Heros and Chumps, Round 3

Divisional Championship addition.



AL: Salem over Montreal (4-2)

Hero: Galahad Dale. The southpaw from Oklahoma was once again given the opportunity to close out another series, and just like the previous 2 seres, Galahad slamed the door shut. Dale threw 8 strong innings, allowing a pair of early 2 run homers thru 3 innings, before settling in to allow just 2 more hits thru the next 5 while the Salem offense went on attack. In his previous start, Galahad scattered 7 hits thru 9 shut out innings. For the playoffs, Dale is now 4-0 with a 1.8 era.

Chump: Austin Durbin: The late season acquisition provided quite a boost to an already strong staff, however when the bright lights of the postseason flipped on, Durbin quickly faded into the night. Austin allowed 13 runs, 8 earned in just 10.2 innings while lossing both games oppossing Dale in this series. Add in the 3.2 innings of 8 run pitching verse Tacoma in the previous round, and you've got a postseason that is best forgotten. Expect Durbin to bounce back next year and provide the solid numbers we've grown acustomed to.


NL: Syracuse over Boise (4-1)


Hero: Al Bonds/Andy Ennis. A sort of platoon situation based upon which side the opposing pitcher throws from, Al gets the job of facing lefties and playing 2b, while Andy gets the job of facing the righties and playing out in LF. After sitting the bench for most of their first series, Al set the pace for Syracuse at the top of their order going 7 for 17 at the plate with 1 homer, 4 rbi, 5 runs scored and 3 stolen bases in 4 starts for Syracuse, while Ennis' lone start in the series produced 2 hits in 3 at bats along with 2 runs on a triple and a solo home run. Not bad production from either side of the plate.


Chump: Boise's medical staff. It has become obvious to this scribe, that Boise's owner has no clue whom to hire for this often overlooked position. Despite throwing the 2nd highest portion of their payroll in all the league towards their medical staff, they hired more ducks than Docs. Multiple injuries to their second basemen almost derailed the Boise train in round 2, but the final straw came in game 5 of their divisional championship series. Bouyed to a 3-0 lead, and staff ace Olmedo Figerosa was holding Syracuse to just 2 runs thru 4.2 innings. However resident AFLAC duct wrongly diagnosed Olmedo's pregame gas pains due to an overabundance of Chinese foot, rather than making the quit reasonable and obvious observation that Olmedo was suffering a severe case of acute appendicites. Olmedo is due to make a full recovery next year, but sadly has spent his own signing bonus to ensure that Dr James Andrew is added to the staff next year. Look for Boise's medical buget to balloon to an all together impossible 25 millon from its current 18 millon this season.