American League Championship Series Set!

The Kentucky Wildcats rolled into the ALCS as the team to beat in the American League, soundly defeating the Simi Valley Senators in the ALDS, four games to none.  Kentucky manager Rocky Hall, perhaps saved his best managing for the playoffs.  The Wildcats held the Senators to just 11 runs over the four game sweep.  Melvin Mora was named the ALDS East MVP as he went 8 for 17 (.471) with a homer and 7 RBI.  With the starting rotation well rested, the Wildcats will throw Brown (1-0 7.50 ERA), Schilling (1-0 1.23 ERA) and Webb (1-0 1.29 ERA) at the Rockers this series.  

During the season, the Wildcat starters faired well against the Rockers.  Kevin Brown owned Bill Mueller, Juan Gonzalez and Jose Valentin (combined 3 for 25) while Curt Schilling struggled with Gonzalez (4-6, 2 HR) and Jim Edmonds (2-6 HR), but dominated most other batters in the lineup (6 for 51 vs. all other Rocker hitters).  Brandon Webb didn't have nearly as much success, getting lit up by Trot Nixon (5 for 11) and Mueller (5 for 8 with 4 walks).  Closer Eric Gagne allowed just 4 hits in 32 at bats to the Rockers.  If the games are close, it could be lights out for Richmond!

The Rockers have a pair of ACES they could throw 5 times at the Wildcats in this series.  Roy Halladay (1-0 1.50 ERA) and Pedro Martinez (2-0 0.75 ERA) have had their share of success shutting down the big bats of Kentucky.  Halladay, acquired early this year in a trade from New Britain, struggled with Barry Bonds (3 for 6, 1 HR) and Steve Finley (4 for 6, 1 HR), but managed to slow the rest of the offense.  Martinez, slowed by too much hair gel during a slump in September, allowed 2 home runs to Larry Bigbie in six at bats, but no homers to any other Wildcat.  Bonds was hitless in 10 plate appearances vs. Martinez.

The American League East Division Series MVP honor went to Javy Lopez, who clouted 5 homers in the 6 game series.  Lopez batted .304 with 10 RBI to go along with his 5 HR.  Overall, the Rockers feasted on the pitching of the Lagers batting .310 as  team.  They hit 10 homers overall, while outscoring the Lagers 47-20.  

The tale of the tape shows just how close these two teams are.  Batting averages are both above .290 while the slugging advantage goes to the Rockers.  The key difference could be in starting pitching, where the Wildcats ERA is more than a half a run better than the Rockers.  Both teams have solid pens, with proven closers.  The ALCS, on paper, should be a close series.  Expect the series to go 6 or 7 games.

See ALDS Match Up

Kevin Brown will get the ball in Game 1 of the ALCS for Kentucky.	Pedro Martinez will get the ball in Game 1 of the ALCS for Richmond.

National League Championship Series Preview

The Chemung Crawdads are looking more and more like the darlings of destiny in the TBBL for the 2004 season.  Chemung was faced with an uphill battle over the second half of the season, coming from 9 games back (54-37) on August 1, 2004 to finish 1 game back for the division crown, tied for the wildcard with Louisville.  The Crawdads went an amazing 39-22 over their last 61 games, forcing a one game playoff with the Colonels.  To make life even more exciting, Chemung was forced on the road based on the flip of a coin to play Louisville.  Mark Prior (16-7 2.86 ERA), the Crawdads ace would not be denied, started the game and got the win in Louisville.  The team had little time to celebrate their win as their charter left for Doolie (parts unknown) at 2 AM the next morning.  Blurry eyed and hung over, the Crawdads were slow out of the gate, but came out victorious in a spirited seven game series with the Superbas.  With their backs to the wall down 3 games to 2 heading back to Doolie, the Crawdads won both games on the road to advance to the NLCS.  Prior (2-0, 16 K) was voted the Most Valuable Player of the Division Series and should be the starter for game one of the NLCS.  Magglio Ordonez (.323-3-12) and Jose Reyes (.467-3 SB) helped lead the offense to victory. 

The Crawdads split the 14 regular season games they played this year with the Raiders.  Prior only faced the Raiders one time, allowing 8 hits over  7 innings while earning a no decision.  Roger Clemens (0-2 9.72 ERA) was solid against the Raiders, allowing just 11 hits to the 63 batters he faced.   Chemung CFer Vernon Wells ate Raider pitching for lunch, going 16 for 43 with 2 HR and 6 RBI while Derek Jeter batted .370 (17 for 46).  Jeter was slowed by a hamstring pull in the LDS, but should be ready when the series opens in Moon Tuesday.  Jose Reyes filled in nicely in his absence. 

The Moon Raiders defeated the San Francisco Seals in 6 games, leaving them rested for the start of the NLCS.  Raiders manager Tom DeCola, overseas earlier this month scouting for the next great Japanese import, will rely on his pitching staff to shut down the Crawdads.  Ben Sheets (1-0 1.13 ERA) was excellent in his only start of the LDS, as was Ted Lilly (2-0 2.08 ERA), who was named series MVP.  The Raiders batted .288 against Seals pitching in the LDS, 34 point higher than the Crawdads managed in their series.  The NLCS should be fun!  LDS Fulll Story  

Mark Prior is expected to get the ball in Game 1 of the NLCS for Chemung.	Javier Vasquez will get the ball in Game 1 of the NLCS for Moon.