Las Vegas, Nevada----Several days of jet lag and an economy-sized headache of a holiday behind them, the Eastern Division champion Darwin Finches managed to pull out a win in the fourth game of their playoff series with Central winner Las Vegas, eliminating the Luchadores with a 9-4 win in front of 27,812 paid fans and a few thousand more believed to be scalpers or representatives of Her Majesty’s Australian government.
But all was not sweetness on Darwin’s side. The Finches, known for their lineup of slugging switch-hitters (Milton Bradley, Lance Berkman, Chipper Jones), got remarkably little production, hitting just two home runs (both solo shots) and needing a six-run outburst in the eighth inning of the final game to bring their scoring totals comparable to the regular season, when they averaged nearly six runs per game. Darwin also booted its share of balls, committing three errors and were out-homered by the Luchadores, who tagged Finches pitching for 19 runs in four games, and this from a staff that had the league’s fourth-best ERA (3.89) in the regular season.
To make matters worse, there were continued rumors of friction between renowned atheist PZ Myers, the club’s fiery and outspoken manager, and some of the more religiously-minded members of the ball club. In particular, injured RHP John Smoltz (who had missed most of the season on the DL) had organized a player’s prayer group before games while traveling with the club and had allegedly criticized Myers within the group’s meetings, which included pitchers Randy Johnson and Zack Greinke. Greinke had also drawn fire from questioning the beliefs of injured Finches SS Khalil Greene, whose season ended with a fractured hand after the devout Ba’hai believer lost his cool after a particularly-poor at-bat, pounding it against a wall.
Greene’s injury, and the loss of IF Carlos Guillen in the last two weeks of the playoffs, also highlighted a club weakness: infield defense. With both SS Cristian Guzman and 3B Chipper Jones nursing injuries that had robbed them of flexibility and arm strength in the final month of play, Darwin’s infield would suffer many indignities as the post-season continued, putting more pressure against the pitching staff. But nevertheless, ready-or-not, the timing was way overdue for....
The 2008 BARB WORLD SERIES!
GAME ONE: FROSTBITE FALLS 6, DARWIN 4
The series opened back in Australia, and the game’s first batter (Frostbite Falls 2B Michael Young) reached when Chipper Jones kicked a half-liner to his right. Pennant-run acquisition Gil Meche (0-1, 1.50) got Brad Hawpe to fly out to center field, but the dangerous Albert Pujols walked on a 3-2 pitch. Carlos Beltran grounded back to the mound, but instead of going for the force at third, (and perhaps mindful of Jones’s struggles) Meche took the sure out at first base. Magglio Ordonez then made him pay for his caution, lining a single to score two runs in front of a too-casual Milton Bradley, and the Squirrels led, 2-0.
But the pain and suffering weren’t done! C Victor Martinez hit an easy two-hopper to Jones, but Chipper bobbled the ball and by he time his throw to first was late! A second error, that sent Ordonez to second, where he would score two pitches later on a single just under the glove of a diving Placido Polanco. RF Josh Hamilton would throw out Martinez at third base on a fine relay, but not before Ordonez scored. The timely hitting of the Squirrels had cashed in Darwin’s miscues with the leather, and so after a half-inning Frostbite Falls led, 3-0!
The Finches would scratch back to keep the affair interesting. Bradley homered with two down in the third, a solo shot, and the Unnatural Selections would get a run from Chipper Jones in the fourth when Darwin opened their innings with three straight hits. Meche posted zero’s over the next five frames to keep pace with Tim Lincecum (1-0, 3.00). But in the seventh, a death knell, and again Pujols was key to the uprising. Meche allowed Young to single to open the inning, and Darwin went to the pen. Brandon Lyon surrendered a 423-foot bomb to Pujols to score two, and two batters later Zack Greinke balked a runner into scoring position and allowed an RBI single to Martinez: Frostbite Falls now led, 6-3!
Darwin did push back in their final at-bat, bringing the tying run to the plate, scoring a run off Joakim Soria, and forcing the visiting Squirrels to use closer Joe Nathan with two on and nobody out, as good a situation as you could want. But Nathan struck out pinch-hitter Ty Wigginton and the game’s goat, Chipper Jones, grounded out to second to end the game. Darwin trailed 1-0 in the series and, for the first time in many months, you could hear the boos from behind the home team dugout. If body language was any indicator, the feelings of manager Myers for his struggling third baseman were similarly unprintable.
In a further bad sign, neither the Darwin clubhouse or the front office was open to reporters in the first hour after the loss, but shouting from Darwin GM Scott Hatfield could be heard. While we have no direct audio, it is believed to me highly similar to this video clip:*
* It's a spoof!
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