Playoff Thread

[klewis]

Good luck guys in game 7! At least on paper, I have to give the slight edge to Crystal Lake on the starting pitching match up. I think so far it has been a courageous effort on Crystal Lake's part. They were down 0-2 in the series and without two of their heavy thumpers (Frazier and Lopez).

Alibi was amazing against Florida. Hopefully we will be back next year. Charleston will be tough to beat in the Cup finals. 3 years in a row that the Rodriguez Cup finalist has come from the IL division... go IL!

[Sandgnats (Bill)]

With the 7-6 Game #7 win, are we now more evil than Aurora?

Great photo by the way John!

I'm still sort of shocked we outlasted the Borealis! Great series John-you have to love a 7 game series. Well, I think the only team as happy as we are is the Statesmen. I'm sure Jon is very relieved to be playing CL instead of AUR. I don't know about the rest of the playoff teams, but this year has been pretty wacky from my perspective!

Looks like a really evenly matched series between CST and CL. The drama begins Saturday.

GOOD LUCK JON!

[John]

Congratulations to you Bill, and to Dean as well. You don't give yourself enough credit, Bill; you guys have built a truly outstanding team, and you've done it on a budget. You have a lot to be proud of. I think this match-up between Crystal Lake and Charleston may be the most entertaining one we've seen to date.

As much as I would have loved a second trip to the PEC, I'm really happy that a new team will once again win the Rodriguez Cup in our 4th year of play. It's nice to see different teams get their shot at the glory. Plus it keeps Tyler busy making up new championship banners.

[Denny]

With the 7-6 Game #7 win, are we now more evil than Aurora?

I've always considered you Evil Empires 1 and 1a

[Sandgnats (Bill)]

With the 7-6 Game #7 win, are we now more evil than Aurora?

I've always considered you Evil Empires 1 and 1a

Do keep in mind that if the Statesmen beat us and consequently win the PEC, 60% of our evil points are transferred over to CST (as clearly explained on p.16 of the Evil Empire training guide). Additionally, the Statesmen already have some evil points accrued due to their PEBA success. CST has averaged over 98 wins a season over the last 4 years and believe me, when it comes to evil points, that DOES NOT get overlooked!

So, if the Statesmen do take home the Rodriguez Cup, we may have a new evil empire in PEBA(I haven't crunched the numbers yet-so I can't say for sure).

[klewis]

Good luck guys. For sure, we will have a non-repeat champion. Of course, I will have to root for the IL and the Dixie division!

[Alan Ehlers]

I think it is great also that a differant team has won the cup in four years. I know next year it will be Tempe versus San Antonio so you heard it hear first LOL

[Tyler]

Good luck guys. For sure, we will have a non-repeat champion. Of course, I will have to root for the IL and the Dixie division!

And, as a masochist, I have to root for Hu to win Rodriguez Cup MVP.

[James Bowman]

Alibi was amazing against Florida. Hopefully we will be back next year. Charleston will be tough to beat in the Cup finals. 3 years in a row that the Rodriguez Cup finalist has come from the IL division... go IL!

Hey, you guys are still Dixie Champs, that's something to be proud of! We're just happy to get one shot at a title before those youngsters come up, and Florida begins to rule the IL for the next decade, am I right?

With the 7-6 Game #7 win, are we now more evil than Aurora?

Great photo by the way John!

I'm still sort of shocked we outlasted the Borealis! Great series John-you have to love a 7 game series. Well, I think the only team as happy as we are is the Statesmen. I'm sure Jon is very relieved to be playing CL instead of AUR. I don't know about the rest of the playoff teams, but this year has been pretty wacky from my perspective!

Looks like a really evenly matched series between CST and CL. The drama begins Saturday.

GOOD LUCK JON!

Thanks Bill, and good luck to you and Dean as well. Truthfully. I'm just happy to be here, representing the IL. London and Florida are great teams with fantastic ownership, and each series could of gone either way. They've always played us tough in the regular season the last few years, but thankfully we were able to prevail.

This will be an interesting series, and has the makings of some pretty exciting pitching match-ups. I think this will go 7 for sure, with at least 5 1-run games! May the best team win!

Oh, and did anybody catch that game changing play in the bottom of the 8th in game 7 by Crystal Lake's Bob Jefferson? Talk about coming up HUGE!

Good luck guys. For sure, we will have a non-repeat champion. Of course, I will have to root for the IL and the Dixie division!

And, as a masochist, I have to root for Hu to win Rodriguez Cup MVP.

Thanks for your support fellow Dixieites! We'll give it our best to take the Rodriguez Cup away from the Sub-League!

[Sandgnats (Bill)]

Congrats Jon!

That would have been incredibly fun to watch live!! 1-0 pitchers masterpiece won by Victor Matos! 1 little HR is all that was needed when you have Matos bringing it like he did.

Great game overall, but I am just shaking my head at my team in the 9th. I mean, we're playing in the championship and we (CL) have man on 1st and 3rd with only one out. Through 25 outs, we haven't managed to score 1 run. So, you would think that outs would be considered a premium by the AI or anybody running the team. Nope!

The AI actually sacrificed with a man already on 3rd base! So, then we had 2 outs and the game rests on the shoulders of 1 man instead of 2. We only needed 1 run to stay alive and a run can come from anything....a grounder or a fly ball. All I can say is Ugggh!

This is the ultimate in irony I might add. I have mentioned on several occasions that the Statesmen had as a team, ZERO sac bunts during the season. They ended up with 2 on the entire season, but Jon specifically stated how poorly the AI handled sacrifice bunts. In that crucial situation for us (CL) in the 9th at home, the exact point that Jon mentioned in his defense of having his Sac slide bar all the way down as a strategy, happened and bit me right in the ass!

What is truly sad is that I started looking at some of the boxscores and the AI does handle sac bunting poorly. I literally was going to change my sac bunting before last night's game but I thought we were broadcasting the game live and I therefore would have the ability to manage our actions. Unfortunately, we didn't get to do it live. For tonight, my slide bar has been adjusted. After researching AI handling of sac bunts and given the fact that Jeff Graham has three 10 ratings at catcher, conserving outs will be important for us to having a chance at winning the PEC.

If we can prevent CST from hitting HR's often, our chances are very good. But, when you couple CST's ability to draw the walk with their propensity to blast longballs-that spells doom for their opponents. We do have a benefit of having a rotation that owns strong stuff ratings and consequently K's a lot of hitters. CST plays right into that as their hitters strike out quite often. Like I said, I think CST's success in the PEC will be directly linked to their ability to hitting HR's.

Tonight should be great! O'monahan vs. Pacheco. 2 terrific pitchers that have been completely destroyed in the playoffs. Will they show their real ability tonight? I'm guessing yes and it looks to be a great game!

Good luck Jon.

[Sandgnats (Bill)]

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE:

Can the Crystal Lake Sandgnats go an entire series without scoring a single run? That is quite a challenging mission, but we (CL) are half way done! Just 2 more nights of Statesmen shutout pitching performances and CL will set a record that will surely stand the test of time!

[James Bowman]

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE:

Can the Crystal Lake Sandgnats go an entire series without scoring a single run? That is quite a challenging mission, but we (CL) are half way done! Just 2 more nights of Statesmen shutout pitching performances and CL will set a record that will surely stand the test of time!

Just like that the Gnats have outscored the Statesmen in the series. True to Bill's words, all four runs the Statesmen have scored in the PEC have come on solo home runs.

The Gnats did an outstanding job with productive outs. Lots of runners advancing on ground balls while avoiding the double play, and not to mention two infield singles.

The Statesmen forgot their hammers at home, because "Nails" was simply marvelous!

We need to start hitting, at least a little, or this series could be over soon!

Congrats on the win guys, and good luck the rest of the way!

[Ghosts]

If you were the Bears, and we co-owned by Aric Kinast, would you root for or against the Statesmen who are managed by Aric Kinast?

I have to say, I'm rooting against - but the question is this: if Charleston wins do the Bears' ownership team share some of the glory?

In any event, I was in Charleston this past week and the lack of fan interest there rivals Tampa Bay and the Marlins.

Not a single cap or banner, no television coverage, no mention in the sports pages - NOTHING.

Charleston fans are the most spoiled in all of PEBA.

[John]

In any event, I was in Charleston this past week and the lack of fan interest there rivals Tampa Bay and the Marlins.

Not a single cap or banner, no television coverage, no mention in the sports pages - NOTHING.

Charleston fans are the most spoiled in all of PEBA.

Everyone knows Charleston is a hockey town.

By the way, I need to sheepishly admit that I had temporarily forgotten our Charleston is located in South Carolina, not West Virginia.

[Tyler]

By the way, I need to sheepishly admit that I had temporarily forgotten our Charleston is located in South Carolina, not West Virginia.

Some would say even if they were, there'd only be one baseball team in the state.