Quote:
Originally Posted by Powderguy
Nice job on making the playoffs, hope you make it far and keep up the good writing!
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Thanks for the support.
Unfortunately....... Well, I was going spread out the reports for the post-season one game at a time, but Denver's post-season stay was short-lived, and I'm not sure I see much point to doing that.
I expected Tucson to be a tough matchup- I spent the entire year chasing them in the division, and it was Tucson who defeated Denver in the playoffs a year ago. Still, I really thought we could beat them.
Once the games started, though, it was just like the problem that plagued Denver at the beginning of the season. Shaky starting pitching, unreliable relief pitching, and hitting that was just good enough to lose close.
The first three games were all losses: 8-7, 6-5 in 10 innings, and 6-1.
Facing elimination,
Christopher Kirk stepped up with a strong performance, and the bats came alive for a 7-1 thumping.
Still facing elimination, it looked as though the Broncos would stay alive. They jumped out an comfortable, early lead in Game 5. But
Kenny Pillsbury unraveled, blew a 5-0 lead, and the Broncos fell behind. In the ninth inning,
Alexis Vazquez hit a two run homer (one of 4 he hit in the series) to give Denver the lead. But the bullpen blew the lead, and into extra innings the game went. The Broncos would again take the lead, only to blow it again. Finally, the Diamondbacks pulled out a 9-8 victory in 13 innings.
While Tucson breezed through Denver in 5 games, the rest of the first round matchups were not such cakewalks. Miami rallied from being down 2 games to none to beat Washington in 7 games. Rochester rallied from a 3-2 deficit to beat San Jose in 7 games. Pittsburgh's was the most impressive of all, coming back from a 3 game deficit to knock off San Diego in seven games.
The League Championships, then, are Tucson VS. Miami, and Rochester VS. Pittsburgh.