It was a series that went back and forth like two heavyweight fighters locked in battle. In the end the Boston Bobcats prevailed over the feisty Philly Phog in a well-played thrilling seven games.
Anibal Sanchez battled 12 game winner CJ Wilson in game 1 at Boston. It was Prince Fielder who made Boston manager Andy Willnus pay in the 3rd inning of a scoreless game when he intentionally walked Carlos Santana to get to him. Fielder crushed a three run shot to help the Phog complete a four run inning. The Bobcats clawed their way back into the game with runs in the 5th and 6th. With Philly adding a run in the 7th inning they opened a 5-3 lead. Justin Maxwell hit a big two run single in the bottom of the 8th to tie the game off of David Robertson. With both bullpens pitching well from there the game entered the 13th inning. However, save leader Greg Holland was unable to keep the game tied and Josh Reddick's single scored Michael Brantley and De La La La Rosa closed the game out in great holiday spirit.
Game 2 saw low inning pitcher, but stud, Clay Buchholz against 10-4 Justin Masterson. After Santana homered in the 1st and Fielder drove in Crisp in the 6th the Phog looked like they were on cruise control. However, MVP snub David Ortiz was finally ready to get into Postseason gear. He mashed a three run homerun in the bottom of the 6th to give Boston their first lead of the series. Robbie Ross, Dallas Keuchel, and Holland all contributed in shutting down the Phog to close out. Masterson the win and Holland the save. All three Buchholz runs were unearned, in his defeat, after Eric Hosmer made a terrible approach on a ball in right field leading up to the Ortiz homer.
The two teams moved to Philadelphia for game 3. The rejuvenated Scott Kazmir took on Jason Vargas. After the Phog loaded the bases in the 1st and failing to score, they again loaded them in the 2nd off of Vargas. It was a merry-go-round effect as they pushed four runs across. Led by Hosmer and Matt Weiters who had RBI in the inning. The Phog coasted under Michael Schmidt and his brilliant use of the bullpen, using six pitchers in total. Kazmir got the win going 5 innings and holding on 5-2 with Vargas drawing the loss.
CJ Wilson was prepared again for game 4 and Derek Holland attempted to pitch for the Phog. However, Holland acted as if he had just tripped over his dog again and he couldn't get out of the 3rd inning. A five run 1st, one in the 2nd, and three in the 3rd and it was 9-0 Boston in the blink of an eye. The power heavy Bobcats failed to hit a homerun in this one but boy did they hit. After adding four more runs in the 5th they dropped another six runs in the 9th on outfielder David Dejesus, who was video recorded petting Holland's dog just before entering the game to pitch. Final was 19-1 for Boston while pounding 21 hits. Every Boston hitter had as least one hit except for Yan Gomes who did score a run. Wilson got the win after completing the 5th inning and then exiting.
With the series tied at two games each we stayed in Philly for game 5. Sanchez returned to the mound for Philly and Jeremy Hellickson got his lone start for Boston. Ortiz drove in Alex Presley in the 1st for a 1-0 lead. The Phog tied it in the 5th when Santana knocked Jose Iglesias across. Hellickson would exit it after giving up a lead off hit in the 6th. Alex Torres shut them down though and the game remained tied until the 8th. Stephen Drew hit a double that scored Brian Dozier to give Boston the lead off of Sanchez in what might have been the biggest hit of the series. Greg Holland pitched the final 1 and 2/3 innings to get the save and Boston held on 2-1 to take a 3-2 series lead.
Heading back to Boston for game 6 and Masterson returned to the hill. Matt Garza got his lone start and he was effective. Boston could only muster up a 2-1 lead through seven innings. However, with the bullpen they have, Willnus felt good about finishing off the Phog for good at this point. With Torres pitching the 7th he returned to start the 8th. However, after giving up two base runners to start the inning, Willnus returned to the mound to get Torres and he went back to Holland to preserve the one run lead. Holland wasn't able to do it. Iglesias drove a base hit to score the tying run and Schmidt waved another runner around 3rd with two out and 1-14 shot for the lead. He was gunned down at the plate and we remained tied. In the bottom of the 8th, Kelly Johnson hit a homer 1-17 or flyout to possibly give Boston the lead back and with Holland still in the game the probable victory. It wasn't to be as a 19 came up and we went to the 9th. Willnus decided to pull Holland and keep his 1 and 2/3 remaining innings available for a possible game 7. That move didn't work out well as Willnus soon found out, if you play for a game 7 you will get a game 7. Keuchel got rocked by a Santana hit that brought in two runs and Casey Fien closed out the bottom half for a 4-2 Phog win and forcing the inevitable game 7.
Boston brought out ace 12 game winner Wilson. While the Phog pitching depth began to rear its ugly head when they had to counter with Kazmir again. This thing was over in a heart beat when Jeff Baker crushed a Kazmir breaking ball for a three run homer in the 1st. After adding one more run, the Bobcats attacked again in the 2nd when Dozier homered and it was quickly 7-0. Wilson cruised nicely into the 7th by only allowing an unearned run and the Bobcats rolled 9-1. Kazmir couldn't make it out of the 2nd inning and Jesse Chavez and Will Smith both surrended homeruns while the Bobcats bullpen did what they usually do throwing up 2 2/3 of hitless ball with just one baserunner.
The Bobcats now look forward to hosting game one of the World Series against the Pittsburgh Phantoms in the near future. Stay tuned.....
MVP: CJ Wilson 3 ST, 2-0 REC, 20 IP, 18 H, 6 ER, 2.70 ERA, 23 K outscored opp. in games he started 33-8
Congratulations Andy, not only on the win, but a great write-up as well!
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