There is No Joy on the Front Range
NLN: Postseason Report
By Francis Ferry, NLN beat writer
November 2, 2011: Aurora, Colorado – Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
The fireworks have exploded, and fans celebrate late into the night,
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy on the Front Range – mighty Ice Cold has struck out.
My apologies to Ernest Lawrence Thayer, but really, fans of the Aurora Borealis, doesn’t that sum up the colossal collapse of the Aurora Borealis to the hands of the Florida Featherheads? The Borealis came home with a 3-2 lead, needing only a single victory to clinch their second Rodriguez Cup, but instead they did something they hadn’t done before: lost three in a row in the playoffs and lost three straight at home after dominating the home playoff games. Only twice all season had they lost three straight at home: early July to Palm Springs and early August to Tempe.
Game 6 may have been the greatest Rodriguez Cup game in the short history of the PEBA. It was, in fact, two separate games. Franklin Browne and Kojima were dialed in, and for 7 innings we had a taut 1-1 game. Both pitched into the 8th, giving up only 6 hits. Kojima left after giving up his second run, and Browne finished his 8th staked to a two-run lead, which then became a three-run lead in the 9th, primarily due to the failure of Francisco Garza to get anyone out. Garza pitched 1.1 innings and gave up 5 hits and 2 runs. The former Hitmen who came to Aurora to be the primary setup man was great in the regular season (with a .196 BABIP), but was a flop in the postseason (with a .433 BABIP).
Doubles by Jamison, Miyata and Morimoto, along with a Zhu single in the 8th, got the Featherheads up 3-1. Then Taisuke Endo and Luis Torres doubled in the 9th to make it 4-1.
Thoughts amongst all turned to the next day and a Game 7, but Aurora, as was the case against Bakersfield and Crystal Lake, was not done. Chris Weaver led off with a triple, Quiñones walked and Mark Richardson – in one of the few times he came through – doubled, and suddenly it was 4-3. Knight singled and a sac fly from Rivera and with one out the game was tied. Aaron Turner, who came in earlier for Pierce, grounded into a double play, and that quickly ended the inning.
On to the 10th, where Morimoto sent an apparent dagger into the Aurora hearts with a leadoff HR. Not to be out done, Jim White returned the favor in the bottom of the 10th, and when Wilson Berry followed that with a walk, bringing up Weaver, things looked good. Unfortunately, yet another double play killed the rally. That was the third of the game, the fourth coming in the bottom of the 11th after Torres hit a solo HR in the top of the inning for the winner. This time it was Knight who would be doubled-upped.
The fans left Game 6 totally demoralized, seeing their team come back twice and yet lose. They arrived for Game 7 in better spirits, as the “Tillerman” – as George Crocker has dubbed Artie Tillman – was on the mound, and he had been outstanding in the postseason. Artie was not himself, going 5 innings and giving up 8 hits and all four Florida runs, the crushing blow being a Morimoto 2-run bomb in the third. That would be all they would need.
One would think if Aurora held Florida to 4, that they would win, but on this night Tu-an Sima was what we call effectively wild. Sima would go 6, giving up a single hit while walking 7 batters. Aurora had runners on for most of the game but couldn’t get the hit. In the 8th, Berry and Weaver singled, but Quiñones and Richardson struck out to kill the rally. Aurora finally strung some hits together in the 9th against Jesse Powell. Rivera doubled and Turner, in for the injured Pierce, walked. White drove Rivera in with a 1-out single and Berry scored Turner with an RBI groundout. Darwin Craft came on and served up a breath-holding liner towards the fence, but what looked like a Cup-clinching HR turned into a Cup-clinching last out as Miyata pulled it in at the fence. With a collective groan in the stands and heads hung low in the Aurora dugout, Florida stormed the field in victory, the fourth in five seasons for the Imperial League.
So a wild 2011 season comes to an end for Aurora, and preparations begin for the 2012 campaign. Aurora management plans on an end of the season State of the Franchise press conference Thursday, where there are expectations that the Tophams will address not only their first year in the PEBA and the crushing PEC loss, but also the questions regarding Chris Rodriguez and the ownership of the Borealis that have been recently raised.
Congratulations to the Aurora Borealis on a fine season, despite the disappointing finish, and congratulations also to the Florida Featherheads, your 2011 PEBA Champions!