Playoffs Round 2 (Oct. 1, 2007)  

Death Match!

For the first time since 1999, the division winners won't be meeting in the World Series -- and for the first time ever, it will be an all-Hanover affair. The Newark Sugar Bears and Matthew's Mighty Men of Marietta will face off in a battle of bitter rivals. Not only are both teams from the same division, they're also the same "age" -- each came into the league with the Class of 1996. The Sugar Bears blew away the fourth-ranked Honolulu Sharks with a convincing four-game sweep, with each game settled by five or more runs. The Mighty Men, meanwhile, went the distance in a thrilling seven-game series with the Morris Division champion Philadelphia Endzone Animals. Newark now heads to the World Series for the seventh straight year and tries to become the first team in league history to win four titles in a row; the Mighty Men, meanwhile, hope to win their first World Series since moving from the Promised Land. Keep up with the latest news on the Playoff Page.

History of the Second Round (1997-present)
Year	Result
1997	#3 Newark Sugar Bears over #2 Louisiana Lightning, 4-1 #1 Vancouver Iron Fist over #5 Austin Outlaws, 4-0
1998	#3 Arkansas Golden Falcons over #2 Newark Sugar Bears, 4-1 #1 Vancouver Iron Fist over #5 Jerusalem Rabbis, 4-3
1999	#3 Vancouver Iron Fist over #2 Newark Sugar Bears, 4-2 #1 Arkansas Golden Falcons over #5 Carolina Mudcats, 4-0
2000	#2 Arkansas Golden Falcons over #3 Vancouver Iron Fist, 4-3 #1 Jerusalem Rabbis over #5 Austin Outlaws, 4-3
2001	#2 Vancouver Iron Fist over #5 Arkansas Golden Falcons, 4-3 #1 Newark Sugar Bears over #6 Carolina Mudcats, 4-0
2002	#2 Newark Sugar Bears over #3 Vancouver Iron Fist, 4-1 #1 Arkansas Golden Falcons over #5 Wanaque Wolverines, 4-2
2003	#2 Arkansas Golden Falcons over #3 Stanhope Mighty Men, 4-2 #1 Newark Sugar Bears over #4 Carolina Mudcats, 4-2
2004	#2 Newark Sugar Bears over #5 Honolulu Sharks, 4-3 #1 Arkansas Golden Falcons over #6 Tijuana Banditos, 4-3
2005	#2 Arkansas Golden Falcons over #3 Vancouver Iron Fist, 4-1 #1 Newark Sugar Bears over #5 Honolulu Sharks, 4-1
2006	#2 Vancouver Ironfist over #4 Marietta Mighty Men, 4-0 #1 Newark Sugar Bears over #6 Arkansas Golden Falcons, 4-1
2007	#3 Marietta Mighty Men over #2 Philadelphia Endzone Animals, 4-3 #1 Newark Sugar Bears over #4 Honolulu Sharks, 4-0

A Mighty Upset

Marietta Mighty Men (#3, 93-69) defeat Philadelphia Endzone Animals (#2, 103-59)

For the first time since 1999, a wild card team has made it to the World Series! Matthew's Mighty Men of Marietta put away the Morris Division champion Philadelphia Endzone Animals in a thrilling seven-game series that featured a little of everything, from shutouts to blowouts -- and saw  the road team winning every game. (That also happened in the first round of last year's playoffs as Arkansas upset Carolina, and in the '03 World Series when Newark beat Arkansas.) It was the first time the No. 3 seed had upset the No. 2 seed since 1999 -- but oddly enough, it also happened in '97 and '98.

Game 1 in the Eagle's Nest was heralded as one of the all-time great pitching match-ups between Ben McDonald Award candidates Johan Santana and Francisco Liriano. But, as so often happens, it didn't work out that way as the Mites jumped out to a 4-0 first inning lead. Santana would settle down after that, but the early outburst proved to be enough as the Mighty Men cruised to an 8-2 win. The expected pitching duel arrived a day later in  Game 2, as Erik Bedard wriggled out of jam after jam -- giving up just 2 runs on 8 hits. But veteran Mike Mussina was even better -- in fact, he was perfect for seven full innings. After retiring the first 21 in order, he gave up a walk to start the 8th, got out of it with a pop up and a double play. In the 9th, Moose was just two outs away from the first no-hitter in post-season history, but A.J. Pierzynski -- Mussina's teammate on the 2002 Mudcats -- grounded a clean single between third and short to break up the no-no. Mussina got the final two outs to preserve the shutout and the win to give the Mites a seemingly insurmountable 2 games to none lead in the series, with three games remaining in Marietta's Home Depot Stadium. Game 3 was another pitching duel, this time locking up Philly's Brandon Webb and A.J. Burnett. The two starters were brilliant -- at the end of 6 innings, the two teams had combined for no runs on 5 hits with 17 strikeouts. But while Webb would go the distance, Burnett -- who threw 112 pitches in 6 innings -- gave way to Trevor Hoffman in the 7th inning, and he promptly surrendered the lead, giving up a single and then an RBI double to the first two batters he faced. Hoffman would give up just one more single the rest of the way, but Webb kept getting strikeouts and groundouts to hang on for a 1-0 win to get Philly back in the series. After back-to-back pitching performances like that, you knew the floodgates were going to open sooner or later, and they burst in Game 4. Marietta rookie Jeremy Sowers was lifted after just two-thirds of an inning after giving up 7 runs (6 earned) on four hits, including a grand slam by Jimmy Rollins. The Animals would tack on 8 insurance runs, but they weren't needed as Josh Johnson and two relievers combined on a 6-hit shoutout to even the series at two games apiece.

Then it was back to Philadelphia for Game 5 and a rematch of Liriano and Santana. Neither was particularly sharp, but still, the score was tied at 3-3 after seven innings. The two bullpens traded zeroes until the top of the 13th, when Wes Helms -- who to this point had been having a forgettable post-season -- hit a one-out home run to give the Mighty Men a 4-3 lead. Mariano Rivera, in his third inning of work, pitched a 1-2-3 13th to give Marietta a 3 games to 2 series lead. The Mighty Men hoped for another brilliant performance from Mussina in Game 6 but this time he couldn't get it done, getting pounded for 6 runs on 9 hits in 5.2 innings, including a two-run blast by Albert Pujols that nearly left the stadium. Bedard did his Houdini act again, giving up 8 hits but just 3 runs to once again even the series. So it came down to a winner-take-all Game 7 in Philly. Fans of both teams expected their managers to rush their aces back on three days' rest, but who could fault them for going with Webb and Burnett, who had each looked so sharp in Game 3. The Mites jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 2nd inning on an RBI single by Brian Giles, but the Animals came right back with three runs in the bottom of the frame, including a two-run home run from Adam LaRoche. The score stood at 3-1 for the next four innings, but then it all fell apart for the Animals and Webb in the top of the 7th, when the Mighty Men opened the inning with a single and a double to put the tying runs in scoring position with no one out. Many are second-guessing manager Steve Balboni for not immediately going to the bullpen, but instead he stuck with Webb for two more batters. It would be two batters too many as each would drive in a run to make it a 3-3 game. Reliever J.J. Putz, who hadn't given up a run in the post-season to this point, came on to salvage the tie but Mighty Man Captain Derek Jeter came through with a clutch two-out RBI single to give Marietta the lead. That seemed to break Philly's back as they would go down in order over the final three frames while the Marietta offense just kept pouring it on, scoring five more in the 8th and four more in the 9th to make it a 13-3 laugher and put the Mighty Men in the World Series for the first time since 2000, when they were known as the Jerusalem Rabbis.

Marietta's offense was sparked, once again, by Ray Durham, who hit .429 (1.110 OPS) with 2 HR and 5 RBI. In 11 games this post-season, Durham is hitting .452 (1.262 OPS) with 4 HR, 7 R and 7 RBI. But outside of Durham, nobody else really had a great series -- the rest of the team combined to hit just .238, and even with Durham the team had a .299 OBP and 70 Ks. Wes Helms hit .182 (.606 OPS, 9 K) and Derek Jeter hit .194 (.597 OPS, 13 K in 31 AB) and  -- but each came through when it counted, delivering the game-winning hits in Games 5 and 7, respectively...  Outside of awful performances by Jeremy Sowers in Game 4 (6 ER, 4 H, 3 BB in 0.2 IP) and Mike Mussina in Game 6 (6 ER, 9 H, 0 BB in 5.2 IP), the Marietta pitching staff posted a 1.79 ERA and 8.4 R/9 16 BR in 60.1 IP. Mariano Rivera was nearly perfect in his one appearance (0 R, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 HBP, 1 K in 3.1 IP), while Trevor Hoffman -- other than blowing Game 3 -- also had an impressive series (1 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 6 K in 9.1 IP). Among the starters, A.J. Burnett gave two strong outings (3 ER, 8 H, 5 BB, 13 K in 14.0 IP), while rookie Francisco Liriano definitely lived up to the hype (3 ER, 10 H, 2 BB, 17 K in 13.1 IP), turning in terrific efforts in Games 1 and 5 to win the Babies Eating Lemons Pitcher of the Week award.

Philly's big bats really came up empty in this series. Albert Pujols had 3 HRs, but just one other hit (.154 BA). Scott Rolen hit .143 with a ridiculous .351 OPS; Vernon Wells was held to a 3-for-27 performance (.111, .459 OPS); and Todd Walker and Michael Cuddyer combined to go 0-for-20. The only guy who stepped it up was Jimmy Rollins, who led the team with 2 doubles, a triple and 2 home runs for 4 R and 8 RBIs, plus two stolen bases... With batters like that, it's amazing the series was as close as it was, and the credit belongs to Philly's pitching staff. Josh Johnson was terrific in his only post-season appearance (0 R, 5 H, 2 BB, 7 K) and J.J. Putz (0 R, 8 H, 0 BB, 10 K in 8.2 IP) allowed just one inherited run to score in 4 games -- but of course, it was the run that would tie up Game 7. Brandon Webb, the guy who got stuck with that run and the Game 7 loss, deserved a better fate (1-1, 4 ER, 12 H, 6 BB, 15 K in 15.1 IP), as did Erik Bedard (1-1, 5 ER, 16 H, 2 BB, 13 K in 12.1 IP). Just as the biggest names on offense failed to come through, a lot of people were disappointed in the performance by Johan Santana (0-1, 9 ER, 11 H, 3 BB, 15 K) and Francisco Rodriguez (0-1, 1 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 5 K in 3.1 IP).

Shark Fillet

Newark Sugar Bears (#1, 118-44) defeat Honolulu Sharks (#4, 86-76)

The Honolulu Sharks have reached the second round three times in their history -- and each time had the misfortune of running into the Newark Sugar Bears. The third time was not the charm for the No. 4 seed as the Hanover Division champions swept them out of the post-season. Still, it was a dream season for Shark fans, who saw their squad go from the league's worst record last year all the way to the second round of the post-season this year. Owner Adam Kozubal won the Ian Rintel Award as the front office executive of the year for piloting the amazing turn-around. Meanwhile, the Sugar Bears roll on to their seventh straight World Series.

It appeared there would be an upset in the making as the Sharks jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first inning of Game 1, but even five runs would prove to be insufficient as the Sugar Bears roared back with three in the 3rd and six in the 4th. By the time the dust had settled, the Sugar Bears had put up 15 runs on 18 hits and 7 walks, chewing through five Shark pitchers in the process. Randy Johnson overcame his shaky first two innings (and survived four errors by his defense) to pitch five solid innings for the 15-7 win. The two teams followed the same script in Game 2 as the Sharks jumped out to a 2-0 lead, only to see it evaporate by the bottom of the 2nd. This time, the Sugar Bears would pound out 10 runs on 15 hits, including two homers each from Marlon Anderson and Jim Edmonds, for the 10-3 win. Game 3 in the Shark Tank proved to be the only game in the series in which the Sugar Bears didn't crack double digits in runs scored -- they could only manage 9. But that proved to be enough for starter Chien-Ming Wang, who held the Sharks to 3 runs on 7 hits over 8 innings. The Sharks tried to get the series back to Newark with a feisty effort in Game 4. They came from behind three times in this game, including a two-run 7th inning to tie the game at 7 each. But reliever Cla Meredith finally stopped the bleeding, blanking the Sharks over the final two frames while the Sugar Bears mauled the Honolulu bullpen for three in the 8th and three in the 9th to complete the sweep.

The Sharks were led on offense by Miguel Tejada and Jermaine Dye, who also came up big in the first round. Tejada hit .429 (1.113 OPS) with 3 doubles for 2 RBIs, while Dye hit .313 (1.076 OPS) with 2 HR for 5 RBI. For the post-season, Tejada hit .412 (1.153 OPS) with 9 R and 4 RBI, while Dye hit .344 (1.187 OPS) with 4 HR and 13 RBI... While it may not have made much of a difference given the way the Sugar Bears were hitting, Shark fans were second-guessing manager Gary Carter for benching Brian McCann in the first two games. McCann, who went 7-for-10 in the series against the Cutters, was benched in the first two games against Newark as Carter elected to sit the left-handed catcher against Newark's right-handed starters. But his replacement, Kenji Johjima, went 1-for-10; McCann, on the other hand, went 3-for-9 with a HR and 4 RBIs when he did play. Jason Giambi, who had just 1 hit in the series against Hoboken, went 3-for-16 against Newark, giving him a final post-season line of .129/.250/.226... As expected, Honolulu's pitchers did not fare well against the Sugar Bear offense. In fact, just two pitchers had single digit ERAs -- starter Jeff Francis (5.68 ERA, 11.4 R/9 in 6.1 IP) and reliever Pedro Feliciano (4.15 ERA, 10.4 R/9 in 4.1 IP). Everybody else had an ERA over 10. Reliever Geoff Geary, who pitched in all four games, was torched for 8 runs on 9 hits in 2.2 innings; former Sugar Bear Tom Gordon was pounded for 5 runs on 6 hits in 2.2 innings, though he did strike out 7. As a team, the Sharks allowed a 12.44 ERA and 22.2 R/9.

The Sugar Bears' offense was led by JRCigars.com Smokin' Batter of the Week Marlon Anderson, who hit a remarkable .600 (1.855 OPS) with 4 doubles and 2 home runs for 6 runs and 10 RBIs to lead all players in the second round in almost everything. But considering as a team the Sugar Bears hit .398 with a .459 OBP and .665 SLG, Marlon should share those cigars with his teammates, particularly Jim Edmonds (.500, 1.618 OPS, 3 HR, 9 RBI), Gregg Zaun (.444, 1.251 OPS, 2 HR, 8 RBI) and Nick Johnson (.353, 1.215 OPS, 2 2B, 4 RBI). No one's complaining, but the Sugar Bears will hope for better World Series numbers from Chipper Jones (4-for-13, all singles); Manny Ramirez (5-for-18, 1 RBI) and Mark Teahen (5-for-17, 6 K)... The starting pitchers actually were pretty good by Sugar Bear standards, especially when you consider the defense behind them made 6 errors (including 4 by Anderson). Starters Randy Johnson, Chien-Ming Wang and Joe Saunders combined for a 3.60 ERA and 10.8 R/9 as each picked up a win. The only starter who didn't get it done was Javier Vazquez, who was tagged for 5 runs on 7 hits in 5 innings... Uncharacteristically for the Sugar Bears, the relievers fared worse than the starters. Only Cla Meredith (0 H, 0 BB, 1 HBP in 2.0 IP) and Scot Shields (1 H, 0 BB, 2 K in 0.2 IP) held the opposition scoreless; Joaquin Benoit, Matt Thornton and Dennys Reyes combined to give up 5 runs on 11 hits and 3 walks in 8.1 innings.

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.