July 25: Forney Says Sliding the Difference. Huh? Sliding?

Winnipeg manager Rick Forney considers himself a student of the game. He’s always watching, Always observing the intricacies that separate winning from losing.

After his Goldeyes played an almost-perfect game in a 9-3 win over the Gary SouthShore RailCats on Friday that vaulted the Fish back into first place in the Northern League, Forney considered the elements that gave his team the victory.

1.) He got a great, complete-game pitching performance from Ace Walker.

2.) He got home runs from Brent Metheny and Dee Brown.

3.) He even got a steal of home by Metheny...

Ahh, yes, that thrilling steal of home.

“Isn’t it funny, this game?” asked Forney rhetorically. “Tonight, sliding made the difference.

“We had a number of great slides into second base, especially (Brent) Metheny’s slide that led to a run. Then there was Metheny’s steal of home. That was a super slide. We had all sorts of super slides in that game.

“For us, it was risk-reward baserunning out there and tonight we were rewarded. Amazing isn’t it? Sliding. It really was the difference in that game.”

Even if a fan missed all the other intricate slides during the Goldeyes comeback victory over the RailCats, nobody missed Metheny when he came tearing down the third base line, failed to beat the ball to the plate and then slid around – and actually over – Gary catcher Brett Wallace.

“That was not called from the dugout. That was Brent’s decision on his own,” Forney said. “But it was a good decision. Their pitcher had a pretty high leg kick and even Kevin (West) said that he thought about trying to steal home. Brent saw the leg kick, figured it was probably an off-speed pitch and took off. It was sure exciting.”

For the most part, the entire game was exciting.

Gary picked up two quick runs off Walker – both unearned – in the top of the second inning and it was starting to look like the last time the RailCats were in town, when Gary swept a three-game set.

But Dee Brown homered in the bottom of the second to cut the lead to 2-1 and the Goldeyes started to get their act together.

After Gary’s Mike Massaro homered in the top of the third, the Goldeyes came back with three in the bottom of the third including Metheny’s steal of home plate – the steal that turned out to be the winning run – that gave the Fish a 4-3 lead.

Winnipeg added five more in the seventh, sparked by Metheny’s two-run bomb, as the Fish cruised to their fourth-straight victory, took over sole possession of first place and improved to 35-23 on the season.

“This was just a really good ball game,” said Forney. “We got out of the gates kind of slow and they built that 2-0 lead, but we got it back after Dee’s home run – that was a huge home run – and the guys played really well.

“Brent (Metheny who went two-for-four with two runs scored and three RBI) really looked good tonight and if wasn’t for a few inches here and there – the long fly ball that would have been a home run if it hadn’t gone a few inches foul down the right field line and then the flare he hit later that just missed falling in fair territory – he might have had six or seven RBI.

“I was really pleased with the effort. We’ll just have to go back out on Saturday and do it again.”

The middle game of this important three-game series goes tonight at 6:00 at the downtown ballpark.