Playoffs: Maui Takes 2-0 Lead, Brick-Philadelphia Tied

Game Date:  Sep 27 2030

The Maui Mashers took a 2-0 lead against the Seattle Monarchs with a 9-6 victory.  The hitting star for the Mashers has been second baseman Thomas Lyons who went 3-5 and smacked his second home run in as many games.  Seattle pitcher Chris Williams simply didn't have it today, giving up thirteen hits and seven earned runs in 5 2/3 innings.  The bright spot for Seattle was third baseman Sung-heun Hwa, who hit his third home run of the playoffs.

In the nightcap, it took 11 innings for the Philadelphia Hornets to beat the Brick Barracudas 7-6.  Philadelphia had a 5-4 lead going into the top of the ninth when closer Anthony White failed to hold the lead by giving up a game-tying home run to Anthony Powers to lead off the inning.

Brick took a lead in the top of the 11th on an RBI single by Salvadore Velasquez, but could not hold off the Hornets.  Brick brought in Frank Carey to face Javier Ortiz.  Ortiz smacked the first pitch of the inning for a single.  After a sacrifice bunt, Manuel Hidalgo launched a 1-0 pitch over the right field wall for a two run home run to win the game.

Answer to last week's trivia question:
Which Hall of Fame pitcher* did not earn his first major league win until nearly five years after his major league debut.

(* Only players elected as pitchers should be considered... so Jimmie Foxx, who earned his first [and only] pitching victory 20 years after his major league debut does not count.)

Fred came up with Warren Spahn, which is a good guess, but not the correct one.  Spahn made his big league debut for the Boston Braves on April 19, 1942.  He failed to win a game that year, enlisted in the Army after the season and spent the next three years in the war.  He earned his first win on July 14, 1946, a stretch of four years and nearly three months.  I will admit that that can be construed as "nearly five years" and give Fred partial credit.  But it is not the answer I was looking for.

The correct answer is Bob Lemon.  Lemon made his debut for the Cleveland Indians on September 9, 1941.  He played five games that year and five more in 1942 before joining the US Navy and missing the next three seasons.  He finally won his first game on June 9, 1946, four years and ten months after his debut.

Spahn pitched in four games in 1942 (including two starts) and did not win a game.  Lemon, however, had a pretty good excuse for failing to win any of the ten games he appeared in in 1941-1942... he was stationed at third base.  Lemon did not become a pitcher until he returned from the war.

Next sim:  Tuesday night