Originally Posted by allenciox
So the Energizer Bunnies had a lousy September, going 11-16, but so did other Wild Card contenders, so we ended up hosting the wild card game against a very strong team. Surprisingly, we won the wild card game, 11-4, when Maddox pitched a complete game, allowing only 2 earned runs
Unfortunately, that gave us the dubious distinction of playing the whaliest of whales in the divisional series,the Colorado Rockies, a team which had a record of 137-25 in the regular season, and was #1 among all 30 teams in both runs scored and runs allowed. They also have three perfect league championships already on their belt.
In the first game, I started Steve Carlton (94), my newly acquired ace, but someone who would be far below the lowliest reliever on their staff. To my great surprise, in the hostile environs of a filled-to-capacity Wolfhound Fields, Steve pitched a complete-game 4-hitter, as we won 6-1, only giving up a solo homerun to a peak Babe Ruth.
In game 2, we sent Brent Saberhagen (93) into the gauntlet, and while he didn't do quite as well as Steve in game 1 (or Maddox in the Wild Card game), he did only allow two runs over seven innings. Going into the bottom of the ninth inning, we were ahead 5-2, and we sent out our closer, Pedro Borbon (80).
Unfortunately, Borbon did NOT look like the same pitcher who saved 36 out of 40 tries during the regular season while sporting a 2.94 ERA. Of course, he didn't often face a team with the fire power of the Rockies either. Peak Mickey Cochrane (C: 100) started things off with a "whoops-didn't mean to" nub by home plate, but beat the throw to first with an infield hit, and a peak Willie Mays (100) followed with a single to left. Then PEAK Jackie Robinson (100) followed with another single just over the head of our nimble shortstop, Joe Cronin. Thus the bases were loaded with nobody out, and I could see that we were in trouble.
Next to bat was peak Cal Ripken, Jr. (100). On a 2-1 pitch, he sent a rocket over to Gwynn at 3B. To my surprise, Gwynn stopped the ball, sent it to second, and then on to first, for a double play as the runner scored from third.
Next to bat was Mike Trout, but I knew that one solid hit from this power machine would send the game into extra innings. After spoiling some good 2 strike pitches from Borbon, he hit a hard grounder over to Cronin. Cronin, showing none of the excitement that I knew he felt, gathered it up and sent it on to first.
And just like that, we are ahead 2-0 in the best of five series as we head home for the next two games.
Against a team of this calibre, I still only give us a 50% chance of advancing to the next round, but we'll see!
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