In a surprising development, Friars players had to be whisked secretly to the ballpark, which was surrounded by angry picketers associated with the Catholic League, and its leader, fiery conservative Catholic Bill Donohue. The protesters have been whipped into a frenzy by their organization, which views the franchise’s name (the St. Francis Friars) as a direct insult to the reigning pontiff of the Holy Catholic Church, Pope Francis. “It’s a travesty, and another example of the anti-Catholic bigotry that the popular culture promotes,” said Donohue in a prepared statement. “A professional sports team should not be named in any way after any ethnic or religious group without their consent. If this is not challenged, what next?”
Exasperated team president and acting GM Scott Hatfield denied any disrespect or bigotry on the part of the Friars organization. “For crying out loud,” Hatfield exclaimed. “We’re based in a town called St. Francis, and we were in that town before the present Pope was elected. How were we to know that he would take the name Francis, a name assumed by none of the previous 266 pontiffs? Please, just make this stop.”
Meanwhile, while the guardians of cultural privilege railed at the gates, a baseball game was played. Cole Hamels took the hill for Frostbite Falls, which had dispatched a solid Yuma club in five games to make the Series for the seventh time in league history. The Friars countered with knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, and neither hurler disappointed. St. Francis broke through first, when a tomahawk swing from SS J.J. Hardy went over the wall in left, a solo homer that gave the Friars a 1-0 lead. Dickey kept the Squirrels at bay through the first four frames, before mounting a scoring threat in the fifth: Jose Reyes singled and Kendry Morales drew a walk to put the first two runners on, and one out later, back-to-back RBI singles from Yonder Alonso and Mike Trout gave the visitors the lead:
FROSTBITE FALLS 2, ST. FRANCIS 1!
Dickey settled back into a groove after that, retiring seven of the next eight hitters. The Squirrels threatened again in the eighth, and had to be licking their chops when a leadoff walk led the Friars to call upon LHP Craig Breslow, who had given up two game-changing boundary belts in the previous series with Worcester. Indeed, all through the post-season St. Francis struggled to find the answer against the left-handed power of other clubs. This time, Bryce Harper ripped a one-out line drive off Breslow....flagged by a leaping Hardy at short! Harper had just missed what would’ve likely been a two-run double. Instead, Fernando Rodney was brought in, and he fanned the right-handed hitting Evan Longoria for the final out of the eighth, keeping the score 2-1, Frostbite.
Cole Hamels had been dealing since allowing a solo shot to Hardy back in the second, allowing just three baserunners entering the ninth while striking out eight. Leery of his unheralded bullpen, GM Andrew Haynes therefore left the dominant Hamels in the ballgame to pitch to the left-handed hitting Chris Davis, who....
....CRUSHED a one-out get-ahead fastball from Hamels! DEEP right center! And GONE! The pricey mid-season acquisition, the left-handed power bat, had come through when most needed by the Friars, tieing the ball game:
FROSTBITE FALLS 2, ST. FRANCIS 2!
The Friars now turned to their bullpen’s strength: with two down in the ninth and a runner on, Koji Uehara was summoned to hold the fort. The streaking Uehara had been one of the hottest pitchers in BARB dow
In the bottom of the 11th, lefty Antonio Bastardo was burned when the left-handed hitting Ryan Sweeney (pinch-hitting for Aaron Hill, who had been ejected) shocked everyone, doubling over the glove of Mike Trout. Steve Delabar was summoned to pitch to the free-swinging Salvador Perez, but the rookie was wild, walking Perez, wild-pitching the catcher to second, then walking Carlos Beltran. Thus, with no one out, the Squirrels called on another lefty, veteran Mike Gonzales, to pitch to Davis. Once again, the lefty-swinging Davis overcame “The Book”. Gonzales jammed Davis, but the slugger was able to get enough on it that it dropped over the leaping attempt at Kipnis. Sweeney scored easily, and the ballgame was over!
ST. FRANCIS 3, FROSTBITE FALLS 2!
So it was that the Friars had pulled off a surprising win, while Frostbite Falls couldn’t even second-guess themselves. They had left a dominant ace in with no sign of fatigue with a one-run lead...owch. They had played the percentages with Bastardo, with Delabar, with Gonzales. None of that had worked, double-owch. And, with angry protesters calling for the heads of the home team, they also had to be whisked out of the ballpark under a cloak of security. How will this crazy set of circumstances play out in the rest of the Series? Stay tuned!
n the stretch, seizing the closer’s role in the final weeks despite the presence of Rodney, Rafael Soriano and the great Mariano Rivera. He would be equal to the task in this game, fanning four of the seven he would face in what would now be an extra-inning war of the bullpens.
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