The Albany Cubs took a tough loss in Game 1 of the Quad A playoffs on Thursday morning.

The game was a pitching duel with Mike Girard going up against "hired gun" Willie Lastra.
Willie is a long time tournament pitcher from Venezuela. He has a simple but effective repertoire with
a pinpoint accurate fastball and a nasty slider. He can command both pitches to all 4 quadrants of the plate and he was
at his best on Thursday morning limiting the Cubs to just 6 singles. Only two of them were in the same inning (3rd inning).

The 3rd inning was the best chance to get to Willie, when Shawn Martin and Jerry Rosen led off the inning with singles.
Willie then got a strike out and a double play to keep the game scoreless at that point. The Cubs would only get one other
runner to second base for the entire game. That was in the 4th inning when TJ Scorsone singled and stole second with two outs.
Willie's answer was again a strikeout to end the threat. The Cubs other hits were singles from Dave Mitchell in the second;
Shawn Martin (his second) in the 5th; and Jerry Rosen in the 8th (his second).

Meanwhile, Mike Girard was matching Willie except for 2 innings. In the 4th, with one out, Girard walked
the Orlando number 2 hitter. The number 3 guy then hit a fly to right center that was misread and played into a double, leaving
runners on 2nd and 3rd, with just one out. Girard then induced a slow roller to short, and the only play was to first. Orlando
and Willie were staked to a 1-0 lead. Girard got out without further damage when Girard got a soft liner to first where Shawn Martin
snagged it.

Girard kept the game at 1-0, giving the offense a chance to get back into the game through the 6th inning.
In the 7th, after Girard got the first out on a K, Orlando touched him up for 2 singles. He would then get a ground out to first for the second out
leaving both runners in scoring position. Girard then hit the next batter to load the bases. It looked like he would get out of the jam again,
when he got a fly ball to left. The left fielder started in on the ball, but the ball ended up going over his head for a bases clearing double.

With a 4-0 lead through 7, Willie was untouchable the rest of the way. The Orlando Royals advanced to the winners' bracket, and the Cubs were
left one game from elimination in the losers' bracket. Girard was the hard luck loser, going all 9 innings scattering 9 hits, walking 3, and hitting
2 batters, while striking out 3 against a very stout lineup.



After an hour between games, the Cubs went up against the Baltimore Orioles, with the loser being eliminated.
The Cubs sent "Big Game" Ron Massaroni to the mound, and he was not disappointing. He went the distance, giving up just 7 singles over his 9 innings,
keeping the O's off the scoreboard until the 8th inning. Ron, as usual walked none and struck out 1.

Meanwhile, the Cubs bats woke up and got going early. They plated one run in the first on hits by Shawn Martin, Mike Girard, Dave Mitchell, and Darrell Duncan.
They got 2 more in the 4th. The big hits came from Gene Hallenbeck and Mitchell. The Cubs pushed the lead to 4-0 with another run in the 5th.
Martin led off with a single and a stolen base. One out later, Girard lined what looked like a single to right, but was thrown out at first, moving Martin up
to 3rd on the play, and Hallenbeck delivered the run with a single to left. The lead grew to 6-0 in the 6th with John Cortese and Shawn Martin having the big hits.
Martin's double was his 3rd hit on the day. Girard started the 7th with a single, Hallenbeck followed with his second hit of the game, and Mitchell's 3rd hit
of the day moved the Cubs lead to 7-0.

The Cubs won the game 7-2, and advance to play the Puerto Rico Royals in an elimination game Friday at 1:45 pm at the Jet Blue complex. The winner
will advance to a 5:30 game at the Jet Blue Stadium, which is a replica of Fenway Park. That is now the complete focus: Beat PR and get to that feature game
in the stadium. Getting the first win ever by an Albany team in the Quad A playoffs is nice, but definitely not enough. Vegas would have the Puerto Ricans
as a prohibitive favorite, with their 35 man roster, but this team can beat anybody if we play our game without any mistakes. If we survive day 2 of the Quad A
playoffs, we will make it to a game 5 on Saturday, that would be for the right to play in the championship game on Saturday afternoon.

Tough road, but this team has ZERO quit in it and definitely believes that we have what it takes if we can play a perfect 4 games in the next 2 days.
One game at a time. Lets Go Cubbies!








-- Edited by mgirard11 on Friday 15th of November 2024 07:29:08 AM

-- Edited by mgirard11 on Friday 15th of November 2024 07:37:24 AM