Series 5 Finale

AXN 5, MAX 4 F

                1              2              3              4              5              6              7              8              9

AXN        0              0              0              0              5              0              0              0              0           

MAX       0              0              1              1              0              0              1              1              0              

W – Zito (2-0)                   L – Halladay (0-1)                  S – Kolb (3)

Both starters looked on point early. Longtime Darkpaw Barry Zito was nearly perfect before he gave up a solo homerun to Bengie "Don't Make Fun of My Speed" Molina in the third, and another solo homerun to Tony Clark in the fifth, his first RBI of the season. The Darkpaws responded with a 2 out rally in the fifth, culminating in a Hank Blalock three run shot. He has homered in his first two career games now, and otherwise had a very solid showing at the plate in this one, going 3-4 with a walk. Halladay settled down and pitched well through the eighth. Zito was replaced in the seventh by Satoru Komiyama who worked into a jam but managed to escape with giving up only one run. Coach Gorrister sent him out again in the eighth, and things began to get interesting when he immediately surrendered a solo homerun to Jeff "Automatic Out" Kent. This lead to a very tense bottom of the ninth, where Darkpaw closer was called upon to collect the save. Despite pitching in two straight games, he managed to earn his second straight save and third of the season. This is the second straight Darkpaw win of the season, their third overall of the season, and their first sweep. If there ever was an opponent to energize this team, it was the Bombers. We'll see if Blalock and crew can keep the momentum in a brutal matchup next week against the Z-Slayers. As for the Bombers, not much to say after an eigth straight loss. Richie Ashburn was 0-5 in this contest, a shame because it was Assburn Bobblehead Night at the stadium, which featured an innovated bobblehead design that bobbles also on the...er...assburned side...

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MEL 4, LIN 5       F/12

                1              2              3              4              5              6              7             8              9          10          11          12

MEL       0              3              0              1              0              0              0              0              0            0            0             0

LIN         4              0              0              0              0              0              0              0              0            0            0             1    

W – Nen (1-1)                   L – Pollitte (0-1)                 

This one looked like it was going to get ugly early for Moyer and the Marauders; the twin threat of the JERKY QUEEN offense struck powerfully in the bottom of the first with Manny Ramirez unleashing an RBI double that was immediately followed by Rondell White’s third homerun of the year, a three run shot. But Lindsyan ace Josh Beckett really struggled in the inning immediately succeeding, surrendering an ugly three run rally to the bottom half of the Marauder lineup. Scott Rolen tied things up for the Marauders in the top of the fourth when he took Beckett deep, also his third long ball this year. After that Beckett was back to his prime form, and was quite dominant through seven. Season 1 Cy Young winner Jamie Moyer was good enough to keep the Lindsyans off the board also through seven, but he was not without his own struggles, working out of a bases loaded jam in the seventh. Thus commenced another battle of bullpens: Jelly Bean sent out her star reliever Steve Karsay, who is starting to be mentioned in Cy Young conversations, unprecedented for a reliever. Karsay put out an unbelievable performance, pitching 4 and 2/3s innings, surrendering only two hits. Had he pitched one more out, he would have received his third win of the year. For the Marauders, Buddy Groom entered the game in relief of Moyer and had to work out of jams in both innings that he pitched; the Lindsyans were an atrocious 0-5 with runners in scoring position in the late innings of this game, blowing multiple opportunities to end this one. The game looked like it was going to drag on for a while until Lindsyan third baseman Jeff “Silly” Cirillo homered off of Cliff Pollitte’s first pitch in the bottom of the twelfth. The walk off win puts the JELLY QUEENDREAM TEAM back in winning territory with a 5-4 record and at a very interesting position in Division 1; currently at 4th place, but only 1   and ½ games back of first place. Next week is the second battle of Cat teams when they face off against Division rivals Meow Meow Dui. A good performance in that series could have far reaching effects as far as standings are concerned. As for the Marauders, the team’s performance has absolutely improved as of late although this sweep at the hands of the Lindsyans is certainly a setback. But Doctor Vindaloo’s faith in his team is not shaken; he’s been active in the media making all sorts of guarantees that his team will make the playoffs. His latest claim is that he will promise to convert bleacher seating in the Melmegetia Municipal Stadium into a full scale replica of an elbow of the Ganges River. 
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TYC 0, BOB 1 F

                1              2              3              4              5              6              7              8              9

TYC         0              0              0              0              0              0              0              0              0           

BOB        0              0              0              0              0              0              0              1              0  

W - Seaver (1-0)                   L - Johnson (1-1)                    S - Fingers (1)

Tom Seaver had a lot to live up to in his first career start; the Bobians were riding a five game win streak, Bobian starters had chained together an incredible string of 8 quality starts, and Roy Halladay and Tom "Schutzstafel" Glavine both put up two of the best starts in the entire league to date. No less against the ace starter of the number one team in Division 2. Although it was close, I think it's safe to say that Seaver lived up to expectations. Although he faced bases loaded jams at three different instances, he managed to pitch a relatively solid eight innings. He gave up probably a few more hits than Greg Maddux might have wanted, but eight innings of shut out baseball against a two time champion is nothing to complain about in your first career start. Randy Johnson turned it into a real pitching dual, really only getting into trouble twice. On the second instance, Luis Aparicio stole two bases, his league leading ninth and tenth., leading to a situation where the Bobians had a speedy runner on third with nobody out. Johnson looked like he was going to get out of it after retiring Ichiro and Edgar "Fredgar" Martinez, but Travis Hafner certainly had other ideas, and brought Aparacio home with a double. One run was all the Bobians needed when they turned over the game to Rollie Fingers in the ninth, who went 1-2-3 through the top of the Tycoon order. While the Bobians now take a commanding league of Division 1 with the best record in either league, the Tycoons now drop down to second place for the first time in Division 2. While both teams are pitching great, Mao might be getting a little nervous after failing to score a single run against the extremely strong pitching of the Spartans.