The Penndelmar League

[Gastric ReFlux]

[obligatory backstory Genesis, or how I rationalize the use of 3 states for this]

The world wondered why the huge metallic-looking sphere was headed for Earth, after blowing up Mars along the way, yet scientists were baffled by how the measurements that could be made showed that the massively dangerous object showed no signs of a gravitational field.

Which turned out to be a good thing when the object parked itself right overhead the White House, and made the following announcement:

"PUNY HOOMANS WE HAVE NEED OF YOUR BASEBALL SKILLS BUT WE DON'T NEED YOUR WHOLE PLANET. WE WILL BE TAKING PENNSYLVANIA, DELAWARE AND MARYLAND FOR OUR AMUSEMENT AND YOUR CONTINUED EXISTENCE. THANKS PEACE OUT."

1 hour after the stern, if courteous, announcement, gigantic mutant alien space robots in the shape of the Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man in Ghostbusters poured out of a hatch with tools that resembled chainsaws, though much much larger as they were chainsaws designed for the specific purpose of removing landmasses from planetary bodies.

Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware were quickly removed, and sucked inside the aliens' portable Dyson Sphere.

Thus begins the Penndelmar League.

[/end backstory]

[Gastric ReFlux]

[random snippet]

"Hey, uh, Joe, y'ever realize something strange about this, I mean beyond the fact we got taken away from Earth and we seem to be involved in some sort of intergalaxy conflict and play a key role by providing baseball entertainment to the universe?"

Joe looked up, scratched at the stubble on his cheeks. "Something strange beyond that?" Joe raised his right eyebrow.

"Well yeah, beyond the fact how the aliens say they will provide us with a draft class each year of 160 players plucked from Earth, whereever it may be from us at this point?"

"Beyond that?" asked Joe.

"Well beyond the fact that they cloned a whole lot of regular sorts, like how I'm Joe 2.0 and you're Original Joe, in order to correctly scale the market sizes they said..."

"I must say it was pretty weird when I met you, myself, I mean you, oh I don't know. What the hell are you going on about?"

"Joe, this whole year, this whole first season, there wasn't a single rainout."

[/random snippet]

[Gastric ReFlux]

So after negotiations with the aliens, that is, after the aliens told the human representatives what would be done, two leagues were formed. The Penn League:

First Division
Allentown Millers
Scranton Claws
Erie Sea Wolves
Bethlehem Stars
Reading Phillies

Second Division
York Puddingheads
State College Lions
Harrisburg Senators
Lancaster Dukes
Altoona Curve

The Delmar League:

First Division
Gaithersburg Gappers
Frederick Possums
Bowie Thunderheads
Hagerstown Hillmen
Rockville Masons

Second Division
Annapolis Middies
Salisbury Steaks
Wilmington Blue Rocks
Dover Blue Hens
Newark Knights

[Gastric ReFlux]

On July 13, 1999, the two leagues squared off in the first All Star contest, held in the fair city of Dover, Delaware. The aliens had politely commanded the leagues to give the Championship homefield advantage to the winning league.

"MAKE IT COUNT!" was the commandment, so it was done.

The boys from Pennsylvania sent the Delmar League fans at Dover home, and disappointed. Catcher George Vanwingerden went 4 for 5 in the game, and got All Star MVP honors. Vanwingerden had as many hits as the whole team from the Delmar League was able to manage.

ALL STAR GAME

BOX SCORES PL Allstars @ DL Allstars
Game #: 5000,   (GAME LOG)  , Tuesday, 7/13/1999
 
 
	
 		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	 	R	H	E
PL Allstars	3	0	0	0	2	4	0	0	0	 	9	13	0
DL Allstars	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	 	3	4	0
	
 
 
PL Allstars	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	AVG	HR	RBI
D. Maranto CF	5	1	3	0	0	0	1	.329	2	32
S. Gonzales RF	2	0	0	0	1	0	2	.340	6	39
1-J. Haley PH	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	.315	6	45
2-T. Willis 1B	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	.294	17	52
F. Campnlla 1B	2	1	0	0	1	0	2	.309	25	72
3-J. Grove PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.276	10	36
4-J. Vasallo 3B	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.302	17	52
J. Updegraff 3B	2	2	1	0	1	0	2	.367	7	56
5-E. Holder PH	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	.266	10	38
6-H. Chao RF	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.265	5	30
G. Vnwngrdn C 	5	3	4	3	0	1	0	.271	15	41
Z. Coil LF	3	0	1	1	2	2	1	.291	14	51
A. Vasallo SS	5	0	2	2	0	0	2	.278	5	46
K. Burkhardt 2B	3	0	0	1	1	2	4	.267	5	29
R. Ryan P 	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	.159	1	4
L. Lombardo P 	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.118	0	1
S. Oquendo P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.122	0	5
7-B. Juhasz PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.275	10	55
O. Thompson P 	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000	0	0
D. Cabello P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
Totals		37	9	13	9	7	9	18	.000	0	0
Substitution Notes
1 - J. Haley pinch hit for S. Gonzales in the 6th
2 - T. Willis substituted for J. Haley in the 6th
3 - J. Grove pinch hit for F. Campanella in the 6th
4 - J. Vasallo substituted for J. Grove in the 6th
5 - E. Holder pinch hit for J. Updegraff in the 6th
6 - H. Chao substituted for E. Holder in the 6th
7 - B. Juhasz pinch hit for S. Oquendo in the 7th
BATTING
Doubles: D. Maranto (13, 6th inning off Plotkin, 0 on, 0 out.) J. Haley (13, 6th inning off Plotkin, 1 on, 0 out.) A. Vasallo (14, 3rd inning off Arnold, 0 on, 2 out.)
Triples: G. Vanwingerden (3, 6th inning off Plotkin, 1 on, 1 out.)
Runs Batted In: J. Haley (45), E. Holder (38), G. Vanwingerden 3 (41), Z. Coil (51), A. Vasallo 2 (46), K. Burkhardt (29)
Stolen Bases: K. Burkhardt (17)
Caught Stealing: D. Maranto (9)
Sacrifice Flies: K. Burkhardt (1)
Team LOB: 8

FIELDING
Double Plays: 1 (Vasallo-Burkhardt-Campanella)
 
DL Allstars	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	AVG	HR	RBI
R. Johnson LF	2	1	1	0	1	0	0	.315	10	59
1-R. Norwood LF	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.350	3	37
D. Witte P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
M. Blackmer 3B	2	1	1	2	2	0	1	.288	11	48
D. Clark SS	4	0	1	1	0	0	3	.324	22	76
E. Mira 1B	4	0	0	0	0	0	2	.283	13	54
M. Taylor 2B	4	0	0	0	0	0	1	.296	7	35
W. Brubaker CF	4	0	0	0	0	3	0	.293	19	59
B. Landeros RF	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	.275	10	41
R. Torre C 	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.316	6	49
2-R. Schrrer PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.263	18	56
3-R. Bozek C 	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.337	3	32
W. Arnold P 	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.231	0	4
G. Goheen P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.108	0	4
A. Plotkin P 	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	.293	0	3
R. Defranco P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
4-D. Roloff LF	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.295	13	41
Totals		30	3	4	3	3	5	7	.000	0	0
Substitution Notes
1 - R. Norwood pinch hit for R. Johnson in the 8th
2 - R. Scherrer pinch hit for R. Torre in the 6th
3 - R. Bozek substituted for R. Scherrer in the 7th
4 - D. Roloff pinch hit for R. Defranco in the 8th
BATTING
Doubles: M. Blackmer (18, 6th inning off Oquendo, 2 on, 1 out.) D. Clark (29, 6th inning off Oquendo, 1 on, 1 out.)
Runs Batted In: M. Blackmer 2 (48), D. Clark (76)
Team LOB: 2
 
PL Allstars	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	PI	PS	ERA	RECORD
R. Ryan W	3	0	0	0	1	2	0	39	18	2.86	11-6
L. Lombardo H	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	23	16	2.99	 
S. Oquendo 	1	3	3	3	1	0	0	23	15	3.16	 
O. Thompson 	2	0	0	0	1	2	0	26	15	3.79	 
D. Cabello 	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	10	6	1.06	 
PITCHING
Batters Faced: R. Ryan 9, L. Lombardo 7, S. Oquendo 7, O. Thompson 7, D. Cabello 3
Ground Balls-Fly Balls: R. Ryan 5-1, L. Lombardo 3-3, S. Oquendo 2-1, O. Thompson 2-2, D. Cabello 1-1
Game Score: R. Ryan 58
 
DL Allstars	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	PI	PS	ERA	RECORD
W. Arnold L	3	5	3	3	3	4	0	58	31	2.33	10-6
G. Goheen 	2	1	2	2	3	0	0	48	23	2.80	 
A. Plotkin 	2	6	4	4	1	1	0	36	18	2.71	 
R. Defranco 	1	1	0	0	0	2	0	11	8	1.92	 
D. Witte 	1	0	0	0	0	2	0	8	7	1.28	 
PITCHING
Wild Pitches: G. Goheen
Batters Faced: W. Arnold 17, G. Goheen 10, A. Plotkin 11, R. Defranco 4, D. Witte 3
Ground Balls-Fly Balls: W. Arnold 4-1, G. Goheen 3-3, A. Plotkin 1-2, R. Defranco 0-1, D. Witte 1-0
Game Score: W. Arnold 36
 
GAME INFO
Time: 3:41
Attendance: 44971 (45000, 99.9%) at Dover Ballpark
Weather: Clear skies (86 degrees), wind blowing right to left at 11 mph
PLAYER OF THE GAME: George Vanwingerden
Game Notes:
George Vanwingerden set a career high for hits in a game! George Vanwingerden set a career high for runs in a game!

[Gastric ReFlux]

The inaugral season provided two heated divisional pennant races out of the four divisions. Over the last month of the season, the Allentown Millers had pulled ahead of the Scranton Claws, who then fought their way back, and forced a playoff.

Over in the Delmar League's First Division, the Frederick Possums refused to play dead and went into the last game of the season tied with the Gaithersburg Gappers. Frederick had to play against the Second Division Champions Annapolis Middies, took the lead early in the game but gave it away, and lost. Meanwhile, Gaithersburg came back and behind in their game to win, and clinch the First Division pennant, along with tussling against the Annapolis Middies for the Delmar Championship.

In the Penn League, the Allentown Millers beat the Scranton Claws in the playoff, and went on to meet the York Puddingheads for the Penn League Championship.

Both league championships went the full five games. Allentown's hero in their come from behind victory of game 5 was first baseman Eddie McGill, who hit a bases loaded 2-out double that sent the York Puddingheads home without any pudding.

Annapolis won the Delmar Championship when the eventual winner of the Delmar Slugger Award, Darrell Clark, grounded out weakly to shortstop with the bases loaded and the game on the line.

The Championship Series looked to be a battle of batting brawn, Annapolis, versus pitching, Allentown.

[Gastric ReFlux]

Allentown Millers Clubhouse
Sunday, 10/24/1999
Team Stats & Info
Manager: Leonard Izaguirre
Record: 93 Wins, 70 Losses, .571 Winning Pct.
Home Record: 45 Wins, 36 Losses
Away Record: 48 Wins, 34 Losses
1 Run Games Record: 29 Wins, 28 Losses
X-Innings Record: 8 Wins, 9 Losses
Record vs LHP: 16 Wins, 11 Losses
Record vs RHP: 77 Wins, 59 Losses
Payroll: $77,695,714 (1st)
Fan Interest: 85/100 (T-2nd)
Batting AVG: .244 (13th)
Homeruns: 135 (2nd)
Walks: 489 (17th)
Stolen Bases: 19 (20th)
Runs Scored: 694 (T-7th)

Pitching ERA: 3.20 (2nd)
Opponents AVG: .218 (1st)
HRs Allowed: 108 (3rd)
Walks Allowed: 518 (9th)
Runs Allowed: 560 (2nd)

Active Roster
Player		#	Pos	Birthday	Bats	Throws	AVG	HR	RBI	SB	OPS	 
CATCHERS	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 
Dennis Suniga	51	C 	2/24/1967	Left	Right	.265	8	46	1	.706	 
Stanley Durant	73	C 	7/12/1961	Both	Right	.253	7	40	0	.661	 
INFIELDER	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 
Eddie McGill	24	1B	1/14/1968	Left	Left	.276	14	87	1	.734	 
Andres Ferrant	77	SS	11/8/1973	Right	Right	.262	18	66	0	.711	 
Thomas Segovia	4	3B	9/11/1966	Right	Right	.301	1	14	0	.721	 
Alonso Peraza	24	SS	7/3/1973	Both	Right	.176	1	6	0	.539	 
Hassan Jones	39	3B	8/5/1965	Right	Right	.244	5	31	0	.659	 
Earl Bearce	34	2B	5/21/1974	Both	Right	.207	2	33	7	.554	 
OUTFIELDER	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 
Billy Rhyne	38	CF	1/20/1971	Right	Right	.232	22	81	0	.790	 
Glen Castrejon	56	CF	5/13/1972	Left	Left	.181	5	19	0	.531	 
Zachary Coil	49	LF	9/20/1971	Right	Right	.277	27	85	0	.844	 
George Baeza	4	RF	4/21/1971	Left	Left	.318	7	38	0	.855	 
Robert Degnan	81	RF	3/8/1970	Right	Right	.406	3	9	0	1.174	 
Player		#	Role	Birthday	Bats	Throws	ERA	W	L	S	WHIP	 
STARTERS	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 
Louis Graham	37	SP	6/6/1968	Right	Right	2.33	14	9	0	0.90	 
Alfred Moynihan	4	SP	8/29/1969	Both	Right	3.01	13	6	0	1.15	 
Damian Pearson	43	SP	4/14/1969	Right	Right	3.61	9	13	0	1.13	 
Lemuel Izzo	70	SP	6/17/1972	Right	Right	2.65	17	8	0	1.06	 
Felton Josephs	81	SP	3/15/1975	Right	Right	3.11	6	4	1	1.19	 
RELIEVERS	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 
Aaron Rosario	66	CL	2/15/1972	Left	Left	1.97	6	3	36	1.02	 
Ronald Starks	83	MR	5/23/1970	Left	Right	3.69	10	7	1	1.22	 
Justin Shetler	75	MR	10/29/1973	Right	Right	2.12	3	2	1	1.14	 
Fred Ventura	89	MR	7/9/1970	Left	Left	3.77	3	4	0	1.27	 
James Tally	89	MR	4/18/1967	Right	Right	3.68	8	7	1	1.25	 
C. Fernandez	48	MR	5/14/1967	Left	Left	3.09	1	1	0	1.11	 
Salomon Greco	82	MR	3/11/1973	Right	Right	1.93	1	0	0	1.29

The Allentown Millers had a strong pitching staff led by the presence of their first-round inaugral draft pick, Louis Graham. Graham had gone 14-9 on the season with an ERA of 2.33. Their top winning pitcher had been Lemuel Izzo, who baffled hitters with a knuckleball. Izzo had won 17 games, but it was rumored that manager Leo Izaguirre was hesitant about using a pitcher with such an erratic pitch in postseason play. The Millers also had one of the best closers in the game, Aaron Rosario, who could throw flame to the tune of 100 mph.

The big 3 and 4 hitters for the Millers were centerfielder Billy Rhyne and leftfielder Zachary Coil. Rhyne had struggled some hitting for average, but provided power in the form of 22 homers. Coil had led the team with 27 dingers.

[Gastric ReFlux]

Annapolis Middies Clubhouse
Sunday, 10/24/1999
Team Stats & Info
Manager: David Rowe
Record: 92 Wins, 70 Losses, .568 Winning Pct.
Home Record: 47 Wins, 34 Losses
Away Record: 45 Wins, 36 Losses
1 Run Games Record: 33 Wins, 33 Losses
X-Innings Record: 9 Wins, 8 Losses
Record vs LHP: 18 Wins, 17 Losses
Record vs RHP: 74 Wins, 53 Losses
Payroll: $68,207,143 (6th)
Fan Interest: 83/100 (T-4th)
Batting AVG: .257 (2nd)
Homeruns: 159 (1st)
Walks: 548 (7th)
Stolen Bases: 100 (13th)
Runs Scored: 772 (2nd)

Pitching ERA: 3.85 (14th)
Opponents AVG: .238 (5th)
HRs Allowed: 112 (6th)
Walks Allowed: 600 (18th)
Runs Allowed: 682 (12th)

Active Roster
Player		#	Pos	Birthday	Bats	Throws	AVG	HR	RBI	SB	OPS	 
CATCHERS	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 
Richard Bozek	42	C 	10/25/1965	Left	Right	.328	4	61	0	.789	 
Miguel Marzano	43	C 	1/18/1974	Right	Right	.238	2	14	0	.672	 
INFIELDER	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 
Mickey Truong	89	1B	7/25/1973	Both	Right	.226	11	71	19	.685	 
Joseph Cueva	22	2B	8/7/1966	Left	Right	.301	29	100	20	.973	 
Jose Neyra	29	3B	1/28/1973	Right	Right	.276	18	87	2	.779	 
James Sauceda	91	SS	11/29/1968	Left	Right	.294	14	90	7	.769	 
Joe Schmidt	20	SS	10/26/1977	Right	Right	.154	0	0	1	.497	 
Curtis Pacheco	36	SS	1/6/1968	Right	Right	.234	5	14	0	.670	 
OUTFIELDER	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 
Boris Landeros	86	LF	9/4/1972	Right	Right	.260	19	62	18	.783	 
Will Brubaker	51	CF	12/17/1974	Both	Right	.272	27	98	11	.821	 
Michael Jones	34	RF	9/18/1968	Right	Right	.228	14	58	16	.673	 
James Walthall	33	CF	2/24/1966	Left	Left	.333	0	4	3	.801	 
Mohammed Fishel	94	LF	9/28/1967	Left	Left	.202	3	12	2	.578	 
Player		#	Role	Birthday	Bats	Throws	ERA	W	L	S	WHIP	 
STARTERS	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 
George Lopez	38	SP	2/18/1972	Left	Left	2.81	19	7	0	1.08	 
Gary Goheen	79	SP	4/4/1973	Right	Right	3.47	13	7	0	1.32	 
Adam Schaeffer	53	SP	10/2/1962	Right	Right	3.57	16	9	0	1.27	 
Gonz Henriques	25	SP	7/6/1967	Both	Right	3.62	11	6	0	1.36	 
Shane Cosco	97	SP	11/30/1967	Right	Right	3.66	9	11	0	1.20	 
RELIEVERS	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 
Robert Rozek	31	CL	6/12/1973	Right	Right	2.45	8	2	21	1.13	 
Pasqual Rocha	93	MR	10/31/1971	Right	Right	4.34	8	9	14	1.40	 
Felipe Zubiaga	12	MR	5/17/1975	Right	Right	4.65	5	7	15	1.41	 
Lucas Casares	59	MR	2/9/1971	Left	Left	4.90	5	5	1	1.34	 
Alex Solis	64	MR	9/6/1973	Left	Left	3.23	1	0	0	1.08	 
Samuel Salinas	95	MR	11/17/1978	Left	Right	5.06	1	0	1	1.69	 
Alex Blanco	47	MR	3/21/1970	Left	Left	5.85	1	2	0	1.35

Tired Position Players
Michael Jones
Injuries & Disabled List
Player Status Recovery Time Time on DL left Diagnosis
Felipe Zubiaga OUT 3-4 weeks 0 days Strained Bicep Tendon
Robert Rozek Day-to-Day (85%) 3 days 0 days Pulled Elbow Ligament

The Middies had a lineup of solid hitters for the most part, good enough to score 772 runs, the second most of all the teams. Joseph Cueva was the most dangerous of the bats, hitting .301, 29 homeruns and 100 RBI's. Jose Neyra provided some pop in the cleanup slot, with 18 homers and 87 RBI's.

Of note on the pitching staff was George Lopez, a hardthrowing southpaw who had won 19 games for Annapolis this first season. He also struck out over 305 batters in 246.2 innings of work. He had some reputation of being a bit inconsistent, but most observers agreed that when he was on, he might have the best stuff of any starter in the game. And he had been on for September, winning pitcher of the month honors.

The bullpen was nothing spectacular, although the Middies had one of the more colorful characters of the game. Pasqual "Kitchen Sink" Rocha, born on Halloween, had a flair for odd deliveries and throwing every pitch known to humankind, except the knuckleball, which he had once described derisively as "a pitch thrown by those who can't pitch, like Pasqual can pitch. OH YEAH!" When asked what his best pitch was, he said it was his Voodoo Curve, because it broke many a man's spirit.

David Rowe, a manager known for a quick hook on pitchers, had used Rocha frequently in spite of Kitchen Sink's penchant for antics. Whether or not Rocha would be used in the pressure cooker of the postseason championship was unknown.

[Gastric ReFlux]

October 15, 1999

In Allentown, a capacity crowd came out to see the first ever championship struggle pitting the winners of the Penn and Delmar leagues. Both managers had selected the staff aces and observers felt it should be a close ballgame, probably in favor of the hometeam Allentown.

Louis Graham opened strongly for Allentown, striking out 2 of the 4 hitters he faced in the first inning. Only Cueva reached base a walk. But the starter for Annapolis, George Lopez, went out the mound, and decided to raise the stakes. Earl Bearce, Thomas Segovia, and Billy Rhyne waved helplessly, striking out in order. The game was on, both pitchers looked to be sharp with excellent stuff. Lopez had been clocked at 99 mph.

Mickey Truong led off the top of the second inning slamming a ball deep to rightfield. The crowd hushed as it appeared it might go out of the park and into the bleachers, but it caught the top of the fence and bounced back into centerfielder, Billy Rhyne. Annapolis was unable to do anything with Truong on second, though. Graham settled in to get 3 consecutive groundouts and no damage done.

For Allentown in the second, a rally emerged when with one out, shortstop Andres Ferrant singled to right, followed by Lopez giving up a walk to Eddie McGill. Unfortunately, the possible rally died when George Baeza hit a routine grounder to short that Sauceda and Cueva turned into a double play.

To start off the third, George Lopez looked to help himself when he roped a pitch down the rightfield line that went all the way to the wall. Boris Landeros then lined a pitch hard, but right at the second baseman, Earl Bearce. A strikeout and a flyball to right closed out the inning, no damage was done.

Both pitchers kept painting the scoreboard with zeroes. After 5 innings, Graham had struck out 5, and Lopez had fanned 7. Graham had only given up the two doubles, and Lopez had still only surrendered that single back in the first inning.

In the sixth inning, Graham finally cracked. Annapolis's catcher, Richard Bozek, lined a pitch in the right-center gap for a standup double. The manager Izaguirre ordered Graham to intentionally walk the dangerous Cueva, in hopes of a groundball and doubleplay. Graham got the groundball, but it was a hard groundball, hugging the line and underneath the glove of the diving thirdbaseman Thomas Segovia. The ball rattled into the corner, and Coil had some trouble latching onto it. Both Bozek and Cueva scored, giving the Middies a 2-0 lead in the top half of the sixth.

Graham looked a bit flustered, perhaps tired. Pitching to Mickey Truong, he let a fastball catch too much of the outside corner and Truong stepped into the pitch, smashing a groundball that looked like it would be a near replay of the last play. But Segovia stopped it, got to his knees, and fired a strike to first that just got Truong. Down in the bullpen, Cristian Fernandez was getting warm, and Izaguirre ordered the second intentional pass of the inning. Graham took his time, and that was it for him. He handed the ball off dejectedly to the manager and headed for the showers.

Fernandez came in and struck out Sauceda, followed by a flyball to Jones to finally shut the door that had been opened. Allentown fans now had to hope the bats would come to life.

Lopez, though, could not be touched. The Milllers went down in order in the sixth, in the seventh, in the eighth. His consecutive batters retired string ran to 12 batters after the eighth. His pitch count was climbing, but Lopez was still throwing hard.

Lopez went to the hill in the ninth inning, up two runs, and facing the top of the order. He quickly got Earl Bearce to ground out to shortstop, then on the next batter, he threw a curveball that bounced well in front of the plate. Thomas Segovia though swung at the errant pitch and struck out. It was Lopez's 12th K of the game, and the Millers still had only that lone hit back in the second inning.

Amazingly, the manager David Rowe, popped out of the vistor's dugout. Lopez raised his arms in protest, as if to say, "Why now? Just one more out..." Rowe raised his right arm in signal to the pen, a signal to bring out Pasqual Kitchen Sink Rocha. Lopez just tucked his glove under his tired left arm, and walked to the dugout.

If only for once, Rocha was all seriousness coming out, and taking over. After yielding a hit to Billy Rhyne, he got a fastball in on Zachary Coil's fists to induce a weak popup in foul territory and finish the game.

BOX SCORES Annapolis @ Allentown
Game #: 1632,   (GAME LOG)  , Friday, 10/15/1999
 
 
	
 		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	 	R	H	E
Annapolis	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	 	2	6	0
Allentown	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	 	0	2	1
	
 
 
Annapolis	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	AVG	HR	RBI
B. Landeros LF	4	0	1	0	0	2	2	.391	2	3
R. Bozek C 	4	1	1	0	0	1	2	.087	0	1
J. Cueva 2B	2	1	0	0	2	0	2	.400	1	3
J. Neyra 3B	4	0	2	2	0	2	1	.125	0	4
M. Truong 1B	4	0	1	0	0	0	2	.381	0	5
W. Brubaker CF	3	0	0	0	1	0	2	.318	1	4
J. Sauceda SS	4	0	0	0	0	1	3	.273	0	3
M. Jones RF	4	0	0	0	0	0	3	.083	0	0
G. Lopez P 	4	0	1	0	0	1	1	.111	0	0
    P. Rocha P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
Totals		33	2	6	2	3	7	18	.257	159	745
BATTING
Doubles: R. Bozek (1, 6th inning off Graham, 0 on, 0 out.) J. Neyra (1, 6th inning off Graham, 2 on, 0 out.) M. Truong (1, 2nd inning off Graham, 0 on, 0 out.) G. Lopez (1, 3rd inning off Graham, 0 on, 0 out.)
Runs Batted In: J. Neyra 2 (4)
Team LOB: 5

FIELDING
Double Plays: 1 (Sauceda-Cueva-Truong)
 
Allentown	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	AVG	HR	RBI
E. Bearce 2B	4	0	0	0	0	1	0	.174	0	1
T. Segovia 3B	4	0	0	0	0	2	0	.000	0	0
B. Rhyne CF	3	0	1	0	1	2	0	.333	3	5
Z. Coil LF	4	0	0	0	0	2	2	.125	0	0
A. Ferrant SS	3	0	1	0	0	1	1	.048	0	0
E. McGill 1B	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	.190	0	5
G. Baeza RF	3	0	0	0	0	1	3	.182	1	2
D. Suniga C 	3	0	0	0	0	3	1	.217	3	7
L. Graham P 	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	0	0
C. Fernandez P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
1-R. Degnan PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
R. Starks P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
Totals		28	0	2	0	3	12	8	.244	135	670
Substitution Notes
1 - R. Degnan pinch hit for C. Fernandez in the 8th
BATTING
Team LOB: 0

FIELDING
Errors: E. McGill
Double Plays: 1 (Fernandez-McGill)
 
Annapolis	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	PI	PS	ERA	RECORD
G. Lopez W	8.2	1	0	0	3	12	0	121	65	0.81	2-0
P. Rocha S	0.1	1	0	0	0	0	0	11	6	10.13	1 SV
PITCHING
Batters Faced: G. Lopez 29, P. Rocha 2
Ground Balls-Fly Balls: G. Lopez 10-3, P. Rocha 0-1
Game Score: G. Lopez 91
 
Allentown	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	PI	PS	ERA	RECORD
L. Graham L	5.1	4	2	2	3	5	0	105	58	1.59	0-2
C. Fernandez 	2.2	2	0	0	0	1	0	29	20	2.70	 
R. Starks 	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	13	7	3.00	 
PITCHING
Intentional BB: L. Graham 2
Batters Faced: L. Graham 24, C. Fernandez 9, R. Starks 3
Inherited Runners-Scored: C. Fernandez 2-0
Ground Balls-Fly Balls: L. Graham 7-5, C. Fernandez 2-4, R. Starks 0-2
Game Score: L. Graham 54
 
GAME INFO
Time: 3:20
Attendance: 44986 (45000, 100.0%) at Allentown Ballpark
Weather: Partly cloudy (59 degrees), wind blowing out to right at 8 mph
PLAYER OF THE GAME: George Lopez

[gcsii99]

[Gastric ReFlux]

It was one of those lovely fall mornings, where mist had settled heavily overnight, but now nearing noon, had lifted and the two Joes were enjoying a Saturday morning to themselves.

"Hey Joe, beyond the strange thing that the primary source of protein is that new species of genetically hybridized soy possum, want to know something even stranger?"

"What's that, Joe?"

"I heard that Rocha used a voodoo possum against the Frederick team the final Sunday of the regular, but this is even stranger."

"Oh?"

"Well, you know how strange it was that..."

"Joe, just tell me, hurry up with it."

"Why did Rowe pull Lopez with two outs in the ninth like that? The guy had a one-hit shutout going. Just when I think I'm adjusting to our new lives under the rule of the aliens, something like this happens, and it just gets me kinda flaky feeling."

[Gastric ReFlux]

The second game saw Allentown choosing to start Damian Pearson (9-13, 3.61) up against Annapolis's Gonzalo Henriques (11-6, 3.62). The choice of Pearson seemed odd to many of the Allentown faithful, who wondered why Izaguirre wouldn't start the flutterballer, Lemuel Izzo. Rumors abounded that Izaguirre had some morbid fear of knuckleball shenanigans, passed balls, wild pitches, shenanigans that would be all the more likely in a postseason pressure cooker.

It had also been rumored that Pasqual Rocha had, in captivity, a soy possum appropriated for voodoo, and stuck on top of an old phonograph, thereby inducing spin to a pitch that, in Rocha's mind, wasn't really a pitch.

Voodoo and knuckleballs aside, the odd event of the game was Rowe's handling of Henriques in the sixth inning. Allentown had seized a 3-2 lead after five innings, and then disaster befell the Middies in the bottom half of the sixth. First, Henriques gave up a leadoff double to Andres Ferrant, and then after getting Michael Jones to ground out, Gonzalo lost all control.

He walked the opposing pitcher, Pearson. He walked the leadoff hitter, Bearce. To prove those weren't flukes, he then walked Baeza to force in a run. Rowe had scrambled the pen into action, yet he remained resolute on the bench. Was he already getting heat for the hook on Lopez? Still, Middies' fans were rapidly scratching all the hair from their heads.

To break up the tedium of walking batters, Henriques drilled Billy Rhynes with a fastball to the hip. Finally, Rowe walked to the mound and removed Gonzalo. Finally. But with the bases loaded, Felipe Zubiaga delivered a breaking pitch that Zachary Coil slammed into the left centerfield gap, for a two-run double.

The damage was irreversible. Allentown won easily 9-2. Damian Pearson pitched a stellar complete game.

BOX SCORES Annapolis @ Allentown
Game #: 1633,   (GAME LOG)  , Saturday, 10/16/1999
 
 
	
 		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	 	R	H	E
Annapolis	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	 	2	4	1
Allentown	0	0	0	0	3	5	1	0	X	 	9	10	0
	
 
 
Annapolis	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	AVG	HR	RBI
B. Landeros LF	4	0	0	0	0	2	0	.333	2	3
R. Bozek C 	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	.074	0	1
J. Cueva 2B	3	1	1	0	1	1	0	.391	1	3
J. Neyra 3B	4	1	2	2	0	0	1	.179	1	6
M. Truong 1B	3	0	1	0	0	0	2	.375	0	5
W. Brubaker CF	3	0	0	0	0	2	3	.280	1	4
J. Sauceda SS	3	0	0	0	0	1	2	.240	0	3
M. Jones RF	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	.074	0	0
G. Henriques P 	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000	0	0
F. Zubiaga P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
1-J. Wlthll PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.250	0	0
L. Casares P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
Totals		30	2	4	2	1	7	8	.257	159	745
Substitution Notes
1 - J. Walthall pinch hit for F. Zubiaga in the 8th
BATTING
Homeruns: J. Neyra (1, 4th inning off Pearson, 1 on, 1 out.)
Runs Batted In: J. Neyra 2 (6)
Team LOB: 2

FIELDING
Errors: J. Cueva
 
Allentown	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	AVG	HR	RBI
E. Bearce 2B	2	2	0	0	3	1	0	.160	0	1
G. Baeza RF	2	2	0	1	3	0	2	.167	1	3
B. Rhyne CF	4	1	2	4	0	0	1	.357	3	9
Z. Coil LF	5	0	1	2	0	1	5	.138	0	2
E. McGill 1B	5	0	4	2	0	0	1	.308	0	7
D. Suniga C 	4	0	0	0	0	0	5	.185	3	7
A. Ferrant SS	5	1	1	0	0	1	6	.077	0	0
H. Jones 3B	5	2	2	0	0	0	3	.364	1	1
D. Pearson P 	1	1	0	0	1	1	0	.333	0	0
Totals		33	9	10	9	7	4	23	.244	135	670
BATTING
Doubles: Z. Coil (2, 6th inning off Zubiaga, 3 on, 1 out.) A. Ferrant (1, 6th inning off Henriques, 0 on, 0 out.)
Runs Batted In: G. Baeza (3), B. Rhyne 4 (9), Z. Coil 2 (2), E. McGill 2 (7)
Sacrifice Hits: D. Pearson 2 (3)
Team LOB: 6

FIELDING
Double Plays: 1 (Bearce-Ferrant-McGill)
 
Annapolis	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	PI	PS	ERA	RECORD
G. Henriques L	5.1	6	8	8	6	4	0	92	47	19.06	0-2
F. Zubiaga 	1.2	3	1	1	1	0	0	30	16	3.24	 
L. Casares 	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	9	6	4.91	 
PITCHING
Batters Faced: G. Henriques 30, F. Zubiaga 10, L. Casares 4
Inherited Runners-Scored: F. Zubiaga 3-3
Ground Balls-Fly Balls: G. Henriques 4-7, F. Zubiaga 4-1, L. Casares 1-2
Game Score: G. Henriques 22
 
Allentown	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	PI	PS	ERA	RECORD
D. Pearson W	9	4	2	2	1	7	1	102	65	2.93	1-0
PITCHING
Batters Faced: D. Pearson 32
Ground Balls-Fly Balls: D. Pearson 7-12
Game Score: D. Pearson 77
 
GAME INFO
Time: 2:55
Attendance: 44991 (45000, 100.0%) at Allentown Ballpark
Weather: Partly cloudy (59 degrees), wind blowing right to left at 11 mph
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Damian Pearson

[Gastric ReFlux]

Game 3 saw the two teams head to Annapolis, now home city for one largest soy possum processing planets in the tristate area. David Rowe decided to go for an older arm in the form Adam Schaeffer, who had pitched the deciding fifth game in the Delmar League Championship. 37 years old, Schaeffer relied more on guile than outright stuff, and his guile had been good enough on the season to gut out 16 wins.

Schaeffer would go up against Alfred Moynihan, a 30 year old righty who had put up strong numbers, 13 wins versus 6 losses and an ERA of 3.01. Anybody's game was the generally observed feelings of fans, but an important game to tilt the balance to one or the other team's favor.

The Middies were gifted a run when Andres Ferrant bobbled a routine grounder in the first. After Cueva chopped a weak grounder that Ferrant successfully charged with his only play to first, Jose Neyra hit a flyball that banged off the fence near the foul pole. The umpire signalled fair ball, and the Middies had first blood, the first run.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Middies manufactured a run, perhaps because they were struggling to get the offense going. Mickey Truong got a one-out single, and he then stole second. The centerfielder Brubaker hit a seeing-eye grounder through the hole on the right side, and it was 2-0 in favor of Annapolis.

Through the first 4 innings, Schaeffer had been flirting with danger. Still, he had managed to scatter the 2 hit batsmen, 3 walks, a single and a double without anything scoring against him. Finally, the fifth inning let the Millers grind out a run. Baeza led off with a single, and moved to second on Schaeffer's wild pitch. Rowe elected to have Schaeffer intentionally walk Rhyne.

On a high fastball that looked for all the world a chance for Coil to hit deep, he got way too far under it, and hit a pop up behind the plate. Schaeffer then fed another high fastball to Eddie McGill and he got it deep to right centerfield. But not deep enough to go out; still the sacrifice fly moved Baeza to third, and he scored when the catcher Suniga singled him home.

And that was it. Neither team could do anything more, and closer Robert Rozek retired all 5 batters he faced to preserve a 2-1 victory for Annapolis.

BOX SCORES Allentown @ Annapolis
Game #: 1634,   (GAME LOG)  , Monday, 10/18/1999
 
 
	
 		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	 	R	H	E
Allentown	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	 	1	6	1
Annapolis	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	X	 	2	4	0
	
 
 
Allentown	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	AVG	HR	RBI
E. Bearce 2B	5	0	0	0	0	0	4	.133	0	1
G. Baeza RF	4	1	1	0	1	1	1	.179	1	3
B. Rhyne CF	4	0	1	0	1	0	1	.344	3	9
Z. Coil LF	2	0	0	0	1	0	2	.129	0	2
E. McGill 1B	4	0	0	0	0	0	6	.267	0	7
D. Suniga C 	4	0	1	1	0	0	2	.194	3	8
A. Ferrant SS	3	0	1	0	1	1	2	.103	0	0
T. Segovia 3B	2	0	2	0	0	0	0	.250	0	0
1-R. Degnan PH	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	.000	0	0
2-H. Jones 3B	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.364	1	1
A. Moynihan P 	2	0	0	0	0	1	2	.000	0	0
3-G. Castrjn PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.200	0	0
R. Starks P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
Totals		32	1	6	1	4	4	22	.244	135	670
Substitution Notes
1 - R. Degnan pinch hit for T. Segovia in the 8th
2 - H. Jones substituted for R. Degnan in the 8th
3 - G. Castrejon pinch hit for A. Moynihan in the 8th
BATTING
Doubles: T. Segovia (1, 2nd inning off Schaeffer, 1 on, 1 out.)
Runs Batted In: D. Suniga (8)
Sacrifice Hits: A. Moynihan (1)
Team LOB: 8

FIELDING
Errors: A. Ferrant
 
Annapolis	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	AVG	HR	RBI
B. Landeros LF	4	0	0	0	0	3	0	.290	2	3
R. Bozek C 	4	1	1	0	0	0	0	.097	0	1
J. Cueva 2B	3	0	0	0	1	1	2	.346	1	3
J. Neyra 3B	4	0	1	1	0	1	1	.188	1	7
M. Truong 1B	2	1	1	0	1	0	1	.385	0	5
W. Brubaker CF	3	0	1	1	0	2	1	.286	1	5
J. Sauceda SS	3	0	0	0	0	1	1	.214	0	3
M. Jones RF	3	0	0	0	0	2	1	.067	0	0
A. Schaeffer P 	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
1-M. Fishel PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.200	0	0
L. Casares P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
R. Rozek P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
Totals		29	2	4	2	2	10	7	.257	159	745
Substitution Notes
1 - M. Fishel pinch hit for A. Schaeffer in the 7th
BATTING
Doubles: J. Neyra (2, 1st inning off Moynihan, 1 on, 2 out.)
Runs Batted In: J. Neyra (7), W. Brubaker (5)
Stolen Bases: M. Truong 2 (4)
Team LOB: 5
 
Allentown	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	PI	PS	ERA	RECORD
A. Moynihan L	7	4	2	1	1	9	0	93	60	2.60	1-1
R. Starks 	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	17	8	2.57	 
PITCHING
Batters Faced: A. Moynihan 27, R. Starks 4
Ground Balls-Fly Balls: A. Moynihan 9-4, R. Starks 1-1
Game Score: A. Moynihan 71
 
Annapolis	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	PI	PS	ERA	RECORD
A. Schaeffer W	7	5	1	1	4	2	0	103	58	2.84	2-0
L. Casares H	0.1	1	0	0	0	0	0	8	5	4.50	 
R. Rozek S	1.2	0	0	0	0	2	0	14	11	1.59	3 SV
PITCHING
Wild Pitches: A. Schaeffer
Intentional BB: A. Schaeffer
Batters Faced: A. Schaeffer 32, L. Casares 2, R. Rozek 5
Inherited Runners-Scored: R. Rozek 1-0
Ground Balls-Fly Balls: A. Schaeffer 10-7, L. Casares 1-0, R. Rozek 0-3
Game Score: A. Schaeffer 61
 
GAME INFO
Time: 2:54
Attendance: 44957 (45000, 99.9%) at Annapolis Ballpark
Weather: Clear skies (61 degrees), wind blowing right to left at 9 mph
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Adam Schaeffer

[Gastric ReFlux]

Going into game 4, many thought that it was a must-win situation for the Allentown Millers, their manager Leonard Izaguirre included when he said, "Yeah, I think we need to win this game. We need to even things back up, and assure it of going back to our home field. Lopez pitched a great game against us, we need to show them that doesn't matter. We can beat anybody."

Lopez quickly got the first two hitters out, the got careless with a breaking pitch meant for the outside corner against Billy Rhyne. Rhyne went with the pitch and hit high flyball that just carried over the fence in right, finally breaking the string of 16 consecutive hitters Lopez had retired going back to the last game.

It flustered Lopez. Zachary Coil slammed a fastball that caromed off the centerfield wall for a double. Andres Ferrant lined a single to right, and the Millers were ahead 2-0. Lopez nibbled against McGill and McGill walked. It was looking grim, and the raucous crowd had gone silent, seeing their ace struggling.

The lefthanded batting George Baeza hit a hard grounder to the hole between third and short. If not for the great range of Sauceda, it would have been another run for the Millers, and Lopez escaped a harrowing first inning giving up only 2 runs.

After that troubling first, Lopez settled in to match the zeroes that Graham was posting against the Middies.

Annapolis got a run in the fifth when Boris Landeros put a pitch into the leftfield bleachers, cutting the margin in half. Bozek followed that up with a single and Cueva struck out. But with two outs, Neyra singled and Mickey Truong worked a walk to load up the bases. The crowd was deafening, but Graham didn't crack. He struck out Brubaker with a mid-90's fastball, and walked off the mound only one run worse for wear.

Graham had a reputation for tiring early, and the bullpen was told to make ready. So when Sauceda led off the sixth, Izaguirre made the move to the pen and brought in James Tally. Tally would give up a double to Michael Jones that drove in Sauceda, and Jones himself would score on a force play later in the inning. The Middies had surged ahead 3-2, with 3 runs also being their highwater mark in the series for runs scored in a game, thus far.

And Lopez had his game going after that rocky first. After 8 innings, he had thrown only 102 pitches and it looked like he was going to pitch the ninth when David Rowe let Lopez bat for himself in the bottom of the 8th. That's when things took a turn for the strange. Lopez worked full count at the plate, then took a borderline pitch the umpire rung him up on.

The call incensed Rowe. He bounded out of the dugout, issuing a stream of profanities. Something touched a nerve in the ump, and he ejected Rowe, leaving the game in hands of his pitching coach.

The pitching coach proved to have differing thoughts on the 9th. He called the bullpen and asked for the Kitchen Sink. He told Lopez to have a seat, that Rocha would close it out.

The first batter that Rocha had to face was Zachary Coil, and Coil lifted a soft fly to right field. Michael Jones got under it, and then in front of nearly 45,000 fans, dropped it. Coil, who had nearly come to a stop, realized he'd better get running, and just in time, he beat Jones's throw to first. E9 on the stadium scoreboard.

Andres Ferrant lined a single to left following Jones's miscue and the Millers had runners at first and second. Eddie McGill hit a soft fly to shallow right, but Jones had no trouble taking it on the run. George Baeza then flied out to Brubaker, and the fans began to relax. But the catcher Suniga had other ideas, and he lined a single to rightfield, driving home Coil, and knotting the game up at 3 apiece.

It stay tied when Rocha retired Castrejon, and when the Middies couldn't score in the bottom half of the inning, the game went to extra innings.

In the top half of the 11th inning, pinch hitter Hassan Jones hit a 2-run double off the rightfield wall, and Earl Bearce doubled Jones home. Down by 3, the one run the Middies scored in the last atbat wasn't enough, and Allentown had their must win, 6-4.

BOX SCORES Allentown @ Annapolis
Game #: 1635,   (GAME LOG)  , Tuesday, 10/19/1999
 
 
	
 		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	 	R	H	E
Allentown	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	3	 	6	12	0
Annapolis	0	0	0	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	1	 	4	8	1
	
 
 
Allentown	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	AVG	HR	RBI
E. Bearce 2B	6	0	1	1	0	0	0	.139	0	2
T. Segovia 3B	6	0	1	0	0	2	1	.214	0	0
B. Rhyne CF	5	1	2	1	0	0	1	.351	4	10
Z. Coil LF	5	2	2	0	0	1	1	.167	0	2
A. Ferrant SS	5	1	3	1	0	2	1	.176	0	1
E. McGill 1B	4	0	0	0	1	1	3	.235	0	7
G. Baeza RF	4	1	1	0	1	0	4	.188	1	3
D. Suniga C 	4	0	1	1	0	1	1	.200	3	9
1-A. Peraza PH	1	0	0	0	0	1	2	.000	0	0
2-S. Durant C 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
L. Graham P 	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000	0	0
J. Tally P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
3-R. Degnan PH	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	.000	0	0
R. Starks P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
4-G. Castrjn PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	.167	0	0
A. Rosario P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
5-H. Jones PH	1	1	1	2	0	0	0	.391	1	3
J. Shetler P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
Totals		45	6	12	6	2	10	17	.244	135	670
Substitution Notes
1 - A. Peraza pinch hit for D. Suniga in the 11th
2 - S. Durant substituted for A. Peraza in the 11th
3 - R. Degnan pinch hit for J. Tally in the 7th
4 - G. Castrejon pinch hit for R. Starks in the 9th
5 - H. Jones pinch hit for A. Rosario in the 11th
BATTING
Doubles: E. Bearce (2, 11th inning off Casares, 1 on, 2 out.) Z. Coil (3, 1st inning off Lopez, 0 on, 2 out.) H. Jones (1, 11th inning off Casares, 2 on, 2 out.)
Homeruns: B. Rhyne (4, 1st inning off Lopez, 0 on, 2 out.)
Runs Batted In: E. Bearce (2), B. Rhyne (10), A. Ferrant (1), D. Suniga (9), H. Jones 2 (3)
Team LOB: 6

FIELDING
Double Plays: 1 (Ferrant-Bearce-McGill)
 
Annapolis	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	AVG	HR	RBI
B. Landeros LF	3	2	1	1	3	1	1	.294	3	4
R. Bozek C 	5	0	2	1	0	2	2	.139	0	2
1-J. Schmidt PR	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
2-M. Marzano C 	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	.000	0	0
J. Cueva 2B	5	0	1	1	1	2	3	.323	1	4
J. Neyra 3B	5	0	1	0	1	1	2	.189	1	7
M. Truong 1B	2	0	0	0	3	0	3	.357	0	5
W. Brubaker CF	4	0	0	0	1	2	7	.250	1	5
J. Sauceda SS	5	1	2	0	0	2	3	.242	0	3
M. Jones RF	5	1	1	1	0	1	4	.086	0	1
G. Lopez P 	3	0	0	0	0	2	0	.083	0	0
P. Rocha P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
R. Rozek P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
L. Casares P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
3-M. Fishel PH	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.167	0	0
Totals		39	4	8	4	9	15	26	.257	159	745
Substitution Notes
1 - J. Schmidt pinch ran for R. Bozek in the 9th
2 - M. Marzano substituted for J. Schmidt in the 10th
3 - M. Fishel pinch hit for L. Casares in the 11th
BATTING
Doubles: J. Cueva (2, 11th inning off Shetler, 1 on, 2 out.) M. Jones (2, 6th inning off Tally, 1 on, 0 out.)
Homeruns: B. Landeros (3, 5th inning off Graham, 0 on, 1 out.)
Runs Batted In: B. Landeros (4), R. Bozek (2), J. Cueva (4), M. Jones (1)
Stolen Bases: M. Truong 2 (6)
Sacrifice Hits: G. Lopez (1)
Team LOB: 10

FIELDING
Errors: M. Jones
Double Plays: 1 (Sauceda-Cueva-Truong)
 
Allentown	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	PI	PS	ERA	RECORD
L. Graham 	5	5	2	2	5	9	1	107	55	2.05	 
J. Tally 	1	1	1	1	1	0	0	18	11	8.10	 
R. Starks 	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	24	15	2.00	 
A. Rosario W	2	1	0	0	2	3	0	32	16	1.59	2-0
J. Shetler S	1	1	1	1	1	2	0	26	14	1.93	1 SV
PITCHING
Intentional BB: A. Rosario
Batters Faced: L. Graham 25, J. Tally 5, R. Starks 6, A. Rosario 8, J. Shetler 5
Inherited Runners-Scored: J. Tally 1-1
Ground Balls-Fly Balls: L. Graham 4-2, J. Tally 1-1, R. Starks 2-3, A. Rosario 2-0, J. Shetler 0-1
Game Score: L. Graham 53
 
Annapolis	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	PI	PS	ERA	RECORD
G. Lopez 	8	5	2	2	2	9	1	102	60	1.19	 
P. Rocha 	2	3	1	0	0	0	0	29	18	5.79	 
R. Rozek L	0.1	2	2	2	0	0	0	8	5	4.50	1-1
L. Casares 	0.2	2	1	1	0	1	0	9	7	5.79	 
PITCHING
Batters Faced: G. Lopez 30, P. Rocha 10, R. Rozek 3, L. Casares 4
Inherited Runners-Scored: L. Casares 2-2
Ground Balls-Fly Balls: G. Lopez 11-3, P. Rocha 1-5, R. Rozek 0-1, L. Casares 0-1
Game Score: G. Lopez 71
 
GAME INFO
Time: 4:28
Attendance: 44969 (45000, 99.9%) at Annapolis Ballpark
Weather: Clear skies (54 degrees), wind blowing in from left at 9 mph
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Andres Ferrant
Game Notes:
David Rowe was ejected in the 8th inning! Robert Rozek was injured while pitching.

[Vris]

Check.

[Gastric ReFlux]

"So what did you think of that manager Rowe getting himself kicked out of the game yesterday."

"Strange stuff." Out in the backyard, a mockingbird lifted its tail, then took off for the woods.

"I think it shows that Rowe has a short fuse. No real sense in getting kicked out over your pitcher being called on strikes."

"Yeah, no argument here. But didn't it just get stranger after that?"

A neighbor's dog barked.

"Stranger than an alien's tentacle shake, I'd say. You'd think the coach who took over would follow through on Rowe's decision to let pitch the ninth. Instead, he brought in Rocha."

"You don't think Rowe would have brought in Rocha? Nah, it would have made no sense. No sense at all."

"I agree."

A light breeze tickled some maple leaves.

"I don't know how Jones dropped that ball."

"To be fair, if Jones hadn't dropped it, we probably wouldn't be wondering so much about taking Lopez out."

"Yeah, probably. But I still think it would have been odd enough to mention."

"Hey Joe, why are there never any rainouts?"

[Gastric ReFlux]

If game 4 had been a must win, the spikes were on the other foot, or in the other leg, or something for game 5. Annapolis had just seen a loss in heartbreaking fashion the day prior, and the prospect of going to Allentown needing to win two seemed daunting. David Rowe closed down all media interaction. The sign posted on the clubhouse door simply said, "KEEP OUT, WHOEVER YOU MAY BE!"

The outlook wasn't favorable. The Middies weren't hitting, and they'd be sending Henriques to the mound. Gonzalo had gotten blown apart in game two, and some worried that his confidence was completely shaken after his sixth inning meltdown.

There was a smattering of boos around the park when rightfielder Michael Jones was introduced in the starting lineups.

A few drops of rain splattered down at the start of play. Henriques, to the relief of fans and the manager, pitched an easy 1-2-3 inning. Fans figured the heavy wet air should maybe help Gonzalo's breaking stuff, and would probably keep any mistakes inside the ballpark.

It was something of a surprise then when the catcher, Richard Bozek, got hold of a fastball from Pearson, hitting it solidly a few rows back into the rightfield stands. Bozek had come into the game hitting a paltry .139 in the postseason and he'd hit only 4 homers during the regular season. Now he'd given Annapolis the early lead, and the fans cheered.

Allentown squared things up in the top of the third. Pearson helped his own cause by bunting Segovia to second base, then Earl Bearce got a two out single back up through the middle. Gonzale Henriques' foot had slid on him when delivering that pitch to Bearce, and it looked that if he hadn't fallen badly he might have had a chance to stop the ball from getting through. As if to add insult, it thereupon rained a bit harder.

And the rain, bit by bit, picked up in intensity, and after Jose Neyra grounded out to shortstop to end the third inning, the umpiring crew halted the game and the groundcrew rolled out the tarp. Finally, a little over an hour after suspending play, the game resumed on top of a wet field.

Henriques looked tight after play resumed. He walked Billy Rhynes, and hit Dennis Suniga in the top half of the 4th. Rowe judged that Henriques wasn't going to loosen up again, and would send Mohammed Fishel to pinch hit for Gonzalo in the bottom half of the inning. There were tense moments in that half of the inning when Pearson plunked Brubaker with a fastball. Brubaker got up and stared down Pearson; Pearson lifted his arms as if to say, well, it's hard to say, and such ambiguous gestures looked almost to be a match to the powderkeg. But the umpire sternly warned Brubaker and Pearson, and the inning closed with no further incidents.

Pearson would get pinch hit for the next inning he was up as well. Both teams had lost their starting pitchers after only 4 innings of work. The game was even, it would be decided by the bullpens.

So Rowe called upon Zubiaga to soak up some innings. But after getting getting Segovia to ground out to shortstop, Zubiaga shook his arm and then grabbed it. The trainer came out to examine him, and the decision was made that Zubiaga was too hurt to continue. So on came Alex Solis, a junkballer who relied mostly on his slider and change to keep batters off balance. He would end up keeping them off balance through the seventh inning.

The bottom half of the seventh started off tamely. 8th hitter Jones struck out for the second time in the game, and got booed a bit more. The pinch hitter James Walthall, hitting for Solis, grounded out to second. Boris Landeros then lined a pitch into the rightfield gap, and chugged into second with a two-out double. Richard Bozek singled, driving home his second run of the game, and for the second time, gave the Middies a one-run lead.

Lucas Casares and Pascual Rocha combined to take care of Allentown in the 8th inning. For the 9th, David Rowe called upon young Sammy Salinas to save it, the last arm he had in the bullpen because the closer Rozek had been taken out the game before with a hurting elbow. Salinas gave up a leadoff single, then got Ferrant to fly out. Thomas Segovia hit a fly ball down the rightfield line and it was falling quickly. Michael Jones, the goat of the day before, made a catch on the dead run, following it up with enough presence to stop, and fire the ball back in to prevent any attempt to move to second base.

Salinas then faced Hassan Jones, who had hit the double to drive home 2 the day before. Trying to get in on Jones's fists, he got too far inside and hit Jones. Finally, Salinas was able to get Earl Bearce to hit a groundball to short, which Sauceda and Cueva turned into a force play at second.

Annapolis 2, Allentown 1. Annapolis's third win when scoring only 2 runs.

BOX SCORES Allentown @ Annapolis
Game #: 1636,   (GAME LOG)  , Wednesday, 10/20/1999
 
 
	
 		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	 	R	H	E
Allentown	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	 	1	7	0
Annapolis	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	X	 	2	7	0
	
 
 
Allentown	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	AVG	HR	RBI
E. Bearce 2B	5	0	1	1	0	0	4	.146	0	3
G. Baeza RF	4	0	0	0	0	1	1	.167	1	3
B. Rhyne CF	3	0	1	0	1	1	0	.350	4	10
1-G. Castrjn CF	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.167	0	0
Z. Coil LF	4	0	1	0	0	1	2	.175	0	2
E. McGill 1B	4	0	1	0	0	1	3	.237	0	7
D. Suniga C 	3	0	1	0	0	0	1	.211	3	9
A. Ferrant SS	3	0	1	0	1	1	3	.189	0	1
T. Segovia 3B	4	1	1	0	0	0	2	.222	0	0
D. Pearson P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333	0	0
2-R. Degnan PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
J. Tally P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
3-A. Peraza PH	1	0	0	0	0	1	2	.000	0	0
R. Starks P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
J. Shetler P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
4-H. Jones PH	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.391	1	3
Totals		32	1	7	1	2	6	18	.244	135	670
Substitution Notes
1 - G. Castrejon pinch ran for B. Rhyne in the 8th
2 - R. Degnan pinch hit for D. Pearson in the 5th
3 - A. Peraza pinch hit for J. Tally in the 7th
4 - H. Jones pinch hit for J. Shetler in the 9th
BATTING
Runs Batted In: E. Bearce (3)
Sacrifice Hits: D. Pearson (4)
Team LOB: 6

FIELDING
Double Plays: 1 (Bearce-Ferrant-McGill)
 
Annapolis	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	AVG	HR	RBI
B. Landeros LF	4	1	2	0	0	0	0	.316	3	4
R. Bozek C 	4	1	2	2	0	0	1	.175	1	4
J. Cueva 2B	3	0	0	0	1	1	1	.294	1	4
J. Neyra 3B	4	0	1	0	0	0	3	.195	1	7
M. Truong 1B	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	.367	0	5
W. Brubaker CF	3	0	0	0	0	0	4	.229	1	5
J. Sauceda SS	4	0	1	0	0	0	1	.243	0	3
M. Jones RF	3	0	0	0	0	2	2	.079	0	1
G. Henriques P 	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
1-M. Fishel PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	.143	0	0
F. Zubiaga P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
A. Solis P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
2-J. Walthall PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.200	0	0
L. Casares P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
P. Rocha P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
S. Salinas P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
Totals		30	2	7	2	1	3	14	.257	159	745
Substitution Notes
1 - M. Fishel pinch hit for G. Henriques in the 4th
2 - J. Walthall pinch hit for A. Solis in the 7th
BATTING
Doubles: B. Landeros (3, 7th inning off Starks, 0 on, 2 out.)
Homeruns: R. Bozek (1, 1st inning off Pearson, 0 on, 1 out.)
Runs Batted In: R. Bozek 2 (4)
Team LOB: 2

FIELDING
Double Plays: 1 (Sauceda-Cueva-Truong)
 
Allentown	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	PI	PS	ERA	RECORD
D. Pearson 	4	4	1	1	0	2	1	49	32	2.79	 
J. Tally 	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	20	10	5.06	 
R. Starks L	1	2	1	1	1	1	0	24	12	2.70	1-1
J. Shetler 	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	12	6	1.59	 
PITCHING
Batters Faced: D. Pearson 18, J. Tally 7, R. Starks 6, J. Shetler 3
Ground Balls-Fly Balls: D. Pearson 6-4, J. Tally 4-2, R. Starks 1-1, J. Shetler 2-0
Game Score: D. Pearson 52
 
Annapolis	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	PI	PS	ERA	RECORD
G. Henriques 	4	3	1	1	1	3	0	50	28	12.10	 
F. Zubiaga 	0.1	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	2	3.12	 
A. Solis W	2.2	2	0	0	1	2	0	37	19	0.00	1-0
L. Casares H	0.1	1	0	0	0	1	0	9	6	5.40	 
P. Rocha H	0.2	0	0	0	0	0	0	9	5	5.06	 
S. Salinas S	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	10	7	0.00	1 SV
PITCHING
Batters Faced: G. Henriques 16, F. Zubiaga 1, A. Solis 11, L. Casares 2, P. Rocha 2, S. Salinas 5
Inherited Runners-Scored: P. Rocha 1-0
Ground Balls-Fly Balls: G. Henriques 6-1, F. Zubiaga 1-0, A. Solis 3-3, L. Casares 0-0, P. Rocha 1-1, S. Salinas 1-2
Game Score: G. Henriques 54
 
GAME INFO
Time: 3:01
Attendance: 44974 (45000, 99.9%) at Annapolis Ballpark
Weather: Rain (60 degrees), wind blowing right to left at 9 mph
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Richard Bozek
Game Notes:
63 minute rain delay in 4th inning. Felipe Zubiaga was injured while pitching.

[Gastric ReFlux]

And once again, the shoe had gone back on the other foot. Now Allentown needed to win. Win, yeah, or it was over. A team that the front office had publically stated in August should win, a team whose payroll suggested they had plenty of talent. Now after 5 games in the Series, Annapolis had squeaked out 3 wins and needed just one more to close things out.

Game 6 in Allentown was going to be a rematch of the Game 3 starters, Allentown's Moynihan and Annapolis's Schaeffer. The game was still nothing-nothing after 3.5 innings. Moynihan had been walking batters, but the Middies weren't able to get timely hits.

Allentown struck in the bottom of the fourth against Schaeffer. George Baeza led off with a single, and after Billy Rhyne hit a ball dee to right but caught, Zachary Coil got all of a hanging curveball from Schaeffer. It landed in the leftfield bleachers well over the wall, and Allentown had a 2-0 lead.

In the top half of the 5th, Moynihan set the Middies down in order, but looked clearly to be tiring after a putting up a line that had 6 K's along with 5 walks. Izaguirre decided to pinch hit for Moynihan in the bottom of the inning, and let the bullpen handle things.

James Tally came on in the 6th, and had no troubles. Things were looking good for Allentown and bad for Annapolis when the seventh inning rolled around. But sometimes when things are least likely to happen, that's when they happen.

The seventh place hitter James Sauceda lined a pitch down into the rightfield corner for a double. Michael Jones then hit a grounder to the right side and Earl Bearce. It would have moved Sauceda to third anyway, but Annapolis got a bonus when Bearce couldn't handle it cleanly. Jones was safe at first and the Middies had runners on the corners with nobody out.

A pinch hitter for the pitcher then hit into a forceout, giving Annapolis its first run. Fishel took a good lead off first, and was running on the first pitch. Suniga's throw to second was wild and went into centerfield, that allowed Fishel to move to third base on the play. Boris Landeros then hit a flyball deep to left and Annapolis had tied it up at 2.

Allentown came back to get a run in the bottom of the 7th and take a 3-2 lead. It didn't last long when Annapolis got another run home using a single, double and a sac fly to tie it up again. The rest of the eighth was uneventful, although Annapolis was running out of bullpen relief, already down two arms due to the injuries to Rozek and Zubiaga in the games down in Annapolis.

Finally, by the ninth inning had rolled around, the game tied, the crowd yelling loudly, 20 year old Sammy Salinas was again pitching. He held up in the ninth, even after giving up a leadoff double to the pinch hitting Casterjon. Casterjon was moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Hassan Jones. With one out and a runner on third, Allentown looked to be sitting pretty against the youngster Salinas. But Salinas calmly struck out Earl Bearce, and then George Baeza flied out to the track in right. The game went to extra innings.

Salinas had survived that leadoff double in the ninth, and gave up another one in the tenth. The order was given to walk Coil, who had homered back in the fourth. With runners on first and second, Eddie McGill, the hero of the Penn League Championship Series, delivered a single to right that scored Billy Rhyne from second. Allentown had won, 4-3, and leveled the Series at 3 games each.

It was going to game 7.

BOX SCORES Annapolis @ Allentown
Game #: 1637,   (GAME LOG)  , Friday, 10/22/1999
 
 
	
 		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	 	R	H	E
Annapolis	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	 	3	6	0
Allentown	0	0	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	1	 	4	11	2
	
 
 
Annapolis	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	AVG	HR	RBI
B. Landeros LF	3	0	1	1	1	1	0	.317	3	5
R. Bozek C 	5	0	1	0	0	1	2	.178	1	4
J. Cueva 2B	4	0	0	0	1	1	2	.263	1	4
J. Neyra 3B	3	0	0	0	2	1	2	.182	1	7
M. Truong 1B	5	1	1	0	0	1	5	.343	0	5
W. Brubaker CF	2	0	1	0	2	0	1	.243	1	5
J. Sauceda SS	3	1	1	1	0	0	3	.250	0	4
M. Jones RF	4	0	1	0	0	1	3	.095	0	1
A. Schaeffer P 	2	0	0	0	0	1	2	.000	0	0
1-M. Fishel PH	1	1	0	1	0	0	1	.125	0	1
A. Solis P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
P. Rocha P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
L. Casares P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
2-J. Schmidt PH	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000	0	0
S. Salinas P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
Totals		33	3	6	3	6	8	21	.257	159	745
Substitution Notes
1 - M. Fishel pinch hit for A. Schaeffer in the 7th
2 - J. Schmidt pinch hit for L. Casares in the 9th
BATTING
Doubles: W. Brubaker (1, 8th inning off Ventura, 1 on, 1 out.) J. Sauceda (4, 7th inning off Tally, 0 on, 0 out.) M. Jones (3, 4th inning off Moynihan, 0 on, 2 out.)
Runs Batted In: B. Landeros (5), J. Sauceda (4), M. Fishel (1)
Stolen Bases: B. Landeros (1), W. Brubaker (1), M. Fishel (1)
Sacrifice Flies: B. Landeros (1), J. Sauceda (1)
Team LOB: 6

FIELDING
Double Plays: 1 (Sauceda-Cueva-Truong)
 
Allentown	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	AVG	HR	RBI
E. Bearce 2B	4	0	1	0	1	1	2	.156	0	3
G. Baeza RF	5	1	2	0	0	0	5	.195	1	3
B. Rhyne CF	4	1	1	0	1	1	2	.341	4	10
Z. Coil LF	4	1	1	2	1	1	2	.182	1	4
E. McGill 1B	5	1	3	1	0	0	0	.279	0	8
D. Suniga C 	3	0	0	0	1	1	2	.195	3	9
A. Ferrant SS	4	0	1	0	0	1	4	.195	0	1
T. Segovia 3B	3	0	1	0	0	0	1	.238	0	0
1-G. Castrjn 3B	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	.286	0	0
A. Moynihan P 	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000	0	0
2-R. Degnan PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
J. Tally P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
J. Shetler P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
3-A. Peraza PH	0	0	0	1	0	0	2	.000	0	1
F. Ventura P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
4-H. Jones PH	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.391	1	3
A. Rosario P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
Totals		35	4	11	4	4	6	20	.244	135	670
Substitution Notes
1 - G. Castrejon pinch hit for T. Segovia in the 9th
2 - R. Degnan pinch hit for A. Moynihan in the 5th
3 - A. Peraza pinch hit for J. Shetler in the 7th
4 - H. Jones pinch hit for F. Ventura in the 9th
BATTING
Doubles: B. Rhyne (2, 10th inning off Salinas, 0 on, 0 out.) G. Castrejon (1, 9th inning off Salinas, 0 on, 0 out.)
Homeruns: Z. Coil (1, 4th inning off Schaeffer, 1 on, 1 out.)
Runs Batted In: Z. Coil 2 (4), E. McGill (8), A. Peraza (1)
Sacrifice Hits: H. Jones (1)
Sacrifice Flies: A. Peraza (1)
Team LOB: 8

FIELDING
Errors: D. Suniga, E. Bearce
Double Plays: 2 (Ferrant-Bearce-McGill, McGill-Ferrant-McGill)
 
Annapolis	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	PI	PS	ERA	RECORD
A. Schaeffer 	6	5	2	2	0	3	1	67	40	2.88	 
A. Solis 	1	2	1	1	3	0	0	32	14	2.25	 
P. Rocha 	0.1	0	0	0	0	1	0	4	3	4.77	 
L. Casares 	0.2	1	0	0	0	1	0	9	7	4.77	 
S. Salinas L	1	3	1	1	1	1	0	27	12	1.80	0-1
PITCHING
Intentional BB: S. Salinas
Batters Faced: A. Schaeffer 22, A. Solis 8, P. Rocha 1, L. Casares 3, S. Salinas 7
Inherited Runners-Scored: P. Rocha 1-0, L. Casares 1-0
Ground Balls-Fly Balls: A. Schaeffer 8-6, A. Solis 1-2, P. Rocha 0-0, L. Casares 1-0, S. Salinas 0-1
Game Score: A. Schaeffer 57
 
Allentown	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	PI	PS	ERA	RECORD
A. Moynihan 	5	2	0	0	5	6	0	89	49	2.01	 
J. Tally 	1.2	1	2	1	1	0	0	25	13	5.14	 
J. Shetler 	0.1	1	0	0	0	0	0	10	5	1.50	 
F. Ventura 	2	2	1	1	0	1	0	25	15	6.43	 
A. Rosario W	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	8	6	1.35	3-0
PITCHING
Batters Faced: A. Moynihan 21, J. Tally 7, J. Shetler 2, F. Ventura 8, A. Rosario 3
Ground Balls-Fly Balls: A. Moynihan 3-5, J. Tally 3-2, J. Shetler 0-1, F. Ventura 2-3, A. Rosario 2-0
Game Score: A. Moynihan 64
 
GAME INFO
Time: 3:49
Attendance: 44968 (45000, 99.9%) at Allentown Ballpark
Weather: Partly cloudy (53 degrees), wind blowing in from right at 11 mph
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Alfred Moynihan

[canadiancreed]

whatever youre smoking, I want some

and intresting idea, although now you've increased my travel time from eight hours to a few eons

[Gastric ReFlux]

Both sides would be wearing the same shoes, finally. It was win or lose, and there would be no game tomorrow or the next day. Ace versus ace, the third go-round for Graham and Lopez. Annapolis had won the first time out, and Allentown had won the second time, taking extra innings to do it. If this was what the aliens had been hoping for in removing a three state landmass from Earth, they'd gotten their wishes. But it was hard to say, and the aliens weren't presently saying.

Annapolis struck quickly in the top half of the first. After Graham go the first two batters out, Joseph Cueva drew a walk and Jose Neyra lined a pitch down the leftfield line to score Cueva from first. Joseph Cueva would do more damage in the 3rd, when he followed up Richard Bozek's single by hitting his second homer of the postseason to dead centerfield. For the first time, Annapolis held a lead of more than two runs. Meanwhile, Allentown got single singles in the first 3 innings but nothing more against Lopez.

Other than those glitches in the first and third innings, Graham had good stuff and he was piling up the strikeouts. In the top half of the fifth, he struck out two batters and ran his total to 10 K's after 5 innings. As if to show off a bit, George Lopez answered by striking out the side in the bottom of the inning, blowing away, in order, McGill, Baeza, and Suniga, which gave Lopez 6 strikeouts after 5 innings.

Down three after six innings, Graham got pinch hit for in the bottom of the sixth. He left the game having struck out 11 Middies, an otherwise strong performance despite giving up those runs.

The Millers just couldn't do anything against Lopez. Thomas Segovia got their fourth single of the game against him in the bottom of the sixth, and as it turned out, their last. Lopez would retire without incident the last 10 batters the Allentown nine would send to the plate, and this game nobody was taking Lopez off the mound. Lopez fanned 11 batters and was never really threatened by Allentown in any serious way. Annapolis won easily, 4-0, and claimed the first championship between the two leagues.

BOX SCORES Annapolis @ Allentown
Game #: 1638,   (GAME LOG)  , Saturday, 10/23/1999
 
 
	
 		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	 	R	H	E
Annapolis	1	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	 	4	6	0
Allentown	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	 	0	4	0
	
 
 
Annapolis	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	AVG	HR	RBI
B. Landeros LF	4	0	0	0	0	2	1	.289	3	5
R. Bozek C 	4	1	1	0	0	3	1	.184	1	4
J. Cueva 2B	3	2	2	2	1	0	0	.293	2	6
J. Neyra 3B	4	0	1	1	0	0	1	.188	1	8
M. Truong 1B	3	0	0	0	1	1	1	.316	0	5
W. Brubaker CF	4	0	0	0	0	3	3	.220	1	5
J. Sauceda SS	4	1	1	0	0	2	0	.250	0	4
M. Jones RF	4	0	1	1	0	1	0	.109	0	2
G. Lopez P 	3	0	0	0	0	2	0	.067	0	0
Totals		33	4	6	4	2	14	7	.257	159	745
BATTING
Doubles: J. Neyra (3, 1st inning off Graham, 1 on, 2 out.)
Triples: J. Sauceda (1, 7th inning off Ventura, 0 on, 0 out.)
Homeruns: J. Cueva (2, 3rd inning off Graham, 1 on, 1 out.)
Runs Batted In: J. Cueva 2 (6), J. Neyra (8), M. Jones (2)
Team LOB: 6

FIELDING
Double Plays: 2 (Sauceda-Cueva, Sauceda-Cueva-Truong)
 
Allentown	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	AVG	HR	RBI
E. Bearce 2B	3	0	0	0	1	2	1	.146	0	3
T. Segovia 3B	4	0	1	0	0	2	2	.240	0	0
B. Rhyne CF	4	0	1	0	0	1	1	.333	4	10
Z. Coil LF	3	0	0	0	0	0	2	.170	1	4
A. Ferrant SS	3	0	1	0	0	1	0	.205	0	1
E. McGill 1B	3	0	0	0	0	1	1	.261	0	8
G. Baeza RF	3	0	0	0	0	1	1	.182	1	3
D. Suniga C 	3	0	1	0	0	2	0	.205	3	9
L. Graham P 	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	0	0
1-R. Degnan PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
F. Ventura P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
2-H. Jones PH	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.375	1	3
J. Shetler P 	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0
Totals		29	0	4	0	1	11	9	.244	135	670
Substitution Notes
1 - R. Degnan pinch hit for L. Graham in the 6th
2 - H. Jones pinch hit for F. Ventura in the 8th
BATTING
Team LOB: 0
 
Annapolis	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	PI	PS	ERA	RECORD
G. Lopez W	9	4	0	0	1	11	0	108	69	0.92	3-0
PITCHING
Batters Faced: G. Lopez 30
Ground Balls-Fly Balls: G. Lopez 9-5
Game Score: G. Lopez 89
 
Allentown	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	PI	PS	ERA	RECORD
L. Graham L	6	4	3	3	2	11	1	101	60	2.57	0-3
F. Ventura 	2	2	1	1	0	2	0	28	20	6.00	 
J. Shetler 	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	10	7	1.29	 
PITCHING
Batters Faced: L. Graham 24, F. Ventura 8, J. Shetler 3
Ground Balls-Fly Balls: L. Graham 4-3, F. Ventura 2-2, J. Shetler 1-1
Game Score: L. Graham 61
 
GAME INFO
Time: 3:02
Attendance: 44959 (45000, 99.9%) at Allentown Ballpark
Weather: Clear skies (57 degrees), wind blowing out to left at 14 mph
PLAYER OF THE GAME: George Lopez

Along with the Championship Trophy, after the game, George Lopez was declared the Series MVP for his pitching performance.

[Gastric ReFlux]

"That was a pretty good Series."

"Yeah, Lopez made a name for himself with it. At least Rowe let him finish that final game."

Deep beyond the woods behind the house, a brook babbled on.

"I hope it kept the alien overlords happy."

"I'd guess so, but it's impossible to tell, isn't it?"

"You know, Joe, it's like that science fiction writer said..."

"'Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.'"

"Right. I mean, what do we know about them except they can seemingly do almost anything..."

"Well, they can't seem to beat whoever it is they're fighting in this intergalactic pandimensional war whatnot."

"So what does that mean?"

"I don't know. Is it all right if I say I don't know?"

"I don't know. You got me on that."

A pause. Reflection. A soy possum scuttled across the lawn.

"Who'll win the MVP in the Delmar League?"

"I'm guessing Clark."