Call to the Post - Playoff Edition

[Thoroughbreds]

For the 2nd season in a row, the Thoroughbreds will be heading to the PEBA playoffs via the wildcard. At 98 and 64 the team had their 3rd best record in franchise history and this will be the 13th time they have made the playoffs. However they are 0 for 13 as far as championships go and this playoff season will be no cake walk. Their first matchup will be against a very good London team and should they make it past them, superpowers Florida and West Virginia will be waiting in the wings.

1. Bring on London

Despite Kentucky having a 12 game advantage in the standings this series should be very close as these teams are evenly matched. The run differential between the 2 teams during the season was virtually the same, the main difference in the records was the fact that Kentucky's record in one run games was better. Offensively things look pretty close - both teams had identical .281 OBP's while Kentucky had a slightly better OPS; .649 to .640. The only offensive number that really favours the Thoroughbreds is the fact that they had over 200 more stolen bases than London.
On the pitching side of things London may have the slight edge. Their team ERA was 2.73 compared the Kentucky's 3.06 and London gave up almost 200 less hits during the regular season.
Led by 2b Jones, SS Hernandez and CF Chavarria, the big edge in this series may go to London on the defensive side of things. All 3 are elite fielders in key positions and overall London is one of the best fielding teams in the league and Kentucky definitely are not.
Kentucky won the season series 6-3 but many of the games were extremely close. Do not be surprised if this series goes the distance.

2. Big lineup change for Kentucky?

Pedro Bermudez was expected to be the team's starting centerfielder this season, but he struggled out of the gate and spent most of the season in the minors. After starting the season strong, 1b Takoe Miyagi has been lost at the plate for the last month, so he is out as the team's starting first baseman. This will allow Brad Davis to move from DH to first base and Rocky Kowalski to DH. All this opens up a spot for Bermudez, who at the worst should at least help on the defensive side of things as he is a much better CF than Antonio Canseco . Lots of changes to start the playoffs - we will see how it works out.

3. Who will get the call in the rotation in the playoffs

This will be an extremely interesting call for Kentucky as all 5 starters were solid this season and all are pretty evenly matched as far as statistics go. The wild card will be rookie Luis Jiminez who went 8-3 with a 1.93 ERA after being a mid season call up. He had the best ERA and WHIP among the starters, but he is a rookie and has a small sample size of 88 innings pitched. Will Kentucky keep him in the rotation and could he even possibly be the game 1 starter? You would have to think that Brown, Park and Doyle will all get a start in this series but it will be tough to leave out Mora who had a breakout season with 16 wins. All in all Kentucky has options and if it goes to game five it might have to be all hands on deck or whomever has the hot hand,

[Thoroughbreds]

London earned the much needed split on the road and it looks like this series will be close as advertised.

Despite all the big name starters in the rotation, rookie Luis Jiminez got the call in game one for Kentucky and he was brilliant. Complete game shutout scattering 7 hits, while walking none. He was helped in the 7th inning by some poor base running when Ivan Garcia was thrown out trying to steal home and Jorge Lopez was thrown out at third base with 2 outs.

Outfielder Shu de Mu did most of the offensive damage and his 3 run homer in the 5th was more than enough to secure a victory for Kentucky as they took the game 6-0.

Game 2 was a different story, London's starer Luis Lopez game up only 3 hits and 1 earned run over 6+ innings of work. Reliever Norm Batstone almost blew the lead by giving up 2 in the ninth, but he managed to right the ship by leaving the tying run at 2nd base.
Giampaola Eremitani was the offensive star for London, hitting 2 homers.
The game was highlighted by a 5th inning brawl after Kentucky starter Chris Brown hit Jose Hernandez with a pitch and Hernandez deemed it was intentional and charged the mound.

Kentucky is going to need more from the heart of the order if they are going to win this series - Kowalski, Canseco and Davis have one hit each over 2 games and 2 RBI's between the 3 of them.
2 big name pitchers are up next for the Thoroughbreds - Michael Doyle and Ju-Hyung Park. Can they get the series back to Kentucky for game 5?