American Associaiton Insider: Playoffs Night One Takeaways

 Kevin Luckow

(non member of IBWAA)

There is something that just hits different with American Association Playoff Baseball. The ballpark is quieter as the night begins. No promotions or group sales to bring in a crowd. It's the hardcore fans that provide the support. As the game picks up steam, those hardcores get engaged in the game. Before you know it, the intensity and noise in the ballpark is the same if not more than a regular season game. 

Four games in the Association tonight. As much as I don't like making predictions, let it be known that I hit on all four of my Game One picks.

Kansas City 12 Sioux Falls 6

For the longest time, it looked like it was going to be a workmanlike victory for the West Division Monarchs. They went into the last of the seventh with a 5-1 lead. But the Canaries struck back. Down 5-2, a Mike Hart grand slam put the Canaries into the lead 6-5. They carried the lead into the ninth. Then disaster struck. The Canaries went with Spencer Bauer in the ninth after he recorded the final out in the eighth. An indictment on the kind of second half Charlie Hasty had. It backfired. Bauer walked three and allowed three hits as the Monarchs took the lead for good on a Onix Vega single with the infield in. The second guessers were silenced as Hasty entered the game and allowed a three run Tyler Gentry home run, his second of the night. Now the Canaries will have to find a way to win two at Legends Field with a bullpen riding little confidence and Nicolai Arbach, a rookie, on the mound who has thrown well in the rotation, but this is a totally different beast he'll be dealing with on Friday.

Winnipeg 5 Fargo-Moorhead 1

Eric Filia's three run home run in the third inning gave the RedHawks the lead for good as they shut down the Goldeyes in Game One. Kyle Crigger threw his best game of the season at the right time, throwing 8.2 innings, not allowing a run until the ninth inning. With the win, the RedHawks just need to find a way to win one of two in Winnipeg. Remember it was the same scenario the Goldeyes faced with Sioux Falls just two seasons ago and the Goldeyes won a pair to take the series. There should be a great deal of support from RedHawks fans making the trip to Winnipeg for the game on Friday night. 

Milwaukee 4 Cleburne 1

The Milkmen got single runs in four different innings and Jhordany Mezquita allowed a run on two hits to pick up the "road" win at Franklin Field. Three Milkmen relievers followed, not allowing a hit. The Railroaders will have a day off in Milwaukee to think things over with their season on the line on Friday night. The post season can spawn unlikely heroes and tonight it was Alec Olund and Charlie Marion, both picking up two hits and an RBI each.

Kane County 9 Lake Country 7

This one proved to be just as wild as expected. The Cougars stormed out to a 6-0 lead, due in part to solo home runs to Zane Spinn and Josh Allen. But the DockHounds chipped away at the lead. Down 6-3 in the fifth, Joshua Mears blasted a two run home run to get the Hounds within a run. I was watching this with four fingers held up as I think at this point you have to give Mears the Barry Bonds treatment. If you're going to lose, you cannot let Mears be the one doing the damage. Jake Snider later drove in two runs with a double and the Hounds were up 7-6. But the Cougars came back immidiately with a run to tie the game at seven. In the last of the seventh, Armond Upshaw gave the Cougars the lead back with a two run home run. From there the Cougars pen was on lockdown mode. Art Warren struck out four in two innings, looking like he did earlier in the season. Jake Gozzo allowed a hit in the ninth, striking out Joshua Mears to end the game, as I was holding up four fingers. There's a reason I'm behind a keyboard and not in the dugout making decisions. 






















 






















Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

American Association SUNDAY Insider: Speaking in terms of "what if?"

Image
 Kevin Luckow (non member of IBWAA) What was once a rumor passed between league colleagues, has now been reported by media. The story being the potential move of the Kane County Cougars and Cleburne Railroaders to the Frontier League, soon to be renamed National Association of Professional Baseball. The move would be made for the 2027 season. A real blow to an American Association that has ambitions of expansion.  To get a real feel for what this would mean to AAPB, let's go all the way back to 2006. In the Fall of 2005, the St. Paul Saints, Sioux Falls Canaries, Sioux City Explorers and Lincoln Saltdogs all departed the Northern League. Philosophical differences between ownerships being cited as a major reason for the defection. But a four team league was not going to cut it. Enter the St. Joe Blacksnakes as a stopgap, a team that likely would not have long term stability but filled an immediate need.  Enter Texas. The Texas-Louisiana League was winding down. So the five...
Read more

American Association SUNDAY Insider: The underpaid, overworked liaisons of the American Association

Kevin Luckow (non member of IBWAA)  The idea of this Insider came to my head on Thursday night as I was watching a game in Cleburne. It was the 750th American Association broadcast for voice of the Railroaders, Brad Allred. The Railroaders produced a video for Allred with numerous colleagues from the past, former players and current players paying tribute to Allred.  It got me to thinking just how important the play by play men are to the teams which they are employed. Teams in the AAPB do not have local newspapers following the teams on the road. Often times it is the play by play guys that may put a game story on their team website that the local newspaper picks up to condense into a tiny part of the newspaper. Not to discount the media relations director who also do gamers with no byline given if the newspaper picks it up.  For myself this goes all the way back to the Northern League. Although St. Paul had great coverage from Mike Augustin (mentioned a few weeks ago in...
Read more

American Association SUNDAY Insider: American Associaiton returning to Minnesota

Image
 Kevin Luckow (non member of IBWAA) It's been funny. I've seen stories, thoughts and opinions all around about the announcement of an American Association team in Blaine. They are nice recaps, crosses the t's and dots the i's. But all from an outsider perspective. There's a phrase I like to use when people refer to me as knowledgeable about the going ons in Independent Baseball. It's not that I'm smart, it just means I've been around a long time. For this story I think we have to go back to September of 2020. The St. Paul Saints were playing their final game of the Covid season against the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks. It was in front of a relatively sparse crowd. A weeknight in mid to late September and there was nothing at stake outside of who was going to win the American Association batting title. Drew Ward would end up edging Correlle Prime after Prime was robbed of a base hit late in the game. After the game I talked to Jeff Bittiger who was traveling w...
Read more