The New England Yankee Stompers conquered BARB’s Grapefruit
division with 95 regular-season wins. Their reward? A divisional-round matchup
with the Yuma Firebirds, runners-up in the Cactus division and two-time
defending BARB champions, for a 2015 World Series rematch.
GAME ONE:
COTTON STUMPS STOMPERS
Four days of
rest for the Yankee Stompers, which meant an opportunity to kick off their 2016
playoffs at home with ace Jon Lester on the mound.
Yuma was
coming off a close series against Cactus #2 wild card Brooklyn, and tossing
rookie Jharel Cotton – who made only one regular-season start – to the wolves
with Chris Sale, David Price and Marcus Stroman fatigued from wild card series
starts.
Naturally, New
England would be favored. But that’s not how it happened.
Lester
struggled – failing to make it out of the fourth inning – and Cotton allowed
only six hits while throwing a complete game in Yuma’s 6-2 win.
The Firebirds
kicked off the scoring in the top of the first, sending seven men to the plate
and collecting only one hit in addition to three walks. In an astounding turn
of events, Lester, who is noted for ignoring runners on first base, threw over
FOUR TIMES before his second pitch to Andrew McCutchen after Joey Votto led off
with a free pass.
A Matt Wieters
leadoff double led to a Yankee Stomper run in the third, but Yuma answered
right away with a sacrifice fly.
The single-run
frames continued with the Firebirds in the fifth, sixth and seventh and a
Dustin Pedroia blast in the eighth.
The
head-turning final numbers from the game included five extra-base hits out of
New England’s total of six safeties (four doubles and the Pedroia homer) and
nine singles in addition to three doubles for Yuma. The Firebirds ended up
drawing seven walks off three New England hurlers, while Cotton pitched to
contact (no walks, four strikeouts in the complete game effort).
FINAL: YUMA 6, NEW ENGLAND 2
GAME TWO: STARTERS
SMASHED
It was all offense in the first four
frames, with each side putting up two crooked numbers.
Yuma lit up New England rookie sensation
Michael Fulmer for three runs on four hits in the first, and they finished him
off with a four-run outburst in the fourth thanks to five hits (including a Joe
Panik two-run blast) and a sacrifice fly.
In the meantime, Chris Sale was having a
rough go of it himself. The host Yankee Stompers notched three legs of the
cycle in the second inning to tie the score off the lanky lefty. Sale didn’t
make it out of the third as he allowed two runs for a 5-3 lead before Adam
Warren was inserted with one out.
By the time the fourth inning ended, the
starting pitchers had combined for 5 and 2/3 innings, 14 hits, 12 runs (all
earned) and two trips to the showers. The bullpens would have to take five
frames apiece to determine if New England could tie the series or if Yuma would
take a commanding 2-0 lead.
The Firebirds’ 7-5 lead was tenuous, and
New England continually threatened to knot it back up. The Yankee Stompers
pulled within one run on a Dustin Pedroia RBI double in the sixth, but two
harmless groundouts (including the third of Miguel Cabrera’s four hitless
at-bats) stranded the potential tying run.
After Warren, Chris Melkonian’s side
threw three other relievers: Jose Quintana allowed the run in the sixth, but
Wade Davis and Will Harris each stranded a man over one-plus innings of work to
close out the victory. Yuma headed home needing just one win in three games to
advance to their third-straight BARB World Series!
FINAL: YUMA 7, NEW ENGLAND 6
GAME THREE:
EXTRAS NEEDED
Yuma came out on fire in front of the
home crowd. The Firebirds, needing just a single victory to have a chance to be
the first team in league history to win three straight titles, took advantage
of Drew Pomeranz’ wildness to score three times on NO hits in the bottom of the
first. It all began with Joey Votto’s discerning eye drawing a walk on a close
3-2 pitch. A potential double play ball right back to the box was airmailed to
center by the lefty, who subsequently lost his composure with three more walks
in a row. A sacrifice fly later plated a run before Brandon Crawford’s can of
corn ended the inning after 41 Pomeranz pitches.
Why didn’t John Farrell pull his starter
during a marathon first inning in an elimination game? No one is sure. What we
do know is that Pomeranz settled down to the tune of four more innings and no
additional runs.
New England’s bullpen played a shutdown
role as well, tossing a combined five scoreless innings with seven strikeouts
and just four runners reaching base.
Yes, five innings for the starter and
five for the relievers. Yuma failed to add to their first-inning outburst as
the Yankee Stompers fought all the way back to tie it in the sixth against
David Price.
The first chink in the armor came on a
Yoenis Cespedes two-run bomb in the fourth inning – after another Miguel
Cabrera out – and Dustin Pedroia sent a solo shot inside the left-field foul
pole in the sixth for the third run.
With the score still tied in the late
innings, New England called on Jeremy Jeffress. The young flamethrower turned
in a quick eighth inning and came back out for the ninth…but soon was put in a
bad spot by his defense. Normally sure-handed Xander Bogaerts kicked a one-out
Andrew McCutchen grounder, and Buster Posey shortened his swing to lace a
single to right. Brian Dozier was plunked by a 3-1 pitch to load the bases,
still just one away. Yuma played the platoon game, subbing versatile Ben
Zobrist for righty-deficient Chris Young.
All “Zorilla” needed to do was put the
ball in play without a pop-up or double play. It didn’t happen. The
switch-hitter reached on a 3-1 offering and hit it right to Martin Prado, drawn
in at third base. Prado fired to J.T. Realmuto for the force at the plate, and
the catcher made a quick turn to get Zobrist at first base as the Yuma faithful
came down from their near-crescendo.
The momentum was squarely on the side of
the visitors, and Jackie Bradley, Jr., sliced the ball JUST FAIR inside the
right-field pole to lead off the tenth. Three straight singles plated another
run, and Dellin Betances shut the door with a perfect bottom half for a crucial
Yankee Stomper victory.
FINAL:
NEW ENGLAND 5, YUMA 3
GAME FOUR:
PITCHING WINS THE DAY
Twelve hits. No runs.
When that happens, all you can do is
shake your head and give credit to your opponent’s staff for pitching out of
trouble.
That’s what James Herndon was resigned
to do after he saw his New England Yankee Stompers double up the Yuma Firebirds
in the hit column, 12-6, but fall, 2-0, where it counted: the runs column. The Firebird
win clinched a third-straight World Series appearance and kept Herndon from his
third title try.
For once, Miguel Cabrera had a good
game: three hits in four at-bats, after one safety in the first three games
combined. All of his hits were singles, however, and his teammates couldn’t
bring him around.
New England left multiple runners on
base in the first, third, sixth (bases loaded), seventh and eight innings and
stranded 11 men for the game.
Yuma also left 11 on, but they got two
across. Six walks and a pair of hit batters contributed to the hosts’ deluge of
runners, and some of the less-experienced players came up with clutch hits to
score the only runs needed.
In the bottom of the fifth, Adam Conley
retired the first two hitters but gave up a booming double to Buster Posey
before hitting Brian Dozier with a 1-2 offering. Ryan Raburn grounded just
inside the bag at third for a run-scoring single, and Corey Seager added the
game’s final run on a single up the middle (both off Eduardo Rodriguez).
FINAL: YUMA 2, NEW ENGLAND
0
The victory sends Yuma back to the BARB
World Series, where they’ll face the winner of Frostbite Falls and St. Francis.
Herndon, for his part, wasn’t completely
disappointed. He told the press after the game that he was at least relieved he
wouldn’t have to go through another one-run, game-seven loss in the Fall
Classic (as happened in 2012 against Pottsylvania and 2015 against Yuma). Two
straight playoff appearances have set a good foundation for the future of the
Yankee Stompers.
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