By DANA OPPEDISANO
Naples Daily News

FORT MYERS — Mike Veeck would be proud of Riccardo Ingram.

"Fun is Good" is, after all, the Fort Myers Miracle mantra, and the team's
38-year-old first-year skipper had a blast in 2005.

"I tell you what, if you can't enjoy this job, you've got problems," says
Ingram, who managed the Twins' Gulf Coast League affiliate last season after
five
years as a coach in the Minnesota system. "I'm managing, being out on the
field every day and working with young players. It's one of the greatest jobs
you
can have."

It could have easily turned into a long summer for Ingram, who sent
three-fifths of his rotation to Double-A New Britain by the all-star break, with
a pair
of former No. 1 picks -- outfielder Denard Span and first baseman Matt Moses
-- not far behind. In fact, Fort Myers, which welcomed five GCL rookies in the
past month alone, hasn't made this many roster moves since 1994. But in a
testament to Ingram and his staff, the Miracle weren't eliminated from the
Florida State League's postseason race until Friday.

Only eight players on the roster for Sunday's season finale, a 1-0 loss to
Sarasota, were on the team to start the year, and while most of them admit you
can't help but notice the revolving door, it hasn't been the team-breaker that
tends to cripple most young clubs in the second half.

"At the beginning of the year we had a really good team, and if we could have
kept most of those guys together we'd probably be right there at the top,"
says first baseman Brock Peterson, who hit .250 with 12 homers this season and
had a 16-game hitting streak in July. "The guys that have come in have picked
up the slack and really played well, though. That (says) a good deal about
(Ingram), that we had a chance to make the playoffs until three days ago, with
how
young we are."

Ingram says that, ultimately, his primary focus is still on grooming
fresh-faced prospects into future Twins, but says he's learned there's more to
Single-A than making Twins GM Terry Ryan circle a player's stats.

"You get them focused on what you've got to do as far as being a team player
because, if you make it to the major leagues, you're playing on a team and it
can't be just about you," Ingram says. "A kid comes in like, 'I've got to get
my numbers up so I can move on.' They forget about the whole concept, what the
team needs to win and the understanding that that will be their role in
trying to win a championship at the major league level."

Rookie Andrew Thompson, son of former Giants second baseman and 1993 Gold
Glove winner Robbie Thompson, was summoned from the GCL on Aug. 30 to close his
first season at high Class A. The 18-year-old infielder, drafted 80th overall
out of Jupiter Community High in June, says Ingram has helped him get
comfortable quick, in spite of being one of the youngest guys in the clubhouse
and
entering in the middle of a pennant race.

"The atmosphere is so much different," says Thompson, who went 4-for-13 in
four games with Fort Myers. "(Ingram's) just let me play, and I definitely
recognize that he's real relaxed and his players like playing for him. That's
all
you can really ask for in a manager."

Right-hander Adam Harben, really the lone constant in the Miracle rotation
this season, says he's proud of the way an ever-changing team has continued to
play as one, transactions and all, this summer.

"I think you give credit to the guys that have been here all year and played
together, and also the guys they've brought up who have blended right in,"
says Harben, who went 10-5 and finished fourth in the league with a 2.66 ERA.
"There's a lot of new faces, but it was a great group of guys, a great team to
be
on."

A lot of that credit goes to seventh-year pitching coach Eric Rasmussen,
bench coach Jeff Carter and Ingram, who should know by October whether he'll
return to the Miracle next season or be assigned somewhere else within the
organization.

Much like the players he's impressed so much this season, Ingram wouldn't
mind moving to the next level in 2006, but like he tells those youngsters, he'll
try to continue improving while not sweating a decision that's out of his
hands.

"There's a desire to move ahead, but for me, my goal is just to come in every
day, try to learn something new and stay open-minded," he says. "I don't have
an inkling of what the organization will do with me next, but if I'm here
forever, that's fine, too. Like I said, I've had a lot of fun, and this is a
great job."

2005 Miracle Facts

— The Miracle went a combined 74-59 under first-year manager Riccardo Ingram,
good for a pair of third-place finishes in the split-season, Florida State
League West Division standings.

— The team's total 2005 attendance of 112,272 was the second highest in team
history (2000), and the seventh time the club drew more than 100,000 fans in
the Miracle's 14-year history. Fort Myers ranked third in the FSL, behind
Clearwater and Daytona, in both total and per game average (1,701).

— The team sent nine players to the Twins' Double-A affiliate in New Britain,
Conn., this season. Among those were three No. 1 picks (OF Denard Span, IF
Matt Moses, LHP Glen Perkins) and three-fifths of their Opening Day rotation
(Perkins, LHP Errol Simonitsch, RHP Nick Blackburn). Blackburn, a 23-year-old
who
went 7-5 with a 3.36 ERA before his call-up on July 13, started seven games
at New Britain and spent two weeks at Triple-A Rochester, where he had a 5.14
ERA in 14 innings from Aug. 6-20.

— Of players with at least 300 at-bats, Trent Oeltjen led the team with a
.287 average, while Matt Tolbert led in hits (111), Scott Whitrock in homers
(15)
and Brock Peterson had a team-high 60 RBI. Righthander Adam Harben led the
team in innings (135 1/3), wins (10), ERA (2.66) and strikeouts (119).

September 5, 2005


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