Champions League

Parameters:

Division realignment:

East:

Gary Hairys
Nantucket Knights
Smithfield Hedgehogs

Central:

Cannon Beach Crows
Brighton Bengals
Grand Junction Foxes

West:

New Mexico 3-Wheelers
Scottsdale Scorpions
South Bend Gold Sox

Same schedule formatting:
8 games against each division foe
4 games against each non-division foe

Draft:
The East division will only be able to draft from the 2006 AL and NL East pool of players.
The Central division will only be able to draft for the 2006 AL and NL Central pool of players.
The West division will only be able to draft from the 2006 AL and NL West pool of players.

The East (human)draft will have a salary cap for each team of $100 million.

Draft order for the East: Ted, Brian, Jerry…Jerry, Brian, Ted
Draft order for the Central: Foxes, Bengals, Crows…Crows, Bengals, Foxes
Draft order for the West: Sox, Wheelers, Scorps…Scorps, Wheelers, Sox

The West and Central drafts will be lighting-quick autodrafts, followed the human draft. All 3 drafts to be completed in one night. I propose Wednesday, November 14.

I love you guys.

Tim Hudson’s pitching on 3 days rest, combined with Carl Everett’s and Mark McGwire’s power, propelled Smithfield to a win in game 6 of the World Series against Gary, and a 4-2 Series win.

Hudson was the first pitcher taken in the draft. It’s been an interesting year for the Hog ace. Including the regular season, this was only Hudson’s 2nd win in 15 starts. He only had one loss in all those starts. He went 5.1 innings in game 6, allowing just 4 hits and 1 earned run.

Things looked scary early for Hudson and Karren. After McGwire had hit a solo homer off Hairy starter Clemens in the top of the 1st, the Hogs defense made 2 errors in the bottom of the inning, and the Hairys had already scored a run and had the bases loaded with just 1 out. Charles Johnson grounded into a DP to end that threat prematurely, though. 1-1 after 1.

McGwire hit an RBI single in the 3rd to give the Hogs a 2-1 lead, but Jerry’s Gary Hairy Larry Walker, a surprise stud in the series, hit a game-tying homer in the 4th. 2-2 after 4.

In the 5th, Hog Everett came up with 2 men on and 2 out, Karren made a comment to Ockey about his huge 3-run homer in game 3, and then he did it again. He hit a Clemens pitch deep into the night to seriously change this game. Hudson pitched a 1-2-3 5th in his half of the inning. 5-2 Hogs after 5.

In the 6th, Grebeck hit an RBI double but was thrown out at third trying to stretch it. That guy had 3 errors in the series. Hudson was pulled in the bottom of the 6th as Karren worried about his pen blowing another one. But the Hairy couldn’t get it going. Ochoa was thrown out trying to steal in the inning, and slugger Charles Johnson had to leave the game after being hit by a pitch. 6-2 Hogs after 6.

In the 7th McGwire homered again, his 6th of the series, a 2-run shot, to extend the lead to 8-2. Ockey pulled out all the stops and brought in Cy Young winner and potential game 7 starter Woody Williams to try to will his team back into this thing. 8-2 Hogs after 7.

In the 8th, Karren brought in Benitez to close things down. He got the job done, even though he started allowing some hits in the 9th with 2 out. Garciappara grounded out, forcing Furcal at 2nd to end this game and give the Hogs the series win.

Props go to Jerry for his Champions league dynasty being extended this season. This guy’s overall record and streak of divisions titles is unprecedented in our history. The other guys just got hot at the wrong time for him, but Jerry certainly built the best team this year with an amazing draft and saavy managing all year long. A 34-15 record this year is mind-blowing to me and hasn’t yet been experienced by me, and it’s just another year like many before it for Jer. Thanks Jerry for a good, hard-fought series and your association in this fine sport.

21-1. I’m not kidding. I started a lefty, Sirotka. Bad idea. He allowed 5 hits and a run in and inning. I then brought in McKnight. Bad idea. He allowed 3 hits and 4 walks in just over an inning’s work. I’m down 7-0 before I even get my finger up to my nose. So I bring in Washburn, perhaps the worst pitcher in PTP history. I’m hoping that he will miraculously throw a few good innings, and I’ll get a few runs, and actually make this a game. He gets 8 outs in his first 10 batters, doing his part for a time, but I CANNOT get it going against Che. He allows like 14 DEEP outs at the wall, but I can’t get hits and runs against the guy. Then, in the top of the 6th, as Washburn tires, the Hairys go ape on him. He goes 9 batters at one point where the only out he records is a sac bunt. In the inning, Rolen hits a grand slam after an intentional walk to the guy in front of him. Later in the inning Nomar hits a 3-run homer, followed by a Delgado homer. I’d long since decided that Washburn’s arm and career are of secondary importance to me, and he is going to rot in this game until the 27th Hairy out is recorded, no matter the damage. Ochoa later hits another grand slam off him, and he finished the game pitching right handed because his left arm fell off, and his neck is in a brace because he got whiplash from rubbernecking at balls being crushed time after time. Time after time. Time after time. I saved my pen all right, but the press is killing me for giving up on this one and leaving him in to rot. We’ll see if the momentum gained by the Hairy hitters carries over to game 6 and potentially game 7, played back at Tropicana. We’ve got a close one, boys.

Having won 2 in a row against the Hairys, the Hogs sent Barcelo to the mound on 3 days rest to try to put Gary Jerry deep in a hole. Jerry countered with Wright. Both pitched admirably. The game went into the 7th tied at 1-1, with the only runs coming from Ochoa and Sheff solo homers early on. As soon as Jerry went to his pen, I finally got untracked. In the 7th, against lefty Darensburg, Everett and Grebeck each hit RBI singles to get the Hogs up 3-1. The Big Hurt homered off Hog reliever Ward in the 8th to get Jerry to within a run, but in the bottom of the inning, with Hairy reliever Fetters now in, McGwire walked and H. Ortiz was hit with a pitch, sending him out of the game. That was great besides the fact that he was my 2nd and final catcher in the game, and I was now looking at a 9th without a catcher. Enter David Ortiz, now batting with 2 men on, who has torched Hairy lefties throughout the series, but is a .249 hitter with “fr” power versus righties such as Fetters. No matter - the guy goes yard, and quickly turns a 1 run scary lead without a catcher into a 4 run lead heading into the 9th. The Hairys couldn’t get anything going in that 9th, and the Hogs are somehow up on the best team in the league, 3 games to 1.

The big pitching matchup of Williams v Harden didn’t quite turn out as expected. Both pitched OK, but not good enough for either to win it. Each was gone in the 6th inning after allowing 4 runs.

McGwire and Larry Walker each hit a solo shot for his team in the early going. It was McGwire’s 4th of the series - he’s homered at least once in each game.

In the 3rd, Delgado, who’s been intentionally walked earlier in the game, hit a 2-run double to give the Hairys a 3-1 lead.

It stayed that way until the bottom of the 5th, when Hairy killer Hector Ortiz hit a clutch, 2-out double that scored 2 and tied the game.

The Hairys hated the game being tied though, so they wasted no time in scoring in their next inning. With 2 outs and Hudson yanked, they rallied. Walker was walked intentionally to get to Rolen, who hit a go-ahead RBI single for Gary. Stynes then hit another RBI single, scoring Walker, to really drive in the point that it was a dumb idea to walk him earlier on purpose. 5-3 Hogs, heading to the bottom of the 6th.

Now it was Smithfield’s turn for a 2-out rally. With 2 down and a man on 2nd, Sheff doubled home a run. Now enter Hairy relief pitcher Sullivan. He intentionally walked Big Mac, then Burkhart hit a game-tying RBI single. With things now tied, Karren had Hidalgo up, who came to the plate having the most disappointing season of any of his hitters in the regular season, and 0-8 so far in the Series. What does he do? 3-run crank, making the score 8-5 Hogs.

The Hog relief corps of Franco, Benitez, and James got 9 of the last 10 Hairy batters out to stifle any comeback attempt. 8-5 Hogs in the end.

Benitez got hurt and will miss games 4 and 5, which has Karren sad and mad, but the win was huge for Smithfield, and left Jerry lamenting the Hogs having outhomered the Hairys 7-2 so far in the series.

Game 4 up next.

Game 1

Game 2

The theatrics of this epic series have been well documented through Game 3, with the fabled McGwire foul ball on the potential game-winning HR, which ended up a game-ending strike out that put the Hogs on the brink of elimination. Here, though, is the “rest of the story”.

In game 4 the Hogs had to throw McKnight, because their 3 decent starter were all fatigued. This guy was 1-4 with a 8.22 ERA during the season. Both he and the Knight starter, Wood, were gone by the 5th, although each had only given up 3 runs. The Hogs had ‘em loaded with no outs in the 3rd, but only managed a run. Then, in the 4th, with the scored tied, the Hogs loaded ‘em up AGAIN, and Mark McGwire hit the first pitch reliever Rick Ankiel threw him into the stands. 6-2 Hogs in a flash. Will Clark homered in the 5th to bring the scored to 6-3, and Karren went to the pen. Amazingly, through the final 5 innings the Hogs relievers allowed only 4 hits, all measly singles, and didn’t allow another run. The Knight bullpen was even better - they only allowed 1 hit, a single, the rest of the way. But, the damage was already done. The game ended at that same 6-3 score and the Hogs forced game 5.

Game 5 - It all comes down to this. Colon and Hudson. Hudson was not great, but Colon was horrible: For the 2nd game in a row this postseason. He allowed SIX earned runs in 1.1 innings pitched. The Hogs scored ELEVEN in the first 3 innings, and cruised from there. Hudson, true to form, didn’t get a decision (he was pulled in the 5th after allowing 5 hits and 6 walks. Miraculously, little damage was done as far as runs go, though, because the Hogs got out of Knight rally after Knight rally with the double play. 4 of them in the game. Game-changers. That’s how they only allowed 4 runs in the game despite allowing eight hits and nine walks. Although the Hogs had only 1 hit beyond that 3rd inning, the 11 runs held up, and the Hogs somehow survived another playoff series as the underdog to get to the series. Bring on the Hairys!

The Gary Hairys clubhouse was awash in Guarana and grape soda Saturday afternoon after the Hairys swept the homer-happy Scorpions to advance to the World Series. The Hairys starters came up pretty big - they gave up homers, but limited them to mostly harmless solo shots and the Hairys offense did the rest, scoring 30 runs over the three games. Here’s how it went down:

Game 1 featured Vasquez for the Scorps and Ockey countered with The Rocket, hoping to get a lot of K’s against the big-swinging Scottsdale line-up. This strategy worked out great as the Rocket went 7 effective innings collecting 9 K’s along the way. It didn’t start out great, however, as Clemens gave up a walk and 2 singles in the first inning that led to a 2-0 Scorp lead. The Hairys battled back as Series MVP The Big Hurt hit a solo shot to make it 2-1 and then in the 2nd, the Hairys loaded the bases with 3 singles, then with 2 out, they hit 2 more singles to make it 4-2. The Hairys kept it up in the 3rd with more effective small-ball that chased Vasquez -singles, sacrifices, walks and a couple nice doubles and before you knew it it was 8-2. Glaus and Delgado trade solo bombs to make it 9-3, then a Walker RBI double and an Ochoa solo make it 11-3 and it’s all over. Scorps get a couple meaningless runs late to make it 11-5.

Game 2 - Ockey goes to his ace Williams who gets pounded for the 2nd straight game. It’s 2-0 Scorps before the national anthem is over as Kent singles to lead off then Edmonds goes yard. Williams then loads the bases before nutting up and getting a K to end it. Kent hits a solo shot in the 2nd to make it 3-0 and things are looking bad. Scorp starter Reynoso totally baffles the Hairys through 3 and the Scorps continue to threaten. They load the bases again in the 4th without a hit (walk, reach on error, HBP), but again Williams weasels out of it. The Big Hurt once again gets things going as for the 2nd straight game he starts the Hairy scoring with a solo bomb. This is followed by a Delgado walk, Ochoa double and then a HUGE 3-run bomb from Rolen to give the Hairys the lead at 4-3. As much as anything in this game, the Hairys have the defense of Jeff Kent to thank for their win. In the 5th, he DROPS an easy pop-up and No-Mah continues to bat - and draws a walk. The Hurt walks and then Delgado flies out for what SHOULD have been out #3, but instead the Hairys keep batting and get and RBI single from Johnson, a run scored on a WP, a walk and an RBI double by Rolen. 7-3 Hairys.

Kent tries to redeem himself with his 2nd solo bomb on the day to make it 7-4, but The Hurt cranks HIS 2nd bomb of the day (2-run job) to make it 9-4. It’s now a 5-run Hairy lead in the 7th and Ockey feels good. His pen comes in and absolutely dukes the bed and before he knows it, it’s a tie game in the 9th and the Scorps STILL have the bases loaded with only one out. Fetters nuts up, though, and gets a HUGE 1-2-3 double play to totally weasel out of it. With lefty Reyes pitching, Ockey brings in Osik to hit for Johnson. Osik does his job and draws a walk and Ockey wants desperately to bring in a pinch-runner, but he’s already got the tie, and needs a rated catcher if this thing continues, so he leaves slow-poke Osik on the bases. This all works out as Rolen comes up huge AGAIN with a one-out single. Timlin comes in and Ockey wants desperately to avoid the GDP. He lets Walker bat, though and Larry walks to load the bases. Stynes is up and you know Ockey’s going to let HIM hit. Imagine my terror when Stynes hits a double-play grounder, though. Good thing Kent BOOTS IT for his 2nd error of the game and Hairys go into hysterics with the miracle 11-10 win.

Game 3 and Ockey sticks with his righties. Wright gets the nod and comes up huge, allowing only 2 hits and a run through 5 innings. Hairys fall behind early for the 3rd straight game on a Glaus solo bomb and Scorp Dempster is toally killing me, allowing only one hit in the first three innings (to who else but The Hurt). The Hairys rally again though, as The Hurt draws a walk and Johnson hits a HUGE 2-out 2-run bomb to give Gary the lead. Hairys add on in the 5th thanks to 3 singles and a walk to make it 4-1. Then, in the 7th, No-mah who was obviously trying to atone for a weak regular season hits a back-breaking 3-run yakker to make it 7-1. The Scorps don’t go quietly, though as Bagwell hits a solo bomb in the 7th to make it 7-2 and they pile on a couple more to make it 7-4. No-mah scores in the 9th to make it 8-4 and Fultz and Sullivan pitch a perfect 9th and it’s over. The Big Hurt hits .636 in the series plus 3 walks. He hits 3 bombs and wills the Hairys to a huge sweep.

Now,the Hairys await a HUGE human challenge in the World Series. Oh baby.

LCS Game 1