT KINGS: Louisville knocked a season-high 19 hits against DUR on 5/17, eclipsing the previous season high which was 18 on 5/13 vs. BUF. The 2010 season high for hits was 24 on 5/3/2010 at BUF.

• MULTI-HIT MONSTERS: From 5/11-5/21, the Bats had at least three players record a multi-hit game in ten of eleven games. Twice they have had four players record multi-hits and another two times they have had five players record multi-hits. On 5/13 vs. BUF, they had six players record multi-hits. During the stretch, Zack Cozart, Yonder Alonso, Todd Frazier and Juan Francisco led the team with six multi-hit games, Danny Dorn had five, Jeremy Hermida had four and Devin Mesoraco had three. Mesoraco had a 5-hit game on 5/17 at DUR and a 4-hit game on 5/13. Overall, the Bats hit .319 (129-405) during the stretch and scored 76 runs, good for 6.90 per game. The Bats went 6-5 during the stretch.

• THE JUAN FRANCISCO TREAT: Juan Francisco hit safely in his first 17 games this season with LOU. Dating back to 2010, he had a 19-game hitting streak which was the longest this season by a Bats player and is the third longest streak in franchise history. Over the 19-game streak, Francisco hit .361 (30-83) with 3hr and 12rbi. The 19-game hitting streak is a career high. The previous long was when he had a 14-game hitting streak last season with LOU from 5/2-6/21.

• SWEEPSVILLE: The Bats swept their first four-game series of the 2011 season on 5/30-6/2 vs. SYR. It was their first four-game series sweep since 8/9-8/12 of last season when they swept four straight on the road at TOL. The last time the Bats swept a four-game series at home was 8/5-8/8 of last season vs. NOR. This was the first four-game series sweep over SYR since 5/26-5/29 in 2005 at Louisville Slugger Field. The four game sweep started a stretch were the Bats won eight straight games for the second time on the season.

• MAY SOURS: The Bats finished May with a 13-16 clip, marking their first losing May since the 2009 ballclub went 12-19.

• BATS REACH A SEASON-HIGH 12 GAMES OVER .500: On 6/7 the Bats were 36-24 and a season-high 12 games over .500. From that point on Louisville would go just 37-47 in their remaining games. Last year they did not reach twelve games over until 8/7 at 63-51. That was in the midst of a streak that saw the Bats win 19 of 20. They were 49-50 on 7/21 and were 68-51 on 8/12. Last year Louisville did not win their 36th game until 6/28 (36-42).

• ZO’CO N’ LIME: From 5/19 to 6/11 SS Zack Cozart had a 17-game hitting streak, which dated back prior to him going on the DL with a sprained ankle on 5/27. Since returning to the lineup on 6/1 he batted .490 (25-51) with 5 2B, 3B, 2 HR and 11 RBI. Cozart’s 17-game hitting streak is a career high. The last time he had a streak of 13 games was (5/28/09-6/09/09 with Carolina). From 5/29 to 6/11 OF Yonder Alonso had a 15-game hitting streak. Alonso hit .356 (16-45) with 3hr and 11rbi in the month of June. The longest hitting streak of his career was 16 games from 4/27/09 – 5/16/09 while with Sarasota. On 6/11 Cozart had 76 hits which ranked second in the IL and Alonso was right behind him with 75 which was good for third.

• COZART WITH FOUR LEADOFF HOME RUNS: Bats SS Zack Cozart hit his fourth leadoff home run of the season on 6/16 vs. TOL. It also marked his 50th career minor league home run. The four lead-off home runs in one season is a new Louisville franchise record dating back to 1989. The previous record was 3, done two times by Kimera Bartee in 2000 and Tony Diggs in 1996. His four career lead-off home runs is good for the second most in franchise history. Terry Bradshaw hit six lead-off home runs as a Redbird, two each in 1994, 1996 and 1997.

• AT THE MIDWAY POINT: At 41-31, they were ten games over .500 at the midway point for the first time since 2008 when they were also 41-31. They trailed the division by 7.5 games which was their third biggest deficit at the midway point since 2000. In 2005 they trailed by 9.5 games and they trailed by 9.0 games last season. Although they trailed by 9.0 games in the division at the midway point in 2010, the Bats came back to win the division by 0.5 games on the final day of the season. Since 2000, their average record at the midway point has been 38-34.

• BACK-TO-BACK #BATSBLASTS: The Bats hit back-to-back home runs just twice this season and they came on back-to-back nights in Toledo. On 6/24 vs. TOL, Yonder Alonso and Todd Frazier became the first pair of Bats players to hit back-to-back home runs in 2011. Then on 6/25 Juan Francisco and Danny Dorn did it again in the fifth inning. In 2010, the Bats hit three pairs on back-to-back home runs. Frazier was a part of one of those last season (5/23 vs. SWB with Wilkin Castillo).

• INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE ALL-STARS: On 6/30 the International League All-Star team was announced. OF Yonder Alonso, C Devin Mesoraco, SS Zack Cozart and OF Jeremy Hermida were all selected to play in the game on July 12th. The four players selected ties the franchise mark for players to represent the Louisville franchise in an All-Star game with the last being in 1994 when LHP Steve Dixon, RHP Gary Buckles, INF Allen Battle and INF Scott Collbaugh were chosen to the team. This is the third time since 1988 that four players have been chosen to the All-Star team (1993, 1994). Louisville has been represented by four players and staff combined one time (2008, Adkins, Hanigan, Sweet – Coach, Lapole – Trainer). In 2002, Louisville was represented by a franchise record five members of the staff/roster (Raul Gonzalez, Brandon Larson, Kevin Witt, Dave Miley – mgr and John Young – trainer). It marked Alonso’s 2nd career minor league All-Star Game selection, Hermida’s second, Cozart’s third and Mesoraco’s first respectively. On 7/13 the International League All-Star team defeated the Pacific Coast League team 3-0. Three members of the IL team were representatives from the Bats. Devin Mesoraco started the game at C of the IL and went 1-for-2. Jeremy Hermida started for the IL in RF and went 1-for-3. Yonder Alonso had a plate appearance off the bench and drew a walk. Zack Cozart was also elected to the IL All-Star team but did not participate due to his 7/7 call up by the Cincinnati Reds.

• ALONSO & MESORACO COMPETE IN FUTURES GAME: OF Yonder Alonso and C Devin Mesoraco were named to the MLB Futures Game which was played in Phoenix, AZ prior to the MLB All-Star Game. It marked the second consecutive appearance in the game for Alonso.

• HEY JUNE: In the month of June, the Bats had a .500 record by going 15-15. They hit .266 as a team in the month and their pitching staff has an ERA of 3.73. Devin Mesoraco and Zack Cozart led the way in the month. Mesoraco hit .317 in the month with 3hr and 21rbi. Cozart hit .377 with 3hr and 14rbi.

• MR. 700: Bats C Corky Miller notched his 700th career minor league hit on 7/23 vs. CHA. He did so in style by launching his third home run of the season to left-field for the hit. Miller has played in 904 career games in the minor leagues over his 14 year career. On 7/28 vs. ROC Miller smacked a double to left, tying him with Bill Lyons for third in franchise history for most doubles in a career (82). He ranks 6 doubles behind Gene Roof for 2nd all-time in franchise history with 88. The franchise leader is Kevin Barker with 97.

• JULY WAS NOT SO FLY: The Bats closed out July with three straight wins to finish with a 14-14 record. As a team they batted .248 (242-975) with 17 HR and 110 runs scored. Their .248 average was .18 points lower than their previous low, which was April and June when they batted .266. The 17 HR were by far a season low and less than half of what they hit in June, when they connected on 35 #BatsBlasts. The previous low was 27 in April. 110 runs are also a season low. The previous low was 120 in April. Their team ERA was 3.71, which is right around where they have been all season except for May when it reached 4.53 (April – 3.70; June – 3.73).

• VOLQUEZ GOES COMPLETE: Edinson Volquez’s (W, 9.0ip, 5h, 2er, 9k) complete game on 7/22 vs. CHA was the first for the Bats since Sam LeCure threw a complete game one-hit shutout on 5/22/10 vs. SWB (W, 9.0ip, 1h, 0er, 2bb-5k). It was the third of Volquez’s career, just his second 9.0 inning CG, and his other two CG’s came in 2005 while in the Texas organization. He did it with Bakersfield on 4/17/05 vs. VIS (W, 7.0ip, 5h, 2er, 3bb, 4k) and with Frisco on 6/16/05 at COR (W, 9.0ip, 3h, 0er, 2bb, 7k).

• PHIPPS NAMED REDS MINOR LEAGUE PLAYER OF MONTH FOR JULY: Bats OF Denis Phipps was named the Reds organization player of the month for the month of July. In 27 games split between Louisville and Carolina, Phipps batted .400 (46-for-115) with 6 HR and 28 RBI and 25 runs scored.

• SAC FLY GUYS: In the Bats’ 5-2 win over the Clippers on 8/9, the Bats’ first four runs were scored on sacrifice flies (Kristopher Negron 2, Chris Valaika, Danny Dorn). Four sacrfice flies in a single game is the most in Rick Sweet’s tenure as manager. The Bats did have three sac flies twice under Sweet, the last of which occurred on 5/14/08 vs. SWB (Andy Phillips, Jolbert Cabrera, Alvin Colina) . Negron recorded two RBI on sac flies. The last time a Bat recorded 2 sac flies in a game was Michael Griffin on 8/19/09 vs. IND.

• NEGRON WITH INSIDE-THE-PARK HOME RUN: Bats IF Kristopher Negron hit the only inside-the-park home run of the season for the Bats in a 6-4 loss at TOL on 8/10. It was the first inside-the-park home run since 7/30 of last season when Wilkin Castillo accomplished the feat vs. CHA. Negron’s homer was the sixth of its kind by a Bats player since 2001. The last time a Bats player hit an inside-the-park home run on the road was when Chris Heisey did so on 8/21/09 at IND.

• BACK TO .500: On 8/13, at 61-61, the Bats fell to .500 for the first time since the second day of the season on 4/8 when they were 1-1. Since they were a season high 12 games over .500 on 6/7 at 36-24 the Bats went 25-37 in their last 62 games. On 6/7 the Bats were 2.0 games behind COL in 2nd place in the IL West and entered play on 8/14 16.0 games out and in third place. Louisville did not fall below .500 in August. If they would have it would have marked the first time that the Bats were below .500 in August since they were 68-69 on 8/27/07.

• FOUR #BATSBLASTS IN ONE GAME: The Bats blasted four home runs on 8/17 against IND. It was the first time this season Louisville hit at least four home runs in one game. Just six games later, on 8/23 vs. TOL, the Bats tied their season high with another four home run game . In 2010, the Bats high mark was 5, which was done on 7/20/10 at CHA.

• STARTERS CAN’T GET A WIN: From 7/8 to 8/16, Bats starting pitchers recorded just four wins. The only four wins were Matt Maloney on 8/9, Daryl Thompson on 7/31, Travis Wood on 7/30 and Edinson Volquez on 7/22.

• JUAN FRANCISCO NAMED IL PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Bats IF Juan Francisco was named the IL Player of the Week for the 8/15-8/22 week. In that time he ranked first in the IL in Slugging (.958) and tied the IL high with 3 HR, 10 RBI and 12 hits. He was also second in the league with a .500 batting average and 3rd with a .520 on-base percentage. On 8/15 vs. IND, Francisco went 3-for-4 for his first of four multi-hit games during the week. The highlight of his week was on 8/20 at TOL when he went 3-for-5 with a 2B, HR and 5 RBI. It was the first time he has recorded 5 RBI in a game since he did so on 7/15/10 vs. LHV (2-for-4, HR, 5RBI).

• AUGUST WOES: With a 13-17 record in August it marked their first losing August since they went 11-18 in 2005. From 2002 to 2005 the Bats had four consecutive losing Augusts. The Bats batted .258 as a team in August and scored 126 runs. The pitching staff posted a 4.12 ERA in the month. Contrary to their record, Juan Francisco (.330), Jeremy Hermida (.356), Denis Phipps (.373) and Chris Valaika (.333) all had strong offensive months.

• THE DORN SURPREMACY: Bats IF/OF Danny Dorn sits third on the Louisville franchise all-time leaderboard for home runs in a career with 45 long balls. On 9/3 Dorn smacked his 75th double in a Bats uniform which is good for seventh all-time. He is only one double away from tying Aaron Holbert and Jack Ayer for sixth on the Louisville All-Time list. That double was also Dorn’s 124th extra base hit as a member of the Bats which is good for 4th best in franchise history. He sits only 6 extra base hits away from moving into a tie for 3rd with Stan Royer.

• EXTRA, EXTRA: The Bats played in 17 extra inning games in 2011. Their record in those games was 9-8. In 2010, the Bats were 3-7 in extra inning games. Prior to this season, the last time the Bats had a winning record in extra inning contests was when the 2006 team went 8-3.

• ONE-RUN GAMES: The Bats played in 49 one-run games in 2011 and their record was 22-29 in those contests. Their .449 winning percentage in those games ranked 10th in the IL. The 49 one-run games were third most in the IL. DUR led with way with 51 (27-24) and TOL was second with 50 (22-28). In 2010, Louisville went 20-19 in one-run contests and the last time they finished a season under .500 in one-run games was in 2007 (22-28). The Bats played 50 one-run games in 2007.

• MONTHLY STRUGGLES: After finishing April with a 16-7 record, the Bats failed to record another winning month in 2011; May (13-16), June (15-15), July (14-14), August (13-17), September (2-2). The last time the Bats had five straight non-winning months was in 2005 when they didn’t have a winning month the entire season and finished 66-78 and fourth in the West.

• WEST LIFE: The Bats finished the season with a 36-28 record against the IL West. They were 12-9, including 9-2 at home, against the IL West Champion Columbus Clippers and finished 12-10 against IND and 12-9 against TOL. They were 15-17 against the IL South and 22-26 against the North.

• THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME: At home the Bats finished the season with a 40-32 record. This marks the Bats’ sixth consecutive winning season at home. The last time they had a losing record at LSF was in 2005, when they went 35-37. They batted .259 with 304 runs (4.22rpg) and a 3.61 era at home.

• ROAD WOES: At 33-39, the Bats did not finish the season over .500 on the road for the first time since 2007 when they went 35-37. They batted .273 with 350 runs (4.86rpg) and a 4.42 era away from LSF.

• SWEET WINS 500th GAME, MANAGES 1,000th IN LOUISVILLE UNIFORM: Rick Sweet became the first manager in Louisville franchise history to reach the 500 win milestone with the Bats 11-5 win at COL on 6/5. With 539 career wins as Bats manager, he is the all-time winningest manager in franchise history. In his 7th season as skipper, Sweet has compiled a 539-465 record through 1,004 games. He managed his 1,000th game in a LOU uniform on 8/31 vs. COL.

• WHAT YOU TALKIN’ BOUT WILLIS?: Former NL Rookie of the Year LHP Dontrelle Willis began the season with LOU and made 13 starts for the Bats in 2011. In those 13 starts, he went 5-2 with a 2.63 era, while walking 20 and striking out 67. He had six quality starts. His contract was selected by CIN on 7/10.

• LIVIN’ HERMIDA LOCA: OF Jeremy Hermida played in 105 games for the Bats in 2011 and led the team in batting average (.319), runs (67), tied for the lead in hits with Devin Mesoraco (126), was second in home runs (17), and third in RBI (56). His .319 batting averaged ranked 3rd in the IL, his OBP of .400 ranked second in the IL, and his slugging %. of .524 ranked third. The 2011 International League All-Star appeared in 10 games in 2011 with the Reds where he batted .111 with one HR and three RBI. He was on an 11 game hitting streak when he was claimed by the San Diego Padres on 8/31. During his streak he was batting .452 (19-42). He had seven multi-hit games with four doubles, one triple, two home runs and eight runs batted in during the streak.

• PROSPECTS APLENTY: During the course of the season the Bats had seven of Baseball America’s top 10 Reds prospects on the team. LHP Aroldis Chapman (#1), C Devin Mesoraco (#3), OF Yonder Alonso (#4), C Yasmani Grandal (#6), IF Juan Francisco (#7), SS Zack Cozart (#8), IF/OF Todd Frazier (#9).

• TRANSACTIONS: Louisville made 159 roster moves in 2011: April (16), May (43), June (31), July (30), August (21), September (18). A total of 61 players appeared with the Bats this season, 28 position players and 31 pitchers. Louisville had ten players sent down from the Reds on Major League Rehab (IF Juan Francisco, OF Chris Heisey, OF Fred Lewis, RHP Jose Arredondo, RHP Homer Bailey, RHP Jared Burton, LHP Aroldis Chapman, RHP Johnny Cueto, RHP Sam LeCure, LHP Matt Maloney).

• MAJOR LEAGUE DEBUTS: Six players who spent time with Louisville in 2011 also made their Major League Debut: SS Zack Cozart, IF/OF Todd Frazier, C Devin Mesoraco, OF Dave Sappelt, LHP Tom Cochran, LHP Jeremy Horst.

Need more? Check out the entire 2011 Louisville Bats Final Game Notes by clicking here.