FINCHES CLINCH SOME SORT OF 'PLAYOFF'

S-MART----On the road somewhere in America’s tattered retail economy, the visiting Darwin Finches clinched at least a playoff spot with a 6-4 victory over the host Boom Sticks on their 155th game of the year, but the possible scenarios for that would include a one-game playoff with either Worcester or Frostbite Falls, each of which have two road games to play with Central Division clubs.

Darwin was sluggish on offense for the first four innings, as veteran Kenny Rogers twice killed rallies with double plays and you could see Finches hitters rolling their eyes. Rogers (5-5, 4.27) had Darwin’s left-handed hitters fishing in a 7-0 loss just three days ago and was back on short rest for the Boom Sticks thin rotation. He wouldn’t crack, but ran out of gas pretty quick, leaving after four innings.

Darwin, meanwhile, put the game ball in the hands of fifth starter Tom Glavine, having juggled their rotation so that, if needed, both John Smoltz and Kelvim Escobar could go long in a critical last-day-of-the-season showdown. Glavine (13-8, 3.86) wasn’t as bad as in some of his starts in the second half, but he left trailing 3-2 after five innings due in part to yet another error by banged-up SS Carlos Guillen.

Chipper Jones hit a solo HR in the sixth, however, to tie the ballgame 3-3, his 30th circuit shot of the year, and Jeff Francouer’s third hit of the game was a seventh-inning solo blast off Garrett Olsen (1-4, 3.19) to give the Finches the lead. When the Unnatural Selections tacked on two more in the ninth on a Mike Jacobs single, the bullpen had a three-run lead. Gary Sheffield hit an RBI double off J.J. Putz with one out in the bottom of the inning to narrow the gap, but with Alex Rodriguez at the plate, Trevor Hoffman was summoned and collected his 34th save.

PLAYOFF SCENARIOS

The team, upbeat, clustered around the mound with many ‘high-fives’. The 92nd victory was one better than the club’s previous best record (91-65, 2005), but (more importantly) it guaranteed Darwin would be playing at least one post-season game...but from that point, it was complicated. With Worcester and Frostbite Falls idle (90-64, 1 ½ games back), neither the division title or the wild card was determined. And, with Frostbite Falls holding the tie-breaker in divisional play against both clubs based on a superior W-L record, a number of scenarios was possible.

1) If Darwin wins its final game outright, they are divisional champs, regardless of what Frostbite Falls or Worcester win or lose.

2) If either Frostbite Falls or Worcester loses both of their remaining games, Darwin would clinch the wild card, while a single loss by both foes, or two losses for one and one loss for another, would guarantee them the division title.

3) If one of Darwin’s foes lost one of their games, but the other loses neither, then a Darwin loss would make the club that won their last two games the divisional champ, while the Finches would have to settle for the wild card.

4) The Squirrels (14-6 vs. Wor, 11-9 vs. Dar, 35-25 in the division) have the tie-breaker over Worcester and Darwin for either the wild-card or the divisional title. If Darwin and Worcester finish with identical records, it would force a one game playoff since they have identical (29-31) records in the division and split (10-10) their 20 meetings this season for either the wild card or the title. So the worse case scenario for the Finches is that they lose their last game, both foes win both of their final games, and so they would have a one-game playoff for the wild card spot.

In other BARB action:

BLACK MESA 8, ARIZONA 5
WP: Bryan Fuentes (2-5, 3.91)
LP: Brandon Morrow (0-3, 8.18)
SV: Saito (4)

Adam Dunn, continuing his final month rampage, had his third two-homer game in two games, smashing #28 and #29, the second a three-run poke in the top of the ninth after Jose Reyes’s second error of the game as the emerging Anomalies (77-79) finished their season on a high note at the expense of host Arizona, who ended up 81-75, six games back.

BROOKLYN 15, LAS VEGAS 6
WP: Joel Zumaya (5-2, 1.92)
LP: Mariano Rivera (5-2, 2.13)

Ryan Howard hit his team-leading 39th HR and Derek Lee added a pair of clouts in a one-sided season-ending romp at the Luchadores’ expense. Las Vegas rested most of its regulars and gave the start to Mike Pelfrey, but Mariano Rivera ended up taking the loss when he came in to get an inning of work in the fifth and surrendered two long balls. The Luchadores clinched early to finish 80-76, but there have to be concerns after the pitching-strapped ballclub lost nine of its last ten regular-season games.

YUMA 6, SAN JOSE 3
WP: Matt Cain (7-5, 3.93)
LP: Aaron Harang (9-12, 4.88)

Ryan Braun hit his 21st homer and the Firebirds won their fourth straight game to finish the year at 87-59, a good way to go out, as most of Yuma’s regulars rested and watched the bullpen get some work in. This compares with 89 wins in 2006 and 85 wins in 2005, so the Firebirds seem to be pretty much the benefactors of the same situation year in, year out: a stable team in a so-so division, always able to wait out the ‘weak sisters.’