Games Three and Four, Revisited

Just for continuity in the blog, I thought I'd draw up a quick post explaining what occurred in the real Games Three and Four of the 2009 Cecil Cup. (The previous posts by Zev are just a glitch in the Matrix. Nothing to see. Move along.) It turns out that this year's Cecil Cup is a story of the bullpens and which one fails on a given day.

In GAME THREE, Seattle appeared to be all but out of hope. Starting pitchers Peter Bird for Seattle and Juan Villatoro for River Cities were brilliant as the game was scoreless into the bottom of the eighth inning. Then, the goat of Games 1 and 2, Tim Vallejo, took the hill in the bottom of the eighth. Third baseman Robert Fout promptly greeted him with a home run to deep left center. Vallejo gave up two more singles, but escaped without further damage.

Down to their final three outs, the Monarchs attempted to rally against River Cities' closer Harold Beeks. Lonnie Machen led off with a triple and George Rawlins walked to put two runners on right away. However, Beeks came back with a short fly ball and strikeout to leave the Paddlewheelers one out away from a commanding 3-0 Cup lead. But then, midseason acquisition Carmelo "The Gimp" Deleon hit a resounding three-run home run that snuck inside the right field pole to give the Monarchs renewed life. Although River Cities rallied with a run against Seattle's closer Sam Contreras, scored by Patrick Welch after a one-out triple, the Monarchs managed to end the threat and stepped away from the abyss with a 3-2 victory.

In GAME FOUR, the teams seesawed back and forth. Both scored one run in the first. Seattle pulled ahead with a two spot in the third courtesy of a clutch two-out, two-run double by John Willer. River Cities used four singles and a walk in the fourth to take the lead back 4-3. The game stayed there until the top of the eighth inning when Greg Mudge hit a solo home run off Jefferson Theriault to knot the scoreboard at 4-4. Timothy Vallejo, who came into his fourth game of the series with a scoreless seventh inning, pitched a scoreless eighth as well. In the ninth, the Monarchs scored the winning run off closer Harold Beeks, who picked up his second loss in as many days. Centerfielder Sean Arant's double with two out scored Francis Armendariz from first base. Seattle's Sam Contreras struck out three in the bottom of ninth, around a one-out single by Alan Callahan, to give Seattle a 5-4 victory.


Astonishingly, Tim Vallejo has all four decisions for Seattle with his 2-2 record while Harold Beeks is 0-2 with 2 saves. So, will they and their bullpen mates continue to be the story of the 2009 Cecil Cup? Find out tonight when Game Five matches the teams' two aces, Chad Nelligan and Sherman Wheeler.