AND WHEN THE SMOKE CLEARED . . .

This is it. The Eastern Division (in fact, all of BARB) has finished its regular season, and it went down like this. . . .

DARWIN TAKES THE EAST

S-MART—Needing a win to clinch the 2007 Eastern Division outright, the Finches scored six runs in the first off Jake Westbrook (6-7, 4.42) to give Kelvim Escobar and the bullpen all of the run support they would need, as Darwin went on to win 7-3, their 93rd victory against 63 losses, good enough for the Eastern crown. Escobar (15-6, 3.53) went six innings, allowing only a sac fly by Dan Uggla, and despite another shaky outing by rookie Dustin McGowan (2.2 IP, 2 ER), the bullpen was good enough to preserve the lead, but not without some drama.

Richie Sexson, who had beaten Darwin with a homer the previous week in late innings, had a one-out single in the ninth off McGowan, who was getting a chance to work with regular setup men J.J. Putz and Cla Meredith pretty much gassed after appearing four straight games down the stretch. Melky Cabrera doubled to put Sexson on first, and Todd Helton hit another sac fly to narrow the Finches lead to 7-3. McGowan was directed to intentionally walk Alex Rodriguez with two down, and Darwin made an unusual move: ordinary starter John Smoltz, the other possible starting candidate for the final day, was brought in to get the final out rather than use Trevor Hoffman (who had worked three straight games since giving up five runs to the Boom Sticks last week).

Smoltz got Gary Sheffield, the tying run, to ground back to the mound, and when Smoltz’s flip to first was reeled in by Mike Jacobs, the celebration was on!

P.Z. Myers, the club’s fiery (and heretical) manager, was carted onto the field by DH David Ortiz, and (against his nature) even flashed a big grin as his players jumped up and down around Smoltz and the rest of the infield. Darwin had won the division, against all odds, having just enough to hold up furious charges by Worcester and Frostbite Falls. Whatever happens next, the Unnatural Selections will savor the moment and take a sense of destiny into the playoffs!

WORCESTER: WILD AND WOOLY, WHILE SANTANA FALLS JUST SHORT

Oakeyland----The Eliminators pulled off a doubleheader sweep against the Ballers, blowing out their hosts in the second game after a nail-biter in the opener, to finish one game ahead of the Squirrels, who lost 3-2 to BARB cellar-dweller Pottsylvania with ace Johann Santana on the mound. To say that things could’ve easily gone differently is an understatement: Frostbite Falls had finished hard, posting a BARB-leading 50-26 mark in the second half. If only half the games counted, the Squirrels would’ve won their division by four games and the Elims would’ve missed the playoffs.

But they count all the games in BARB, apparently. Worcester’s last two games both counted, for if they had finished in a tie with Frostbite Falls, they would’ve been eliminated by a tie-breaker, having lost 14 of 20 games against the three-time division champs. As it was, Chad Cordero (9-5, 3.28) got the win in a 5-4 thriller in the opener when Hanley Ramirez hit a two-out, bases-loaded double to give the club a 5-2 win, only to sweat it out in the dugout as Ramirez’s error in the bottom of the 13th let the Ballers score a pair of unearned runs off Brad Lidge. But, with two out and their bench emptied, the Ballers were forced to allow pitcher Scott Baker to bat and Lidge fanned him—ball game!

Had they lost, then the Elims’ fate would’ve been sealed, as the Squirrels had won their next-to-last game and (as mentioned) held all the tiebreakers. But in the nightcap, Worcester took the lead in the first on Grady Sizemore’s 13th homer of the year, then piled on six more runs in the middle innings against Joe Blanton (8-13, 5.05), all of which meant an easy outing for Chris Young (11-7, 4.21). Young would depart after seven frames leading 7-0 and the game would end as a 10-0 shutout. Long before the game was over, however, the party had begun for Worcester as the score came over the wire . . .

POTTSYLVANIA 3......FROSTBITE FALLS 2......

Truly shocking, as the Squirrels had juggled their rotation so Johann Santana could work the final game, but as it turned out Santana (17-10, 3.23) pitched well—just not good enough to win. Adam Wainwright got an early lead on Lyle Overbay’s 13th homer, and Wainwright (4-16, 6.91) certainly didn’t pitch like a bad starter on a bad club, fanning seven in six innings and keeping the ball away from the Squirrels’ biggest threat, likely BARB MVP Albert Pujols (.322, 55 HR, 145 RBI).

When Santana began the seventh by walking Juan Pierre, it was all downhill from here. Pierre stole second, then took third on a single by Jason LaRue. Melvin Mora rolled over the ball with nobody out and runners at the corners, hitting into a double play, but Pierre had scored an invaluable insurance run to give the club a 3-1 lead.

Frostbite Falls had one last shot at a rally, and one more moment to wonder 'what might've been.' Trailing 3-1, Luis Castillo singled with two on and one out against Braden Looper in the eighth, scoring Mark Teahen, but Scott Hatteburg took too wide of a turn coming around third and was thrown out on a nifty relay from So Taguchi to Billy Hall. So, with two out, Pujols was intentionally walked and Billy Wagner was brought in to pitch to Brad Hawpe. Hawpe struck out with the go-ahead runs on, and that was pretty much the ballgame. Wagner would get the last three outs in the ninth for save #15, and the Creepers had hung on to win 3-2, spoiling the Squirrels’ bid for a fifth consecutive playoff spot.

There is so much more that I wish I had time to write, but that's all for now. It was an exciting finish, and now the four playoff-bound clubs (Darwin, Las Vegas, Yuma and the wild card-winning Eliminators) must now determine their final playoff roster as we attempt to plan when and where the playoffs will be held. . . . SH