PLAYOFFS - The Finals

SETTING THE SCENE

Little boy, in a baseball hat,

Stands in a field, with his ball and bat,

says "I am the greatest, player of them all"

puts his bat on his shoulder, and tosses up his ball.

And the ball goes up, and the ball comes down,

he swings his bat all the way around,

and the worlds so still you can hear the sound

as the baseball falls, to the ground.

Now the little boy, doesn't say a word,

picks up his ball, he is undeterred,

Says "I am the greatest, there has ever been,"

and he grits his teeth, and tries it again.

And the ball goes up, and the ball comes down,

he swings his bat all the way around,

and the worlds so still you can hear the sound

as the baseball falls, to the ground.

He makes no excuses, He shows no fear,

He just closes his eyes, and listens to the cheers.

Little boy, he adjusts his hat

picks up his ball, stares at his bat,

says "I am the greatest, the game is on the line,"

and he gives his all, one last time.

And the ball goes up, like the moon so bright,

Swings his bat, with all his might,

and the worlds as still, as still as can be,

and the baseball falls, and that's strike three.

Now its supper time, and his Mama calls,

little boy starts home, with his bat and ball,

says "I am the greatest, that is a fact,

but even I didn't know, I could pitch like that."

THE POLL
This is interesting.  The most resent poll asked, "WHICH TWO TEAMS ARE MOST LIKELY TO APPEAR IN THE FINAL GAME?"  Here are the results. 

Banshees                                    5%       (The offense died)
Brew Jays                                 38%       (Rounders rule!)
Dislocated Joints                         0%       (bad time to slump)
Dodge City Rounders                  9%       (overcoming the odds!)
Dog Catchers                              0%       (We got this one right!)
Dusty Cleats                               6%        (Nice playoff run!)
Grisslies                                     16%       (How does the second team out get votes?)
Hot Tub Woody's                        3%      (Made it further than most thought they wood!)
Hurtin' Units                               19%      (A shocking end!)
Lucky Stiffs                                  6%      (Another surprise exit!)
Red Dogs                                     3%      (made it further  than predicted)
Rusty Rebels                               64%     (overwhelming #! favourite!)
The wild                                       0|%     (no faith in the defending champs)
Torn Ligaments                            6%      (Just missed!)                    

HOW THEY GOT THERE
#12 Versus #6.  A match up that no one foresaw.  Even their own players didn't see this match up coming.

The Wild opened the playoffs by tying the Hot Tub Woody's and then they barely eked out a win against the Dusty Cleats.  It wasn't a fabulous start, but it was enough.  They finished the round robin with losses to the Hurtin' Units and Lucky Stiffs.  They were matched up in the Saturday elimination against the Units again.  The Units had beaten them once in the round robin and they split in the regular season.  The Wild pulled off the upset of the league's number one team and moved onto Sunday! 

Sunday morning the Wild faced the Lucky Stiffs, a team they hadn't beaten this year in 3 chances.  The 4th chance was lucky for the Wild and they rolled easily over the stiffs.  In the semis, the Wild avenged their round robin tie to the Woody's by knocking them out and advancing to the final. 

The twelve seed Dodge City Rounders' route to the final was uphill all the way.  Dodge City had the first significant upset of the round robin by beating the Hurtin' Units.  They followed that up with a losses to the Dog Catchers, Torn Ligaments and Dusty Cleats in succession.  However, that one improbable win against the Units was enough to get them to the Saturday elimination game.

Saturday saw a match of Dodge City and the Red Dogs.  Dodge City managed to get by the Red Dogs in spirited game by scoring 20 runs.  On Sunday morning Dodge City was matched up against the Brew Jays and the run of upsets continued.  Dodge played another complete team game and advanced to the semis against the Torn Ligaments.  The Ligaments, who were on a nice run of their own became the latest team to experience the 'never say die' resolve of the Rounders.

THE GAME

Co MVPs Rob Stock & Tito Presenza

It was a clinic.

At 3:40 Tito Presenza threw a first pitch strike to Steve Black.  At 3:44 Rob Stock drove in the Wild's first run.  At 4:36 the game was in the books and the Wild declared champions with a very clean and clinical 13-3 victory.

Tito pitched as good a game as I have seen pitched.  He faced only 4 batters in each of the first 3 innings and didn't face more than five batters in an inning until the 7th when the 'Rounders scored two runs.  The pitching and defense was absolutely dominant. 

Offensively, Garry Hilliard was 4 for 4 with 3 runs scored.  Tito was 4 for 4 with 4 runs scored.  And Rob Stock was 3 for 4 with 6 RBIs.  Chuck Cragg had 3 hits, two of them doubles ripped over third base that cashed runs. 

The game was never really in much doubt as the Wild got out to a quick 5-0 lead after the 1st inning and stretched it out to 8-0 after two. 

Instead of a mood of disappointment, the atmosphere around the game turned into one of celebration.  Celebrating the end of the season.  Celebrating the Dodge City Rounders spectacular run.  Celebrating the fact that EVERY SINGLE TEAM was represented with multiple players watching the final.  And finally, celebrating The Wild doing something that no team has done in 25 year of Tottenham Oldtimers ball, and that is win consecutive championships!

Well done Dodge City Rounders!
Well done Wild!
Well done Oldtimers!