DICE Baseball 2008 Tournament

[collegesportsfanms]

One of my other projects that I haven't posted on this forum is a game called DICE Baseball, for those of you that are familiar with Statis Pro Baseball, DICE Baseball is pretty much the same type of game, only it uses dice instead of cards. I have been posting this on the main delphiforums Gen1400 section, but right now gen1400 gaming is up in the air, so the forums don't get a lot of attention. I'm going to copy and paste this dynasty over to these forums, because I'm at a dilemma on something and I need some help deciding. So I will get this dynasty copied and pasted over here soon.

[collegesportsfanms]

The pools for the 2008 MLB tournament are set:

Pool A: LA Angels, Minnesota, Houston, Kansas City, Cincinnati, Washington

Pool B: Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Toronto, Oakland, Detroit, Seattle

Pool C: Tampa Bay, NY Yankees, St. Louis, Texas, Colorado, San Diego

Pool D: Boston, NY Mets, Florida, Cleveland, San Francisco, Pittsburgh

Pool E: Philadelphia, Milwaukee, LA Dodgers, Arizona, Atlanta, Baltimore

I ranked the teams 1-30 based on number of wins for the 2008 season. If multiple teams had the same number of wins I drew for their rank out of a hat. Then I started an S curve to decide the pool matchups.

The way I will report on this is I will play one round from Pool A, then report on it, then do the same for Pool B, and so on. So every report will have 3 games covered. Any questions or comments, bring em forward.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool A, Round 1

The first 3 games in Pool A are completed, and here are the results.

LA Angels- 8, Washington- 2 -- Kendry Morales led the way with a 2B, a 3B, and 4 RBI's, and Howie Kendrick added a HR and 3 RBI as the top seed Angels rolled in their first game. Injury news... Washington's Austin Kearns left the game late and will miss the next 10 games, which ultimately ends his tournament unless the Nats make it to the 16 team double elimination portion of the tourney.

Minnesota- 10, Cincinnati- 5 -- Carlos Gomez hit a grand slam in the 5th inning for the Twins in a wild inning. The Reds scored 3 in the top half of the inning and then Gomez had the granny in the bottom half. Minnesota added another 4 runs in the 6th to win going away.

Kansas City- 4, Houston- 1 -- The Royals got 2 runs in the first, one of them being a gift run as the umpire ruled Michael Bourn trapped a ball that was actually caught. This gave KC their second run of the inning and got Bourn ejected from the game without even getting an at-bat. Reggie Abercrombie took his place. Gil Meche was brilliant on the mound, giving up just 1 run in 6 2/3 innings pitched.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool B, Round 1

Chicago Cubs- 4, Seattle- 2 -- The Cubs scored all 4 of their runs in the first 2 innings, and the pitching was just solid enough. Kerry Wood had a little bit of a problem in the 9th inning as he gave up a run, but the Cubs hang on for the win.

Chicago White Sox- 4, Detroit- 1 -- Detroit drew first blood on a solo shot in the first inning by Miguel Cabrera, but Mark Buehrle shut down the Tiger bats, going 8 innings and giving up just the 1 run.

Oakland- 11, Toronto- 4 -- Roy Halladay was rolling along until the 5th. He got the first 2 outs easily in the 5th, then gave up 2 singles, and with Ryan Sweeney up for Oakland, Halladay injured himself and had to come out of the game. The Toronto bullpen proceeded to give up 11 runs in the last 5 innings, including allowing the 2 baserunners to score that were on when Halladay left the game. Halladay's injury isn't serious, he'll make his next start, but the Blue Jays will definitely have to shape up their bullpen.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool C, Round 1



Tampa Bay- 5, San Diego- 3 -- This game was marred by 2 incidents that really took away from the actual game. First, in the bottom of the fifth, with tensions mounting already, San Diegos Jake Peavy hit Tampa Bays Eric Hinske in the neck with a pitch, causing a bench clearing brawl. Hinske and Peavy were both ejected, along with San Diego starting catcher Nick Hundley. The aftermath saw a 2 game suspension for Hinske, a 6 game suspension for Hundley, and an 8 game suspension for Peavy. That means Peavy is not able to start again until game 10 of the tournament for San Diego, which would most likely be their last game. Another incident happened in the top of the 8, as San Diego starting 2B Tadahito Iguchi tore his hamstring running the bases. His prognosis: out 10 games, which makes this most likely the second tournament ending injury already. Ugh, ugly game for San Diego.

NY Yankees- 6, Colorado- 1 -- Mike Mussina pitched 6 strong innings and Bobby Abreu had a double, a HR, and 3 RBI's to lead the Yankees in this one.

St. Louis- 9, Texas- 8 -- Another wild one, as St. Louis put up a 7 spot in the third, chasing Texas starter Kevin Millwood after just 2 2/3 innings. Adam Kennedy hit a grand slam in the inning and at that point St. Louis led 8-0. Texas rallied back though, down 9-5 going into the 9th, the Rangers got 3 runs, but St. Louis closer Ryan Franklin got Ian Kinsler to strike out and end the game and the rally for the Rangers.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool D, Round 1

Boston- 10, Pittsburgh- 4 -- Pittsburgh jumped out to an early lead in this one but Coco Crisp would not be denied. He had 2 HR and 5 RBI for the Red Sox, who eventually pulled away and sealed the deal with 4 runs in the 8th.

San Francisco- 6, NY Mets- 5 (11 innings) -- This game was a classic, as Rich Aurilia gave the Giants a 3-0 lead in the first with a HR, but the Mets fought back with a run in the 8th to tie the game at 5. In the top of the 11th, Bengie Molina got an RBI single to give San Fran the lead, and Brian Wilson got 3 quick outs in the bottom of the inning to get the save.

Cleveland- 9, Florida- 4 -- All the scoring in this game came in the first 4 innings. Marlins started Ricky Nolasco got rocked, giving up all 9 runs in 3 innings before being relieved by Burke Badenhop, who pitched 4 scoreless. By then the damage was done, as Cliff Lee struggled through 7 innings for Cleveland to get the win. Grady Sizemore had 2 solo HRs.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool E, Round 1

Baltimore- 2, Philadelphia- 1 -- Solo runs in the first and second inning, combined with an 8 inning, 1 run performance by Jeremy Guthrie, gives Baltimore the upset. It did come at a cost though, as Jim Johnson, relief pitcher for the Orioles, was injured trying to save the game in the bottom of the 9th. He will miss 7 games.

Milwaukee- 5, Atlanta- 4 (10 innings) -- Milwaukee jumped out to a 4-1 lead after 4 innings, but Atlanta battled back, tying the game at 4 in the top of the 9th on a sacrifice fly. In the bottom of the 10th, the Braves' bullpen faltered, as Blaine Boyer gave up a single, a walk, and a triple to end the game. Corey Hart hit the walk off triple.

Arizona- 2, LA Dodgers- 0 -- Brandon Webb was sensational in this game, as he pitched a complete game shutout, allowing just 1 hit and 2 walks. Best pitching performance so far in the tournament, and it keeps Arizona's bullpen totally fresh. Chris Snyder had both RBI's for the D-Backs, one on a solo HR, and 1 on a double.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool A, Round 2

Minnesota- 5, Houston- 4 -- Houston led 4-3 going into the top of the 9th, and had 1 out to get, but Kaz Matsui threw away an easy grounder to second, allowing runners to get to second and third. After a walk, Jason Kubel lined a 2 run single into center to give Minnesota the lead, and Joe Nathan nailed down the save in the bottom 9th. Adam Everett from Minnesota and Geoff Blum from Houston were both injured in this game. Everett is D2D and Blum is out 3 games.

Washington- 2, Kansas City- 0 -- John Lannan went 7 shoutout innings, with Steven Shell and Jon Rauch pitching the last 2 innings. Rauch got the save. Nick Johnson hit a solo shot in the first, then got a triple in the 4th, followed by a Willie Harris RBI single, accounting for the 2 runs. That was all the Nats needed. Another injury in this game, as Miguel Olivo was injured in the second, and he is out for 8 games. That means he is not eligible to come back unless the Royals advance out of pool play and into the 16 team double elimination tourney. This also means John Buck is the Royals only catcher for the rest of pool play, so automatically no injuries or ejections for him. Speaking of ejections, Alex Gordon was tossed in this game. A rule I made was that if any player gets ejected, they automatically sit the next game, so he is out for the Royals for game 3.

LA Angels- 7, Cincinnati- 3 -- The Angels got 4 in the 3rd and 3 in the 5th, chasing Reds starter Edinson Volquez after 4 innings. They batted around in the 3rd inning, getting 6 singles in the inning. Joe Saunders struggled his way through 6 2/3 innings. Chris Dickerson of Cincinnati was thrown out of this game, meaning he sits game 3 for Cincy. Meanwhile, Maicer Izturis was injured for the Angels, he will miss 3 games.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool B, Round 2

Chicago White Sox- 3, Toronto- 1 -- Juan Uribe hit a 3 run homer in the 7th to account for the 3 White Sox runs, and Gavin Floyd was sharp in 7 innings of work.

Oakland- 2, Seattle- 1 (12 innings) -- Oakland got a solo shot from Daric Barton in the bottom of the 2nd and made that hold up until the top of the 9th, when Miguel Cairo doubled home Ichiro after a throwing error by Donnie Murphy got Ichiro on base. Nobody could get anything going in extra innings until the bottom of the 12th. With 1 out, Mike Sweeney double, then Chris Denorfia singled. Sweeney could not come home on the single, but with 1 out and runners at second and third, Donnie Murphy atoned for his 9th inning error by hitting a deep fly ball to center. Ichiro had no chance to throw out Sweeney, and that ended the game on a walk off sac fly.

Chicago Cubs- 7, Detroit- 2 -- The Cubs got 6 of their runs in the second inning, as both Geovany Soto and Mike Fontenot homered in the inning. Detroit starter Jeremy Bonderman actually stayed in the game and pitched 4 1/3 innings before he was pulled, as he was sharp in the second and third innings. Soto added another solo homer in the 5th, and Cubs' starter Ryan Dempster, while he wasn't the sharpest, did get through 6 2/3 innings.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool C, Round 2

St. Louis- 3, NY Yankees- 2 -- St. Louis got 2 runs in the 8th to come from behind and win this game. Cesar Izturis drove in 2 of the 3 runs for the Cards.

Texas- 13, San Diego- 11 -- San Diego had a golden chance to win this game, leading 9-5 halfway through, but in the bottom of the 5th they self destructed. 2 Padre errors led to 5 unearned runs in the inning. Texas hung on, as the teams combined for 35 hits in the game. 2 more injuries for the Padres, Scott Hairston is DTD, and Jim Edmonds is out through game 5, in which he will begin his time with the Chicago Cubs in game 6, so he is done with San Diego.

Colorado- 9, Tampa Bay- 7 -- The teams combined for 5 homers in this game, as Colorado jumped out to a 9-4 lead and held on.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool D, Round 2

Florida- 6, NY Mets- 4 -- All the damage for Florida was done in the third inning, as they got 2 homers, 2 doubles, and 2 singles in the inning to chase Mets starter Pedro Martinez. David Wright hit a 2 run shot in the 7th to make the score 6-4, but that was as close as it would get.

Cleveland- 4, Pittsburgh- 1 -- C.C. Sabathia dominated, going 7 1/3 innings of scoreless ball. Ryan Garko drove in 3 of the 4 Cleveland runs.

Boston- 3, San Francisco- 2 -- Tim Lincecum was rolling along for the Giants before tiring out and being replaced in the top of the 8th with 1 out and runners on 1st and 3rd for Boston. His replacement Keiichi Yabu promptly threw a wild pitch to allow Boston's first run to score. Then with 2 outs and runners on 1st and 3rd again, Yabu struck out David Ortiz, but Giants catcher Bengie Molina couldn't handle the third strike. It went to the backstop allowing the second of 2 unearned runs in the inning to score. In the 9th, Brandon Moss hit a solo shot for the Red Sox, and Jonathan Papelbon pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the 9th to get the save and give Boston the comeback win.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool E, Round 2

LA Dodgers- 10, Milwaukee- 8 -- Milwaukee did most of their damage in the 7th inning, scoring 7 of their 8 runs, but Blake Dewitt helped the Dodgers with a home run, a double, and 4 RBIs on the day.

Arizona- 4, Baltimore- 2 -- Miguel Montero had a 2 run homer in the 4th to put Arizona on top for good. 1 injury of note, Baltimore catcher Ramon Hernandez was injured and will be out the next 4 games.

Philadelphia- 6, Atlanta- 2 -- Philadelphia batted around in the 6th, getting 2 doubles, 3 singles, and drawing a walk in the inning. They ended up scoring 4 runs as Atlanta starter Tim Hudson didn't get out of the 6th.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool A, Round 3

LA Angels- 5, Kansas City- 2 -- Ervin Santana pitched 8 1/3 innings in this game and was pulled in the 9th after an Esteban German homer.

Cincinnati- 10, Houston- 9 -- Ty Wigginton from Houston was injured in this game and will be out 6 games. Cincinnati scored 8 of their 10 runs in the last 2 innings. Houston had a chance to tie the game in the 9th but Brad Ausmus struck out with runners on 2nd and 3rd.

Minnesota- 8, Washington- 3-- Washington actually led this game 3-1 going into the bottom of the 7th, then Minnesota erupted to score 4 in the 7th and 3 more in the 8th. Ryan Langerhans from Washington was ejected in the first inning after striking out.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool B, Round 3

Chicago Cubs- 4, Oakland- 3 -- Oakland scored 2 runs in the top of the 8th to take a 3-2 lead, but an RBI double by Mark DeRosa in the bottom of the 9th tied the score at 3, then Kosuke Fukudome hit a walk-off double, scoring DeRosa, as the Cubs get the come from behind win.

Detroit- 6, Toronto- 5 -- Not a well played game, as the teams combined for 5 errors. Detroit batted around in the 6th, scoring 4 runs on 4 walks and 3 singles. Toronto got back into it in the 8th, scoring 3 runs. In a play you hardly ever see in a major league game, Rod Barajas led off the inning by striking out, but Detroit catcher Brandon Inge couldn't handle the pitch, so Barajas made it to first safely. Later in the inning, Curtis Granderson dropped a fly ball, making all 3 of the Blue Jays' 8th inning runs unearned. Todd Jones sent Toronto down 1-2-3 in the ninth though.

Seattle- 7, Chicago White Sox- 6 -- Seattle jumped on White Sox starter Javier Vazquez early, getting 3 in the first, and the Mariners led 7-2 going into the 7th inning stretch. Paul Konerko tightened things up with a 3 run blast in the bottom of the 7th, but Arthur Rhodes and J. J. Putz pitched the 8th and 9th, shutting down the Sox and getting an upset win.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool C, Round 3

Texas- 11, Tampa Bay- 4 -- Texas batted around in the 3rd, scoring 6 runs in the inning as Tampa Bay starter Edwin Jackson got through 5 by necessity, as the Rays were short on arms in the pen. Ramon Vazquez had 2 HR and 7 RBI for the Rangers in the game.

Colorado- 3, St. Louis- 2 -- A Matt Holliday 5th inning HR gave Colorado a 3-2 lead, and the bullpen made it hold up, as they get a big win.

San Diego- 5, NY Yankees- 4 -- The Padres got 3 of their 5 runs in the first inning, as Adrian Gonzalez and Jody Gerut had 2 RBI's a piece for the game in the upset win.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool D, Round 3

Boston- 5, Cleveland 3 -- Boston stays undefeated in their pool, getting a 2 run homer in the first from J.D. Drew. Trailing 5-1 going into the 7th, the Indians got 2 back but could get no closer.

San Francisco- 5, Florida- 4 -- The big moment in this game happened in the top of the 3rd, as Barry Zito left the game injured, he is day to day and hopefully will be able to make his next start. Brad Hennessey filled in nicely for the Giants, relieving Zito and throwing 5 innings of 1 run ball after Zito gave up 3 runs in his 2 innings of work. Florida's Jorge Cantu got ejected during the game, and per my rules, will automatically miss Floridas next game. I decided to put in a rule that if a player gets ejected, he can't play the next game. Just a way to maybe get a guy a start that normally wouldn't get one.

NY Mets- 10, Pittsburgh- 8 -- This one was wild! Pittsburgh scored all 8 of their runs in the second inning, sending 13 men to the plate against Oliver Perez. The Pirates would not score again, as Perez pitched the next 2 innings perfectly before leaving. Nelson Figueroa pitched the next 4 innings for the Mets, giving up just 2 hits as the Mets slowly began to come back. They finally took the lead back in the bottom of the 7th on a Carlos Beltran 2 run homer to put them ahead 10-8. Nobody scored the last 3 innings of the game, but the game did have 3 ejections: Brian Schneider of the Mets, and Doug Mientkiewicz and Jose Bautista of Pittsburgh were all tossed and will miss game 4 for their squads.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool E, Round 3

Philadelphia- 15, Arizona- 4 -- The Phillies scored 3 runs a piece in the first 3 innings, chasing Randy Johnson after just 2 1/3 innings. Philadelphia did have a couple casualties in this game.. Brett Myers, the starting pitcher, was injured in the 5th and had to leave, he is DTD. Also, Shane Victorino was ejected in the 5th inning and will miss the next game.

Atlanta- 5, LA Dodgers- 1 -- The Braves pitching staff held the Dodgers to just 1 run for the game, and Jeff Francoeur had the big blow with a 2 run shot in the second, getting Atlanta their first win of the tourney.

Milwaukee- 7, Baltimore- 6 -- The game started off great for Baltimore, as Brian Roberts led off with a solo shot, but Orioles starter Garrett Olson left the game after 1 1/3 innings, he's DTD. The Brewers ended up scoring 4 runs in that second inning, and had a 7-4 lead going into the top of the 9th. Eric Gagne gave up 2 solo shots in a row to start the inning, but was determined to finish what he started. With first and second and 2 outs, Guillermo Quiroz hit a single to right. Kevin Millar came around third for the game tying score, but Milwaukee right fielder Corey Hart unleashed a perfect throw to the plate, gunning Millar down and getting Gagne off the hook, leaving Baltimore just inches away from tying the game.

[collegesportsfanms]

A couple notes, I only copied and pasted my posts from the other forum, out of respect of privacy, I didn't copy and paste and posts from other forum members.

The way I started out with injuries was to use the injury chart, but I had to make some changes since the injury chart was based on a full 162 game season, so players with low injury ratings would miss the tournament, and I wanted everybody from every team to have a chance to play. After a while, I just changed it again so that anybody that was injured would miss the next game only. Same with ejections, if a player got ejected, he would sit the next game.

The only rule I had was that every position player from every team had to start at least 1 game, and every pitcher from every team either had to start or appear in 1 game. I think it worked well. I'm actually through 9 of the 10 rounds in pool play, I'll get rounds 4-9 copied and posted yet this morning.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool A, Round 4

Cincinnati- 5, Washington- 4 -- Washington was up 4-2 going into the top of the 9th, but a 2 run homer by Jeff Keppinger tied the game at 4, then Wilkin Castillo doubled singled home Jerry Hairston to give the Reds a 5-4 lead. Francisco Cordero pitched the ninth to get the save for the Reds.

Minnesota- 3, Kansas City- 2 -- Kyle Davies hurt himself in this one, as he gave up 2 runs in the first inning, 1 on a wild pitch, and the other came on a line drive that he dropped and couldn't recover to throw Michael Cuddyer out at first. Mike Aviles got a solo shot in the top of the 5th to tie it at 2, but a Mike Lamb triple drove in Nick Punto with the game winning run in the bottom of the 9th.

LA Angels- 6, Houston- 4 (11 innings) -- Carlos Lee had 3 RBIs for Houston, but it wasn't enough, as the Angels got 2 in the top of the 11th to remain undefeated.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool B, Round 4

Seattle- 5, Detroit- 4 (11 innings) -- The Mariners used 2 pitchers all game, as Carlos Silva started and went 5 innings, then Cesar Jimenez went the last 6 innings, giving up just 3 hits. 3 singles in the bottom of the 11th won it for Seattle, with Adrian Beltre getting the game winning RBI.

Oakland- 2, Chicago White Sox- 1 -- A great pitching duel today, as Joe Blanton went 7 innings for Oakland. Jack Hannahan was the offensive MVP, accounting for both Oakland runs, as he had 2 solo HRs. Huston Street struck out all 3 batters he faced in the 9th to get the save.

Toronto- 5, Chicago Cubs- 3 -- A 3-3 game going to the bottom of the 8th, and the Cubs brought in Carlos Marmol, who is usually very effective. Not this game, as he walked 3 straight, then gave up a single to give Toronto the lead. The Blue Jays would get an insurance run on another single by Alexis Rios, and B.J. Ryan pitched the 9th for the save.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool C, Round 4

Colorado- 8, San Diego- 1 -- The Rockies scored 6 runs in the first 3 innings, and Garrett Atkins had 2 HR's and 5 RBI's for Colorado.

Texas- 8, NY Yankees- 4 -- Texas scored 6 runs in the last 3 innings, as the Yankees had to pitch by committee after starter Darrell Rasner was injured in the 1st inning. He pitched 2/3 of an inning and is day to day for the rest of the tournament.

St. Louis- 5, Tampa Bay- 3 -- Nobody scored in the first 4 innings, them both teams scored 3 runs in the 5th. That was all the scoring for the Rays, and St. Louis added a run in the 6th and got an insurance run off a Chris Duncan HR in the 7th. Albert Pujols will miss the next game for St. Louis as he was ejected in this game. By my rule, an ejection requires sitting out the next game.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool D, Round 4

San Francisco- 3, Pittsburgh- 2 -- A good pitching duel in this one, as San Francisco's Rich Aurilia broke a 2-2 tie in the top of the 7th with a single, and the Giants bullpen held that 1 run lead.

Cleveland- 6, NY Mets- 1 -- Cleveland's David Delucci had a base clearing 3 RBI double in the top of the 7th to finally chase Mets starter Mike Pelfrey from the game. This made the score 6-0. The Mets got a token run in the bottom of the 8th, but were shut down otherwise.

Florida- 6, Boston- 4 -- It looked like it was going to be a long game for the Marlins, as Boston scored 3 runs in the first of Marlins starter Josh Johnson. He labored through the first 3 innings, but in innings 4-8 he allowed just 2 baserunners, keeping Florida in the game. Matt Lindstrom pitched a rocky 9th, giving up a run, but it didn't matter by this point. Florida scored 5 of their 6 runs in the 5th and 6th innings. A couple notes, Coco Crisp was injured for Boston and is DTD, and Florida's Luis Gonzalez was ejected in the same inning for arguing balls and strikes. Gonzalez will automatically sit out the next game for Florida, who handed the Red Sox their first loss of the tournament.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool E, Round 4

Atlanta- 10, Baltimore- 8 -- A wild game as Atlanta scored 6 in the 1st, helped by a 3 run HR by Jeff Francoeur. It got to 8-0 before Baltimore started coming back with 5 in the 4th and 3 in the 6th, making it 9-8 after 6. Kelly Johnson from Atlanta hit a solo shot in the 8th to give the Braves an insurance run, and the Atlanta bullpen was spotless in the last 3 innings.

Milwaukee- 4, Arizona- 3 -- A tough loss for the D-Backs, who gave Milwaukee their first run on a wild pitch, and their 4th and game winning run on a balk from Yusmeiro Petit. Tough way to lose a game.

Philadelphia- 6, LA Dodgers- 5 -- Ryan Howard hit a 3 run homer in the 6th to give the Phillies the 6-5 lead and held the lead from there.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool A, Round 5

Minnesota- 4, LA Angels- 3 -- Minnesota scored 4 runs in the first 2 innings and Francisco Liriano pitched 7 innings. Gary Matthews had the big blow for the Angles with a 3 run homer, but it wasn't enough.

Houston- 8, Washington- 7 -- A Felipe Lopez error in the top of the 9th opened the door for Houston to score 2 in the inning. This was big, as Washington took the lead in the bottom of the 8th on a Carlos Lee error, so Houston gets their first win of the tournament in a game neither team wanted to win.

Cincinnati- 7, Kansas City- 5 -- Walks were the theme of this game, as both teams scored 3 runs off the walk. The final blow came in the top of the 7th on an Edwin Encarnacion 2 run homer that gave the Reds the 7-5 lead. Encarnacion had 4 RBIs in the game.

Here are the standings halfway through Pool A:

Minnesota 5-0 (+13)

LA Angels 4-1 (+14)

Cincinnati 3-2 (-5)

Kansas City 1-4 (-5)

Houston 1-4 (-6)

Washington 1-4 (-11)

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool B, Round 5

Chicago White Sox- 5, Chicago Cubs- 4 (10 innings) -- Brian Anderson hit a solo HR in the top of the 10th to give the Sox the win in this crosstown battle, the first of 2.

Toronto- 8, Seattle- 7 -- A 7 run fourth inning for the Blue Jays saw them bat around, and the big blow came on a grand slam from Matt Stairs. Seattle got to within 8-7 with 4 runs in the eighth, but B.J. Ryan closed the door for the Blue Jays in the ninth.

Detroit- 11, Oakland- 1 -- This game was highlighted by 3 run homers by Miguel Cabrera and Dusty Ryan for the Tigers. Detroit started Armando Galarraga went 8 1/3 innings before giving up the only Oakland run of the game, a solo homer by Jack Cust. 2 injuries in this one, both for the Tigers. Ramon Santiago will miss just 1 game, while Carlos Guillen is DTD.

Here are the standings halfway through Pool B:

Chicago Cubs 3-2 (+5)

Chicago White Sox 3-2 (+4)

Oakland 3-2 (-2)

Detroit 2-3 (+2)

Seattle 2-3 (-2)

Toronto 2-3 (-7)

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool C, Round 5

New York Yankees- 10, Tampa Bay- 5 -- The bats were alive in this one... at least for 4 innings. The score going into the 5th was 6-5 Yankees, then nobody scored again until the top of the 9th, when the Bronx Bombers added 4 insurance runs. 6 of the 9 Yankee hitters had RBIs, led by Melky Cabrera with 3.

San Diego- 6, St. Louis- 3 -- Josh Banks was very sharp for the Padres in this one, as he didn't allow a run until the 7th inning, those runs coming on a 2 run shot by Chris Duncan. That tied the game at 2, but the Padres got their next 4 runs in the bottom of the 7th, thanks to back to back homers from Chase Headley and Kevin Kouzmanoff. The bullpen wasn't sharp after Banks left, but it was good enough to preserve the win.

Colorado- 8, Texas- 7 -- You'd have thought this game was in Colorado, but it was actually in Texas. There were 5 homers in the game, but oddly enough, the winning run scored in the top of the 9th when with runners on 1st and 3rd and nobody out for the Rockies, Garrett Atkins hit into a double play, allowing Ryan Spilborghs to score. Tough way to lose a ball game.

Here are the Pool C standings after Round 5:

Colorado 4-1 (+6)

St. Louis 3-2 (0)

Texas 3-2 (+11)

San Diego 2-3 (-7)

NY Yankees 2-3 (+4)

Tampa Bay 1-4 (-14)

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool D, Round 5

Boston- 4, NY Mets- 2 -- The Mets struck first on back to back doubles from Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran, but Boston scored single runs in the 4th and 7th, then in the 8th, got doubles from Julio Lugo, Jacoby Ellsbury, and J.D. Drew, accounting for 2 runs in the inning. That proved to be the difference.

Florida- 4, Pittsburgh- 3 -- Jeff Karstens pitched brilliantly for the Pirates, making only 1 mistake in the 4th inning. That mistake was a grand slam hit by Florida's Matt Treanor. Pittsburgh got a couple back in the 6th but it wasn't enough, as the Florida bullpen allowed just 1 baserunner in the last 3 innings.

Cleveland- 4, San Francisco- 3 (11 innings) -- With Cleveland leading 3-1 going into the 8th, the Giants' bats woke up as they got a double and 3 singles in the inning to tie the game at 3. In the top of the 10th, San Francisco's Rich Aurilia was thrown out arguing a call at first, The bottom of the 11th proved to be the difference, as Sal Fasano singled, Ryan Garko hit into a fielders choice, Asdrubal Cabrera singled, then Jamey Carroll lined a shot in the gap that just missed being caught, but it led to the winning run.

Here are the standings halfway through Pool D:

Boston 4-1 (+9)

Cleveland 4-1 (+12)

San Francisco 3-2 (+1)

Florida 3-2 (-1)

NY Mets 1-4 (-8)

Pittsburgh 0-5 (-13)

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool E, Round 5

Philadelphia- 12, Milwaukee- 2 -- Pat Burrell had 2 homers in this game, and the Phillies scored 8 of their 2 runs in the 7th and 8th innings to put this one away. The only down spot for Philadelphia is the loss of So Taguchi, who was injured and will miss the next 2 games.

Baltimore- 5, LA Dodgers- 1 -- Jeff Kent started the scoring in the first inning for the Dodgers, hitting a solo HR, and that would be their only run of the game. Baltimore tied it up in the bottom half of the inning, then scored 4 in the 7th to get a big win.

Arizona- 6, Atlanta- 4 -- Arizona got 2 run homers in the 6th and 7th innings from Miguel Montero and Stephen Drew to take a 6-1 lead, but in the top of the 8th, the Braves got to reliever Doug Slaten. Martin Prado doubled, Chipper Jones singled, and Brian McCann hit a 2 run homer. That was the difference though, as Juan Cruz and Brandon Lyon came in to shut the door.

Here are the standings halfway through Pool E:

Philadelphia 4-1 (+25)

Milwaukee 3-2 (-9)

Arizona 3-2 (-6)

Atlanta 2-3 (-1)

Baltimore 2-3 (0)

LA Dodgers 1-4 (-9)

This gets us to the halfway point of pool play in this tournament. 75 games down, 75 more to go. Now we get to the point where players change teams, then team reference sheets need to be redone. Shouldn't be a long delay, as most teams shouldn't have significant roster changes.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool A, Round 6

Washington- 4, LA Angels- 3 -- An upset here, as the Nats scored the winning run in the 6th and relied on Shairon Martis to shut the Angel bats down in relief. Martis pitched 3 2/3 innings and gave up just 2 hits.

Minnesota- 6, Cincinnati- 1 -- The Reds had 3 errors in the ball game but were still in it, down just 2-1 going to the 9th. The Twins batted around in the 9th, adding 4 insurance runs to seal the deal.

Houston- 7, Kansas City- 6 (12 innings) -- This one was a classic, as Houston scored 3 in the first, then Kansas City got 3 in the third. Kansas City then trailed 6-3 going to the 7th, got 2 in the 7th, then a John Buck homer in the 8th tied the game. Nobody could get anything across until the 12th, when Lance Berkman homered. Berkman was the MVP of this game, as he missed out on hitting for the cycle, only needing a single.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool B, Round 6

Chicago Cubs- 12, Seattle- 0 -- The Cubs jumped on Seattle for 6 runs in the first and never looked back, as 8 of the 9 players in the lineup had an RBI, the only one that didn't was Alfonso Soriano.

Detroit- 6, Chicago White Sox- 5 -- Detroit got 2 runs in the bottom of the 8th to come from behind and win, with Matt Joyce driving home the winning run on an RBI single.

Toronto- 3, Oakland- 1 -- An old fashioned pitchers duel in this one, as Toronto pitchers combined for 12 strikeouts on Oakland hitters.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool C, Round 6

Tampa Bay- 6, San Diego- 5 (11 innings) -- Regulation wasn't enough to decide this one, as it took an Eric Hinske solo HR in the top of the 11th to finally win it for the Rays.

NY Yankees- 12, Colorado- 2 -- The Yankees took full advantage of playing in one of the easiest ballparks to hit home runs in, as they hit 4 homers as a team. Richie Sexson had the game of his life for the Yankees, hit 2 of those HRs and finishing with 6 RBIs for the game.

Texas- 5, St. Louis- 1 -- Brandon McCarthy pitched 7 innings of 1 run ball for the Rangers, who scored 3 of their 5 runs in the first on a Josh Hamilton 2 RBI triple followed by a David Murphy RBI double. The other 2 runs were nothing more than insurance runs.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool D, Round 6

Boston- 9, Pittsburgh- 7 -- Boston scored all 9 of their runs in the first 3 innings, chasing Pittsburgh starter Matt Morris after 2 1/3. Phil Dumatrait and John Grabow did not allow a run the rest of the game, and Pittsburgh almost completed the comeback, but not quite.

NY Mets- 5, San Francisco- 1 -- Jose Reyes had 2 solo homers for the Mets, and David Wright added a homer and had the other 3 RBIs, as Mets starter Claudio Vargas went 8 1/3 innings before giving up a run.

Cleveland- 6, Florida- 5 -- 3 Cleveland errors led to 3 unearned runs as the Marlins jumped to a 4-0 lead, but the Indians kept fighting back, tying the game at 4 in the sixth. In the eighth, Jorge Cantu gave the Marlins the lead back with a solo HR, but in the bottom of the 9th, the Indians got 2 doubles and 2 singles in the inning. Shin-Soo Choo had the walk off single to save the shaky Cleveland defense.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool E, Round 6

Philadelphia- 8, Baltimore- 6 -- Shane Victorino had 2 HR and 3 RBI in the game for Philadelphia, who led 8-2 going into the bottom of the 9th, but a furious rally by Baltimore, including back to back homers by Nick Markakis and Aubrey Huff, led Philadelphia to turn to Brad Lidge to close the game out. In all, 6 homers were hit in this wild game.

Atlanta- 4, Milwaukee- 2 -- This game was just as wild, as Atlanta got 2 in the 2nd and 2 in the 3rd. This game was marred by 2 ejections (Tony Gwynn for Milwaukee and Casey Kotchman for Atlanta, each are suspended for the next game), and an injury to Corey Hart (he will also miss the next game). The Hart injury forced Milwaukee DH Mike Cameron into CF, causing the pitcher to have to bat in Harts spot. Fortunately, Milwaukee had pinch hitters available so the pitchers didn't have to bat.

Just a recap as I had decided that I would not use pinch hitters unless there was an ejection or injury, which in this case there was. Also, anybody that gets injured or ejected during a game misses the next game automatically, but that's it. This will be the way I do it when I do this project with the 2011 rosters, whenever that may be!

LA Dodgers- 5, Arizona- 1 -- The Dodgers used 3 in the 5th to break it open, and added an insurance run in the 8th when James Loney hit a double which Arizonas Justin Upton misplayed, allowing Loney to come all the way around to score.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool A, Round 7

Houston- 7, Minnesota- 3 -- There are no more undefeated teams left after Houston scored 6 in the first 2 innings, with leadoff hitter Kaz Matsui hitting 2 homers and Hunter Pence adding 1. Every team in this tournament now has at least 1 loss.

Washington- 7, Kansas City- 6 -- The Royals jumped to a 5-1 lead after 3, but the bullpen couldn't get the job done. Washington tied it at 6 in the 8th inning, then in the 9th got a double, a single, and a sac fly to walk off and pretty much end all hopes of the Royals advancing to bracket play.

Cincinnati- 7, LA Angels- 5 -- Some fireworks in this one, as Jay Bruce was hit in the neck by a Jon Garland fastball, this after a homer and a double in his first 2 at bats. The benches cleared, warnings were issued, and Bruce had to leave the game. No matter though, as the Reds bullpen pitched shutout ball for the last 3 innings.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool B, Round 7

Toronto- 5, Chicago White Sox- 4 -- This game was back and 4th in the late innings, with Toronto leading 3-1 in the bottom of the 7th, Orlando Cabrera hit a 3 run homer to give the Sox the lead. Then in the top of the 8th, John McDonald hit a solo shot to tie the game, and 3 straight hits by Marco Scutaro, Jose Bautista, and Rod Barajas gave the Blue Jays a 5-4 lead which they would hold on.

Seattle- 2, Oakland- 1 -- A great pitching duel in this one, as Felix Hernandez gutted his way through 7 innings. He might have gone the distance if not for 6 walks in those 7 innings. While not the sharpest, he was sharp enough to get the job done.

Detroit- 13, Chicago Cubs- 4 -- The Tigers got some batting practice in this one, as they scored 9 runs in 4 innings off Cubs starter Carlos Zambrano. Miguel Cabrera and Marcus Thames each had 4 RBIs for the Tigers, and Thames had 3 amazing catches in LF.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool C, Round 7

Texas- 7, Tampa Bay- 6 -- After 4 innings Tampa Bay led 6-5, there was no more scoring until the bottom of the 9th. Michael Young led off the inning with a single, and Milton Bradley stepped up to the plate with 1 out........ and ended the game with a walk off 2 run HR, as Tampa Bay continues to struggle.

St. Louis- 6, Colorado- 5 -- Ryan Ludwick was the hero in this one for the Cards, as he went 3 for 4 with a single, a double, and the game winning 2 run homer in the bottom of the 7th, as Randy Flores and Jason Isringhausen pitched the 8th and 9th innings for St. Louis, respectively.

New York Yankees- 7, San Diego- 1 -- The Yankees got revenge on the Padres for that upset victory the first time these 2 met. They scored 6 of their 7 runs in the first 4 innings, chasing San Diego starter Josh Geer after 3 2/3. Yankee starter Phil Hughes pitched just 2 innings due to an injury, but Sidney Ponson came out of the bullpen to pitch 6 strong innings, as he was perfect through his first 4 and allowed just 2 baserunners in 6 innings, 1 of those coming on an error.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool D, Round 7

Florida- 3, NY Mets- 2 -- Johan Santana pitched 8 1/3 innings, but ran into trouble in the 9th. He turned it to Billy Wagner with the Mets up 2-1 and a runner on first. 2 singles, a wild pitch, and a walk later, and Florida had a 3-2 lead which they would hold in the bottom of the 9th.

Cleveland- 8, Pittsburgh- 5 -- Freddy Sanchez had a game for the Pirates with 2 homers and all 5 Pittsburgh RBIs, but he was matched by David Dellucci for Cleveland, who was 3 for 5 with a double, a homer, and 4 RBIs, keeping the Pirates as the only winless team in this tournament.

Boston- 5, San Francisco- 4 -- A David Ortiz 2 run homer in the 1st got things started. This game was back and forth, tied going into the bottom of the 9th. Vinnie Chulk couldn't record an out for the Giants, as he gave up 2 singles and a walk off double to Sean Casey.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool E, Round 7

LA Dodgers- 9, Milwaukee- 7 (15 innings) -- This never ending game saw both teams use 7 pitchers, and out of necessity have to use guys much longer than anticipated, pretty much depleting both teams bullpens' for their next game. Chin-lung Hu led the way for the Dodgers with 4 RBIs, as LA scored 4 runs in the top of the 15th to get the win.

Baltimore- 9, Arizona- 4 -- Baltimore erupted for 7 runs in the bottom of the 8th, as the D-Backs bullpen couldn't get anybody out. Both starting pitchers pitched into the 8th, and a great start by Arizonas Brandon Webb was wasted.

Philadelphia- 5, Atlanta- 4 (12 innings) -- Yet another extra inning game, as the Braves jumped out to a 4-1 lead after 5. The Phillies battled back, scoring 3 in the 8th, then in the bottom of the 12th, a Ryan Howard walk was followed by a Pat Burrell triple to walk off. Amazingly, the Phillies have a 3 game lead in their pool with 3 to play, so the next Philadelphia win clinches the pool for them.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool A, Round 8

Kansas City- 1, LA Angels- 0 -- The Angels came into this tournament as the #1 ranked team, but are in jeopardy of even making it out of pool play, after a 1-0 loss in which they had 8 hits but couldn't put a run on the board. Zack Greinke wa sharp for the Royals, pitching 8 1/3 innings before handing it off to Joakim Soria, who got 2 quick outs with a runner on 2nd to preserve the win.

Cincinnati- 10, Houston- 6 -- This game was a wild one, going into the 8th inning the Reds led 6-1, then batted around and put up 4 more in the top of the 8th to lead 10-1, but the Astros did one better, batting around and scoring 5 runs in the bottom half to give themselves a chance. Both teams went 1-2-3 in the 9th though, as Cincy stays in the hunt for the pool title.

Washington- 8, Minnesota- 3 -- The Twins find themselves hanging on to just a 1 game lead in pool A now, thanks to Scott Baker getting hammered. He gave up 7 runs in 4 1/3 innings, the big blow coming in the bottom of the 5th, as Ron Belliard smacked a 3 run homer for the Nats, ending Baker's day. Tim Redding pitched 7 solid innings for Washington, who still has a chance to advance in pool play, even though they were one of the worst teams in reality in 2008.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool B, Round 8

Oakland- 2, Chicago Cubs- 1 (10 innings) -- A classic pitching duel in this one, as a Kurt Suzuki homer in the 1st gave Oakland a 1-0 lead. The Cubs got that run back in the 5th, and both teams had chances to win it, but Oakland got it done in the bottom of the 10th as Ryan Sweeney hit a walk off single.

Detroit- 10, Toronto- 3 -- Despite 3 fielding errors, the Tigers ran away with this game, helped by a 5 spot in the top of the 7th. Matt Joyce was unstoppable, as he was 3-5 with 2 homers and 6 RBIs.

Seattle- 5, Chicago White Sox- 4 -- Jeff Clement and Jose Lopez each homered for Seattle, and with the Sox cutting the lead to 5-4 in the top of the 8th, Cesar Jimenez and J.J. Putz combined to record the last 4 outs of the game without giving up a baserunner.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool C, Round 8

St. Louis- 6, NY Yankees- 0 -- Braden Looper pitched 7 1/3 innings of 5 hit ball, completely shutting down the Bronx Bombers before giving way to Kelvin Jimenez who finished off the game, retiring all 5 batters he faced. Troy Glaus added the insurance runs with a 3 run homer in the 8th.

Texas- 10, San Diego- 3 -- The Rangers scored all 10 of their runs in the last 4 innings, getting 1 in the 6th, and 3 each in the 7th, 8th, and 9th. Little used Max Ramirez provided the hot bat with 2 HRs and 4 RBIs.

Colorado- 6, Tampa Bay- 3 -- The Rays continue to struggle in this tournament, and have all but been eliminated. Ian Stewart had 2 homers for Colorado in the winning effort.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool D, Round 8

Cleveland- 4, Boston- 2 -- A Mike Lowell error in the 8th inning opened it up for Cleveland, who got 2 runs to break a 2-2 tie, then Juan Rincon pitched to 4 batters in the 9th for the save, as Cleveland moves to the top of Pool D.

San Francisco- 2, Florida- 1 (10 innings) -- A great pitching duel needed an extra inning to be decided, but the Giants scratched home a run in the top of the 10th to get the win.

NY Mets- 5, Pittsburgh- 2 -- It took 7 innings for the Mets to get the bats going, as they scored all 5 of their runs in the last 3 innings, but they got it done to keep Pittsburgh winless.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool E, Round 8

Arizona- 3, Philadelphia- 0 -- So the Phillies haven't clinched the division yet, thanks to 8 1/3 innings of 5 hit ball from Arizona's Dan Haren. The D-Backs scored 1 in the 2nd and 2 in the 3rd, and let Haren and Jon Rauch take it from there.

LA Dodgers- 6, Atlanta- 5 (12 innings) -- Neither starting pitcher fared well, as both were gone by the 6th inning, but Atlanta's John Smoltz and LA's Chan Ho Park kept the scoring in check after that, with the winning run not scoring until the bottom of the 12th, a Jeff Kent walk-off homer for LA.

Baltimore- 3, Milwaukee- 2 -- Another solid pitching duel in this one, with the winning run scoring on an Adam Jones sac fly in the bottom of the 6th. Matt Albers pitched the last 3 innings for the Orioles, who stay alive for now.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool A, Round 9

Washington- 5, Cincinnati- 2 -- Jesus Flores led the Nats in this one as he had 2 HRs and 4 RBIs.

Kansas City- 9, Minnesota- 2 -- The Royals scored 7 of their 9 runs in the first 5 innings, completely shelling Glen Perkins, who had to go 5 innings because of a depleted Minnesota bullpen.

Houston- 5, LA Angels- 2 -- The big blow came in the top of the 7th, as Lance Berkman hit a 2 RBI triple to give Houston a 4-2 lead, as the Angels, the top seed in this tournament, are in real jeopardy of not making it to bracket play.

Here are the Pool A standings with 1 game left:

Minnesota 6-3 (+2)

Washington 5-4 (-1)

Cincinnati 5-4 (-7)

LA Angels 4-5 (+7)

Houston 4-5 (-2)

Kansas City 3-6 (+1)

The schedule for Round 10 is as follows:

LA Angels @ Minnesota

Washington @ Houston

Kansas City @ Cincinnati

2 scenarios that we know for sure are that Kansas City can not finish in the top 3 of their pool. They must win and get A LOT of help to have a chance at the wildcard spot. Also, if Minnesota beats the Angels, they are the Pool A champion and a guaranteed top 6 seed in bracket play. It's not out of the realm of possibility to have a 3 way tie at the top if Minnesota loses and Washington and Cincinnati both win. It's also possible that if the Angels beat Minnesota, Kansas City beats Cincinnati, and Houston beats Washington, that we could have 4 teams at 5-5, fighting for 2nd and 3rd place in the pool. Simply put, there is still much to play for in Week 10, as nothing is decided.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool B, Round 9

Seattle- 10, Detroit- 3 -- The Tigers were done in by 3 errors which led to 6 unearned runs for Seattle.

Chicago White Sox- 10, Oakland- 2 -- All 9 players had at least 1 hit for the White Sox, as Oakland used 3 pitchers to get through the 8th inning in which Chicago scored 7 of their 10 runs.

Toronto- 5, Chicago Cubs- 1 -- This game was wild, as Toronto hit a leadoff homer in 3 of the 9 innings, and 3 players were ejected. Jim Edmonds and Aramis Ramirez left early for the Cubs, while Scott Rolen left early for the Blue Jays.

Here are the Pool B standings with 1 round left:

Detroit 5-4 (+12)

Seattle 5-4 (-5)

Toronto 5-4 (-7)

Chicago White Sox 4-5 (+9)

Chicago Cubs 4-5 (+3)

Oakland 4-5 (-12)

Here is the Round 10 schedule:

Chicago Cubs @ Chicago White Sox

Seattle @ Toronto

Oakland @ Detroit

We will have at least one 6-4 team, at least one 5-5 team and at least one 4-6 team. There is a possibility we could have 4 teams at 5-5.

If Detroit, Seattle, and/or Toronto win, they will stand at 6-4 and ensure themselves of a top 3 finish in pool B and a trip to bracket play. Obviously a loss puts them at 5-5 in which case tiebreakers will more than likely come into play. We know for a fact either Seattle or Toronto will finish 6-4 since they are playing each other.

If the White Sox, Cubs, and/or Oakland lose, they will finish 4-6 and be out of the top 3, having to rely on 4th place and the potential wild card. This will be the case for either the Cubs or the White Sox.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool C, Round 9

San Diego- 9, Colorado- 0 -- A 5 spot in the 2nd and 3 more in the 9th did in the Rockies, as San Diego hit 3 homers in the game.

NY Yankees- 6, Texas- 4 (10 innings) -- A huge error by Brandon Boggs on a Jason Giambi single caused Giambi to score on the play. Cody Ransom also scored as he was on 1st when Giambi came up. That error happened in the 10th which led to the win for the Yankees.

St. Louis- 8, Tampa Bay- 2 -- Albert Pujols had 2 homers and 4 RBIs in the game.

Here are the Pool C standings with 1 round remaining:

Texas 6-3 (+21)

St. Louis 6-3 (+9)

NY Yankees 5-4 (+16)

Colorado 5-4 (-11)

San Diego 3-6 (-12)

Tampa Bay 2-7 (-23)

Round 10 schedule is as follows:

Tampa Bay @ NY Yankees

San Diego @ St. Louis

Texas @ Colorado

San Diego and Tampa Bay have officially been eliminated from the tournament, they have no chance of advancing to bracket play, and will be looking to play the role of spoiler in their last game.

If Texas wins and St. Louis loses their game, Texas wins the pool.

If St. Louis wins and Texas loses, St. Louis wins the pool.

If both win or both lose, there will be a tiebreaker situation. If Colorado were to beat Texas, San Diego beats St. Louis, and the Yankees beat Tampa Bay, we'd have 4 teams in 1st place at 6-4, and more than likely all 4 of them would advance to bracket play. Ay yi yi. We could also have an outright pool winner and a 3 team tie for second. As with the other pools, teams still have a lot to play for and nothing is decided.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool D, Round 9

San Francisco- 2, Pittsburgh- 1 -- A great pitching duel, but the Giants scratched home the winning run in the bottom of the 9th on a 2 out single from Aaron Rowand.

NY Mets- 9, Cleveland- 1 -- The Mets finally woke up their bats, getting a 5 spot in the 2nd as David Wright and Ryan Church each homered. Oliver Perez threw 7 2/3 innings for New York.

Boston- 10, Florida- 5 -- It looked bleak for Boston when Dustin Pedroia was ejected in the top of the 5th, then Mike Jacobs hit a grand slam to give Florida a 5-3 lead. But Boston would score 7 runs in the next 4 innings to win easily.

Here are the Pool D standings with 1 round left:

Boston 7-2 (+15)

Cleveland 7-2 (+10)

San Francisco 5-4 (-2)

Florida 4-5 (-7)

NY Mets 4-5 (-6)

Pittsburgh 0-9 (-22)



Round 10 Schedule:

Boston @ NY Mets

Pittsburgh @ Florida

Cleveland @ San Francisco



It goes without saying that Pittsburgh will be done after their game at Florida. We also know that both Boston and Cleveland have advanced to the 16 team bracket tournament and will be the top 2 seeds out of Pool D. If Boston beats the Mets and Cleveland loses to San Francisco, Boston wins the pool. If Cleveland beats San Fran and the Mets beat Boston, Cleveland wins the pool. If both win or both lose, then we go to a tiebreaker. San Francisco just needs to beat Cleveland to take 3rd place in the pool and advance to the 16 team bracket tournament. If San Francisco loses and Florida or the Mets, or both Florida and the Mets win, we have a tiebreaker situation. Could be as much as a 3 team tiebreaker for 3rd place in Pool D.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool E, Round 9

Baltimore- 5, Atlanta- 3 -- Things looked good early for Atlanta as Matt Diaz had a 3 run homer to open the scoring in the bottom of the 3rd, but in the top of the 5th, Baltimore scored 4 runs, batting around in the inning and hitting for the cycle, as they had 2 singles, 2 doubles, a triple and a homer. The homer came from Nick Markakis, who added another solo homer in the top of the 9th as an insurance run.

Milwaukee- 6, Arizona- 4 (10 innings) -- Arizona jumped out to a 4-1 lead after 6, but in the top of the 7th, Randy Johnson gave up back to back solo homers to Corey Hart and Prince Fielder. In the top of the 9th, Fielder homered again to tie the game at 4, then in the top of the 10th, Mike Cameron and Gabe Kapler hit back to back solo homers for a 6-4 lead and Brian Shouse pitched a perfect bottom half of the 10th. Amazing, 5 of the 6 Milwaukee runs came off solo homers.

LA Dodgers- 5, Philadelphia- 2 -- The Phillies again miss a chance to clinch Pool E, as the game was tied at 1 going into the top of the 7th when the pitching had an implosion. Casey Blake homered, Andruw Jones doubled, Delwyn Young singled, Blanton threw a wild pitch and then Chin-Lung Hu singled. Just like that it was 4-1 Dodgers. They added a run in the top of the 8th, Philly got 1 back in the bottom of the 9th but it wasn't enough.

Here are the Pool E standings with 1 round left:

Philadelphia 6-3 (+22)

Baltimore 5-4 (+3)

LA Dodgers 5-4 (+1)

Arizona 4-5 (-11)

Milwaukee 4-5 (-12)

Atlanta 3-6 (-3)



Round 10 Schedule:

Philadelphia @ Milwaukee

Baltimore @ LA Dodgers

Arizona @ Atlanta

Here's what we know, even if Atlanta beats Arizona they are eliminated from the 16 team playoff bracket. Philadelphia has yet another chance to clinch Pool E, all they have to do is beat Milwaukee. If that happens, Milwaukee is done. The Phillies can't rely on both Baltimore and the Dodgers to lose, since they are playing each other. However, that game has a lot of importance, as the winner will be 6-4 and clinch a top 3 finish in pool E, which would mean a trip to the 16 team playoff. If Philadelphia were to lose, then they would be tied for the top of Pool E at 6-4 with the Baltimore-Dodgers winner. Now, if Arizona and Milwaukee both win, they would be tied at 5-5, and the Dodgers-Baltimore loser would also be 5-5 creating a 3 way tie, so everybody but Atlanta has something to play for.

[collegesportsfanms]

I just realized I didn't set the scene. The 16 team playoff will feature the top 3 teams in each pool. First place teams in each pool will be seeded 1-5, second place teams seeded 6-10, and third place teams seeded 11-15, all based on record and run differential. The 16th team would be the wildcard team, which would be the 4th place team with the best record. With the wildcard being fairly important, I will not allow run differential to decide it. For instance, if we have 2 teams in 4th place in their pool that both have a record of 5-5, they will play a play-in game to decide who gets the wildcard spot, and run differential would decide the home team. If we have a 3 or more team tie (god forbid that happens), then we'll have a series of play-in games. We'll cover that if and when it becomes a reality.

Now, there are 2 things that I am debating over, and I would like and appreciate all you loyal readers to help me out by giving me your advice and opinions.

The first thing is how to set up the 16 team elimination bracket. I have 4 possible scenarios:

1. A straight double elimination tournament, with just 1 game series. Winner advances, loser either goes to the losers bracket or if it is a losers bracket game, is eliminated, until all but 1 team has lost twice.

2. Single elimination, but every series for the first round is best 2 of 3, quarters best of 5, and semis and championship series best of 7.

3. Combine the 2. Double elimination, with every series being best of 3 in each the winners and losers bracket.

4. A new concept I have recently discovered is a 16 team triple elimination bracket. Obviously there's not much difference between that and double elimination except every team is allowed 3 losses instead of 2. But, I have never actually seen a triple elimination bracket used, and I gotta say I'm very curious how it would play out.


Once we get that covered, the other dilemma I have is this:

What do you guys think about me having a consolation bracket for the teams that don't advance out of pool play? In other words, I have it set up so that the top 3 teams from each pool plus a wildcard team make it to the 16 team championship bracket. What if I had a consolation type bracket involving the other 14 teams to see who the "best of the worst is?" And if you guys are up for this idea, how should I set it up.

I know it will take some time for everybody to get caught up on this, but all responses are appreciated, thanks.

[collegesportsfanms]

Anybody have any opinions or comments on the 2 questions I posted last week? I'm still torn on exactly how to do things, and any advice would be appreciated, thanks.

[collegesportsfanms]

I have decided that I am going to go ahead and have a 14 team consolation bracket as well. I'm still deciding the formats for each, the triple elimination idea still interests me, but I'm not sure if I want to give the consolation bracket that much attention. I think I'll probably go double elimination for the consolation bracket, and for the championship bracket, either triple elimination, or single elimination series. I'm still open to suggestions and advice.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool A, Round 10

LA Angels- 2, Minnesota- 1 -- An unearned run in the top of the 8th won this game for the Angels, as Minnesota misses a chance to win the pool outright and now must wait for the results of other games.

Washington- 9, Houston- 4 -- Ryan Zimmerman hit a grand slam in the top of the 3rd to give Washington a 5-2 lead. They would add 2 in the 4th and 2 in the 6th. Houston got 2 runs back in the bottom of the 7th on a Darin Erstad home run, but it wasn't near enough.

Kansas City- 5, Cincinnati- 4 -- Both teams put up a 4 spot in the 4th (how ironic) and the Royals took a 5-4 lead in the top of the 5th on a Ross Gload groundout. Neither team scored for the rest of the game and Kansas City finishes pool play off on a high note.

Here are the final Pool A standings:

1. Washington 6-4 (+4)

2. Minnesota 6-4 (+1)

3. LA Angels 5-5 (+8)

4. Cincinnati 5-5 (-8)

5. Kansas City 4-6 (+2)

6. Houston 4-6 (-7)

So we had 3 separate tiebreakers to work out in this pool. For first place, since Washington and Minnesota split their 2 games, each winning by a score of 8-3, the pool was decided by overall run differential, which gives it to Washington, who will be a top 5 seed in the championship bracket. Amazing since they were among the worst teams in MLB in the actual 2008 season. Minnesota is in and will get a seed of 6-10. For 3rd and 4th place, the LA Angels and Cincinnati split their games. But the Angels beat Cincinnati by 4 runs, while Cincy won the rematch by just 2, giving the Angels 3rd place and a spot in the championship bracket. Cincinnati must hope for a shot at the wildcard. Kansas City and Houston are both going to the consolation bracket, but whoever finishes 5th in the pool is guaranteed a higher seed in that bracket (for the consolation bracket, the 4 4th place teams that don't get the wildcard are seeded 1-4, 5th place teams 5-9, 6th place teams 10-14). Kansas City and Houston split, but Kansas City won by 3 while Houston only won by 1, so Kansas City gets 5th place, Houston 6th.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool B, Round 10

Chicago White Sox- 11, Chicago Cubs- 3 -- Alexei Ramirez had 2 homers and 6 RBIs to lead the White Sox to an easy victory, as the Cubs now know they'll be headed to the consolation bracket.

Toronto- 8, Seattle- 3 -- Things started out good for Seattle as Jose Lopez hit a 3 run homer in the top of the 1st, but those would be their only runs of the game. Toronto scored single runs in the first and second, then put up a 4 spot in the 4th as they had 17 hits in the game. This clinches a spot in the championship bracket for the Blue Jays.

Oakland- 9, Detroit- 2 -- For a while, it looked like it might be the first run to score wins the game, as we were scoreless through the first 3, then Oakland scored all 9 of their runs in the next 5 innings and Greg Smith shut down the Tigers for 7 1/3 innings. Detroit got 2 runs in the 8th but that was it.

Here are the final Pool B standings:

1. Toronto 6-4 (-2)

2. Seattle 5-5 (-10)

3. Detroit 5-5 (+5)

4. Chicago White Sox 5-5 (+17)

5. Oakland 5-5 (-5)

6. Chicago Cubs 4-6 (-5)

Toronto wins the group but has a negative point differential which could see them getting the 4 or 5 seed in the championship bracket. Then we had a 4 way tiebreaker for 2nd place. The tiebreaker needed to decide this was best record against the other teams involved. Seattle went 5-1 against the White Sox, Detroit, and Oakland, while the White Sox and Detroit were both 2-4 against the other teams involved, while Oakland was 3-3 against the other teams involved. So Seattle gets the 2nd spot out of Pool B, but that -10 point differential will probably have them as a 10th seed in the championship bracket. Hard to imagine any of the other 3 group runner-ups having that bad of a point differential. So now we are down to a 3 team tiebreaker for 3rd place. Record against the other teams involved didn't fly here, as they all went 1-1 against each other. So we went to the next tiebreaker, in this case, who had the best record against the pool winner, which in this case was Toronto. While both Oakland and the White Sox split with Toronto, Detroit beat Toronto both games, so the Tigers get 3rd place in Pool B and a spot in the championship bracket. 4th place came down to a tiebreaker between the White Sox and Oakland. This was a simple head to head battle. The teams split their 2 meetings, but while Oakland only won by 1, the White Sox won by 8, so the White Sox get 4th place in Pool B and a chance at the wildcard. Speaking of which, we will have at least 1 wildcard game since both the White Sox and Cincinnati finished 5-5 as 4th place finishers in their group. I said earlier I would not let run differential decide the wildcard and if teams had identical records we would play it out on the field. In this case, the White Sox should have home field advantage in almost any wildcard game due to that +17 run differential. Poor Oakland, who worked so hard to beat Detroit, ends up losing all the tiebreakers and still finishes 5th, while the Cubs, who were the top seed in pool B, finish last in the pool. Both Oakland and the Cubs will be going to the consolation bracket guaranteed.

One other note, even though we have tiebreakers to decide places among pools, those could be subject to change. The reason being, I am not going to have a first round game between teams that came from the same pool in either the championship or consolation bracket. If this were to happen, I may have to adjust seedings around a little bit. Hopefully it's not an issue, but we'll see.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool C, Round 10

NY Yankees- 6, Tampa Bay- 2 -- Wilson Betemit drove in 4 of the 6 Yankee runs as they scored 3 in the 1st, 3 in the 3rd. Nobody scored after the 3rd inning as pitching took over.

St. Louis- 7, San Diego- 3 -- This game was decided in the bottom of the 6th when St. Louis batted around and scored 4 runs on back to back homers. First a 3 run shot by Rick Ankiel followed by a solo shot from Joe Mather as the return of Jake Peavy didn't go so well as he didn't get out of the 6th inning.

Colorado- 7, Texas- 5 -- It looked like this was set for a wild one as the teams traded leads, with the Rockies dealing the final blow in the bottom of the 7th on a Chris Iannetta 3 run homer. Jeff Francis went 7 innings for Colorado and Luis Vizcaino, Mark Redman, and Taylor Buchholz shut down the Ranger bats for the last 2 innings.

Final Pool C standings:

1. St Louis 7-3 (+13)

2. New York Yankees 6-4 (+20)

3. Colorado 6-4 (-9)

4. Texas 6-4 (+19)

5. San Diego 3-7 (-16)

6. Tampa Bay 2-8 (-27)

Thanks to Texas losing, St. Louis gets the group and right now stands as the #1 seed with their 7-3 record, but don't expect that to hold up as we have 2 teams that stand at 7-2 in pool D. The Yankees win the 3 team tiebreaker for second, going 3-1 against Colorado and Texas, while Colorado went 2-2 against the Yankees and Texas, and Texas went 1-3 against the Yankees and Colorado. Their 6-4 record gives them a great shot to be seeded 6 or 7, especially with that run differential. Colorado gets 3rd place thanks to sweeping Texas. The 6-4 record will help them as their run differential is not good. Texas falls all the way to 4th place, but as of right now the 6-4 record is good enough for the wildcard with 2 pools to go. Unfortunately, that does eliminate Cincinnati and the Chicago White Sox from wildcard and championship bracket contention. They will both go to the consolation bracket. San Diego takes 5th and might end up with the worst record of the 5th seeds. Meanwhile Tampa Bay completely underachieved in this tournament and might finish with the worst record and the worst seed in the consolation bracket.

[collegesportsfanms]

OK guys, there's 5 games left in pool play, and I've finally made a decision on how to run the brackets, after a lot of thinking and a lot of mind changing, here's how it's going to be.

The 14 team consolation bracket is going to be triple elimination (I am just curious about how it works out, plus another reason that I'll mention later.)

The 16 team championship bracket will be single elimination series play. The first round and quarterfinals will be best 3 out of 5, the semifinals and championship series will be best 4 out 7.

This makes it universal in that every team will get at least 3 more games in bracket play.

I do have some rules of course. While I will not be honoring suspensions like I did in pool play, I will still be using ejections, but there will be no mandatory 1 game suspension for an ejection. Also, injuries will apply, but if a person gets injured it will only be for that game only.

Pitching rotations will for the most part stay the same, although I may change it up a little depending on rest situations. Relief pitchers will be used just like I've been using them, trying to give every relief pitcher close to the same amount of appearances if possible.

Position players: every position player on every team must start at least 1 game. In the game they start, they must get an official at-bat (which means if their first AB is a walk, sacrifice, HBP, they have to bat for a second time, and so on). And, during that start, each position player must play in the field a minimum of 4 innings.

With these rules it'll be interesting to see how things shape out.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool D, Round 10

Boston- 4, NY Mets- 3 -- Carlos Delgado led the scoring in the bottom of the 1st with a 2 run homer for the Mets, but Kevin Youkilis answered with a 2 run homer for Boston in the top of the 2nd. David Ortiz got an RBI groundout in the top of the 5th to give Boston a 3-2 lead, and both teams got a run in the 6th, but that was it for the scoring as Mike Timlin and Jonathan Papelbon shut down the Mets in the 8th and 9th.

Florida- 6, Pittsburgh- 2 -- Despite 2 errors, the Marlins spread out 13 hits, getting a hit in every inning but the 8th. 4 pitchers combined to shut down Pittsburgh after the 2nd inning, as the Pirates finish pool play 0-10.

San Francisco- 8, Cleveland- 7 -- This game was wild, as Cleveland started strong, jumping out to a 4-0 lead after 2 1/2 innings, but San Francisco got 5 in the 3rd, the big blow coming on a 3 run homer from Aaron Rowand. Both teams batted around in the 5th, adding 3 runs, but nobody could get anything across after that as San Francisco relievers allowed just 3 runners in the last 4 innings.

Final Pool D standings:

1. Boston 8-2 (+16)

2. Cleveland 7-3 (+9)

3. San Francisco 6-4 (-1)

4. Florida 5-5 (-3)

5. NY Mets 4-6 (+5)

6. Pittsburgh 0-10 (-26)



So Boston wins the pool and has clinched the top seed in the championship bracket with their 8-2 record, as the winner of Pool E will have a record of no better than 7-3. Cleveland gets 2nd place and clinches the 6th seed in the championship bracket with their 7-3 record, as no other 2nd place finisher has a chance to finish 7-3. San Francisco gets 3rd place thanks to their win over Cleveland in round 10, and with their 6-4 record can do no worse than the 12th seed in the championship bracket, since only the team taking 3rd in pool E can finish with a 6-4 record and a better point differential than the Giants. Florida gets 4th place but their 5-5 record puts them out of wildcard contention. They are locked into the championship bracket. The Mets take 5th and that point differential is the best of the 4-6 teams, but there is a 5-5 5th place team in the mix. And lowly Pittsburgh has done the opposite of Boston, in that they have clinched the lowest (14th) seed in the consolation bracket with their 0-10 pool play finish. They'll have 3 chances to get their first win of the tournament.

[collegesportsfanms]

Pool E, Round 10

Milwaukee- 5, Philadelphia- 1 -- The Brewers scored 3 runs in the first and added 1 in the 2nd and 1 in the 5th. David Bush went 8 1/3 innings for Milwaukee, finally giving up a run in the top of the 9th, as the Phillies' implosion continues.

Baltimore- 6, LA Dodgers- 4 -- It looked good for the Dodgers early on as they batted around in the bottom of the 2nd, scoring 4 runs. Baltimore got 3 of those runs back in the top of the 3rd, then tied the game in the 5th. In the 6th, Baltimore manufactured 2 runs to take a 6-4 lead and the game ended that way. LA had just 6 baserunners in the last 7 innings. Radhames Liz pitched 5 innings for Baltimore. After his disasterous 2nd inning, he allowed just 1 baserunner in his last 3 innings of work.

Atlanta- 2, Arizona- 1 (10 innings) -- Kelly Johnson batted in the winning run in the bottom of the 10th with a bases loaded single in this incredible pitchers duel to finish off pool play.

Final Pool E standings:

1. Philadelphia 6-4 (+18)

2. Baltimore 6-4 (+5)

3. LA Dodgers 5-5 (-1)

4. Milwaukee 5-5 (-8)

5. Arizona 4-6 (-12)

6. Atlanta 4-6 (-2)



Despite losing their last 3 games, the Phillies back into the Pool E title thanks to tiebreakers. Since Baltimore beat the Dodgers in round 10, the Phillies had a tiebreaker with Baltimore. They split their meetings, but Philly won their meeting by 2, while Baltimore only won by 1, so Philly gets the Pool E title and a surprising Baltimore finishes second. We also had a tiebreaker for 3rd place, between the Dodgers and Milwaukee. This one was much easier to solve, as the Dodgers wept Milwaukee, giving them 3rd place in Pool E and a trip to the championship bracket. Milwaukee goes to the consolation bracket with their 5-5 record. Despite Atlanta beating Arizona in the final game of pool play, it wasn't enough. Arizona won the first meeting by 2, while Atlanta only won by 1, so Arizona takes 5th, Atlanta 6th, both to consolation bracket.

[collegesportsfanms]

Now what you've all been waiting for.. the seedings for the championship and consolation brackets. First, the championship bracket.

1- Boston

2- St. Louis

3- Philadelphia

4- Toronto

5- Washington

6- Cleveland

7- NY Yankees

8- Baltimore

9- Minnesota

10- Seattle

11- Colorado

12- San Francisco

13- LA Angels

14- Detroit

15- LA Dodgers

16- Texas

First Round series matchups:

(16) Texas vs. (1) Boston

(9) Minnesota vs. (8) Baltimore

(12) San Francisco vs. (5) Washington

(13) LA Angels vs. (4) Toronto

(11) Colorado vs. (6) Cleveland

(14) Detroit vs. (3) Philadelphia

(10) Seattle vs. (7) NY Yankees

(15) LA Dodgers vs. (2) St. Louis

I had to make a couple adjustments to the original seedings, otherwise we would have had 3 first round series between teams in the same pool. Of the group winners, I had to swap Toronto and Washington. With both having a 6-4 record, Washington actually had the better run differential which would have had them seeded 4th and taking on the LA Angels in the first round, both from Pool A. I also had to swap Colorado and San Francisco in the 3rd place finishers. San Francisco had the better point differential between them and Colorado, but that would have put them as the 11th seed taking on Cleveland in the first round, both coming from Pool D. I thought there was a third switch I had to make, but I can't seem to recall it now. Oh well, on to the consolation bracket seedings!

1- Chicago White Sox

2- Florida

3- Cincinnati

4- Milwaukee

5- Oakland

6- NY Mets

7- Kansas City

8- Arizona

9- San Diego

10- Atlanta

11- Chicago Cubs

12- Houston

13- Tampa Bay

14- Pittsburgh

The White Sox and Florida get byes into the next round, so here are the first round match-ups for the consolation bracket:

(9) San Diego vs. (8) Arizona- winner plays (1) Chicago White Sox

(12) Houston vs. (5) Oakland

(13) Tampa Bay vs. (4) Milwaukee

(14) Pittsburgh vs. (3) Cincinnati

(11) Chicago Cubs vs. (6) New York Mets

(10) Atlanta vs. (7) Kansas City- winner plays (2) Florida

Fortunately, from what I can tell, no changes needed to be made here. Remember this is triple elimination, so it's almost a certainty that at some point, teams that played in the same pool will meet.

[collegesportsfanms]

Plan of attack is as follows, I will do the entire consolation bracket first, game by game. Should be about 40 games.

Then we move to what mostly everyone cares about, the championship bracket. A reminder, each series is a "best of" series. First round and Quarterfinals are Best 3 of 5, Semis and Championship Series are Best 5 of 7. Winners of each series advance, losers are done. With the 2 different formats, this guarantees every team 3 more games. With this championship bracket, I will stagger the games, meaning I will play the first game of the Texas/Boston series, then play the first game of the Minnesota/Baltimore series, until all first games are done. Then move to the second game of each series and so on, until all the series' are completed. Hopefully this won't confuse anybody.

I will also be using a different reporting format for these bracket games, consisting of a short pregame with the teams involved, then for the game report, it will be more of a quick recap like they have been, but I will also be adding in the following:

Scoring summary, detailing how every run in the game scored, plus winning and losing pitchers, and what pitcher saved the game if necessary. I won't do a full out box score unless requested. Hope you all enjoy, I know I'm excited!

[collegesportsfanms]

Consolation Bracket Game 1

(9) San Diego @ (8) Arizona

Pregame

These NL West foes meet for the first time in this 2008 DICE baseball tournament. San Diego took 5th place in Pool C with a 3-7 record and a -16 run differential. Their pool play was marred by an early tournament incident which saw SP Jake Peavy suspended for a number of games. Despite that, the Padres won 2 of their first 5 to remain in the hunt for the championship bracket, but lost 4 of their last 5. Arizona was 5th place in Pool E with a 4-6 record and a -12 run differential. Had Atlanta scored just 1 more run in the last game of pool play, the D-Backs would have been last in Pool E. 1 win in the second half of pool play doomed Arizona, as they finished the first half of pool play with a 3-2 record. Neither of these teams are known for a potent offense, with Arizona having a team .251 average in the actual 2008 season, and the Padres having a team .250 average. The pitching was slightly better for Arizona though.

Pitching Match-Up

Josh Banks (SD) vs. Micah Owings (ARI)

Game Report

The moral of this game? Bad hitting still trumps bad pitching every time. Forget the scouting reports that neither team had a better than .251 batting average. Arizona and San Diego combined for 20 runs and 29 hits as San Diego put up 4 spots in the 1st, 4th, and 9th innings in route to a 13-7 victory. Arizona starting pitcher Micah Owings was gone after 3 1/3, as the Padres batted around in the 1st and 4th innings, jumping out in front 9-0 going into the bottom of the 7th. Arizona would keep things interesting though, scoring 3 in the 7th and 4 in the 8th, forcing Padre closer Trevor Hoffman to start warming up. But San Diego sealed the deal in the top of the 9th scoring 4 more runs, and Hoffman sat down. Justin Germano pitched the bottom of the 9th for San Diego, giving up a walk to Chris Snyder but otherwise having no troubles. San Diego advances in the undefeated bracket and will travel to Chicago to face the top seed White Sox next, while Arizona drops to the 1 loss bracket and will face an opponent TBD (either Kansas City, Atlanta, or Florida.)

WP: Josh Banks (SD)
LP: Micah Owings (ARI)

Players of the Game

San Diego- RF Brian Giles (2-5, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 1 BB)
Arizona- RF Justin Upton (3-5, 1 HR, 5 RBI)

Scoring Summary

Top 1st- 0 out, Kevin Kouzmanoff singles, scoring Jody Gerut (1-0 SD)
1 out, Edgar Gonzalez singles, scoring Brian Giles (2-0 SD)
Nick Hundley singles, scoring Kouzmanoff and Adrian Gonzalez (4-0 SD)

Top 4th- 1 out, Kouzmanoff singles, scoring Gerut, and error on Justin Upton allows Giles and Kouzmanoff to score (7-0 SD)
Edgar Gonzalez grounds out to catcher, scoring Adrian Gonzalez (8-0 SD)

Top 5th- 0 out, Gerut doubles, scoring Luis Rodriguez (9-0 SD)

Bot 7th- 1 out, Justin Upton homers, scoring Augie Ojeda, Orlando Hudson, and Upton (9-3 SD)

Bot 8th- 0 out, Chris Snyder doubles, scoring Mark Reynolds and Conor Jackson (9-5 SD)
1 out, Upton singles, scoring Ojeda and Hudson (9-7 SD)

Top 9th- 1 out, Brian Giles hits Grand Slam, scoring Sean Kazmar, Rodriguez, Gerut, and Giles (13-7 SD)

[collegesportsfanms]

Consolation Bracket Game 2

(12) Houston @ (5) Oakland

Pitching Match-Up

Shawn Chacon (HOU) vs. Dana Eveland (OAK)

Pregame

The Astros finished 6th place in Pool A with a 4-6 record and -7 run differential. They got off to a bad start in pool play by losing their first 4 games before winning 4 of their last 6, so they are on a bit of a hot streak right now even though they lost by 5 in their last pool game against Washington. Oakland finished in 5th place in pool B, the victim of a 4 team tiebreaker in which all the tiebreakers went against them, from the 4 team tiebreak, then the 3 team tiebreak, then the head to head tiebreak. They are the only 5th place team to finish with a 5-5 record, and they had a -5 run differential and beat Detroit easily in their last pool game to give themselves a chance at the championship bracket, but again, tiebreakers got them. Houston has a better batting average, but a worse ERA, so this game is really pretty even, and the pitching match-up doesn't really help me make a prediction in this one.

Game Report

For 8 innings, the Astros pitching staff held Oakland to 3 hits. Then came the 9th, in which Oakland mounted a rally after being down 5-0. Geoff Geary started the 9th for Houston and struggled, giving up a single and a walk before getting a pop up and a line drive. Oakland turned to their bench, calling on Gregorio Petit, who walked. Oakland went to the bench again, and with the bases load, Jack Hannahan unloaded them with a 2 out, 3 RBI double. Having no choice, Houston went to closer Jose Valverde to try and get that final out. All it took was 1 batter, as Valverde got Mark Ellis to fly out to center field and Houston, after leading 5-3 going into the bottom of the 9th, had to hold on for a 5-3 win. Oakland ended up with 6 hits in the game, they had as many hits in the 9th as they did in the first 8 innings combined, but it wasn't enough. Houston advances to take on the Milwaukee/Tampa Bay winner, while Oakland goes to the 1 loss bracket and takes on the loser of the Milwaukee/Tampa Bay game.

WP: Shawn Chacon (HOU)
LP: Dana Eveland (OAK)
SV: Jose Valverde (HOU)

Players of the Game

Houston- SP Shawn Chacon (7 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 7 K)
Oakland- PH Jack Hannahan (1-1, 2B, 3 RBI)

Scoring Summary

Top 2nd- 1 out, Geoff Blum grounds to second, scoring Brad Ausmus (1-0 HOU)
Miguel Tejada singles, scoring Hunter Pence (2-0 HOU)

Top 7th- 1 out, Miguel Tejada homers, scoring Tejada (3-0 HOU)
2 outs, Carlos Lee homers, scoring Ty Wigginton and Lee (5-0 HOU)

Bot 9th- 2 outs, Jack Hannahan doubles, scoring Aaron Cunningham, Kurt Suzuki, and Hannahan (5-3 HOU)

[collegesportsfanms]

Consolation Bracket Game 3

(13) Tampa Bay @ (4) Milwaukee

Pitching Match-Up

Jason Hammel (TB) vs. Manny Parra (MIL)

Pregame

Tampa Bay finished in 6th place in Pool C with a 2-8 record and -27 run differential, but don't let that fool you. Tampa Bay was one of the best teams in baseball in the 2008 season, and definitely underachieved so far in this tournament. Now is their chance to turn it around. Milwaukee finished in 4th place in Pool E with a 5-5 record and -8 run differential. They fell to 4th place thanks to a tiebreaker with the Dodgers. Both teams were 5-5, but the Dodgers won both games against Milwaukee. The Brewers also a strong team, in fact this matchup really should be taking place in the consolation bracket rather than the championship bracket, but that's how things go. Milwaukee holds a bit of an edge as far as the pitching match-up goes, but Tampa Bay was a slightly better hitting team. This should be a heck of a game.

Game Report

The struggles for Tampa Bay continued as the lack of a true long reliever showed in this one. Jason Hammel, with a stamina of 19, had to pitch to 27 batters and by the end was throwing nothing more than batting practice. Milwaukee got things started early by batting around in the 1st inning and scoring 4 runs, then finally knocking Hammel out of the game after scoring 3 more against him in the 5th inning. Had Tampa Bay had a long reliever to go to, Hammel wouldn't have even pitched the 5th inning. But it didn't stop there. Chad Bradford, who has a control of 80, pitched the 7th inning for Tampa Bay, but got rocked, giving up 3 runs, again due to a short Tampa Bay bullpen. The final result: a 12-6 Milwaukee win in which they had 4 home runs. The Brewers move on in the undefeated bracket and will face Houston in the next round, while Tampa Bay and their short bullpen fall to the 1 loss bracket and will face Oakland next.

WP: Manny Parra (MIL)
LP: Jason Hammel (TB)

Players of the Game

Tampa Bay- 3B Evan Longoria (3-4, 2 2B, 4 RBI)
Milwaukee- CF Mike Cameron (3-3, 2 BB, 1 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBI)

Scoring Summary

Top 1st- 2 out, Evan Longoria singles, scoring Jason Bartlett (1-0 TB)

Bot 1st- 0 out, Prince Fielder singles, scoring Ray Durham (1-1 tie)
Russell Branyan doubles, scoring Gabe Kapler and Ryan Braun (3-1 MIL)
2 out, Mike Cameron walks, scoring Fielder (4-1 MIL)

Bot 3rd- 0 out, Mike Rivera homers, scoring Rivera (5-1 MIL)

Top 4th- 0 out, Longoria doubles, scoring Ben Zobrist (5-2 MIL)
1 out, Rocco Baldelli homers, scoring Longoria and Baldelli (5-4 MIL)

Top 5th- 2 out, Longoria doubles, scoring Mike Difelice and Bartlett (6-5 TB)

Bot 5th- 0 out, Branyan homers, scoring Branyan (6-6 tie)
2 out, Cameron homers, scoring J.J. Hardy and Cameron (8-6 MIL)

Bot 6th- 2 out, Rivera singles, scoring Kapler (9-6 MIL)

Bot 7th- 1 out, Cameron homers, scoring Cameron (10-6 MIL)
2 out, Branyan singles, scoring Kapler and Braun (12-6 MIL)

[collegesportsfanms]

Consolation Bracket Game 4

(14) Pittsburgh @ (3) Cincinnati

Pitching Match-up

Tom Gorzelanny (PIT) vs. Johnny Cueto (CIN)

Pregame

Another game involving teams which in reality play in the same division. In this case, both teams are in the NL Central. Pittsburgh is still looking for their first win of the tournament, finishing 6th in pool D with an 0-10 record and a -26 run differential. It's not all bad though, as the Pirates only lost by an average of 2.6 runs a game, and their worst loss was their opening loss, 10-4 to Boston. They've had 3 games where they've only lost by 1 run, so if they can put it together, they can get a few wins in this triple elimination bracket. Cincinnati finished 4th in Pool A with a 5-5 record and a -8 run differential. They lost their last pool game to Kansas City, then lost a tiebreaker to the LA Angels for 3rd place in the pool, as the Angels and Reds split their 2 games, but the Angels won their game by more runs. If not for that loss to Kansas City to end pool play, Cincinnati would have been in the championship bracket. Neither starting pitcher is going to wow you with their stuff, so I wouldn't be surprised if this game turned into a slugfest. However, with the Reds having a .247 batting average in the actual 2008 season, this is another case where we have bad pitching against bad hitting.

Game Report

This was not the game for Pittsburgh to break their losing streak, as 3 Pirate errors contributed to 4 Cincinnati unearned runs. Well, technically only 3 unearned runs, as the last error came from Pirate reliever Tyler Yates which allowed a run to score, and I believe for official scoring purposes, since the error was on the pitcher, that makes the run earned. Never mind all that, Pittsburgh was still let down by their defense, as well as 2 timely home runs for the Reds, both coming off the Pittsburgh bullpen, which led to an 11-6 Cincinnati win. While neither starting pitcher was incredibly sharp (both only lasted 5 innings), the Reds bullpen allowed no runs in the last 4 innings, while the Pirate bullpen allowed 6 runs in the last 4 innings. The offense was still on display though, as I thought it might be, as the teams combined for 24 hits. Cincinnati advances in the undefeated bracket to take on the winner of the NY Met/Chicago Cubs game, while Pittsburgh stays winless in the tournament and will drop to the 1 loss bracket and take on the NY Mets/Chicago Cubs loser.

WP: Gary Majewski (CIN)
LP: Ross Ohlendorf (PIT)

Players of the Game

Pittsburgh- C Ryan Doumit (3-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI)
Cincinnati- CF Ryan Freel (2-4, 1 HBP, 1 2B, 3 RBI)

Scoring Summary

Bot 1st- 1 out, Edwin Encarnacion singles, scoring Ryan Freel (1-0 CIN)
Chris Dickerson flies out to deep left field, scoring Jerry Hairston (2-0 CIN)

Top 3rd- 1 out, Johnny Cueto throws wild pitch, scoring Nyjer Morgan (2-1 CIN)
2 out, Ryan Doumit doubles, scoring Adam LaRoche and Nate McLouth (3-2 PIT)

Bot 4th- 1 out, Ryan Freel doubles, scoring Chris Dickerson, Paul Bako, and Jay Bruce (5-3 CIN)

Top 5th- 2 out, Jason Michaels homers, scoring McLouth, Doumit, and Michaels (6-5 PIT)

Bot 6th- 2 out, Hairston homers, scoring Bruce, Freel, and Hairston (8-6 CIN)

Bot 7th- 1 out, Paul Janish grounds out to third base, scoring Dickerson (9-6 CIN)

Bot 8th- 0 out, Bruce homers, scoring Bruce (10-6 CIN)
2 out, Tyler Yates error on pickoff attempt scores Votto (11-6 CIN)

[collegesportsfanms]

Consolation Bracket Game 5

(11) Chicago Cubs @ (6) New York Mets

Pitching Match-Up

Jason Marquis (CHC) vs. John Maine (NYM)

Pregame

A match of 2 teams that definitely underachieved in pool play. In reality, in the actual 2008 season, the Cubs won the NL Central and the Mets were 2nd in the NL East. In this tournament, they are relegated to the consolation bracket. The Cubs finished in 6th place in Pool B with a 4-6 record and a -5 run differential, losing their last 4 games in pool play after being 4-2 after 6 games. The Mets finished 5th in Pool D with a 4-6 record and a +5 run differential, but also had the advantage of having Pittsburgh in their pool. They did the opposite of the Cubs in pool play, losing 4 of their first 5 before winning 3 of their last 5, and their only 2 losses in the second half of pool play were by 1 run each. The Cubs, statistically, are the better team, with a .278 team average and a 3.87 team ERA, compared to the Mets who have a .266 team batting average and 4.07 team ERA. The pitching matchup is pretty even in this one. Maine had a better ERA in the actual 2008 season, but the interesting thing about Marquis is that he actually fared a lot better against left handed hitters, which is unusually because Marquis is a righty. It'll be interesting to see if that holds true in this game, as the Mets starting lineup has 7 players that will bat left handed against Marquis.

Game Report

As has been the theme of all the consolation bracket games so far, offense trumped pitching. The Cubs got off to a great start, leading 6-2 after 3, but they would not score again for several innings. The Mets got 1 in the 4th and 3 in the 5th to tie it. Neither starting pitcher lasted through the 5th innings, as both managers decided to trust their bullpen. For the most part it paid off, as only 3 runs were scored after the 5th inning. In the top of the 8th, with southpaw Pedro Feliciano pitching for the Mets, Alfonso Soriano came off the bench to pinch hit and delivered an RBI single that gave the Cubs the lead. Chicago would add 1 in the top of the 9th, then in the bottom of the 9th, the Cubs lost control, literally. Carlos Marmol walked Fernando Tatis to open the inning, then got Brian Schneider to ground out to short, advancing Tatis to second. Sweet Lou Pinella opted to bring in Kerry Wood to finish the game, and it almost led to disaster, as Wood walked 3 batters in a row, which drove in a run for the Mets to cut the deficit to 1. Wood settled down though, getting Angel Pagan to line to center and Jose Reyes to pop up to third, as the Cubs break their losing streak by surviving to win 8-7! The Cubs advance in the undefeated bracket and will take on Cincinnati in the next round, while the Mets drop to the 1 loss bracket and will face Pittsburgh.

WP: Jeff Samardzija (CHC)
LP: Pedro Feliciano (NYM)

Players of the Game

Chicago Cubs- SS Ryan Theriot (3-5, 1 BB, 1 SB, 1 3B, 3 RBI)
New York Mets- 2B Luis Castillo (2-3, 2 BB, 1 2B, 3 RBI)

Scoring Summary

Bot 1st- 2 out, Carlos Delgado homers, scoring David Wright and Delgado (2-0 NYM)

Top 2nd- 2 out, Ryan Theriot triples, scoring Mark DeRosa, Mike Fontenot, and Micah Hoffpauir (3-2 CHC)
Ronny Cedeno singles, scoring Theriot (4-2 CHC)

Top 3rd- 2 out, Reed Johnson singles, scoring Geovany Soto (5-2 CHC)
Cedeno walks, scoring Hoffpauir (6-2 CHC)

Bot 4th- 2 out, Luis Castillo doubles, scoring Fernando Tatis (6-3 CHC)

Bot 5th- 0 out, Brian Schneider doubles, scoring Wright and Delgado (6-5 CHC)
1 out, Castillo singles, scoring Tatis (6-6 tie)

Top 8th- 2 out, Alfonso Soriano singles, scoring Theriot (7-6 CHC)

Top 9th- 2 out, Johnson doubles, scoring Fontenot (8-6 CHC)

Bot 9th- 1 out, Castillo walks, scoring Tatis (8-7 CHC)

[collegesportsfanms]

Consolation Bracket Game 6

(10) Atlanta @ (7) Kansas City

Pitching Match-up

Jo-Jo Reyes (ATL) vs. Luke Hochevar (KC)

Pregame

I'm going to have fun with this one, as Kansas City and Atlanta are 2 of my favorite teams. I became an Atlanta fan in the 90's when they made those great World Series runs, and who can forget that pitching staff: Glavine, Smoltz, Maddux, Avery, Leibrandt, just to name a few. Unfortunately that was the 90's, and this tournament is being held with the 2008 teams, and Atlanta has fallen mightily since then. They finished 6th (last) in Pool E, with a 4-6 record and a -2 run differential. They were in a tie for 5th with Arizona, and since both teams won a game in the series, Arizona got the 5th seed based on the fact they won their game by 2 runs while Atlanta won theirs by 1. A 3 game losing streak in pool play (games 7,8,9) cost them a better seed. They lost those 3 games by a grand total of 4 runs. Hard luck for the Braves. Kansas City finished 5th in Pool A with a 4-6 record and a +2 run differential. They were in a 5th place tiebreaker with Houston, again both teams won a game in the head to head series. Kansas City won theirs by 3, Houston won theirs by 1, so the Royals got 5th place. For them to even be in that spot was a miracle, as they had to win their last 3 games. At one time they had a 1-6 record. They come into this game on that 3 game winning streak. Statistically, both teams are about as even as you can get. Team batting average is .269 for KC, .270 for Atlanta. Team ERA is 4.50 for KC, 4.47 for Atlanta. The pitching match-up probably favors Kansas City, as Hochevar (if I recall) was a star pitcher at Tennessee, but it didn't translate into the pro game. This game also has the makings to be a slugfest.

Game Report

Catchers usually aren't known for their speed or base stealing ability, so when Kansas City catcher Miguel Olivo led off the bottom of the 4th inning with a single then promptly stole second base, Atlanta starter Jo-Jo Reyes had no idea what to think. What he should have been thinking was that his time in this game was about over. The Royals batted around in the 4th, sending 10 men to the plate getting 6 runs and 7 hits in the inning. As for Reyes? Well he was able to get 1 out in the inning before being chased. That 6 run inning for the Royals was more than enough, as Kansas City went on to an 8-3 win. This was big for the Royals in another sense, as they were able to use Jimmy Gobble on the mound in the 9th inning. Gobble is rarely used, thanks to his almost 9 ERA in the actual 2008 season, but he pitched the entire 9th inning tonight, giving up a meaningless home run. The Royals had 13 hits in the game, with 7 of those coming in that fateful 4th inning and 4 more coming in the 7th inning when they scored their other 2 runs. Those 2 innings were enough, but Kansas City knows they'll need to spread it around in future games, as they advance in the undefeated bracket and will take on Florida next, while Atlanta drops to the 1 loss bracket and will take on the Chicago White Sox-San Diego loser. Meanwhile, Arizona, who lost the first game of this tournament and had 3 potential opponents to play next, has had that narrowed down to 2, as they will take on the loser of the Kansas City-Florida game in the 1 loss bracket. That completes the first round of the undefeated bracket. Next up, the undefeated bracket quarterfinals.

WP: Luke Hochevar (KC)
LP: Jo-Jo Reyes (ATL)

Players of the Game

Atlanta- SS Yunel Escobar (2-4, 1 HBP, 1 HR, 1 RBI)
Kansas City- LF Mark Teahen (2-3, 1 HBP, 2 RBI)

Scoring Summary

Top 3rd- 2 out, Greg Norton singles, scoring Josh Anderson and Yunel Escobar (2-0 ATL)

Bot 4th- 0 out, Alberto Callaspo singles, scoring Miguel Olivo (2-1 ATL)
Mitch Maier hits into fielders choice, scoring Jose Guillen (2-2 tie)
1 out, Mike Aviles triples, scoring Callaspo and Maier (4-2 KC)
Mark Grudzielanek doubles, scoring Aviles (5-2 KC)
Ryan Shealy doubles, scoring Grudzielanek (6-2 KC)

Bot 7th- 2 out, Mark Teahen singles, scoring David Dejesus and Olivo (8-2 KC)

Top 9th- 2 out, Yunel Escobar homers, scoring Escobar (8-3 KC)

[collegesportsfanms]

Consolation Bracket Game 7

(9) San Diego @ (1) Chicago White Sox

Pitching Match-up

Shawn Estes (SD) vs. Jose Contreras (CWS)

Pregame

The Padres beat Arizona 13-7 to open up this tournament, and will be looking to keep the bats hot. The White Sox are playing their first game after having a bye in the first round. They finished 4th in Pool B with a 5-5 record and a +17 run differential. They were involved in a 4 way tie for second, and lost that tiebreaker, then lost the 3 team tiebreaker for third place. The 4th place tiebreaker came down to the White Sox and Oakland. While the White Sox beat Oakland by 8, Oakland only beat the White Sox by 1. Of course, Chicago wouldn't have even been in a tiebreaker situation had they not won their last 2 games by 8 runs a piece. The lineup is set for success, with Estes being a southpaw for San Diego, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen has 7 right handed hitters and 1 switch hitter in the lineup. The only left handed hitter probably won't have much success at the plate, but 8 out of 9 are good odds. With that in mind, the pitching matchup should definitely favor the guys from Chi Town.

Game Report

The strategy was good for the White Sox. Load up on right handed hitters and take batting practice on San Diego starting pitcher Shawn Estes. The problem was the execution. After a first inning which saw Chicago get a run on 3 hits off Estes, he and 2 relievers combined to shut out the White Sox the rest of the game on just 4 more hits. On the other hand, San Diego stayed hot, getting 15 hits, and putting the game away with 5 runs in the last 4 innings. The result of this? A 9-1 San Diego win. The irony of this win? After defeating their last 2 opponents by 8 runs, the White Sox were defeated by 8 runs themselves tonight. Margins of 8 seem to be a trend for Ozzie Guillen's team. San Diego moves on in the undefeated bracket and will take on the Houston-Milwaukee winner in an undefeated bracket semifinal. Regardless of who wins that game, San Diego will be hosting the winner since they haven't had a home game yet, and both Houston and Milwaukee will have. Not sure if I mentioned it or not, but every team in this consolation bracket is guaranteed at least 1 home game. The White Sox, on the other hand, will have to get over this one, as they travel to Atlanta next to take on the Braves in the 1 loss bracket.

WP: Shawn Estes (SD)
LP: Jose Contreras (CWS)

Players of the Game

San Diego- CF Will Venable (5-6, 2 2B, 3 RBI)
Chicago White Sox- 1B Paul Konerko (1-4, 1 RBI)

Scoring Summary

Top 1st- 2 out, Chase Headley doubles, scoring Kevin Kouzmanoff and Adrian Gonzalez (2-0 SD)

Bot 1st- 2 out, Paul Konerko singles, scoring Toby Hall (2-1 SD)

Top 3rd- 1 out, A. Gonzalez singles, scoring Will Venable (3-1 SD)

Top 6th- 2 out, Venable singles, scoring Scott Hairston (4-1 SD)

Top 7th- 2 out, Edgar Gonzalez singles, scoring A. Gonzalez (5-1 SD)

Top 8th- 2 out, A. Gonzalez doubles, scoring Venable and Luis Rodriguez (7-1 SD)

Top 9th- 2 out, Venable doubles, scoring Hairston and Josh Bard (9-1 SD)

[StLee]

That's three big upsets so far in the consolation bracket: Houston, the Cubs, and now San Diego over the top seed.

I'm curious to see how this works out. I might change some of my tournaments in my OOTP dynasty ( Tournament of Champions: Promotion, Relegation, and Forced Relocation - OOTP Developments Forums (http://www.ootpdevelopments.com/board/ootp-dynasty-reports/245140-tournament-champions-promotion-relegation-forced-relocation.html)) to match it. I am looking for a few dynamic changes to just simple series tournaments. My Spring Bowl could maybe use the triple elimination treatment.

[collegesportsfanms]

StLee, thanks for posting. Yea I was a bit disappointed, as Kansas City, Atlanta, and the Cubs are probably my 3 favorite teams, and all of them ended up in the consolation bracket. So far my tournament definitely has not mirrored how the actual 2008 season went, with Tampa Bay, the Cubs and the Mets all in consolation games. I'm enjoying doing this, and I'm glad somebody is following it.

I'll have to check out your dynasty in the ootp forums. I may have looked at it once thinking it was a dynasty involving real teams and players, then never got back to it. I'll definitely check it out though.

[StLee]

StLee, thanks for posting. Yea I was a bit disappointed, as Kansas City, Atlanta, and the Cubs are probably my 3 favorite teams, and all of them ended up in the consolation bracket. So far my tournament definitely has not mirrored how the actual 2008 season went, with Tampa Bay, the Cubs and the Mets all in consolation games. I'm enjoying doing this, and I'm glad somebody is following it.

I'll have to check out your dynasty in the ootp forums. I may have looked at it once thinking it was a dynasty involving real teams and players, then never got back to it. I'll definitely check it out though.

Lots of real players, but no real teams.

[collegesportsfanms]

Consolation Bracket Game 8

(4) Milwaukee @ (12) Houston

Pitching Match-Up

Yovani Gallardo (MIL) vs. Runelvys Hernandez (HOU)

Pregame

Milwaukee won their first game 12-6 and the bats came to life. Houston won their first game 5-3, relying on pitching. This will be an interesting match-up of NL Central opponents. Well, at the time Houston was in the NL Central, as we know, now they are in the AL West. The Astros were a decent team in 2008, but Milwaukee had more star power. The pitching match-up definitely favors Milwaukee. Even though Gallardo only made 4 starts in the 2008 season, his 1.88 ERA gives him an incredible 79 control rating, while Hernandez has just a 30 control rating, as he had an 8.38 ERA in his 4 starts. However, as we know, anything can happen with the roll of the dice.

Game Report

This game went the way I thought it would for the first 5 innings, as Milwaukee starter Yovani Gallardo had a no-hitter going through the first 5 innings. Houston got to him in the sixth inning however, as they hit 2 homers accounting for 3 runs. Milwaukee still led going to the bottom of the 8th, and Gallardo was finally replaced with 1 out in the 8th. Seth McClung came in with a runner on first and promptly gave up a double to Carlos Lee. Milwaukee right fielder Corey Hart misplayed the ball, and not only did the runner at second score, but so did Lee. This led to a bit of a meltdown as McClung gave up another run, and by the time the damage was done, Houston came all the way back from a 4-0 deficit to win 6-4, wasting the good effort by Gallardo. Nobody feels worse than Hart does, as it was the only error of the game, but it led to the game winning run for the Astros. Neither team really pounded the cover off the ball, as both teams had 7 hits each. Walks were a problem however. The teams combined for 12 base on balls in the game. So Houston, with their comeback victory, will travel to San Diego for an undefeated bracket semifinal. Milwaukee will have to recover from this loss as they will take on the winner of the Pittsburgh/New York Mets game in the 1 loss bracket. More than likely it will be the Mets, but who knows?

WP: Doug Brocail (HOU)
LP: Seth McClung (MIL)

Players of the Game

Milwaukee- SS J.J. Hardy (2-4, 2 RBI)
Houston- 1B Lance Berkman (2-3, 1 BB, 1 HR, 1 RBI)

Scoring Summary

Top 1st- 2 out, Mike Cameron walks, scoring Russell Branyan (1-0 MIL)
J.J. Hardy singles, scoring Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun (3-0 MIL)

Top 6th- 0 out, Rickie Weeks flies out to deep right field, scoring Hardy (4-0 MIL)

Bot 6th- 0 out, Miguel Tejada homers, scoring Michael Bourn and Tejada (4-2 MIL)
1 out, Lance Berkman homers, scoring Berkman (4-3 MIL)

Bot 8th- 1 out, Carlos Lee doubles, scoring Tejada, followed by a Corey Hart error allowing Lee to score (5-4 HOU)
2 out, Humberto Quintero walks, scoring Berkman (6-4 HOU)

[collegesportsfanms]

Consolation Bracket Game 9

(3) Cincinnati @ (11) Chicago Cubs

Pitching Match-Up

Homer Bailey (CIN) vs. Rich Hill (CHC)

Pregame

Cincinnati is playing their second straight game against an NL Central opponent after taking care of Pittsburgh in their first game, while the Cubs ran by a very good New York Mets team in their first game. Chicago has a much better offense than Cincinnati, but the pitching match-up in this one doesn't leave a lot to be desired. Bailey had a 7.93 ERA in the 2008 season, while Rich Hill had a 4.12 ERA. The problem with Hill is that his stamina rating is only 18.. so he's only good for 2 trips through the lineup without losing any control. If he gets in any kind of trouble, he may not make it 3 innings, let alone 5. That could play to Cincinnati's advantage. The Cubs will have to hope the offense is sharp tonight, as I expect a lot of runs to cross the plate in this one.

Game Report

As I thought, this was a wild one, lots of offense. As I also thought, it would be a short outing for Rich Hill, who lasted just 2 innings of work. In those 2 innings he gave up 8 runs, but with only 1 long reliever available for the Cubs, it was imperative to get him through at least 2. With the Cubs down 8-0 after 2 innings, they had to rely on the bullpen to get the job done.. and the bullpen came through giving up just 2 runs the rest of the game. Cincinnati starter Homer Bailey got through 5 innings, giving up 5 runs, but the Cincinnati bullpen wasn't nearly as sharp, giving up 2 in the 6th and 3 in the 7th to tie the game at 10 going into extra innings. In the bottom of the 10th, Micah Hoffpauir led off the inning with a double, but Francisco Cordero and Bill Bray combined to get the next 2 Cub hitters out. Cubs manager Lou Pinella went into panic mode, knowing his bullpen was down to Kevin Hart, who has a 30 control and would rather not be used in pressure situations. Had we gone to an 11th inning, it would have been Hart's game which could have spelled disaster. But it never got that far, as Kosuke Fukudome doubled to right as Red's right fielder Jerry Hairston just missed a sensational diving catch, but the ball got down and the Cubs, down 8-0 after 2, completed a miracle comeback, winning 11-10 in 10 innings! The Cubs will get some time to rest and recover as the undefeated bracket gets a break for a few games (after 1 more quarterfinal of course), but they will take on the Kansas City-Florida winner in an undefeated bracket semifinal. Location TBD. That is game 22 on the bracket. Cincinnati also gets a bit of a break, as they will play in game 16, but will have to mentally recover after blowing an 8 run lead. They take on the Oakland-Tampa Bay winner, location TBD.

WP: Jeff Samardzija (CHC)
LP: Francisco Cordero (CIN)

Players of the Game

Cincinnati- 2B Brandon Phillips (2-6, 2 HR, 4 RBI)
Chicago Cubs- RF Kosuke Fukudome (3-4, 1 BB, 1 2B, 2 RBI, game winning RBI)

Also want to give consideration to Cub's 1B Derrek Lee who was 2-5 with a double, homer, and 5 RBI's. But Fukudome gets the POTG award for the game winning RBI double.

Scoring Summary

Top 1st- 0 out, Jeff Keppinger doubles, scoring Jerry Hairston (1-0 CIN)
Edwin Encarnacion homers, scoring Keppinger and Encarnacion (3-0 CIN)

Top 2nd- 1 out, Keppinger singles, scoring Hairston (4-0 CIN)
Brandon Phillips homers, scoring Keppinger, Encarnacion, and Phillips (7-0 CIN)
2 out, Chris Dickerson doubles, scoring Joey Votto (8-0 CIN)

Bot 3rd- 2 out, Derrek Lee homers, scoring Kosuke Fukudome, Mike Fontenot, and Lee (8-3 CIN)

Top 4th- 1 out, Votto singles, scoring Encarnacion (9-3 CIN)

Bot 5th- 2 out, Lee doubles, scoring Fukudome and Fontenot (9-5 CIN)

Top 6th- 1 out, Phillips homers, scoring Phillips (10-5 CIN)

Bot 6th- 0 out, Reed Johnson doubles, scoring Alfonso Soriano (10-6 CIN)
2 out, Fukudome singles, scoring Johnson (10-7 CIN)

Bot 7th- 0 out, Fontenot homers, scoring Fontenot (10-8 CIN)
2 out, Soriano homers, scoring Soriano (10-9 CIN)
Micah Hoffpauir doubles, scoring Johnson (10-10 tie)

Bot 10th- 2 out, Fukudome doubles, scoring Hoffpauir (11-10 CHC)

[collegesportsfanms]

Consolation Bracket Game 10

(7) Kansas City @ (2) Florida

Pitching Match-Up

Brandon Duckworth (KC) vs. Josh Johnson (FLA)

Pregame

Kansas City beat Atlanta in their first game, quite easily might I add, but they are in for a much tougher challenge tonight. Florida had a first round bye as the #2 seed. They finished in 4th place in Pool D with a 5-5 record and a -3 run differential, good enough to get them a bye in the consolation tournament. Of course it helped having Pittsburgh in their pool. The Marlins have an interesting dilemma in this consolation bracket.. with the rule that every player must start a game, get an official at-bat and play 4 innings in the field, and the Marlins having 5 catchers, this also creates a dilemma for me. Technically, the DH doesn't play in the field.. so do I give them credit for a start? Normally I would say no, but with Florida having 5 catchers, if I make all of them start a game and play 4 innings in the field, that would mean Florida would have to play 5 games. I'll have to mull over this one. Do I credit the DH with a start every game even though they don't play in the field, or do I give them credit for a start as long as they get an official AB? Anyways, back to this one, the Marlins have a weapon, who for whatever reason only played 8 games in the actual 2008 season. Cameron Maybin had a .542 average against right handers, and 00-65 on his card vs. RH are all a positive result. Combine that with his 94 speed and 93 steal rating, and he had to start this game. The Royals are going to have trouble in the sense that the pitching match-up favors Florida. Johnson's ERA is almost a full run lower than Duckworth's. However, as a team, the Royals have better bats. It'll be interesting to see how this one plays out.

Game Report

To say this was a strange game would be an understatement. The Royals jumped out early to score a run in the 1st inning off Josh Johnson. Florida responded with 2 in the 2nd, 2 in the 4th. The most interesting thing about those 4 runs? They were all scored of rolls that favored the pitcher card. Just bad luck for Duckworth. Johnson, meanwhile was almost untouched for the next 4 innings. Then in the 6th, the bad luck turned his way, as he gave up 3 runs in the 6th, and a couple of the hits in that inning for Kansas City.. well they came off the fielder range chart. So, the game was in the hands of the bullpens, who did a sensational job getting out of jams. The Marlins had a great chance to go ahead in the 8th, but Yasuhiko Yabuta worked out of a jam. The Royals had a chance to go ahead in the 9th, but Matt Lindstrom worked out of a jam. So for the second straight game, we go to extra innings. David Dejesus led off the 10th for Kansas City with a lead-off double, and Mike Aviles hit a slow ground ball to short that got Dejesus to third with 1 out. Out went Lindstrom, in came Joe Nelson, who got a strikeout and a line drive to second to get out of the jam. We moved to the bottom of the 10th, when Royals manager Trey Hillman made a very curious move (obviously it was my decision, but I wanted to include the real life managers into the game as far as decision making goes). With right handed hitter Cody Ross leading of the bottom of the 10th for Florida, Hillman elected to put southpaw Horacio Ramirez on the mound. Hillman cited Ramirez's 72 control rating as the deciding factor, as the only right hander available was Joel Peralta who has a control rating of 37. So basically, he went against the normal righty-righty percentages and trusted the dice roll to go in favor of Ramirez. It didn't, instead giving Ross the advantage. Had Peralta been in the game, it would have been a strikeout off the hitter card. But since Ramirez was in, it turned out to be a home run. As Homer Simpson says... DOH! (or something like that). So Cody Ross gave Florida the walk-off win, 5-4. Florida will move on to the undefeated bracket semifinals and take on the Chicago Cubs in game 22. Since Florida hasn't had a road game yet, they will travel to Wrigley Field for this one. Kansas City will have to shake off the bad luck of this game, as they move to the 1 loss bracket and will take on Arizona in game 14. As Arizona has not had a road game yet, they will travel to Kansas City for this one.

So that completes the undefeated bracket quarterfinals. Next up on the agenda: the first 6 games of the 1 loss bracket, followed by 4 elimination games in the 2 loss bracket. So San Diego, Houston, the Cubs, and Florida (all NL teams, how about that?) have a while to wait before they see action again.

WP: Joe Nelson (FLA)
LP: Horacio Ramirez (KC)

Players of the Game

Kansas City- SS Mike Aviles (2-5, 1 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR)
Florida- LF Josh Willingham (3-5, 1 HR, 2 RBI)

Ross definitely got consideration for his walk-off homer, as did Cameron Maybin who was 4-5 with 2 RBI. The last few games, picking a POTG from each team has been a little tough.

Scoring Summary

Top 1st- 0 out, Alberto Callaspo singles, scoring Joey Gathright (1-0 KC)

Bot 2nd- 2 out, Josh Willingham homers, scoring John Baker and Willingham (2-1 FLA)

Bot 4th- 2 out, Cameron Maybin singles, scoring Willingham and Jeremy Hermida (4-1 FLA)

Top 6th- 1 out, Mike Aviles doubles, scoring Alex Gordon and Ryan Shealy (4-3 FLA)
Mark Teahen singles, scoring David Dejesus (4-4 tie)

Bot 10th- 0 out, Cody Ross homers, scoring Ross (5-4 FLA)

[StLee]

Consolation Bracket Game 9

(3) Cincinnati @ (11) Chicago Cubs

Pitching Match-Up

Homer Bailey (CIN) vs. Rich Hill (CHC)

Pregame

Cincinnati is playing their second straight game against an NL Central opponent after taking care of Pittsburgh in their first game, while the Cubs ran by a very good New York Mets team in their first game. Chicago has a much better offense than Cincinnati, but the pitching match-up in this one doesn't leave a lot to be desired. Bailey had a 7.93 ERA in the 2008 season, while Rich Hill had a 4.12 ERA. The problem with Hill is that his stamina rating is only 18.. so he's only good for 2 trips through the lineup without losing any control. If he gets in any kind of trouble, he may not make it 3 innings, let alone 5. That could play to Cincinnati's advantage. The Cubs will have to hope the offense is sharp tonight, as I expect a lot of runs to cross the plate in this one.

Game Report

As I thought, this was a wild one, lots of offense. As I also thought, it would be a short outing for Rich Hill, who lasted just 2 innings of work. In those 2 innings he gave up 8 runs, but with only 1 long reliever available for the Cubs, it was imperative to get him through at least 2. With the Cubs down 8-0 after 2 innings, they had to rely on the bullpen to get the job done.. and the bullpen came through giving up just 2 runs the rest of the game. Cincinnati starter Homer Bailey got through 5 innings, giving up 5 runs, but the Cincinnati bullpen wasn't nearly as sharp, giving up 2 in the 6th and 3 in the 7th to tie the game at 10 going into extra innings. In the bottom of the 10th, Micah Hoffpauir led off the inning with a double, but Francisco Cordero and Bill Bray combined to get the next 2 Cub hitters out. Cubs manager Lou Pinella went into panic mode, knowing his bullpen was down to Kevin Hart, who has a 30 control and would rather not be used in pressure situations. Had we gone to an 11th inning, it would have been Hart's game which could have spelled disaster. But it never got that far, as Kosuke Fukudome doubled to right as Red's right fielder Jerry Hairston just missed a sensational diving catch, but the ball got down and the Cubs, down 8-0 after 2, completed a miracle comeback, winning 11-10 in 10 innings! The Cubs will get some time to rest and recover as the undefeated bracket gets a break for a few games (after 1 more quarterfinal of course), but they will take on the Kansas City-Florida winner in an undefeated bracket semifinal. Location TBD. That is game 22 on the bracket. Cincinnati also gets a bit of a break, as they will play in game 16, but will have to mentally recover after blowing an 8 run lead. They take on the Oakland-Tampa Bay winner, location TBD.

WP: Jeff Samardzija (CHC)
LP: Francisco Cordero (CIN)

Players of the Game

Cincinnati- 2B Brandon Phillips (2-6, 2 HR, 4 RBI)
Chicago Cubs- RF Kosuke Fukudome (3-4, 1 BB, 1 2B, 2 RBI, game winning RBI)

Also want to give consideration to Cub's 1B Derrek Lee who was 2-5 with a double, homer, and 5 RBI's. But Fukudome gets the POTG award for the game winning RBI double.

Scoring Summary

Top 1st- 0 out, Jeff Keppinger doubles, scoring Jerry Hairston (1-0 CIN)
Edwin Encarnacion homers, scoring Keppinger and Encarnacion (3-0 CIN)

Top 2nd- 1 out, Keppinger singles, scoring Hairston (4-0 CIN)
Brandon Phillips homers, scoring Keppinger, Encarnacion, and Phillips (7-0 CIN)
2 out, Chris Dickerson doubles, scoring Joey Votto (8-0 CIN)

Bot 3rd- 2 out, Derrek Lee homers, scoring Kosuke Fukudome, Mike Fontenot, and Lee (8-3 CIN)

Top 4th- 1 out, Votto singles, scoring Encarnacion (9-3 CIN)

Bot 5th- 2 out, Lee doubles, scoring Fukudome and Fontenot (9-5 CIN)

Top 6th- 1 out, Phillips homers, scoring Phillips (10-5 CIN)

Bot 6th- 0 out, Reed Johnson doubles, scoring Alfonso Soriano (10-6 CIN)
2 out, Fukudome singles, scoring Johnson (10-7 CIN)

Bot 7th- 0 out, Fontenot homers, scoring Fontenot (10-8 CIN)
2 out, Soriano homers, scoring Soriano (10-9 CIN)
Micah Hoffpauir doubles, scoring Johnson (10-10 tie)

Bot 10th- 2 out, Fukudome doubles, scoring Hoffpauir (11-10 CHC)

Wow! Hell of a comeback for the Cubs.

[collegesportsfanms]

Consolation Bracket Game 11

(6) New York Mets @ (14) Pittsburgh

Pitching Match-Up

Claudio Vargas (NYM) vs. Jeff Karstens (PIT)

Pregame

This is our first game in the consolation bracket involving teams that played in the same pool. Pittsburgh gets the home game since they were on the road in their first game and the Mets were at home. Both of their pool meeting were fairly close, of course the Mets won both, but only by scores of 10-8 and 5-2, so 2 different games. As both teams are into the 1 loss bracket, it is imperative that they start some guys they wouldn't normally start, since the rule is that everybody has to qualify for at least 1 start by getting an official AB and play 4 innings in the field. Therefore, there could be a lack of offense at the bottom of the lineup for each team. For the DH, I've decided to go ahead and keep using the DH since I have all tournament, but since DH doesn't play the field, they only get credit for 1/2 a game started. I think that's a fair way to handle it. Pittsburgh is still looking for their first win of this tournament, and they've got the home field advantage in this one. The Mets have definitely underachieved so far, and are looking to right the ship here. The pitching match-up is fairly even, but overall the Pirates may have a better chance. Vargas only has a 20 stamina, and both of the Mets' long relievers are unavailable this game due to the need for rest, so Vargas is going to have to tough it out as long as he can. Now, if they can get him through 5, then they've still got enough fresh arms in the bullpen to be ok. Pittsburgh, on the other hand, has 2 long relievers available in case Karstens gets into trouble early, so overall, I'm saying the pitching favors Pittsburgh. The key is who can get more out of the bottom of the lineup. To the field we go!

Game Report

After the game was over, the Pittsburgh Pirates celebrated like they had just won the World Series. It didn't matter that starting pitcher Jeff Karstens left the game with an injury in the top of the 4th, because the injury wasn't serious. What mattered more was that Karstens, Phil Dumatrait, and Denny Bautista allowed just 1 run against a very good hitting New York Mets team. Although the Mets had 10 hits in the game, clutch pitching and great defense kept them off the scoreboard until pinch hitter Brian Schneider doubled to drive in a meaningless run in the top of the 9th. The Pirate offense wasn't great, but it did enough, as the Pirates get their first win of this entire tournament, beating the New York Mets 4-1. Both teams finished the game with 10 hits, but Pittsburgh just took better advantage of their chances, and who would have known that their pitching staff would hold New York in check like they did? Certainly not this guy. As a result of their win, the Pirates will stay in the 1 loss bracket and be rewarded with a game against another NL central foe, as they'll face Milwaukee in game 15, meaning a short turnaround. With the rule that each team must play a home game and a road game, since Milwaukee has only had a home game so far, this game will be played in Pittsburgh. The Mets, meanwhile, continue to struggle and underachieve in this tournament, but have 1 more chance in this triple elimination bracket. They do fall to the 2 loss bracket and will take on the Arizona/Kansas City loser in game 17. That will be an elimination game, location TBD.

WP: Phil Dumatrait (PIT)
LP: Claudio Vargas (NYM)

Players of the Game

New York Mets- PH Brian Schneider (1-1, 1 2B, 1 RBI)

Hard to give it to anybody else considering Schneider came off the bench (which is always tough anyways) and delivered a pinch hit RBI double to break the shutout.

Pittsburgh- RF Brandon Moss (3-4, 1 2B, 1 HR, 2 RBI)

Also give a lot of credit to Phil Dumatrait, who came on after the injury to Jeff Karstens, pitched 5 innings, and allowed no runs. He was huge.

Scoring Summary

Bot 4th- 1 out, Freddy Sanchez doubles, scoring Nate McLouth (1-0 PIT)

Bot 5th- 1 out, Doug Mientkiewicz triples, scoring Luis Cruz (2-0 PIT)

Bot 8th- 1 out, Brandon Moss homers, scoring Ryan Doumit and Moss (4-0 PIT)

Top 9th- 2 out, Brian Schneider doubles, scoring Nick Evans (4-1 PIT)

[collegesportsfanms]

Consolation Bracket Game 12

(5) Oakland @ (13) Tampa Bay

Pitching Match-Up

Gio Gonzalez (OAK) vs. Scott Kazmir (TB)

Pregame

Both teams come into this game after tough losses in their opening game of the consolation bracket. In Tampa Bay's case, their lack of a long reliever got their pitching staff shelled. Oakland on the other hand, gave up clutch hits at the wrong time in their loss to Houston. The pitching matchup is a good one, with 2 left handers battling it out. On the surface, it would look like Kazmir and his 63 control would have the advantage of Gonzalez and his 30 control. For Tampa Bays sake, they better hope Kazmir is on it today because their bullpen is toast! Both teams have the lineup stacked with players that hit southpaws well, including a fair amount of left handed hitters in the lineup. I've always been of the mindset that if you're a good hitter, you can hit off both left and right handed pitchers. Both of these managers today seem to agree. The key is going to be how Gonzalez comes out. He's got to stay on par with Kazmir.

Game Report

Offense took a back seat in this one, as both starting pitchers were sharp, as well as the bullpens. There were 10 hits total in this game, a far cry from some of our other games where a single team has more than 10 hits in a game! Tampa Bay struck early and relied on Kazmir to keep Oakland in check, and that he did, pitching into the 8th inning before he finally gave way to J.P. Howell. Howell had an auspicious debut, giving up an immediate homer to Rajai Davis, but then sat the next 4 batters down in order as Tampa Bay gets a much need 3-2 win, and gives their bullpen a much needed rest. Oakland had just 3 hits in the game, 2 of those coming from Davis, but nobody else could get on track. The game really wasn't as close as the final score indicates, as Tampa Bay had chances to really blow it open, but Oakland pitchers got out of jams. With the win, Tampa Bay stays in the 1 loss bracket and will take on Cincinnati in game 16. Location TBD. The loss sends Oakland to the 2 loss bracket where they will play an elimination game against the Atlanta-Chicago White Sox loser, that will be game 18, location TBD.

WP: Scott Kazmir (TB)
LP: Gio Gonzalez (OAK)

Players of the Game

Oakland- CF Rajai Davis (2-4, 2B, HR, RBI)

Tampa Bay- SP Scott Kazmir (7 2/3 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 3 BB, 8 K)

Scoring Summary

Bot 2nd- 1 out, Willy Aybar homers, scoring Jonny Gomes and Aybar (2-0 TB)

Top 3rd- 2 out, Mike Sweeney singles, scoring Rajai Davis (2-1 TB)

Bot 7th- 1 out, Dioner Navarro doubles, scoring Carl Crawford (3-1 TB)

Top 8th- 2 out, Davis homers, scoring Davis (3-2 TB)

[collegesportsfanms]

Consolation Bracket Game 13

(1) Chicago White Sox @ (10) Atlanta

Pitching Match-Up

Clayton Richard (CHW) vs. Charlie Morton (ATL)

Pregame

The White Sox came into this bracket as the #1 seed with a very high point differential and a first round bye, but were knocked around by San Diego in their first bracket game. They will be looking to get back on the right track. Atlanta, as many have pointed out, was not very good in the actual 2008 season, and lost their opening game to Kansas City in pretty convincing fashion. The pitching matchup has drawn.. well.. no fans to the seats, as neither Richard nor Morton offered a lot in the 2008 season. Fortunately, if either starter gets knocked around, both teams have plenty of arms in the bullpen ready to come in and take over. With the way Atlanta hits the ball against southpaws, you'd think they would hold a decided advantage there, but let's get to the field to find out.

Game Report

The White Sox staff picked up right where they left off last game, as Richard gave up 3 runs in the bottom of the 1st. Then in the second inning, Atlanta starter Charlie Morton left the game due to injury. This could have been a big moment in the game, as John Smoltz came out of the bullpen. The fans were content knowing that a former Cy Young award winner would shut down the White Sox. And he did, for the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th innings. But the 2nd and 7th innings proved to be the downfall, as Smoltz gave up 7 runs in those 2 innings, finally leaving the game after giving up the last of those 7 runs. As for Richard, he settled down nicely after giving up 4 runs in the first 2 innings, facing 1 batter over the minimum in his next 3 innings of work to get through 5. He then turned it over to the bullpen and 5 White Sox relievers kept Atlanta off the scoreboard the rest of the way as Chicago gets back on the winning track by beating the Braves 7-4. Had Smoltz not wanted to play Jekyll and Hyde for 2 innings, this might have been a completely different ball game. It's disappointing as Smoltz has a 72 control, but he did see limited action in the actual 2008 season, and the dice just weren't working in his favor in this one. The White Sox advance in the 1 loss bracket and will take on the Milwaukee/Pittsburgh winner in game 23, location TBD. Atlanta drops to the 2 loss bracket where they will take on Oakland in game 18, an elimination game, location TBD. At this point, most of the home teams in each game should be decided by coin flip, as my rule was everybody has to get 1 road game and 1 home game, and I believe all 14 teams have met that requirement. I'll have to check.

WP: Adam Russell (CHW)
LP: John Smoltz (ATL)
SV: Bobby Jenks (CHW)

Players of the Game

Chicago White Sox- DH Jim Thome (3-4, RBI)
Atlanta- 2B Kelly Johnson (4-5, HR, RBI)

Scoring Summary

Bot 1st- 1 out, Matt Diaz homers, scoring Kelly Johnson and Diaz (2-0 ATL)
Brandon Jones singles, scoring Chipper Jones (3-0 ATL)

Top 2nd- 2 out, Jim Thome singles, scoring Jermaine Dye (3-1 ATL)
Nick Swisher homers, scoring Thome and Swisher (3-3 tie)

Bot 2nd- 0 out, Johnson homers, scoring Johnson (4-3 ATL)

Top 7th- 0 out, Orlando Cabrera doubles, scoring Alexei Ramirez and Thome (5-4 CHW)
A.J. Pierzynski flies out to center field, scoring Swisher (6-4 CHW)
1 out, Joe Crede doubles, scoring Cabrera (7-4 CHW)

[collegesportsfanms]

Consolation Bracket Game 14

(8) Arizona @ (7) Kansas City

Pitching Match-Up

Max Scherzer (ARI) vs. Gil Meche (KC)

Pregame

Arizona looks to get their first win in bracket play after getting hammered by San Diego, while Kansas City has already played 2 games, beating Atlanta and losing to Florida. Not much to separate as far as seed go, as it's 8 vs. 7. Both teams have the ability to cause problems offensively, but with both starting pitcher being fairly high in control, this has the potential to be a pitching duel. Then again, anything can happen.

Game Report

Gil Meche was hot today, shutting down the Arizona bats, as Meche went 7 1/3 innings giving up 2 runs in the 7th before giving way to the bullpen, who held the lead as Kansas City gets a 4-2 win. As a team Arizona only had 4 hits in the game, and Kansas City had 10. The Diamondbacks made a run in the top of the 9th, or tried to anyways, as they used 3 pinch hitters in a row, unfortunately only 1 was able to get on. With the win, the Royals advance in the 1 loss bracket and will take on the Cincinnati/Tampa Bay winner in game 24, location TBD. Arizona drops to the 2 loss bracket and will take on the New York Mets in an elimination game, game 17, location TBD. Short turnaround for the D-Backs.

WP: Gil Meche (KC)
LP: Max Scherzer (ARI)
SV: John Bale (KC)

Players of the Game

Arizona- CF Alex Romero (2-3, 2 singles)
Kansas City- SP Gil Meche (7 1/3 innings, 2 ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 3 K)

Scoring Summary

Bot 4th- 1 out, Jason Smith doubles, scoring Alex Gordon and Kila Ka'aihue (2-0 KC)
Joey Gathright flies out to center field, scoring Smith (3-0 KC)

Top 7th- 1 out, Chad Tracy singles, scoring Conor Jackson (3-1 KC)
2 out, Gil Meche throws wild pitch, scoring Jeff Salazar (3-2 KC)

Bot 8th- 2 out, Mike Aviles singles, scoring Gordon (4-2 KC)

[collegesportsfanms]

Consolation Bracket Game 15

(4) Milwaukee @ (14) Pittsburgh

Pitching Match-Up

C.C. Sabathia (MIL) vs. Matt Morris (PIT)

Pregame

These 2 conference foes take each other on in a 1 loss bracket game. Pittsburgh got their first win of the entire tournament in their last game, and is looking to make it 2 in a row. Milwaukee holds a huge advantage in this one, as Sabathia is on the mound and his 80 control rating should shut the Pirates down. However, C.C. does have a tendency to be inconsistent, and the Pirates are banking on that tonight. They'll have to take advantage of their opportunities to win this one however.

Game Report

A 7 run 5th inning was the difference in this one, as the game was tight otherwise, but Milwaukee batted around and scored those 7 5th inning runs. On the other side, C.C. Sabathia was as good as advertised, going the distance and saving the Milwaukee bullpen as the Brewers won 9-0. The complete game from Sabathia is a tournament milestone in that it is the first one of the tournament. I find them incredibly hard to get based on stamina ratings and how fast the control ratings drop after you've reached your batter limit, especially if you've given up a run. What saved C.C. is his starting control rating of 80, and the fact he didn't give up a run. His stamina rating is 26, and he pitched to 33 batters. With the win, Milwaukee advances in the 1 loss bracket and will play the Chicago White Sox in game 23, location TBD. The loss drops Pittsburgh to the 2 loss bracket. They will take on the Oakland/Atlanta winner in an elimination game, that will be game 20, location TBD.

WP: C.C. Sabathia (MIL)
LP: Matt Morris (PIT)

Players of the Game

Milwaukee- SP C.C. Sabathia, complete game victory, no runs, 5 hits, 7 K, 2 BB
Pittsburgh- 1B Adam LaRoche, 2-3, 2 singles

Scoring Summary

Top 4th, 1 out, Prince Fielder singles, scoring Ryan Braun (1-0 MIL)

Top 5th, 0 out, Mike Rivera homers, scoring Corey Hart and Rivera (3-0 MIL)
2 out, Braun homers, scoring Joe Dillon, Ray Durham, and Braun (6-0 MIL)
Russell Branyan homers, scoring Fielder and Branyan (8-0 MIL)

Top 7th, 0 out, Fielder grounds out, scoring Gabe Kapler from third (9-0 MIL)

[collegesportsfanms]

Consolation Bracket Game 16

(13) Tampa Bay @ (3) Cincinnati

Pitching Match-Up

James Shields (TB) vs. Matt Belisle (CIN)

Pregame

Tampa Bay is looking for something, anything, to break them out of the slump they've been in this tournament, and this might be the game that it happens. The pitching match-up definitely favors the Rays, with James Shields having a control rating of 62 against just 30 for Matt Belisle. In case either starter gets into trouble, both teams have a long reliever ready and waiting in the pen. Cincinnati will be looking to jump on Shields early, because they know if they don't, they could be in for a long game.

Game Report

It was already going to take a heck of a 9th inning for Tampa Bay to come back in this one, but the 7 run 8th inning by Cincinnati all but sealed the deal. The Reds sent 11 men to the plate in the bottom of the 8th, as 8 batters in a row reached. In the inning, the Reds had 2 doubles, 3 singles, and drew 3 walks. Combine that with the 4 run 1st inning the Reds had, and it led to a final score of 14-3 Cincinnati. Both starters only went 5 innings, as Tampa Bay manager Joe Madden elected to use long reliever Edwin Jackson for only 1 inning in this one, freeing him up for the elimination game. In fact, Madden all but threw in the towel after the 5th inning in this one. With the loss, the Rays drop to the 2 loss bracket and will play in game 19, which is an elimination game. They'll take on the survivor of the New York Mets/Arizona game, location TBD. Cincinnati stays in the 1 loss bracket and will face Kansas City in game 24, location TBD.

WP: Matt Belisle (CIN)
LP: James Shields (TB)

Players of the Game

Tampa Bay- CF Carl Crawford (2-5, 1 HR, 1 RBI)
Cincinnati- LF Jay Bruce (2-4, 1 BB, 2 HR, 3 RBI)

Scoring Summary

Bot 1st- 0 out, Ryan Hanigan flies to deep left field, scoring Jerry Hairston from third (1-0 CIN)
1 out, Jay Bruce homers, scoring Ryan Freel and Bruce (3-0 CIN)
Jolbert Cabrera doubles, scoring Javier Valentin (4-0 CIN)

Top 2nd- 0 out, Dioner Navarro singles, scoring Eric Hinske (4-1 CIN)

Bot 5th- 0 out, Bruce homers, scoring Bruce (5-1 CIN)
Wilkin Castillo hits into a double play, scoring Valentin (6-1 CIN)

Bot 7th- 1 out, Scott Hatteberg flies out to right field, scoring Cabrera (7-1 CIN)

Top 8th- 0 out, Carlos Pena homers, scoring Pena (7-2 CIN)

Bot 8th- 1 out, Valentin walks, scoring Freel (8-2 CIN)
Cabrera walks, scoring Hanigan (9-2 CIN)
Castillo singles, scoring Bruce (10-2 CIN)
Hatteberg doubles, scoring Valentin and Cabrera (12-2 CIN)
Corey Patterson doubles, scoring Castillo and Hatteberg (14-2 CIN)

Top 9th- 0 out, Carl Crawford homers, scoring Crawford (14-3 CIN)

[collegesportsfanms]

Consolation Bracket Game 17

(8) Arizona @ (6) New York Mets

Pitching Match-Up

Brandon Webb (ARI) vs. Johan Santana (NYM)

Pregame

This is our first elimination game of the tournament, 1 of these 2 teams will be done after tonight. Both teams are good enough that they shouldn't be in this position, but the Mets really have something to prove as they are the only team in this whole tournament that has lost to Pittsburgh. This being an elimination game, both teams have had to insert players in the lineup to meet the minimum 1 game rule, so expect to see a fair amount of substitutions after the 5th inning on, as players only have to play 4 innings in the field and get an official AB to meet the standard for a game played. Based on the pitching match-up, one would think we will have a pitchers duel, but in this case, it's not how the ball bounces, but how the dice rolls. So which team is ending their tournament after this game? We'll find out in about an hour.

Game Report

Through the first 3 innings, it looked like we might not get that pitchers dual that I was figuring on. After that though, both starters settled down, and not another run was scored. The Mets put up a 4 spot in the 3rd inning, sparked by a dropped fly ball from Arizona's Justin Upton. Johan Santana got through 7, Luis Ayala gave up a leadoff triple in the top of the 8th but stranded Conor Jackson on third, and Billy Wagner finished it off in the 9th as the Mets get a little bit of respect back by eliminating Arizona from the tournament 4-2. We thank Arizona for participating, and they get the duvious honor of being the first team eliminated, not something any team wants. The Mets, meanwhile, live to play another day. They'll take on Tampa Bay in another elimination game. That will be game 19, location TBD.

WP: Johan Santana (NYM)
LP: Brandon Webb (ARI)
SV: Billy Wagner (NYM)

Players of the Game

Arizona- SP Brandon Webb (losing pitcher, but only gave up 3 earned runs in 7 IP)
New York Mets- SP Johan Santana (winning pitcher, gave up 2 earned runs in 7 IP, 6 K)

Scoring Summary

Top 1st- 2 out, Mark Reynolds homers, scoring Chris Young and Reynolds (2-0 ARI)

Bot 3rd- 0 out, Moises Alou singles, scoring Nick Evans (2-1 ARI)
Jose Reyes grounds out to first base, scoring Robinson Cancel from third (2-2 tie)
1 out, Fernando Tatis doubles, scoring Angel Pagan and Alou (4-2 NYM)

[collegesportsfanms]

Guys, I have played 4 games since my last post, but unfortunately I have lost the scoresheets for those games. In an effort to start spring cleaning early, somehow they got lost in the shuffle. Fortunately I was able to recover the tournament bracket with the scores from the last 4 games, but they won't have the glamorous posts that the others have had.





Consolation Bracket Game 18- (10) Atlanta defeated (5) Oakland 10-5. Heh, how ironic, the final score was the same as the seeds. Oakland is eliminated, Atlanta advances in the 2 loss bracket to take on Pittsburgh in Game 20.


Consolation Bracket Game 19- (6) New York Mets defeated (13) Tampa Bay 8-6. Tampa Bay ends a horrendous tournament by being eliminated, and the Mets advance to game 27 to take on the loser of the Miwaukee/Chicago White Sox game.


Consolation Bracket Game 20- (14) Pittsburgh shocks (10) Atlanta 4-1. Atlanta is eliminated, and both of Pittsburgh's wins in this tournament have been against NL East teams. They advance to game 28 to take on the Kansas City/Cincinnati loser.


Consolation Bracket Game 21- (9) San Diego defeats (12) Houston 5-1 in a winners bracket game. San Diego advances to game 31, which is the undefeated bracket final, and will take on the Chicago Cubs/Florida winner. Houston drops to the 1 loss bracket and will take on the Kansas City/Cincinnati winner in game 26.


Game 22, which is the Chicago Cubs/Florida game, should be played tonight barring any unforeseen circumstances.

[collegesportsfanms]

In an effort to get through the consolation bracket and get to the meat of the tournament, which is the 16 team championship series bracket, I'm just going to quick recap the rest of the games in the consolation bracket. I've got 5 more done, so here we go.


Consolation Bracket Game 22- (2) Florida defeated (11) Chicago Cubs 5-4 in a winners bracket semifinal. The Marlins will take on San Diego in the winners bracket final, while the Cubs drop to the 1 loss bracket to take on the Milwaukee/Chicago White Sox winner.


Consolation Bracket Game 23- (4) Milwaukee defeated (1) Chicago White Sox 2-1. Milwaukee advances to take on the Cubs in the 1 loss bracket, while the top seed White Sox move to the 2 loss bracket, and will next face the New York Mets in game 27, an elimination game.


Consolation Bracket Game 24- (3) Cincinnati defeated (7) Kansas City 2-1. The Reds will take on Houston in game 26 in the 1 loss bracket, and the Royals drop to the 2 loss bracket, taking on Pittsburgh in game 28, an elimination game.


Consolation Bracket Game 25- (11) Chicago Cubs defeated (4) Milwaukee 6-4. The Cubs advance in the 1 loss bracket to take on the Cincinnati/Houston winner in game 32, while Milwaukee advances to the 2 loss bracket and will take on the Kansas City/Pittsburgh winner in game 30, an elimination game.


Consolation Bracket Game 26- (12) Houston defeated (3) Cincinnati 7-6. The Astros advance in the 1 loss bracket to take on the Chicago Cubs in game 32, while the Reds drop to the 2 loss bracket and will take on the White Sox/Mets winner in game 29, an elimination game.

[collegesportsfanms]

Consolation Bracket Game 27- New York Mets beat the Chicago White Sox 1-0 in a great game. They advance to take on Cincinnati in an elimination game, which will be game 29.

Consolation Bracket Game 28- Pittsburgh keeps their run going by beating Kansas City 8-7, advancing to get another chance at Milwaukee. This will be game 30, an elimination game.

Consolation Bracket Game 29- New York Mets defeat Cincinnati 8-7, advancing to game 33, an elimination game where they will play the Milwaukee/Pittsburgh winner.

Consolation Bracket Game 30- A heck of an effort for the Cinderella Pirates, but the run ends with a 4-2 loss to Milwaukee. The Brewers will take on the Mets in game 33, an elimination game.

Consolation Bracket Game 31- Florida beat San Diego 5-3 in the winners bracket final. The Marlins advance to game 36 where they will take on an opponent to be named, either San Diego, the Chicago Cubs, or Houston. If Florida wins game 36 they advance to the championship series where they would have to be beaten 3 games in a row. If Florida loses, they'll turn right around and play the same team in game 37, with the winner advancing to the championship series. A bit confusing I know. San Diego now has 1 loss and will take on the Chicago Cubs/Houston winner for the right to knock Florida off of undefeated status. That game will be Game 35.

Consolation Bracket Game 32- The Chicago Cubs beat Houston 7-5 to advance in the 1 loss bracket. They will take on San Diego in Game 35.

[collegesportsfanms]

Consolation Bracket Game 33- The New York Mets beat Milwaukee 11-4. Milwaukee is eliminated, the Mets will take on Houston, who lost Game 32. That is an elimination game and is Game 34.

Consolation Bracket Game 34- Houston beat the New York Mets 9-8. The Mets are eliminated, Houston advances to Game 38, an elimination game, where they will take on the loser of Game 35 between San Diego and the Chicago Cubs.

Consolation Bracket Game 35- The Chicago Cubs hammered San Diego 10-0 to advance to face undefeated Florida in Game 36. San Diego drops to the elimination bracket where they will take on Houston in game 38.

Consolation Bracket Game 36- The Chicago Cubs beat Florida 6-4 to give the Marlins their first loss. Each team now has a loss, and the 2 teams will turn around and play again in Game 37 for the right to advance to the championship series.

Consolation Bracket Game 37- The Cubs beat Florida again, 5-0. Chicago has won 2 of 3 against Florida now in this tournament. The Cubs advance to the championship series where they will have to win just 1 game to win the consolation bracket. On the other hand, they'll have to be beaten twice in a row to lose the bracket. Their opponent will be TBD. Florida drops to the elimination bracket, Game 39, where they will take on the San Diego/Houston winner.

Consolation Bracket Game 38- San Diego beat Houston 5-0. Houston is eliminated, San Diego will face Florida again in Game 39. The loser is eliminated, the winner takes on the Cubs in the championship series.

[collegesportsfanms]

Consolation Bracket Game 39- Florida beat San Diego 8-5 to advance to the championship series against the Chicago Cubs, where they must win twice in a row. First game is at Wrigley Field. The Marlins put up 4 in the 4th and 4 in the 7th.

Consolation Bracket Game 40 (Championship Series Game 1)- Florida again used the big inning, scoring 4 in the 1st and 5 in the 9th to win 9-3 over the Chicago Cubs, forcing Game 41, a winner take all consolation bracket Championship. This game will be at Dolphin Stadium.

Consolation Bracket Game 41 (Winner Take all Consolation Bracket Final)- The Chicago Cubs beat Florida 4-1 to claim the title of the Best of the Worst, by winning the consolation bracket.

And now, finally, it is time to get to the main event, what you've all been waiting for, the 16 team Championship Bracket!