FINAL DAY OF THE REGULAR SEASON...NOT!

MOABS, SQUIRRELS TO MEET ONE LAST TIME
MOABS, SQUIRRELS TO MEET ONE LAST TIME

Office of the League Commissioner—The surging Moabs, in a must-win situation, won their sixth straight to sweep their final meeting of the year with the sibling rivals in Worcester, eliminating a club that had led the East for most of the year, while Frostbite Falls made short work of the Regulators, leaving two clubs tied atop the division with identical 81-63 marks.

A red-faced Commissioner Hatfield admitted, “This wasn’t what I was hoping to see. Last-minute drama is more work, and in these circumstances, I really want the owners to have as much control over their own destiny as possible. The only way to really address that is to have a one-game playoff, rather than decide this on the basis of run differential or won-loss record against.”

“Although if you must know,” Hatfield said slyly, “if it had been on run differential, the two clubs have scored essentially the same number of runs (Brooklyn 733, Frostbite 734), while the Squirrels have allowed 44 more runs. So...advantage, Frostbite. On the other hand,” and here Hatfield could not suppress a smile, “if we did it on won-loss record, the Moabs were 12-6 against the Squirrels and 34-20 against the East as a whole, best in the division. So...advantage, Brooklyn. How do I choose one metric over another? I just think it’s best to let the two clubs duke it out, though given the Moabs record, I do think they will be the home team in what I’m half-seriously calling ‘a best of one series’.”

Those are raw facts over how the post-season will start: Frostbite Falls visits Brooklyn. The winner of that game will host Yuma in a best-of-five series, while Pottsylvania will travel to Darwin. The winner of those series will meet in a best-of-seven World Series. As to how the clubs met their fates on the final day, well...read on.

BROOKLYN 4, WORCESTER 3

WP: Scott Baker (10-4, 3.58)
LP: Jair Jurrjens (8-7, 4.24)
SV: Rodriguez (33)

Ryan Howard committed two errors, Brad Hawpe and Jason Bay each hit solo shots, but despite a solid effort from rookie Jair Jurrjens, the Eliminators couldn’t get the big hit when they needed it and missed the post-season by one game, a crushing disappointment for a club that led their division almost the entire season.

The victory was a team effort from the Moabs, who got no big flies but timely hitting from Mark Teahen (who tripled and scored), Jermaine Dye (RBI single), and Miguel Cabrera (RBI single). Brooklyn led 1-0, 2-0, 3-1, then 4-2, picking up the last tally when Hanley Ramirez could not cleanly pick a ball off the bat of Shane Victorino with runners on in the sixth. Worcester answered in the seventh when Bay led off the inning with his 41st HR, but it was a solo shot that made the score 4-3.

And no farther! Rookies Daniel Bard and Jose Mijares, who have become the ‘bridge’ to closer Francisco Rodriguez, came in and did what they have been doing since the Moabs traded Jeremy Affeldt...get outs. In the ninth, Rodriguez walked Teixeira, then allowed a soft single to Bay to put the go-ahead runs on with the bottom of Worcester’s lineup. Dioner Navarro scorched a line drive...right into the mitt of Chase Utley! Jorge Cantu struck out. Robinson Cano hit into a force play, and Rodriguez had picked up his BARB-leading 33rd save of the year. The Moabs had won their sixth straight ‘do-or-die’ affair in the final week of play, and earned a trip back to the post-season!

Jason Bay, forced at second, could take one small consolation. As a potential free agent, a big payday looms for a hitter who has played for every team in the East and finally had a superstar season with Worcester, so much so that his home run on the season’s final day would end up leading all of BARB, a likely MVP candidate. But, having tasted the postseason with both Brooklyn and Frostbite Falls, it had to be a real letdown.

FROSTBITE FALLS 9, FRESNO 5

WP: Felix Hernandez (11-9, 3.56)
LP: Hideki Kuroda (1-2, 6.01)
SV: Nathan (33)

‘King Felix’ worked into the eighth, Joe Nathan tied Francisco Rodriguez for the BARB lead in saves, and the Squirrels scored six times in the fifth inning to essentially put the Regulators (71-73) out of their misery, ensuring that a club that won its division last year would finish below .500 in a game that was only competitive for four frames. Every Squirrels starter had at least one hit, and Albert Pujols hit his 32nd home run, giving him a BARB-leading 77 extra-base hits. Gee...just the way perennial contender Andrew Haynes seems to script these things.

Anyway, the Regulators added two late runs (both unearned) off Hernandez courtesy of errors by Longoria and DeRosa, but the outcome was never really in doubt. It finished a season where the Frostbite Falls beat Fresno 12 times, the most wins for Squirrels against any competing squad. Now they will travel to Brooklyn, where the Moabs will try to extend their Cinderella season and post their seventh straight ‘must-win’ game. Insiders expect that Frostbite Falls, which was just 6-12 against Brooklyn in the regular campaign, will counter with Tim Lincecum on short rest to put their best foot forward and return to the playoffs.

DARWIN LIMPS (BARELY) INTO POST-SEASON

The record book will show that the Darwin Finches (83-61) finished first in the Western Division with the best regular-season winning percentage in the 2009 BARB season. But a closer look reveals a club that has been treading water for weeks, with a bullpen of question marks and a roster that has been decimated by injury (Josh Hamilton, John Smoltz, Tim Wakefield), personal demons (Milton Bradley), fatigue (Chipper Jones) and season-long slumps (David Ortiz, Chad Billingsley).

“We’re not playing like a contender,” conceded former closer Kevin Gregg, who lost his job to the imported Fernando Rodney. “We can’t keep playing this way and expect to advance.” On the final day, when a win really mattered, the Finches instead dropped their third straight to a sub-.500 club that had managed to lose their previous ten games. But, faced with a chance to play spoiler, the visiting Tornadoes played an inspired road series, sweeping Darwin. The finale saw rookie Derek Holland outlast vaunted Finches hurler Zack Greinke, who started on short rest with Darwin’s pennant chances in doubt.

It was not to be: Greinke (17-6, 3.10) had just been taken off the hook when Brandon Inge tripled and scored to tie the contest 4-4 in the sixth. But Darwin’s ace faltered when sent out in the seventh to protect the tie, as the Tornadoes got back-to-back RBI doubles with one out and never looked back. Holland (5-7, 4.71) worked a scoreless seventh, then watched his teammates six more insurance runs in the eighth off Gregg and Chad Billingsley. The latter’s ERA soared to 5.01 as a result, a clear sign that the Finches could not count on him in the post-season. The final? TEXAS 13, Darwin 5. The mood in the Finches clubhouse? Not what you associate with a champion.

YUMA ALSO CHOKES!

With the Finches having lost on the last day, a win by Yuma would see the season end in a two-way tie for first, necessitating a one-game playoff to see who would take the division crown and who would have to settle for the wild card slot. The Firebirds seemed perfectly positioned with their ace, Roy Halladay, on the mound. But neither Halladay or recently-acquired Flyers hurler Edwin Jackson would figure in the final meeting of the year between Los Angeles and Yuma! Halladay was uncharacteristically prone to the long ball, giving up a two-out belt to Jim Thome in the first, a solo shot from Orlando Cabrera in the third, and a two-run dong to Mike Lowell in the fourth!

Startling and definitely not what one expects from a pitcher of Halladay’s character, but the Firebirds had gotten a three-run shot from Nick Markakis in the bottom of the third, and a two-out double from Joey Votto tied the score in the fifth. Jackson did not come out to pitch the bottom of the sixth, and Yuma quickly tallied a pair against former Creepers setup man Randy Flores, and with a 6-4 lead needed just nine more outs to force a one-game playoff against Darwin.

But when they needed some help most from their pen, it did not come. Yuma relievers traded three-spots with the Flyers bullpen in the seventh, with Mark Reynolds clubbing his 19th homer of the year off Ryan Madson and Thome rifling his second shot of the game off Hong Chih-Kuo. In the eighth, with Yuma still nursing a 9-7 lead, the Flyers loaded the bases with two out for Stephen Drew. The enigmatic Drew tied into a Jose Arredondo pitch ....a GRAND SLAM! The Yuma fans, increasingly impatient, were silenced as Drew sprinted around the bases. The humble (51-92) Flyers, with the worst record in the league, had shocked the Firebirds at the worst possible time. LOS ANGELES 11.....Yuma, 9!

Chris Melkonian’s troops still had a shot in the ninth, though, with the inconsistent Brad Lidge summoned to protect the lead. Ryan Braun grounded out, but Joey Votto got new life when Drew, racing toward the left-field line, dropped a foul popup on the first pitch. Votto then lined an 0-2 pitch to right, and took third when Lance Berkman fisted a ball into the left-center gap, bringing the go-ahead run to the plate. Asdrubal Cabrera pinch-ran for Berkman and pinch-hitter A.J. Pierzynski hit a slow roller to second to score Votto and get the tying run to second base. The LA braintrust then had Lidge intentionally walk the left-handed hitting Nick Markakis to get to the less-threatening Yunel Escobar.

Playing their last big card, the Firebirds sent up former cleanup man Travis Hafner, now a bench player, to bat against the right-handed Lidge with two on, the go-ahead run on base and the game in the balance. Hafner PULLED the ball sharply...but it was flagged on one hop by a staggered Jim Thome, who nevertheless was able to lumber to the bag and beat the chunky slugger. Lidge had saved a game for once, Los Angeles had ended their sour season on a high note, and the Firebirds had blown a chance to get an edge in the playoffs.

It was a disappointing finish to a strong second half for the Firebirds. Yuma has been playing better than Darwin of late, and getting healthy, too, after a run of injuries had slowed them in mid-summer. The Firebirds had gone 40-29 since the All-Star Break, tied with Pottsylvania for the second-best record during that stretch and five games better than the Finches over that span. With seemingly all the momentum going their way in the final week of play, the Yuma clubhouse could’ve been forgiven for being confident that they would find a way to pull out another flag in a division they have dominated since entering the league.

But Darwin’s hot pitching staff had helped the Finches post a league-best 48-30 mark in the first half, and when push came to shove in the final week, that was just a bit too much for the Firebirds to overcome, including this final game.

WOW