Although the Columbus team carries the nickname Explorers, it’s perhaps more fitting for Bethesda (96-66) who entered the series in foreign territory never before having advanced to the League Championship Series. It was a match made in hell for Bethesda who would have rather faced any other team than Columbus (126-36) who pummelled them during the regular season winning 11 of 12 contests.   Columbus featured an all-round attack of solid bats and solid arms on the mound. No Columbus regular hit less than Ben Revere‘s .262. Dee Gordon hit an eye-popping .356 with 67 steals, Charlie Blackmon hit .308 with 23 HR, 115 RBI, and 50 steals (MVP candidiate maybe???), and Matt Carpenter hit .279, bashed 37 HR and drove in 124 runs. The Columbus starters were no slouches led by JA Happ’s 17-5 record with a miniscule 2.15 ERA and 192 Ks in 193 innings. Ervin Santana was 11-5, 2.57 ERA, Lance McCullers was 9-2 with a 2.21 ERA and Tom Milone was 10-5 with a 3.13 ERA. What the starters couldn’t finish the Columbus bullpen had no problem finishing. Darren O’Day (7-1, 0.91 20 saves), Sean Gilmartin (8-0, 1.05 ERA, 5 saves), Frank Rodriguez (9-0, 1.53 ERA, 25 saves), Andrew Chafin (7-1, 1.60 ERA, 1 save) were downright scary combining for over 250 innings of relief and allowing only 116 hits while striking out 255 batters.
Bethesda’s strength lay with its starting pitching led by Cy Young candidate Jake Arrieta (17-10, 1.66 ERA, 110 hits allowed in 222 innings, one no-hitter), Sonny Gray (17-8, 2.67 ERA, one no-hitter), Jake Odorizzi (13-2, 2.70 ERA) and Chris Young (8-3, 2.21 ERA). The bullpen relied on the ability of Ryan Madson (3-5, 1.57), Justin Miller (2-1, 2.14 ERA and Brain Matusz (2-6, 2.79 ERA) to hold the lead until converted starter Rich Hill (1-2, 1.17 ERA, 18 saves) could get the ball or on the off-chance he was unable to pitch the bizarrely effective John Axford (2-1, 2.67 ERA, 12 saves) was around. The Bethesda bats featured a few noteworthy performances in 2016 with Adrian Gonzalez once again leading the offense with a .311 average, 33 homers and 104 RBIs. The supporting cast included another pleasant surprise in AJ Pierzynski with the veteran backstop hitting .319 and Alex Rodriguez whose final tour of duty included a .265 average, 34 homers and 90 RBIs.

Game #1: Jake Arrieta (17-10 1.66) vs. Lance McCullers (9-2 2.21)
Jake Arrieta staggered through the first round against Sacramento but got his crap together for the first game of the LCS tossing eight innings of three hit ball as the Bandicoots topped the Explorers 4-1 in Columbus.
Arrieta fanned 12 in the game including four Ks by Matt Carpenter. Only Ben Revere seemed to solve the Arrieta puzzle for Columbus as the speedy outfielder nabbed two hits and drove in the lone Columbus run in the 3rd inning when he brought in Dee Gordon after he smacked a triple.
Seldom-used catcher Carlos Ruiz paid dividends for Bethesda smacking a two-run homer in the 5th inning off Josh Tomlin who took over for Lance McCullers. McCullers was yanked early after giving up three runs on three hits in four innings. Bethesda counted their first runs with two in the 4th on RBI hits by Adrian Gonzalez and Alex Rodriguez.
Plucky John Axford fanned two in a 3-up, 3-down 9th to earn the save.
Final Score:  Bethesda 4 – Columbus 1 Continue reading →