Scott and I hooked up on Saturday night to play our round 1 series. Beartooth backed into the playoffs when SF was unable to play in them due to usage issues. 

Game 1: Starters were Cliff Lee for the visiting Beartooth squad and Clayton Kershaw for the home Osama crew. Osama got off to a 4-0 lead as Ryan Zimmerman hit a 2 run dinger off Lee in the 1st and then singled in 2 more in the 2nd inning. Beartooth came back with 2 run HR by Victor Martinez in the 3rd. Lee was touched up for one more run in the 6th as the potential 6th run for Osama was cut down at the plate by Willy Taveras. Osama scored again in the 7th to take a 6-2 lead as Adam Lind homered off Sean Marshall. In the Beartooth 8th, Jose Lopez singled then Andruw Jones hit a big fly to bring the Bitteroots back to within two runs at 6-4. Ryan Franklin came on to save the game for Osama, except that he didn't. Andrew McCutchen singled with one out in the 9th and Prince Fielder touched Franklin up for a 2 run blast to tie the game. Jay Howell and Ziegler pitched 3 scoreless innings for Beartooth. The bottom of the 11th saw Fulchino pitching for Osama; Prince Fielder greeted him with a double then Victor Martinez promptly singled. The pr running Fielder was held at 3rd with no outs. Jose Lopez then came on to hit a 3 run job to give Beartooth a solid lead. Mike Adams put Osama down 1, 2, 3 in the bottom of the 11th. 1-0 series lead for Beartooth.

Game 2: Johnny Cueto was pitching for Beartooth, Verlander for Osama. Beartooth jumped out to a quick lead as Jay Bruce singled in a run in the first. Miguel Cabrera plated a run for Osama in the bottom of the inning on a grounder to second. Orlando Hudson had a run scoring single for Osama in the 2nd and Matt Kemp hit a big fly in the 3rd to give Osama a 3-1 lead. Osama kept scoring each inning and managed to mount a 6-1 lead going into the 7th.  Beartooth plated 2 against Verlander in the 7th; 6-3 lead. With the score
8-3 in the ninth, Ryan Franklin came on to finish the game, except that he wasn't smooth as he was touched up for 2 more runs although Osama did win this one 8-5.  Back to Montana for Game 3.

Game 3: Scott Baker for Beartooth vs Cole Hamels for Osama. Beartooth scored a run in the 2nd to take the early lead. Osama came back to take a 3-1 lead on a 3 run dinger by Markakis. In the bottom of the 5th, Andrew McCutchen singled and Prince drove one out to tie the game 3-3. Sean Marshall came on in the 7th and Matt Kemp hit his 2nd of the series to put Osama ahead again 4-3. They held this lead going into the bottom of the 9th, putting Ryan Franklin on the mound again in a save situation. Andruw greeted him with a
single. Elvis Andrus then popped out but weak hitting Willy Taveras hit one down the line to make it 2nd and 3rd with one out. The other Andrew (McCutchen) then doubled in both runs to pull out another come from behind victory. Beartooth is now up 2-1 and took over the home field advantage. 

Game 4: Cliff Lee for Beartooth vs Derek Holland for Osama. Beartooth scored early and often as they blew Osama out 11-2. Andrew McCutchen hit two doubles and a HR while Jose Lopez and Andruw Jones each hit their 2nd dinger of the series. Beartooth now had a 3-1 lead.

Game 5: Johnny Cueto vs Clayton Kershaw. Osama took a quick lead as Miguel Cabrera finally got a run scoring safety. Beartooth however came back to score 2 in their 1st and then 3 in the 3rd for a 5-1 lead. Beartooth score 2 more in the 6th and cruised to a 7-2 victory.

Thanks to Scott for accommodating my difficult schedule and playing all 5 games on Saturday night. It was a load of fun playing H2H and in this series unfortunately the better team lost.

We both agreed that the MVP for Beartooth was Ryan Franklin of Osama. Blowing two saves in the first 3 games was the big Difference. Prince did a nice job for Beartooth (as did Jose Lopez and Andruw Jones) but Andrew McCutchen was just a hitting machine all series.

On to Round 2