Put me in coach!

Well, beat the drum and hold the phone - the sun came out today!

We're born again, there's new grass on the field.

A-roundin' third, and headed for home, it's a brown-eyed handsome man;

Anyone can understand the way I feel.

And then there were four.

If you went by the end of the regular season standings, the 1^st, 2^nd, 6^th, and 8^th place teams were left with The Wild, The Dislocated Joints, The Dodge City Rounders and Grisslies respectively.

If you were to go by the seeding of the round robin, you would have the 1^st, 2^nd 3^rd and the 12^th seeded teams remaining in The Dislocated Joints, The Grisslies, The Wild and The Dodge City Rounders.

So, a little analysis of the final four.

Dodge City had 12-11-1 regular season. They had a very balanced season, never winning or losing more than 3 games in a row. They were the only team (apologies if I’m wrong) not to have a hitter in the top 30 in the league, but their attack was balanced and their overall +/- was fourth best in the league at a +34. In the round robin, Dodge City had defeated the Dog Catchers (17-10), lost to the Lucky Stiffs (22-16), The Wild (14-7), The Grisslies (19-11). In elimination games they had knocked out Recycled (23-20) and The Dog Catchers (13-11).

The Grisslies on paper look a lot like Dodge City in that they had 12-12 record and looked pretty balanced as well. The truth is that they were nothing like the each other. The Grisslies had about as bad a 1^st half as you could want starting 2-8. But when the Grisslies turned the corner they ended up having the best second half of any team in the league. They were a team of streaks having lost 6 in a row at one point and following that up with a 7 game winning streak. There is no doubt that Rob McCarren leading the league in hitting was a huge factor, but even with that they were 7^th ranked team overall in hitting. In the round robin, the Grisslies had defeated the Dusty Cleats (14-12), The Red Dogs (18-6), and Dodge City (19-11) while losing to the Dog Catchers (10-8). In their only elimination game they had narrowly taken out the Rusty Rebels (8-5).

The Dislocated Joints finished second in the regular season and first in the round robin. They looked good. The consensus was that the Joints were a team that hit smart & not necessarily hard. They had 3 player finish in the top 30 in hitting and it would have been 4 players but for one player being 5 at bats short of qualifying. They scored the second most runs in the league and had the 3^rd best +/-. In the round robin they opened by losing to Recycled (16-11) then beating Torn Ligaments (17-7), Dusty Cleats (16-9) and the Banshees (16-9). In their one elimination game they send The Torn Ligaments Packing with a 19-3 thrashing.

And The Wild. Earlier this year I think I referred to The Wild has having “million dollar arm & 5 cent heads”. OF COURSE, I was joking! The Wild were like the Bronx Bombers. So many guys on the team have the ability to pound the ball. They were the leagues dominant team in the first half and were steady in the second half & finished 1^st overall. They had 3 guys in the top 10 and were the most aggressive base running team in the league. In the round robin they had a slow start losing to the Red Dogs (16-11) before straightening things out with wins over The Rusty Rebels (15-8), Dodge City (14-7) and the Hot Tub Woody’s (10-9). Then in their first elimination game they ousted the Dusty Cleats in a close 7-3 game.

Dodge City Rounders Vs. Dislocated Joints. Dodge City was a tough match up for The Dislocated Joints. During the regular season Dodge swept them impressively by scores of 18-10 and 20-15. Dodge City had every reason to believe that they were the miracle team for the 2009 playoffs. They weren’t. They were game, good sports and played hard, but sun was shining brightly on the Joints who won a lopsided affair by 25-7 count.

The Wild Vs. Grisslies. These teams had split their season series and the game pitted the best team of the 1^st half against the best team in the second half. The Grisslies staggered out of the gate and after an inning and a half were down 10-0. The Grisslies had made a habit out of being down early and clawing their way back into games. Despite only giving up 3 more runs the rest of the way, the bats just never came alive with any consistency. Make the final Wild 13 Grisslies 6.

Semi - finals concluded with a total of 11 teams gone (and STILL not forgotten) in the Hot Tub Woody’s, Banshees, Lucky Stiffs, Recycled, Red Dogs, Dog Catchers, Dusty Cleats, Rusty Rebels and Torn Ligaments, Grisslies, and the Dodge City Rounders.

Match up for the Final…..

The Wild Vs. Dislocated Joints.

More to come…..One last blog….