September 4: The Sin City Cowboys became the first 2011 BARB team completely eliminated from playoff contention, but they immediately had the chance to be a spoiler for a league power. In addition, Central California’s postseason hopes were kept alive by a Hunter Pence two-inning outlash.
Anthony Guerra’s Sin City squad has been all-but eliminated for a while now. They compete in the league’s toughest division and had injuries to some of their top players (Nelson Cruz, David Wright, etc.) that severely damaged their hopes of competing. But they are in position to be a dark-horse team in 2012: starters like Bumgarner, Shields and Wainwright and a big name who was a PTBN fortify the rotation, and Cruz and Wright team with Ian Kinsler, Brennan Boesch, Gaby Sanchez and Ian Desmond for a good offense.
But they were officially eliminated from the 2011 playoffs on September 4. Sin City beat the Casselton Horned Toads, 7-3, but the division-leading Frostbite Falls Flying Squirrels eked out a 2-0 victory at Los Angeles and wild-card leading Philadelphia beat Worcester by the same score.
That meant September 5-7 was a chance to directly harm the playoff chances of the Brooklyn MOABS. Brooklyn came into Las Vegas five games out in the Eastern division and ½ back in the wild card and ready to make a move after enduring a stretch of losing. The first game saw Kyle Lohse throw a good game (7 IP, 2 ER, 4K) and the Cowboy offense knock out Justin Masterson with four runs before making an out in the third inning. The Cowboys went on to win it, 5-3.
The next day was expected to be a good pitching matchup (Yovani Gallardo v. Jaime Garcia), and it didn’t disappoint. Gallardo went eight strong, striking out six and walking none, but he allowed a third-inning solo shot to Alex Rios. Garcia only pitching into the sixth frame, but two relievers allowed only four base runners in the final three and two-thirds innings.
But while Brooklyn was falling to their sixth loss in the last 10 games, neither Frostbite Falls nor Philadelphia could capitalize and take bigger division leads. The Flying Squirrels lost two straight to Worcester, the first in shutout fashion, and the Rebels lost 5-4 to Casselton and then 4-3 to St. Francis in 10 innings.
So with a month left in the BARB season (October 7 is the final regular-season day due to scheduling problems with 13 teams), only one playoff spot is almost assured: The Yuma Firebirds have a 13-game lead in the West and a magic number of nine. St. Francis leads the Central by 4.5 over Philadelphia, and Frostbite Falls is on top of Brooklyn by five games in the East (and the Flying Squirrels have yet to experience their annual late-season collapse).
Brooklyn, New England, Central CA and Casselton all sit within five games of Philly’s wild-card lead, and Worcester can’t yet be counted out at just nine back.
Other than Sin City, three other teams are almost completely eliminated: AC/BC, Pottsylvania and Los Angeles. In a quirk attributed to the schedule, LA sits a game and a half behind Pottsylvania in their division but has not been eliminated for the division title while the Creepers have. AC/BC has been eliminated from Western contention and is 18.5 behind in the wild card.
HOW THE REMAINING SCHEDULE BREAKS DOWN FOR CONTENDERS
Starting September 8:
Brooklyn: @ Frosbite Falls (3), @ LA (2), @ Worcester (3), vs. Sin City (3), @ Worcester (3), @ St. Francis (2), vs. St. Francis (5!?), vs. Frostbite Falls (1), @ LA (3)
Casselton: vs. Worcester (2), @ Pottsylvania (2), @ Central CA (3), vs. AC/BC (3), vs. Yuma (3), @ Philadelphia (3), vs. Philadelphia (3), vs. Worcester (3)
Central CA: vs. AC/BC (3), vs. Yuma (5), vs. Casselton (3), @ St. Francis (3), @ AC/BC (1), vs. AC/BC (1), vs. Yuma (3)
Frostbite Falls: vs. Brooklyn (3), @ Philadelphia (2), @ Sin City (3), vs. Worcester (3), @ Sin City (3), @ Pottsylvania (2), vs. Pottsylvania (5), @ Brooklyn (1), @ Philadelphia (3)
New England: @ Yuma (3), @ AC/BC (5), vs. Pottsylvania (3), @ LA (3), vs. Yuma (1), @ Yuma (1), @ AC/BC (3)
Philadelphia: vs. LA (3), vs. Frostbite Falls (2), @ LA (1), @ AC/BC (3), vs. Yuma (3), vs. Sin City (2), vs. Casselton (3), @ Sin City (5), @ Casselton (3), vs. Frostbite Falls (3)
St. Francis: @ Pottsylvania (3), vs. Sin City (2), vs. Pottsylvania (1), vs. LA (2), vs. Central CA (3), vs. Brooklyn (2), @ Worcester (1), vs. AC/BC (2), @ Brooklyn (5), vs. Worcester (2), @ Worcester (1), vs. Sin City (3)
Worcester: @ Sin City (3), @ Casselton (2), vs. Brooklyn (3), @ Frostbite Falls (3), vs. Brooklyn (3), @ LA (2), vs. St. Francis (1), vs. LA (5), @ St. Francis (2), vs. St. Francis (1), @ Casselton (3)
In other BARB action:
CENTRAL CA 7, NEW ENGLAND 1
WP: Jered Weaver (13-10, 3.74)
LP: Tim Hudson (5-11, 4.53)
Hudson, one of the newest Yankee Stompers, was beaten by two players the .45s kept in the fold because they were in the wild-card race instead of trading for prospects. Jered Weaver threw six shutout frames with six strikeouts, but Hunter Pence was the bigger story: 4-for-5, two runs, five RBI, a 2B and two HR. Pence hit a two-run bomb in the first and drove in three with an opposite-field shot in the second to knock out Hudson.
AC/BC 6, YUMA 4
WP: Wade Davis (1-2, 5.79)
LP: Brian Matusz (2-4, 2.93)
SV: Cordero (16)
Yuma scored four in the second inning and carried a 4-3 lead into the sixth in Anaheim before the wheels fell off for Matusz. Milton Bradley led off the inning with a home run to tie the game before three straight singles and a ground out put up two more runs for the final tally. Howie Kendrick hit a third-inning homer for AC/BC and Ryan Hanigan launched a two-run shot for the Firebirds.
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