The Surprise Zombies dominated their way to 119 wins this season, while Camden had "only" 97. So this should be a cakewalk, right? Not so fast. These teams did splt their regular season games. Also, I've learned the hard way that in the playoffs, anything can happen!
G1: Matsuzaka vs. Nolasco Camden drew first blood in the 2nd with a solo HR by Carlos "El Caballo" Lee, but Gonzalez tied it with his own solo HR in the 3rd. In the 4th, a rare error on 2B Brandon Phillips messed up Dice-K's mojo. A pair of walks loaded the bases and Escobar delivered a huge 2-run single before Dice-K recovered. Camden rallied in the 5th, but Phillips struck again with a killer DP. In the 6th, Camden put 2 runners in scoring position and El Caballo brought home one with a groundout. Still clinging to a 3-2 lead, Camden chased Nolasco with a pair of singles. In came Buchholtz to save the day! Pierre stole 2nd and Kendall hit a fly ball that appeared to score Hardy. No, wait! Surprise appeals and it's overturned! Hardy is out! This was one of those bizarre rare plays from the x-chart. Nice timing for me, not so nice for Travis. Buchholtz unleashed a wild pitch to put another runner on 3rd, but Phillips made the last out to solidify his goat status. Both teams had chances in the 8th, but failed to score. With K-Rod warming up in the pen, Buchholtz mowed down the last 3 batters to close out a 3-2 Zombie victory!
G2: Floyd vs. Peavy Okay, this is taking too long. I had better be more concise. CMD scored a pair in the 1st with 2 hits and a WP. McLouth homered to make it 2-1. Rolen's RBI DO made it 3-1 in the 6th. SUR had several great scoring chances, but failed to deliver the big hit. With runners on the corners and 2 outs in the 7th, Travis made a move that is sure to generate some airtime on talk radio. He loaded the bases with an IBB to Monroe and called on closer Soria early. It worked as Iannetta struck out and SUR managed only a single in the last 2 innings. CMD evens it with a 3-1 win. What happened to the SUR offense? It mostly died on the warning track in this game as they missed at least 7 HR chances.
G3: Sheets vs. Vazquez In the trip to Camden, the Zombies suddenly rediscovered their offense, much to the dismay of a hapless Javier Vazquez. Another McLouth HR made it 3-0 in the 2nd to match the biggest run total of the series so far. The Zombies obliterated that with a 7-run 3rd, capped by a 2-out, 3-run double from PH Sean Casey! Camden did hit a pair of homers off Sheets, but he went the distance in a dominating 14-3 victory for Surprise. Okay, that's more like it!
G4: Nolasco vs. Rowland-Smith In the 2nd, Gonzalez and Hairston hit back-to-back homers and the Zombies were looking good. However, a Hardy HR and a Crawford RBI single tied it. Iannetta led off the Zombie 7th a double and was quickly replaced with PR Casilla. SUR went against their nature with a little small-ball, that worked as Casilla advanced on a bunt then scored on Bradley's sac fly against Soria, in early again. Naturally, Huff followed that with a homer to make it 4-2. Buchholtz easily retired the last 6 batters to put Surprise a win away from closing out this series.
G5: Shields vs. Matsuzaka Just when it looked like Camden was ready to roll over and play dead, this happened. The Zombies struck first, making Dice-K pay for an IBB with a pair of runs before leaving the bases loaded for the first of many times. Camden quickly struck back with unlikely 2-run homers from Rolen and Crawford, quickly earning Shields this team's worst pitching performance. He mostly settled down after that, but did give up another run in the 5th inning, his last. That run loomed large when Iannetta made Dice-K pay dearly for a pair of walks by crushing a 3-run homer! That tied the game at 5 and started a long parade of Camden relievers, one for each of the next 3 batters. Little did we suspect how long this game would remain tied at 5. I should mention that Brandon Phillips was lost for the series in the 7th. In the bottom half, SUR loaded the bases against Soria, but Escobar hit into a soul-crushng DP. That was the last major scoring threat until the 10th, when SUR left 2 more on base. CMD nearly won it in the 13th, but instead the pain continued. Finally, in the 17th inning, SUR loaded the bases with a single and 2 walks. Camden brought in their FOURTEENTH pitcher of the game, Fausto Carmona, leaving only Homer Bailey sitting in the bullpen. He would face Alexi Casilla, who was 0 for the series up to that point and remained that way, but did manage to draw a huge RBI walk! That was Surprise's 13 BB of the game, but then they left the bases loaded again to increase their LOB total to 15. For the 1st time in the series, Surprise broke the protective glass on closer Francisco Rodriguez, to close out this marathon game and the series. Instead, he served up a leadoff double to the unstoppable JJ Hardy. Casanova tried to bunt him over and was rewarded with a freakish catcher error! No! Crawford walked to load the bases and Shannon Frakkin Stewart lined a game-winning 2-run single through the drawn-in infield. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!
Game 6: Floyd vs. Peavy Could the Zombies bounce back from the game 5 debacle after a day off and a trip home? Peavy was apparently still suffering from jet lag, as evidenced by the 3-0 deficit after 2 innings. Vlad was the early hero, with a HR and several stunning catches in RF. Peavy settled down after that, but SUR couldn't score against Gavin Floyd until the 6th when Gonzalez launched a 2-run HR. Lewis came in and struck out the side, so naturally he was pulled for Zito to start the 7th, who was pulled for Soria after getting the first 2 outs. Soria looked shaky, loading the bases for Gonzalez, but his fly ball died on the warning track. Soria was still pitching in the 9th and faced Jerry Hairston, Jr. with 2 outs and a runner on 1st. Soria must have been tired, because he served up a fat hanging curve and Hairston crushed it deep to left! But not quite deep enough, caught and Camden hangs on to another 3-2 victory. This series is going to 7 games after all!
Game 7: Vazquez vs. Nolasco Nolasco ran into big trouble in the 2nd, including a 2-run single by injury replacement Augie Ojeda! Luckily, he retired D. Lee with the bases loaded. SUR struck back with 2 outs in the 3rd on a Gonzalez RBI triple (!) and a Bradley HR. Soria came in even earlier this game, the 5th to be exact. SUR led 3-2, but CMD tied it in the 6th on a DP ball. Then CMD grabbed the lead in the 7th on a sacrifice fly and the home crowd went insane with panic! Leading off the 8th, Jason Bay continued his awesome season by crushing a homer off Tyler Walker to tie the game again. Oh no! Not extra innings again! Yes, I'm afraid so. With 1 out in the 10th, CMD finally got a pair of baserunners off the seemingly untouchable Buchholtz and SUR tried Rodriguez again. He immediately threw a wild pitch, but Rolen's fly ball wasn't deep enough and Hardy grounded out to end the threat. Dotel was pitching for Camden and Iannetta reached with a 1 out double. In came Casilla to pinch run and Escobar lined a single into the OF. Casilla came motoring home and it would take a great throw to get him...and he's safe! SUR wins the game 5-4 and claims the series at last!
Wow! That was just an incredible series. It was incredibly frustrating for much of the time, but I'm relieved to have come out on top. Congratulations to Travis on a great season and for putting up a heck of a fight with an overmatched team. 5 of the 7 games were decided by 1 run and SUR won 3 of them. Camden's other win was by 2 runs and Surprise's was by 11, which skews the series stats a bit. CMD scored exactly 3 runs in 4 games, but won half of those.
Hardy and Guerrero were easily the top hitters for Camden, although Hardy cooled off in the last couple of games. None of the other starters hit over .200. The Lees hit a combined 8-58, but at least Carlos had 2 HR. Floyd won both of his starts with a 2.77 ERA. Soria was 0-1 with 2 SV and a 0.79 ERA in 11.1 IP. Zito managed to pitch in all 7 games, but only faced 14 batters. Vazquez, Matsuzaka, and some of the other relievers were not good at all.
Escobar had the series-clinching hit and also led Surprise with a .455 BA and 6 RBI. Gonzalez and McLouth combined for 5 HR and 10 RBI. Iannetta and Bay only hit .200, but delivered some huge hits. Bradley sucked with a .192 BA, 11 K, and 3 DP. Casilla, Hinske, and Santiago were a combined 1-28! Nolasco was 2-0 with a 3.86 ERA and we won all his starts. Peavy had a 3.38 ERA, but was 0-2. Buchholtz was awesome with only 6 baserunners in 11.1 scoreless IP. The SUR bullpen was nearly perfect with only 3 runs allowed in the series, 1 unearned. Of course, that included the 2 off Rodriguez in the deadly game 5.
Okay, enough of this nonsense. It's not like anyone is still reading at this point anyway. Next up, the BRK-SUR showdown. Who will walk away from this one?
