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The 2009 Season, Playoffs: Cross-Country Move No Problem, River City Hardballers are 2009 Shoeless Joe Champs
After several successful years in the heart of the North Carolina, including a 2007 Shoeless Joe title, the Durham Knights moved to the heart of Northern California before the 2009 season and became the River City Hardballers. They didn’t miss a beat, compiling the best regular season record, then beating the Baltimore Hons in a seven-game League Championship Series to become the 2009 Shoeless Joe champ. Hearty congratulations to the owner of the Hardballers, Wayne Griswold.
League Division Championship #1: A first game comeback set the tone for the opening round matchup of the Mudville Slugs and Baltimore Hons. Playing in Baltimore, the Slugs opened an early 3-0 lead, were tied, and then reclaimed the lead to go into the bottom of the ninth with a 4-3 lead. But Rafael Soriano was unable to complete a four-out save. A two-out double by Chase Utley knotted the score at four. Utley also figured in the game-winning run when he and Lance Berkman both doubled in the 11th to give the Hons a 5-4 win.
The Slugs repeated the pattern in the second game, wasting an early 2-0 lead to lose 3-2. The winning run scored on a seventh inning sacrifice fly by the Hons’ Ryan Sweeney.
Back in Mudville, the Slugs again took the early lead, 1-0 in the first, and were again caught by the Hons. But this time the Slugs triumphed, with a ninth-inning walkoff single by Curtis Granderson giving them a 4-3 win.
In game four, it was Baltimore who couldn’t hold the lead. Leading both 2-0 in the second and 4-3 going into the bottom of the ninth, the Hons lost the lead to a Miguel Tejada solo blast. The teams moved into extra innings for the second time in the series. Baltimore took their third lead of the game on a Lance Berkman homerun in the 11th. Mike Gonzalez, trying to hold onto the win for the Hons, allowed a one-out single to Aaron Hill, a two-out single to Josh Bard, a wild pitch, and a two-run single to pinch-hitter Juan Rivera, giving the Slugs their first lead of the game and the win by a final score of 6-5.
In game five, it was Baltimore who held on in the late innings. Rick Vanden Hurk got the last out with a runner on second to give the Hons a 6-5 win.
Heading home to Baltimore, the Hons needed only a single victory to advance to the League Championship Series. And they got the win with their easiest victory of the series. Two late Slug runs made the score look close, but the Hons controlled the game enroute to a 5-3 clinching win. J.A. Happ got the victory with six innings of one-run ball.
League Division Championship #2: The other Division Championship also started with a tight game. Pinch-hitter Joey Votto drove in the winning run with a two-out walk-off double as River City beat Moline 3-2.
River City took a 2-0 series lead in game two. It was an easier win for the Hardballers as they scored single runs in each inning between the fourth and seven to pull away to a 5-3 victory.
Moving to Moline didn’t help the Greens. Joey Votto stroked his second ninth-inning game winning hit in three games. His homerun in the top of the ninth gave the Hardballers a 4-3 triumph and a commanding 3-0 series lead.
Facing elimination, the Greens again battled hard in game four, but again came up short. Trailing 4-3 going into the bottom of the ninth, Adrian Gonzalez got a lead-off pinch-hit single. Nick Johnson came to the plate with a chance to win the game with a single swing. He hit the ball hard, but it became a line-out doubleplay. Moline’s spirit broken, Ryan Braun popped to short and the Hardballers moved onto the League Championship.
League Championship Series: River City, with 103 victories, and Baltimore, with 102, offered the hope of a great championship series. For game one, the Hardballers sent staff ace Zack Greinke to defend their homefield advantage. The Hons countered with a Zach of their own, lefty Zach Duke. The Hardballers opened a 3-0 lead through five. The key blow was a two-run single by catcher Joe Mauer in the bottom of the fifth. The lead was still 4-2 when the Hardballer manager sent Francisco Rodriguez to the mound in the top of the ninth to try for the save. Rodriquez failed. RBI basehits by Shane Victorino and Chase Utley knotted the score at four. Hon reliever Eric O'Flaherty got a pair of outs in the bottom of the ninth before yielding a walk to Vernon Wells and a single to Troy Tulowitzki. Josh Hamilton was due to hit, but the Hardballers manager, having come up short with the Rodriguez decision, rolled the dice again. He sent Michael Young up to pinch-hit. Young lined a single up the middle and the Hardballers had claimed game one, 5-4.
With River City holding a 1-0 series lead, they sent Ted Lilly to the hill for game two. His opponent was J.A. Happ. Happ got the better of Lilly, besting him by a score of 3-1 to tie up the series. Offensively, the star was the surprise player of 2009, uber-utility-man Ben Zobrist. Playing rightfield, Zobrist went two-for-four with a pair of RBIs and a homer in the ninth for the final run of the game.
After a travel day, the series resumed in Baltimore, tied at a game apiece. Starting pitchers were Justin Masterson for the homefield Hons and Matt Garza for the visiting Hardballers. Led by Troy Tulowitzki who went three-for-four with a homer and two RBIs, the Hardballers scored single runs in six innings to take a 6-3 win. Denard Span added a pair of base knocks and Evan Longoria had a homerun.
Game four opened with Brett Anderson on the hill for River City and Jon Garland for Baltimore. The Baltimore crowd, chilled by the October breezes off the Atlantic, stayed warm with exuberance in support of the Hons attempt to even the series. Paced by two hits each from Scott Rolen, Chase Utley, Alexei Ramirez, and Ryan Sweeney, the Hons took a 3-1 lead after five innings and still led 4-3 going into the top of the ninth. Jon Papelbon came to try for the save. Papelbon allowed a single to Kendry Morales and a walk to J.D. Drew. With one out, Carlos Lee and Evan Longoria had chances to tie the game. Lee flied out to short center. When Longoria also flew out, Papelbon had his save, Garland had his win, and the Hons had a 2-2 series tie.
For game five, the opening day starters returned, Zach Greinke for River City and Zach Duke for Baltimore. But the star of the day was Hardballer second-baseman Dustin Pedroia who was in the middle of all three River City rallies. Pedroia hit a solo homerun in the first. In the third, he had an infield single and came around to score the second of two runs. In the ninth, he walked and came around to score the third of three runs. The six runs from the three rallies were plenty to secure a 6-1 River City victory. Greinke, with seven innings of one-run ball, was the winning pitcher. The series would return to River City with the Hardballers holding a 3-2 lead.
The game six starters were a recap of game two. Ted Lilly on the hill for the hometeam Hardballers was going for the clinching win. J.A. Happ was trying to extend the series for one more day. The River City fans were treated to a back-and-forth battle through five innings, with scoring in five different half-innings and a score of 3-3. But the Hardballers’ manager made a strategic decision in the bottom of the fifth that worked out poorly. He pinch-hit for Lilly in hopes of breaking the tie. After the Hardballers didn’t score, Ryan Madsen came in from the bullpen. Madsen was chased by four straight singles, scoring two runs. The Hons were on their way to an 8-3 win, and the series was heading to a seventh game.
The climatic seventh game reprised game three when Matt Garza led the Hardballers to a 6-3 win over the Hons. This time, the visiting Hons scored single runs in the first two innings, the latter run on a Ryan Doumit homerun, to take a 2-0 lead. The Hardballers cut the lead in half in the bottom of the second on a Carlos Lee single. The score remained 2-1 into the fourth when the Hons’ Scott Rolen and the Hardballers’ Troy Tulowitzki traded solo homeruns to make the tally 3-2. The Hardballers finally knotted the score in the bottom of the fifth on an infield groundout. The Hons’ manager was the first to go to the bullpen, bringing on Eric O’Flaherty to pitch the bottom of the sixth. O’Flaherty yielded an RBI single to Evan Longoria, giving River City a 4-3 lead. The Hon bullpen stumbled again in the seventh, with Jose Contreras giving up a two-run single to Carlos Lee. River City led 6-3 with only two innings to play. After the Hardballers’ Arthur Rhodes threw a perfect top of the eighth, the Hons’ pen allowed two more runs in the bottom of the inning. River City led 8-3 with only three outs remaining to Baltimore. Ryan Madson wrapped up the final outs in 1-2-3 fashion and the River City Hardballers were the 2009 champions of the Shoeless Joe League!
Draft Order: No changes in draft order occurred as a result of the playoffs. The March 2010 draft will have the following order.
1. Savannah Carpetbaggers
2. Newark Five Spot
3. Dutchess County Robber Barons
4. Chicago Cockroaches
5. Ft. Lauderdale Clementes
6. Kansas City Whirlwind
7. Harrisburg Heroes
8. Hagerstown Hobgoblins
9. St. Louis Sprockets
10. Florida Panthers
11. Aldwych Thanes
12. Kanab Hotties
13. Moline Greens
14. Mudville Slugs
15. Baltimore Hons
16. River City Hardballers
The draft day and time will be Sunday, March 14, 2010, 5:00pm EST.
Stats of the Week: We’ll end the season with a post-season Pythagorean check-in. The data is below.
Insights:
· No ballclubs lucked into the playoffs. Three of the four playoffs teams were barely more than a rounding error away from neutral luck. The fourth, Moline, was actually about three games unlucky.
· The luckiest clubs, Chicago, Florida, St. Louis, and Aldwych, were all among the also-rans.
· The single most unlucky club was Harrisburg who managed to finish ten games below .500 despite outscoring their opponents by 60 runs, a luck deficit of almost twelve games.
· The standard deviation of the difference column was .032, larger than the 2006 standard deviation of .026 or the 2007 standard deviation of .016. Probably just a random variation.
· Not surprising, total runs are following the same pattern as the Major Leagues, 12,981 in 2006, 12,685 in 2007, and 12,202 in 2009. Whether the result of steroid testing or some other factor such as the receding effect of the last expansion is left to the reader.
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2009 Season, Week Twenty-Six Standings Northern_Standings,_Pitching___W___L___pct.__GB___ERA__CG_ShO__RS__Sv___IP_____R___ER___H___BA___BB___K__WP 1 Baltimore Hons 102 60 .630 - 3.53 11 16 5.0 58 1466.1 625 575 1349 .241 615 1045 44 9 Moline Greens 92 70 .568 10 3.78 15 16 5.0 42 1464.1 674 615 1346 .241 556 1357 78 15 Aldwych Thanes 86 76 .531 16 4.03 4 12 4.6 49 1467.2 736 657 1440 .253 702 1164 68 13 Hagerstown Hobgoblins 82 80 .506 20 4.02 11 14 4.7 39 1439.1 713 643 1421 .256 630 1132 43 7 Harrisburg Heroes 76 86 .469 26 4.21 5 9 5.0 32 1458.1 744 682 1453 .257 622 1237 44 5 Chicago Cockroaches 67 95 .414 35 5.02 9 10 4.0 39 1458.2 873 814 1542 .269 721 1216 53 3 Dutchess County Robber Ba 66 96 .407 36 4.84 6 7 4.6 22 1450 838 780 1580 .276 663 1154 64 11 Newark Five Spot 57 105 .352 45 5.27 3 5 4.2 35 1445.2 906 846 1616 .281 695 1214 77 Southern_Standings,_Pitching___W___L___pct.__GB___ERA__CG_ShO__RS__Sv___IP_____R___ER___H___BA___BB___K__WP 8 River City Hardballers 103 59 .636 - 3.82 11 13 5.4 53 1468.2 656 623 1378 .245 588 1354 23 16 Mudville Slugs 96 66 .593 7 4.04 2 8 5.4 46 1477.2 727 664 1415 .249 680 1370 61 2 Kanab Hotties 93 69 .574 10 3.68 5 10 4.6 47 1476.1 653 603 1372 .243 575 1306 61 4 Florida Panthers 86 76 .531 17 4.07 14 16 4.3 50 1460 724 661 1494 .262 591 1241 44 12 St. Louis Sprockets 85 77 .525 18 4.86 2 6 5.1 45 1442 834 778 1560 .275 663 1189 48 6 Kansas City Whirlwind 75 87 .463 28 5.25 9 10 5.2 36 1445.1 887 843 1562 .275 632 1218 51 14 Ft. Lauderdale Clementes 74 88 .457 29 4.31 3 11 4.4 37 1448.2 765 694 1482 .262 590 1091 56 10 Savannah Carpetbaggers 56 106 .346 47 4.81 1 8 3.9 33 1450.2 847 775 1558 .273 737 1135 75 ____AB____R____H___D___T__HR__RBI__BB___K___BA__OBA__SlgA__SH__F_SF_GDP__SB__CS__LOB__OP__DP__E__OSB_OCS_PB 1 5641 810 1491 282 44 179 795 750 1078 .264 .348 .425 67 26 49 120 68 29 1354 201 114 93 90 17 8 9 5753 806 1542 295 35 199 799 702 1319 .268 .346 .435 79 27 37 99 31 6 1402 147 85 104 64 22 6 15 5704 745 1436 296 25 202 736 639 1387 .252 .325 .419 42 16 35 88 44 17 1285 148 115 119 80 23 6 13 5578 769 1477 285 28 200 758 643 1062 .265 .339 .433 103 37 36 125 47 23 1284 168 114 103 75 24 12 7 5676 804 1508 290 38 180 792 640 1305 .266 .337 .425 90 30 50 95 161 46 1267 147 113 121 80 24 11 5 5579 640 1356 245 33 165 632 506 1249 .243 .304 .388 109 37 37 97 89 21 1170 164 104 107 114 23 10 3 5719 741 1497 275 19 208 730 579 1158 .262 .328 .426 76 33 33 116 73 24 1266 137 112 84 58 28 15 11 5620 675 1357 276 36 153 661 613 1215 .241 .314 .385 49 19 44 112 52 18 1249 142 94 111 89 53 11 8 5742 873 1649 314 32 228 860 656 1037 .287 .357 .472 106 32 60 118 98 34 1357 195 92 75 47 17 11 16 5780 870 1546 330 26 249 849 654 1302 .267 .340 .463 95 35 32 96 48 16 1294 177 94 101 69 22 9 2 5704 747 1459 314 23 187 735 704 1373 .256 .336 .417 78 27 33 94 95 26 1372 137 106 96 74 21 19 4 5575 698 1392 283 33 156 685 635 1221 .250 .324 .396 93 33 40 96 86 34 1278 164 103 96 68 24 8 12 5615 830 1545 297 30 183 818 738 1056 .275 .356 .437 115 45 53 117 94 28 1382 132 126 102 68 38 6 6 5699 849 1547 279 27 185 832 667 1054 .271 .345 .427 86 31 50 113 119 34 1303 174 107 81 72 21 9 14 5634 714 1446 277 25 200 703 539 1159 .257 .320 .421 64 23 34 116 70 34 1189 171 124 94 79 17 8 10 5628 631 1320 274 28 123 614 595 1448 .235 .306 .359 47 15 38 101 55 19 1254 156 100 109 103 35 11 ____________________After_7_-_Ahead__Tied_Behind__1-Run_Ex.In.__v.RHP_v.LHP 1 Baltimore Hons 78-10 15- 7 9-43 29-22 8- 8 72-43 30-17 9 Moline Greens 75-12 8- 8 9-50 24-23 13-12 60-46 32-24 15 Aldwych Thanes 66- 2 13- 9 7-65 26-19 14- 5 58-52 28-24 13 Hagerstown Hobgoblins 69- 4 4-10 9-66 24-25 5-11 64-64 18-16 7 Harrisburg Heroes 61- 7 11-13 4-66 18-31 8-10 55-68 21-18 5 Chicago Cockroaches 49- 6 10-12 8-77 31-29 9-14 43-60 24-35 3 Dutchess County Robber Ba 52- 6 10-13 4-77 20-26 9-10 46-70 20-26 11 Newark Five Spot 47-10 6-13 4-82 17-23 5-14 38-68 19-37 8 River City Hardballers 80- 5 16- 9 7-45 32-24 9- 7 69-40 34-19 16 Mudville Slugs 73- 8 12- 7 11-51 26-23 13- 6 61-49 35-17 2 Kanab Hotties 72- 9 10- 7 11-53 31-26 14-10 65-46 28-23 4 Florida Panthers 70- 6 11-10 5-60 29-16 9- 4 60-50 26-26 12 St. Louis Sprockets 67- 9 9- 8 9-60 24-27 9- 7 51-53 34-24 6 Kansas City Whirlwind 62- 3 4-11 9-73 20-20 7- 7 54-60 21-27 14 Ft. Lauderdale Clementes 57-13 5- 7 12-68 17-24 5-10 57-62 17-26 10 Savannah Carpetbaggers 43-11 10-10 3-85 19-29 8-10 41-75 15-31 ______________________________vs.1__vs.9__vs.15_vs.13_vs.7__vs.5__vs.3__vs.11___vs.8__vs.16_vs.2__vs.4__vs.12_vs.6__vs.14_vs.10 1 Baltimore Hons - 9-3 10-2 7-5 10-2 7-5 8-4 9-3 5-5 4-5 4-5 7-3 4-6 8-2 3-7 7-3 9 Moline Greens 3-9 - 6-6 10-2 7-5 9-3 9-3 7-5 0-9 5-5 6-4 5-5 6-4 6-4 7-3 6-3 15 Aldwych Thanes 2-10 6-6 - 7-5 6-6 6-6 9-3 5-7 7-3 5-4 3-7 7-3 5-5 5-5 6-3 7-3 13 Hagerstown Hobgoblins 5-7 2-10 5-7 - 8-4 4-8 11-1 7-5 6-4 3-7 6-4 4-6 4-5 5-5 5-4 7-3 7 Harrisburg Heroes 2-10 5-7 6-6 4-8 - 6-6 4-8 9-3 3-6 4-6 5-5 5-5 4-6 4-5 6-4 9-1 5 Chicago Cockroaches 5-7 3-9 6-6 8-4 6-6 - 5-7 3-9 0-10 1-9 5-5 3-6 6-4 5-4 7-3 4-6 3 Dutchess County Robber Ba 4-8 3-9 3-9 1-11 8-4 7-5 - 9-3 3-7 6-4 2-7 1-8 3-7 6-4 5-5 5-5 11 Newark Five Spot 3-9 5-7 7-5 5-7 3-9 9-3 3-9 - 1-9 2-8 4-6 1-9 4-5 4-6 1-9 5-4 8 River City Hardballers 5-5 9-0 3-7 4-6 6-3 10-0 7-3 9-1 - 5-7 5-7 8-4 6-6 10-2 7-5 9-3 16 Mudville Slugs 5-4 5-5 4-5 7-3 6-4 9-1 4-6 8-2 7-5 - 6-6 8-4 7-5 8-4 7-5 5-7 2 Kanab Hotties 5-4 4-6 7-3 4-6 5-5 5-5 7-2 6-4 7-5 6-6 - 9-3 6-6 7-5 7-5 8-4 4 Florida Panthers 3-7 5-5 3-7 6-4 5-5 6-3 8-1 9-1 4-8 4-8 3-9 - 8-4 5-7 7-5 10-2 12 sprockets 6-4 4-6 5-5 5-4 6-4 4-6 7-3 5-4 6-6 5-7 6-6 4-8 - 6-6 7-5 9-3 6 Kansas City Whirlwind 2-8 4-6 5-5 5-5 5-4 4-5 4-6 6-4 2-10 4-8 5-7 7-5 6-6 - 7-5 9-3 14 Ft. Lauderdale Clementes 7-3 3-7 3-6 4-5 4-6 3-7 5-5 9-1 5-7 5-7 5-7 5-7 5-7 5-7 - 6-6 10 Savannah Carpetbaggers 3-7 3-6 3-7 3-7 1-9 6-4 5-5 4-5 3-9 7-5 4-8 2-10 3-9 3-9 6-6 -
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