Game one at the A-Diamond last night was exactly what was expected.
Two teams with very strong batting orders going up against two of the league's best pitchers.
The pitchers won their share of battles, but so did the hitters.

For the 3rd time in 3 playoff games, the Cubs opponents jumped out to an early lead.
The top of the Yankees order plated two runs in the top of the 1st inning, on a walk to Luthor (Lex) Herlett;
a one out double by Ryan Johnson, an error by Cubs' starter - Chris Dunn, on a dribbler in front of home plate;
and a single by Jack Griffin.

With a 2 run deficit before coming to the plate, the Cubs needed to get something back in the bottom half.
That they did! Carlos Espada and Dunn singled and then worked a double steal to put runners on 2nd and 3rd, with no outs.
One out later, Mike Reutter lifted a fly ball to left center that was dropped and one run was in. Dunn ended up on
third with still just one out. Jerry Rosen grounded out to second, scoring Dunn, and the game was tied at 2.

Both pitchers settled in and threw goose eggs on the board in the 2nd and 3rd innings, effectively making the game a 4 inning
affair. The Yanks again took the lead in the top of the 4th inning. An error and a walk had runners at 1st and 3rd with no outs.
Dunn then picked off the runner at first, with the Cubs executing a perfect rundown (one throw - not allowing the runner at 3rd to score).
The run did score from 3rd on a Darrell Duncan grounder, but Dunn got out of the inning without any further damage.

Again, the Cubs responded to the Yanks taking the lead, with a rally of their own in the bottom half of the inning. Rosen worked a one out walk.
Andy Hoyle followed with a sharp single. An infield out pushed runners to 2nd and 3rd, with two outs, and Lex then hit Jim McQuade to load the bases.
Jim Bonaparte came through in the clutch, with a single to score Rosen. Carlos Espada was then hit by a pitch and the Cubs had a 4-3 lead.
Herlett ended the rally there with a big strike out.

Dunn came out in the 5th and got the Yankees in order and got the warming Cubs' bats right back up. Mike Reutter got things going with a one out double.
Rosen followed with a single to plate Reutter. A single by Hoyle and a walk to Ron Massaroni loaded the bases. Herlett looked like he would escape
a big inning when he got the next hitter to pop out to shortstop. However, Alex Marin came up big with a two out, two RBI single. Espada followed with a
RBI single of his own, and an error pushed across two more runs. When the smoke cleared in the bottom of the 5th, the Cubs were the owners of a
10-3 lead.

The Yanks did not quit! They got 2 runs in the 6th on consecutive hits by Bob Altobelli, Ryan Johnson, Carlos Llera, and Darrell Duncan. There likely would
have been more runs, but on Llera's 2 RBI double, he tried to stretch it into a triple, but a perfect relay from the left field wall from McQuade to Espada to
Sherwin So at third was in plenty of time, and a big base runner was erased and the second out was recorded. Dunn used that defensive support to get out
of the inning with a 10-5 lead still in tact.

The Yanks would get one more run in the 7th on singles by Mark Marshall, Dave Leonard, and Dave Smitherman, and a sacrifice fly by Doug Duell, making
the final score 10 -6 in favor of the Cubs.

Game two is slated for Wednesday night at the A-Diamond in Schenectady. Game time is 6:00 pm. Don't miss it!



-- Edited by mgirard11 on Tuesday 8th of October 2024 09:22:06 AM