[trman73]

The Hammers get the Maine Guides in the S262 Division Series in a battle of offense vs. pitching and defense. The Guides scored 911 runs in the regular season, 123 more that us. They have an all-Live Mission rotation of Maddux, Blyleven, Unit, and Carlton. But the offense boasts Perfect Willie Mays and Peak Paul Molitor to go with the usual collection of Bags-Ichiro-etc. I’m making us slight favorites here despite going 2-4 against them in the regular season.

Game 1 is a barn-burner, as we hold a 5-3 lead in the 9^th thanks to two homers from Christian Yelich. But Bruce Sutter, who saved 49 of 51 games in the regular campaign, blows it in the 9^th, then gives up a run in the 10^th and we go down, 6-5. We tie it in the bottom of the inning, and in the bottom of the 11^th, Paul Waner, a forgotten man much of the season, hits a walk-off, three-run homer to give us the win.

Game 2 sees Matt Harvey throw a gem and Dustin May save it for us instead of Sutter, as we win, 5-3, to take a 2-0 lead.

We go down 5-0 early in Game 3 as Noodles Hahn can’t get the job done, and we fall, 6-3. In Game 4, Randy Johnson is great for them, and it looks like we’re heading back to England for Game 5 as we trail 3-1 in the 9^th. But we get a leadoff homer from George Foster, a single from Yelich, and Tris Speaker triples home Yelli to tie it. Paul Waner singles home Speaker, and we’re up 4-3. In the bottom of the 9^th, Sutter gets a 1-2-3 inning, and it’s on to the Sub League Series!