2006 LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS HIGHLIGHTS

For Immediate Release
October 14th, 2006

Virginia vs. Yonge Street – American League Championship Series

Game 1 – Pettitte out dueled Halladay in a gut wrenching game 1. A Ramirez 2 run HR in the 4th accounted for all the scoring. Richie Sexson GIDP with 2 on in the 9th to end it. VIR takes game one 2 to 0.

VIR 2
YSS 0

W – Pettitte L – Halladay

Game 2 – was exciting in a different way. YSS started the scoring in the 2nd with back to back to back HR’s from Larry Walker, Gomes and B. Schneider. Nick Johnson added an RBI single to make it 4-0 after 2 innings. A Vlad Guerrero 3 run HR in the 6th made it 4-3 YSS. Furcal added a RBI single of his own in the bottom half…5-3 YSS. A WP by Valverde allowed a run to score in the 8th and was followed by a Vlad RBI 2B to tie the score at 5 after 8 innings. Freddy Garcia hit Larry Walker in the 9th and was ejected. A clutch RBI single by Furcal scored the Go-Ahead run on a collision at the plate in the bottom of the 8th. A bloop RBI 2B by Freel ended the scoring and Nathan got the final 4 outs for the Win.

YSS 8
VIR 5

W – Nathan L 0 Garcia

Game 3 – A genuine butt kicking by the Stalkers. 10 runs on 14 hits. Yonge Streets lead-off man Ryan Freel blasted a double and a homer in his 3-5 performance and added 4 RBI as well. David Wright’s 3-run rocket launch in the 3rd and Richie Sexson’s 2 run moon shot later in the game allowed the Stalkers to coast to victory. On the mound, Chris Carpenter’s 6 innings 4 hit evening pretty much held the Slugger’s in check. Going to game 4, Yonge Strret leads 2-1. Oh yeah, Jose Guillen had a 2-run homer for VIR :)…only bright spot…so to speak.

YSS 10 W-Carpenter
VIR 3 L-Colon

Game 4 – I wish he could pitch every game. On 3 days rest…7.1 innings, 4 hits and no runs with 7 K’s. Including the DIV playoffs, Pettite is now 4-0 in post season play and 27-5 for the year. In addition, Aramis Ramirez continues his semi-hot streak, driving in all 3 runs of the game for the Sluggers. Ramirez singled in a run in the 1st and ripped a 2-run homer in the 6th, giving him 2 home runs and 5 RBI in the 4 games. The Stalkers only run came off C.Spurling in the 8th when Richie Sexson belted a double to drive in Virginia native David Wright. With the series all locked up at 2 games each, it heads back to Yonge Street.

YSS 1 L-C.Lee
VIR 3 W-Pettitte

Game 5 – Was all YSS.
Halladay CG 3H shutout. Offensive highlights included HR’s from the first 4 hitters in YSS lineup. The 4 combined to drive in 7 of YSS 9 runs.

YSS 9
VIR 0
W – Halladay L – Garcia

We head to VIR for a huge game 6.

Game 6 – The Yonge Street Stalkers trip the Virginia Sluggers 5-4 to win the League Championship 4-2 and move on to represent the AL in the MWBL World Series.

VIR struck first in this one as Bobby Abreu doubled and scored on Todd Helton’s RBI single. YSS came right back in the top of the 2nd…”J. GOMES facing B. COLON, T 2nd, 2 Outs, Bases Empty, Behind 0-1 COLON deals … uh-oh! … way back … GUILLEN looks up … put it on the board, STALKERS 1, SLUGGERS 1″ The Stalkers broke the tie in the top of the 3rd. Ryan Freel, who had one heck of a series, reached base with his 10th hit of the series and then…”N. JOHNSON facing B. COLON, T 3rd, 1 Out, Runner on 1st, Tied 1-1 There goes FREEL … the delivery … it’s roped hard to right … into the corner GUERRERO’s after it … FREEL’s digging … he’s around third … coming down the line he’ll score … the throw in to second … not in time! and JOHNSON’s in standing with a double STALKERS 2, SLUGGERS 1″ In the 4th Jonny Gomes and Brian Schneider hit back-to-back doubles to increase YSS’s lead to 3-1. The Stalkers ended their scoring in the 5th as Jonny Gomes capped his 3-4, 3 run, 3 RBI day …”J. GOMES facing B. COLON, T 6th, 2 Outs, Runner on 1st, Ahead 3-1 Big hole on the right side … WALKER not wandering too far … the pitch it’s crushed deep to center field … ABREU turns and watches … later! … it’s long gone! That sounded like a firecracker off the bat … a two-run dinger STALKERS 5, SLUGGERS 1″
The Sluggers give it the old college try by scoring 2 in the 6th on a walk, a hit batsman, and a 2 RBI double by Todd Helton. Then in the bottom of the 9th, pinch hitter Jorge Piedra smacks a homer to make it 5-4 Yonge Street with 1 out. But ace reliever Joe Nathan wiffs pinch hitter Nomar Garciaparra and gets Jim Thome on a fly to Jim Edmonds to end the game and send Yonge Street to the World Series.

Even with the loss it was a fun series. The superior Yonge Street pitching was formidable, compiling a 2.38 ERA to Virginia’s 4.85. And the hitting, well, the Sluggers didn’t live up to their name that’s for sure. Virginia batted a paltry .168 to the Stalkers .257 and hit only 5 home runs to Yonge Streets 12.

YSS 5 W-J.Patterson
VIR 4 L- B.Colon

Series highlights:

Virginia: not a very good showing…
Andy Pettitte 2-0 16.1 innings , no runs, 0.00 ERA

Bobby Abreu and Vladimir Guerrero .227 were the Slugger’s leading hitters

Aramis Ramirez had 2 homers and 5 RBI…tops for VIR in both categories.

Yonge Street: awesome performanceRoy Halladay 1-1 18 innings, 1.00 ERA 16 K’s
Jonny Gomes .450 1.100 SLG .522 OBP 11.7 RC 2.273 Total AVG 6.6 RCON 7 RUNS
4 Doubles 3 HR ALL TOPS IN EACH AREA for either team (MVP maybe?) He also had 9 hits and 4 RBI (second best for both).

Ryan Freel .385 .692 SLG (2nd to Gomes) .407 OBP 1.313 Total AVG (2nd to Gomes)
4.1 RCON (2nd to Gomes) 5 RUNS (2nd to Gomes) 7 RBI (tops) 10 HITS (tops)
2 HR (2nd to Gomes) 4 Multi-hit games (tops)

Kentucky vs. Tempe – National League Championship Series
Kentucky Head Hunters vs Tempe Tempers (Played via logmein on 9/25/06)

Here’s how the starting lineups matched up.

G1 – Jose Contreras vs Pedro Martinez
Tempe scored the only run of the game in the 2nd on a hit and run by Jason Varitek with runners on the corners. The Kentucky defense kept the game tight by turning 3 double plays but they couldn’t figure out Pedro and the Tempe pen. Pedro went 6.1 innings and only allowed one hit in the top of the 5th inning. Shields and Shackleford kept Kentucky hitless the rest of the way. Giambi grounded out with the tying runner on 1B to end the game.
W – Pedro Martinez, L – Jose Contreras, S – Brian Shackelford, HR 0
Tempe 1 – Kentucky 0

G2 – Aaron Heilman vs Roger Clemens
Kentucky scored 3 runs before the 1st out of the game with a BB by Ichiro, a homerun from Lee, a 2B by Giles and then a single from Conine. In the bottom of the 4th Tony Clark led off with a HR and Kentucky went to closer Politte to hold on to the 3-1 lead. Politte recorded two outs but eventually surrendered a 3 run homerun to game one hero Jason Varitek. Tempe added two more runs in the 6th and the pen kept Kentucky hitless over the last five innings.
W – Brett Myers, L – Cliff Politte, S – Brian Shackelford, HR KEN -Derrick Lee, TEM – Tony Clark, Jason Varitek
Tempe 6 – Kentucky 3

G3 – Pedro Martinez vs Ben Sheets
In the bottom of the 1st , Lee hit a homerun to give Kentucky the early lead. Tempe responded with a solo shot from Young in the top of the 2nd. Later in the inning Kentucky walked Matsui, popped up Chavez and then hit Varitek. Pedro moved the runners to 3rd and 2nd and Kentucky chose to intentionally walk Manny to bring up Kent. Grand Slam!. TEM 5 – KEN 1. In the bottom of the 2nd Kentucky scored two runs on a single by Giles, a double by Grudzielanek, and a Tempe error. Tempe added another run in the top of the 3rd of reliever Jim Mecir. In the bottom of the 3rd Glaus hit a 2 run HR to make it a 1 run game TEM 6 – KEN 5. Pedro completed the 3rd, but with the grade drop Tempe went to the pen in the 4th. An ichy Torres walked the first batter and then gave up a single to Conine. Tempe called on an ichy Wise to hang on to the lead and he came in with a +5 22 grade. Ichiro grounded out but moved up the runners. Lee grounded to 1B and Clark threw home just in time to get Eckstein. Giles then grounded out to end the inning. TEM 6 – KEN 5. In the top of the 5th an rbi single by Chavez made it a 7-5 game. Chavez stole 2B and Varitek was IBB but Wise was left in the game and popped up. The move may have cost Tempe another run but it turned out to be the right move as Wise shutout Kentucky the rest of the way to finish the game. He went a total of 6 innings without giving up a single hit.
W – Matt Wise, L – Ben Sheets, HR KEN – Derrick Lee, Troy Glaus TEM – Michael Young, Jeff Kent Grand Slam
Tempe 7 – Kentucky 5

G4 – Roger Clemens vs Jose Contreras
Starting pitching dominated game four. The first run didn’t come until the the bottom of the 4th when Sheffield took Clemens deep for a solo shot. In the top of 6th Clemens refused to leave the game for a pinch hitter so the manager had to let him hit. Clemens walked and later scored on a two out single by Griffey to tie it up. 1-1 Clemens pitched a scoreless 6th and 7th and was finally pinch hit for in the 8th. Contreras pitched into the middle of the 8th. In the bottom of the 8th with 2 outs Kentucky threatened with runners on 1B and 2B but Shackelford came on in relief and got Giles to line out. In the top of the 9th with the score tied 1-1, Griffey led off the inning with a homerun off Calero. Calero k’ed the next hitter but then gave up a single to Young. Taguchi pinch ran for Young and stole 2b. Tempe then scored two more runs on a IBB, a single and a sac fly. TEM 4 KEN 1. In the bottom of the 9th Al Reyes recorded the first two outs and then walked Conine. Giambi was brought in to pinch hit, but Reyes rang him up to pick up the save and complete the sweep.
W – Brian Shackelford, L – Kiko Calero, S – Al Reyes, HR KEN – Gary Sheffield, TEM – Ken Griffey
Tempe 4 – Kentucky 1

Series MVP –
Tempe Bullpen 0.00 ERA, 16.2 IP, 3-0, 3 Saves, 0 Runs, 1 Hit, 12 SO
or
Co MVPs – Matt Wise and Brian Shackelford 0.00 ERA, 10.1 IP, 2-0, 2 S, 0 R, 0 H, 8 SO

Runner up –
Jose Contreras – 1.35 ERA, 13.1 IP, 0-1, 2 GS, 7 Hit, 7 SO
Jason Varitek – 375 AVG, 500 OBP, 750 SLG, 3 R, 5 RBI, 1 HR 3 Hits

HALL OF FAME
CANDIDATES
ANNOUNCED
MONDAY
12/02/2024

AT 10:00 AM - ET!

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