November baseball: Championship time
PHILADELPHIA -- This is November baseball:
Yankees at Phillies for Game 4 on Sunday night at 8:20 ET amid the twirling towels of Citizens Bank Park.
All four North American pro sports leagues playing on this same Sunday, only the second time it has happened (also 2001). On top of that, NASCAR is at Talladega, and you have some college football with Central Florida vs. Marshall. It is a sports fan's paradise.
Hideki Matsui saying through an interpreter after his second home run of the World Series: "The longer I can play baseball, I'm just happy about that."
Jimmy Rollins changing his "Jay Leno" prediction on the fly after "Phillies in five" went down the tubes Saturday night with an 8-5 loss. "Well, it'll be Phillies in six," he amended.
CC Sabathia against Joe Blanton, a mismatch to some, but not to a Phillies club that will try to beat him for the third consecutive time in postseason play.
Looking up This Date In Baseball History and finding only 2001.
"Long season. It's a long season." Derek Jeter's matter-of-fact response when you ask him about playing in November again, as he did that night when he was dubbed "Mr. November."
Giants at Eagles during the afternoon at Lincoln Financial Stadium, and then many fans of both teams switching into their baseball garb and walking across the Philadelphia Sports Complex to watch New York's active baseball team play at night against Philadelphia's baseball team.
A Tiffany-made Commissioner's Trophy at a undisclosed nearby location. It could be awarded to the Yankees on Monday night if they win two in a row. It could go to either the Phillies or Yankees back in the Bronx should the series return for a Game 6 (Wednesday) and maybe a Game 7 (Thursday).
"It's just another game," Rollins said of still playing into November. "You don't think about the time frame when you're playing. On the outside looking in, it's probably crazy, but when you're inside the bubble, as long as there's games to be played, I'm gonna play 'em. I figure we got a week left before we have to watch football and college basketball, right?"
Chase Utley's MLB-record postseason streak of games reaching base finally ending at 27.
The Yankees trying to reach 27 as well, in the number of World Series rings.
Sabathia standing in front of his locker before what may or may not be the final start of a Cy Young-contender season, and saying about playing into this month: "It feels good. It does. This is what you play for. It just feels good to be in this situation. I just have to go out and keep executing and try to get it done."
Scribbling on a marker board in the middle of the Phillies' clubhouse that reminded the home team's players to: "SET YOUR CLOCKS BACK ONE HOUR." Major League Baseball players keep time just like everyone else does. Be sure to do the same.
The eighth month on the calendar in which real Major League games have been played in 2009. It would end on Nov. 5 if this series goes to the full seven games, making it the latest -- and making it exactly eight months after that Sunday night opener. The 2001 season ended on Nov. 4.
"Obviously, you want to be playing at this time of year. It means you're in the World Series," Phillies center fielder Shane Victorino said. "It's no different than anything else, you just have to keep playing. I don't look at it like it's November. I know it is today, but you just have to keep playing. We're in the World Series. When you're playing doesn't matter, you just have to go out and win."
Thinking that Nick Swisher probably made the right decision by playing in Game 3 instead of going through with those earlier plans of dressing with his girlfriend as "inflatable Sumo wrestlers" at a Halloween costume party. Swisher doubled and homered to lead the Bombers.
People talking about how good Swisher's swing looks, and Jeter amused by it all. "You get a couple hits, people say you look relaxed. You don't, they say you're pressing. That's the bottom line."
People talking about how quiet Ryan Howard is in this World Series. His first two games were almost identical to his first two of last year's series against Tampa Bay. The difference so far is that he homered and broke out in the 2008 World Series Game 3, whereas on Saturday he went 0-for-4 with three more strikeouts, making him 2-for-13 with nine strikeouts.
Rollins expecting to see his friend across the infield at first base break out at the plate any day now. "It could be mental," he said. "He always finds a way. He does at this time of year. We're looking forward to it [in Game 4]. Maybe a nice line drive to left-center gets him right back to where he needs to be. And if that happens, we're looking at some fireworks."
Everyone watching the national pastime and wondering how much longer they would keep it up this year. There are only two more possible chances for Yankees radio announcer John Sterling to tell his widespread listeners: "Theeeeeeeeee Yankees win." There are only so many more days that you can come out to a ballpark and buy a hot dog and think along with a manager in all those strategic game situations.
"That one's outta here!" is the call you hear one more time during the game on a scoreboard tribute to Harry Kalas, the legendary Phillies broadcaster who died a couple of weeks into this season. The Phillies have to win three of four more possible games in order to win another one for Harry the K.
The 2009 Major League Baseball season is still going, and now it is time for Game 4 of the World Series. There won't be a sweep this year, and Game 5 is assured for Monday night at Citizens Bank Park. Whether this Fall Classic returns to Yankee Stadium remains to be seen, and here in November it is time to decide all that.
November. It is a baseball month again, with Thanksgiving not too far behind.
(c) 2001-2009 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Phillies no longer behind the racial curve
That the Phillies-Yankees 1950 World Series was the last baseball championship contested absent black players would be merely a historical footnote if not for what those racial circumstances portended for Philadelphia's major-league fortunes.
And what it foreshadowed was not a good thing for the Phils and their fans. Given the youthful nature of the Whiz Kids, the Phillies figured to be National League contenders for most of the next decade. Instead, that group of promising players regularly struggled to middle-of-the-pack finishes at best.
Clearly, a huge reason was that while the all-white nature of the '50 World Series quickly became an anachronism throughout the National League, it remained simply the way things were in Philadelphia.
During the 1950s and early '60s, all seven of the Phillies' NL opponents would include on their rosters at least one black player who would be inducted into Cooperstown. But while future Hall of Famers Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Roberto Clemente, Roy Campanella, Frank Robinson, and Bob Gibson were leading their teams to NL pennants, the Phillies lagged badly in signing and developing players of color.
"The Phillies waited far too long [to sign black players], which is something even Roy Hamey admitted when he became general manager" in 1954, said baseball historian Neil Lanctot, who has written two books on the Negro leagues and is working on one about Philadelphia native Campanella. "And it probably cost the Phils a pennant or two in the 1950s.
"Plus, they sacrificed an entire fan base. Most blacks in the city who had any interest at all in baseball were rooting for the Dodgers and the Giants."
Philadelphia's first African- American player, John Kennedy, was signed in '57 and had just two at-bats. The first black Phillie to make an all-star team was Dick Allen in 1965, then in his second full season.
Allen's often tortured stay in Philadelphia became part of the darker side of Phillies lore.
"I can recall standing there at third base at Connie Mack Stadium and it seemed like the whole world hated me," Allen said in a 1997 Inquirer article. "I'd stand there grinning and carrying on, but inside I was thinking they're letting out a little disapproval about a little talent God gave me."
Even in more enlightened times, Phillies World Series teams in 1980, '83, and '93 featured black and Latino players in supporting roles - such as Garry Maddox and Gary Matthews, MVP of the 1983 NLCS - rather than as headliners.
But that has changed.
Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard is a solid candidate to be the first African American career Phillie in baseball's Hall of Fame. When Howard was emerging as a superstar three years ago, even Allen sensed a different atmosphere.
"I think the city's ready," Allen said. "A lot depends on the Phillies. If this opportunity does not happen, a lot will go out the window, because this is a very marketable guy."
In contrast to the 1950 team, besides Howard, the Phillies will have two other African Americans in the Game 1 starting lineup: shortstop Jimmy Rollins, the team captain, and leftfielder Ben Francisco. Plus, the NLCS roster included three Dominicans, third baseman Pedro Feliz and pitchers Pedro Martinez and Antonio Bastardo; Panamanian catcher Carlos Ruiz; and South Korean pitcher Chan Ho Park.
(c) The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Dodgers Feel Urgency, Lack Idiocy
PHILADELPHIA -- Joe Torre met with the Dodgers for 12 minutes Tuesday in the visitors' weight room at Citizens Bank Park in an effort to convince his players they are Idiots.
It may not work. These are not the 2004 Red Sox.
Down 3-1 in the NLCS to the Phillies, the Dodgers will try to become the seventh team to come back from such a deficit in an LCS.
The kings of the comeback were the so-called "Idiots," who in 2004 wiped out the Yankees 3-0 lead in the ALCS -- sending Torre home for the winter.
Torre brought up that collapse in Tuesday's meeting, according to someone who was in the room.
"The only thing I try to do," Torre said later in an interview session, "is try to add perspective from the outside."
He can do that, but he can't transplant the heart of '04 Red Sox into this team.
The best he can do is point to a couple of the Idiots in his clubhouse.
"I don't want to talk about 2004," Manny Ramirez said Tuesday. "That's old."
OK, so don't go to Manny for the Knute Rockne moment.
That left it to Doug Mientkiewicz, not on the Dodgers' active roster but with the team, to make comparisons.
"Everybody expected some magical speech that we got in Boston," Mientkiewicz said. "We didn't really get a magical speech. We were too dumb to realize what we were up against. ... Sometimes knowledge, not having it, is a good thing.
"We were never accused of being very bright in Boston. This group, we've got some youth, we've got some guys that have some swagger."
But it's just not the same.
Who's the Johnny Damon, or David Ortiz, or Curt Schilling that can will the Dodgers to win?
There's not even a Kevin Millar, who would run from teammate to teammate during batting practice before Games 4, 5 and 6 of the 2004 ALCS, saying, "Don't let us win today!"
Meaning: Be careful, because if you open the door a crack, we'll bust it down.
And they did just that.
Who holds the battering ram now?
Ramirez?
"What can you do?," he said of the series standing. "The Phillies are playing better. So what can you do?"
Ramirez admitted Tuesday he didn't see Jimmy Rollins' game-winning hit in Monday's Game 4; having come out for defense, Manny chose a shower over watching the bottom of the ninth on TV.
"I slept like a baby," he said.
Asked if he felt pressure, Ramirez said, "Life is good."
Not exactly, "Don't let us win today!"
OK, so we've established that the Dodgers can't look to their best player to set the tone. And the second-best hitter, Andre Ethier, just kind of goes about his business.
Mientkiewicz pointed to Matt Kemp for swagger and Rafael Furcal for energy but admitted, "I don't think it's humanly possible to duplicate" the attitude of the 2004 Red Sox.
"The heart, the energy of this team is the young players," Ethier said. "And the veterans kind of shape it."
That young core has been tested some. When Ramirez was suspended for 50 games for violating baseball's drug policy, the Dodgers went 29-21 and extended their NL West lead from 6 1/2 games to 7 1/2. And when the lead shrunk to two after an Aug. 25 loss at second-place Colorado, L.A. won the final two games of the series.
"Every question this team's been forced to answer, we've answered," Mientkiewicz said. "We've had a lot of minor setbacks, so to speak, and we've always responded. That's why this group is so confident today."
Monday's loss and a 3-1 deficit in the NLCS -- that's a major setback.
Perhaps we're wrong. Perhaps the only thing keeping the Dodgers from being a World Series is the talented and gutsy club in Philadelphia.
Of the three previous teams that lost back-to-back LCS to the same opponent, two finally broke through -- the 1980 Royals and Phillies, who had been stymied by the Yankees and Dodgers, respectively, in 1977-78.
Then again, that was before the three-round division format.
The last team to lose consecutive LCS (to any opponent) was the 2000-01 Mariners.
No playoff games since then in Seattle.
And while the Dodgers are loaded with young talent, how long will their window stay open? Ramirez seems to be fading, the pitching staff lacks an ace (unless Clayton Kershaw claims the role that this week belongs to Vicente Padilla) and closer Jonathan Broxton is perceived as soft.
Then there's the impending divorce in the owning McCourt family, which could put a further squeeze on a franchise that has already shown it will depart with prospects as long as it doesn't have to add payroll.
Because the NL West is so mediocre, we can't say this is the Dodgers' last stand. But they are still seeking a defining moment.
"You're in postseason because you're tough-minded," Torre said. "We were tested a lot of times during the season. They showed up all the time.
"And I anticipate we'll have the same guys. It's not guaranteeing we're going to win, but it's guaranteeing that we're certainly not going to roll over."
Five years ago, to remind themselves of how close they were to ending their season, the "Idiots" brought something to the park every day to send home for the winter.
By the time they got to St. Louis, where Mientkiewicz caught the final out in a sweep, everything had been shipped.
These Dodgers seem like a team that will pack all at once.
Soon.
(c) 2009 AOL LLC. All rights Reserved.
Sunday's baseball playoff snapshots
A quick look at Sunday's baseball playoff games:
Angels 7 Red Sox 6
At Boston, Vladimir Guerrero hit a two-out, two-run single off Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon in the ninth inning and Los Angeles rallied past the Red Sox, advancing to the AL championship series with their first post-season sweep in franchise history.
The Red Sox intentionally walked Torii Hunter with runners on second and third to bring up Guerrero, a star who had long been waiting for a big October hit. Guerrero capped the three-run comeback with his go-ahead hit off Papelbon, who had never before allowed a run in the post-season.
The Angels open their first ALCS since 2005 on Friday against the New York Yankees.
The Angels joined the Los Angeles Dodgers, who beat St. Louis, with first-round sweeps. The victory kept open the possibility of a Freeway Series - this is the first time the Angels and Dodgers are in the league championship series in the same year.
Down 5-1 early and still trailing 6-4 in the ninth, the Angels began their rally when Erick Aybar singled on a two-strike pitch. Chone Figgins walked and Bobby Abreu hit an RBI double for the first post-season run Papelbon had allowed.
After Hunter was walked intentionally, Guerrero, who had one RBI in his previous 19 post-season games, singled sharply to centre on the first pitch.
Major league saves leader Brian Fuentes pitched a perfect ninth. Darren Oliver got one out and the win.
The AL West champion Angels came streaming out of the dugout and Jered Weaver joined his teammates on-field waving the jersey of Nick Adenhart, who was killed in an April car crash with a man who has been charged with drunken driving.
The Red Sox had won 12 of 13 post-season games against the Angels heading into the series, including an 11-game winning streak that dated back to Dave Henderson's homer off Donnie Moore in the 1986 ALCS.
Yankees 4 Twins 1
At Minneapolis, Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada hit seventh-inning home runs to spoil Carl Pavano's opportunity to frustrate New Yorkers one more time, and the Yankees advanced to their first AL championship series in five years.
Mariano Rivera closed out Game 3 - the last baseball game at the Metrodome - to preserve Andy Pettitte's record-tying 15th career post-season win.
Game 1 of the ALCS against the Los Angeles Angels will be at Yankee Stadium on Friday night. The teams were 5-5 against each this season with the Yankees winning three of the final four games. The Angels swept Boston earlier in the day.
Nick Punto wasted his leadoff double in the eighth by failing to see that Denard Span's single didn't get past shortstop Derek Jeter, and he was thrown out trying to retreat to third base wasting a chance to tie the game.
Rodriguez went 5-for-11 with two homers and six RBIs in these three games.
Pettitte retired 17 of the first 18 batters he faced and left Joba Chamberlain a 2-1 lead and one out in the seventh.
Pavano completed seven innings with a season-high nine strikeouts and no walks. But his performance was quickly blemished in the seventh by the big opposite field homers by Rodriguez and Posada.
(c) 2009 The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.
Twins And Tigers Remind Us All What Is Great About Baseball
When people ask me what was the greatest baseball game I ever saw, I always say it was Game Six of the 1986 National League Championship Series between the New York Mets and the Houston Astros.
The Mets won that game 7-6 in 16 innings to advance to the World Series. It was a game that was filled with so much drama, passion, and intensity that you could feel it with every pitch through the television set.
It was one of those rare sporting events that was so great, you know you were watching a classic as it unfolded and you would never forget where you were that day.
Yesterday, the Minnesota Twins and Detroit Tigers gave everyone one of those games.
The Twins beat the Tigers 6-5 in 12 innings in a one-game playoff to clinch the American League Central title. For four-hours and 37 minutes last night there were no salaries, no free agency, no arbitration, and no steroids.
Last night it was about two teams playing their guts out and leaving everything on field. The Twins and Tigers not only captured the 58,088 screaming fans in the Metrodome, but they captured millions watching at home.
They captured four friends, who weren't Twins or Tigers fan, but were so into the game that they were texting back and forth on practically every situation that occurred. We all knew we were watching one of the best games we ever saw.
They even captured non-baseball fans like the girl sitting next to me at the bar last night. I could tell she didn't know the difference between a curveball or a beachball, but she was taken in by game. ''I can't believe they got out that,'' she said referring to Joe Nathan getting out of a first and third jam with one out in the ninth.
There will always be people out there who say athletes --- and in particular baseball players don't care because they get paid so much.
Tell that to Tigers' 3B Brandon Inge, who played the majority of the second-half on a knee so bad, he will require surgery at the end of the year.
Tell that to Fernando Rodney, who gave everything he had for three innings last night when he is only used to pitching one and deserved a better fate.
Tell that to catchers Gerald Laird and Joe Mauer, who after catching nearly 400 combined pitches, were blocking balls in the dirt in the 11th and 12th innings so textbook that you could show them to any kid who wants to become a catcher.
Tell that to Orlando Cabrera, a guy, who for some reason goes from team to team and all he does is win.
Tell that to Jim Leyland and Ron Gardenhire, two of the class acts in baseball, who managed last night's game like a father would manage his son in a Little League game.
Were there mistakes in this game? Sure there were. Alexi Casilla not tagging up properly in the bottom of the 10th. Ryan Raburn's unnecessary attempt at a diving catch, which led to a Michael Cuddyer triple in the bottom of the 10th. Miguel Cabrera not running hard from the get-go on Inge's chopper to second in the 11th.
In any sporting event --- especially one that goes into extra innings, you can question a play in the game or a player's actions. However, that doesn't take away from how great the overall game was.
The Twins and Tigers gave us a show that captivated baseball.
For four-hours and 37 minutes, the Twins and Tigers reminded us all what is great about America's National Pastime.
(c) 2009 Bleacher Report, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
The Races: 'A great day of baseball'
Red Sox clinch despite loss; Tigers maintain two-game lead.
As if a doubleheader with the American League Central on the line wasn't enough, baseball's races got even wilder after the Twins and Tigers were through going toe to toe on Tuesday.
One Wild Card race was decided hours after a loss at Fenway Park, long empty by the time the home team's postseason plans were sealed. The other inched a little closer to a conclusion, and the walk-off way it did there left the home crowd at Coors Field dizzy with glee.
Gee, all the Twins and Tigers did was split a doubleheader of one-run games to keep baseball's tightest race alive.
"That's a great day of baseball," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said -- and he was just talking about the Twins-Tigers twin bill. It only got wilder from there.
The Red Sox lost to the Blue Jays but gained a postseason berth as the AL Wild Card in the wee hours when the Rangers lost on the West Coast to the Angels, slated to be the Division Series foe of the Red Sox. The Rockies made their National League Wild Card news in much more spectacular fashion.
Following a rare Huston Street blown save in the ninth on an even rarer home run by Jason Kendall -- only his second of the season -- the Rockies pushed their NL Wild Card lead to three games over the Braves with a two-run pinch-hit homer by Chris Iannetta in the 11th inning to beat the Brewers.
"I guess we're going to continue to keep doing it that way," said Rockies manager Jim Tracy. "My heart could take a little bit less."
Earlier, the Marlins finally snapped the Braves' winning streak at seven games, so the Rockies' walk-off was a win-win for Colorado, or at least a gain-gain. With just five games to play, Colorado's magic number to clinch the Wild Card stands at three.
Meanwhile, the tightest race in baseball had a thrilling split decision in Detroit. The Twins took one step forward and one step back, but in the end the Tigers moved a step closer to fending them off in the AL Central. Minnesota won the daytime opener, taking a late lead and holding on for a 3-2 win, but the Tigers delivered in the nightcap, barely holding on to a 6-5 victory behind Justin Verlander.
In the NL, the Phillies got some much-needed relief, and they were relieved to finally see the Braves lose, dropping Philly's magic number to clinch the NL East to just one. Ryan Madson delivered a two-inning save, finishing off the Astros' Hunter Pence with the house at Citizens Bank Park on its feet, waving towels.
"Warming up, I was thinking I was going two [innings]," said Madson, who notched his 10th save and helped calm some concerns over Brad Lidge's struggles. "Once I knew definitely I was going back in the ninth after sitting down and calming down, the crowd definitely got me going. It felt good. I was surprised. They made some noise and made it easier to go back out there."
The team that met the Phillies in the NL Championship Series a year ago isn't in such fine shape. After dropping a 3-1 decision at San Diego, the Dodgers have now lost six of eight on a road trip that took them to Washington, D.C., and Pittsburgh before San Diego -- not exactly the roughest road swing this season. With that, they have left a glimmer of hope for the Rockies, who visit Chavez Ravine for three games this weekend. The Dodgers' magic number to clinch the NL West is stuck at one.
With Tuesday's results, the Rangers, Marlins and Cubs all were officially eliminated from postseason consideration. The Giants were moved to the brink, with an elimination number down to one despite a victory over the D-backs on Tuesday.
For the rest of the pennant picture, let's go to The Races:
If the postseason started today ...
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Yankees (1) vs. Tigers (3)
Angels (2) vs. Red Sox (4)
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Dodgers (1) vs. Cardinals (3)
Phillies (2) vs. Rockies (4)
Leaders and contenders
AMERICAN LEAGUE
AL East
Yankees, W 4-3 vs. KC
Clinched AL East title
Clinched AL top seed
Lead: 10.5 over BOS | Next: vs. KC
AL Central
Tigers L 3-2 (10), W 6-5
Lead: 2 over MIN | Next: vs. MIN
Magic number for division: 4
AL West
Angels, W 5-2 vs. TEX
Clinched AL West title
Lead: 8 over TEX | Next: vs. TEX
AL Wild Card
Red Sox, L 8-7 vs. TOR
Clinched AL Wild Card
Lead: 6 over TEX | Next: vs. TOR
Top AL contender
Twins, W 3-2 (10), L 6-5
Deficit: 2 behind DET in Central | Next: @ DET
Elimination number for division: 4
NATIONAL LEAGUE
NL East
Phillies, W 7-4 vs. HOU
Lead: 5 over ATL | Next: vs. HOU
Magic number for division: 1
NL seeding: 1.5 behind LAD for top seed; 1 over STL for No. 2 seed.
NL Central
Cardinals, L 4-3 @ COL (9/27)
Clinched NL Central title
Lead: 7.5 over CHC | Next: @ CIN
NL seeding: 2.5 behind LAD for top seed; 1 behind PHI for No. 2 seed.
NL West
Dodgers, L 3-1 @ SD
Clinched postseason berth Lead: 3.5 over COL in NL West | Next: @ SD
Magic number for division: 1
NL seeding: 1.5 over PHI for top seed; 2.5 over STL.
Magic number for NL top seed: 4
NL Wild Card
Rockies, W 7-5 (11) vs. MIL
Lead: 3 over ATL, 5 over SF | Next: vs. MIL
Magic number for Wild Card: 3
Top NL contenders
Braves, L 5-4 vs. FLA
Deficit: 3 behind COL in WC; 5 behind PHI in NL East | Next: vs. FLA
Elimination number for Wild Card: 3 (COL)
Giants, W 8-4 vs. ARI
Deficit: 5 behind COL in WC | Next: vs. ARI
Elimination number for Wild Card: 1
(c) 2001-2009 MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Short-handed Bulls win Triple-A crown
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Durham lost 10 of its top players to the big league club or Team USA since Aug. 31, but the Bulls still managed to take home the Triple-A Baseball National Championship trophy.
The International League-champion Bulls beat the Pacific Coast League champs from Memphis, 5-4, in 11 innings in the fourth annual Triple-A Baseball National Championship Game in front of 6,777 fans at AT&T Bricktown Ballpark.
Durham ended the Pacific Coast League's three-game winning streak in the Triple-A title game and also kept Memphis from sweeping all seven of its postseason games.
In the bottom of the 11th, Michel Hernandez doubled to left-center field. He was replaced by pinch-runner Rashad Eldridge, the only player in the game who had played for the host city.
Eldridge took third on Royce Ring's wild pitch and then crossed the plate when reliever Oneli Perez's only pitch of the game also was wild.
"We hung together," said starting pitcher Jeremy Hellickson, who was awarded the Bobby Murcer MVP trophy. "We didn't lose too much offense when we lost all those players (since Aug. 31), and we were never out of any ballgame."
Since the final week of the regular season, the Bulls had lost their only International League All-Star, outfielder Jon Weber, and relief pitcher Jason Childers (9-6, five saves), to the USA's World Cup team.
Tampa Bay has called up seven Durham players since Aug. 31, including home run and RBI leader Chris Richard, wins leader Wade Davis and saves leader Dale Thayer. And in the Bulls' run to the International League's Governors' Cup, they lost Thayer's successor, Winston Abreu, to an aneurysm in his pitching arm.
"It's a compliment to the whole team that the guys that stayed back did a helluva job," said Durham manager Charlie Montoyo.
"Because I played so many years in Triple-A, I made sure everybody played. So whenever somebody was called up, somebody else was ready to play. Nobody goes two days without playing. I did that all year, and I almost got everybody to play in this game."
Hellickson allowed two hits and a walk and fanned two over five shutout innings. He left with a 4-0 lead.
"This is definitely an honor, but anybody could have got it today," the right-hander said. "We played great, we played as a team. We went 11 innings, so everybody contributed."
Hellickson split time between Double-A Montgomery and Durham in the regular season. He posted a 9-2 record and 2.45 ERA overall. Batters hit only .178 against him and he averaged 10.4 strikeouts per nine innings pitched.
"Hellickson pitched lights-out tonight and all year," Montoyo said. "He did his job for five innings and that was good enough."
Memphis, the top farm club of the St. Louis Cardinals, tied the game with four runs in the first two innings after Hellickson left the game.
Durham's Ray Olmedo had two doubles, two walks, scored twice and drove in a run, Desmond Jennings was 3-for-5 with an RBI and Elliot Johnson had two hits and scored once.
The only player with more than one hit for the Redbirds was Allen Craig, who smacked a two-run homer.
Durham took a 1-0 lead on inning-opening doubles by Olmedo and Jennings in the third. The Bulls pounded Memphis starter P.J. Walters for three more runs on five hits to go up 4-0 in the fourth.
Memphis pitchers had allowed only 10 runs -- six earned -- in the Redbirds' six wins over Albuquerque and Sacramento en route to the Pacific Coast League title.
Memphis came back with three quick runs in the sixth inning when Jon Jay and Craig sandwiched home runs around a Tyler Greene single. The Redbirds tied the game on David Freese's bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the seventh.
(c) 2009 Minor League Baseball.
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