Leistikow teams rebound, win 2 of 3

You won't hear much complaining from me, except in the heat of the moment, because HAL has always been looking kindly upon my teams. But for a stretch, HAL was taking me behind the woodshed.

Chad-owned teams lost their ninth game out in 10 on yet another unbelievable roll -- a 1-19 "safe" roll that was missed with a 20, followed by a 1-14 "safe" roll for blocking the plate that came up 15 -- but finally bounced back to get on track with the Hawaiian Organ Donors (Chad West) taking the last two from Santa Poco Amigos (Biv West) and two of three with Finer Things Club (Chad East) vs. Bob Loblaw (Paul East).

Game 1 West: Amigos 3, Donors 2
W-Garland (5-4), L-Escobar (6-3), S-Soria (5)
Let's go straight to the bottom of the ninth, where Joakim Soria continued into his third inning of work with a 3-2 lead. Paul Konerko led off with a single for the Donors, and Luis Terrero (a 1-14 runner) was beckoned to pinch-run. Billy Butler, another piano-carrying runner, then executed a hit-and-run to put men on the corners with none out. That brought up newly acquired Josh Fields, who produced a flyball RF(b)?. That made the speedy Terrero a 1-19 prospect to score and Butler a 1-7 chance to move up if the throw was cut. The Donors decided to hold Butler at first, which is when the 20 was rolled ... giving Kurt Suzuki an improbable chance to block the plate. But, only 30% effective on plate blocks, Suzuki managed to secure the ball and make the tag for a 9-2 double play. Danny Richar flew out to center to end the contest as Soria notched a 2 1/3-inning save.

Game 2 West: Donors 11, Amigos 3
W-Baek (3-0), L-Grienke (4-3)
Cha Seung Baek continued his sparkling efforts as a limited starting pitcher. Despite a card ERA of 5.15, Baek improved to 3-for-3 in starts, going the distance for an 11-hitter. Konerko his hit eighth homer for Hawaiian, who got the benefit of playing against a very banged-up Amigos squad which got even more banged-up for Game 3. Baek has one start remaining in his Hawaiian season.

Game 3 West: Donors 5, Amigos 2
W-Baker (5-4), L-Garza (2-2), S-Jenks (14)
As Biv said after the series, "I was just lucky not to get swept." Consider these lineup anomalies for the Amigos' starting nine: Marco Scutaro was batting fifth behind Justin Morneau, and the last two hitters were minor-league scrap-heapers in Adam Melhuse (3B) and light-hitting Josh Rabe (DH). Konerko went deep again to help the Donors' cause, and Michael Young had three hits. Travis Buck was Santa's star, going 3-for-4 and upping his BA to .322.

========

Game 1 East: Finer 3, Loblaw 1
W-Halladay (7-3), L-Wakefield (3-4), S-Chamberlain (2)
Roy "K-a-day" Halladay pitched well, going seven innings with three Ks, and Joba Chamberlain locked up his first save since being lit up for two homers by the Surly Nausicians in his last appearance. Mike Lowell's two-run homer in the first was all that FTC needed -- that and several missed homer rolls from Bob, including a 1-14 shot for Miguel Tejada.

Game 2 East: Loblaw 5, Finer 3
W-Schilling (4-6), L-Ohka (0-1), S-Delcarmen (13)
Tomo Ohka was called up to make a spot start for FTC, and it was likely his last. He scattered 10 baserunners in five innings, and Bob took advantage with five runs and it could've been much worse. Bob got four in the first, and Curt Schilling coasted after giving up a homer to leadoff man Jorge Posada.

Game 3 East: Finer 7, Loblaw 6
W-McGowan (4-3), L-Tavarez (5-4), S-Betancourt (10)
Sorely missed B.J. Upton returned from a four-game injury -- a span in which FTC went 1-3 -- and got on base four out of five times to spark Finer's series victory. Posada (10th) and Lowell (7th) homered for the winners, while Brian Roberts had a homer (8th) and three RBIs for Bob, which suffered another hard-luck loss with two unearned (cheap) runs.

Up next:
Hawaiian Organ Donors (28-23) at Huge Mistakes (14-34)*
Big Hebs (30-21) at Santa Poco Amigos (25-26)
======
Army of Steamrollers (25-23)* at Finer Things Club (32-19)
Long Ball Larry (17-34) at Bob Loblaw (26-25)