Williamsburg (102-60) dispensed with upstart San Jose in the Wild Card play-in game, earning them the honor of facing the defending champs. Shiner (109-53) had the best record in the CL again this season, but really struggled against WMB, losing 9 of 12, including a road sweep. So, how would this matchup turn out?
Game 1: Cahill vs. Dickey. The Blondes drew 1st blood on a Young HR in the 2nd and added a Youk solo HR in the 6th, but Cahill was keeping it close against the dominant Dickey. That changed in the 7th when he quickly loaded the bases and got no relief at all from Hanrahan or Hughes. Smelling blood in the water, Shiner blew the game open with 4 runs in the 7th and 3 more in the 8th. Adding injury to insult, the Hipsters lost Rolen until game 4. Dickey went the distance with a 6-hit shutout. SHI 9-0
Game 2: McDonald vs. Hamels. This was a wild one. Shiner jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the 1st, but WMB finally scored a run in the 3rd. Young and Beckham doubles made it 3-1 SHI in the 4th, but WMB tied the game in the 5th. Cedeno and Molina hit solo homers in the 6th to give SHI yet another lead, but elite closer Balfour blew it in the 9th. Swisher's single tied the game, but Posey struck out with 2 on base. On we went to extra innings! With Gregerson pitching for WMB in the 11th, Willingham singled and went to 2nd on a passed ball. That put him in position to score easily on a Pujols walk-off double. Phelps picked up the win with a strong relief effort. SHI 6-5 (11)
Game 3: Harang vs. Buchholz. Would the Hipsters turn the series around back in their home park? Not so much. The Blondes took another early lead on a Molina RBI single in the 1st and then added a Molina 2-run HR in the 3rd. Just to make sure, Pujols blasted a grand slam in the 4th. It was garbage time after that as Shiner took a 3-0 series lead. SHI 8-1
Game 4: Dickey vs. Lynn. Shiner considered starting someone other than their ace with the big series lead, but didn't want to risk letting WMB back into it. Continuing the theme, Shiner scored 2 runs in the 1st and added another in the 2nd. However, Starlin Castro surprisingly had the knuckler figured out, blasting solo homers in the 2nd and 5th to keep WMB hopes alive. Shiner spoiled that with another 2-out rally in the 6th. Cabrera's 4th hit drove in a run and Willingham's HR gave SHI a commanding 6-2 lead. It stayed that way until the 9th, when Betancourt tired, but none of the other WMB pitchers would come in to replace him. Forced to keep pitching, he served up a 3-run HR to the mighty Pujols. Those runs seemed meaningless at the time, but WMB roughed up Janssen for 3 runs in the 9th and had runners at the corners before Balfour made them stop. SHI 9-5
Okay, so I certainly didn't expect a series sweep, but that's what happened. Dickey (2-0, 1.13 ERA in 16 IP) and Pujols (.350, 3 DO, 2 HR, 10 RBI in 4 G) led the Blondes, but there were many other heroes. Holiday and Castro did their best for WMB, but the pitching was mostly horrible. Swisher's 1-18 didn't help either.
Congratulations to Jon on a great team and season, although it obviously didn't end well. Thanks for your patience through many annoying netplay crashes. Perhaps you'll get another shot at us in the World Series with BRK. Shiner will have to get through either NMO or HAR to reach the World Series for the 3rd straight year.
Oh yeah, I should probably post something about my teams since the offseason has started without me. How dare you!
