End of Series 8

RED - 4   TYC - 3   F/13
W - Wagner (2-1)   L - Kolb (2-1)
TYC: Penny: 8 IP, 3 ER, QS (3)
RED: Sheets: 6 IP, 3 ER, QS(4)
RED: Giambi: 1-4 HR (4), 2 RBI (10), 2 BB
RED: Myers 3 IP, 0 H, BB

After the longest game of the season, these two teams continued their battle for Pee Wee League supremacy. Both starters did well in the early innings, helped out also from some nifty defensive plays in the field. The Aces were first to draw blood in the fourth, with first baseman Jason Giambi taking Tycoon starter Brad Penny deep for a two run shot. Aces shortstop Miguel Tejada followed that with a solo homerun in the fifth, giving his team a 3-0 lead. The always reliable Ben Sheets ran into some trouble of his own in the fifth, surrendering a three run rally with the big hit coming in the form of a Ryan Freel two run homer. With the game tied and going into the later innings, both teams eventually had to turn to their beleaguered bullpens, entirely exhausted from their 17 inning marathon in Game 1 of the series. For the Aces, reliever Mike Myers was highly effective for the rest of regulation, going three innings and surrendering only one walk the entire time. For the Tycoons, Penny pitched until the eighth inning, which he narrowly escaped from thanks to a key double play. The Aces had another golden opportunity to score in the top of the ninth, loading the bases with nobody out. But yet again, a double play took out two of those baserunners and Larry Walker 04 was unable to keep the inning alive. The Aces had yet another opportunity to score when lead-off man Tom Goodwin doubled to kick off the top of the eleventh. Nevertheless, the heart of the Red Clay order was unable to bring him home. In the bottom of the eleventh it was the Tycoons who came within striking range; shortstop Edgar “I’d Like to Rent A Ria” Rentaria lead off with a single plus. After the next batter struck out, Renteria made it to third after catcher Joe Mauer moved him along with a ground ball. But Ryan Freel couldn’t bring the go ahead run home, striking out against reliever Shingu Takatsu. Fast forward to the top of the thirteenth where very fatigued Tycoons closer Danny Kolb began his second inning of work against the heart of the Aces offense. After very long at bats, Kolb ended up walking three Aces hitters in a row. With the bases loaded, no outs, and a clearly exhausted pitcher, the Ghost of Mao went to the bullpen and called in Trevor Hoffman, an also tired pitcher after an appearance in Game 1. The next batter was Alfonso Soriano, who promptly lined a shot into left field, scoring run number four for the Aces. Hoffman held them off, however, from any further scoring so he Aces put their one run lead in the hands of also fatigued closer Billy Wager. Things looked interesting when Tycoon lead-off man Chuck Knoblauch singled and stole second. But Wagner showed why he’s one of the best closers in the game, striking out the next three batters in quick succession. With this sweep, the Aces move into undisputed first place of Division 2, as they are now incredibly the only Pee Wee League team with a winning record! The Tycoons however, fall to a miserable 7-8 record, with no less than three teams breathing right down their neck. Truly a zany situation, as the playoff spots are entirely still up for grabs.
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TEN - 5, STL - 8   F
W - Morris (2-1)   L - Ishii (1-2)   S - Isringhausen 03 (1)
STL: Morris: 7 IP, 5 ER
TEN: Ishii: 7 IP, 8 ER
STL: Renteria: 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI (11)
STL: Grudzielanek: 1-5, 2B, 2 RBI (3)
TEN: Posada: 2-5, HR (4), 2B, 3 RBI (10)

Cardinals starter Matt Morris is covered in bite marks, as he's had quite a number of bad performances in his career like his last start, which was an eight run debacle. Things got off to an equally terrible start for him in the top of the first, where Edgar Martinez Jr. doubled, J.D. Drew singled, and then Jorge Posada belted his fourth homerun of the year to bring them all home and put the Green Sox out ahead with a three run lead. The Green Sox struck again in the third with two doubles in a row from Willie Harris and Brent Mayne, bringing home another run. Newest Green Sock Jeffrey Hammonds then belted out a solo homerun in the fourth; his second homerun in the two games that he's been with the team. Green Sox starter Kazushisa Ishii was cruising early on, not giving up a hit until the fourth. He had a major stumble in the sixth however, getting tagged for four runs after a series of walks and singles. This is perhaps a critical moment where the Green Sox suffered from not having a head coach; when Ishii came out to pitch the seventh, no one was warming up in the bullpen. When he loaded the bases with nobody out, still there was nobody getting up in the pen. But by then it was too late; second baseman Mark Grudzielanek lined a shot down the third base line that brought home the tying and go ahead runs. The Cardinals managed to notch another two runs before the Green Sox were finally able to get out of the inning, bringing the score to 8-5. Matt Morris settled down enough after giving up five runs to still be in the game, and pitched through the seventh inning before handing the game over to Jason Isringhausen 03. Since Jason Isringhausen 04 was unavailable due to rest, the 03 card needed to pitch two innings. The Green Sox brought the tying run to the plate in the form of Jorge Posada in the top of the ninth, but a golden glove play from short stop Edgar Renteria was able to turn a difficult double play and end the game. With this win, the Cardinals split yet another series, playing remarkably solid .500 baseball. So solid, in fact, they now move into second place in Division 2. That doesn't say a lot, since they are only three games ahead of the last place team, but the Cardinals have a clear path to the playoffs if they can maintain the rate that they are going at. As for the Green Sox, its a game that they really would have liked to have won, but in the madness of the Pee Wee League, there's not much ground to make up and still plenty of baseball left to play.
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BOB - 3, MMD - 0   F
W - Glavine (3-0)   L - Rodgers (2-1)
BOB: Glavine: CG(3), 0 ER, 2 H, QS (3)
MMD: Rodgers: 6 IP, 3 ER, QS (4)
BOB: Lowell: 2-4, HR, 2B, 2 RBI (4)
BOB: Aparico: 1-4, R, 2 SB(17)
MMD: Gregg: 3 IP, 0 ER

After a moving pre-game ceremony mourning the loss of Coach Taklamente, Meow Meow Dui took to the field, sending the very high performing and undefeated Kenny Rodgers to the mound. He really looked strong for most of the evening, but faltered twice. In the third inning he surrendered a solo homerun to six season veteran Mike Lowell, his first of the year and only his third RBI. The next mistake came in the sixth, when Ichiro had a clutch triple, bringing home Luis Aparicio from third. Aparicio, by the way, had his sixteenth and seventeenth stolen base of the year; he's only two away from matching the season record set by Carl Crawford in Season Four. Back to this game, Ichiro was eventually brought home by an RBI double off the bat of Mike Lowell, effectively doubling the number of RBI's he's had this season in one game. Although Rodgers pitched well, the real story in this game was Tom Glavine SS, never even allowing a player to reach second base throughout the entire game. Of the nine innings he pitched, five were perfect, and only two hits were surrendered the entire night. Credit must be given to Spartan pitching coach David Cone, whose pitching staff owns every single notable pitching performance so far this year. People are starting to talk about Cy Young, and Halladay and Glavine seem to be the top of everyone's lists. This win keeps the Bobians tied for first with the Z-Slayers in Division 1. They head into a relatively easy match-up next week against Dr. Vindaloo's Melmegetian Marauders. As for Meow Meow, the teams period of mourning just got a little more difficult to bear. They will carry a three game losing streak into their next two games against the reformed Maxion Bombers. Once thought to be a lock for the playoffs, they now only have a one game lead over the fourth place JELLY QUEEN DREAM TEAM.