Not This Time
San Antonio survives L.A.'s attempt to wreck pennant hopes
Sept. 16, 2009
LOS ANGELES -- They knocked off New Orleans and derailed Arizona. Now, the Los Angeles Idols, relishing the role of spoiler, had the Sheriffs in their sights.
San Antonio had ace Noodles Hahn on the mound, he of the 17-6 record and stellar 2.31 ERA. The Idols, possessing a middling offense and the Southern League's worst pitching staff shouldn't match up.
Ryan Spillborghs of the Sheriffs led off with a triple, scoring on Rafael Furcal's sacrifice fly. Two batters in, San Antonio led 1-0. But Los Angeles scored two, a double from Cal McVey scoring Benjamin Boyd and Harry Stovey. Hahn wasn't intimidating the Idols.
"I was shocked how patient they were," Hahn said after the game. "Their season is over, and you expect a team in that spot to be overaggressive, just trying to end the game. But they had good at bats."
Hahn needed 31 pitches to get through the first inning, but after he needed only five to get through the second, it seemed he'd roll the rest of the way. Yet Los Angeles would get another run in the third, a Joe Crede double scoring Harry Stovey.
San Antonio tied it up in the fifth. Jimmy Williams grounded out, scoring Spillborghs, who had singled two batters earlier. Buck O'Neil would that smack a double down the third base line, rattling in the corner to allow Rafael Furcal to score.
After a disappointing August in which he hit .241, O'Neil has recovered well, batting .357 so far in September.
Hahn settled in, but so did Idols starter Brian Lawrence. Mike Donlin would hit a Hahn mistake over the rightfield wall in the bottom of the seventh, a solo shot and his 15th homer of the year to put Los Angeles in front 4-3.
The Sheriffs, though, would not be denied. Hugh Duffy reached when Hank Blalock booted a grounder to lead off the top of the 8th. Two pitches later, George Pinkey hammered a straight change over the wall in left for his 8th homer of the year to give the Sheriffs a 5-4 lead.
A pumped up Hahn dynamically struck out the side in the 8th, raising his PBL-leading total to 330. But closer Hideki Okajima would come in to close it out in the ninth.
Miguel Cabrera would single and Benjamin Boyd would walk, bookending a Jorge Cantu popup. But Okajima would get George Scales to ground out and Mike Donlin to fly weakly to center to wrap up a hard-fought win for San Antonio.
The Sheriffs extended their division lead to 2 1/2 games, as Arizona lost in Las Vegas 4-3, when weak-hitting Ed McFarland doubled off struggling reliever Mike Koplove and Cesar Izturis hit an RBI single to break the tie in the bottom of the 8th.