Playoffs 2013, Day 7 - Sunday Bloody Sunday

Playoffs Day One Can Be Found Here ====> DAY 1
Playoffs Day Two Can Be Found Here ====> DAY 2
Playoffs Day Three Can Be Found Here ====> DAY 3
Playoffs Day Four Can Be Found Here ====> DAY 4
Playoffs Day Five Can Be Found Here ====> DAY 5
Playoffs Final Stats ====> STATs
Playoffs Day Six Can Be Found Here ====> Day 6

Quarter Finals:

(1)Beer Bros. Vs. (9)Red Dogs:    Each of these games had a story.  The one for this game was it featured two teams that combined for 82 runs scored in their two regular season meetings.  And they weren't blow out.  The Beer Bros. had both wins but only a +6 advantage.  Everything pointed to a huge score in this one. 

The Red Dogs approach seemed to be score early & score often.  They took care of business in the top of the first with Simard, the Whale (Parsons) and M.Candy scoring for an early 3 run lead.  If the Beer Bros. were put off by that, it didn't show.  With two out and one one, Piellusch, Doyle and McCarron would score to tie the game. 

Back on the sticks the Red Dogs would explode for 7 runs.  Simard, M.Candy, Hollmann, Swabuk, Grenkie, Enright and B.Candy would do the damage.  The Beer Bros. would only answer one (Ranby) in their half of the inning to trail 10-4.  They'd get 2 more in 3rd from Doyle and McCarron and another two in the 4th from Kapp and Wallace.  That made it 11-8 after 4 with everything heading in the Beer Bros direction. 

But that would be all the scoring for the Beer Bros. as they were shut out in the 5th, 6th and 7th and Red Dogs piled on, ultimately taking this one 17-8.  Cinderella continues on!
 
Player of the game:  Adrian Barry.  Adrian had a great day at the plate going 4 for 4 with a triple and two runs scored.   

(2)Draft Kings Vs. (7)Dislocated Joints:   The compelling story here was that one of the two best teams from the regular season was about to be eliminated in the quarter finals.  These teams were only separated by a point in the standings, but the similarity ended there.  The Draft Kings had the leagues best defense and the Dislocated Joints boasted the leagues number one offense. 

The Joints started the game going 3 up and 3 down for.  Unusual to say the least.  The Kings would only count one themselves in the 1st as Muirhead plated. 

M.Foerster and Moon would score in the 2nd inning, but the Joints quick strike offense seemed to be lagging.  The draft kings would answer with 3 runs in their half as Brooks, Bones and Smith would cross. 

The game was 4-2 after two and the Draft Kings would slowly pull away as they scored in every winning, getting 4 in the 3rd; 1 in the 4th; 5 in the 5th and 2 in the 6th for 15 in total.  They wouldn't need the 7th. 

The Joints were hurt by Bill Brown having to pull himself from the game in the 3rd with foot problem and Terry Doucet was felled in the 5th when he hurt his back.  Bill's injury came running to 1st base.  Terry was playing 2nd base and innocently back peddling for infield pop up when he was taken down by the lip between the infield and outfield. 

This is another example where the quality of our league supersedes the rules.  The Joints weren't charged outs when Bill and Terry's turns in the line up came up.  Good call Draft Kings. 

The Joints offense sputtered and try as they may, they just couldn't get rolling.  The final ended 15 - 8. 

One of the best moments of this game was when Wayne Caldwell hit a crisp come backer to Kahuna who was pitching and deftly stabbed it.  Caldwell took a step to 1st, then realizing he was an easy out, he stopped.  Kahuna took a step to 1st, but didn't throw the ball.  Then Caldwell took another.  Then Kahuna.  Back and forth.  A step at a time.  Both men staring each other down like old west gun fighters and both teams laughing.  It seemed to take 20 minutes but when it ended, Kahuna beat Caldwell to the bag by 1/2 a step. 

Player of the game:  Al (Bones) Nicholl.  If you're going to make a final, you need to have a huge game somewhere along the line from someone unexpected.  Piellusch and Ross will talk your ear off about Al Bales game last year.  Farah and I will do the same about Jim Mannell.  This was one of those moments. Bones was 3/3 with a single, double and triple.  And there was nothing cheap about that triple, it was smoked.  He also scored 3 runs. 

(3)Gruesome Devils Vs. (6)Dodge City Rounders:  The Gruesome Devils had a terrific start to the season but struggled in the second half.  The Dodge City Rounders were the opposite.  They struggled at the beginning but kind of hit their stride in the second half.  Both teams had seemed to figure things out in the round robin as they were the two winners from Pool A.  Also, this would be one of only two rematches on Sunday.  The Devils and Rounders met in the round robin with the Gruesome Devils winning a very tight 18-17 game.  The game ended on a Dodge 7th inning rally coming up a run short. 

Dodge City picked up where ended the last one, with Gaudet, Peters and Beechey scoring in the 1st and Dell, McKibbon, Peters and Beechey scoring the 2nd to count 7 through two.  The Devils didn't start off quite so fortunately.  Six batters to the plate in the 1st and no runs.  Four batters to the plate in the 2nd and no runs.  Down 7-zip after two. 

The Rounders wouldn't score in the 3rd, but McKibbon would score his second run on the night in the 4th.  The Devils would have DeLand score in the 3rd and Lahey score in the 4th.

The game quickly got away with Dodge City going up 15 - after batting in the top of the 5th.  It was over. 

Well, maybe not quite.  The Gruesome Devils didn't quit.  They put up six spot in the bottom of the 5th to get back to within 7, trailing 15-8.  Dodge would get nothing in the top of the 6th and Gruesome got right back with the scoring by getting 5 to suddenly get within two, now trailing 15-13.  Qutie a come back from 15-2 an inning and half earlier. 

Dodge City would get one run their last at bats and Gruesome came up needing 3 to continue the game.  The rally wasn't to be however and blowout that became a close game ended 16-13. 

Player of the game:   Scott Peters.  Scott always tells me that his hits are cheap and the outs are loud.  Not in this game.  A walk, 2 singles and 2 doubles to go along with a couple of runs scored.  

(4)Dog Catchers Vs. (5)Tap Masters:  This was our 2nd rematch game.  The last rematch was a replay of a one run game.  You wouldn't think that you could closer, but the Dog Catchers and Tap Masters kicked off their playoffs with a tie game at 9 a piece. 

You might not believe this but Neil Pendlebury led off the game with a triple!  He would score as would Butler and Rumboldt in the 1st inning.   The Dog catchers would quickly answer as Wynnyk, Smith, Slipetz and Young scored for a 4-3 lead after one. 

Neither team would score in the 2nd, but Tucker, Pendlebury (ya, he tripled), K.Clouthier, Butler and Rumbolt would all score running the Tap Masters total to 8 in the 3rd inning.  The Dog Catchers had no answer as they went 3 up and 3 down in third.

The Dog catchers would narrow the game to 8-6 in the 4th and the game ended up tied a 9's in the 6th.  They were 9-9 after 7 innings in their 1st game and here we go again!

The Tap Masters weren't terribly interested in extra innings.  They would send 9 men to the plate, scoring six.  The Dog Catchers went quickly in the 7th, making the final 15-9.

Player of the game:   Mark Butler.  Mark was 3 for 4 with a triple, an RBI and 3 runs scored.  Greta game Mark! 

GOING HOME:

(1)Beer Bros.  There was a point in the season where the Beer Bros. were actually in the last place conversation.  Seriously.  Those days seem very long ago.  They turned their season around and found a really nice roll late that got them to Sunday.  Rob McCarron (.870), Paul Piellusch (.792) and Mark Doyle (.783) all hit over .750 for the playoffs.  Steve Ross was the leading run producer with 11 scored. 

(7)Dislocated Joints:  The Joints had a remarkably consistent year going 8-4 in the first half and 7-3-2 in the second half.  They had a quick strike offense that was able to produce runs with less than 2 hits.  They were fast and they had power.  Its too bad that the season ended with injuries, but a very nice year overall for the club.  The Joints post season was lead by Matt Foerster (.957), Kevin Moon (.826), Terry Doucet (.800) and Gord Robertson (.773).  Both Matt and Terry scored 14 runs for the Joints. 

(3)Gruesome Devils:  The Gruesome Devils were a streaky team this season.  There were stretches were it looked like they couldn't find that bat rack and there were stretchers where NO ONE wanted to play them because they were that hot!  The did well making the quarters and were just a breath away from the semis!  Good year.  The big hitters for the Devils were Gary Basso (.900), Steve Lahey (.850), Brian Richards (.810) and Peter Hayward (.750),  Brian was also the runs leader with 13. 

(4)Dog Catchers:  This was a really fun team to watch.  There were so many guys that could the ball hard on this team that defenses were on their heels.  In addition to the monster sticks they had some really sound defensive players on the squad too.  4th in the league.  4th in the round robin.  Well done.  The Dog Catchers were led in the playoffs by Don Slipetz (.909) and Rick Hjelholt (.889).  Brad Young led the way in runs with 9. 

Semi Finals:

Left in the playoffs were the #1, #8, #9 and #14 teams from the regular season.  I'd say we're pretty balanced. 

(2)Draft Kings Vs (6)Dodge City Rounders:  The Rounders brought a nice balanced attack and steady defense into this match, while the Draft Kings showed up with superior defense and an offense that usually took a while to get rolling, but was reliable by the end. 

This game did not go to form.  Dodge City spend the first two innings sending 4 guys to the plate and getting no runs.  Meanwhile, the Draft Kings had enough of that 'slow starter' talk and busted out scoring 4 in the 1st and 5 in the second to have a 9-0 lead after two. 

Muirhead and Cragg scored in both innings.  Handley, Stike, Brooks, Smith and Caldwell chipped in single runs. 

The Rounders answered in the 3rd with Gaudet, Beechey, Dell and McKibbon all plating and they followed it up by shutting down the Draft Kings in the bottom of the 3rd.  Dodge City sent five batters to the plate in the fourth but had a runner thrown out at the plate and count score.  The Rounders would need another shutdown inning in fourth to keep it close. 

The 4th was huge for the Draft Kings.  DeLand, Muirhead, Handley, Cragg, Stike and Routledge all scored to make six and push out to a 15 to 4 game.  That essentially ended the game.  Dodge would score one in the sixth and three in the seventh but it wasn't nearly enough as the final score was 18 - 8 for the Draft Kings.   

Player of the game:   Chuck Cragg.  There were actually five guys (Muirhead, Handley, Cragg, Routledge and Bell) who had 4 for 4 games in this one, but only Chuck pulled that trick while scoring 4 runs as well.   

(5)Tap Masters Vs. (9)Red Dogs:   Cinderella batted first in this one, and like they had been all playoffs, they scored in the first inning.  M.Candy and Hollmann both scored in the 1st.  N.Pendlebury would answer with one and Joseph would get one in the second to tie the game. 

2-2 after two.  Enright would score the Red Dogs 3rd run in the 3rd inning and Tucker and Pendlebury would repond to give the Tap Masters a 4-3 lead after 3. 

The game had the feel of a tight affair and you could almost feel the upset in the air.  The Red Dogs would be shut down in the 4th and 5th innings.  The same couldn't be said for the Tap Masters.  Rumboldt, Joseph, D.Pendlebury, Bowers and Koolhaas would score to count 5 in the fourth and they'd get another on a K.Clouthier run in the 5th.

At the end of 5, the score was 10-3 for the Tap Masters and it looked like the lights had gone out on the Red Dogs magical run.  The Red Dogs weren't quite ready to turn in the slipper yet.  I the 6th inning Parsons, M.Candy, Presenza, Barry and Avery all scored to charge the Red Dogs back into the game.  It went from 'over', to 10-8 lead for the Tap Masters going to the bottom of 6. 

At this point, I think the tank was empty for the poor Red Dogs.  The Tap Masters scored 7 runs without making an out.  The final of this one was 17-8.    

Player of the game:   Cliff Joseph.  3 for 3 with 3 runs scored and some wicked dance moves on the way to the final. 

GOING HOME:

(9)Dodge City Rounders:  Some teams have their own definition.  Its kind of intangible.  Being a Grisslie has a certain character.  So does being a Hot Tub Woody.  So does being a Dodge City Rounder.  All great, but very different.  (This might be a future discussion).  Dodge could have folded when they lost Al Fry.  They didn't.  They lost one of their best offensive players and they got better.  Progressively all season and even through the playoffs.  That's Dodge Character.  The top playoff hitters for the Rounders were Craig (Dude) Escott (.875), Scott Peters (.786), Derryl Gaudet (.786) and Keith Beechey (.778).  Peters and Beechey also led the way with 15 runs. 

(9)Red Dogs:  This was fun.  Very fun.  Its always great to see a team that had a tough year do well in the playoffs and the Red Dogs had a pretty tough year.  They lost their first two games and were facing elimination in their third effort when they squeaked out a 3 run win.  The rest is history.  Terrific job!  The playoff run was led by Bob Candy's .778 average and Peter Hollmann's .759.  The Red Dogs runs leaders were Mike Candy and Chris (The Whale) Parsons who each had 14 runs.