Series 7 Part 3

AXN 1, MEL 2 F

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
AXN	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
MEL	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0

W – Groom (1-1)            L - Nunez (0-1)                S - Koch (2)

This game featured two of the most veteran aces in the league, but it certainly didn't look like it at first. Both pitchers ran into trouble early, although blood was only spilled in the top of the first when Mike Cameron knocked in his sixth RBI of the year. What followed through the early and middle innings were continued shaky performances with both teams getting hits in every single inning. There were also quite a few baserunning mistakes with Marauder outfielder Melvin Mora being tested multiple times, and throwing out three of four baserunners. Both Jamie Moyer and Barry Zito earned their third quality starts of the year. Dr. Vindaloo's team managed only managed to squeeze out a single run despite having the bases loaded and nobody out in the bottom of the sixth. Thus began a battle of the bullpen, with the Darkpaws turning to Vladimir Nunez and the Marauders going to Buddy Groom. Nunez was the first to stumble, allowing two hits in the eighth. Satoru Komiyama came in relief, but could not prevent a Frank Thomas RBI single. That proved to be the game winner, with Marauder closer Billy Koch making his third appearance of the year and slamming the door on his second save of the year. Vindaloo, while not ecstatic over such a narrow win, was glad to split the series with the Darkpaws. "Hopefully the Spartans put the Cardinals in their place," he said, "and we just do our business next week against the Bombers. And then we'll be in third place!" 
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LIN 4, MAX 1 F

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
LIN	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	1	1
MAX	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0

W – Beckett (2-0)            L - Halladay (0-2)                S - Nen (2)

Two veteran starters faced off in a game that could have an impact down the stretch: while the JELLY QUEEN is desperately trying to rack up wins during a soft part of the schedule, the Bombers are trying to put together a rally in the second half of the season that could in theory propel them out of the basement of Division 2 and into the playoffs. Always constant Lindsyan ace Josh Beckett was decent, but by no means dominating, working in and out of trouble most of the evening. However he was only tagged for a run once, when a series of doubles led to a score off the bat of Bengie “Don’t Make Fun of My Speed” Molina. But for most of the evening, most of the Maxion batters fared very poorly with runners in scoring position. On the flip side, Maxion starter Roy Halladay had one of his better starts of the year, but still is not pitching as well as he did in years past. The JELLY QUEEN DREAM TEAM rallied for runs in the fourth and fifth; Halladay surrendered a third run when Manny Ramirez hit his second homer of the year off of the first pitch in the top of the 8th. Perhaps Ramirez’s performance was the most encouraging sign for the Lindsyans, as the slumping left fielder went 3-4 and was a triple shy of hitting for the cycle. Mention should also be made of Brian Roberts, who went 4-5 with two doubles, notched an RBI in the top of the ninth, and ran the bases very effectively throughout the game. The Lindsyan bullpen continued their season long strong performance with Aquilino Lopez earning the hold in the eighth, and Robb Nen earning his second save of the year in the ninth. Although the JELLY QUEEN DREAM TEAM cannot be happy with splitting a series with the lowly Bombers, they definitely averted a major disaster with a win here. They will look to get back on track and pick up some wins next week against the struggling Darkpaws. As for the Bombers, they have already labelled their next series against the Marauders as “must win.” A sweep of Dr. Vindaloo’s team would effectively take them out of last place for the first time this year. 
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STL 0, BOB 4  F

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
STL	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
BOB	1	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	0

W - Burkett (3-0)           L - Ankiel (1-1)

John Kruk has always said that the Cardinals are a wildly inconsistent team, and that you never know which one will show up. Well, we got a very bad one tonight. The offense could barely string together anything remotely close to an offensive threat, consistently shooting themselves in the foot throughout the whole evening. That is not to take away from the performance of John Burkett, however; the Bobian veteran of four seasons is perhaps having his best year yet, tied for the league lead in both wins and quality starts. He shined very brightly through six innings of excellent work, surrendering only three hits and two walks. The Cardinals starter, on the other hand, found himself under siege the entire evening from the Bobian bats. Ankiel did well to work out of several jams throughout the night, but not well enough to prevent an efficient four run performance from the Spartans: Ichiro manufactured a run in the first thanks to excellent baserunning in the first; Marcus Giles and Mike Lowell both capitalized on Ankiel losing control in the third with bases loaded walks; Juan Pierre singled in the final score in the fifth. The Spartans throughout the rest of the game, but the Cardinals bullpen in the form of Dave Veres and Jason Isringhausen 03 managed to keep the deficit at 4 runs. But there was really no hope for the already hopeless Cardinals office after Rollie Fingers made his third appearance of the year, absolutely ravaging the Cardinals lineup for three innings and racking up an astounding seven strikeouts. A very impressive performance from the Spartans after a long break; they will now travel to St. Louis where someone's streak will be broken. The Bobians will seek their 10th straight wins while St. Louis will try to make it seven straight series without being swept.