STL - 3 AXN - 7 F
W - Piniero (1-0) L - Smith (0-3)
AXN: Piniero: CG (4), 3 ER, QS (2)
STL: Smith: 7 IP, 5 ER
AXN: Cameron: 2-4, 2 RBI (8)
AXN: Griffey Jr.: 2-4, 2B, RBI (8)
STL: Grudzielanek: 1-3, BB, HR (1), 3 RBI (6)
Two time Cy Young award winner Joel Piniero went to the mound in his first start as a member of the Darkpaws. Things did not get off to a great start for him, as he surrendered a three run homer to Cardinals second baseman Mark Grudzielanek in the second inning. But after that, Piniero settled down rather nicely and was dominant throughout the middle innings. His opponent, Bud Smith was solid through five, only surrendering one run in the third. But things collapsed for him in the sixth, where the Darkpaws went on a four run rally powered by the heart of the lineup. Indeed, there was something strange about seeing Ken Griffey Jr. pop an RBI double; that's his first RBI in three series. Mike Cameron followed up with another RBI single, his second of the game and eighth of the year. With a two run lead, that’s all that Piniero really seemed to need, as he continued to mow through the Cardinals batting order into the late innings. Cardinals reliever Jason Isringhausen 03 struggled in the eighth, giving up another two run rally to the Darkpaws, leading to the best offensive performance that the Alyxians have had all season. Combined with the strong performance from the former Cy Young winner, is there hope for the Darkpaws on the horizon? If not for this season, then the next one? With five games left in the season, all does not seem totally lost for them being three games back of third place. This loss completes the sweep and also breaks the Cardinals streak of splitting series. It really could not have come at a worse time for the Cardinals, who were clearly looking for two easy wins in this series and came up with goose egg. While the rest of their schedule is not overly intimidating, things will not get easier for them as the face off next week against a hungry Queynos Warriors team.
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MMD - 1 MAX - 2 F
W - Urbina (2-1) L - Biddle (0-1)
MAX: Halladay: 8 IP, ER, QS (3)
MMD: Pavano: 8 IP, ER, QS (3)
MAX: Jeter: 1-4, GW RBI single (5)
MAX: Matsui: 1-4, HR(1), RBI (6)
MMD: Hatteberg: 2-4, RBI (7)
In this clash of first class pitchers, Meow Meow Dui drew first blood with first baseman Scott Hatteberg knocking in an RBI single in the top of the second. Following that, however, Bombers starter Roy Halladay settled down and twirled a gem of a game, dominating MMD through the eighth inning without ever getting into trouble. His counterpart, reigning Cy Young winner Carl Pavano actually did even better, only surrendering two hits throughout the first five innings. The third hit he surrendered came in the sixth, which unfortunately was a solo homerun to Hideki Matsui which tied the game at 1-1. After eight innings, both teams went to the bullpen and buckled down for extra innings. Ugueth Urbina made his seventh appearance of the year for the Bombers and pitched an uneventful top of the ninth. However MMD reliever Rocky Biddle had an inning that was…well…rocky. With two outs, Jeff Kent doubled and then moved to third on a Tony Clark single. That brought Derek Jeter to the plate, who hit a clutch, game winning single that completed the David vs. Goliath sweep for the Bombers, a result which surprised many. Much like the Cardinals sweep at the hands of the Darkpaws, MMD was perhaps too overconfident and blew an opportunity to pad their playoff position in third place. Instead, with five games left in the season, they now look at the JELLY QUEEN DREAM TEAM just one game back, the Queynos Warriors two games back, and the lowly Darkpaws even just three and a half games back. They have a golden opportunity to snap their five game losing streak against Dr. Vindaloo’s struggling Marauders. As for the Bombers, are they mounting a serious playoff push? While this sweep is certainly impressive, it will still be a massive uphill battle as they have one of the worst remaining schedules in the league: ZSY, STL, RED. But what a story that would be if they could climb back into contention of the Pee Wee League and overcome a nine game losing streak from earlier in the season.
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RED - 7 ZSY - 10 F
W - Wells (5-0) L - Buerhle (0-4) S - Graves (5)
ZSY: Wells: 6 IP, 3 ER, QS (4)
RED: Buerhle: 1/3 IP, 7 ER
ZSY: Harvey: 3-6, 3 RBI (11)
ZSY: Wilson: 3-4, 2 3B (5), 2 RBI (14)
RED: Giambi: 2-5, HR (5), 2B, 2 RBI (12)
Mark Buerhle has been having a bad season, but it got a whole lot worse yesterday after he put up the worst start of the entire season thus far. Before he could even get two outs, the Z-Slayers had already pounded him for seven runs, all of which without the help of a homerun. The big hits came from Jack Wilson, 2 RBI triple and Carl Crawford with a bases loaded double. Buerhle's short performance was taken over by reliever Shingo Takatsu, who couldn't stop the bleeding, allowing two runs to score in the second and then another in the third. The Aces managed to squeeze a run out of Z-Slayers ace Kip Wells in the third, leaving the score after three innings an absurd 10-1. Things settled down in the middle innings, where Takatsu managed to continue unscathed into the fifth, while Wells continued the best season of his career with a scoreless performance until he surrendered a two run homer to Keith Ginter in the sixth. Danny Patterson came in to relieve Wells in the seventh, but only narrowly worked out of trouble. Patterson returned in the eighth and again almost got horribly burned, but managed to escape with giving up only one run. Meanwhile the Red Clay bullpen had managed to keep the Z-Slayers from expanding their lead, thanks to a few clutch double plays, one of which got Red Clay reliever Mike Myers out of a bases loaded jam. With a 10-4 lead, Lord Sith handed the game over to reliever Oscar Villareal to finish the game. But Villareal quickly surrendered a two run rally and left the bases loaded with only one out. With the tying run stepping up to the plate in the form of home run prone Paul Konerko, Lord Sith pulled Villareal and brought in closer Danny Graves to try and save the day. Konerko worked graves to a full count before the umpire called ball four on a very close pitch from Graves. This walked in a run and brought the score to 10-7, with the leading run stepping to the plate in the form of hot hitting second baseman Alfonso Soriano. The free swinging Soriano, who already had two doubles in the game, smashed Graves fastball all the way to deep centerfield, but not far enough to avoid a fly ball out. Because of less than stellar speed on the base pads, no tagging was possible. That next brought up Jason Giambi who had homered earlier in the game. Despite having control of the roll, Giambi wiffed three times, entirely fooled by Graves changeup. Another huge win for the Z-Slayers, who now make it nine straight. As for the Aces, they fall to an embarrassing 9-8 record, which still miraculously keeps them at number one in the Pee Wee league, as well as two games ahead of the second place team. Things certainly do not look easier next week against the Spartans.
Mark Buerhle has been having a bad season, but it got a whole lot worse yesterday after he put up the worst start of the entire season thus far. Before he could even get two outs, the Z-Slayers had already pounded him for seven runs, all of which without the help of a homerun. The big hits came from Jack Wilson, 2 RBI triple and Carl Crawford with a bases loaded double. Buerhle's short performance was taken over by reliever Shingo Takatsu, who couldn't stop the bleeding, allowing two runs to score in the second and then another in the third. The Aces managed to squeeze a run out of Z-Slayers ace Kip Wells in the third, leaving the score after three innings an absurd 10-1. Things settled down in the middle innings, where Takatsu managed to continue unscathed into the fifth, while Wells continued the best season of his career with a scoreless performance until he surrendered a two run homer to Keith Ginter in the sixth. Danny Patterson came in to relieve Wells in the seventh, but only narrowly worked out of trouble. Patterson returned in the eighth and again almost got horribly burned, but managed to escape with giving up only one run. Meanwhile the Red Clay bullpen had managed to keep the Z-Slayers from expanding their lead, thanks to a few clutch double plays, one of which got Red Clay reliever Mike Myers out of a bases loaded jam. With a 10-4 lead, Lord Sith handed the game over to reliever Oscar Villareal to finish the game. But Villareal quickly surrendered a two run rally and left the bases loaded with only one out. With the tying run stepping up to the plate in the form of home run prone Paul Konerko, Lord Sith pulled Villareal and brought in closer Danny Graves to try and save the day. Konerko worked graves to a full count before the umpire called ball four on a very close pitch from Graves. This walked in a run and brought the score to 10-7, with the leading run stepping to the plate in the form of hot hitting second baseman Alfonso Soriano. The free swinging Soriano, who already had two doubles in the game, smashed Graves fastball all the way to deep centerfield, but not far enough to avoid a fly ball out. Because of less than stellar speed on the base pads, no tagging was possible. That next brought up Jason Giambi who had homered earlier in the game. Despite having control of the roll, Giambi wiffed three times, entirely fooled by Graves changeup. Another huge win for the Z-Slayers, who now make it nine straight. As for the Aces, they fall to an embarrassing 9-8 record, which still miraculously keeps them at number one in the Pee Wee league, as well as two games ahead of the second place team. Things certainly do not look easier next week against the Spartans.
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