Series tied at 1. Game 3 on Thursday @ West Michigan.
The last thing I remember about the 2005 Cougars season was sadly strolling out of the stadium after the season ending loss, and hearing the PA system play “Wake Me When September Ends.” Wednesday was the last time for Cougars baseball in Kane County in 2006, and I walked out after a loss while hearing “Wake Me When September Ends.” I think I’m noticing a pattern!
It’d be nice if we could hear that song after a win, one of these years. This year’s difference is this is not the end; the series is just tied, and the Cougars can still win this. They’ll just have to take 2 games on the road to do it. It’s not going to be easy, but at least there’s still baseball to be played.
This game seemed all about making silver linings from bad clouds, just not enough to win. The play of the game, and perhaps the play of the season, was all about turning something gone horribly wrong into a beautiful collision.
6th inning, White Caps by 1. Chad Boyd on third, Jeff Baisley on first after a fielding error by the pitcher. Raul Padron’s at the plate with two outs, and hits a ball that drops in front of the West Michigan right fielder. Boyd scores easily, and Baisley does a nice job of going third to first. The ball’s a bit in the alley, and maybe Padron thinks they’re going to throw home, so he makes the turn at first. The throw in is cut off, thrown to second, and Padron is in deep trouble.
Baisley’s watching this from third, and Padron forces West Michigan to throw back to first. I yell “RUN TO HOME!”. Baisley’s on the other side of the stadium, but of course he hears me and runs as they throw back towards second again. West Michigan SS alertly throws it home, and the throw appears to beat Baisley by a step and a half. But this is the playoffs, the guy running in from third is the league MVP, and he’s a large man who’s not stopping.
BOOM!
The catchers takes, by far, the worst of the collision, and the ball rolls out of his glove towards the mound. Baisley touches home plate, and the catcher spends about a minute looking at the clouds in the sky. Tie game. Catcher would work out a crink in his leg muscle, start to leave the game, but end up staying in. (He’d later get lifted for a pinch hitter.)
Unfortunately, this was all for naught. Cougars starter Joe Piekraz was vintage Pedro Martinez in the first three innings – 9 up, 9 down, 6 Ks – and then the clock struck “second time thru the order” and he turned back into an undrafted free agent. West Michigan got 3 off him in the 4th, he settled down a bit, and then let a couple people on in the 8th. Joey Newby came in, got the out he was supposed to get and IBB the other guy he faced (though he probably wouldn’t have had to do that if he didn’t open 1B with a wild pitch.) Bases loaded. Brad Kilby, the guy with the 1.63 ERA, and no runs given up in his last 10 regular season games, gets his turn – and hits the batter on his first pitch. Winning run in, and the Cougars couldn’t find a run to tie up.
At least it was a nice day. A lot nicer than I was expecting; I was reading reports of it being in the upper fifties, but it felt about mid 60s and I ended up a little bit over dressed. (I lived.)
I can’t find playoff stats, but I went thru the box scores just for this
CF Chad Boyd, thru 7 playoff games
.347 average (8 H / 23 AB)
.559 on base (11 BB + 8 H / 34 PA)
.696 slugging (2 2B, 2 HR, 4 singles = 16 bases / 23 AB )
8 runs
2 RBI
In 5 home games, he’s .500/.666/1.000.
Breakdown:
1A 1 for 4, 2B, RBI 2H 1 for 1, 2B, 4 BB, R 3H 2 for 4, 2 R, 2 BB 4A 0 for 4, BB 5H 1 for 3, HR, 3 R, 2 BB 6H 0 for 3, 2 BB 7H 3 for 4, 2 R, HR, RBI
He’ll have fun in AA next year.
Anyway, getting back to the game – I’ve been kinda talking myself into the upside of what amounts to a 9 hour total car ride on Saturday, if they make it to game 5. (4 hours there, 4 hours back, 1 hour of being lost.) The problem with trying to think about a Game 5 is that you’re rooting against your team by implication; they can’t get there without losing twice, and being in danger of losing it all. Still, the idea of a crazy trip sounds interesting now – either goes well or it goes bad, but either way I’ve got a story to tell. I’m trying to change how I’m looking it, to make it work for these next two games – if they win, I’m happy, because my team won, and if they lose, I’m closer to One Last Baseball Game. Either way I’m winning; it’s the silver lining to a loss.