Champions League

Draft Order:

Scorpions
Crows
Bengal
Gold Sox
3-Wheelers
Hairys
Foxes
Hedgehogs
Knights

Hitters:

350 PA’s
All hitters with OPS greater than .850 eliminated

Pitchers:

20 starts to be eligible to start
40 innings for relievers

Tentative Date:

February 8th, 2008 8:00pm
or
February 9th 2008 8:00am

Smithfield wins it all as they beat up Lackey for the 2nd time in the series. The Wheelers got a first inning 2-run homer off Hog starter Johnson and went up 2-0, but that’s all they’d get as Johnson, Ray, and Wagner shared in the job of allowing only 4 Wheeler hits in the game. Meamwhile, on offense, Lind and Valentin hit back to back homers in the 3rd to tie the game, then Valentin hit a 2-run jack in the 5th to put the Hogs up 4-2. The game remained that close until the 7th when Chipper hit an RBI double to chase Lackey, and Church hit a 3-run homer on the first pitch from reliever Cruz. Wagner pitches 2 perfect innings to close it and and the Hogs win 8-2. There were no ghey celebrations to note except for manager Karren’s downstairs in Logan. Tri-MVP honors were handed out to Johnson, who went 2-0 in the series with a 1.59 ERA and Chipper and Valentin who each homered 3 times in the series, each had a multi-homer game, and each won a game with one of their dingers. The Hog pitching staff came in hearing all about how great the New Mexico staff was all season long and in the playoffs, but they were the ones with the last laugh - ha ha - as they only allowed 10 runs in the 5 games in the series to finish with a team ERA of under 2.00.

I love this sport. Sweet season. Let’s do another.

I got only 3 hits against Jason Schmidt, who pitched 8.2 shutout innings, and gave way to Cruz, who got Man Ram to K with the tying run on base in the 9th.

This game was sick. Lefty Bedard was on the hill for the Hogs, and rightly Cook for the Wheelers. Both were dealing early. Neither team had a hit until the 4th, neither team had a run until the 9th! That’s right, we went into the 9th deadlocked at 0, thanks in large part to Wells and Holliday each robbing homers, literally going up and sticking their gloves over the wall, in the 8th and 9th innings. I finally got some runs in the 9th as I sent pr runner Coste from 2nd on a single… and… he scored! I got one more before the inning was over, and went into the bottom of the 9th up by 2. Enter Wagner, and enter weirdness. The computer decides to pinch hit for ICHIRO, .352 vs. lhp, and brings in Napoli, who is like .190 vs. lhp. I’m laughing, and loving it, but then he gets a stinking hit! Then they get an infield single, then an RBI single, and then a sac fly, and this thing is tied up, heading to the 10th. They fail to get the winning run across with 2 runners on in the 10th. In the 11th, pr Coste heads home AGAIN on a single from 2nd, and scores again! The dang Wheelers tied it up AGAIN in the bottom of the 11th though as they capitalized on a Chipper throwing error. In the 12th, Valentin goes yard for me, and puts me up 4-3. Finally I get a 1-2-3 inning and sneak out with the W. I used 8 pitchers in this thing, and feel like a lucky goat right now.

The Hogs almost gave this pivotal game 2 away, then Chipper Jones said “no”. After jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the first, highlighted by a Chipper 2-run homer, Smithfield finally started allowing runs to New Mexico in the middle of the game, and Johjima’s 2-run homer in the 7th gave the Wheelers a 4-3 lead. In the 8th, the Hogs tried to rally. They got runners on 1st and 3rd, then Jeter and Howard made two quick outs without getting that tying run in. It was all up to Chipper, who took Cruz’s pitch deep two right for the 3-run job to send the Hogs back ahead. Proctor pitched a perfect 9th for the save. Pivotal in this game, no pun intended, were the FOUR double plays turned by Smithfield. The Wheelers had 11 hits and 7 walks, but only got 4 runs. The Hogs got 10 hits, and, incredibly, NO walks, but 6 runs. I felt very lucky to win this one. But I think we may be on a roll. This is our 13th win in the last 15 games, and 7th in a row.

Great series opener in Baltimore. Johnson didn’t like all this “Lackey;s so great” talk that’s been going on lately, so he decided to upstage Lackey and his own spectacular regular season with a 6.1 inning, 3-hit, no runs allowed performance. Meanwhile, Chipper and ManRam both went yard off Lackey, and sub. .200 regular season hitter Reyes got the start at short and collected 3 hits and 2 RBIs. 5-0 win.

Game 1

Lackey goes 8 strong, allowing 4 hits. My guys decide to start playing in the 9th, but it’s too little, too late as David Wright strikes out looking with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th. Wheelers win 3-2.
Game 2

Pedro Martinez gets creamed in the 2nd and allows 5 runs. In that inning Izturis, Beltre, and Young all go yard. I never even come close to making that up as they score 2 more in the 7th and another in the 8th. Weaver for the Wheelers k’s 10 in 7.1. Wheelers win 8-3.

Game 3

Once again, my guys decide to not really start playing until the late innings, but our run in the 7th and 2 runs in the top of the 9th give us the 4-1 lead. They scored a run in the bottom of the 9th, but BJ sacks up and closes it out. Cano get’s 3 of our RBIs from the leadoff spot. Knights win 4-2 and avoid elimination.

Game 4

Schmidt for the Wheelers brings his A game and keeps us hitless until the 6th. I give Pedro another shot on a couple days rest since he only threw a handful of pitches and he delivers, more or less. Once again though, the Knights wait until the late innings to score and put up a 2 spot in the 9th. That brings the score to 3-2. With the tying run on third (again), pinch hitter Overbay flies out to end the Knights season.

And Johjima, being totally ghey, jumps into the arms of the other completely ghey Cruz and they dry hump in standing position until the rest of the Tricycle ghey boys join them in a total ghey man romp. It was disgusting and we left immediately for Cabo.

2-1 Hogs.
Bottom of the 9th.
Foxes up.
2 outs.
Bases loaded.
Newly crowned co-MVP Pujols steps to the plate.
League pitches, and…
A weak tap back to the pitcher, League throws him out, and jumps into catcher Coste’s arms.
The celebration begins.

Hogs only allow ONE hit until the 9th, when, down 2-0, the Foxes mount a charge, get a few hits, and Pujols can’t quite extend the series. Bonderman pitches admirably in the loss. No homers on this night. Just a tight, fun game, and a trip to the WS for the Hogs, whose pitchers are letting guys get on base but not letting them come home, and whose batters are doing just enough to win.

This thing was a see-saw battle with strikeouts and homers flying left and right. Sabathia and Smoltz each had 7 K’s in 6 and 5 innings, respectively. But Smoltz only allowed 2 runs to Sabathia’s 6. Jones, Rios, and Gomez all homered for Smithfield, outdoing Scott’s and Spezio’s bombs for Grand Junction. The Hog pen had 3 holds and a save, and the final out came with the Foxes’ tying run on 2nd, and winning run at 1st. The end came as the Hogs turned the only DP of the game. The key point in the game came in the 6th, just as GJ had overtaken the lead. 3 consecutive extra base hits off Sabathia gave SF back the lead that the never again relinquished. There were 21 K’s in the game, and the Hogs found a way to win while getting outhit/outwalked 15-10. The homerballs made the difference, as they have all year for us.

Game 1 to the Hedgehogs. They jumped out to a 4-0 lead through 3 as Ted kept playing for one run at a time. In the 1st with 1 out, I had guys at 1st and 3rd and hit a fly ball, sending both. Lind came home with a run as they threw out Howard heading to 2nd for the DP. In the 3rd the same exact thing happened, as I again decided to take a DP for the guaranteed run. Fortutious bunt singles when I was just trying to sacrifice in both the 2nd and 3rd innings helped me push a couple more manufactured runs across to give me that 4-0 lead. The team that led the league in homers was playing small ball and having fun. Meanwhile, the Foxes could get nothing going. Cabrera pitched 7 innings of 5 hit, shutout ball, K’ing 7 in the process. Howard hit an insurance solo homer in the 8th for an insurance run after the Foxes cut the lead to 3 in the 8th. Proctor came on late in relief for the Hogs and pitched 1.1 perfect innings for the save. Zambrano allowed 4 runs in 5 innings in the loss for GJ.