Call to the Post - 2037 Playoff Edition

[Thoroughbreds]

For the 4th straight season the Kentucky Thoroughbreds are heading to the playoffs as a wild card entry. This is the third straight year they have gone is as the #1 seed in the WC series, unfortunately for them they have lost the past 2 years to the London Underground. This year the opponent will be different as the New Jersey Hitmen took the other spot. Either way Kentucky fans are desperately hoping the results will change.

Playoff Matchup

New Jersey and Kentucky should be a hard fought close series. Kentucky won the season series 5-4, but New Jersey outscored the Thoroughbreds during the 9 games as many of Kentucky's 5 wins came in extra innings or 1 run games. New Jersey features 3 quality left handed starters in Chris Pate , Young-Jae Yi and Yasuoka Seki, who combined to go 44-21 on the season. The good news for Kentucky is that they fared well against left handed pitching this year going 29-13 overall, but It isn't great news for 2 of the left handed sluggers on the team - first baseman Alberto Santos hit .174 with 0 homers and 0 RBI vs New Jersey this season. Despite struggling against left handed pitching in general, Santos is expected to be in the lineup everyday due to his ability to get on base at a high rate. Rocky Kowalski, however, will probably not see much playing time vs the NJ southpaws. Despite hitting .280 with 25 HR and 98 RBI on the season, Kowalski did not see much time vs left handed pitching.
This makes rookie DH Dan Gore a very important piece in this series for the Thoroughbreds. After getting called up earlier in the year Gore didn't stop hitting and his bat was tough to keep out of the lineup. His OPS + of 165 actually led the team and he became a fixture at DH when there was a left handed pitcher on the mound. He will be somewhere in the middle of the order during this series.

As far as Kentucky pitching goes, Dong-Hak Yi (5-1 3.05) has pitched well since coming to the Thoroughbreds, including 2 starts against New Jersey in witch he posted a 2.87 ERA in 15.2 innings. How Kentucky does in this series will likely rest on the arm of Yi.
Valke Petiet (13-11 3.34) has struggled in his last few starts but has arguably been their best pitcher this season and will definitely get a start in this opening series. He did not face New Jersey this year, so that might be an advantage to him since their hitters are unfamiliar with his stuff. Expect Petiet to be on short lease due to his recent struggles.
Ju-Hyung Park (16-5 3.16) had another solid season in the middle of the rotation and has most definitely earned a post season start. He was 0-1 with a 4.37 ERA against New Jersey this season.
The wild card in the Thoroughbred rotation is Luis Jimenez (11-11 4.76). Last season Jimenez was an all-star starting pitcher and runner up in the golden arm voting. He also has been the Kentucky's best post season pitcher over the past 2 years. Jimenez has struggled this season, posting a 4.76 ERA - but the deciding factor on whether he gets a start might be that he is left handed. New Jersey isn't nearly as good vs left handers as they are right handed pitching and New Jersey's 2 best hitters, {b]Tomas Martinez[/b] and Dennis Johnson destroy righties. One thing that is likely to hinder Kentucky's chances during this series is the fact that they do not have a lefty reliever to come in and face Martinez and Johnson.
One starter you probably won't see is Jose Mora (15-8 3.83) - Mora does not match up well with N.J. and was pummelled in two starts against them this year. He was largely responsible for the run differential being in New Jersey's favour during the season.
Will this be the season that Kentucky gets their shot at Florida? Or will it be another early WC exit?

[Thoroughbreds]

For many in Kentucky, just making it out of the Wild Card and to the Divisional series was a success. The thought of knocking of the Florida Farstriders was just a pipe dream to most - hopefully Kentucky can keep it close, was the thought on most Thoroughbred fans minds. The players on the other hand had different ideas. After their 2-1 win in extra innings on Monday, Kentucky pulled off the unthinkable in not only beating the PEBA's top team, but beating them in just 5 games.

Game 1

Game 1 in Florida was a wild one! Kentucky opened up an early 3-0 lead thanks in large part to a 2nd inning 2-run homer by catcher Antonio Mesegue. Antonio Santos would hid a 3-run homer is the 4th that would extend the lead to 7-2 and everything was coming up aces for the Thoroughbreds. Florida went on to knock Kentucky starter Ju-Hyung Park out of the game in the bottom half of the 6th inning as they would score 3 more runs to close the gap to 3 runs. Pedro Bermudez would respond in the top half of the 7th by hitting a lead off homer that would make the score 9-5.
Things would then get crazy in the bottom half of the 8th inning after Jose Perez hit a 2-run homer off of Kunisda Yasuda. Yasuda then sent the next pitch into the midsection of Florida star Gordon Knopp. Knopp wasted no time in charging the mound and causing a full scale brawl. Both Yasuda and Knopp were ejected. Things calmed down after that - Closer Matt Brown overcame a leadoff walk in the bottom of the ninth and closed out the game, giving Kentucky a 9-7 win to kickoff the series.
"Absolutely no way I am throwing at someone in such an important playoff game when we only have a 2 run lead in the 8th inning. I know that guy (Knopp) is a superstar but he has to give his head a shake." said a visually frustrated Yasuda after the game.
Either way tensions and stakes were high leading into game 2.

Game 2

Kentucky fans were livid that Gordon Knopp was not suspended for at least game 2, but there were no brawls in this one. It was a intensely contested battle despite the final scoreline of 8-4. Kentucky struck early again scoring 5 runs against Florida starter Hen-To Tse in the 1st inning. Tse only managed to record one out before he was pulled. It was easily the worst start of his career and shocking for a pitcher that has gone 40-6 over the past 2 seasons. Bermudez hit a 2 run double in the first inning followed by a 2-run homer by Antonio Canseco. Unfortunately for Kentucky they would not score another run until the 9th inning.
Kentucky starter Luis Jimenez, who has been excellent in the playoffs throughout his young career, gave up 4 runs in the 3rd inning, but he would steady the ship and end up with a final stat line of 6 iP's 6 hits and 4 earned runs. Reliever Nelson Alvarado would come to pitch 3 scoreless innings and Kentucky would score 4 insurance runs in the top of the 9th and end up with a flattering 8-4 win.
Not many had expected Kentucky to win 2 games in the series, let alone the first 2 games on the road, but here they were....could they take advantage???

Game 3

Like almost every game in this series this one could have gone either way. Scoring came in bunches, but infrequently. Florida scored 4 runs off of starter Dong-Hak Yi in the top of the 3rd, highlighted by a Knopp home run. Antonio Canseco hit a 3-run homer in the bottom of the 6th to make the score 4-3. In the bottom half of the 9th, Kentucky loaded the bases with 1 out, but Dan Gore struck out and Canseco grounded out which ended the threat and gave Florida a much needed victory.
Kentucky missed a glorious chance to go up 3-0 on the league's best team... Many thought it would come back to haunt them.

Game 4

Game 4 was one for the ages. Experts were saying it was a must win game for Kentucky even though they were leading in the series. There were more early runs as Florida scored 1 in the first but Canseco knocked in 2 in the bottom half of the inning with his 2 out triple giving Kentucky a 2-1 lead. The stadium was shaking when light hitting second baseman, Dale Spencer hit a 2-run homer in the bottom of the 7th. This was followed up immediately by a run scoring triple by Pedro Bermudez and suddenly the Thoroughbreds were leading 5-1 going into the 8th inning. The roof was coming of the building as fans realized they were so close to a 3-1 series lead.
Florida clawed back 2 runs in the top of the 8th when Van Wondel doubled home 2 runs. Thankfully for the Kentucky faithful this was Van Wondels only hit of the entire series. Kentucky was one strike away in the 9th inning when Knopp singled home 2 runs to tie the game 5-5. Fans were stunned as the game was going to extras.
After 2 scoreless innings things got worse for Kentucky as Jose Rios singled home the go ahead run for Florida heading into the bottom half of the 12th inning. The Thoroughbreds started the bottom half with walks. Then Rocky Kowalski hit a double which set up an Antonio Mesegue game winning sacrifice fly. Kentucky was one win away!

Game 5

Game 5 was a low scoring affair that also went to extra innings. The teams were tied 1 to 1 in the bottom of the 10th when Canseco, who had a unbelievable series, hit a bases loaded 2-out single. Kentucky fans were in disbelief and celebrations went on long into the night.
Canseco was the series MVP, hitting .304 with 2 homers and 9 RBI's. Many of his hits were in pressure packed situations to help win the game. Van Wondel was left shaking his head as his miserable series ended - in the final game he was 0-5 with 7 runners left on base.
Kentucky does not have much chance to celebrated this series and they now move on to face the other powerhouse in the SL, West Virginia. Can they pull off back to back upsets?