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(AP)
The Wildcard round is over as we move to the Division Series. Congrats to the winners as Hartford swept Pittsburgh, New Orleans swept Wilmington, and Denver and Philly won their series 2-1 over New York and Baltimore respectively.
Performance of the Week
P Manabu Hamada - When you are playing the defending champions you better come out hot and Hamada and the Denver BC did. In Game 1 against the Knights he was one strike away from a no hitter before Dave Bickford hit a triple. Garret Clausnitzer came in and closed out the game and put the BC up 1-0. Hamada's line: 8.2 IP, 7 K's, 2 BB's, 1 hit.
Injury of the Week
SS Tom Antonietti - All though he was hurt October 6th the Guides still have Antonietti listed as day to day with a nagging sprained knee. This season he's started 62 games at second and 53 games at short while hitting .295 with 7 HR's and 48 RBI's. Maine is going to continue to play him and hope for the best.
Five Things We Think We Think
1. AJ Whiting for the Whalers hit .247 this year in his first full season in the BLB. In the wildcard round against the Millers he hit .714 with 1 HR and was named the series MVP. Then you have Micah McKay who hit .248 this season with no home runs in 71 games. In game two in the top of the 10th he hit a solo shot off Millers closer Erik Miner to win the game. Miner had 44 saves and a 2.87 ERA this season. Playoff baseball...anything can happen.
2. Getting their money's worth. Three of the four series featured extra innings. Hartford beat Pittsburgh in 10 to close out the series. New Orleans won in 10 to beat Wilmington in game one, and New York won in 10 to take game two over Denver.
3. Baltimore was 10th in the IL in home runs this season, Wilmington was 8th in the DL. They were the only teams not to hit a home run in the first round and were both eliminated. Hartford was 3rd in the DL this season and hit six in two games while Philly was 3rd in the IL and hit four in three games. They both moved on.
4. Maine was 7-5 this season against New Orleans and Seattle was 11-7 this season against Denver. Meanwhile Miami and Hartford, and Philly and Washington both split their season series 6-6 and 9-9. Dukes starter Dave Koehler was 3-0 against Maine this season. Denver's Manabu Hamada was 3-0 against Seattle this season. Maybe they can pitch every game?
5. Playoff teams are all about who's hot and who's not. Miami has three starters (Payton, Horton, Reutter) that are currently on a hot streak, Philly has three starters (Dominguez, Stone, Knapp) that are currently on a hot streak. Denver has two starters (Bernardi, Hamada) and three hitters (Nieto, Gluchowski, Phares) that are currently on a hot streak.
Stat of the Week
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