Darren Bush said he kept his postgame remarks short Friday night. He told his players he was proud of them, and that he appreciated their effort during a season that had just ended with an 11-6 loss in the Pacific Coast League Championship Series.

The River Cats had the league's best record in the regular season, but they ran into an Omaha team that, for three games in the championship series, was simply better.

"Those guys are disappointed – they wanted to win," Bush, the Sacramento manager, said about his team. "We all are. But in the end, they're going to look back and remember a great season."

Indeed, outside a subdued clubhouse, several River Cats players lavished the 2011 team with superlatives. Pitcher Travis Banwart said it was "probably the best team I've been on."

Second baseman Wes Timmons deemed it his "most favorite" in a decade of professional baseball.

Reliever Vinnie Chulk said there were "no problems in the locker room, not one" – a rarity.

"It's not every day in Triple A you see guys genuinely pull for one another, and we had that here," said Timmons, a clubhouse leader. "Big leagues aside, the guys who were here fought for the guys who were here."

The River Cats finished the regular season 88-56, running away with the franchise's 10th division title by 17 games – the league's largest margin since it went to four divisions in 1998.

They did so despite losing streaks of eight and nine games, the latter a franchise record that occurred just before the All-Star break. They emerged from that skid to win 20 of 28 games and, after the run of eight losses in August, went 18-4 to close out the season.

Outfielder Jai Miller slugged a team-high 32 home runs, catcher Anthony Recker hit .287 with 16 homers in 99 games, and the A's came calling for both of them. Second baseman Jemile Weeks, who batted .321 in 45 games, shortstop Eric Sogard and outfielder Michael Taylor were among key players also called up by Oakland during the season.

Late-season moves had Bush juggling his lineup even as the River Cats geared up for playoffs, though a core group of players, including Chris Carter, Adrian Cardenas, Josh Donaldson, Banwart and 14-game winner Graham Godfrey, remained intact for the stretch run.

"There's a lot of guys up there (in Oakland) – Michael Taylor, (reliever Andrew) Carignan, (reliever Neil) Wagner – it's their first time, and I want those guys to all experience that," Bush said. "So, hey, did it hinder us a little bit? Maybe. But those guys are up there helping that ball team."

Managing his first season in Sacramento, Bush led the River Cats to their best regular-season finish since 2003, and a comeback from a 2-0 series deficit against Reno in the first round of the playoffs.

"(Bush) kept it real," Chulk said. "He'd let you know if you were (struggling), and he'd let you know if you were doing your job.

"You go as your leader goes. So for me, he did a hell of a job."

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