MARKAKIS THE DIFFERENCE AS YUMA FORCES GAME SEVEN
Darwin, Australia----The Finches, looking for a world title, scored twice in the first and for five innings looked like world beaters behind Kelvim Escobar, but were again betrayed by sloppy fielding and hurt (TWICE) by budding superstar Nick Markakis, as the youthful Yuma LF was the difference in a 3-2 contest that saw C.C. Sabathia (2-0, 1.06) and the Firebirds force a Game Seven. Ain’t life grand?
Escobar allowed just two singles in the first five frames and benefitted from a key double by Chipper Jones, whose two errors in one inning of Game Five had nearly sunk his team. Jones scored Chone Figgins with his two-bagger, and when Brian Roberts bobbled the relay back to the infield, that allowed Jones to reach third, where he scored a batter later on Jeff Francouer’s single to right:
Darwin led, 2-0!
But you have play nine innings in this game, or so fans are told. So it was that, in the top of the sixth, Granderson reached when Estrada mishandled his swinging bunt, one more fielding gaffe for the Darwinians in a series seemingly filled with Finch.....foulups. Vladimir Guerrero took a mighty hack at a breaking ball down and in and ended up on first with a bunt single. Tom Glavine relieved Escobar to go after lefty slugger Travis Hafner but....walked Hafner to load the bases. Gulp! Looking for a ground ball, the Finches called on sidearmer Cla Meredith to pitch to Ryan Braun, but the Firebirds braintrust elected to pinch-hit Ibanez at this point, looking for contact rather than shying away from it. Ibanez’s slow roller forced Hafner, but the speedy Granderson scored. With one down, that brought up Nick Markakis, who hit another slow roller to Polanco, who had only one play—at first----and so Guerrero scored the tying run. The Finches inability to field the ball and counter Yuma’s speed had allowed the Firebirds to tie the game, 2-2-2!
Oliver Perez, who spent much of 2007 riding the shuttle back and forth from AAA, worked a scoreless seventh inning for Darwin and was allowed to start the eighth. Second-guessers at this point might’ve well asked why; they just as well might’ve wondered why Johnny Estrada (no great shakes on defense) was still in the lineup. Perez walked Big Vlad, and Yuma again burned Estrada, as Guerrero took second with nobody out. Ibanez hit a deep fly to the gap in right-center that Rowand had to leap at the fence to grab, and Guerrero scampered over to third. So it was with one out, in the top of the eighth, left-handed hitting Nick Markakis again came up, this time with a chance to put his team ahead. Going for the ‘K’, the Finches called J.J. Putz (10.7 K’s per nine innings, tops on their staff) to pitch to Markakis, a tough man to fan. Instead, Markakis delivered a six-hop single up the middle through Putz’s legs, a base hit, and Guerrero scored!
Yuma led, 3-2, in a must-win game if they wished to extend the Series!
Darwin would not go quietly, however. In the bottom of the ninth, they got a leadoff single from Chone Figgins, the one real basepath threat on Darwin’s roster. Figgins stole second rather easily, and if Yuma was ever going to go to the pen, now would seem to be the time. But big lefty C.C. Sabathia, having allowed only four hits, didn’t even appear to be breathing all that hard and the Firebirds stuck with their starter with a one-run lead in the ninth! Definitely going against the book—or was that just a comment as to the club’s lack of confidence in their relief corps? Whatever.....what mattered was the results:
Chipper Jones STRUCK OUT.
Jeff Francouer STRUCK OUT.
‘Big Papi’, David Ortiz, worked the count full, fouled off two pitches, then walked and was replaced by a pinch-runner, Jose Lopez. The WINNING run was now on base, and....
Lance Berkman hit a fly ball out to left, where it was.....
CAUGHT by Markakis! Ball game!
Yuma wins, 3-2, and ties the Series at 3-3!
There would now be just one game, and the winner of that contest would be the league’s world champ! Who will prevail??
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