LIN - 3 TEN - 9 F
W - Thomson (2-1) L - Rueter - (1-3)
TEN: Thomson: 8 IP, 3 ER, QS (2)
LIN: Rueter: 5 1/3 IP, 7 ER
TEN: Drew: 3-4, HR (5), BB, 3 RBI (8)
TEN: Ortiz: 1-4, 2B, BB, 2 RBI (15)
TEN: Ordonez: 2-4, HR (4), BB, 2 RBI (6)
Currently both of these find themselves in fourth place, outside the playoff picture. Therefore, you can imagine how intense this series might shake out to be. But it really seemed to be the Green Sox who brought their A-game to this one. J.D. Drew continued his improvement after a disastrous first half of the season by taking Lindsyan starter Kirk Rueter deep in the top of the first for two scores. The Green Sox extended their lead to 4-0 in the third when Magglio Ordonez followed himself with a two run blast. Things didn’t get better for Rueter in the fourth either, when David Ortiz hit a bases loaded double, bringing him to 15 RBI’s on the season. That ties him for second most in the league. Edgar Martinez got in on the action as well, knocking in a run in the sixth, as well as knocking Rueter out of the game. On the other side of things, the JELLY QUEEN offense was truly pathetic in this one, with many bad rolls and quite a few double plays. Not to take away from the performance of John Thomson, but it just seemed like the whole team was out of whack. Besides a second inning jam, Thomson cruised all the way to the eighth, his longest performance so far this season, when he surrendered a three run rally to the Lindsyans. But by then it was too late; the Green Sox had added another two runs against relief pitcher Braden Looper. Increasing the deficit to an insurmountable nine runs. The explosive offensive performance by the Green Sox show just how powerful homeruns can be once you have men on base. Despite having 5 homeruns, J.D. Drew only has 8 RBIs; despite having 4 homeruns, Magglio Ordonez only has six RBIs. The Edgar Martinez strategy certainly paid off in today’s game, as he was brought home twice on long balls from batters further down the order. Both teams hold their fourth place position as they quietly wait to see the results of other games.
--------------------------------------------
MAX - 4 MMD - 3 F
W - Pettitte (2-2) L - Ortiz (1-2) S - Rivera (3)
MAX: Pettitte: 7 1/3 IP, 3 ER, QS (3)
MMD: Ortiz: 7 IP, 3 ER, QS (3)
MAX: Martinez: 2-4, HR (2), 2B, BB, 2 RBI (13)
MMD: Rowand: 3-5, 2B, RBI (7)
MAX: Rivera, IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 ER, S (3)
For a fourth starter matchup, this sure was a good one, pitting Maxion former Cy Young winner Andy Pettitte against MMD Russ Ortiz, both of whom have been quite solid. However, the two rivals got off to rocky starts: in the first inning Ortiz surrendered a home run to Edgar Martinez, while Pettitte surrendered two doubles, one to Aaron Rowand and the other to Miguel Tejada, which brought Rowand home for a score. After this initial hiccup, both pitchers really settled down and mowed through the enemy lineups until the sixth inning. Up to the sixth, Ortiz had given up only one hit which was the Martinez homerun in the first. But the Bombers woke up at that point and strung together a series of four hits: a single from Richie Ashburn (who then went on to steal second), then a single from Corey Koskie, then an RBI double from Edgar Martinez, and finally an RBI single from Hideki Matsui. The Bombers extended their lead to 4-2 in the top of the eighth, thanks to a Corey Koskie double. In the bottom of the eighth, Pettitte came out to start the inning but surrendered a double to Eric Chavez after getting one out. This lead the Maxions to go to the bullpen to bring in reliever Mike Stanton, who looked very shaky. He surrendered a walk and then a double which cut the lead to 4-3, with Meow Meow Dui in position to tie the game. But Stanton pulled up his pants and delivered two outs which ended the danger. Maxion closer Mariano Rivera entered in the ninth and pitched a 1-2-3 inning against the top of the Dui order, squeezing out a win for the Maxions and earning his third save of the year.
--------------------------------------------
RED - 7 ZSY - 15 F
W - D'Amico (2-2) L - Ortiz (1-1) S - Myers (1)
ZSY: D'Amico: 6 IP, 2 ER, QS (1)
RED: Ortiz: 5 IP, 5 ER
ZSY: Harvey: 5-5, 4 RBI
ZSY: Kiner: 2-4, HR (6), GS (1), 2B, 4 RBI (19)
RED: Tejada: 3-4, HR (4), 2 RBI (13)
The Z-Slayer offense was relentless in this one, starting right from the beginning. Red Clay starter Ramon Ortiz was constantly under attacked and did a decent job at containing the bleeding to only one run in the second, another in the third, another in the fourth, and then two in the fifth. It also didn't help that Carl Crawford and Juan Pierre seemed to be on base every inning, which gave major headaches to catcher A.J. Pierzynscki. Crawford and Pierre had EIGHT stolen bases, four each, throughout the course of this game. Pierzynscki only threw out Pierre once. Travis Harper came in relief for the Aces, but he too ran into major issues, surrendering an RBI triple to Jack Wilson and yet another RBI single to Ken Harvey, who by the way, has now re-entered the discussion about All Star second baseman. But the Red Clay offense had not yet died. Shortstop Miguel Tejada got his team on the board in the fourth with an RBI single and then again in the sixth with a solo homerun. Mike Myers was the Z-Slayer reliever who entered in the seventh; he went 1-2-3 in the seventh, but faltered in the eighth by surrendering a two run rally. So at the top of the ninth, the Z-Slayers had a 7-4 lead. Enter reliever Mike Remlinger, the only available reliever in the Red Clay bullpen after their marathon series against the Tycoons. To say it politely, Remlinger got pummeled. Up to this point none of the Z-Slayer runs had come via homerun, but they corrected that right away with Ralph Kiner continuing his miracle season with a grand slam. He was followed three batters later with a two run shot from catcher Jason Larue, who has quietly amassed four homeruns and ten RBIs on the season. Before the half of the inning was over, The Z-Slayers had added another two runs thanks to more smart base running from Crawford and Pierre and clutch hits from Wilson and Harvey. With an eleven run lead, Coach Sinister sent Mike Myers out to the mound to finish the game and his third inning of work. Myers was obviously fatigued, and struggled to complete the inning, with Alfonso Soriano smashing a three run homer and the Aces threatening more. But indeed Myers was able to finish the game and bizarrely earn a save since he successfully defended a three run lead in the eighth. This is despite the fact that he allowed five runs over three innings. Yet another win for the Z-Slayers (that's eight straight) and yet another loss for a Pee Wee League team.
No comments:
Post a Comment