The Surprise Zombies mostly dominated the regular season again with 116 wins, but stumbled badly at the end against the upstart Brooklyn Blow Monkeys. However, Phillipsburg held off BRK by one game to take the wild card and earn a first round match-up with Surprise. PBG played SUR tough in the regular season and of course the Zombies were dragging around a huge load of baggage from their ugly playoff history. Most recently, their awesome 126 win season came to a crashing halt in a 5 game FLDS meltdown against the accursed High Desert Diablos. That opened the door for the hated Santa Fe Gecko Lizards to win another championship. In utter despair and desperation, Laramie moved the team to Arizona and gutted their farm system for another run at glory. Will this finally be the year of championship destiny for Surprise?
G1: Oswalt vs. Pettitte
Both teams put runners on in the 1st, but failed to score. Hunter made a big throw to gun down Drew at third base to end the 2nd. Then Hunter scored the first run on a Lopez SF, but Mora stranded 2 runners. PBG bounced back with Stairs and Dunn doubles in the 3rd, the former of which was a freak 1 in 20 chance that somehow eluded my outfielders. Both starters rolled along until Oswalt ran into trouble with 2 outs in the 5th. 3 singles and a walk scored 2 runs and gave Surprise a 3-1 lead, but Oswalt struck out Hunter to strand 2 more baserunners. In the 6th, a pair of singles and PH appearance by card-carrying lefty killer Mark DeRosa sent Pettitte to an early shower. Surprise turned to Rudy “Traction Action’ Seanez and he blew DeRosa away. Off to the mound again and in came Bryan “Secret Weapon” Shackelford who coaxed Drew into a huge DP. Unfortunately for the home team, the secret weapon started spewing friendly fire in the 7th. He inexplicably walked Miller and then pigs flew by as Hell endured a cold spell. In other words, Matt Stairs hit an RBI triple! (Finding the 1-10 chance on the pitcher’s card and somehow not being reduced to a double.) Naturally, he uncorked a wild pitch to score Stairs and the game was tied. One out later, Ellis singled and Surprise finally yanked Shack in favor of Jamie Walker. He retired the dangerous Dunn, but served up a 2-run blast to Sweeney! Just like that a 3-1 lead turned into a 5-3 deficit and my playoff despondence had officially set in. Mora singled with 1 out for Surprise, but Jason and Manny both whiffed…a key theme in this series. Shields took over in the 8th and immediately walked the speedy Gathright. Inevitably, Joey stole 2nd and 3rd, then scored on a Drew double. The 8th was uneventful, so let’s move on to the 9th inning! Palmeiro PH and surprisingly scared Oswalt out of the 6-3 game. Would Warren regret that decision? Not much after Shouse retired PH Wilson and Ichiro! PH Easley brought out Ayala, who brought out Garabito for a double. Marvelous Melvin Mora blasted a 2-run homer and there was hope again in Surprise! Okay, Jim Mecir time. Giambi bounced an easy grounder to GG 3B Chavez…but he booted it! Surely we’re going to make him pay for that with Manny at the plate. Uh, not really. Manny flied out to end a 6-5 win for Phillipsburg. Whew! The entire series was pretty much like this, so I may test the limits of our message board with this massive narrative.
Peavy got in an early hole as Jeter drilled a 2-run homer in the 1st inning. Gathright’s speed made it 3-0 in the 3rd. Mora drove in Ichiro! for Surprise, but we lost inspirational leader Dave Roberts for the game. Peavy coughed up another run in the 3rd as this crappy performance seems eerily familiar of his playoff efforts with the Padres. On to the 7th with PBG leading 4-1. A 1-out single to Wonder Hamster Stairs chased Peavy and Surprise gave Shackelford another chance. He walked Repko and Manuel went to the mound. Do we really want him to face lefty killer DeRosa? Sure, what the heck. BOOM! 3-run homer, game over. Inevitably, Surprise rallied for 2 runs in the bottom of the 7th and chased Maddux. However, it was too little too late as the PBG bullpen dominated to preserve the 7-3 win.
Damn, 0-2 at home to start the series? So much for home field advantage! As you can guess, I was completely despondent at this point and harboring thoughts of abandoning this accursed Strat game forever. The fact that I’m taking the time to write this might suggest that my outlook has improved somewhat since then.
Could Big Ben turn the series around for Surprise? He looked rather shaky early as PBG scored a run in the 1st and another in the 3rd, but also left a bunch of guys on base. A rare big hit from Manny in this series helped SUR tie the game in the 4th inning. In the 6th, Manny reverted to bad form, striking out with 2 runners in scoring position. Also, Hidalgo hurt himself and wouldn’t return until game 6. Two baserunners in the 7th chased Sabathia, both of whom scored after Mecir gave up singles to Mora and Ichiro! Boyer miraculously escaped further damage and it remained 4-2. In fact, neither team even managed another baserunner as Sheets went the distance to pick up a huge win for Surprise.
Game 4: Pettitte vs. Oswalt
This game featured one of the worst 1st inning meltdowns that I’ve ever seen. Luckily for me, it was Oswalt (and Warren) who felt the pain. Roy’s brief outing featured 3 walks, another Chavez error, a fielder’s choice with all runners safe, a sac fly, a single, and a double. Batista didn’t help much, allowing a sac fly and a single before Marvelous Melvin cranked a 3-run homer. Just like that, it was 9-0 for Surprise. The rest of the game was surprisingly tense even though PBG never threatened as both teams desperately tried to avoid injuries. Amazingly, we succeeded. PBG did break up the shutout and tire Pettitte in the 8th, but SUR won easily 12-2 and the series was tied!
Surprise scored in the 1st thanks in part to Dunn butchering a fly ball. Ichiro! led off the 3rd with a homer and Redman got the quick hook soon afterwards. Kennedy’s triple past a clueless Dunn scored the 3rd run. Okay, now could Peavy hold this lead. Of course not! PBG stormed back with 4 runs in the 3rd, including a redemptive Dunn homer. Another terrible Peavy playoff outing ended with 4 runs in and the bases loaded with 1 out. Could Jamie Walker bail him out? YES! There’s still hope! In the 4th, SUR took advantage of a Shouse error to tie the game, but left the bases loaded as Giambi and Ramirez failed yet again. Neither team seriously threatened again until the 7th. Mecir got into trouble again, loading the bases with 3 straight 1-out singles. In came…Brian Lawrence? Marvelous Melvin drew a huge RBI walk and Rollins made it 6-4 with a sac fly. In the 8th, SUR added another run on a PH single by Palmeiro, but a lumbering Giambi was thrown out at home to end the inning. Would it matter? Cordero served up a shameful homer to Jason Repko in the 9th, but closed out the 7-5 victory. By the way, this had to have been the longest 9 inning game ever.
Game 6: Maddux vs. Clement
Back to Surprise, now leading the series 3-2. Could we win 4 in a row or would I have my second 7 game series in the first round this year? Given how the other one turned out, I’d much rather end it here. Both teams ended the 1st by grounding into DPs. Surprise scored a pair in the 2nd on 2 doubles and a single. Jeter cut the lead in half with a solo homer in the 3rd and Drew tied it in the 4th with another solo shot. In the 5th, Javy Lopez singled to drive in Ichiro! and Surprise called on Shackelford to protect their 3-2 lead. Clement did his job. Shack made me nervous in the 6th but escaped unscathed. Shields wasn’t so lucky in the 7th as Giambi added to his hitting woes with a key error that set up a Sweeney 2-run double. However, Dunn was thrown out at home to end the inning. So PBG led 4-3. Mecir cruised until 1 out in the 8th when PH Wilson drew a walk. Surprise sent in designated pinch runner Bernie Castro. Roberts singled to CF and Castro raced around to 3rd ahead of Repko’s throw. Boyer came in to face Mora, who hit a soft grounder. Castro took off for home and beat another throw. Game tied! Speed kills! PBG sent in Shouse, who intentionally walked PH Cirillo to load the bases. PBG turned to Ayala against Ramirez and Surprise made a shocking move. Against the 9R reliever, the Zombies PH for Manny with Orlando Palmeiro. He delivered a long fly ball to score Roberts and give Surprise the lead. Batista came in to face Giambi and Surprise made another stunning PH move. However, White struck out. Surprise called on Cordero to preserve the slim lead. Hidalgo led off with a LONG fly ball…but it was caught at the wall. Whew! Jeter singled with 1 out, but Ellis whiffed. PBG tried to duplicate Surprise’s speed run by bringing in Gathright. However, Redmond gunned him down at 2nd to end the game. Surprise wins!
Wow! I can’t believe that we won in 6 games after dropping the first 2 games at home. I also can believe that we won despite our best 2 hitters (Jason and Manny) somehow hitting a pathetic 4-40 combined with no homers. Then there’s Jake Peavy’s 9.35 ERA in 2 starts and Shackelford’s 7.5 in 6 relief innings. Surprise lived to fight another day thanks to Marvelous Melvin Mora (11-21, DO, 2 HR, 5 R, 9 RBI), Ichiro! (8-22, 3 DO, HR, 5 R, 6 RBI) and Wilson (4-7 with 5 BB). Many others came up with key hits at some point and most of the pitching staff performed well. One of the biggest heroes was speedy Bernie Castro, who finished the series 0-1 with 1 run and 1 RBI.
The top PBG hitters were Jeter (.320 with 2 HR) and Sweeney (.318, HR, 4 RBI). Stairs was huge in the wins, but cooled off after that. Dunn had 2 DO, 1 HR, and 4 RBI, but finished 3-24 with 1 BB and 10 K. Ellis led the team with 5 RBI, but only hit .174. The pesky Gathright stole 4 bases, but the 1 CS ended Phillipsburg’s season. Maddux was the best PBG starter and several relievers did well, but they were undone by some very ugly performances. Jim Mecir was the most combustible, losing 2 games by allowing 4 runs in 2.2 IP stretched over 5 games.
Okay, I’m finally ready to wrap up this ridiculous ramble. Congratulations to Warren for putting together a great team and giving us one hell of a battle. He also deserves kudos for maintaining composure and sportsmanship as his team crumbled to 4 straight defeats. That’s why he’s a coach! Good luck next season. At least you probably won’t have to deal with us in the playoffs then. Bring on CMD or HDT! Jason and Manny have saved all of their big hits for the next 2 series!
