Series 5 Part 3

QEY 6, TEN 0 F

                1              2              3              4              5              6              7              8              9

QEY        0              0              2              0              0              0              0              0              4           

TEN        0              0              0              0              0              0              0              0              0              

W – Mulder (1-1)                   L – Piniero (0-3)                  S – Lopez (1)                   

Both teams were hungry for win in this one, with the Green Sox trying to end a 4 game skid and the Warriors trying to climb back up the ranks of Division 1. It was certainly billed to be an interesting matchup with both team’s aces taking the mound. In the early innings, both pitchers looked strong, with Mulder giving up only one hit through four. Piniero however ran into trouble in the third, where Ellis Burks knocked in two RBIs with a double, thanks again to smart baserunning from Luis Castillo enabling him to score from first. After that, both starters went into lockdown mode and totally shut out their opponents. Mulder was pulled in the eighth after a leadoff double, but the Green Sox were prevented by infringing on the Warriors tenuous two run lead by reliever Javier Lopez. Tenbil Town kept Piniero in the game in through the ninth, simply because the Green Sox bullpen was desperate for some rest. The good news is that the Green Sox relievers did get the rest they needed. The bad news is that the ninth was just a bit too much for Piniero, who despite his good performance up to that point, had racked up a fairly large pitch count. As a result, Ellis Burks struck once again, doubling in another two runs. Cliff Floyd followed with an RBI single, and Frank Catalonotto knocked in the last run with a sacrifice fly. In the bottom of the ninth, Javier Lopez returned to the mound to secure the two inning save. He struggled right away, and it looked like the Green Sox were finally going to get on the board when the Queynos defense came up big. With the bases loaded and nobody out, the struggling Magglio Ordonez grounded out into a double play, thanks to an excellent decision to throw home by shortstop Carlos Guillen. That brought DH Jorge Posada to the plate, who smacked Lopez’s first pitch on a beeline down the third baseline. It surely would have been a double if not for an amazing diving grab by third baseman Edgardo Alfonzo and an even more amazing throw to first in time to get Posada out and end the game. After the game, John Kruk had this to comment about the Green Sox fifth straight loss “It’s sad, but they really are much better than their 3-6 record shows. Three of the losses on this streak were by only 1 run. The pitching of course could be better, but that’s not really a glaring issue for this team. But unfortunately that’s just the way life is in this league. Good often isn’t always good enough. So my heart goes out to this hard working team. I will eat an entire funnel cake in their honor this evening.” I don’t think this team ever expected to see their 620 point ace pitcher with an 0-3 record, but he Green Sox luckily have a lull in the schedule when they take on the hapless Bombers next series, which is a golden opportunity to put some more wins in the W column. As for the Warriors, Queynos fans are riding high after the team’s first sweep of the year. The obvious weakness of this team is the bullpen, but the starting pitching is solid and this team is one of the best baserunning teams in the league. The offense really seems to be the x-factor here; if Ellis Burks continues having an All Star caliber season and Frank Catalonotto keeps being one of the most dangerous baserunners in the league, then they will be in good shape as they try to climb back up the ranks of Division 1.

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ZSY 8, STL 4  F

                1              2              3              4              5              6              7              8              9

ZSY         0              0              2              0              0              0              5              1              0           

STL         0              0              0              1              0              0              0              0              3              

W – Wells (3-0)                   L – Smith (0-2)

        

I don’t think anyone would have picked Kip Wells to have been the first pitcher in the league to reach three wins; I also don’t think most people would be consider him a candidate for Cy Young at any point of the season either. If you were really high on the Z-Slayer offense, you might have made a case for the wins issue, but the truth of the matter is that Wells has earned every bit of his three wins. In this contest, he pitched most of the game with just a one run lead, clearly keeping the Cardinals off balance up and down the lineup. He handled Larry Walker very carefully, intentionally walking him once and unintentionally walking him twice. Otherwise, most of the Cardinals offense came from CF Ray Lankford and SS Edgar Renteria, who put the Cardinals on the board in the 4^th with an RBI double thanks to his silver slugger icon. Cardinals starter Bud Smith had a meltdown in the seventh when a series of doubles from Ken Harvey and Jeff Cirillo increased the Z-Slayer lead to three. The deathblow came when catcher Jason Larue homered in another three runs, bringing the score to 8-1. Reliever/ secondary closer Jason Isringhausen 03 also had trouble and couldn’t keep the Z-Slayers off the board. Kip Wells started the ninth with the comfortable seven run lead, but very quickly got into trouble. He surrendred one run and was pulled with two men on base. Reliever Danny Patterson entered the game and promptly allowed the two baserunners to score, spoiling what would have been Wells’ third quality start. The Cardinals threatened to score more, but Patterson managed to eke out the inning and finish the game in the Z-Slayers favor. Overall this was an excellent series, with two teams in the playoff hunt really duking it out. With a Cy Young candidate in the form of Kip Wells and MVP candidates in the form of Jack Wilson and Albert Pujols, the Z-Slayers have established themselves as a force to be reckoned with in Division 1. As for the Cardinals, just when you think they are about to string together a couple of big wins, something like this happens. For Larry Walker’s club, inconsistency is their new normal. With Tenbil Town and Melmegetia both struggling, they will look to solidify their number 3 spot in Division 2 with a very tough matchup next week against Red Clay.
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RED 0, MMD 12  F

                1              2              3              4              5              6              7              8              9

RED         0              0              0              0              0              0              0              0              0           

MMD      8              0              0              0              0              0              0              4              0   

W - Pavano (1-1)                    L - Buehrle (0-2)

Mark Buehrle has had a difficult year so far, but he went so far as to put out the worst performance by a pitcher so far this season, giving up six runs before recording a single out in the first. Meow Meower Miguel Tejada  \kicked off the scoring with a bases loaded double walk, which was followed by a Eric Chavez double, then a Bernie Williams double, then a Scott Hatteberg double.  Red Clay reliever Travis Harper struggled in relief allowing two further runs to score that were tagged to Buehrle as men he had left on base. To his defense though, the Red Clay defense was absolutely horrendous in this game, failing to turn a single double play from five different opportunities. Reigning Cy Young winner and MMD starter Carl Pavano was in top form this game after being publicly attacked by Coach Taklamente after his last start, a disastrous blowout against the Tycoons. In this game Pavano was out for blood, and kept the normally vivacious bats of the Aces at bay for a full 9 innings. He did have frequent help from the defense, which preserved the shutout when Eric Chavez threw out a tagging Tom Goodwin at home plate in the top of the 8th. In the bottom of the eighth, Meow Meow Dui taked on some insurance runs, in the form of a 2 run double by former Darkpaw Aaron Rowand and a two run homer by Gregg Zaun. For the Aces this snaps a three game win streak, while the win for Coach Taklamentes squad keeps them close to the top of the extremely fast paced Division 1 standings.