GAME FOUR IN BOOKS: TWO CLUBS ADVANCE

YUMA: SLUGGERS POUND IT OUT IN CLINCHER

Worcester—Given a second chance at post-season glory in front of the hometown faithful, Chris Young (0-2, 18.00) instead laid another egg in a 14-9 loss, as the Firebirds rode three more homeruns behind starter Jake Peavy (1-0, 3.60) to send the Elims home in four games.

What a barrage it was! Worcester actually led 2-1 in the third, scoring the go-ahead run off Peavy when SS Miguel Tejada bounced a throw to Hafner at first. But Yuma scored four times in the fifth when Tejada unnerved him. With two out, Tejada hit a soft single and then stole second. Free-swinging Vladimir Guerrero then lined what would've been ball four into short right to score Tejada and took second on Alex Rios’s ill-advised throw to the plate. That brought up Hafner, who had already homered twice in the series and was 6-for-12 with seven walks.

Make that eight walks, because Worcester passed on Hafner to go after rookie Ryan Braun, who HAMMERED a Young curveball....just fair, a three-run shot! YUMA led, 5-2!

That was it for Young. Jon Rauch came in and finished out the inning, but when the Firebirds put up nine more in the next frame against four relievers, it was time to turn out the lights, as Curtis Granderson iced the cake (and the game) with a GRAND SLAM off Doug Davis in relief.

Worcester would go to scratch out some runs against the Firebirds, with Peavy surrendering a pair before leaving in the sixth, and Micheal Wuertz, Matt Cain and Francisco Cordero all contributing, but it just wasn’t enough. The Elims, who had built their offense around contact hitting and speed rather than power, just didn’t have the kind of lumber that was likely to rally from an eleven-run deficit (who does?), and so despite getting some licks in against Yuma’s rather ordinary bullpen, the ninth was a foregone conclusion. Joe Mauer LINED the ball right back at Cordero for the final out, and as Cordero speared it the visitor’s dugout erupted: For the third time in four seasons, Yuma was headed to the Series! Would this be the year that they finally won it all? Who can say?

As for honors, Travis Hafner led all Yuma players in runs scored and was named the Series MVP, though he could’ve easily shared it with the other players who had a pair of homers, Braun and CF Curtis Granderson. The Firebirds combined to hit .347 with 9 HR and 41 runs scored in the four games, a display of firepower difficult to wrap one's head around: perhaps, one felt, given their offense, Yuma will finally be able to get the post-season monkey off their back and hit their way to a championship.

DARWIN'S PEN HOLDS OFF, HOLDS ON

Las Vegas—On the road in the city that never sleeps, the Finches finally could earn a little shuteye by coming close to shutting out the Luchadores in a 4-1 finale, winning their division series on the road in four games with the relief pitching that has been the team’s hallmark the entire season, and setting up a series matchup with perennial bridesmaid Yuma.

Game 1 starters Scott Kazmir (2-0, 3.48) and Derek Lowe (0-2, 8.38) matched up in this one, and for five innings Lowe outdueled Kazmir, allowing four scratch singles and inducing two double plays. The Luchadores took the lead in the top of the fifth when they were able to cash in a throwing error by Chone Figgins, who was playing short after some misadventures by Carlos Guillen in the last three games.

But it was only a 1-0 lead, and in the sixth Lowe finally made the mistake that Darwin hitters were looking for. David Ortiz drew a two-out walk and Chipper Jones slashed a single under the glove of Iguchi to send ‘Big Papi’, running on the play, huffing and puffing all the way to third. Lance Berkman then crushed his second circuit shot of the post-season, a three-run no-doubter WAY back over the wall in center: DARWIN led, 3-1!

The Finches then scratched out a solo run in the seventh against Aaron Heilman, and in the meantime worked their bullpen like nobody’s business. Yovani Gallardo, a real find, worked for the third time in four games, and lefty starters Oliver Perez and Tom Glavine each came in to pitch to a left-handed hitter—and each got a strikeout! J.J. Putz finished up the eighth, and in the ninth, the aging Trevor Hoffman sandwiched a double-play ball in between a pair of singles.

Then, with a runner on and two out, the tying run on-deck, Alfonso Soriano slapped a ball DEEP in the hole, but SS Khalil Greene (in for his defense) ranging, short-hopped it on the third bounce and in one motion whipped the ball to Polanco to force Prince Fielder. Three outs! Ball Game! The Finches had won, 4-1, and would now advance to their first World Series!

Lance Berkman, sometime outfielder, sometime first baseman was among the jubilant Finches, but he was also in pretty elite company: Berkman hit .600 (6-for-10) in the four games with 2 HR, 6 BB and 10 RBI, each leading the club in those departments. For his feat, Berkman was named the Playoff Series MVP. Now, he and the rest of the Unnatural Selections will hunker down to see if they can solve Yuma’s prodigious offense...!