Astros win the Championship
For the second consecutive year, the SABL finals would pit the top two ranked
teams during
the regular season, the Astros and the Royals, against each other.
Despite tough talk and dollar store clackers from the Royals, the Psychos proved
to be
anything but a push-over as they showed they wanted to return to the finals for the
first
time since 2006. In the end, although the series was extended to the full five games and
each game was closely contested, the Royals came out the victors.
The Astros had a relatively easy go of it getting to the finals, sweeping both
their
opponents, the Mets in the quarter-finals and the Yankees in the semi-finals.
The opening games of the finals were played on Sunday with Rob Hehir starting for
the
Astros against Grant Brown of the Royals in game one. The game was close throughout, the
Astros leading 3-2 late into the game. In the top of the 7th inning, the Royals scored
two
runs to go ahead 4-3, seemingly poised to deliver the first loss of the 2008 playoffs to
the Astros. In the bottom of what is usually the final inning, the Astros pushed across
a
run to tie the game 4-4 and send it to extra innings.
Neither team scored in the 8th and in the top of the 9th with a man on 2nd base,
the
Royals hit a ball to medium right field toward the line that Astros rightfielder Mike
Hersh
laid out for and caught to end the inning when it looked like the Royals were assured to
take the lead. In the bottom of the 9th, with Sohan Singh on 2nd base and stealing 3rd,
Mark
Klamot hit a single between 3rd and short to score the winning run in what was perhaps
one
of the best games in an SABL final. Dave Gemmell had relieved Rob and won his third
consecutive
2008 playoff game.
Game 2 was a relatively typical Sohan Singh start, get a lead early, continue to
chip
away and add to the run total, play defense behind Sohan and let him do his stuff on the
mound. In the top of the 1st inning with a man on third and two out, the Royals
leftfielder
clanked a chest high fly ball for an error allowing the first run of the game to score.
Rob
Hehir followed up with a 2 run homer for a 3-0 first inning lead and with Sohan Singh
pitching,
the Astros never looked back. The final score was 9-3 and the Astros were now poised to
win
consecutive championships as early as Thursday night.
In losing he first two games of the finals, the Royals put themselves in the
position
of needing to win 3 games in a row to become Champions.
The Game 3 starting pitcher for the Royals was no surprise as not only had Mike
Barnett
not pitched in the opening double-header, he wasn't even there. The Astros starter had
also
been absent for the first two games of the finals as his Indians team was being
eliminated
in the OSBA playoffs, but Chris Theodoru was rested and ready to make the start as he
had
also done in game 3 of the 2007 finals.
The game was very much like game 1 as the teams scored a couple of runs each in
the early
innings for a 2-2 tie score and in the middle innings neither team was able to add to
their
score although the Royals had the best opportunities to take the lead.
In the bottom of the 7th with the score still tied 2-2, in a horrific flashback
to 2007
for the Royals (the bounce!!), Dave Gemmell lead off the inning with a ground ball to
2nd
that took a funny hop and handcuffed Donnie Burke allowing Gemmell to get on base. After
a single by Anthony Schiralli, Gemmell took off for 3rd base as the Royals defense
looked
for a bunt, Anthony followed and Gemmel slid into 3rd safely for a double steal. The
Royals
then chose to walk Ed Elford to load the bases and set up the force.
The Royals brought the infield and outfield in and Mike Hersh who had made a near
miracle
catch in rightfield in the top of the 7th inning in game 1 to help the Astros open the
series
with a win, hit a looping flyball that was caught by the leftfielder but would likely
have
fallen in with a regular defense. Chris Long, the Rook, came up next and he hit another
looper,
this time just over the pulled in 2nd baseman, it was just out of Burke's reach as he
raced
back to the edge of the grass and it fell just in front of the outfielder scoring
Gemmell
from 3rd base and winning the series in dramatic fashion for the Astros. There would be
no
clacking in Royalsville.
2008 would mark the 2nd time the Astros would win back-to-back Championships, as
they
also won in 1998 as the Pirates and then 1999 as the Astros, no other team has won
consecutive
titles twice. As a tribute to their competitiveness, 2008 was the 8th time in 11 seasons
dating back to 1998 that the Astros had made the finals, by far the most in the league
over
that time period.
With the close of the 2008 season what remains is the league banquet, likely to
be held
at some point in November. Stay tuned for further details on the banquet as they become
available.
Semi-finals
The Astros went from defeating the Mets in the quarter-finals to a match up with
the
Yankees in the semi-final. In the opening game, the Astros went to town on Yankee
pitching
winning the game 11-0 but the weather proved to be problematic and the teams could only
get
in one game of the doubleheader.
Game 2 was played under less than ideal conditions as well and the Astros jumped
out
to a 6-0 lead in the first inning only to give back 4 of those runs in the bottom of the
first on a 3 run homer and a single shot off Dave Gemmell. The Astros continued to chip
away
and build their lead in the constant drizzle. The game was delayed as the tarps were
pulled
out on to the field.
After 6 innings the rain continued but the decision was made to play the 7th
inning with
time still remaining. After the Astros half of the inning the score was 14-7 and the
Yankee
lead off batter, Yarmo hit a sky high ball to left field that fell in for a triple and
the
game was suspended with a man on third, none out in the bottom of the 7th, Astros
leading
14-7.
On Thursday at 6:00, Dave Gemmell finished what he had started in game 2 on
Sunday by
getting 3 straight outs to give the Astros the game 2 win 14-8 and a 2-0 lead in the
series.
Game 3 was started 5 minutes after the end of the suspended game and Dave Gemmell
continued
on the mound. It was also a lop-sided affair as the Astros won 8-2 to clinch the
semi-final
series in another sweep, this time 3-0 by a total score of 33-10.
Meanwhile, in the other semi-final, the weather had proved to be more
co-operative and
the Royals-Psychos series had played all their games on time. After a split in the first
two games, the Psychos won game 3 pushing the Royals to the brink of elimination. The
Royals
won game 4 to force a 5th and deciding game on Thursday night. With Barnie on the mound
for
the Royals against Fensom "Prison Blues", the game was as close as the rest of the
series.
But with a 1-0 lead, the Royals scored a late run to go up 2-0 and held on for the 2-1
game
5 victory and the semi-final win three games to two.
Warren Booth, SABL scorekeeper extraordinaire.