Playoffs Round 1 (Sept. 28, 2008)  

Playing Favorites

It wasn't a good round for underdogs as the favorites advanced to the next round. The third-seeded Las Vegas Rat Pack took out the sixth-place Hillsborough Hired Hitmen in four games and will take on the Morris Division champion Vancouver Iron Fist. Meanwhile, the fourth-seeded Philadelphia Endzone Animals swept the fifth-ranked D.C. Bushslappers and now face the Hanover Division champion Newark Sugar Bears. Keep up with the latest news on the Playoff Page.

History of the Wildcard Round (1997-present)
Year	Result
1997	#3 Newark Sugar Bears over #6 Sacramento Seahawks, 3-1 #5 Austin Outlaws over #4 Arkansas Golden Falcons, 3-0
1998	#3 Arkansas Golden Falcons over #6 Louisiana Lightning, 3-2 #5 Jerusalem Rabbis over #4 Austin Outlaws, 3-2
1999	#3 Vancouver Iron Fist over #6 Austin Outlaws, 3-1 #5 Carolina Mudcats over #4 Jerusalem Rabbis, 3-1
2000	#3 Vancouver Iron Fist over #6 Kentucky Hillbillies, 3-0 #5 Austin Outlaws over #4 Newark Sugar Bears, 3-2
2001	#6 Carolina Mudcats over #3 Vatican City Cardinals, 3-2 #5 Arkansas Golden Falcons over #4 Stanhope Mighty Men, 3-1
2002	#3 Vancouver Iron Fist over #6 Tijuana Banditos, 3-0 #5 Wanaque Wolverines over #4 Hoboken Cutters, 3-0
2003	#3 Stanhope Mighty Men over #6 Hillsborough Destroyers, 3-1 #4 Carolina Mudcats over #5 Honolulu Sharks, 3-2
2004	#6 Tijuana Banditos over #3 Carolina Mudcats, 3-0 #5 Honolulu Sharks over #4 Stanhope Mighty Men, 3-2
2005	#3 Vancouver Iron Fist over #6 Stanhope Mighty Men, 3-1 #5 Honolulu Sharks over #4 Philadelphia Endzone Animals, 3-2
2006	#6 Arkansas Golden Falcons over #3 Carolina Mudcats, 3-2 #4 Marietta Mighty Men over #5 Las Vegas Rat Pack, 3-2
2007	#3 Marietta Mighty Men over #6 D.C. Bushslappers, 3-1 #4 Honolulu Sharks over #5 Hoboken Cutters, 3-1
2008	#3 Las Vegas Rat Pack over #6 Hillsborough Hired Hitmen, 3-1 #4 Philadelphia Endzone Animals over #5 D.C. Bushslappers, 3-0

Rats Whack Hitmen

Las Vegas Rat Pack (#3, 106-56) defeat Hillsborough Hired Hitmen (#6, 87-75), 3 games to 1

An off-season of trash talking between these two teams was answered with a 3 games to 1 victory by the Las Vegas Rat Pack over the Hillsborough Hired Hitmen. The Pack has won bragging rights... at least for now. The Hitmen appear loaded for 2009 and will be eager for a post-season rematch next year. But 2008 belongs to the Pack as they advanced to a second round showdown against the Vancouver Iron Fist. The Hitmen bounced back from an embarrassing loss in Game 1 to even the series in Game 2. Home field advantage wasn't much help to the Hitmen, however, as the Rat Pack buried them with another lopsided win in Game 3. The decisive Game 4 was a see-saw affair eventually won by the deep Rats bullpen. It was the first-ever post-season appearance for the Hitmen, founded in 2005, but not for owner Brent Campbell, who had led the  Louisiana Lightning to the tournament in '97 and '98. Eric Wickstrom's Rat Pack, here for the second time in their eight-year history, have their first playoff series win after a first-round exit in '06.

The only drama in Game 1 was whether Las Vegas's A.J. Burnett would throw the first no-hitter in post-season history. Burnett -- who earlier this year threw a no-no against the poweful Sugar Bear lineup -- didn't allow a hit until there were two outs in the 5th inning; he'd allow just one more (along with 5 walks and a HBP) before coming out in the 7th inning. He also struck out 11 batters, including three each for Robinson Cano and Nick Markakis. The only run Burnett would need would come on an RBI single by Joe Mauer in the 3rd, although Matt Holliday would give him some breathing room with a bases clearing double in the 4th (knocking Hillsborough starter John Lackey out of the game) en route to a 9-0 win. It appeared to be more of the same in Game 2 as the Rats jumped out to an early lead on two solo home runs in the bottom of the 2nd, but the Hitmen came back to tie it up with two solo shots of their own in the 3rd, the first coming from Markakis. In the 7th, Markakis would come through again, this time smashing a two-run dinger to give the Hitmen the lead. The Rats made it a one-run game behind yet another solo shot, this one from Vlad Guerrero, but that was as close as they could get as closer Takashi Saito retired the final five men to preserve the 4-3 victory. o held the Slappers to just 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out 8 in 7 innings.

With the series tied, the two teams traveled to Hillsborough for Game 3, where the Rats got another terrific effort by a starting pitcher. This time it was Josh Beckett holding the Hitmen to just 5 hits (2 ER, 1 BB) in 7 innings. The Pack gave Beckett plenty of support as they bombed Dan Haren for five runs on  7 hits and 3 walks. Carlos Pena tacked on a couple more with a two-run shot in the 7th and the Rats cruised to a momentum-shifting 7-2 win. That set up a do-or-die Game 4 and a battle between two young fireballers, Las Vegas's Tim Lincecum against Hillsborough's Justin Verlander. Each phenom quickly ran into trouble as Pena drilled an 0-2 pitch into the upper deck to lead off the 2nd inning; Aubrey Huff answered with a solo shot of his own in the third. The Rats would then retake the lead on a bizarre sequence in the top of the 4th as Pena doubled, advanced to third on a balk, and trotted home on a wild pitch that bounced off the screen behind home plate. Holliday added a run with an RBI single in the 6th to make it a two-run lead. The Hitmen scratched out a run in the bottom of the frame. In a controversial move that will be long debated in Hillsborough, manager Mike Greenwell sent Verlander out to start the 8th inning. He gave up a double to open the inning, but then quickly retired the next two batters. But that's when the roof caved in. Verlander gave up a wild pitch, an RBI double, a walk and then a two-run single to make it a 4-run lead. Adding to the frustration, the Hitmen came up with two runs in the bottom of the 8th but that was as close as they could get as three Rat relievers combined to hold on for a 6-4 win.

The leading Rat Pack batter -- the best hitter on any team in the first round, in fact -- was 1B Carlos Pena. The second overall pick in the 2008 draft proved to be No. 1 for the Rats, hitting .533 with a ridiculous 2.122 OPS (3 2B, 4 HR in 15 AB!). Pena scored 6 runs and knocked in 7 more. Setting the table were Ichiro Suzuki (.389, 2 SB, 6 R) and Jeff Keppinger (.267, .389 OBP, 1 HR, 2 R). The only other Pack batter who had a nice series was Vlad Guerrero, who hit .357 (1.042 OPS) with 1 HR and 2 RBI. Matt Holliday hit .294 with 5 RBI, but with a .647 OPS. No one else hit over .200... The top Rat Pack pitcher was A.J. Burnett, who threw that terrific two-hitter in Game 1. Josh Beckett (2 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 6 K) also looked sharp. The back end of the rotation wasn't quite as impressive -- Tim Lincecum gave up just 3 runs and struck out 8, but he also allowed 5 H and 5 BB in 7.2 IP. Erik Bedard also was lucky to give up just 3 runs after allowing 9 hits and 3 walks in 6.0 IP.  The bullpen got nice work from Rafael Betancourt, Carlos Marmol and Damaso Marte, who gave up 0 R (3 H, 0 BB) in 6.1 IP. Lefty Rafael Perez had the only hiccup, allowing two solo home runs in two appearances.

Nick Markakis was hearing "A-Rod" chants from the Las Vegas crowd in Games 1 and 2 but he responded with a huge series, hitting .467 (1.663 OPS) with 1 2B and 3 HR as the leading Hillsborough batter. But he couldn't do it alone as the Hitmen, even with Markakis, combined to hit just .189 with a .659 OPS. Nick was the only Hillsborough hitter with a 1.000+ OPS or 10+ RC/27. The only other batter over .300 was Robinson Cano (.333, .867 OPS, 1 R, 0 RBI). Ryan Howard went 1-for-11 (his only hit was a bases empty home run), Russell Martin went 1-for-10, Dmitri Young went 1-for-13 and David Eckstein went 0-for-10... Hillsborough's best pitcher was closer Takashi Saito -- which was a problem because he only appeared in one game. Saito retired all five batters he faced in picking up the save in Hillsborough's only win in Game 2. C.C. Sabathia, who started that game, pitched just good enough to win (3 ER, 1 BB, 4 K in 7.0 IP) despite allowing 9 hits, including 3 HRs. Everyone else got rocked. Justin Verlander, Dan Haren and John Lackey combined for a 7.27 ERA and 16.1 R/9 in their three starts. The other three relievers used in the series -- Jeremy Accardo, Peter Moylan and Justin Hampson -- just poured gasoline on the fire, combining to allow 6 ER, 7 H, 4 BB and 2 HBP in 5.0 IP.

Slapped and Swept

Philly Endzone Animals (#4, 96-66) defeat D.C. Bushslappers (#5, 88-74), 3 games to 0

The Philadelphia Endzone Animals took care of business by sweeping the D.C. Bushslappers. It provided perhaps a small measure of revenge for the Animals, who were knocked out of the post-season last year by the Marietta Mighty Men, owned by the big brother of D.C.'s owner. (Of course, David Landsman started Marietta's 2007 playoff run by taking out little brother Jamie in the first round, so he didn't like him either.) Philly easily handled the first two games in the Eagle's Nest, then flew to D.C. for a hard-fought game at Landsman Stadium. They were beat up pretty good, but came away with the victory and closed out the series. It's the second straight year D.C. has been eliminated in the first round; as for Philly, this is technically their first playoff series win, as last year they advanced to the second round after earning a bye as the Morris Division champs.

Philly got to work immediately in Game 1 behind a stellar performance from ace Brandon Webb, who was staked to a 3-0 lead in the third inning that he never relinquished. In Game 2, D.C. finally got a lead -- but it didn't last long. Jimmy Rollins smacked a two-run home run in the bottom of the 4th to put the Animals up 3-2. But the Bushslapper bats fell asleep while the Animals kept tacking on runs to cruise to a 7-2 win. The only drama of the series came in Game 3, which started out with another 3-0 lead. But the Bushslappers roared back with 6 runs off Johan Santana in the 3rd inning. The Animals came back with three runs to tie it up in the 5th and then regained the lead in the 6th on a two-out, two-run single by Mark Teixeira. But the Bushslappers finally showed some late-inning life as they pushed across runs in the 7th and 8th to tie it up at 8-8. The two bullpens then traded scoreless innings for four frames until Albert Pujols led off the top of the 13th with a home run, and closer J.J. Putz -- still pitching after entering the game in the 9th inning -- finished it off by retiring the Bushslappers in order.

The first-round exit ends what had been the most successful season in the short history of the Bushslappers, who entered the post-season last year as the No. 6 seed after going 81-81. It's also the sixth consecutive playoff game loss for the Bushslappers, who won the first playoff game in their history last year in Game 1, then dropped three straight to Marietta. But considering the franchise Landsman inherited had never produced a winning record, let alone a playoff appearance, back-to-back post-seasons are quite an accomplishment, even if both ended in a first-round exit. The Bushslappers still have a core of good young players and expect to be back in the mix next season.

Meanwhile, the Endzone Animals advance to the second round, where they'll face the Hanover Division Newark Sugar Bears, the team many thought they'd face in the league championship last year as the Morris Division winners. Instead, they'll have to go through the Sugar Bears to reach their first-ever World Series.

Philadelphia's top batter was Albert Pujols, who hit .500 (1.683 OPS) with 1 2B, 2 HR and 4 RBI, including what would be the game-winning RBIs in Games 1 and 3. But he got plenty of support in the lineup from Mark Teixeira, who also hit .500 (1.462 OPS) with 3 2B, 1 HR and 9 RBI. But Teixeira did almost all his damage in Game 3 (5-for-6, 2 2B, 1 HR, 7 RBI), going 2-for-8 with 2 RBI in the other two games. Magglio Ordonez also had a nice series, hitting .357 (1.223 OPS) with 3 2B, 1 HR and 5 R in the three games; Jimmy Rollins chipped in with a .273 BA (.930 OPS) and had the big blow to put the Animals ahead in Game 2. Everyone else on the team stunk. Scott Rolen, Jorge Posada, J.D. Drew and Gary Sheffield combined to hit .200 (7-for-40) with no RBIs. The biggest bust of all was  Adam Dunn, who went 1-for-11 with 0 BBs and 5 Ks... With a couple notable exceptions, the pitchers did a great job. Leading the charge was closer J.J. Putz, who got a save in Game 1 and a a win in Game 3. With the end of the series in sight, Philly manager Steve "Bye Bye" Balboni left Putz in for five innings in Game 3, allowing him to close it out in the 13th; he faced 15 batters and retired 14 of them, including the final seven in a row. Reliever Justin Speier retired all six men he faced closing out the Game 2 blowout, while Jon Rauch gave up just one walk in 2.1 innings in Game 3... Brandon Webb justified his spot atop the rotation with a strong outing in Game 1 (1 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 6 K in 8.0 IP), and Matt Cain was solid in Game 2 (2 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 6 K in 7.0 IP). The only trouble popped up in Game 3, when Johan Santana was pounded for 6 runs (5 earned) on 8 hits and 2 walks in 2.2 innings, and Jason Isringhausen gave up 2 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks in 3 innings. Luckily Putz was there to hold down the fort until Pujols came through with his go-ahead homer to lead off the 13th.

Collectively, the Bushslappers hit just .194 with a .548 OPS in their three games, so there's a lot of blame to go around. The only batter who really showed up was Carlos Beltran, who hit .444 (1.434) with 1 2B, 1 HR and 3 RBI. It's telling that Beltran posted a .545 OBP yet the only run he scored was on his own home run! Beltran led his team in BA, OBP, SLG, OPS, RC, RC/27 and RBIs. Cliff Floyd hit .308 (4-for-13), but it was empty (.665 OPS). Jason Giambi had just two hits in the three games, but both were for extra bases (1 2B, 1 HR), and he also chipped in with two walks. After a miserable regular season, Jose Reyes bounced back with a solid performance (.250, but .357 OBP). The biggest problem came in the middle of the lineup -- Derrek Lee, Matt Kemp, Adrian Beltre, Jeff Kent and Brian McCann combined to go 4-for-58 (.069 BA!)... The Bushslapper pitching problems came in the starting rotation. In fact, the five relievers gave up just 3 ER in 13 IP (2.08 ERA). But Kelvim Escobar gave up 4 ER in 6.1 IP in Game 1, John Maine gave up 6 ER in 5.1 IP in Game 2 and Shaun Marcum was torched for 6 ER in 4.1 IP in Game 3. They put the team into holes they just couldn't dig out of.

Batter, Pitcher of the Week Awards

Las Vegas's Carlos Pena led the league in almost every category -- batting average (.533), slugging percentage (1.533), OPS (2.122), hits (8), home runs (4), extra base hits (7), total bases (23), runs created (13.8), RC/27 (53.4), isolated power (1.000), total average (3.571), secondary average (1.067) and AB/HR (3.8). He also tied for the league lead in runs (6) and doubles (3), and was second in OBP (.588) and RBIs (7), and had a hit in every game of the 4-game series against Hillsborough. You can bet he was the winner of the JRCigars.com Batter of the Week Award! He can share a cigar with Ichiro Suzuki (.389, .980 OPS, 6 R, 2 SB) and Vlad Guerrero (.357, 1.042 OPS, 1 HR, 2 RBI)... Philly's Albert Pujols (.500, 1.683 OPS, 2 HR, 4 RBI) also had a great series. His teammate, Mark Teixeira, had very good overall numbers (.500, 1.462 OPS, 1 HR, 9 RBI) but that was the result of one monster game (5-for-6, 7 RBI in Game 3); he was pretty much absent in the other two. From the losing teams, the bright spots were D.C.'s Carlos Beltran (.444, 1.434 OPS, 1 HR, 3 RBI) and Hillsborough's Nick Markakis (.467, 1.663 OPS, 3 HR, 4 RBI).

There were several strong pitching performances in the first round, but you have to tip your cap to the awesome effort put forward by Philadelphia's J.J. Putz. The Putzinator retired the side in order to pick up a save in Game 1, then came back three days later to throw an astounding 5 scoreless innings to nail down the victory in Game 3. Putz, who entered the game in the 9th with a runner on first, got a fly out and then a 6-4-3 double play, then pitched a perfect 10th. In the 11th, he gave up a one-out single, then retired the next eight in a row to preserve the victory and end the series. Philly manager Steve "Bye Bye" Balboni showed some chutzpah leaving Putz in there for so long; the media would've jumped all over him if he'd given up the game-winning home run in his fifth inning of work. Putz, fittingly enough, takes home the Safe For Work Porn Pitcher of the Week Award. Philly also got a great effort from ace Brandon Webb (1 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 6 K in 8.0 IP). The Rats had a terrific outing from A.J. Burnett, who allowed just two hits while striking out 11 in 7 innings in Game 1 against Hillsborough, though he's got to work on his control issues (5 BB, 1 HBP). Reliever Rafael Betancourt also had an impressive series, retiring 15 of the 16 batters he faced (0 R, 1 H, 0 BB, 3 K) in three appearances... D.C. got nice work from Jonathan Papelbon (0 R, 0 H, 3 BB, 4 K in 2.2 IP) but most of that effort was wasted thanks to poor outings from the starting pitchers. Hillsborough's top pitcher also was its closer, Takashi Saito, who retired all 5 men he faced to get the save in the team's only win.

Meanwhile...

The Morris Division champion Vancouver Iron Fist warmed up for the second round of the playoffs by playing a scrimmage against Will Power Fitness from the Youth Baseball League of New Haven. The Fisters had heard plenty of advanced warning about Will Power's best pitcher, 9-year-old Jericho Scott, but they weren't prepared for the kid's electric stuff. He set down the Iron Fist in order the first two times through the lineup, including 12 strikeouts, and went 3-for-3 with a two-run home run. But inexplicably, league officials then stopped the game and ordered Scott to leave the field. The Iron Fist then came back in the final three innings to brutalize the remaining 9- and 10-year-olds, winning 47-2. The Iron Fist batters, awed by Scott's performance, say they're now ready for anything the Rat Pack can throw at them. "Josh Beckett, A.J. Burnett, Erik Bedard, hell," Vancouver OF Moises Alou said. "They could send out Big Ben McDonald himself and we'd have a better shot than facing that kid again. He's got Mariano Rivera's cutter, Carlos Zambrano's sinker and Bugs Bunny's change-up."

Meanwhile, the Sugar Bears also had a tough time as they faced off against the LaCrescent Apple Jacks of the Vintage Base Ball Association for the first-ever "Cereal Series." The Apple Jacks quickly jumped out to a first inning lead courtesy of a baltimore chop, a delayed stolen base and a suicide squeeze. "You call it 'small ball' but we just call it 'base ball'," proclaimed Apple Jacks captain Horatio Glasscock. The 1-0 lead didn't stand up for long, however, as the Sugar Bears batted around three times in the bottom of the inning -- somewhat helped by the Vintage Base Ball Association rule that allows for a batter to call for either a high pitch or a low pitch. The Apple Jacks played the remainder of the game under protest after noting that the Sugar Bears had several "gentlemen of color" on their roster.

TWIB may have Ozzie Smith, but we have the better Smith! Zane Smith, former pitcher for the San Antonio Slingers and Sacramento Seahawks, now writes this column exclusively for the Diamond Mind Baseball League. Click Here for past articles.