Conference Championships (Round 1, Best of 7)
MarVa Conference
Game 1: Chesapeake Blue Crabs @ Norfolk Cavaliers
Cavs Pregame:
Paul Brown is on the hill today, and he is fully rested and ready to go. He didn't make any starts against the Blue Crabs this season, so it should be interesting to see how he does.
I am going with the default lineup, not making any changes. This lineup means Henry Hamer and Leonard Lawson will be on the bench, giving me two legit bats on the bench. Hamer hit 31 HR's on the season, and he could see time in place of Jeff Lewis depending on how Lewis hits. Lewis is a career .245 playoff hitter, including a horrendous .125 (6-48) in 2023.
Game Time:
The first inning came and went with the pitchers allowing just one hit, as Blue Crab Claude Bond singled up the middle on a broken bat blooper... but the second inning started some fire works. With one out Monte Lyon singled to right, bring up Ramiro Herrera, who made a great catch to end the first. Herrera would deliver the Paul Brown offering 364 feet down the RF line, giving the Blue Crabs a 2-0 lead.
But the Cav's would answer back. With one-out Bob Short grounded to second, a bad throw by Wiley Brown, would allow him to reach second. After a Alejandro Diaz grounder moved Short to second, Edgar Baez would double to left-center bringing him home, cutting the Blue Crabs lead to 2-1. The next two hitters however, Mario Gomez (361 ft) and Claudio Flores (382 ft) would go back-to-back. Giving the Cav's a 4-2 lead after 2.
In the bottom of the fourth the Blue Crabs were dealt a blow that will keep their fans and team holding their breath. On a ground-out by Edgar Baez, Bond made the play, threw him out, but came up in pain. He had to removed from the game, taking his 2-2 on the day with him.
The game settled down after the second, with the Cav's holding on to the 4-2 lead until the 6th, when the Blue Crabs would cut the lead to 4-3. Xue-qin Xu was sitting dead red on the 3-0 pitch and drove it 440ft over the center field wall. Xu was on the only hit of the inning. Through 6 the Cav's are holding on 4-3.
The Cav's would get an insurance run in the 7th when Mario Gomez would hit the 1-0 offereing from Antonio Cortes 433 feet over the right-center field wall. The HR was the only Cav's hit of the inning, allows the Cav's to take a small breath. With 2 innings to go the Cav's are now up 5-3.
With one out in the 8th, Paul Brown was removed from the game. David Moran would come in and retire both lefties he faces.
Luis Martinez would come in to close out the game... Monte Lyon lead off the 9th with a single to right. After a Herrera flyout and a Chavez strike out, Wiley Brown would single to left. With runners on 2nd and 3rd, Wayne Rogers would come up representing the go-ahead run... Wayne Rogers would strike otu swinging, giving hte Cav's the game 1 victory!
W: Paul Brown (1-0)
L: Antonio Cortez (0-1)
S: Luis Martinez (1)
HR: CPK: Ramiro Herrera (1), Xue-qin Xu (1), NFK: Claudio Flores (1), Mario Gomez 2 (2).
POG: Mario Gomez: 2-3, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 2 R
Cavs Postgame:
I am happy about this game, we fell behind early and bounced right back. Mario Gomez and Paul Brown came up huge and hopefully we will be able to take this momentum with us into game 2. We only managed 5 hits, with our 7-8-9 hitters getting 4 of them, which I think is a good sign for the next game. I mean our "meat" of the order can't be expected to go 1-20 ever game right?
We are 1 win closer to winning our goal of 8 games.
Delaware Conference
Game 1: Lewes Braves @ Wilmington Iron Pigs
The Iron Pigs would jump on Carlos Mateo early touching him up for 2-runs in the 2nd and 3 in the third, chasing Mateo after just 4.2 innings of work. Of the 5 runs Mateo gave up only 3 were earned. The big-blow was a 2-run shot by Gordon Purkis in the 2nd, which answered the run the Braves would score in the top of the second. The Braves left 10 runners on, as the Iron Pigs got timely outs. The Braves had their chances, but in the end the pitching of the Iron Pigs would hold on.
W: Alec Haney (1-0)
L: Carlos Mateo (0-1)
S: Marcos Estrada (1)
HR: WLM: Gordon Purkis (1)
POG: Alec Haney: W, 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 5 K