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JANUARY 12 - It has been the most incredible run in the eight-year history of the NYLISL. Left for dead in July, the Massapequa Hitmen will be playing for its second NYLISL championship in January.
The Hitmen swept the best-of-seven series from the West Side Stories today, by scores of 7-4, 5-4 (10 innings), 8-7 and 8-1. They will advance to meet the New Jersey Bandits in the Marillac Cup Finals, the final step in completing one of the most improbable runs the game has ever seen.
Massapequa hit rock-bottom at the All-Star Celebration six months ago in Lindenhurst, finishing the night with a 12-19 record and mired in sixth place. Despite then trading starter Jered Weaver and doing very little to improve their team otherwise, the Hitmen have gone on an inexplicable tear, finishing the season with a 39-14 run before sweeping the upstart Stories right out of the playoffs.
Game 1 set the tone for the series, as the Hitmen jumped out to a 7-0 lead after scoring five second-inning runs off Anibal Sanchez, three on a David Wright homer. The Stories rallied briefly, but ultimately lost 7-4. Stories catcher Brian McCann tweaked his oblique on a first-inning strikeout, and with backup Gerald Laird still nursing a sore groin from an injury suffered in Game 76 of the regular season, Eric Byrnes finished out the game at catcher.
In the next game, the Stories got the early jump and scored three runs off Jeff Francis in the first inning. The Hitmen tied the game in the bottom of the fifth to make it 4-4. The Stories threatened in the sixth, seventh and tenth inning, but failed to score the go-ahead run. Fernando Rodney got out of a first-and-third, one-out jam in the bottom of the ninth, but in the bottom of the tenth pinch hitter Torii Hunter started the final rally by singling off lefty Matt Thornton. Hunter went to second on a Barry Bonds groundout. Joel Zumaya came in to face Wright, who smacked an RBI single to win the game 5-4. The Stories had been 7-2 in extra-innings in the regular season, but that magic was nowhere to be found during the series.
In Game 3, the Hitmen mustered up three runs in six innings against Stories ace Francisco Liriano, wiping out a 2-0 deficit that came from Brian McCann's two-run homer in the first. McCann added a three-run shot in the sixth to give the Stories a 7-3 lead, but the Hitmen rallied again, scoring three runs in the eighth off Joaquin Benoit and Zumaya. In the top of the ninth, Derek Jeter drew a one-out walk and Alou homered off Zumaya, who blew three of his six regular season save chances after being acquired from the Flesheaters. Cla Meredith worked a 1-2-3 ninth for the save in an 8-7 victory. The Hitmen pounded C.C. Sabathia in Game 4, scoring five runs in the third inning (four on Alou's grand slam) and coasted to an 8-1 victory that allowed them to pop the champagne and prepare for the five-time league champions.
The Stories managed just 31 hits in the four games and saw their relievers allow eight runs in 13 innings (a 5.44 ERA). The starters weren't any better, going 0-2 with a 7.94 ERA. Alou went 4-for-10 with three homers - including a grand slam - and eight RBI during the series. Wright was 4-for-12 with five RBI.
It wouldn't be the NYLISL if there weren't some sort of shenanigans involving the Hitmen, as Massapequa originally named three just starters to its 25-man roster to start the series. A new rule adopted during the 2007 Winter Meetings mandated that only starters with a (*) in their endurance rating were allowed to pitch on two days' rest during a playoff series. Co-Commissioner Jack Flynn reminded the playoff participants about this rule shortly before the playoffs began, but shockingly enough the memo somehow went unnnoticed by Hitmen Owner/GM Jason Boland.
Since only Jake Peavy was eligible to pitch on short rest, this posed the obvious problem of deciding who should've started Games 5 and 6 for Massapequa had the series gone that far. The crisis was averted before Game 4 when Boland, with the blessing of both Flynn and Stories Owner/GM Ed Price, was allowed to make an emergency roster move to add a fourth starter.
Posted by nylistratleague
at 11:36 AM EST
