Sullivan! Shackelford! Garabito! Anderson! It's the FLCS on Fox!
Surprise got here by ralling from losing the first 2 at home to beat Phillipsburg in 6. Camden outlasted High Desert in 7 games. What would the teams have left after tough matchups in the division series? We shall see...
G1: Vazquez vs. Peavy
Seriously, that's Javier Vazquez over there. PBG pounded Peavy, so he was overdue for a good performance. Sadly, this wasn't it. Camden scored 3 runs in the 1st on 2 hits and 4 walks. However, they left the bases loaded. Surprise struck back quickly with a 2-run blast from Giambi. Hey Jason, nice to see that you decided to show up in the playoffs after all. Camden scored 1 more in the 2nd, but left the bases loaded again. In the bottom half, that rat bastard Javy Vazquez cruelly drilled Javy Lopez in the head! The slugging Surprise catcher would miss the rest of the series! Cue Mike Redmond's music...might be tough to stretch those 15 PA across 7 games. SUR failed to avenge Lopez in the 2nd, then CMD made it 5-2. In the 4th, SUR scored a couple on 3 consecutive singles, but Redmond hit into a killer DP. No, the injury replacement is supposed to make them pay in blood. Didn't you read the damn memo, Mike? In the 5th, Hunter crushed one into the seats and the game was tied! Manny delivered a huge RBI double in the 7th, but Mora was gunned down at home...starting what would become a theme in this series. On to the 9th, with Cordero trying to protect a slim 6-5 lead. Uh-oh, he hung a slider to Jason LaRue...that's gone! Game tied! Nooooooooooooooooooo!!! In the bottom half, with Izzy still pitching, Mora singled and Giambi doubled. Somehow, the speedy pinch runner Castro was not given an opportunity to score. Camden wanted no part of Manny in this situation and called for the intentional walk. That brought up veteran DH Rondell White, who lined one into center for the game-winning single! The crowd goes wild! Surprise battles back to take the opener, 7-6.
G2: Lopez vs. Pettitte
Rodrigo Lopez? In the LCS? Yikes! Meanwhile, we had veteran lefty facing a Camden lineup that had crushed him in our regular season matchups. Surprise seriously debated not starting him, but decided to give him a shot anyway. Uh-oh, Willy Mo launched one into the seats and Camden led 1-0 in the first. It wouldn't last long as the rejuvenated Giambi hit a 3-run bomb. Naturally, it turned into a classic pitcher's duel for quite a while after that. CMD threatened in the 5th with a pair of 2-out singles, but Pettitte struck out Crawford to end it. In the bottom half, a 2-out Mora double chased Lopez and Camden tried to slow down Giambi with lefty Brian Anderson. Really? That Brian Anderson? I thought he was dead. Unimpressed, Jason drilled a single to score Mora. However, he got greedy and tried to take second base on the throw home. Instead, he was thrown out by approximately 30 feet. Oh well, Surprise increased their lead to 4-1. That seemed insurmountable with the way Pettitte was pitching, but no lead is truly safe. Determined to test that theory, Surprise scored 2 more in the 6th before Redmond ended it with another DP. So Surprise cruised to an easy 6-1 win? Of course not! Pettitte suddenly lost it in the 9th as 3 cheapass singles loaded the bases with 1 out. In came Scot Shields, who immediately threw one over Redmond's head to score a run. Uh, settle down a bit there Scot. Dangerous PH Aybar struck out, but even more dangerous PH Rivera singled to score 2 more runs. Now it was 6-4 and the natives were feeling very restless indeed. In came another pinch hitter, Rafael Palmeiro. Was the Viagra spokeman up to this challenge? He took a mighty swing...but found nothing but air! Surprise hangs on for the 6-4 win. Whew!
So that went a lot better than the first 2 home games against PBG, other than the losing my starting catcher part. His RH power sure could have come in handy with that 1-16 HR chance in Camden. In related news, an 8th inning rally forced us to waste a precious Redmond PA. Only 8 left now! We'd better sweep or it's going to be emergency catcher time...
Pedro? Are you sure? Wouldn't you rather try Scott Elarton? Please? Palmeiro's double drove home Vlad in the 1st and Camden took the 1-0 lead. In the 3rd, Redmond threw the ball away on a steal to put Lee on 3rd, but Camden failed to score. Also, Sheets beaned Palmeiro to knock him out until Game 6. In the 4th, Willy Mo knocked one into the seats, but Hunter kept it close by gunning down Vidro at home. However, Torii got thrown out trying to steal soon afterwards on what I think was a blown hit & run. In the 6th, Ichiro! entered the game just in time to throw out Pena at home. So Camden's lead remained 2-0. Could Surprise break through against the mighty Pedro? They put the first 2 runners on in the 7th, but then went down 1-2-3. With 1 out in the 7th, Crawford reached on a freaky K + wild pitch. Dammit! Redmond's supposed to be our good defensive catcher. Oddly, Surprise called on forgotten man Esteban Loaiza. He struck out Lee, but the unstoppable Vlad golfed a hanging curve into the seats. 4-0 Camden. LaRue added another homer in the 8th and Pedro went the distance on a 4-hit shutout. Camden won 5-0. This would be the only "easy" win in the series and even this one was very close until the 7th.
G4: Peavy vs. Vazquez, Part 2
Rondell led off the 2nd with a homer and Wilson doubled home another run, but the trend of runners thrown out at home continued with Kennedy as the latest victim. In the 4th, a rare Zombie bunt set up Rollins for an RBI single. That was it for Vazquez and Helling kept it at 3-0. Ichiro! took over in RF and Vlad hit one his way after a 1-out double. Easy out. No! He dropped the freaking ball! Aybar leaned into a pitch and the bases were loaded. Is that the smell of imminent disaster in the air? PH extraordinaire Rivera singled home a run. Up came Vizquel and...wait a minute...what's this? They're waving the runner home! Peavy's been called for a balk! With the bases loaded? How is that even possible? Jake regrouped to preserve the slim 3-2 lead. Manny quickly doubled it with a moon-shot in the 5th. Peavy pitched around a single in the 5th and 2 more in the 6th. In the 7th, Ichiro! reached on a Boone error but somehow got picked off. Get your head in the game, man! Leading off the home 7th, Boone swings from his heels...and connects! Noooooooooo! But it's gone. Tie game. A 2-out walk finished Peavy and Shackelford took over. The very scary Vlad hit one in the air, but caught. With 1 out in the 8th, Boone made another error and pinch runner Roberts stole 2nd. We're not going to let him get away with that again, right? Well, maybe so. PH Garabito fails again, as did Hunter. Shack and Seanez combined for a perfect 8th. In the 9th, Kennedy's leadoff single finally sent Helling to the showers. In came Izzy to face Rollins. Surprise tries the H&R, so of course it was a #$*#!$_#!(_ DP. Then Redmond was called out on "fan interference". What the hell? We're playing in Camden. What the hell are you talking about? Don't walk away while I'm yelling at you! In the home 9th, Shields got 2 groundouts, but Crawford kept it alive with a single. Naturally, he stole 2nd. But surely Shields can retire Cory Sullivan. No, he walked him! ARGH! Next was Derek Lee, who has been strangely quiet in the series. Will he be the hero this time? Not exactly, but he leaned into a pitch to keep it alive for Vlad. Great, now the bases are loaded as we just can't get that last out. Fearing the game-winning wild pitch, Surprise sends in closer Chad Cordero to face Vlad. Guerrero fouls off a few pitches before he finally gets a hold of one. Oh boy, does he ever. It's way out of here! Camden wins again, 7-4 as Surprise couldn't close the game. Can the Zombies recover from this devastating loss?
G5: Clement vs. Schmidt
With the series tied, Surprise desperately needed a strong performance from Matt Clement. Schmidt walked the first 2 batters, but another DP killed the rally. In the 2nd, Clement ran into trouble as Camden scored twice with help from 2 wild pitches. That 2-0 lead held up until the 4th when Manny came up with 2 men on. Can he do it again? YES! 3-run homer and Surprise leads 3-2! However, the Zombies failed to take advantage of errors by Vidro and Sullivan. Oh yeah, I should mention that Eddy Garabito was forced to take over at catcher in the 5th because Redmond had exhausted his PA. Fun! He had a passed ball in the 6th and 2 more in the 7th, but Camden somehow failed to score. Leading off the 8th, Giambi launched one to extend the Zombie lead to 4-2. With 2 outs in the 9th, Surprise rallied again. With runners on 1st and 2nd, Camden turned to lefty Brian Anderson to face Giambi. Surprise countered with Cirillo and Camden made the unconventional move of walking him to load the bases. Surely Manny won't let them get away with that egregious insult. Or maybe he will as Izzy got a big groundout. Could Surprise protect their lead in the 9th this time? Shields got the first out, but then PH Rivera and Vidro singled to tire him. After a meeting on the mound, Zombie manager Jerry Manuel stubbornly refused to change pitchers. He's leaving Shields in there tired! Boone swinging from his heels again...caught! Crawford up next with a grounder to Kennedy...he's out! Surprise escapes with a huge 4-2 victory. Whew!
So the series would move back to Surprise with the Zombies up 3-2 and still catcherless.
So the series moved back to Surprise, with the Zombies leading 3-2. However, they were out of real catchers and had to face the dreaded Pedro in game 6. I must warn you that the details of this game are not for the faint of heart. I think Travis would agree that it featured most improbably ridiculous plays ever! Also improbable was the discovery that Craig Wilson owns Pedro. He doubled to lead off the home 1st, but missed the homer chance. Soon afterwards, Manny hit one deep…but caught. In the 2nd, CMD scored 2 cheapass runs as Vlad doubled, Anderson singled after failing to bunt, Molina singled, and Boone hit a sac fly. Rollins led off the 3rd with a double…surely we won’t strand another one? Well, not exactly. First, I should note that Rollins missed an easy TR chance on his double. Then Ichiro! popped up on a bunt. The unstoppable Wilson singled and Rollins raced home with a 90% chance to score. However, LaRue blocked the plate and he was out! No way! Even worse, Camden would have cut it off if I’d sent the trailer. Mora missed a BP single chance and we still hadn’t scored off Pedro. CMD added another run in the 4th on a Molina sac fly. Surprise wasted yet another double, which I think was the one that was adjusted from a triple on pitcher’s card despite the fact that Manny did have a triple during the season and of course the next batter hit what would have been a sac fly. Then things got much worse in the 5th. With 1 out, Hardy hit an easy ball to Ichiro! playing CF and he dropped it! Inconceivable! After another out, Lee singled in some other cheap way and then Vlad crushed one. 3 unearned runs on the Ichiro! error and Camden led 6-0. With Pedro pitching, that’s game over. Or was it? Kennedy led off with a single, but inexplicably got picked off with us trailing by 6. Dammit! After another out, Ichiro! tried to atone with a single and the mighty Wilson tripled him home. We finally scored off Pedro! Sure would have been nice if Kennedy had scored also, or we had driven Wilson home…but no it’s still 6-1. Things got more interesting in the 6th when Giambi singled and Manny doubled. Mr. Automatic Out despite a 50% OB card did his thing, but Rondell singled home a run and a sac fly made it 6-3. Rollins walked and we had 2 runners on. That brought up Ichiro! Gee, this would be a perfect time to redeem that horrible error. He hits one deep…but caught! ARGH! With Shackelford pitching for Surprise, Vizquel led off with a single and advanced on a bunt. With 2 outs, Vlad came up with a base open and Anderson behind him. Oops, should have called for the walk there. Vlad singled to make it 7-3. I wonder if that run will loom large later. On we go to the 8th. After Automatic Out Garabito, a HBP and 2 singles loaded the bases. Do you believe in miracles? Pedro stayed in and Ichiro! came through this time with a double! 2 runs scored and Rollins raced for home. There’s no freaking way that he can throw him out at home on a 90% chance again. Right? Wrong! That brutal shaft hurt even more when Wilson singled off Izzy to score another run. Camden was clinging to their 7-6 lead as Mora hit a fly ball…caught. In the bottom of the 9th, Giambi led off with a walk, but pinch runner Roberts couldn’t get the jump. Manny whiffed, Goddamn Garabito flied out, and that left it up to Game 1 hero Rondell White. Not this time. He grounded out and I had lost the worst game ever. I still can’t believe that all that crazy **** happened in one game and that almost all of it went against my team. Strat can be such a cruel bitch. So, we knocked Pedro around for 13 hits, plus 2 walks and a HBP but still lost! Oh man, we had better not lose the series after that criminal travesty…that game was so very wrong.
G7: Vazquez vs. Sheets
Desperate for a win, Surprise finally banished Garabito to the bench and asked Giambi to attempt catching. What could possibly go wrong? Well, Crawford could lead off with a single, steal second, move to 3rd on a bunt, and score on a sac fly. Yeah, that could happen. Surprise loaded the bases on the home 1st with 1 out for Rondell White, but he hit it to Lee who turned a huge DP. AIEEEEEEEE! It remained 1-0 until the 4th, when Vidro hit a 1-out ground ball to Sheets. Naturally, he booted it to load the bases. Camden called on their dynamic duo of pinch hitters early. Rivera whiffed, but Aybar delivered a huge double that scored a pair of runs. Sheets retired Crawford to keep the hole at 3-0. In the home 4th, Surprise put runners on the corners with 1 out. Travis had seen enough of Vazquez and sent in Miller. Hunter bounced one to 3B Boone, who booted it to score a run! However, the next 2 batters grounded out and it was still 3-2. In the bottom of the 5th, Ichiro! singled, but Camden finally retired Wilson on a K. Mora flied out, but Giambi walked to keep the inning alive. That brought up Manny Ramirez, who has come back strong from his weak FLDS. How about another one? YES! It’s gone for a 3-run homer! Surprise leads 5-3! Shackelford took over for Surprise and looked good in the 6th, but allowed a leadoff triple to Crawford in the 7th. Fearing the wild pitch, Surprise sent in Peavy for a rare relief appearance. No wild pitch, but he balked the run home! What the hell? He did retire the next 3 to preserve the lead. Surprise failed to pick up an insurance run and decided to roll the dice with Chad Cordero protecting their slim lead. Camden PH with the dangerous Willy Mo Pena, but he whiffed. Vidro singled to bring up…Jose Molina? Would Camden pay price for using up all their catchers? Or would Jose duplicate the Cardinals LCS heroics of his brother? I’ll take A. In for defense, Redmond almost got a DP on the weak grounder, but Molina somehow beat it out to keep Camden’s hopes alive. That brought up another dangerous hitter in Aybar. However, he could only manage a weak grounder and Surprise made the play. GAME OVER! Zombies win!!! The crowd goes wild!!!
Whoa! That was just an incredible 7-game series with so many highs and lows. The tension was nearly unbearable much of the time. There were certainly several occasions when the feeling of inevitable doom crept in and it looked like another playoff failure was imminent. However, my guys managed to pull out 4 tough wins and vanquish an excellent Camden team.
After going MIA against PBG in the FLDS, Manny and Jason really carried the Surprise offense against Camden. They combined for 5 DO, 6 HR and 14 RBI. Craig Wilson also had a big series. At the other end of the spectrum were Eddy Garabito's pitiful 0-11 performance and Redmond's 1-15. We definitely missed Javy Lopez! The pitching staff had its ups and downs. One of the heros was Shackelford, who allowed only 1 run in 10.2 IP.
Vlad was a beast for Camden, hitting .310 with 3 HR and 10 RBI. Vidro, Vizquel, and 5 part-timers also hit .300+ in the series. Crawford, LaRue, and Lee all hit exactly .200, but did have some big moments here and there. Despite getting roughed up in the superfreaky Game 6, Pedro finished at 2-0 with a 3.24 ERA. Vazquez lasted only 11 innings spread across 3 starts, but didn't get the decision in any of them. Schmidt and Lopez were knocked out early and lost their starts. Izzy had a win, a loss, and a save. Miller lost game 7 after surrendering the huge Manny homer.
As with our HAR vs. SOS series, Travis and I played all 7 games in one evening...into the wee hours. So you can imagine how draining that was with so many excruciatingly close games. What a relief to come out on top in the end. Travis has to bounce back to play HAR vs. BUD in the CLCS this weekend. So he may still get another chance to thwart our championship destiny...or maybe Don will get to knock us off again. I can hardly wait!
