IT COMES DOWN TO A WINNER TAKE ALL GAME SEVEN!!   

Game 7 - Jose Berrios vs. Corey Kluber.  This game started wild as the score was tied four apiece after two innings.  Two of Stanford's runs were unearned as Adam Eaton took a bad route to a fly ball and then botched it for a two base error.  THEN...neither team scores again until Richmond breaks through with a run in the top of the 15th innings (second 15 inning game of the series).  Berrios went six innings, six hits, four runs, two earned, five strikeouts.  Kluber went 6 2/3 innings, seven hits, four runs, two walks and nine strikeouts.  Richmond had runners in scoring position in the 8th and 12th innings and could not capitalize.  Stanford's offense was quiet with the exception of a runner on third in the 14th.  Moving into the top of the 15th; Richmond breaks through with a ground out, pinch hit double by Asdrubal Cabrera.  Lorenzo Cain then singled in Cabrera for the go-ahead 5-4 lead (Richmond ened up loading the bases after Cain's single, but could not add insurance (would that be costly?).  We move to the bottom of the 15th with the World Series title on the line.  With Kenta Maeda pitching; Ben "Freakin" Zobrist leads off with a single off his card.  Alex Pollock follows with a single and error by Eduardo Escobar off the pitchers card putting the runners on 2nd and 3rd with no out.  Richmond walks Andrelton Simmons to load the bases with no out.  Framber Valdez is brought into face Charlie Blackmon and subsequently strikes him out.  Mookie Betts steps to the plate and the home crowd is roaring.  Mookie proceeds to slap a single (off his card to claim the series MVP) into right and Zobrist and Pollock sprint around the bases to claim the series title.

The full recap of the exciting 2018 GUSSOMO World Series can be found under the 2018 season tab.  Fenway Faithful totally deserved to win the Series. They came back from a 3-2 deficit to win the last two games and deny Kona Coast of back-to-back championships.

Great fun, bitter disappointment for me (Mike Volberding). Who would have thought that Chris Sale would lose three games and look bad in all three? Fenway had a great hitting lineup and the friendly confines of Fenway Park was a pretty good advantage versus the very stingy Coffee Grounds.

Michael Fulmer was clearly the Series MVP, not allowing a run in three starts. Rhys Hoskins slammed 5 homeruns in the series, knocking in 10 runs. Carlos Correa also had a great series, too.

Again, it was great fun to be on the phone with Jason for the Net Play experience. We both had highs and lows during the series and I thank Jason for being a gracious winner.

The Kona Coast Coffee Growers captures its first GUSSOMO championship, defeating the Richmond Banshees 4 games to 1. All games were played via Net Play on Saturday, December 30. The series matched up the first World Series appearance for Kona Coast and the third time for Richmond. The series was dominated by both team’s pitching staffs, as each team hit below .200 for the five game series. The Kona Coast pitching staff struck out 60 Banshees in 44 IP, allowed only 2 HRs, and pitched to a 1.64 team ERA with a 0.91 WHIP. Chris Sale won both of his games. Mad Bum, well, was Mad Bum and won his only contest. Jose Fernandez struck out 12 in each of his two games and won the clinching game in his sad farewell performance. There was not a dry eye in the house after Game 5. The Richmond staff struck out 42 in as many innings pitched,  allowed 4 HRs, and a 3.00 ERA.

The dice were not in the Banshees favor, as time after time, they could not get the roll when needed (or the roll ended up on the Kona Coast pitcher’s card for an out, often a strikeout). In its four losses, Richmond was 2-22 with RISP. Richmond was 3-5 with RISP in its only victory. Kona Coast was 6-27  (.222) with RISP in its four wins.

-Seattle won games 2,3,4,6.  Mississippi took games 1, 5.

-All 6 games were competitive into the 9th inning!

-Seattle rallied from 5-1 down to win Game 5, 6-5
after ace Zach Greinke was roughed up early.

-Pilots closer Kenley Jansen saved all 4 games.

-Seattle's Dan Haren was named World Series MVP
after holding Mississippi scoreless over 2 starts.

-The Pilots' Delino DeShields, Jr. tormented the same team
his father used to play for!  .458 OBP for the series.

Mississippi had the tying run thrown out on a 1-16 chance late in Game 6.

-Mississippi's 2 winning games were started by Jacob DeGrom
who K'd 23 Pilots, including 14 in Game 5.

The Mob send the series back to Fenway

10/13 FEF 4 9 1 CHM 2 7 0 J.Weaver* (1-0) J.Shields (0-1) - The Mob hoped to get in the win column in the series but The Faithful jumped on starter James Shields right off the bat.  Fenway's second batter, Ian Kinsler homered then Mark Reynolds singled home Kendry Morales who had singled and stole second.  A lead off walk in the 3rd by Abreu followed by a Morales HR made it 4 zip.  Matt Holliday broke the ice for Chicago with a 4th inning solo shot.  Otherwise, Weaver was cruising.  The key moment of the game ocurred in the 6th.  With 1 out,  Brian Roberts singled followed by a walk to Holliday.  Jason Dube brought in Randy Choate to face Seth Smith.  Fred Turtle counters by sending in righty Gabe Kapler to pinch hit.   Kapler rockets one to Mark Reynolds at third base. Reynolds, the 4 e24 manages to turn the DP and end the inning!   Chicago got a run in the 8th but Jonathan Broxton had a 1,2,3 9th for the save.  

10/14 FEF 1 5 0 CHM 4 8 1 J.Lannan (1-0) J.Peavy (0-1) - Desperate now, Fred Turtle sticks with the original plan to start John Lannan and to keep him on a very short leash.  Fred's fears are not realized as Lannan has a good outing, going 5 shutout innings before running into trouble in the 6th.  A slew of Mob relievers keep The Faithful at bay for the 4-1 win.  Andrew Bailey with the save.

10/15 FEF 5 9 1 CHM 7 10 0 J.De La Rosa (1-1) J.Beckett (1-1) - Jorge DeLa Rosa hoped to better his disaterous game one performance.  Well, it was better and just good enough to stave off elimination for Chicago.  It helped that The Mob scored 4 times off of Beckett in the first inning.  The Faithful, however kept it close with 2 solo HR's in the second by Reynolds and Konerko, followed by a solo shot by Kinsler in the 3rd.  Seth Smith's 3 run HR in the fifth was the back breaker for Fenway.  The Faithful got a couple of runs in the 7th  but reliever Matt Thornton came in to pitch 2 near perfect innings to earn the save.  

Now the series returns to Fenway, where The Mob hopes to pull an '04 Red Sox on The Faithful.  We will not place a

The Seattle Pilots managed to end a 25 year drought with its very first GUSSOMO World Championship today.  Seattle battled the Michigan Mad Dogs in what was definitely a pitcher's Series, winning four games to two.  The games are summarized below.

This series was a battle of two very strong pitching staffs and most were very low-scoring affairs with the outcome in doubt right up to the last at bat.  Will and I both agreed that Dan Haren had earned the World Series MVP after his Game 6 performance.

I'd like to thank Will for a great series and for being such a gentleman in the face of such torment from the baseball gods.  The Pilots faced three powerful, outstanding teams in the playoffs, each with 100 or more wins in the regular season, and they managed to find a way to eke by each one.  Which should stand as a powerful testament to that timeless Law of Life:

'It's better to be lucky than good.'

Thanks, everyone, for a great season….

Inspiration and emotion prevails as Daryl (# 57) Kile gets the nod for the Stallions versus Lefty Al Leiter. Mike Lieberthal and Mark McGwire get a chance at a lefty. This will be all time Stallion great McGwire's last appearance (although he has been promised a roster spot for life).

1st inning.... Raiders go down 1-2-3

The Stallions, after recieving 10 walks in game 6 are going to be patient once again. This strategy pays off. In the bottom of the 1st, Durham Walks to start things off... then is bunted to 2nd. Sanders grounds out... Gonzalez is Intentionally Walked. Mike Lieberthal and McGwire Walk. With two outs, Jim Edmonds hits a Double of the wall in Right Field to make the score 3-0 Stalllions!

The game settles down a bit as Kile and Leiter both hold their control until the bottom of the 4th.

Geoff Blum leads off with yet another walk. Viqual, trying to sacrifice, beats out the bunt for a hit. Durham, also trying to sacrifice, beats his bunt out for a hit. Jeff Cirrilo hits a fly to CF that gets thrown away on the attempt to get the man at home. Two more runs more score... and the Stallions have a huge 6-0 lead. After a Sanders Strikeout, Gonzalez walks. Lieberthal hits a "Gapper" for a Double that scores Gonzalez and brings the Stallion lead to 8-0. "Big Mac" then puts the Raiders out of thier misery with a 543 foot Home Run to Center for a 10-0 Stallion lead.

Daryl Kile gives up 3 more hits but leads the Stallions to a 10-0 7th game win!

Highlights: Ashby is on a short leash with instructions to pull in favor of Zito early if in trouble. Lightening strikesin the 4th as Bonds and Salmon lead off the inning with back to back home runs for the SECOND time in theseries. Zito relieves, but Pedro has all the runs he'll need. The Banshees did strand 7 in the game, but only 2 runners advanced to scoring position against probably the  best  starter  card in the history of the advanced game.

The Marvels connected for 17 HR's in three home games at the Homerdome, "Romanoesque" totals to be sure!, Salmon and Bonds connected for 11 in the three game span, making them the co MVP's of the series.With Pedro on the DL and Salmon on the bench in 2002, the Marvels are approaching the new season without their normal bravado - and all the new guys don't care anyhow!

MANCHESTER BIG D's DEFEATED THE STATELINE SUPURBAS
4 GAMES TO 2 GAMES

Game # 1       Manchester.....  1 0 0  0 0 0  0 0 0    1 - 6 - 2
                       Stateline..........  0 2 0  0 0 0  0 0 x    2 - 5 - 1

WP - Clemens    Save - Henke   

LP - Viola

GWN - Barfield   HR's - Barfield

Highlights - Barfield is a hero with a 2 run HR and and also an Outfield Assist, throwing Smith out at the Plate in the 1st inning!  Big D's manage one "clean" hit in the game, as 5 hits come from the fielding chart.

Clemens with Price in the 7th inning to face Ozzie Smith with the bases loaded and 2 outs.  Price strikes out Smith (and they say this is a realistic gam?).  It's the 9th inning, and the D's surprise everyone by sending in Karkovice as a pinch runner.  He did not get a chance to test Barfield's arm and Earl's luck!

Game # 2       Manchester......   0 0 5  0 1 0  0 0 0  0 0 0 1    7 - 12 - 2
                        Stateline..........   3 0 1  0 1 1  0 0 0  0 0 0 0    6 - 15 - 0

WP - Hurst     Save - Clancy   

LP - Henke

GWH - Nokes  HR's - Boggs

Highlights - Looks good early for the Surperbas, who know they must win this game to have a chance against the D's Superior Pitching. A loss here means probable elimination in 6 games!

Hatcher (1-8) slides around tag to score the go-ahead run in the 3rd inning. Superbas come back with the help of 5 SB's against Ryan (+5) and Slaught (+2).  Earl make the first of 8 pitching changes in the 5th inning (Earl's mentor, Dave Hendricks would have been proud).  The Superbas watch the game slip away, grounding into 3 DP's  and stranding 4 runners in scoring position in the last 5 innings, while the D's were managing 1 hit from the 9th to the 12th innings.  Play of the  game - Earl elects NOT to hold Druk at 1st Base and Ralph elecets NOT to win the game by playing safe as Boggs groundball A++ turns into an inning ending DP!!

After 2 games, it's 1 game to 1 game with Sutcliffe - Viola - Ryan to face Sutton - Clemens - Higuera.  A scary thing, the D's have yet to hit a HR with Mattingly, Schmidt, Strawberry and Bell going a combined 8 for 38 with a total of only 1 Double!!

Game # 1
                                                R - H - E
                            Concord       5 - 12 - 0
                            Georgia        6 - 11 - 2

Morris started, got knocked out in the 5th inning (Crackers behind 5 to 1). Crackers pecked away... 2 runs in the 5th, 2 runs in the 6th to tie the score. Garber pitche 4 shutout innings of relief. Bottom of the 9th inning, bases loaded. Burham hits a Sacrifice Fly (RF?) to score Tony Gwynn. Gwynn went 4 for 5. Dale Murphy hit a 2 run Home Run. Durham went 2 for 4 with 2 Doubles and 2 RBI. Castillo hit a 6th inning Home Run. 

WINNIPEG VOYAGEURS
DEFEATED THE SAN RAFAEL LOCOS 4 GAMES TO 3 GAMES