#6 Philadelphia Stomp (86-76) vs. #5 Baltimore Revolution (112-50)
PHILADELPHIA- For the second time in team history, and the second straight season, the Stomp are into the ALCS. Again, they must square off against the powerhouse Baltimore Revolution. They had to break the hearts of the Jazz and their fans, who were hoping for the team's first trip to the LCS. The Stomp success this postseason (6-1 so far in these playoffs) has been due, not surprisingly, to the starting pitching and to, more surprisingly, the very potent performance of the offense. The starting pitching has been very good. They have tossed 46 innings to a 2.54 ERA. Quilvio Lee has made three starts. He is 2-0 with a 3.50 ERA in 18 innings. Gary Scott has been even better. In his two starts, he is 2-0 with a 1.20 ERA in 15 innings. Veteran Jared White, who had a terrible regular season, has been the only weapon in the pen for the Stomp. He has pitched 8.2 scoreless innings in 4 games. He has picked up a W, only surrendered 3 hits while striking out 6 and walking none. Other than White, the bullpen has been a train wreck. The team's other relievers have pitched 9 innings and have an ERA of 13.00. This trend is further confirmed by the scoring trend against Philly. In innings 1-6, the Stomp have only allowed 9 runs. In innings 7 and later, the Stomp have allowed 17 runs. Luckily, the offense has been more than doing its share. So far in the playoffs, the Stomp have 13 home runs and are hitting .297 as a team. Hector Diaz and Junior Iwazaki have been huge. They each have at least one hit in every game in the playoffs thus far. Iwazaki has 12 hits (5 for extra bases) while hitting .480 with 10 RBI. Even bigger has been Christobal Johnson, who has always been a big-time playoff perfomer throughout his career. He is hitting .433 with an OPS of 1.548. He has 5 home runs and 13 RBI. Slugger Jim Andrews, who was so crucial during the regular season, has been pretty lackluster so far. Despite his 8 RBI, he is only hitting .231 with a single home run.
BALTIMORE- The fans in Harbor Park were excited and loud. They were sure that their Whiskey Jacks were on the verge of dispatching the reigning champs and advancing to the franchise's first ever LCS. The fans stayed loud and supportive of their All Star starter, Phil Leonard. Leonard, who had pitched a Game 2 complete game shutout just a few days ago, seemed to have his good stuff that day, and through the first five innings, had kept the potent Revolution offense off-balance, and in-check, allowing no runs and only surrendering two hits. Then the Revolution scored 7 runs in the 6th inning. With 7 singles, an error, a walk and a hit batter; the Revolution had broken the game wide open... and the fans could only watch in stunned silence. The Norfolk dugout looked like a funeral procession with the players' expressionless faces staring straight ahead blankly. The Whiskey Jack's David Brito described the critical innings as like "bleeding to death by 1,000 paper cuts." And with that win, the Revolution survived the biggest threat to their dynasty since their Season 14 championship. Its the first time in the last three seasons that any team has taken them the distance, and forced a winner-take-all showdown. The Jacks were obviously devastated in the locker room after Game 5, shocked that they hadn't been able to close it out after taking a commanding 2-0 series lead. The Revolution seemed even more confident, if that was possible. Billy Ray Howington, after Game 5, "They had the best record in the league for a reason. They're f****** good. We just took the best shot of the best team in the league. And we're still here. We came back from the brink. We liked our chances going into the series. We love our chances the rest of the way." Offensively the team has been paced by their leadoff man and the team's resident MVPs. In the 8 games of the playoffs so far, Jung Lee Martin has an OBP of .447, with at least 1 hit in the last 7 games, has scored a team-high 10 runs and stolen 5 bases without getting caught. MVPs Bruce Donovan and Frank Edwards have been devastating. Combined they are hitting .385 with 25 hits, 7 home runs and 20 RBI. The pitching as a whole has been very good. The team has an ERA 3.68 in the playoffs, and had a team ERA of 3.88 in the ALDS against the AL's highest scoring offense. Sammy Aquino and Damaso Solano have done the lion's share of the damage. In their 5 combined starts, they have pitched 32.2 innings, only allowed 3 runs, and are 3-1 with a 0.82 ERA. And it was Solano, not surprisingly, who came up big in Game 5, pitching 7 scoreless innings. Staff ace Tony Espinosa has struggled though. In his 3 postseason starts he has an ERA of 6.19.
Projected Pitching Matchups:
Game 1: Camden Yards: PHI: Quilvio Lee (18-5) vs. BAL: Tony Espinosa (18-4)
Game 2: Camden Yards: PHI: Gary Scott (12-9) vs. BAL: Sammy Aquino (12-8)
Game 2: Citizens Bank Park: BAL: Damaso Solano (16-5) vs. PHI: Randy Meulens (15-8)
Editors' Pick:
Round Two. The rematch of last season's ALCS does have a couple of key differences. First, Philly is the team rested and able to reset their starting rotation this season, while Baltimore is coming off a long series. Second, Quilvio Lee and Jim Andrews weren't with Philly last season. Those two players close the gap between the two teams a bit and should make for a more competative series than last season's four game sweep. The bullpen for Philadelphia has been so shaky this season and into the playoffs. Its the bullpen that is the big difference too. Expect the games to be close until the Revolution get into the Stomp bullpen. Then that weakness will be exposed at the hands of the powerful Baltimore offense. Baltimore wins in six.
National League
#5 Chicago Gray Stockings (90-72) vs. #2 Milwaukee Titans (95-67)
CHICAGO- For the third consecutive season, the Gray Stockings shocked the baseball world by upsetting the heavily favored Pittsburgh Polar Bears, this season in a sweep, and advancing to the NLCS. In the Bears' locker room after the Game 3 loss, there were many long faces and shaking heads, but few answers. CF Del Chen was really the only player to offer some kind of explanation for their seemingly inexplicable loss to the Sox once again, he suggested that "maybe they've got voodoo dolls over there or something." On the other side, the Sox were understandably excited. They have the chance to win their 3rd straight NL Pennant, and once again were able to vanquish their division rivals. Butch Ramirez had a different explantion for his team's great success, "Heart, man. Its all about heart. I know these guys. We don't care who is in the trainer's room, who is recovering from surgery or whatever. Whatever 8 other guys take the field with me, I go all the way for those guys. And I know they go all the way for me. We win with heart." The GM of the Houston Buushwackerz even chimed in during an interview on 97.5 ESPN Radio in Houston. When asked about Chicago, he called it "postseason magic." Well whatever it is; voodoo, heart or magic, its working. Its been working largely as a team effort too. The Sox are so far undefeated in these playoffs at 6-0. The offense, while not overpowering, has been good top to bottom. As a team, the Sox are hitting .320. Seven of the eight positional starters are hitting .300+. Seven different players have at least 1 home run, although only Butch Ramirez has more than 1 HR. Ramirez is leading the way, hitting .370 with 2 home runs, 2 doubles and 4 RBI. Its been the pitching and defense setting the tone though. Defensively, the team has only 2 errors with 3 '+' plays and 0 '-' plays. The pitching has been really good, from the starters to the pen, with one surprising exception, Carter Maybin. In his two starts, Maybin has an ERA of 9.00. The other two starters, Ralph O'Neill and Pedro Franco have tossed a combined 24 innings in their 4 starts with an ERA of 2.25. The bullpen has been even better than the starters, pitching 20 innings with an ERA of 1.80.
MILWAUKEE- On a crisp night in Miller Field, there was a nervous electricity in the air. In a game that could be the Titans last one in Milwaukee, there wasn't a seated fan in the house. As the Tragedy Twins trotted into the field, hoping for the final three outs they needed to get into the NLCS, their closer, Corban Flood and his long blond locks were taking his warm up pitches. The soft spoken man from Maine, the son of a tug boat captain had been inconsistent all season long. He knew it, the fans knew it and the Titans knew it. As he was finishing up his warm-up tosses, the fans were getting fired up by the motivational rally montage playing on the Jumbo-Tron. It was a compilation of dramatic home runs and walk off hits by the likes of Alberto Lima, Dewayne Thompson and other Titan players. Mixed into the montage was the inspirational speech from Disney's 'Remember the Titans.' The montage ended as actor Will Patton finished his speech, "You make sure that they remember, forever, the night they played the Titans." Flood finished his warm-up tosses as it was announced that Jose Sanchez was pinch hitting for reliever Charlie Gonzalez. Sanchez must have been watching the inspirational rally montage. He crushed Flood's first pitch, a fastball right down broadway. As the ball carried over the center field wall, the noise was deafening. The fans were into it, and they were now only down by a single run. Flood managed to get two outs, and let two more men on that inning before the veteran Howard Gray came to the dish. There were two outs, with men on second and third and Vancouver desperately clinging to a fragile one run lead. Its one of those moments that Hollywood scripts write about and every kid imagines. Flood managed to get up on Gray 0-2. But Gray fouled off some tough pitches and watched a couple of close ones. Then Flood made a mistake, and left a 2-2 hanging curveball up in the zone. It was just the pitch that the saavy veteran Gray was waiting for. He hammered the pitch and it skyed deep down the line into left field before one-hopping the fence. Gray had a walk-off double and propelled his team in to the NLCS against the waiting Chicago Gray Stockings. The Twins would forever remember the night they played the Titans. There was pandamonium in the stands. Fans knew that there were to be at least two more Titan games in Miller Park. The Titans had returned to the NLCS for the first time since their WS Title defense in Season 13. The team offense had been pretty solid during the postseason, hitting .287. Alberto Lima had at least one hit in each game, while hitting .333 with a double (which he cracked in that dramatic 9th inning comeback in front of Howard Gray to set up his walk-off hit), a home run and a team high 6 RBI. The pitching was also solid, the team ERA was 3.65 in the series, against a powerful Vancouver lineup. Dave McInerney probably had the best start in the series for Milwaukee, going 7 innings and only allowing 2 runs.
Projected Pitching Matchups
Game 1: Miller Park: CHI: Carter Maybin (17-6) vs. MIL: Dave McInerney (17-9)
Game 2: Milller Park: CHI: Ralph O'Neill (10-6) vs. MIL: Lonny Sanchez (16-6)
Game 3: US Cellular Field: MIL: Rodney Lambert (15-6) vs. CHI: Pedro Franco (10-16)
Editors' Pick
Two traditional NL powers squaring off in the playoffs for the first time. Due to the particularities of the brackets and seeding, the Titans and Gray Stockings have never met in the playoffs. The Gray Socks have been the #5 seed every season since Season 10. The Titans have been the #2 or #3 seed every season since Season 11. Thus they have always been on opposite sides of the bracket, the only way for them to meet would be in the NLCS. Though the Gray Sox have been short handed for the entire playoffs, they sure don't seem to mind. The lineups are comperable, with the Titans offense being more powerful, while the Sox are deeper and more patient and deliberate. With the injured starters for Chicago, the Titans have a definate advantage in starting pitching. The bullpen and defense in Chicago is a bit better than their counterparts though. It should be a close series that will go the distance. And that is where Chicago's lack of arms may finally spell the end to yet another magical run. Milwaukee wins in seven.
