DelMarVa Championship (Round 2, Best of 7)
Game 2: Wilmington Iron Pigs vs Norfolk Cavaliers
Cavaliers lead the series 1-0
Cavs Pregame:
We are playing well, but this game worries me. We go up against a guy we hit really well during the regular season and that usually translates to a tough playoff game. My guess is Haney will be on point. He is a righty, which means Lewis will be back on the pine for this game. We will be going with the same lineup that we won game 1 with, hopefully that means good luck for us.
Here is a look at the game one lineups:
Game Time:
The first 5 hitters of the game were retired, but Bob Short made sure it wasn't 6-in-a-row. As he hit the Alec Haney 1-1 pitch 365ft over the right field wall to give the Cav's the early lead. (After 1: Cav's 1-0)
In the bottom of the 2nd the Cav's got their first two runners on base, as Henry Hamer and Francisco Gallegos singled. But the next batter Alejando Diaz lead to history being made:
"Haney kicks and fires. Diaz swings, hit hard on a line up the middle. Barber dives and he makes a great catch! The runners are way too far off the bases, he steps on second for the second out, the throw to Martinez OUT AT FIRST! A TRIPLE PLAY! Phenomenal effort by Barber!"
Hopefully that won't be too much of a momentum swinger. (After 2: Cav's 1-0)
In the 4th the Iron Pigs got their offense started. Pepe Santana lead off the inning with the first Iron Pigs hit a single to right, but he was quickly erased when Tom Anderson hit into a 4-6-3 DP. But the Pig didn't give up. Antonio Castaneda singled with two outs, bringing up Alonso Martinez. Martinez would double down the LF line bringing home the tying run. (After 3 1/2: Game is tied at 1)
The Cav's however would answer back in the bottom half of the 4th, with Sergio Rodriguez starting things off by beating out an infield single. He would be erased on a fielders choice by Bob Short. After a Baez strikeout, Hamer singled to left, putting runners on first and second. Gallegos would follow Hamer with a single to left, scoring Short. Then Diaz would just miss a HR, with a double off the right-field wall, scoring Hamer. The Cav's would add 2. (After 4: Cav's 3-1)
In the 5 the Cav's defense would let Contreras down. Kevin Barber started off the inning with a double to right. After a Purkis strike out, Walt Martin singled up the middle scoring Barber. Moran would walk to put runners on 1st and 2nd. On the double steal Diaz would throw the ball into left field scoring martin. Pepe Santana followed with a single up the middle scoring Moran who ended up on third during the double steal. When the dust settled the Iron Pigs would have the lead, and the Cav's would commit two errors and be in the hole. (After 4.5: Iron Pigs 4-3)
The Cav's would fight back in their half of the 5th. With one out, Sergio Galvez would single. He would then steal second. After a Rodriguez fly out, Bob Short would single to right scoring Galvez. The next batter Edgar Baez was going into the AB 0-9 lifetime against Haney, but that all changed with one swing, and 437ft shot to dead center. That would be all for Haney and the Cav's would once again have the lead. (After 5: Cav's 6-4).
The Iron Pigs would cut the lead in the 6th. Alonso Martinez doubled to get things started. he would move to third on a Martin ground out. Kevin Barber would plate him with a single to left. Then one of the oddest plays in the game would happen, as Gordon Purkis would ground out into a fielders choice, and Barber and Contreras would both pull up injured and need to be removed from the game. Alberto Sanchez would retire Walt Martin to end the inning. (After 5 1/2: Cav's 6-5)
The Cav's would add some insurance in their half of the 6th. Francisco Gallegos would single to right, and move to second on a Diaz ground out. Mario Gomez would ground-out, moving Flores to third. Then on a 2-1 count, Claudio Flores would hit a 394ft blast down the left-field line. (After 6: Cav's 8-5)
Alberto Sanchez would retire the final 3 batters in the 9th to finish off the Iron Pigs. (After 8 1/2: Cav's win 8-5)
Cav's win the game 8-5 and now lead the series 2-0.
W: Miguel Contreras (1-0)
L: Alec Haney (0-1)
S: Alberto Sanchez (1)
HR: NFK: Bob Short (1), Claudio Flores (1), Edgar Baez (1)
POG: Bob Short, Norfolk: 2-4, HR, 3 R, 2 RBI
Cavs Postgame:
I have to say we got lucky this game. I was really worried after the Iron Pigs triple play that it was all going to go to heck, but Contreras shut down the Iron Pigs 1-2-3. Made me feel better... then to see Miguel get hurt in the 6th had me worried, but Alberto Sanchez picked up the slack and went 3.1 innings, allowing just 1 hit. Hard to argue with that performance.
I am a little worried about Contreras, he is lined up to pitch game 6, and if he can't do it I will have to figure out who will get the start. I do have 3 SP's in the bullpen (Gonzalez, Lopez and Coronado) so it won't be too bad, but its hard to match Contreras playoff success.
We slugged 15 hits today, with everyone but Mario Gomez collecting at least one. In fact we had 4 guys with 2 and 1 with 3. Not a bad day for this lineup... I did almost pulled Baez and his 0-7 against Haney from the game, but I am glad I didn't. After two bad AB's he came through his final 2 AB's, hopefully meaning he is getting his swing back.
The Iron Pigs are now 0-5 during the playoffs when playing on the road, they won all four games during round 1 at home, so we will need to be on our A game to get the wins there. The next 3 games are in Wilmington so I'd like to see us pull off at least 1. I mean of course I would like to see us pull off the next two, but I don't want to get too far ahead of myself. I feel if we can one of the next 3, we are still in the drivers seat of this series.
Despite making 2 errors, our defense did pull off 3 double plays. I hate to see errors especially during the playoffs, but I think everyone made up for it on the offensive side... You win with pitching and defense, but when the offense plays like they did today, they will make up for the lack of defense.
I am feeling good about our chances... that being said I am anxiously awaiting the news from the trainers office and how my 37-yr-old ace Miguel Contreras is doing.
Here is too much luck during game 3 and Pablo Garcia.