THE UNELIMINATED

In freezing temperatures, the bats of the visiting Eliminators heated up in the late innings, as Mark Teixeira and company put an exclamation point on the 2010 season with an unprecedented and convincing sweep of the BARB World Series!

Worcester had taken a 2-0 lead at home with a pair of 1-0 shutouts at the expense of the suddenly-punchless Squirrels, but Andrew Haynes and his troops hoped that a return to their home park ("Rocky Top") would rekindle an offense that had belted a BARB-leading 245 HR in the regular season. To do that, they would hand the ball to RHP Matt Garza (11-6, 4.46), while Worcester would counter with ace Adam Wainwright (13-8, 4.13).

Wainwright had split a pair of decisions in Worcester's five-game playoff with Casselton, but he saved his best outing of the postseason for Game Three, allowing a two-out RBI single to Jason Heyward in the second, then facing the minimum number of batters through the eighth Wainwright (1-0, 1.13) would allow just one run on four hits in that span, but Garza was similarly stingy after giving up a two-out solo shot to DH Billy Butler in the second. Another pitcher's duel, tied at 1-1 after eight? Amazing!

But, in the top of the ninth, Worcester 3B Derek Jeter led off with a double down the RF line. Nick Masset (0-1, 9.00), who had come on in the eighth on a double switch, retired Nolan Reimold for the first out, then yielded to LHP Eric O'Flaherty with the lefty-swinging Carl Crawford at the plate. Surprise! Worcester pinch-hit unspectacular utility man Ty Wiggington, who drew a walk on five pitches!

Hanley Ramirez took O'Flaherty's first pitch for a ball, and the Frostbite brain trust had seen enough. Joakim Soria, "The Mexecutioner", was brought into the ballgame...but perhaps was overly concerned about baserunners. Soria's first three throws were to first base, and this may have affected his control: Ball two, a checked swing called a strike, BALL THREE, a second strike FOULED away....BALL FOUR!

The bases were loaded for Mark Teixeira, whose second-inning solo HR in Game 1 had provided all the runs that Worcester needed to win the Series opener. Soria fell behind 2-0, got a called strike, then missed with a change....a 3-1 pitch on its way.....

KRRRRRAAAAAK! In fact, for Frostbite, the CRACK OF DOOM, as 'Big Tex' had just hit a line drive that kept on carrying out to left, a LASER BEAM and......GONE!

A GRAND SLAM!!!!!




Frostbite Falls GM Andrew Haynes slumped in his seat at this painful turn of events. Cano and Mauer grounded out, but the damage was done. Soria's six wins and 24 saves in the regular season were distant memories, for the biggest blown save of the season had given Worcester a 5-1 lead. And, while not a save situation, the league's leading closer (Mariano Rivera, 36 saves) would be trotted out to ensure that Worcester took a 3-0 lead in the 2010 BARB World Series:

Lind and Pujols both grounded harmlessly to short. Victor Martinez held off the inevitable by singling up the middle on a 3-1 pitch. Evan Longoria then struck out, for the eighth time in this series personally. For the Squirrels collectively, it was the third straight game that they had scored one run or less, and they had fanned a total 27 times as a team!!

WORCESTER 5, FROSTBITE FALLS 1 !

Down 3-0 in the Series, the Squirrels would make a comeback and make their best offensive showing, but would again watch their bullpen unable to hold off late-inning rallies by the Eliminators bats.

Anibal Sanchez (11-11, 4.20) would get the nod for Worcester, while the Squirrels would counter with Felix Hernandez (13-10, 3.55) on short rest. The Squirrels, who lived and died by the long ball in the regular season, got off to their first leads of the Series thanks to a one-out bomb by Longoria in the second and a similar blast by the hot Carlos Beltran in the third.

Crawford doubled to right to start the fourth, however, and again that man Mark Teixeria cashed him in with a booming two-bagger of his own. Frostbite Falls got a run back in the sixth when Rickie Weeks led off the inning. Weeks, getting a start with IF Michael Young in a major slump, hit an absolute bomb to deep left to give Frostbite Falls a 3-1 lead with their ace, "King Felix" on the mound.

But Felix, pitching carefully to Teixeria, plunked the Worcester 1B to lead off the top of the seventh on a 2-2 pitch. As fans booed (Teixeira did not appear to get out of the way of the pitch), up came the left-handed hitting Robinson Cano. Hernandez's first pitch was fouled off. His second was.....DRILLED down the line, hooking into the corner, gone if it was a fair ball...HOME RUN!



Robinson Cano had just erased Frostbite Falls' only lead of the series with a game-tying two-run HR to right, the fourth long ball of the contest! Hernandez would finish out the inning, but there was no lead to hand to the bullpen....and, as it turned out, not much of a bullpen to hand anything to.

Frostbite Falls tried to make things interesting in the bottom of the eighth. Beltran, a hot hitter the whole series, doubled to right center off Sanchez. Worcester countered by relieving with setup man Heath Bell (9-8, 3.51). Weeks popped out, Lind struck out and (with the tying run at second), Bell got Albert Pujols to ground out harmlessly to Jeter.

That brought up the top of the ninth for the visitors. Teixeira popped out to begin the inning, but Cano reached on an infield single when SS Jose Reyes bounced a throw to first. Joe Mauer hit a fly to right, but not deep enough to advance Cano. That brought up Delmon Young, 0-for-14 in the Series....but as they say, he was due. Young lined a single up the middle on a 1-0 pitch to push Cano to second, putting the go-ahead run in scoring position.

Again, Frostbite countered with Soria. And, again, their closer simply couldn't deliver, as BILLY BUTLER smashed a ball into the left-center gap that Lind couldn't cut off: CANO....scored! YOUNG, running all the way from first....scored, as the throw was cut off to get a sure out (Butler) at third. A two-run double had given the Eliminators the lead: WORCESTER 5, FROSTBITE FALLS 3!

Everything would now turn on whether the Elims stuck with Bell, or called on Rivera for the fourth straight game. Bell came out to start the ninth and made all of that strategy talk interesting. Victor Martinez singled off of Bell's shoe, an infield hit. With every run critical to extending their season, the Squirrels pinch-ran Drew Stubbs for Martinez. Longoria, an offensive goat for the first three games, came up big, lining a singled between first and second.

But Bell, taking a deep breath, changed everything as he fanned Jayson Werth with three straight fastballs. Reyes got ahead 2-0, then flied out to right. Rookie Jason Heyward then....

STRUCK OUT!

The ball game was over!

WORCESTER had won, 5-3...and more importantly, had done something unprecedented: swept the BARB World Series, and won their first world title!

The Worcester Eliminators are champions of an imaginary universe, the one called Bullard Alternative Reality Baseball.

Congratulations are in order for GM Matt Caskey, who despite a thin bench and some injuries to his outfield put together a solid season before and after the All-Star Break that built around the hitting ability of his awesome lineup. While the Eliminators did not hit .284 as a team in the post-season (as they did in the regular campaign) they scored enough to support an underrated pitching staff that held the Squirrels (the league's top scoring offense) to just four runs in four games.

"BIG TEX" THE CONSENSUS MVP

With game-winning HR in both Game 1 and Game 3, and a team-high 6 RBI, 1B Mark Teixeira was an easy pick for Series MVP. Teixeira tied Joe Mauer for the team lead in HR with 31 in the regular season, while hitting .303 (one of eight .300 hitters in Worcester's lineup). Teixeira also was walked twice and was hit by a pitch to start a key rally in the finale.

Congratulations, Matt!