 |
| All-Star |
 |
Joined: Mon Jul 11, 2011 11:14 am
Posts: 1242
Favorite Team: Rays
Console '07: Don't Own
Console '08: Nintendo Wii
|
Brewers won the NL Championship series against the Mets in 7 games and now face the Country in the 2008 World Series.
World Series game one: Iowa City Country at Milwaukee Brewers
Country Jimenez (98 EB CB – two, CH – four) versus Brewers Bush (90 CB CU – one, CB – two, CH – two)
Lineup: the Country are using a national league lineup tonight. Cust, their normal DH, will be playing left field in place of Erdos.
Comments: although the National League has home-field advantage, the 4 extra days of rest may help the Country, as all their regular starters reported in yellow condition, except for millage and Thurston who reported in even better condition, while the majority of the Brewers starting lineup is in blue condition and only 1 Brewers starting pitcher is in better than purple condition while the Country have only 1 starting pitcher below yellow.
Inning one: Milledge watches a couple of curveballs go by, getting to a one – one count before lofting a fastball up the middle for a soft single. Milledge steals second, and that may have actually hurt the team, as Spilborghs smashed a one – one pitch right at the third baseman who is able to throw to second and pick off Milledge for a double play. Johnson then singled, but Cust flied out to center, ending the top of the first.
The Brewers wasted no time in their half of the inning, as Randy Weeks hits an 0-1 curveball just inside the left-field foul pole for a homerun. Jimenez recovered and retired The Brewers' 2 – 4 hitters easily.
Inning two–three: Josh Fields popped out to the infield leading off the inning. Harris and Huisman followed with singles, but a fly ball to second base from Thurston and to shortstop from Jimenez ended the threat.
In the top of the third, Milledge singled and quickly stole second. Spilborghs grounded out, but then Dan Johnson doubled home the tying run and came home on a single to left field by Josh Fields. When Jimenez closed out the third inning, it sent the game into the fourth with the Country leading two – one
Inning four: the Brewers homered again, this time a Bill Hall two run homerun that bounced off the left field foul pole, giving the Brewers a three – two lead entering the fifth
Inning six: the left field foul pole was not as kind to the Country, as Josh Fields hammered an inside fastball just to the left of the left-field foul pole. Two pitches later, he popped out meekly to third.
The Country did not threaten at all in the 6th, but the Brewers extended their lead with leadoff homeruns by Braun over the centerfield fence, and Fielder over the left-field fence. Mike Cameron grounded to short, but Harris booted the ball, putting a speedy runner on first with no out. Jimenez got the second out of the inning, but then allowed a single, putting runners at first and second with the Brewers number nine batter up. Jimenez was tiring, but since he was scheduled to bat leadoff, it was not surprising that he stayed in to pitch. What was surprising is that the Brewers left they're starting pitcher in to hit for a third time. The inning ended on a week popout to second.
Inning seven: the Brewers left Bush in the game to pitch the seventh and he promptly retired Country pinch-hitter Schrager. He then allowed a single to Milledge, who easily stole second. Spilborghs singled two pitches later and Milledge was flying home all the way. Frankly, he probably would have been cut down at home, except that the leftfielder threw to third-base. Had he thrown home or to the cutoff man, he probably would have cut down Milledge if the throws were accurate, but the relay throw from third was too late.
Spilborghs was caught in a run down for the second out and then Dan Johnson flied out to shortstop. With Spilborghs being the second out of the inning, the Country did a double switch, inserting the pitcher into the number two hole and inserting Ryan Sweeney into the nine spots and playing right field. Stratton pitched and retired the Brewers uneventfully. At the end of seven, the Brewers led five – three.
Inning eight: Bush started the eighth inning as well, and after getting two strikes on Cust quickly, made a few pitches nowhere near the plate and then Cust doubled off the left centerfield wall. Finally, the Brewers called in Brian Shouse (90 BE 2SF – two, SK – five, CH – two, SL – two).
Shouse's first pitch to Josh Fields was an inside changeup that Fields hammered over the left field fence, tying the game. Harris grounded out, but then Huisman walked on five pitches. The Country made it as far as second base, but the inning ended when Sweeney watched a sinker just catch the inside corner for a called strike three.
Fielder took the lead back when he hit an 0-2 inside slider over the centerfield fence. End of eight, Brewers lead six – five
Inning nine: Eric Gagne (94 BE DCB-5, CH-5) took the mound for the Brewers, facing Milledge
Pitch one: a drop curveball catches the lower outside corner, zero – one
Pitch two: drop curveball catches the upper inside corner, zero – two
Pitch three: A changeup misses low and inside, one – two
Pitch four: A changeup misses low and inside, two – two
Pitch five: a fastball up and in. Milledge is jammed but muscles the ball over the pitcher's head and it rolls outside the grasp of the middle fielders for a single.
Erdos pinch hits for the Country pitcher. Erdos takes an inside fastball for strike one and then watches a changeup drop below the plate as Milledge steals second. Erdos swings at a drop curve sliding through the plate and bounces the ball to the right of Gagne. Gagne easily retrieves to grounder but is unable to stop Milledge from taking third-base. Erdos is out, leaving the time runner on third with one out and Dan Johnson at the plate.
Dan Johnson, clearly not using his home run swing, put the bat on the ball and drove it into right center field for a double, bringing the tying run home easily. When questioned later, Johnson said "Gagne looked really good out there – had really good movement on his pitches, so I just tried to make solid contact and drive the ball."
Cust singled up the middle and Johnson was sent home, but the throw to the plate cut him down. When Fields grounded out to short, its sent the game into the bottom of the ninth inning, tied at six.
The Country made another double switch, putting Erdos in left and moving the picture to the number four hole (Cust's spot).
Shawn Green took the mound in the bottom of the 9th and promptly struck out Jason Kendall. Tony Glen pinch-hit for Gagne and singled to right. Another out followed by an infield single put runners at first and second with two out against cleanup hitter, Braun. Braun popped out into shallow right field, sending the game into extra innings.
Inning ten: Turnbow (98 EE SL – four, CH – three) started the top of the 10th. Turnbow retired the Country in order, and the Brewers immediately came out swinging, putting runners at first and third with no out. Green induced a grounder to short against the drawn in infield and the first out of the inning was recorded at home. Green started to tire and was immediately pulled in favor of Andrew "fireman" Brown. Brown closed out the inning on to consecutive ground balls to 3rd, sending the game into the 11th tied at six.
Inning 11: Erdos lined a single into left center field to lead off the inning, But he was erased when Dan Johnson hit into a double play. Oddly, the Country let Brown hit in this situation. Said the country manager later "With Brown coming up with 2 out and the bases empty, I like our chances better with Brown pitching the next inning and us getting a new set of three outs in the 12th, over pulling him now and hoping we could make magic with two outs. We had done it in the past, but Brown was pitching well and I wanted to keep him in the game."
The Country manager looked like a genius as Brown took a fastball low in the zone and drove it over the second baseman's head for a single. Fields singled to left center, putting the go-ahead runner on second with Harris at the plate. Harris might have been a little jittery, and he reached for an outside fastball, tapping it to short and was easily retired, ending the threat.
In the bottom 1/2, Brown was clearly overmatching pinch-hitter Great Scott (EE) and threw a noce slider at 0-2 that Scott hit off his wrists to the left of the infield. Oddly, Fields insisted on covering third-base rather than coming in to the ball, and Harris started to cover second. By the time Harris rerouted himself, Scott was on first and an easy out turned into the potential winning run on base. A fielders choice and a double-play ended the threat and sent the game into the 12th inning.
Inning 12: singles by Huisman, Thurston, and Sweeney loaded the bases for Lastings Milledge, who was 4/6 on the day. Millage went after a two – one split fingered fastball, tapping it down the first base line. The first baseman easily retrieved the ball and took the out of first, allowing the go-ahead run to score and leaving runners at second and third with one out for Erdos. Erdos swung on a fastball right down the middle of the plate and popped it up to the second baseman, and Dan Johnson grounded out to second. Still, the game entered the bottom of the 12th with the Country clinging to a seven – six lead.
Chamberlain took the mound to face the Brewers number three batter, and made short work of the slugger, striking out Braun on four pitches. He then used a nasty slider to jam Great Scott, who hit a slow roller to first for out number two. Chamberlain looked primed to finish off Mike Cameron and end the game, but the veteran swung at a high inside fastball, putting it over the left-field fence to tie the game, before closing out the inning on a fly out to center.
Innings 13-17: the Country were retired in order in the 13th. In the bottom of the 13th, Angel Sanchez, a pinch-hitter in the top of the inning, went out to play shortstop and the pitcher was listed in the number six batting position previously manned by Harris. The Country's number six starter, Bourgeois (90 DC SL – two, CU – four, CB – four) took the mound.
The Brewers threatened, putting runners at first and second with one out. The next batter, Weeks, flied out to right field, and then Craig Counsel, who entered the game earlier as a defensive replacement, flied out to second, sending the game into the 13th inning tied at seven.
The game remained tied at seven heading into the bottom of the 15th, when Brewers third baseman, Hall, singled up the middle and then stole second, representing the winning runner with one out. A fielder's choice allowed Hall to reach third with two out. At this point, the Brewers made an unusual move, allowing relief picture Torres to hit. Torres had pitched four innings to that point and was visibly tired. Further, the Brewers did have one pinch-hitter left, although Torres (DF) was an arguably better hitter then bench player, Cannon (EF). Torres groundout to short, ending the inning tied at seven.
The game was tied entering the 17th inning. Huisman led off that inning with a single, and Thurston followed suit. Sweeney was jammed on a slider but muscled into shallow leftfield; however, Huisman had to wait to see if the ball would be caught and had to hold up at 3rd. This brought up Lastings Milledge with no out and the bases-loaded.
A Milledge single scored one run. An Erdos opposite field single and a Johnson fielder's choice scored two runs, and the game entered the bottom of the 17th inning with the Country leading 10 – 7.
A leadoff single, a deep fly out to left, and then it appeared the game would end on a double play, as Johnson scooped up a grounder to first base, threw to second, and Sanchez' relay appeared on target and in time but Thurston, for some reason, cut the throw off, keeping the inning alive with two outs against the dangerous Bill Hall, who was 4/7 with a homerun so far this game. Hall singled, bringing the tying run to the plate. With the count one and one, Kendall laced a shot up the left-field line that was just foul by inches. A curveball struck out Kendall, and ended the game with a 10 – 7 Country win in the 17th inning.
Comments: although this game "only" had 17 runs scored, there were 52 hits, meaning plenty of runners left on base. The Country were out homered six – one. Milledge was the offensive of player of the game, going 5/9 with two RBIs, three runs scored, and 4 stolen bases. Josh Fields was next, going 3/8 with 1 homerun and three RBIs. Ryan Sweeney gets an honorable mention for coming into the game later and still going 3/5 with a run scored.
The Brewers got to starting pitcher Jimenez early and often, touching him for five earned-runs, but the Country's other five pitchers who appeared in this game only allowed a total of two earned-runs over the final 11 innings. Two runs over 11 innings is an amazing performance.
At this point, the Brewers are in trouble, having used every healthy pitcher they had in this game. They absolutely need a solid performance from their next starter.
|
|
Login
Register
Wiki
FAQ
Search
