Series 6 Part 2: Battle of Cats, Halo Cards, and Bionic Gophers

MAX 2, TEN 5  F

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MAX        0              0              1              0              1              0              0              0              0
TEN          0              0              0              1              1              0              3              0              0          

W – Beckett (2-0)                L - Daal (0-2)             S - Foulke (3)

Both teams were desperately thirsty for a win in this one, although neither team by any means brought their A-game; there were so many stranded runners that the game frequently had the appearance of a casting call for the TV show Lost. Which is all the more ironic since most of the scoring early on came off of solo homeruns: Magglio Ordonez went deep in the fourth, J.D. Drew in the fifth, and Jeff "Not Really An Automatic Out Anymore" Kent also in the fifth. Incredibly enough, all of these players RBIs so far this year have come from solo homeruns. Up to that point in the game, the only manufactured run had came for the Bombers in the third, when Richie Ashburn singled in his sixth run of the season. As stated already, almost every inning became a comedy of errors for the hitting team, rolling awful numbers on hitters cards and hitting into stupid double plays. The worst example came in the sixth inning when the Bombers loaded the bases, but failed to score a run. Omar Daal ran into trouble in the seventh, and his bullpen could not bail him out, eventually surrendering a bases loaded double to Steve Finley, who was recently moved to the end of the batting order. Willie Harris followed Finley's big hit with a single to knock in another run. Unfortunately the runs were tagged to Daal, giving him the loss and preventing him from achieving his first quality start of the year. The Bombers got runners on second and third with only one out in the eighth, but again could not capitalize. Workhouse closer Keith Foulke slammed the door shut in the ninth with a 1-2-3 to secure a badly needed win for the flailing Green Sox and condemning the Bombers to their ninth straight loss. Overall a difficult game to watch, with both teams demonstrating very sloppy play.
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AXN 3, ZSY 7  F

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AXN       0              0              0              1              0              0              1              1              0
ZSY        0              1              3              0              2              0              1              0              0             

W – Hernandez (2-0)                L - Wood 04 (0-3)             

The Darkpaws performed similar to the Bombers in the game before them; leaving runners in scoring position left and right. Omar Vizquel lead off the game with a lead off triple, but the heart of the Darkpaw lineup could not bring him home. They left runners in scoring position in the third, fourth, seventh, and eighth. Not so for the Z-Slayers, who had Kerry Wood 04 on the run for most of the night. Strong games were put out by Juan Pierre (4-4, with an RBI triple), Albert Pujols (2 RBIs, for a league leading 13 on the season), Ken Harvey (1 RBI, but hit 3 doubles after having moved to bat fifth in the lineup), and Ralph Kiner (HR, 2B, 3 RBI). The wind had seemed to leave the sails of the Darkpaws once the score hit 7-1, but they pepped up a bit when they got some help from very uncharacteristic defensive mishaps from Jack Wilson in the 7th and 8th, both of which resulted in Darkpaw scores. Wilson said later that reading ground balls on Tuldaria Memorial High School field was exceptionally difficult when the tycoon gophers woke up halfway through the game and began to burrow their way towards third base. Z-Slayer starter Runelvys Hernandez didn't look exactly stellar, but he did finish eight innings while still earning the quality start (his tied for league leading 3rd) and his second win of the year. As for the Darkpaws, this loss brings them back to reality after their sweeping of the Bombers. Oh well. It was good while it lasted.  
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MMD 3, LIN 0  F

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MMD      2              0              0              0              1              0              0              0              0
LIN         0              0              0              0              0              0              0              0              0             

W – Schilling (3-0)                L - Schoenweiss (0-2)              S - Hammond (1)

The Meow Meow offense got to scoring right away, with RBI team leader Gregg Zaun going long for two in the top of the first. Both team's starters were relatively solid in this one, with both team's defense very much on point, turning a few double plays that squashed several scoring opportunities. One of those opportunities solidified into another score for Meow Meow when Gregg Zaun singled in second baseman Mark Ellis, accounting for all the RBIs in this game. Lindsyan starter Scott Schoenweiss struggled at times, but did earn his second quality start of the season. Dui starter Curt Schilling continued his excellent season but was perhaps not exactly as sharp as his past performances. Dui fans were in for a bit of a scare when the Cy Young candidate
was suddenly pulled by Coach Taklamente in the seventh, seemingly without reason. Murmurs spread throughout the stadium about a possible injury, but those murmurs turned into stunned silence when Taklamente handed the ball over to reliever Chris Hammond, despite the availability of a few better arms in the bullpen. Hammond went 1-2-3 in the eighth, but nevertheless shocked the Lindsyan fans once again by coming out to pitch the ninth. He struggled in his second inning of work, but managed to finish out the inning and earn his first career save. After the game Coach Taklamente denied any rumors of a Schilling injury. "I took him out because he earned some rest. I sent him to the spa." When asked about the strange use of middle reliever Chris Hammond to earn a two inning save while Foulke and Miceli were both available, Taklamente said "We didn't need them. I knew Chris was able to do it. It worked out, so I was right, wasn't I?" Hard to argue with that logic, especially when it has given fruit to a 7-3 record. With the Spartans and Z-Slayers both winning the first game of their series, the breakup of the logjam at the top of Division 1 is nowhere in sight.