At last, its time for the 2014 ARBA World Series!After 3 straight years of Santa Fe vs. Shiner, we have 2 different teams battling for the championship. The 2 most dominant regular season teams made it through as the Harmony Grove Toppers (120-42) visit the Surprise Zombies (126-36).
Harmony Grove swept both New Monmouth and Covington to get here.It wasnt quite so easy for Surprise, but they overcame Camden in 5 and Brooklyn in 6.Surprise makes their first World Series appearance since finally winning their 1st championship in 2006.Before that, they had many great teams in Laramie, but kept coming up short, including 3 World Series defeats.Similarly, Harmony Grove has an impressive streak of great teams over the past 10 years, but are still looking for their 1st championship.Their last of 3 World Series defeats came in 2008.
Okay, enough of that boring history stuff, lets get to the action!
The Zombies drew 1st blood on a massive solo blast by local folk hero Ryan Raburn in the 2nd.That held up until the 4th when Hanley Ramirez shook off a HBP and raced home on a Martinez double.It was tied at 1 in the 6th when Utley chased Darvish with a single and stolen base.HAR brought in their theoretically dominant lefty Seigrist, who immediately served up an RBI single to PH Cody Ross!Siegrists non-dominance continued in the 7th when Raburn homered again.Things got crazy when SUR pulled Greinke to start the 8th and then used 4 pitchers to get 3 outs as HAR made it a 1-run game again.However, Cishek did his thing in the 9th and the Zombies held on to win the WS opener.SUR 3-2
G2: Stephen Strasburg (15-9, 2.60 ERA) vs. Marco Estrada (15-3, 3.22 ERA)
Votto crushed one in the 1st to give HAR its 1st lead.However, Strasburg suddenly lost his mojo in the 3rd, allowing a single, walk, and balk before grooving a pitch that Utley deposited in the seats for a 3-run home run.Both offenses were very quiet after that, combining for 7 hits in the game. Estrada went 7 strong innings and Cishek pitched a perfect 9th.Utleys HR > Votto's HR.SUR 3-1
G3: Mark Buehrle (22-3, 2.15 ERA) vs. Hiroki Kuroda (17-8, 3.04 ERA)
Buehrles awesome regular season performance just hasnt carried over into the playoffs and this game was certainly no exception!HAR jumped all over him in the 1st with 5 consecutive baserunners, including HR by Navarro and Ramirez.However, Ross bailed him out of a bases-loaded jam to keep it from getting totally out of hand.The Zombies dug most of the way out of that 4-run hole when they scored 3 with 2 outs in the 3rd, capped by a Carp shot.With HAR clinging to a 4-3 lead in the 5th, Siegrist took over and stunk it up again with a BB, HBP, and finally an RBI walk of Carp that tied the game.Nathan walked in another run as the Harmony Grove fans sat in stunned silence.The Zombies took advantage of more wildness in the 9th to add a few insurance runs so they didnt need Cishek.SUR 8-4
G4: Jonathan Niese (15-6, 2.91 ERA) vs. Yu Darvish (22-2, 2.41 ERA)
Could Surprise really sweep this great Harmony Grove team?Niese had trouble getting the 3rd out in the 1st and Derrick Robinson drove in a pair before Butler flied out with bases loaded.Ross replaced Niese after a 2-out BB in the 2nd and then he was replaced in the 3rd and so on.SUR staged their inevitable rally to tie game in 4th with a Marte squeeze bunt and Venable double.Both teams had chances after that, but Darvish and the SUR bullpen preserved the tie until the 9th.Thats when the cruel and capricious Strat gods decided to throw HAR a long overdue bone.GG 1B Gonzalez made an error to start the inning.PR Escobar stole 2nd and advanced on a bad throw.SUR intentionally walked Ramirez to close out this PA for the series, but Beltre doubled to win the game and extend the series!There would be no sweep.HAR 3-2
G5: Zack Greinke (14-9, 3.23) vs. Stephen Strasburg (15-9, 2.60 ERA)
The Zombies enjoyed a rare dalliance in small ball after Gonzalez singled to start the 2nd.Venable walked after failing to bunt and then Marte bunted both runners over.With 2 outs, Kottaras made just enough contact to bring a run home.However, Strasburg rallied to retire Nava with the bases loaded.Neither team managed a hit until the 5th, although HAR did waste a freaky K & PB baserunner in the 4th.Nava singled with 1 out, PR Jennings stole 2nd, and went to 3rd on a groundout.Hey, thats Ryan Raburns music!Would Paco Rodriguez dare pitch to this mythical beast?No!But Jean Machi would try and fail to sneak one by him.Boom goes Raburn to give SUR a 3-0 lead.Greinke rolled along with a shutout until little Dustin Pedroia shocked him with a line shot that slipped just over the wall for a home run!(He only had one HR chance on either card and that was a 1 in 20, but he found it.Oh well, Travis was more than due.)Escobar singled to chase the shell-shocked Greinke, but Thielbar ended the inning with a Navarro flyout and Votto DP.On to the 9th! Thielbar struck out D. Robinson and Cishek struck out S. Robinson.Could Beltre keep Harmony Groves season alive again?Not this time, he grounded out instead.SUR 3-1
The Zombies are 2014 ARBA Champions and its couch-burning time in Surprise!!!
Congratulations to Travis on assembling yet another powerful Harmony Grove team and leading them to yet another great season, but condolences that they came up short yet again. I certainly know that feeling all too well and hope that you get to experience the feeling of finally winning the damn thing soon. However, I like this feeling so much that I want Surprise to repeat first, so it would be great if you could wait a bit longer, thanks.
Pitching was the key in this series as the winning team had only 3 runs in 4 of 5 games. The outlier was G3 when SUR trailed 4-0 early, but rallied to win 8-4. Overall, SUR outscored HAR 19-11 and out-homered them 5-4. Neither team hit much at all. SUR went 208/280/327 and HAR 222/274/321. However, the Zombies got just enough big hits to pull out the close games.
RYAN FREAKIN RABURN was obviously the main Zombie hitting hero with 3 HR and 4 RBI in only 9 PA. Fittingly, he will ride off into the sunset after his one glorious season in Surprise, as will pretty much all the other hitting heroes: Escobar, Carp, Ross, Donaldson, and Murphy. Utley only hit .222, but did have that huge HR in G3. Greinke lived up to his salary and ace status with a 2-0, 1.29 ERA performance. Cishek saved 3 games to lead a mostly terrific Zombie bullpen. Here's a fun stat for you: 10 SUR pitchers combined to allow only 3 ER in over 40 IP, while the Buehrle/Niese/Matusz trio gave up 7 ER in 2.2 IP. Nice.
As for HAR, Martinez and Bourn both hit .400, but failed to score. Derrick Robinson went 2-5 and led team with 3 RBI. Victorino and Ramirez also had their moments. The traded away Votto, Beltre, Pedroia, Hamilton, and Navarro all finished under .200 although most of them had a dramatic hit at some point. In general, the HAR pitchers weren't really bad, they just weren't good enough (3.98 ERA). The starters at least kept games close, but only Darvish in the G4 win made it to the 5th. Strasburg lost both of his starts. Siegrist seemed much worse than his 3.86 ERA. Papelbon and Machi wielded gas cans.
Thanks to Travis for powering through all 5 games last night and into the early morning!
Okay, enough of this. I need to start Christmas shopping...
