Yuma---Trailing 3-0 in the fifth against Jamie Moyer, the three-time Western division champion Yuma Firebirds scored seven runs in the middle innings, then held off a Black Mesa rally to knock the Anomalies out of the playoff hunt with a sweep of a doubleheader at home. But it wasn’t easy! Faced with elimination, the Anomalies started Justin Verlander on short rest in the second game and would ride Jonathan Papelbon in extra innings as long as they dared. But, in the end, Black Mesa’s defense (4 errors) did them in again. But the putative goat? None other than well-traveled (but hardly appreciated) extra starter Brett Tomko----in both cases!
In the opener, Moyer (6-7, 4.74) had another solid effort, allowing no earned runs in five-plus innings after going the route in four of his previous eight starts in the pennant face—not bad for a 44-year-old soft-tosser! But, nursing a 3-0 lead, Tomko (0-3, 7.45) gave up a go-ahead single to Martin to cap a four-run sixth after rookie Kevin Kouzmanoff threw away a potential double-play ball, and then surrendered Vladimir Guerrero’s 25th HR of the season in the seventh, and Yuma would hold on to win, 7-5, with Will Ohman (2-5, 6.80) getting the win with three solid innings of relief.
In the nightcap, Roger Clemens (4-8, 3.83) was outpitched by Justin Verlander (12-7, 3.21), who took a 6-4 lead into the sixth before departing in favor of Brian Fuentes—but that all came to naught as Fuentes put two runners on in the eighth, and both would go on to score, sending the game into extra frames. There, Papelbon labored mightily, working three-plus innings without a run. But, eventually, he ran out of gas and the exhausted Black Mesa staff turned (again) to Tomko. The veteran worked a scoreless 12th, but never escaped the 13th. Catcher Russell Martin singled to open the inning and took second on Tomko’s wild pitch. Raul Ibanez was intentionally walked to set up a double play, but Brian Roberts beat out a slow roller to load the bases with nobody out. On the very next pitch, with Guerrero batting, a nervous Tomko BALKED (!), Martin scored, the ball game was over—and, with a sickening thud, Black Mesa’s dreams of playoff glory were also finished. Tomko (0-4, 7.50) will doubtless be one of the first players released in the off-season!
It was a welcome moment for Yuma, which had lost six straight prior to the double dip and had also lost an 8-game lead in the West to hard-charging Arizona, which (at 78-69) was just three games back of the Firebirds with nine games to play.....two of them with the D-Backs. As for Black Mesa? Their dream of a playoff berth seems delayed, not destroyed. They still have a shot at finishing above .500 and figure to have a good nucleus for next year.
In other BARB action:
FROSTBITE FALLS 3, LAS VEGAS 1
WP: Johann Santana (17-9, 3.16)
LP: Erwin Santana (6-10, 4.10)
SV: Nathan (34)
Albert Pujols hit a pair of solo homers (#50 and #51!) to all but clinch the loop’s HR title, and ace Johann won the ‘Battle of the Santanas’ courtesy of Pujols’ second blast as the Squirrels made the lefty the loop’s first 17-game winner. A tightly-played game, but one wherein the Luchadores rested a few regulars a day after clinching their division playoff spot, with Mike Pelfrey playing ‘garbage king’ in a losing cause.
S-MART 5, WORCESTER 3 (10 innings)
WP: Jason Isringhausen (5-10, 6.45)
LP: Chad Cordero (8-3, 2.94)
SV: Backe (1)
The Eliminators got a decent start from rookie Tyler Clippard in his BARB debut (6 IP, 4 H, 2 ER) and took a 3-2 lead in the eighth on Mark Teixeira’s 23rd homer of the season, but it was all for naught as pinch-hitter Dave Roberts engineered the tying run in the top of the ninth and Richie Sexson hit Chad Cordero’s first pitch of the tenth into the cheap seats, dropping the Elims a game behind the surging Finches, but still just 1 ½ games behind BARB-leading Frostbite Falls.
ARIZONA 3, SAN JOSE 0
WP: Felix Hernandez (8-7, 4.31)
LP: John Lackey (13-13, 3.61)
"King Felix" continued his mystifying on-again, off-again pattern of starts with a dominant performance (just six hits), going the route for his third complete game of the season–but (perhaps significantly) his first-ever shutout! Rookie James Loney had a pair of hits, including an RBI triple, and also scored twice to lead the D-Backs attack and keep the club within three games of West-leading Yuma.
DARWIN 5, POTTSYLVANIA 3
WP: Kyle Farnsworth (1-3, 2.91)
LP: Adam Wainwright (3-15, 7.59)
SV: Hoffman (31)
Up against the loop’s cellar-dweller, the Finches elected to give a spot start to recently-activated veteran Mark Mulder, but the lefty earned no decision despite pitching well due to a very decent effort by Wainwright, who took a 1-1 score into the seventh before faltering. Darwin got four straight one-out hits with runners on to score four times in that frame against Wainwright and Kiko Calero, then held on. With the win, the Finches (gasp) moved back into the wild-card lead by a ½ game over sagging Worcester!
(NOTE: The next win by either Darwin or Worcester will mathematically eliminate Arizona from the ‘wild card’. The only path into the ‘big dance’ for either Arizona or Yuma is to win their division outright once that scenario comes into play. . . .)
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