When the Albany Marlins showed up at the fields Saturday morning, they found out that the St. Louis White Sox had upset the Tampa Bay Rebels in Friday night's late game. That meant that the Marlins were going to need to win both games on Saturday. Had the Rebels beaten the White Sox, then the Marlins would have only needed one win.
Unfazed by such a newsflash to satrt a long day, the Marlins put away a tough Savannah Triad team 10-6 in game one, behind the pitching of Pete Westfall (who pitched until his elbow popped. Dennis Scimeca came in and took care of a couple of middle innings, then handed the ball off to Jonny Martin who pitched the last four innings to secure the much needed win. The pitchers were the story in this one, as they struggled to pitch around one of the worst umpiring pairs we have ever encountered down here. The defense again was spotty, but the bats pounded the Triad pitching into submission. Kevin Jackson led the hitting attack with three hits.
One side bar on this game was that the umpires called two automatic double plays when Mike Girard and Jim McQuade slid into second basemen to breakup double plays.
This is getting ridiculous! When you have critical games like this, to have an umpire legislate out a very integral part of the game, just isn't right. This is a very competitive brand of baseball down here. My feeling is: If you are affraid to get hurt, stay home!!!
Anyway, game two of the doubleheader was a classic. Jon Martin, having already saved game one, grabbed the ball for game two. He held the Tampa Bay Rebels scoreless until the Marlins bats could get it going. Jonny, then tweaked his groin in the third inning running out a double. No way he was leaving the game so he pitched through the pain. The Marlins took a 6-1 lead into the bottom of the sixth, when the Rebels struck for three runs. The noose seemed to be tightening as old bodies were stiffening up and the Rebels seemed fresher due to the fact that they only had to play one game on Saturday. The Marlins however would not be denied when they struck for four runs in the top of the eighth all scoring with two outs on singles. Jon Martin pitched a scoreless bottom of the eigth and Mike Girard came on to pitch a scoreless ninth. Dave Mitchell was outstanding at the plate with three booming doubles. Kevin Jackson and Jon Martin again had mutiple hit games. I will give a better summary of the games and who got key hits when I get the scorebook in front of me, but for now the Marlins are in the playoffs.
The Ulster County Humminbirds went 3-0-1 in their bracket and are also in the playoffs.
Both the Hummers and Marlins take the field on Sunday morning at 9:00 am in the semi-finals and will try to give the CDMSBL the first Fall Classic finals with two teams from the same league!!! The Marlins take on the Colorado Blues in a revenge match and the Hummers take on the Tampa Bay-based Attorney's Hotline team. Both teams are loaded with ex-major leaguers. It won't be easy, but here's hoping that both teams win and make Fall Classic history.