Bumgarner vs Gee. Pitcher's duel takes a 1-1 game into the 8th inning.
Gee walks Walker and Nava and Hoover comes in with 2 on 2 out to face
pinch hitter Evan Gattis. Gattis, not known for his eye, draws a walk to
load the bases. Enter Sandman... bases loaded 2 out... Troy Tulowitzki
comes to the plate and hits a grand slam. It would be all Bumgarner would
need as he goes the distance allowing 1 ER. High Bridge leads 3 games to
2.
Game 6:
Harvey vs Hudson. Crucial game as Cooperstown has Fernandez waiting to go
in game 7. Harvey goes the first 8 innings without giving up a run.
Hudson threw 3 2/3 scoreless innings but turned it over to the well rested
bullpen when he ran into trouble int the 4th. Torres, Machi, Watson and
Balfour combined for 5 1/3 scoreless innings of 1 hit ball to take the
game to the bottom of the 9th. Harvey, the best pitcher in CBA this
season, gave up a lead off single to David Wright. Tired, he was pulled
in favor of Pressly... tough on righties. Wright steals 2B taking the bat
of of Tulowitzki's hands. Justin Smoak flew out bringing Yadier Molina to
the plate. Molina hit a fly ball to CF Starling Marte to dropped the ball
for a 2 base error allowing Cooperstown to walk off with the victory and
head to the decisive game 7.
Game 7:
Fernandez vs Ryu. It looked as if Ryu may be in for another rough outing
after giving up 2 runs in the first... but he settled in to hold the Iron
Horses scoreless for the next 7 innings, giving up 2 ER over 8 innings for
a stellar start. Unfortunately for him, Jose Fernandez was better,
throwing 8 shutout innings of 2 hit ball striking out 13. He came out for
the top of the 9th, but after giving up a leadoff single to Kyle Seager
allowing the tying run to the plate, the ball was turned over to Uehara
who converted 42 saves during the regular season. After striking out
Werth and getting Byrd to lineout, Raul Ibanez came to the plate for a
matchup of player with 80 total years of life lived. Ibanez fouled out to
end the game and the series. Cooperstown moves on.
Ohio vs Ottawa
The Glen Kenan led Ohio Outlawz took it to 7 games to defeat Jack
Jung's Ottawa Otters. The team from the Canadian Capitol, could not
muster the clutch hit against the Outlawz in the end run. Kenan
advances to first ever Conference final.
Game 1 Otters 8
12 0 Iwakuma (W)
Outlawz 2 4 2 Nolasco (L)
The Otters dominated Game 1 as Iwakuma was dominant in throwing a CG, 4
hitter. Ottawa had a balanced offense with 5 players getting multi hits.
Justin Heyward had 3 RBI's leading the attack and Ortiz and Beltre has 2
RBI's each.
Game 2 Otters 2 5 0 Darvish (L)
Outlawz 6 7 0 Buchholz (W)
The Outlawz bounced back in Game 2 by finding their hitting shoes and
tying the series @ 1 game each with a 6-2 win. Clay Buchholz who was the
Outlawz best pitcher during the season proved his worth by going the
distance. Yu Darvish was hit hard and gave up 7 hits and 6 ER in 6
innings. Mike Carp delivered the big blow with a 2 run HR.
Game 3 Outlawz 0 5 1 Leake (L)
Otters 7 11 1 Fister (W)
With the series coming to Ottawa, the Otters put on a great show for the
hometown fans. Doug Fister was lights out and pitched a CG, shutout, 0
BB, 4 K's. Mike Leake pitched decent for the Outlawz only allowing 1 ER,
but a costly error in the 1st inning opened the door for 5 Ottawa runs.
Justin Heyward and Joe Mauer did the majority of the damage with 2 RBI's
each.
Game 4 Outlawz 6 11 1 Nolasco (W)
Otters 2 6 2 Iwakuma (L)
This was a must win for the Outlawz or otherwise they would give Ottawa
a commanding 3-1 series lead. Ricky Nolasco redeemed himself from a
rough Game 1 outing and pitched 7 strong innings, only allowing 1 run, 0
walks and 6 K's. Freddie Freeman was the hitting star for the Outlawz
going 4 for 4 with 2 RBI's. The series is now tied at 2 wins each and
coming down to a best of 3.
Game 5 Outlawz 6 10 0 Thayer (L)
Otters 7 11 1 Darvish (W)
Both starting pitchers,Eric Stults and Yu Darvish, got roughed up early,
but Darvish hung in there and lasted 6 innings and got the win. Ryan
Raburn delivered the big blow with a 3 run HR in the 5th. The Otters
bullpen shut down the Outlawz for the final 3 innings.
Game 6 Otters 4 6 0 Fister (L)
Outlawz 6 12 4 Buchholz (W)
With the series returning to Ohio, the Otters needed only 1 win to move
on to the next round. It was a great pitching match up with Doug Fister,
who shut out the Outlawz in game 1 going against Clay Buchholz who
pitched great in game 2. When the smoke cleared, Buchholz pitched his
2nd consecutive CG of the playoffs and allowed only 2 runs. His mound
opponent, Doug Fister, struggled most of the game and gave up 6 runs in
4 innings. Buster Posey swung the big bat for the Outlawz and was 3 for
3 with 2 RBI's. The Outlawz were fortunate to survive this game as they
committed an uncharacteristic 4 errors. Its now down to the final game
for all the marbles!
Game 7 Otters 1 7 0 Iwakuma (L)
Outlawz 2 9 0 Nolasco (W)
Johnson (SV)
t was ironic that game 7 was the closest and hardest fought game of the
series. Both starting pitchers were outstanding, but in the end, Ohio
prevailed and pulled out a 2-1 win in a nail-biter. All the runs were
scored in the first 3 innings, and then pitching dominated. Ottawa
starter Hisashi Iwakuma pitched a CG and deserved a better fate, but the
Otters bats went cold. His counterpart, Ricky Nolasco pitched 5.1 good
innings and turned it over to the bullpen to hopefully close it out. Jim
Johnson earned the save, which surprisingly was the only save of the
series. Jose Altuve was the hitting star for the Outlawz going 3-4, HR,
1 RBI
Final Thoughts: This was a very good series, closer than some of the
scores indicate. The Otters have a very solid team and I suspect they
will be right back in the thick of things next season. Jack Jung has
built a very solid franchise. I believe the Outlawz were very fortunate
to pull this series out as the Ottawa bats went quiet in some crucial
situations. I felt going into the series the Outlawz were definitely the
underdogs. The biggest surprise to me was the Outlawz hitting 8 HR's to
only 5 for Ottawa. I wish to thank Jack Jung for being a great opponent
and a pleasure to play. Neither one of us has a lot of Netplay
experience, but overall everything went pretty smoothly, just a few
glitches. I would like to pronounce that the Outlawz named Clay Buchholz
as their MVP of the series going 2-0, 2 CG, and a 2.00 ERA. The Outlawz
hitting stars were Freddie Freeman, .417, 2 HR, 5 RBI's, and Jose Altuve,
.448 avg and 1 huge HR. As far as the Outlawz see it, Joe Mauer was the
big bat for Ottawa, hitting .462 with 4 RBI's and Justin Heyward led the
Otters with 5 RBI's.
Well, its on to Cooperstown, where the Outlawz will have to play at
their peak to continue their march on to the Championship !
