In their 1st ARBA season, the Redwood Pioneers won 97 games and then dispatched Kansas City in 5 games to reach the FLCS. They would face the mighty Surprise Zombies, who won only 128 games and then defeated Rome in a 5-game series. Could Redwood stop Surprises historic run for a 3rd consecutive ARBA championship?
Before I get into the details, I should mention that we played this series using a great alternative to NetPlay, which inevitably failed again. I hosted it with GoMeeting, shared my screen and also shared mouse access. We could both see everything as it happened, had access to the game, and could also use the chat box. Way better than NetPlay even when that did work. Highly recommended!
Game 1: RDW@SUR - Roenis Elias vs. Tyson Ross
In his last outing, Ross shut out Rome. He didnt look like the same guy in this one. After 2 walks to start the game, Posey hit a ground ball that got past Zobrist because he was holding Blanco on 2nd. After a passed ball scored another run, Cruz hit a long fly ball that just barely cleared the wall (2 on 1-2 chance!) to give RDW a shocking 4-0 lead. How would the unexpected RDW starter handle the early lead? Elias quickly got 2 outs, but then gave up a single and walked 3 straight batters. Chirinos stepped in and crushed a long fly to leftthat died just short of the wall (14 on 1-13 chance!) for an out instead of a grand slam. Votto hit a solo HR in the 2nd, but RDW added 2 more runs to increase their lead to 6-2. SUR hit 2 more solo HR, cutting the lead to 6-4 through 5. Both teams had scoring chances after that, but the bullpens held up. RDW 6-4
Game 2: RDW@SUR - Justin Verlander vs. Zack Greinke
Blanco led off the game with a single, but only made it to 3rd. Valbuena had a chance to score in the 3rd, but was thrown out at home. Then Greinke retired the last 15 batters in a row. Meanwhile, Surprise hit 3 more solo homers, because thats what they do. SUR 3-0
Game 3: SUR@RDW - Corey Kluber vs. CJ Wilson
The Zombies mauled Wilson early, scoring 1 in the 1st, 3 in the 2nd, and 2 in the 3rd to lead 6-0. However, Kluber served up another 2-run HR to Cruz in the 4th and then Gordon hit a 2-run shot in the 5th, with a solo HR for SUR by Odor in the middle. The Zombies stubbornly stuck with Kluber through 5 1/3, then turned the 7-5 lead over to Miller. He wasnt quite up to his usual level of dominance and RDW chased him with a 7th inning DO that put the tying runs in scoring position. However, veteran lefty Thornton bailed him out and the Zombies added 3 insurance runs in the 8th, capped by a McCutchen HR. RDW PH Josh Phegley made a loud series debut with a HR in the 9th, but it wasnt nearly enough. SUR 10-6
Game 4: SUR@RDW Tyson Ross vs. Felix Hernandez
Its a very low bar, but Ross did much better this time. He still allowed 2-out RBI singles in the 1st and 2nd innings, but looked rather dominant afterwards. He struck out 12 before Gordon chased him with an RBI double in the 8th. Unfortunately for him, King Felix baffled the mighty Zombie offense, shutting them out through 8 innings with only 2 hits. However, he finally lost his mojo in the 9th as SUR rallied for 2 hits with 1 out. RDW called on former Zombie Gregerson, who escaped the jam to stick it to his old buddies. Okay, this series is down to best 2 out of 3! RDW 3-0
Game 5: SUR@RDW Zack Greinke vs. Jesse Hahn
Feeling the pressure, went with a wacky lineup full of lefty bats, including little-used Andrew Romine at 3B. He responded to this big opportunity by going 0-5, but it just didnt matter. Gonzalez homered in the 1st and SUR led 4-0 after 2 innings. Greinke allowed 6 hits this time, but RDW still couldnt score against him. The Pioneers went 0-10 with runners in scoring position and hit into a pair of DP. The Zombies added a few more runs, just because they could. SUR 7-0
Game 6: RDW@SUR Justin Verlander vs. Corey Kluber
With a Ross/Hernandez rematch looming in Game 7, the Zombies were highly motivated to end the series here. However, Redwood drew 1st blood with a run in the 3rd before the slumping Cruz hit into a killer DP. SUR quickly struck back with 3 doubles for 2 runs. McCutchen hit a solo HR and Kluber left after 5 shaky innings that featured 8 baserunners but only 1 run. McCutchen homered again in the 6th, then PH Odor hit one. It got even uglier in the 8th as SUR scored 3 more runs. The low point for RDW was when CarGo bunted in a very tough matchup against a LOOGY, kept it on with 2 strikes and ended up beating out a bunt single to load the bases. Or maybe the low point was when Smith wild pitched home another run. Or maybe it was when Romine delivered a 2-run single. Yeah, there were a lot of candidates in this game. The dice had viciously turned against poor Rick, as they will do sometimes. So yeah, there would be no Game 7. SUR 8-1
Okay, so Surprise wins the FLCS in 6 games. Congratulations to Rick on an excellent 1st season in ARBA and for a valiant effort against the Zombie juggernaut. It was a very close series until the last couple games when Surprise really took it to another level and Redwood ran out of luck. Greinke delivered when we needed it with 2 impressive shutouts to follow Ross losses. Kluber wasnt good, but won both starts anyway thanks to the offense. Votto and Zobrist were consistently great atop the lineup. McCutchen was very quiet before exploding with extra base hits late in the series. The 3-headed catcher and Odor also made big contributions. Blanco sparked the RDW offense by hitting .357 and stealing 3 bases. Gordon, Cano and Markakis also hit .300 or better. Cruz led the team with 2 HR and 5 RBI, but also made a lot of outs, as did Belt. The shortstops were 0-13 and made 3 errors. Both teams were pretty shaky defensively.
Okay, Ive probably rambled on enough about this for now. Bring on the CL champ already! Will it be Dime Box, who lost to Surprise last year? Or maybe Harmony Grove, who lost to them the year before? Or will New Monmouth get a chance this year? The Zombies are waiting and they are still hungry
An excellent recap Eric, although a bit slanted. You are right, you are just mean.
Surprise was the superior team on paper and the cards/dice don't lie. I knew I needed some breaks, but outside of game one, I didn't get them. On the contrary, the last few games the breaks were going against me, which spells doom against a better team. We needed a few players to step up, but Nelson Cruz hitting just .167 (with no walks and 3 DP's), Valbuena at .167 with no runs scored or RBI's, and Belt at a miserable .125 with no runs or RBI's and 10 K's in 24 AB's, we really didn't stand a chance. Those are my 4, 5, and 7 hitters, and you can't put together crooked number innings with that many holes in important parts of your lineup. In the end, we just didn't roll well. Gratz to Eric on a great series win and good luck in the championship!
