Brassball NLCS Metropolis vs. Springfield - Game Five

C.C. Sabathia's return to Springfield
was the story of Game Five.

After a 13-2 Isotope thrashing in Game Four, Metropolis and Springfield squared off in Game Five to see who took a one-game lead when the series moved back to Metropolis.  Randy Wolf got the assignment for Springfield, hoping to continue his regular-season success, when he was 15-11 with a 3.29 ERA.  The real story was Avengers ace C.C. Sabathia's return to postseason baseball in Springfield.  One year ago, Sabathia was a Springfield fan favorite and helped lead the team to its second consecutive World Series championship.  Sabathia signed with Metropolis in the off-season after Springfield owner Montgomery Burns failed to make a serious offer for the free agent.

Jerry Hairston Jr. probably
should have stuck this ball
in his back pocket.

As excited as the Isotopes and their fans were for the matchup with Sabathia, the Avengers quieted the ballpark almost immediately.  Wolf opened the top of the first to three consecutive walks to Jose Reyes, Jose Bautista and Alex Gordon.  An Andrew McCutchen sacrifice fly and Matt Wieters double scored two runs brought Robinson Cano to bat.  The second baseman hit a smash which Jerry Hairston Jr. misplayed and then made worse by throwing wildly to first, allowing two more runs to score.  Following Cano, Corey Hart took a Wolf fastball to the base of the left field wall for a 380 foot sacrifice fly and a 5-0 Metropolis lead.  Springfield had seen enough and the crowd was stunned silent as Edward Mujica replaced Wolf after just two outs.

Sabathia had five runs before he took the mound and he knew just what to do with them.  He threw strikes, trusted his fielders and retired nine of the ten batters he faced in the first three innings.  Sabathia has plenty of experience dominating from the Springfield mound, as he was one in the trio of aces for the 2011 Isotopes.  Last year, he, Tim Lincecum and Ubaldo Jimenez teamed up to head the best staff in the league as each topped 20 wins.  After helping deliver the World Series crown, Sabathia complained that Springfield and Burns failed to engage in serious contract discussions.  "Of course I wanted to stay," he said.  "I had one ring, Timmy had two and we all wanted one more."  Instead, Sabathia signed with Metropolis for six years and more than $36,000,000.  It was particularly hard for Springfield fans to see their popular star sign with a team coming off three seasons averaging 57 wins.

Springfield owner Monty Burns failed to offer Sabathia
a contract after the 2011 World Series.

After Sabathia signed with Metropolis, Springfield nuclear power magnate and Isotope owner Burns appeared shocked that Sabathia would expect a salary in excess of six million dollars.  "What makes a man endanger his job, and, yes, even his life, by asking me for money?" Burns asked.  Sabathia refused to comment on Burns's statement, but did offer that he actually preferred Metropolis to Springfield partially because, "everyone knows where Metropolis is - it's Metropolis.  But no one has any idea where Springfield is.  Not even what damn state it's in."

As an Avenger, Sabathia cruised through five innings without allowing a run, but did allow multiple baserunners in the fourth and fifth innings.  Sabathia labored through some long counts and struck out five guys, pushing his pitch count to 101 after five innings.  Sabathia had a long layoff after his NLDS Game Seven start and appeared to be tiring, so Metropolis replaced him with Sergio Santos to start the bottom of the sixth.

Ryan Zimmerman doubled
home two runs.

Santos pitched a scoreless sixth and gave the ball to Stephen Strasburg to start the seventh.  Strasburg has alternated between dominant and flammable for the Avengers this postseason and in Game Five he was the latter.  He gave up three hits and a fielder's choice and was pulled after just four batters.  Kenley Jansen was called on to clean up Strasburg's mess, but only added to it.  After retiring the first batter he faced, Jansen gave up a double to Ryan Zimmerman, a single to Jorge Posada and a double to Ryan Doumit.  Suddenly it was a 5-4 and the Springfield fans were back on their feet.

Springfield's best hitter - Lance Berkman - got
beat by Metropolis's best pitcher - Craig Kimbrel.

The cheering got louder and the jam got tighter after Jansen walked Marco Scuatro to load the bases and put the go-ahead run in scoring position for Springfield's best hitter, Lance Berkman.  Although it was only the seventh inning, Metropolis brought in its shutdown reliever, Craig Kimbrel to face Berkman.  After fouling off two nasty pitches, the switch hitter turned on a 99-mph fastball and hit it hard.  Unfortunately for Springfield, second baseman Cano had him positioned perfectly and picked the line drive out of the air to end the inning.

The seventh inning was Springfield's chance and they came up just short.  Kimbrel wasn't going to give the Isotopes any hope for a rally and Metropolis stretched its lead to 6-4 on two doubles in the ninth.  Kimbrel finished out the last 2 1/3 innings while striking out three and allowing only a single runner.

Springfield tried, but could not claw it's way out of the 5-0 first inning hole.  Sabathia picked up the win in his former home park but more importantly put his former teammates in a 3 games to 2 deficit.  It only gets tougher for Springfield as they now have to travel back to Metropolis for Game Six and possibly Game Seven.  Metropolis will send Alexi Ogando to the mound as Springfield's C.J. Wilson hopes to extend the season for at least one more game.

BOXSCORE: 2012 Metropolis Avengers At 2012 Springfield Isotopes    10/25/2012

  Avengers           AB  R  H RBI AVG     Isotopes           AB  R  H RBI AVG

  J.Reyes SS          3  1  0  0 .300     M.Downs 1B          3  1  1  1 .118 

  J.Bautista 3B       2  1  0  0 .350   F-N.Morgan CF         1  0  0  0 .263 

  A.Gordon LF         3  1  1  0 .167     H.Pence RF          3  0  1  0 .239 

  A.McCutchen CF      3  0  0  1 .267   E-T.Helton PH,1B      2  0  0  0 .214 

  M.Wieters C         2  1  1  1 .212     R.Zimmerman 3B      5  1  2  2 .409 

A-T.Hafner PH         1  0  0  0 .207     C.Quentin DH        2  0  0  0 .269 

B-I.Rodriguez C       1  1  1  0 .500   C-J.Posada PH,DH      3  0  3  1 .348 

  R.Cano 2B           4  1  2  1 .128     R.Doumit C          5  0  1  0 .385 

  C.Hart RF           3  0  1  2 .244     M.Scutaro SS        3  0  1  0 .244 

  J.Guzman 1B         4  0  0  0 .188     L.Berkman LF,RF     4  0  1  0 .244 

  J.Gomes DH          3  0  0  0 .000     J.Hairston Jr 2B,LF 4  1  1  0 .172 

                                          M.Cabrera CF        2  0  1  0 .300 

                                        D-M.Cairo PH,2B       2  1  0  0 .300 

                     -- -- -- ---                            -- -- -- ---     

         Totals      29  6  6  5                 Totals      39  4 12  4

A-Pinch Hit For Wieters In 6th Inning

B-Subbed Defensively (C ) For Hafner In 6th Inning

C-Pinch Hit For Quentin In 6th Inning

D-Pinch Hit For Cabrera In 7th Inning

E-Pinch Hit For Pence In 7th Inning

F-Subbed Defensively (CF) For Downs In 8th Inning

Avengers........ 5 0 0  0 0 0  0 0 1  -  6  6  0

Isotopes........ 0 0 0  0 0 0  4 0 0  -  4 12  2

Avengers (7-5)           IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR    ERA  SCORESHEET

C.Sabathia WIN(1-1)       5       4   0   0   1   5   0   0.84  A1 C2

S.Santos                  1       1   0   0   0   1   0   6.23  C3 C6

S.Strasburg               0 1/3   3   3   3   0   0   0   5.87  C7 D1

K.Jansen HOLD(2nd)        0 1/3   3   1   1   1   0   0   2.25  D2 D6

C.Kimbrel SAVE(2nd)       2 1/3   1   0   0   0   3   0   0.00  D7

Totals                    9      12   4   4   2   9   0

Isotopes (6-5)           IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR    ERA  SCORESHEET

R.Wolf LOSS(0-1)          0 2/3   2   5   4   3   0   0  10.80  A1 A7

E.Mujica                  4       1   0   0   0   3   0   2.35  A8 C1

T.Patton                  0 2/3   1   0   0   0   1   0   6.75  C2 C4

A.Alburquerq              1       0   0   0   0   2   0   0.00  C5 C7

B.Bray                    0 2/3   0   0   0   0   1   0   2.25  C8 C9

J.Axford                  2       2   1   1   1   2   0   4.70  D1

Totals                    9       6   6   5   4   9   0

ATTENDANCE- 45,965 DATE- Thursday, October 25th 2012 TIME- Night WEATHER- Average

UMPIRES- Bill Welke, Laz Diaz, Tim Welke, Chuck Meriwether

T- 2:55

LEFT ON BASE- Avengers: 2  Isotopes:10

DOUBLE PLAYS- Avengers: 0  Isotopes: 2

ERRORS- M.Downs, J.Hairston Jr

DOUBLES- M.Wieters(3rd), I.Rodriguez(1st), C.Hart(3rd), R.Zimmerman-2(6th),

         J.Posada(4th), R.Doumit(1st), M.Scutaro(1st), J.Hairston Jr(2nd)

SACRIFICE FLIES- A.McCutchen, C.Hart

WALKS- J.Reyes, J.Bautista-2, A.Gordon, M.Downs, M.Scutaro

STRIKE OUTS- J.Bautista-2, A.McCutchen-2, M.Wieters, R.Cano-2, C.Hart, J.Gomes,

             T.Helton, R.Zimmerman-2, C.Quentin-2, R.Doumit, L.Berkman,

             J.Hairston Jr-2

GIDP- A.Gordon, C.Hart

2-out RBI- R.Zimmerman-2, J.Posada, C.Hart