Somisa 2015 World Series...Manager's thoughts and post mortem

Here are some of my impressions of the last game.

1. It was nerve wracking. I know this is all fantasy type stuff and doesn't impact our real lives but it takes a lot to consider all the factors and make the decisions that give you the best chance. We were intense from the first batter to the last. I made lots of choices and some mistakes but felt like I wouldn't have changed many of them. Sometimes you have to just do your best and then let the unpredictable dice rolls rule your game.

2. My pitching was a concern in Game 7 as Salazar (4.25 ERA) was my only option because of how the 7 game series with VER impacted my rotation. I made the decision in advance of Game 7 that Salazar would face 9 batters (league minimum unless you give up 3 runs) and then I would go with Betances. This worked well except Tom got his runs by getting rolls on the hitters cards; there were no errors or hits off pitchers in any of his 4 runs this game which means when they had the chance my relievers did come through. Due to bullpen depth, I replaced Betances when he got tired and Giles, Chapman and Fiers did well except for the lone run in the 10th off the batters cards. In fact, over the entire game, SBN got 1 hit against my pitchers on the pitcher's cards and that was erased on the failed bunt attempt in the 8th.

3. Tom did something similar, which I anticipated, by bringing in Sanchez to start the 3rd inning, after Strasburg faced 11 hitters. Sanchez pitched the remaining 7 2/3 innings which is allowed because there's no next game and you don't care about rest. He was dominant as usual. In the entire game, BEL got only 2 hits off SBN's pitcher's cards but since one was on the gb ss-x, I only view it as one hit. Pretty evenly matched pitching. (Although, McCutchen's walk in the 10th was off the pitcher's card.)

4. So in the bottom of the 10th down 4-3, McCutchen leads off with a walk and I had to pause the game and tell Tom I needed a minute to figure out what to do. I had to choose between hitting away or PH and bunting. Since Adams is a 6R and Sanchez has allowed some lefties to be successful, I hit away and hoped to avoid his large number of gb-a, probably a bad risk with several "B" bunters available. It was a single 1-9 but came up a 12 for the first out. Beltre was next and he grounded out moving McCutchen to 2nd. That brought up Holt who has been very average in the early part of the series going 1-10 in the first 3 games, he hit 9-16 in the last 4 games, but was my best option. My only lefty on the bench was Gennett who has not been good this season. I had Cervelli who is a 2R but Sanchez is just too strong vs RH batters. Lots of angst but I figured Holt was my best option. The odds of a HR on a 2-4 roll with a 1-15 split are approx. 1%

5. Some series stats...

The hitting star turns out a surprise, Brock Holt is the only person with 10 hits for a .385 series average.

McCutchen walked more times than he got hits (7 vs 6 in this series and 15 vs 12 for the entire playoffs) so his obp is high. 

Ozuna was the worst full time performer, playing every game and going 1-22. And his poor bunt probably cost SBN the win in regulation in Game 7

SBN's best performer was Rizzo who was 9-28 in the WS

SBN had 66 base runners and BEL had 80

6. I know as happy as I was, Tom was that much bothered by these consecutive walkoffs. It would drive me crazy too! You can't fault Tom, he made the best choices in these last two games and I just got lucky. An awful lot of luck involved but at least my team was one of the top ones in the league so it wasn't a total upset, however, the way it happened. The way I calculate the odds, the Murphy roll of 2-8 (doesnt matter what card comes up because it's at least a double scoring 2 runs for the win) plus a Holt 2-4 with a card between 1 and 15, is approx. .0003 or 3 times every 10,000 or so tries; as I said totally unexpected.

Has this ever happened in MLB?

For real life baseball comparisons, there have been three walkoff HRs to end a WS Game 6 by a team behind in the series like BEL was, Fisk in 1975, Puckett in 1991 and David Freeze in 2011. All of these came with the game tied.

There has never been a come from behind Game 7 walkoff in the WS. Mazeroski's HR vs. the Yankees in 1960 was with the score tied 9-9; There was the Bobby Thompson 3R HR in 1951 that ended the one game playoff that flipped a 4-2 game to 5-4 and that was with one out and Mays on deck;

So yes, the likelihood for one team to strike gold in consecutive games with walkoff come from behind HRs is unprecedented and is a very unlikely outcome.

Somisa World Series 2015... SBN @ BEL - Game 7

Before we move on to Game 7, a review of MLB history reveals that while there has been a WS ending walkoff HR in a Game 6 (Joe Carter), there has never been a come from behind walkoff HR in Game 6 by the team trailing in the series. The ending was a stunner and the managers took a few days off before taking on the final game. (The games are played as though they occur on consecutive calendar days so no extra rest is given.)

There were some predictable things about the final game. Since our league has a rule that starters must face 9 hitters or give up three runs before they can be pulled, this game would probably see the relievers early and the winner would be the team that could score off the opponent's strong relievers.

Pitching Match-ups are Strasburg vs. Salazar.

SBN had to decide whether to use Strasburg or Matsuzaka and BEL gave Salazar his first playoff start. No one was sure what would come next.

After Salazar had a 1, 2, 3 inning, BEL got off to a great start in the first with 5 of the first 6 batters reaching base, however, a DP mixed in limited the rally and left BEL with a 2-0 lead. (Interestingly, another single through the SS area by Holt due to SBN holding Beltre at first even though he has little stealing speed.) In the top of third, Salazar had only given up one hit but a quick hook by BEL brought in Betances who quickly gave up a double to Weeks cutting the lead in half. The 3rd inning got ugly as Rizzo and Reddick homered jumping SBN into a 3-2 lead and they now had their top reliever, Sanchez, in the game. Betances settled in and pitched a total of four innings yielding no other runs and striking out 7 but the damage was done and turned the game over to Giles. Sanchez matched both pitchers although he gave up one hit each inning except the 4th bringing us to the top of the 8th with SBN ahead 3-2. After Giles gave up a hit, Chapman was brought in and was able to get Rizzo and Reddick to bring us to the bottom of the 8th. 

McCutchen lead off with a double followed by a ground out by Adams that advanced him to 3rd and a Beltre single tied the score. The top of the ninth brought a critical play. With Fiers now pitching for BEL, Arenado lead off with a double. On a sacrifice bunt attempt by Ozuna, the defense was given a chance to try to throw the runner out at 3rd. With a 40% chance of him being safe and resulting in a 1st and 3rd with no one out, BEL decided the risk was worth the potential of having a runner on 3rd with only one out. The play turned out to be a fielder's choice erasing Arenado and Fiers retired the other two hitters. BEL went out quietly in the 9th bringing us to an extra inning game 7 with Fiers and Sanchez on in relief.

BEL made a critical change to tighten its defense, it did the reverse of the prior game with Lemahieu and Murphy. BEL is much weaker defensively with Murphy in left and Holt at 2nd and it had cost at least three infield singles due to Holt's fielding so BEL moved Holt to left and brought Lemahieu in to play 2nd where he is among the best and Murphy, the Game 6 hero, who batted in the 9th was removed from the game.

Unfortunately for BEL, SBN repeated a sequence seen several times in this series, two singles (Weeks and Rizzo) wrapped around a sac bunt brought SBN to a 4-3 lead with Rizzo advancing to 2nd on the attempt to nail Weeks at home. Fiers settled in and K'ed Tulo and Arenado wrapped around an intentional walk to Reddick.

McCutchen lead off the bottom of the 10th with a walk. First big decision... what to do? sac bunt? PH with Cervelli? leave Adams, a high DP risk to hit away? The decision was to hit away. Adams lined out. Now, it was Beltre up and he was BEL's best hitter in the playoffs but also a DP risk. Beltre grounded out to 2nd advancing McCutchen to 2nd. With two outs, this brought up Brock Holt. It was another one of those, this is probably the last at bat for the season moments but thinking wouldn't it be cool if he could somehow get a hit and push this to the 11th inning?

Well, Brock Holt hit a walkoff two run HR to win the 7th game in astonishing fashion. It was a stunning moment and since we play this on line with no verbal (only written) communication, I was able to go crazy without being seen as not a gracious winner. (My opponent would have done the same thing.)

The odds of these two players, Murphy and Holt, hitting come from behind walkoff HRs in consecutive games with both wins aided by singles through Tulo are so small, that it's difficult to even calculate. I'll just take the win!

Recap and Post mortem to follow. For now, here's the box score...

BOXSCORE: 2015 South Bend Fighting Irish At 2015 Bellingham Bozos   11/9/2015

  Fighting Irish     AB  R  H RBI AVG     Bozos              AB  R  H RBI AVG

  R.Weeks DH          5  1  3  1 .267     N.Markakis RF       5  0  1  0 .224 

  M.Holliday LF       3  0  0  0 .226     J.Jaso C            5  0  0  0 .250 

  A.Rizzo 1B          5  1  2  2 .190   B-S.Vogt C            0  0  0  0 .087 

  T.Tulowitzki SS     4  0  0  0 .292     A.McCutchen CF      3  3  1  0 .211 

  J.Reddick RF        4  1  1  1 .241     M.Adams 1B          4  1  2  1 .273 

  N.Arenado 3B        5  0  1  0 .288     A.Beltre 3B         4  0  1  1 .288 

  M.Ozuna CF          3  0  0  0 .188     B.Holt 2B,LF        5  1  3  3 .322 

  E.Hernandez 2B      2  1  1  0 .174     E.Encarnacion DH    3  0  0  0 .269 

A-C.Hernandez 2B      1  0  0  0 .400     J.Reyes SS          4  0  1  0 .246 

  S.Perez C           4  0  0  0 .227     D.Murphy LF         3  0  1  0 .167 

                                        C-D.Lemahieu 2B       0  0  0  0 .256 

                     -- -- -- ---                            -- -- -- ---     

         Totals      36  4  8  4                 Totals      36  5 10  5

A-Subbed Defensively (2B) For Hernandez In 7th Inning

B-Subbed Defensively (C ) For Jaso In 10th Inning

C-Subbed Defensively (2B) For Murphy In 10th Inning

Fighting Irish.. 0 0 1  2 0 0  0 0 0  1 -  4  8  0

Bozos........... 2 0 0  0 0 0  0 1 0  2 -  5 10  0

Fighting Irish (11-9)    IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR    ERA  SCORESHEET

S.Strasburg               2       3   2   2   3   1   0  12.51  A1 B2

A.Sanchez LOSS(1-3)       7 2/3   7   3   3   3   4   1   3.24  B3

Totals                    9 2/3  10   5   5   6   5   1

Bozos (11-6)             IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR    ERA  SCORESHEET

D.Salazar                 2 2/3   1   1   1   0   2   0   3.38  A1 A9

D.Betances                4       3   2   2   1   7   2   3.32  B1 C7

K.Giles                   0 2/3   1   0   0   1   1   0   1.84  C8 D2

A.Chapman                 0 2/3   0   0   0   1   1   0   1.04  D3 D5

M.Fiers WIN(3-1)          2       3   1   1   1   2   0   2.45  D6

Totals                   10       8   4   4   4  13   2

ATTENDANCE- 40,124 DATE- Monday, November 9th 2015 TIME- Night

UMPIRES- Tim Timmons, Tim Tschida, Greg Gibson, Chuck Meriwether

T- 3:30

LEFT ON BASE- Fighting Irish: 8  Bozos: 8

DOUBLE PLAYS- Fighting Irish: 3  Bozos: 0

DOUBLES- R.Weeks(4th), N.Arenado(11th), A.McCutchen(4th)

TRIPLES- M.Adams(1st)

HOME RUNS- A.Rizzo(5th), J.Reddick(6th), B.Holt(1st)

RBIs- R.Weeks(4th), A.Rizzo-2(9th), J.Reddick(18th), M.Adams(3rd),

      A.Beltre(10th), B.Holt-3(5th)

SACRIFICE HITS- M.Holliday-2

WALKS- T.Tulowitzki, J.Reddick, M.Ozuna, E.Hernandez, A.McCutchen-2, M.Adams,

       A.Beltre, E.Encarnacion, D.Murphy

STRIKE OUTS- R.Weeks, M.Holliday-2, A.Rizzo, T.Tulowitzki-3, J.Reddick,

             N.Arenado-2, M.Ozuna, S.Perez-2, J.Jaso-2, A.Beltre, B.Holt,

             J.Reyes

GIDP- J.Jaso, A.Beltre, E.Encarnacion

WILD PITCHES- A.Sanchez

2-out RBI- M.Adams, B.Holt-3, R.Weeks

RLISP 2-out- E.Encarnacion, M.Holliday, J.Jaso, J.Reddick, J.Reyes, N.Arenado

TEAM RISP- Fighting Irish: 2 for 8  Bozos: 3 for 9

40,124 fans watched an exciting game at PNC Park.  The Bellingham Bozos topped

the South Bend Fighting Irish by the slimmest of margins, 5 to 4.

Both teams had scored 3 runs after nine full innings.  Bellingham came out the

victor in the 10th inning.  Andrew McCutchen opened up the inning nicely when

he drew a walk.  Two outs later Brock Holt came to bat and blasted a two-run

home run giving Bellingham the win much to the delight of the home town

crowd.  Bellingham totaled 10 hits on the night. 

The winning pitcher was Mike Fiers(3-1) who allowed 1 run in 2 innings. Aaron

Sanchez(1-3) took the loss in relief.  He pitched 7 and 2/3 innings allowing

7 hits and 3 walks.

Somisa World Series 2015...SBN @ BEL - Game 6

Pitching Match-up is Hernandez vs. Wainwright

SBN is looking to continue its winning ways at PNC and clinch the WS. The rematch of the top starters for each team set the stage for a tight exciting game as the teams returned to PNC, BEL's home park. 

BEL jumped out to an early lead as Markakis lead off with a double followed by a Jaso triple but McCutchen and Adams struck out to kill the chance to extend the lead.

Headed to the bottom of the 5th, SBN had only a single and BEL held the slim lead. A two out triple by Lemahieu was wasted so the teams headed to the 6th with BEL ahead 1-0. Two singles sandwiched around sac bunt tied the score and tightened the managers thinking considerably. Both managers avoided quick hooks but through 7 innings, Wainwright allowed three singles and no walks while Felix while almost matched this exactly allowing only five hits.

In the top of the 8th, Kipnis and Perez doubled and after a Beltre error a sac fly gave SBN a 3-1 lead with 6 outs to go and Felix still on the mound. Felix got all three hitters in the 8th and Giles got all three in the top of the 9th. So it's on to the last gasp for BEL.

McCutchen and Adams hit singles to start the 9th and SBN brought in Sanchez while BEL pinch ran for Adams with Cowgill since he represented the tying run. Beltre hit a Sac Fly leaving a runner on first with one out. This where a little Stratomatic realism/oddity changed the game. With Tulo at SS and he has the top fielding rating of "1" meaning he cannot give up a single, however, the quirk in the rules is that if the runner on first is being held (and he was) and the batter (Holt) is left-handed, the SS is thought to shade toward second base and his fielding rating drops to a "2". As luck would have it, a groundball to SS resulted in a single advance two bases yielding a first and third with one out, ratcheting up the excitement.

This brought up another critical moment. Maybe not realistically, but the BEL manager yanked Edwin Encarnacion, who hit 34 HRs in the regular season and is strong vs RHP but has struggled a lot in the playoffs. Also, ignoring the lefty/righty switch and leaving Scooter Gennett on the bench, BEL chose to have Cervelli PH for Encarnacion. After considering a safety squeeze and ignoring the DP chance with a slow runner like Cervelli, BEL had him hit away and he drew a walk.

That brought up Jose Reyes who has been doing well in this series and is a lower DP chance. With the winning run now on 2nd, the entire situation seemed very realistic. Reyes had a chance for a hit but it turned into a line out keeping all runners where they were and now brought up Daniel Murphy (not the Mets David Murphy). Murphy entered the game as a pitch hitter for Lemahieu as he frequently did and then moving to left field and Holt took over at second.

Murphy had a good year and exceeded his regular season goals but was only 4-24 in the entire playoff season. Since there were two out and the bases loaded, I realized that this was probably the last at bat for this team (a thought I didn't have on any of the previous hitters although the risk was there.) In the most shocking outcome in recent history, Daniel Murphy hit a walkoff Grand Slam home run for a 6-3 BEL victory sending the series to a game 7. A truly remarkable and unexpected outcome!

The box score looked like this...

BOXSCORE: 2015 South Bend Fighting Irish At 2015 Bellingham Bozos   11/8/2015

  Fighting Irish     AB  R  H RBI AVG     Bozos              AB  R  H RBI AVG

  R.Weeks DH          4  0  1  1 .236     N.Markakis RF       4  1  1  0 .226 

  T.Snider LF         3  0  0  0 .211     J.Jaso C            4  0  1  1 .316 

A-M.Holliday PH,LF    0  0  0  1 .240   D-S.Vogt C            0  0  0  0 .087 

  A.Rizzo 1B          4  0  0  0 .176     A.McCutchen CF      3  1  1  0 .204 

  T.Tulowitzki SS     4  0  1  0 .318     M.Adams 1B          4  0  1  0 .255 

  J.Reddick RF        4  0  0  0 .240   E-C.Cowgill PR        0  1  0  0 .182 

  N.Arenado 3B        4  0  0  0 .293     A.Beltre 3B         3  0  0  1 .290 

  M.Ozuna CF          3  0  0  0 .197     B.Holt LF,2B        4  1  2  0 .296 

  J.Kipnis 2B         3  2  2  0 .250     E.Encarnacion DH    3  0  0  0 .286 

B-C.Hernandez 2B      0  0  0  0 .500   F-F.Cervelli PH       0  1  0  0 .308 

  S.Perez C           2  1  1  1 .239     J.Reyes SS          4  0  0  0 .246 

                                          D.Lemahieu 2B       2  0  2  0 .256 

                                        C-D.Murphy PH,LF      2  1  1  4 .143 

                     -- -- -- ---                            -- -- -- ---     

         Totals      31  3  5  3                 Totals      33  6  9  6

A-Pinch Hit For Snider In 8th Inning

B-Subbed Defensively (2B) For Kipnis In 8th Inning

C-Pinch Hit For Lemahieu In 8th Inning

D-Subbed Defensively (C ) For Jaso In 9th Inning

E-Pinch Ran For Adams In 9th Inning

F-Pinch Hit For Encarnacion In 9th Inning

Fighting Irish.. 0 0 0  0 0 1  0 2 0  -  3  5  0

Bozos........... 1 0 0  0 0 0  0 0 5  -  6  9  1

Fighting Irish (11-8)    IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR    ERA 

F.Hernandez               8       7   3   3   1   9   0   3.20 

A.Sanchez L(1-2) BS(1st)  0 2/3   2   3   3   1   0   1   3.12 

Totals                    8 2/3   9   6   6   2   9   1

Bozos (10-6)             IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR    ERA 

A.Wainwright              7 1/3   5   3   2   0   7   0   1.19 

A.Chapman                 0 2/3   0   0   0   0   1   0   1.13 

K.Giles WIN(2-1)          1       0   0   0   0   1   0   1.93 

Totals                    9       5   3   2   0   9   0

ATTENDANCE- 36,847 DATE- Sunday, November 8th 2015 TIME- Night

UMPIRES- Mike Dimuro, Jerry Crawford, Mike Everett, Brian Gorman

T- 2:32

LEFT ON BASE- Fighting Irish: 3  Bozos: 4

DOUBLE PLAYS- Fighting Irish: 1  Bozos: 0

ERRORS- A.Beltre

DOUBLES- J.Kipnis(1st), S.Perez(5th), N.Markakis(3rd)

TRIPLES- J.Jaso(1st), D.Lemahieu(2nd)

HOME RUNS- D.Murphy(1st)

RBIs- R.Weeks(3rd), M.Holliday(7th), S.Perez(14th), J.Jaso(4th), A.Beltre(9th),

      D.Murphy-4(7th)

SACRIFICE HITS- S.Perez

SACRIFICE FLIES- M.Holliday, A.Beltre

WALKS- A.McCutchen, F.Cervelli

STRIKE OUTS- R.Weeks, T.Snider-2, A.Rizzo, T.Tulowitzki, J.Reddick-3, J.Kipnis,

             N.Markakis, J.Jaso, A.McCutchen, M.Adams-3, A.Beltre-2,

             E.Encarnacion

GIDP- E.Encarnacion

2-out RBI- D.Murphy-4

RLISP 2-out- A.Beltre, M.Ozuna, A.McCutchen, N.Markakis, A.Rizzo

TEAM RISP- Fighting Irish: 2 for 5  Bozos: 2 for 9

WEB GEMS- Top 8th: D.J. Lemahieu robbed Marcell Ozuna of a base hit.

Brock Holt had 2 base hits as the Bellingham Bozos won in dramatic fashion

over the South Bend Fighting Irish by a score of 6 to 3 at PNC

Park.

Bellingham had the game winning rally in the bottom of the 9th inning when

they scored 5 runs on 4 hits.  The highlight belonged to David Murphy who

elicited a roar from the hometown fans when he caught a hold of a fastball

for a Grand Slam homerun.  Bellingham had 9 hits for the night while South

Bend had 5. 

Ken Giles(2-1) got credit for the victory, pitching 1 inning and allowing no

runs. Aaron Sanchez(1-2) was the losing pitcher in relief.  He gave up 3 runs

and 2 hits in 2/3 of an inning. 

Steve Spiegel was in great spirits in his post-game interview.  Yet, when

asked about his feelings after the thrilling comeback victory, he

volunteered, 'I'll tell you this much - I know how my counterpart, Tom

Benson, feels right now - and it's not very good.  It's terrible when you

come up on the short end of one of these!'

Somisa World Series 2015...BEL @ SBN - Game 5

Pitching Match-up will be    Hughes vs. Liriano

Game 5 was expected to be a big swing game as it obviously gave the winner a big advantage especially with another game for the staff stud. Of larger concern for BEL was their ability to hit Liriano who stymied them in Game 1.

After Tulo drove home the game's first run with a triple, BEL did the quick hook thing again but got burned bad this time as Casilla, Crockett and Giles gave up 3 runs in the 3rd for a 4-0 deficit. It got worse when Fiers who pitched great in Game 2 gave up two more runs in the 6th. The 6-0 lead looked insurmountable but then BEL began to rally.

Three singles a walk and a sac fly brought home three runs but the inability to get the runners left on base to score was frustrating. SBN brought in their best reliever, Sanchez, to stop the rally. A rally in the 9th could only push one run home and when Adams flew out with two on in the ninth, BEL went home frustrated with a 6-4 defeat.

Tulo had three hits and Sal Perez had two to lead SBN but BEL did see some life from Brock Holt and Encarnacion as each had two hits. BEL left seven runners on base but maybe the hitting would come around...

BOXSCORE: 2015 Bellingham Bozos At 2015 South Bend Fighting Irish   11/6/2015

  Bozos              AB  R  H RBI AVG     Fighting Irish     AB  R  H RBI AVG

  A.McCutchen CF      4  0  1  2 .196     R.Weeks 2B          3  0  0  0 .235 

  C.Stewart C         3  0  1  0 .364   C-C.Hernandez 2B      0  0  0  0 .500 

F-S.Vogt PH           1  0  0  0 .087     M.Holliday LF       3  1  0  0 .240 

  D.Betances P        0  0  0  0 ----     A.Rizzo 1B          3  1  1  0 .186 

G-M.Adams PH          1  0  0  0 .255     T.Tulowitzki SS     4  1  3  1 .325 

  A.Beltre 3B         3  0  0  0 .305     J.Reddick RF        3  2  1  1 .261 

  N.Markakis RF       4  0  0  0 .224     N.Arenado 3B        3  1  1  2 .310 

  E.Encarnacion 1B    4  1  2  0 .304     M.Ozuna CF          4  0  0  0 .206 

  B.Holt LF,2B        4  2  2  0 .280     S.Perez C           4  0  2  2 .232 

  J.Reyes SS          4  1  1  1 .263     F.Liriano P         2  0  0  0 .000 

  D.Lemahieu 2B       2  0  0  0 .216     A.Sanchez P         1  0  0  0 .000 

D-J.Jaso PH,C         2  0  0  0 .333     J.Diekman P         0  0  0  0 ---- 

  P.Hughes P          0  0  0  0 ----                                         

A-C.Cowgill PH        1  0  0  0 .182                                          

  S.Casilla P         0  0  0  0 ----                                         

  K.Crockett P        0  0  0  0 ----                                         

  K.Giles P           0  0  0  0 .000                                         

B-F.Cervelli PH       1  0  0  0 .308                                         

  M.Fiers P           0  0  0  0 ----                                         

E-D.Murphy PH,LF      1  0  1  0 .105                                         

                     -- -- -- ---                            -- -- -- ---     

         Totals      35  4  8  3                 Totals      30  6  8  6

A-Pinch Hit For Hughes In 3rd Inning

B-Pinch Hit For Giles In 5th Inning

C-Subbed Defensively (2B) For Weeks In 7th Inning

D-Pinch Hit For Lemahieu In 7th Inning

E-Pinch Hit For Fiers In 7th Inning

F-Pinch Hit For Stewart In 7th Inning

G-Pinch Hit For Betances In 9th Inning

Bozos........... 0 0 0  0 0 0  3 0 1  -  4  8  0

Fighting Irish.. 1 0 3  0 0 2  0 0    -  6  8  1

Bozos (9-6)              IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR    ERA 

P.Hughes LOSS(1-2)        2       2   1   1   1   3   0   3.33 

S.Casilla                 0 2/3   2   2   2   0   1   0  18.00 

K.Crockett                0       1   1   1   0   0   0   4.50 

K.Giles                   1 1/3   1   0   0   0   1   0   2.08 

M.Fiers                   2       1   2   2   3   2   0   2.25 

D.Betances                2       1   0   0   1   0   0   3.00 

Totals                    8       8   6   6   5   7   0

Fighting Irish (11-7)    IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR    ERA 

F.Liriano WIN(2-0)        6       5   2   2   1   7   0   3.71 

A.Sanchez                 2 2/3   3   2   1   1   2   0   1.62 

J.Diekman SAVE(1st)       0 1/3   0   0   0   0   0   0  11.57 

Totals                    9       8   4   3   2   9   0

ATTENDANCE- 47,892 DATE- Friday, November 6th 2015 TIME- Night

UMPIRES- Jerry Meals, Larry Young, Rob Drake, Bill Miller

T- 2:50

LEFT ON BASE- Bozos: 7  Fighting Irish: 6

DOUBLE PLAYS- Bozos: 1  Fighting Irish: 0

ERRORS- N.Arenado

DOUBLES- D.Murphy(1st), J.Reddick(2nd), N.Arenado(10th), S.Perez(4th)

TRIPLES- T.Tulowitzki(1st)

RBIs- A.McCutchen-2(9th), J.Reyes(11th), T.Tulowitzki(8th), J.Reddick(17th),

      N.Arenado-2(11th), S.Perez-2(13th)

STOLEN BASES- A.McCutchen(4th)

SACRIFICE HITS- F.Liriano

SACRIFICE FLIES- A.McCutchen

WALKS- A.Beltre, D.Murphy, R.Weeks, M.Holliday, A.Rizzo, J.Reddick, N.Arenado

STRIKE OUTS- A.McCutchen, N.Markakis, B.Holt-2, J.Reyes, D.Lemahieu, J.Jaso-2,

             F.Cervelli, R.Weeks-2, M.Holliday, A.Rizzo, T.Tulowitzki,

             M.Ozuna-2

GIDP- J.Reddick

2-out RBI- T.Tulowitzki, J.Reddick, N.Arenado-2

RLISP 2-out- J.Reddick, F.Liriano, N.Markakis, M.Ozuna, M.Holliday, S.Vogt,

             M.Adams

TEAM RISP- Bozos: 1 for 7  Fighting Irish: 3 for 9

In a close game it was the South Bend Fighting Irish 6, the Bellingham Bozos 4

at Target Field.

South Bend jumped out to the early lead in the first inning scoring one

runner.  Bellingham threatened in the 9th but South Bend was able to put down

the rally. 

Francisco Liriano(2-0) got the win allowing 2 runs in 6 innings. Liriano got

relief help from Jake Diekman who gained credit for his 1st save.  Phil

Hughes(1-2) was the loser. 

Somisa World Series 2015... BEL @ SBN - Game 4

Pitching Match-up... Fister vs. Strasburg

This is a game that no one knew what to expect. Fister pitched OK but got beat by VER in the ALCS and Strasburg gave up a lot of hits and runs in his NLCS game.

Buoyed by the success in Game 3 but not happy with the hitting, BEL again monkeyed with its lineup which had only scored 3 runs in three games. Despite playing the key role in Game 3, Reyes was dropped to 7th and John Jaso made his first starting appearance in the series batting 2nd.

The payoffs from these changes were immediate. The first five batters of the game went like this..

N.Markakis      Single                        

J.Jaso             Home Run                      

A.McCutchen   Line Out                     

M.Adams         Double                        

A.Beltre          Home Run  

BEL had a 4 run lead and had out-scored its totals from the previous three games. The 2nd inning yielded four singles and a Reyes 3 Run home-run for a 9-0 lead.

Fister gave up 3 hits en route to a 12-1 complete game win. BEL had 14 hits and 3 HRs and hopefully found some batting capabilities.

The series was now set at 2-2 with one more game at South Bend. No home team had won a game yet in the series.    

BOXSCORE: 2015 Bellingham Bozos At 2015 South Bend Fighting Irish   11/5/2015

  Bozos              AB  R  H RBI AVG     Fighting Irish     AB  R  H RBI AVG

  N.Markakis RF       5  2  2  0 .241     R.Weeks 2B          1  0  0  0 .250 

  J.Jaso C            4  2  3  2 .385   B-J.Reddick PH        1  0  0  0 .256 

D-F.Cervelli C        1  0  0  0 .333     D.Matsuzaka P       1  0  0  0 .000 

  A.McCutchen CF      5  1  1  1 .191     N.Feliz P           1  0  0  0 .000 

  M.Adams 1B          5  1  1  0 .261     M.Holliday LF       3  0  0  0 .255 

  A.Beltre 3B         4  3  3  2 .321     A.Rizzo 1B          4  1  1  1 .179 

  B.Holt LF           3  2  2  2 .261     T.Tulowitzki SS     1  0  0  0 .278 

E-C.Cowgill LF        0  0  0  0 .200   C-E.Hernandez SS      1  0  0  0 .143 

  J.Reyes SS          5  1  2  5 .264   F-C.Hernandez PH,SS   1  0  0  0 .500 

  D.Lemahieu 2B       4  0  0  0 .229   G-D.Valencia PH       1  0  0  0 .000 

  D.Fister P          5  0  0  0 .000     T.Snider RF         3  0  1  0 .229 

                                          N.Arenado 3B        3  0  0  0 .309 

                                          M.Ozuna CF          3  0  0  0 .220 

                                          S.Perez C           3  0  1  0 .215 

                                          S.Strasburg P       0  0  0  0 .333 

                                        A-J.Kipnis PH,2B      3  0  0  0 .200 

                     -- -- -- ---                            -- -- -- ---      

         Totals      41 12 14 12                 Totals      30  1  3  1

A-Pinch Hit For Strasburg In 3rd Inning

B-Pinch Hit For Weeks In 3rd Inning

C-Subbed Defensively (SS) For Tulowitzki In 4th Inning

D-Subbed Defensively (C ) For Jaso In 7th Inning

E-Subbed Defensively (LF) For Holt In 7th Inning

F-Pinch Hit For Hernandez In 7th Inning

G-Pinch Hit For Hernandez In 9th Inning

Bozos........... 4 5 0  2 0 0  1 0 0  - 12 14  1

Fighting Irish.. 0 0 0  1 0 0  0 0 0  -  1  3  2

Bozos (9-5)              IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR    ERA 

D.Fister WIN(1-0)         9       3   1   1   0   8   1   1.32 

Totals                    9       3   1   1   0   8   1

Fighting Irish (10-7)    IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR    ERA 

S.Strasburg LOSS(0-2)     3      10   9   9   1   5   3  13.11 

D.Matsuzaka               3 2/3   3   2   2   3   3   0   3.86 

N.Feliz                   2 1/3   1   1   1   1   1   1   2.16 

Totals                    9      14  12  12   5   9   4

ATTENDANCE- 46,777 DATE- Thursday, November 5th 2015 TIME- Night

UMPIRES- Jim Reynolds, Charlie Williams, Travis Katzenmeier, Scott Higgins

T- 3:07

LEFT ON BASE- Bozos: 8  Fighting Irish: 3

DOUBLE PLAYS- Bozos: 1  Fighting Irish: 1

ERRORS- J.Reyes, A.Rizzo, S.Perez

DOUBLES- J.Jaso(2nd), M.Adams(3rd), T.Snider(4th)

HOME RUNS- J.Jaso(1st), A.McCutchen(2nd), A.Beltre(2nd), J.Reyes(2nd),

           A.Rizzo(4th)

RBIs- J.Jaso-2(3rd), A.McCutchen(7th), A.Beltre-2(8th), B.Holt-2(2nd),

      J.Reyes-5(10th), A.Rizzo(7th)

STOLEN BASES- J.Reyes(2nd)

WALKS- N.Markakis, A.Beltre, B.Holt, C.Cowgill, D.Lemahieu

HIT BY PITCH- J.Jaso, M.Holliday

STRIKE OUTS- A.McCutchen-3, J.Reyes, D.Lemahieu-2, D.Fister-3, D.Matsuzaka,

             A.Rizzo-2, T.Snider, M.Ozuna-3, J.Kipnis

GIDP- N.Feliz

WILD PITCHES- D.Matsuzaka

2-out RBI- B.Holt-2, J.Reyes-3, A.McCutchen

RLISP 2-out- D.Fister-2, A.McCutchen, M.Ozuna

TEAM RISP- Bozos: 5 for 14  Fighting Irish: 0 for 2

Doug Fister hurled a 3 hitter as the Bellingham Bozos crushed the South Bend

Fighting Irish 12 to 1.

Jose Reyes had a good evening at the plate.  He lost the ball over the fence

for three runs in the 2nd inning and stroked a single bringing home two

baserunners in the 4th inning.  Bellingham had 14 hits for the night.

Fister(1-0) picked up the complete game victory, allowing 1 run. Stephen

Strasburg(0-2) ended up with the loss.  He surrended 3 homeruns in his 3

innings.