The Halos should win this one easily and I can only hope my team doesn't get swept.  The 2013 ALCS is looking like a sure bet for Greg and his Halos.

AL Division Series 2013

The last time the Jersey Damage were in the playoffs was 2007 when they lost in the World Series to the Chemung Crawdads, but the LA Halos remember that playoff run for another reason. The Damage and Halos squared off in the Wildcard series and the Halos were going into the 9^th inning with the lead in game #7 and the franchise legend Mo Rivera on the mound … and Rivera blew the save and the series for the Halos. That series loss begin a 5 year run of playoff futility for the Halos in which not only they couldn’t get to the World Series despite being the #1 seed in 4 of those years, they won only one playoff series during that run. 2012 finally saw the end of the run as the Halos won 8 straight playoff games before falling to the San Antonio Saints in the World Series. So with high hopes to continue their current playoff success and return to the World Series, the Halos weren’t thrilled to be facing the Damage. Besides the history between the teams the Damage were coming off a sweep of the Lincoln Tunnel Rats in the Wild Card Series and had 9 regular season wins in the season series with the Halos, by far, the best any team had managed.

 Game 1 at Los Angeles 

Adam Wainwright (12-12) vs. Yu Darvish (18-3) 

The series opened on a cool LA evening (57 degrees at game time) but things heated up early as Teixeira grounds a single through the shift and into right field with the bases loaded and 2 outs in the 1^st to give LA the early 2-0 lead.  The Halos added a run in the 4^th on a sac fly to make it 3-0. Darvish after allowing a 1^st inning double to Jeter looked and was unhittable until the 6^th when Jackson and Jeter went back-to-back to pull Jersey to within 1. Jackson then led off the 8^th with a double and looked like Jersey might do some more Damage but Betancourt came on to retire the heart of the lineup (Jeter, Cespedes and Desmond) to keep it a 1 run game. Big Papi then led off the bottom of the earth with a huge solo shot and then Betancourt with some breathing room closed Jersey out in the 9^th for a 4-2 win. It was a very strange feeling not having Rivera to close for the 1^st time in Halo playoff history.

WP – Y.Darvish (1-0)

LP – A.Wainwright (0-1)

SV – R..Betancourt (1)

 Series - LAH 1, JER 0

Game 2 at Los Angeles

Matt Cain (12-15) vs. Jake Peavy (22-4)

For the 2^nd game in a row, the Halos got some 2 out magic going in the 1^st. This time a Desmond error extended the inning and then a Molina walk and a Big Papi 3 run shot made it 3-0 Halos. Ortiz now had homeruns in consecutive at bats. However, this game Jersey didn’t wait until the 6^th inning to claw their way back as they scored 1 in the 2^nd on a 2 out infield hit by Pence and another in the 3^rd as Jeter singled after a Jackson triple and Jersey was back in it 3-2. Unfortunately for Jersey, Ramirez walked and scored on a Hill triple in the 3^rd, hit a 2 out double in the 4^th which scored 2 and then he hit a 2 out homer in the 6^th and LA’s lead was now 7-2 with 6 of the 7 runs scoring after 2 outs. Jackson hit a 2 run homer in the 9^th but wasn’t enough as LA holds on for 7-4 win and 2-0 series lead as the teams head to Jersey.

WP – J.Peavy (1-0)

LP – M.Cain (0-1)

SV – L.Gregerson (1)

Series - LAH 2, JER 0

Game 3 at Jersey

 C.C. Sabathia (15-6) vs. Jarrod Parker (11-7)                     

The series moved on to Jersey and the Damage hoped for a change in luck to avoid falling behind 0-3 in the series. If their fortunes were going to change they were going to need their rookie starting pitcher with 11 career wins to out pitch Sabathia with 129 career wins (2^nd in TBBL history) and that is exactly what happened. It wasn’t like Parker was dominant but he was effective enough allowing 4 runs over 6 innings on 10 hits and certainly better than C.C. For the 3^rd game, LA took an early lead by scoring in the top of the 1^st, but this time Jersey answered loudly. Four straight singles scored 2 runs but then Flowers’ 2 out 2 run blast capped a 5 run 1^st. Heyward homered in the 2^nd but again Jersey answered with a run in the bottom of the inning to keep a 4 run lead 6-2. In the 5^th, LA got more 2 out magic as Grandyman singled home 2 to cut the lead to 6-4. It looked like C.C. had righted the ship as he struck out the side in the 5^th, which answers the question as to why he was pitching in the 6^th after having allowed 6 runs. Boy … was that a mistake as Cespedes and LaRouche go back-to-back to start the innings and then Altuve’s 2 out single made it 9-4 and the game was effectively over. Jackson’s homer in the 7^th made it an even 10 runs allowed by C.C. and made the final score 10-4. C.C. did go the distance despite the 10 runs (all earned) and 14 hits including 4 homeruns.

 WP – J.Parker (1-0)

LP – C.C. Sabathia (0-1)

Series - LAH 2, JER 1

Game 4 at Jersey

Brandon Morrow (13-5) vs. Chris Tillman (7-4)                                

The Damage bats looked to stay hot in game 4 and did score early on a Crisp ground out in the 2^nd which scored Jackson who had doubled and moved to 3^rd on a fly out and then 2 in the 3^rd on a LaRoche 2 out double. Granderson’s 2 out rbi single in the 4^th cut it to 3-1 but Cespedes 2 run homerun in the 6^th opened it up to 5-1. That was the final as Tillman (7ip, 4 hits, 1 er) pitched great and then the bully (Crain and Chapman) closed it out with 2 innings of no hits.

 WP – C.Tillman (1-0)

LP – B.Morrow (0-1)

Series - LAH 2, JER 2

Game 5 at Jersey

Yu Darvish (1-0) vs. Adam Wainwright (0-1)

The local LA press was having a field day on manager GW for sticking with his starting pitchers way too long and not managing with a sense of urgency required by playoff baseball. During the regular season, the Halo staff led the league in complete games (by far) with 32 and the “old mule” seemed determined to stick with what got them here by allowing his starters a very long leash.  After 2 straight relatively easy wins Jersey not only tied the series but they also appeared to grab all the momentum if you believe such a thing exists …I do … and the Halos certainly felt it.         The start of game 5 seemed to prove it as the Damage struck early with 2 in the 2^nd on RBI singles by Torrealba and Altuve. It could have / should have been worse but Jeter’s inning ending double play limited the damage and might have ultimately been a turning point in the game and series. In the 4^th, Dirks tripled and Hill hit a 2 run shot to knot it at 2 and Darvish settled down nicely as he k’d 6 straight over the 4^th and 5^th innings. Then something strange happened in the 6^th after a 1 out single by Cespedes, the “Old Mule” came out and removed Darvish for Fien who closed out the inning. Heyward launched the tie-breaking shot in the 7^th and Betancourt got his 2^nd save of the series to give LA a narrow 3-2 win.

WP – C.Fien (1-0)

LP – A.Wainwright (0-2)

SV- R.Betancourt (2)

Series - LAH 3, JER 2

Game 6 at Los Angeles

Matt Cain (0-1) vs. Jake Peavy (1-0)

Despite having taken the 3-2 lead in the series, this still felt like a must win situation for the Halos as well. Not only were they looking at having the ineffective Sabathia start a game 7 the Damage feasted on LH pitching all season. They were 4 games under .500 verse RHP but 10 games over .500 verse LHP. Therefore, a lot was riding on this rematch of Cain verse Peavy and unfortunately Cain just didn’t show up. Hill got it rolling with a 2 run homerun in the 1^st and Granderson followed that with a 2 run homerun in the 2^nd. It went downhill from there for Jersey as LA plated 4 in the 3^rd, 2 in the 4^th, 2 in the 6^th and 2 in the 8^th to win 14-1.

WP – J.Peavy (2-0)

LP – M.Cain (0-2)

Series - LAH 4, JER 2

Series MVP: J. Peavy (2-0, IP 14.2, K 16, ERA 1.84)

This was a tough call as several hitters came up big a key times including Ortiz, Hill, Heyward and Granderson but Peavy takes it even though he had great run support … he still shutdown the Damage bats and won both his games.

Conrats to Rob and his Damage club for a great rebound season! It was a shame the 6^th game got away so quickly from the Damage as they played well in the series and deserved a better ending. It was a pleasure battling with Rob and very happy his Damage are back in contention as he runs the best DMB league around and he deserves playoff baseball!