HAR (107-55) at SHI (118-44)

Shiner and Harmony Grove regularly dominated their opponents in the regular season, but how would that carry over into the playoffs?  Travis and I have both learned the hard way over the years that anything can and does happen in the ARBA playoffs.  Expect the unexpected 

Game 1 Oswalt vs. Dickey:  HAR quickly grabbed a 1-0 lead when Beltre took Dickey deep in the 1^st.  Shiner lost their ancient SS in the 3^rd, when Renteria fell down after striking out.  He was shipped in bubble wrap to Harmony Grove, hoping for a Game 3 return.  HAR increased their lead to 2-0 with a pair of doubles in the 4^th.  Oswalt escaped  2 early jams by walking Pujols and striking out Dunn, but Wells made it 2-1 with a solo shot.  With 2 outs and nobody on in the 5^th, Oswalt tried pitching to Pujols.  Bad idea, its a tie game after a long homer.  The balls continued to leave the yard as Hamilton made it 3-2 in the 6^th and PH Thames rudely greeted alleged shutdown reliever Adams in the 7^th.  The bullpens maintained the 3-3 tie heading into the 9^th.  Shiner closer Axford took over with 2 outs and allowed a Martinez single.  Then he walked PH Luis Castillo.  But surely he could take care of Alex Gonzalez, right?  Nope, RBI single and a 4-3 lead for HAR.  SHI tried to rally with a leadoff single and sacrifice bunt, but came up short.  Harmony Grove erased home field advantage with this win.

Game 2 Kuroda vs. Lilly: HAR took the early lead again on a Matsui RBI single and Upton homer, while SHI stranded 5 through 2 innings.    Shiner finally got to Kuroda in the 9^th, taking their first lead at 3-2 after homers by Molina and Willingham.  That didnt last long as Upton homered again after a costly Desmond error and then Overbay lifted one just barely over the leaping Wells for a 5-3 HAR lead.  Shiner responded with a Dunn HR to start the 5^th, but then I guess the wind started blowing in for a while.  With Adams pitching for HAR in the 8^th, Molina singled and stole 2^nd.  Valverde gave up a walk and then Prado delivered an RBI single to tie the game at 5.  The first 7 SHI runs in the series scored on 6 homers!  That brought up the mighty Pujols with 2 runners on, but he did into a devastating DP.  In the 9^th, HAR lost O-Dog to injury, but neither team scored.  Meek had retired 10 straight HAR batters, but made a mistake to Upton with 1 out in the 10^th.  HAR led 6-5 on Uptons 3^rd homer of the game!  Shiner went down 1-2-3 in the 10^th and fell into the dreaded 0-2 series hole, despite starting at home.

Game 3:  Pineiro vs. Billingsley.  With 2 outs in the 1^st, a triple by speedy Adam Dunn sparked a 5-run explosion without relying on homers and Papelbon had to finish the inning.  Not content with their 5-0 lead, Shiner added a pair of solo shots in the 3^rd.  With a 7-0 early lead, the game was over, right?  Not so fast.  HAR chipped away with a run in the 3^rd and 2 more in the 4^th.  The Blondes kept stranding baserunners instead of putting the game away, but Wells homered again in the 7^th and Dunn drew an RBI walk that made it 9-3.  Pujols could have really blown it open, but lined out instead.  It didnt matter as HAR could only add 1 more run and Pineiro went the distance in a 9-4 Shiner victory.  Hurrah!  At least theres no sweep!

Game 4:  Chen vs. Oswalt.  Neither team threatened until the 3^rd when Hamilton inexplicably dropped a fly ball that scored a run and set up a sacrifice fly.  Clinging to that 2-0 lead, Bruce Chen really came up huge, working out of some tough jams.  Oswalt also dominated and it was still 2-0 to start the 9^th when Prados leadoff single brought on the bullpen.  Shiner loaded the bases with 2 outs, but Wells struck out to end the threat.  Chen finally made a mistake and Overbay sent it over the wall.  He rallied to strike out Hamilton, but then turned over the precious 2-1 lead to Meek.   PH Ramirez struck out and Castillo grounded out to end it.  Each team only managed 4 hits.  This win evened up the series at 2-2.

Game 5:  Dickey vs. Zito.  Strat is a capricious little bitch and seemed to turn on Shiner again when they lost LF Willingham to a devastating 10 game injury in the 1^st inning.  However, Strat quickly reestablished its burning hatred of Travis when O-Dog made a 2-out error that set up a Desmond RBI single.  Pujols and Beltre traded solo homers, so Shiner still led 2-1 heading into the 7^th.  HAR turned to Adams again and he failed them again, serving up a 2-run HR to Pujols.  HAR staged an improbable rally with 2 outs in the 7^th against Meek that featured Carlos Lees PH RBI DO, then WP, BB, PB to score a run, and a HBP than injured Upton.  With the lead down to 4-3, SHI stubbornly stuck with Meek and he coaxed a groundout from Gonzalez.  In the 9^th, Markakis drew a 2-out walk and Valverde dared to pitch to Pujols.  Make that a 6-3 lead for Shiner on Alberts 3^rd homer of the game.  Axford finished off Shiners 3^rd straight victory. 

Game 6:  Kuroda vs. Lilly.  Who had the advantage at this point?  Shiner had won 3 in a row on the road, but was coming back home where they lost the first 2 games.  Lets find out!  Wells hit another solo homer to give Shiner a 1-0 lead.  HAR dared to let Pujols hit with 2 outs in the 2^nd and a runner on 2^nd.  Amazingly, he didnt homer, but did get an RBI double.  After retiring 10 HAR batters to start the game, Lilly gave up a Victorino triple, following by a Martinez HR that tied it at 2.  Shiner chased Kuroda with a couple baserunners in the 5^th and Prado tried a suicide squeeze with 1 out.  Markakis beat the throw home and SHI led 3-2.  HAR walked Pujols intentionally to load the bases with 1 out and escaped the jam.  Ogando made his 1^st appearance of the series to start the 7^th and didnt last long.  HAR put runners on 2^nd and 3^rd with no outs.  Miller got Hamilton to ground out weakly and Meek did the same with PH Kendall.  HAR tried PH Lee, but he struck out.  Whew!  With 2 outs in the 7^th and nobody on, HAR pitched to Pujols againGONE!   Adams really had a rough series.    HAR wasnt done yet as Meek had another ugly inning: DO, WP, out, RBI SI (1^st hit of series for Pod-Man), out, SI (PH Henry Blanco!), BB to load the bases.  SHI asked Eric OFlaherty to save the day with the bases loaded and a 4-3 lead.  He did just that, striking out Hamilton.  SHI responded by loading the bases with 2 outs in the bottom of the 8^th, but failed to score.  In came Axford for the 9^th and he retired Castillo, then Lee, and finally Matsui.  No drama there as Shiner closes out the series with a 4-3 win. 

Wow!  That was a crazy series.  I certainly didnt expect to win in 6 after starting with 2 home losses, but Strat clearly hates Travis more right now.  Congratulations to Travis on another great season that ended with playoff disappointment.  I know that feeling all too well and may experience it again soon.   For now, Ill try to enjoy the thrill of victory.

HAR: 21-R, 9-HR, 0-SB, 31-LOB, 205/249/405, 4.33 ERA

SHI: 29-R, 14-HR, 8-SB, 51-LOB, 264/333/532, 2.95 ERA

SHI Heroes:  Pujols obviously (7-19, 5 HR, 8 RBI, 8 BB), Molina (9-18, HR, 4 SB!), Wells (4 solo HR), and most of the pitching staff.

HAR Goats:  Hudson (0-11, 2 E, and got injured), Castillo (0-9, Hudsons replacement), Pod-Man (1-17), Gonzalez (3-20), Beltre (4-24, but 2 solo HR), Billingsley (67.5 ERA!), the 6.75 ERA Trio (Kuroda, Valverde, Papelbon), and Mike Adams (6 ERA and 3 HR in 6 IP).