The Saints once again end the Camel Camp World Series aspirations.

The San Antonio Saints staved off elimination three times to outlast Osama’s Sodomy Camp in seven heart-stopping games.  Rob nailed that prediction, though the Camp’s starting rotation had held the Saints in check for most of the series.

Game 1: SA 4, OSC 3

In the opener Justin Verlander and David Price locked up in a duel with neither allowing a run through three innings.  Then Alex Rios spoiled Price’s no hitter by smashing a homer to lead off the 4^th.

Anthony Rizzo slammed a two run homer off Verlander to put SA ahead in the bottom of the 4^th.  Giancarlo Stanton followed with a homer of his own and a 3-1 Saint lead.  In the bottom of the next inning, Price walked and moved to 3^rd on a Jose Reyes double before scoring on a David Wright ground out.

Osama clawed to within a run in the 6^th when it got four straight singles with one out.  Matt Kemp and Ryan Zimmerman each plated a run with theirs.  But Price wiggled out of the jam by whiffing Matt Wieters and inducing an Omar Infante fly out.

The Saint pen threw scoreless ball over the last two innings and Jonathan Papelbon picked up the save. SA 1, OSC 0

Game 2: OSC 6, SA 0

Clayton Kershaw stymied the Saints, allowing only two hits and a walk while striking out eight in as dominating a performance as you will ever see.  The SA offense can punish lefties but you wouldn’t have known that as the southpaw toyed with them like a cat toying with a mouse.

Alex Rios had four singles and scored twice.  Miggy Cabrera had a two run single in the 2^nd inning off SA starter Lucas Harrell and homered to put the game away late. OSC 1, SA 1

Game 3: OSC 4, SA 0

Tim Hudson wasn’t quite as dominant as Kershaw, but got a shutout just the same.  The veteran righthander allowed only five hits and struck out four in a stifling shutout.

SA’s Jonathan Niese was almost as good, allowing only a run on three hits until he turned the game over to Junichi Tazawa with two runners on and no outs in the 6^th.  Zimmerman greeted Tazawa with a three run blast that put the game out of reach. OSC 2, SA 1

Game 4: OSC 8, SA 5

Matt Garza needed to stop the slide but he looked to do anything but that as the Camp jumped on him with two run homers in the bottom of the 1^st and 3^rd innings.  Cole Hamels looked as good as the previous two OSC starters, holding the Saints scoreless for the 1^st three innings (extending the goose egg string to 24 straight innings for the series).

After two outs in the 4^th (so the string was at 25 innings, officially), SA got two runners on for Neil Walker who had been useless to that point.  He poked a single past Miggy to break the string.  Matt Garza clearly thought he would be pulled for a pinch hitter.  But when none came from the dugout he stepped into a Hamels fastball and launched a game-tying blast.

“I was sure we were going to win it after that shot” said Garza after the game.  “We were trying to stay upbeat after being shut down for so long.  But it wasn’t easy.  The homer got everyone in the dugout pumped up!”

The Camp got two runners on in the bottom of the 6^th and Garza induced Wieters into a 5-4-3 DP.  But Infante doubled for a 5-4 lead.

Jose Reyes tripled to start the 7^th and scored on a Wright sac fly to retie the game.

The Saint pen had been solid most of the regular season, but they couldn’t hold the tie now.  In the bottom of the inning Kemp and Zimmerman each raked RBI singles to put the Camp back in front.  Wieters’ two run single ended the scoring.  Wade Davis notched his only save of the series. OSC 3, SA 1

Game 5: SA 5, OSC 2

Price faced Verlander again, this time in an elimination game.  While the big lefty wasn’t dominant, he did stifle the Camp for 5.2 innings, scattering eight hits and three walks while allowing only two runs.

By the time Price left the game the Saints had built a shaky 4-2 lead on solo HRs by David Wright and Jose Bautista and a two run shot by Adrian Gonzalez.   The OSC runs came on an RBI single by Miggy and a Wieters solo.

The Camp missed a chance to put the series away as they stranded 11 runners despite losing a run at the plate in the 2^nd inning and another when Weiters was caught off 3^rd base by Buster Posey with no outs in the 7^th.

“Every game in this series except the Hudson masterpiece seemed to come down to a couple of plays that decided it,” said Posey after game 5. “Today the pickoff and the play at the plate probably had the biggest impact.”

SA added an insurance run in the 9^th when Pete Kozma lined a single off Matt Harvey.  It was pivotal in the bottom of the inning as two Saint relievers put the tying runs on base with two outs.  Papelbon got Kemp to ground out to end the tense game. OSC 3, SA 2

Game 6: SA 3, OSC 2

Lucas Harrell had a nightmare Game 2 for the Saints.  He didn’t repeat it in Game 6.  In fact he outdueled Kershaw and didn’t allow a run until the top of the 5^th.  An error on second baseman Kozma and two singles tied the game.  Kozma had scored the 1^st run on the game in the bottom of the 4^th when he singled and scored on a Gonzalez double in the gap.

The game stayed tied until the bottom of the 6^th when Stanton jerked a Kershaw fastball down the left field line for a two run homer.  Harrell started to tire but held the Camp to only that one run through seven frames.

In the 8^th Juaquin Benoit got two quick outs but Michael Kirkman couldn’t close the inning.  He gave up a pair of singles to Markakis and Miggy.  Papelbon came on and promptly gave up an RBI single to Kemp.  Paps then whiffed Zimmerman to preserve the lead.  He walked Weiters to start the 9^th but induced a 5-4-3 DP and struck out pinch hitter Bryan LaHair to pick up his 2^nd save.  SA 3, OSC 3

Game 7: SA 10, OSC 8

Having staked everything on game 6, the Camp was forced to start three backups because of usage rules.  (Thank God the Marlins for played Stanton 601 PA rather than 599 in 2012!)  Hudson and Niese had both pitched well in their game 3 matchup, but neither repeated the excellence when the series hung in the balance.

Niese started the game yielding singles to Rios and Jacoby Ellsbury, but got three infield outs to avoid damage.  In the 3^rd with the game still scoreless and Hudson throwing a no hitter, Niese again allowed Rios and Ellsbury to single and loaded the bases with no outs when he walked Miggy. Tazawa had been shaky the whole series but came out of the pen to limit the damage.  He wriggled out of the jam allowing only one run on a Jesus Montero ground out.

Hudson gave up a harmless Wright single in the 4^th but no more until Stanton launched a game tying solo to start the 5^th.  Tazawa threw perfect innings in the 4^th through 6^th, keeping the Saints in the game when it mattered most.

In the bottom of the 6^th SA finally got to Hudson. Lucas Duda batted for Tazawa and led off with a single.  Reyes singled into the left field gap, chasing Duda to 3^rd.  Cameron Maybin ran for Duda and scored the go-ahead run when Wright beat out an infield roller to short. Hudson almost escaped the jam down only a run, whiffing Posey and Rizzo.  But a wild pitch moved both runners into scoring position and Hudson chose to walk Stanton to load the bases.  Hudson walked Gonzalez on 5 pitches to give SA a small cushion.  Then Kozma came on to pinch hit for the struggling Neil Walker.  The little bench player crushed a Hudson fastball for a grand slam so powerful that left fielder Cabrera didn’t even turn to watch it.

Benoit took over for Tazawa and served up a triple to Infante, who scored two outs later.  SA added what looked like meaningless insurance runs on a Wright double, a Posey single and a Crawford double in the late innings.

It got uncomfortably close in the top of the 9^th, though, as an error and four hits led to a 10-5 game.  Miggy came to the plate with two outs and runners on the corners.  He tapped the 1^st pitch to the mound and the Saints could finally breathe easy. SA 4, OSC 3

OSC outhit SA, with a slashline of .280/.335/.423 as opposed to .225/.269/.401.  Rios, Miggy, Kemp and Infante each hit better than .320 while no SA regular managed to hit higher than .280.

The series MVP was Cabrera, despite being on the losing team.  Miggy turned in a slash line of .357/.419/.607.

Scott built a great team and they deserved to win this series.  There is no way that we should have advanced after hitting so poorly as a team.  But then Kershaw, Hudson, and Hamels had something to say about our cold bats.  Heck, some bum named Verlander was the only one we could hit (just kidding Mr. Four Time Cy Young Verlander…sir).