(AP-Van Schaick Island, NY)
TML Biff Barnes Highlight Reel - October 2010
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2010 Playoff Upset Special!
In a shocking turn of events, the three teams
with the best regular season records were all
eliminated during the Divisional Playoff Round!
The only 100+ win team to advance was the Toxic
Waste River Rats.
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Complete linescores and stats on the TML web page
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OCEANIC CONFERENCE DIVISION ROUND:
The Rocky Mountain Chinooks, at .538, took the
lowest winning percentage of all playoff teams
into the post season. The Arkansas Travelers,
with a TML best 114 wins, selected the Chinooks
as their first round opponent. The Chinooks won
a 12-inning G-1 and then ripped off 2 more wins,
to lead 3 games to none! The Travs posted a
pair of wins, but the Chinooks completed the
upset with a convincing 7-5 G-6 win! Delmon
Young (11-26, .423, 5 R, 5 RBI) led the attack
for the Chinooks. The strong frontline Chinook
starters C.C. Sabathia and Tim Lincecum were a
bit shaky, but the bullpen was solid. The Travs'
powerful regular season tandem of Pablo Sandoval
and Shin-Soo Choo were held in check by the
Chinook staff.
Without checking the record books thoroughly,
it is quite possible that when Rocky Mountain
gave the ball to Brett Cecil in G-4, it marked
the worst regular season stats ever for a TML
post-season starting pitcher: 3-16, 6.67.
Meanwhile, the defending TML Champs, Walla Walla
Wombats were taking on the Wild Card Danny Way
Diamonds. The Wombats jumped out to a 3 games
to none lead in the series! The Diamonds did
manage a G-4 win, but the Wombats took the series
in G-5, winning 5-2. The Wombats took severe
advantage of the weak throwing arms of the Danny
Way catchers and stole 21 bases (CS only twice)
in the 5 games! SB Champ Michael Bourn was
10-11 in SBs. The Wombats used 22 relievers in
the series, keeping the Diamonds off balance.
Oceanic Conf. Final: Rocky Mtn. vs. Walla Walla
(A re-match of last season's TML World Series!)
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ATMOSPHERIC CONFERENCE DIVISION ROUND:
Based on a 14-2 regular season domination, the
Beverly Hillbillies selected the Wild Card Carolina
Crawfish as their first round opponent. Justin
Verlander opened the series with a combined 6-hit
shutout! The Crawfish regrouped and reeled off 3
straight victories to open up a commanding 3-1
series lead! The Hillbillies fought back to win
the next two to even the series. G-6 was a hard-
fought, 10-inning affair. With the series tied at
3 apiece, the Crawfish jumped on 20-game winner
Dan Haren to open up an early 6-1 lead after 4
innings. The Hillbillies rallied for 3 in the 6th,
but the Crawfish bullpen shut them down, for a
6-4 win and a trip to the Conference Finals! For
the Crawfish, Ben Zobrist (13-28, .464, 4 RBI),
Jeff Baker (5-12, .417, 4 RBI) and Ronny Cedeno
(9-24, .375, 6 RBI) led the attack.
The Toxic Waste River Rats edged the Rensselaer
Strikers in the first 2 games, by identical
scores of 5-4. The Strikers came back to win
2 of 3 in their home park, the only loss to
22-game winner Javier Vazquez. With a 3-2
series lead, Toxin Vincente Padilla took his
undefeated record to the mound and tossed a
CG, 5-hit shutout to close out the series!
The Toxins used a combination of a balanced
offense and fine pitching to advance.
Atmos. Conf. Final: Carolina vs. Toxic Waste
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Up next ... the Conference Finals!
Staff Columnist - Biff Barnes
posted by Biff Barnes @ 3:57 PM
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