[mikev]

And We're Done...

There's a word for this. I think it's "surreal"

The 2011 Playoffs have come and gone for the California Crusaders, and it's like it didn't even happen. A four game sweep at the hands of the Birmingham Bandits in which the best bullpen in the GUBA gave up not one, but two leads in the final inning of games.

Game 1 got off to a bad start when Tom Parkinson hit a first inning 3-run homer off of Crusaders ace Jorge Enriquez, and the Bandits soundly beat the home team in a 4-0 shutout.

Parkinson would again be the Crusaders killer in Game 2, as his 2-run triple in the ninth inning against Angel Sandoval would prove to be the deciding runs in a 5-4 contest.

Game 3 would end with the Crusaders making a wild comeback after being down 6-1 in the 9th inning. The rally began with Carlos Garza hitting a mammoth 450 foot bomb, and then Edgar Herrera had a bases loaded double against Bandits closer Iestyn Lenton. Lenton then issued a walk and a hit batter to reload the bases, giving Tagashashi Takahashi a chance to be the hero, but Lenton would induce a game ending groundout to preserve the 6-4 win.

The final game of the Crusaders season ended with a crushing defeat. After Takahashi's sacrifice fly in the top of the 10th inning scored Francisco Mendez who had a leadoff triple, California's closer Hsin-ta Jin came on to try and preserve the victory. The only out Jin registered was a sacrifice bunt, and the Bandits put together 5 straight hits to take the victory and earn the series sweep.

Just like that, the season was over. If somebody had told me before the series that the bullpen would blow 2 saves and we'd get swept, I'd have said that was ridiculous. What can you say, though - anything can happen in a 7 game series, and winning 105 games in the regular season doesn't mean anything if you can't translate that into postseason success. It's just a little strange that after wondering if the offense was going to have enough firepower to make a postseason run, it would be the pitching that ended up being the reason the Crusaders didn't get out of the first round. Well, that and the Bandits hitting.

To the offseason we go.