Playoff Rounds 1 & 2
Sorry for the two week hiatus, it has been a busy few weeks for the Commish. For those that don't know, I am the General Manager of Rocky Mountain Lanes in Westminster, and this is my busiest time of the year. Mix in a trip to Vegas, and time is a little limited for the Commish these days. I should have saved myself the trip to Vegas, and just bought Powerball tickets, my chances of winning were about the same! One word of advice when in Vegas, never say the dealer can't possibly pull 4 straight blackjacks out in a row, because that stupid wench did!!!!!! :)
Let's look at how the playoffs unfolded and the results of the first two rounds:
Going into the final week of the regular season, the Beginner's, Destroyers, Connection and Oysters has their divisions pretty much wrapped up. The wildcard teams were pretty set, except for the final spot in Conference 2. That final spot was claimed by Scott Woog's S.T.L. team after they posted a 5-0 sweep of the Barracudas. John McSwain's Contributors team could only manage a 3-2 win over the Lightning team, and that was not enough as both teams were tied at 58 points going into the week. Playoff seeding did shape up a little differently with both the Stingrays and Hummers moving up a spot in the final week. The playoff teams were now all set.
One interesting note about the final week, somehow the Commish's disappointing Death team was able to pull off a 5-0 sweep of the league leading Connnection. This was important because the Destroyers were able to catch the Connection in total points with 86, and gain a share of the sidepot for most team points. I am sure Connection coach Scott Rose was just thrilled with the double loss (sort of) to the Snyder boys.
The teams who season ended
after the final week of the regular season were:
Fury: great division record, to many early season bad weeks for Coach Rogan
Lightning: bad year for Coach Larry, maybe worse year ever by his standards
Barracudas: Pam & Bert just couldn't find the right mix, team showed promise
at times but really died down the stretch
Clippers: Mike and Harry couldn't follow up last years championship with even a playoff appearance, to many real bad weeks
Death: frustrating year for the Commish, bad first 6 weeks, team red hot down the stretch. Did somehow win 2 sidepots (Bags & Alomar), so not a total loss
Redbirds: Rick's team was certainly the hard luck team of the year, every week someone went off against them. League leading 145.4 points against
Contributors: John's team battled injuries all year, getting Junior back just wasn't enough down the stretch
Intimidators: all the early season success is a distant memory for Ed & Jeff, the team just couldn't put up enough points each week, and it caught up with them
We move on to the playoffs, and here is how round 1
turned out:
Hummers
3 Cobras 2
Coach Tyler wins the first two games, and then hangs on to
get the decisive 3rd win in totals. A key lineup change saw Durham moved to the
bench for the first time this year in favor of Colorado's Ortiz, who responded
with a 3 HR game on Friday and that was enough to help the Hummers advance on.
Coach Maze has another season go by without a title. A fine season for the
Cobras who were once in danger of missing out on the playoffs, but finished
strong to secure a playoff spot. A league low score of 111 this week just wasn't
what Coach Maze was hoping for from his team. Time for Coach Maze to focus on
football.
Wiseguys
3 Stingrays 2
Coaches Chris/George get a big
M-Th game and then watch the Stingrays almost make up the needed ground on
Sunday (51-23), but the Wiseguys had just enough to get the 4 point win in
totals and move on. 'Guys OF Green is as hot as they come these days, and
Chipper is still being Chipper to lead the team. Coaches Merv/Mike suffer the
tough loss on total points (164-160) and bow out of the championship race. A
solid year for two solid owners. Many thanks to Merv for being so good at
getting his scores confirmed each week, although I am sure he wasn't happy
reporting this boxscore. Time for the Myers' boyz to beat up on the competition
in football to take out their frustrations from the baseball season.
X-Men
3 S.T.L. 2
Coaches Al/Mike get a solid week
from their X-Men and get the necessary 3rd win in totals 142-127. The X-Men have
quite a few players playing well right now, they are certainly a team to be
feared this time of year. Coach Woog's team was the final team into the
playoffs, and it was one and out unfortunately for Scott. Scott certainly can be
happy with the season his team gave him in his first year of competition.
Blackjacks
3 Puppies 2
As it was with the first 3
matchups, this one to came down to total points to decide who moves on. Coach
Phillips team holds on to win totals by 7 (132-125), despite a 9 point game on
Sunday. Solid weeks from Jeter and Damon, and late season acquisition Loretta
paved the way for the Blackjacks to advance on. Coach Levitre's team tried to
rally after losing the first two games, but came up just a bit short. Kind of
shame the season had to end for the Puppies, Coach Ron has finally got the
handle on score reporting, and silent partner Tom even has a new computer to
lend a hand!
That is how round one shaped up. Now we move on to round two of the playoffs,
and boy what a week it was!!!! Three division winners were upset, and the last
one just barely made it out alive!
Wiseguys
4 Destroyers 1
The Wiseguys showed no fear in
playing the top seed in the playoffs, and put a thumping on the Destroyers
174-119. Coaches Chris/George seem to be scared of no one, and the Hummers are
next on the hitlist. Coach Steve goes out of town, and his team seemed to follow
his lead and take the week off. It has been a long time since since the
Destroyers had such a low scoring week. Coach Steve still walks away with a few
sidepots and some decent prize money.
Hummers
4 Beginners 1
Coach Tyler catches a good
break, as the Beginners team apparently went on vacation with the Destroyers.
The Hummers score a mediocre 127 points, but against the Beginners 90 point
week, it added up to 4 wins and the team advances on to the next round. Coach
Alford was feeling pretty good after winning the A Division and getting the
first round bye, but his team picked the wrong time to score under 100 for the
first time all year. A solid year for the expansion Beginners, Brian is now left
to focus on football, just like the rest of us!
Connection
3 Blackjacks 2
Coach Scotty holds on to win
total points 146-144 and the Connection survive the upset bid by the 'Jacks.
Helton continues to carry the team, and maybe this close call will wake up the
Connection. Coach Rose has to like how the other top teams have all fallen, but
the remaining teams are all proven they are worthy teams, so there is no guarantees.
Coach Phillips team falls just a little short in their bid to make it a complete
sweep of the division winners. A good year for the 'Jacks, a little
disappointing considering how close they were. Many thanks to Bill for all his
solid work on the score reporting in his first year.
X-Men 4
Oysters 1
Coaches Al/Mike get the near
sweep of the once mighty Oysters and advance on to the next round. A 74 point
week by their OF's lead the way, and Barry had the lowest total out of the 3!
The X-Men are on a roll, the question is.......does Al even know this???????
Just curious........? Coach JR wonders what happened to his once powerhouse
team. 111 points for the week is very un-Oysters like to say the least. Oh well,
another solid year for JR as he seems to do each year.
Playoff
Week #2 Awards:
Player of the Week: Green, Wiseguys 36 Points
Green is on fire right now, and he leads the Wiseguys to the big upset over top
seed Destroyers
Pitching
Staff of the Week: Houston, Connection
38 Points
Coach Scotty's team gets the top pitching performance of the week, and they
needed ever last point to advance on.
Boxscore
Blunder of the Week: NO ONE!
It has taken 21 weeks, but everyone now seems to have the hang of it. Gosh, I
hate for the season to end, because I know several teams that will most likely
forget everything they have FINALLY learned!
Quote of the
Week: Coach JR, Oysters
"Well Jeff, this is just about
the hardest thing I've had to do and or say all year....... the Oyster
Lose.....and in an ugly way. You don't know how bad this pisses me off....but
that's why they play the game.......yea right." How true, that is why we
play the games! Three division winners out in round two!!!!!!!
Good luck to the final 4 teams; Wiseguys, Hummers, X-Men and Connection!
The
Commish
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