[illeracula]

Robert Shepherd is ready to throw, which means he is getting the ball. Cuesta will be pushed back one more day. Shepherd went 1-2 3.80 against the Blue Jays this season... well unless Yi is ready, well that is neither here or there right now, right now our eyes are on our first home game this series. I am tinkering with the lineup trying to find a hot hand, so Naofumi Ohayashi will be back in at 1B and Hank Davis to the bench. I am also sitting Donald Hampton and giving Raul Garcia the start, we will see how that goes... makes me thinking I should have added Eugene Todd to the roster, but for now that is a decision that can't be redone... For the Blue Jays John Smith is on the hill. Smith went 1-0 1.29 against us this season and had two solid starts in the first round going 0-1 2.45. Smith is another great pitcher with 5-pitches over a 10/20 rating and 4 over 12. His fastball will top out a 100 and he gets a LOT of grounders. We need to get on base and get him rattled and get to the bullpen.

Game time:
A lead-off walk to Alejandro Feliciano to start the game had me worried that Shepherd wasn't ready, but he proved me wrong, getting McFarland to fly out and Lopez to hit into the 5-4-3, thanks to a great play by Howard Porter.

After a quiet 1-2-3 first inning for the Cannons Julio Casanes started the 2nd off by smashing a single up the middle. Hernandez flies out, bringing up Raul Garcia. Garcia smashes a 2-2 off-speed pitch to the left-center field gap. Casanes busted his butt around the bases and was waved home... Casanes is safe! The Cannons take an early 1-0 lead.

In the third the Cannons added another run. Lead-off man Phil Davis continued his hot hitting crushing an 0-1 fastball 426feet over the center fielders head. Not much else happened in the 3rd, and after three the Cannons had an important insurance run and a 2-0 lead.

The game remained 2-0 until the 6th. After strikes out of Jim Stephens and Albert McGuire, Shepherd would make a mistake. Thinking Alejandro Feliciano was taking the 3-0 pitch Shepherd grooved home. Feliciano wasn't taking and was ready for it and deposited it 427feet away into the left-field stands... The Blue Jays cut the score to 2-1.

Looks like this is going to be another nail biter.

The Cannons threatened in the 6th with 2 1-out singles by Matt Douglas and Naofumi Ohayashi... Bringing up Julio Casanes, who finally broke out of his slump and was 2 for 2 on the day. Sitting on the 3-1 pitch from Smith Casnaes would hit a rocket to the 3B for an easy 5-4-3.

Heading to the bottom of the 8th and holding a 2-1 lead the Cannons were in need of an insurance run. We already have 2 blown saves this series... Ricardo Bravo continued his hot streak, and singled on the first pitch he saw by James Williams. Phil Davis battled Williams to a 2-2 count before getting hit-by-the-pitch, bringing up Howard Porter. Porter, a highly rated bunter (20 Sac/19 Hit) already failed on one sac this series, but after thinking I had to do it. Foul. Foul. Now with 2-strikes it was time to take the bunt off. I decided however to have some fun with it and put on the hit-and-run. Bravo and Smith take off, Porter swings and misses. Safe! Bravo is on third and Davis on second, despite the failed bunt attempt we are where I wanted to be. Matt Doulgas swings at the first pitch he sees skying a ball to center. Bravo hustles homes, and the Cannons get a key insurance run. Ohayashi strikes out. And we head into the 9th with a 3-1 lead.

I know I said I was going to be cautions with my pitching decisions, but I figured it was the right thing to do. With a lefty and righty in the pen I was ready though. First batter, and lead-off man in the Blue Jays lineup Alejando Feliciano grounds out to third! Shepherd with still some left in his take was pulled. McFarland scares me and I wanted the lefty/lefty match-up. McFarland was fooled on the 2-0 pitch grounding it back to the pitcher. Out #2! With Matos ready in the pen, a 2-run lead, and righty's coming up, I decided to stick with the lefty Rubio. He didn't let me down. Lopez strikes out ending the game! Cannons win 3-1

Conference Championship (Best of 7)
Game 3: Seaford 1, Chadds Ford 3
Robert Shepherd (1-0): 8.1 IP, 3 H, R, BB, 7 K
Dani Rubio (SV 1): 0.2 IP, K
Phil Davis: 1-3, HR (1), R, RBI
Julio Casanes: 2-3, R
Raul Garcia: 1-3, 2B, RBI
Matt Douglas: 1-2, RBI
H: 7, LOB: 5

The Cannons lead the series 2-1

Expected Game 4 Starters:
Seaford: Yi-Xiao Zha (Has not pitched in playoffs / 0-1 9.00 vs CF regular season)
Chadds Ford: Juan Cuesta (0-1 9.00 playoffs / Did not face Seaford in 2036)

Ricardo Bravo has been great during the play-offs. I got him via rule-5 draft before the 2035 season and there were many times that season I thought about releasing him. Boy am I glad I didn't. He is earning his slot as my everyday SS. He is 9-21 during hte playoffs and it feels like he just has come through when I needed him. I can't say enough about this guy.

Our offense hasn't been great, but we are doing just enough. And the pitching has stepped it up. I am worried however, that we can't go around winning every game by scoring 3 runs. We need to score some more. I have to say I saw some glimpses during this game as Casanes hit the ball, Ohayashi hit the ball, and Garcia hit the ball. I want to win game 4, and I want to win it with more than 3-runs...

During the regular season we averaged 1.16 HR's per game, the post season? We have 6 in 8 games. The better pitching on a more consistent basis has really hurt us. Oddly we still don't have one player with more than 1-HR... And these averages are just dreadful... I am hoping we can break out of this offensive funk and find a hot streak.

This series is far from over. This pitching staff can lock us down at any moment and that is a scary thought... I would love to pull one of the next two games down, both would be great, but if we can't, it would be nice heading back into Seaford with only needing to win one of 2.

Other Scores:
Game 3: Washington 1, Annapolis 3 (Washington leads series 2-1)
Game 4: Washington 7, Annapolis 5 (Washington leads series 3-1)

Stars:
Ray Thompson, Annapolis: 7.0 IP, 3 H, R, BB, 4 K
Anthony Sinclair, Washington: 7.0 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 8 K
Jimmy Moore, Annapolis: 1-3 HR (2), R, 3 RBI
Alonso Sierra, Annapolis: 2-3, R
Robert Shepherd, Chadds Ford: 8.1 IP, 3 H, R, BB, 7 K
Alonso Sierra, Annaplis: 3-4, HR (4), 2 R, 2 RBI
John Smith, Seaford: 6.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, BB, 4 K
Jesus Hernandez, Washington: 2-4, HR (1), 2 R, RBI