AL East Round 1: Finer Things Club wins prolonged series (Hurry home, Biv!)

So much for quick three-game series. Issues with the Strat program, Hamachi and racquetball forced a three-game set between Army of Steamrollers (Norris East) and Finer Things Club (Chad East) to be spread over an entire weekend. But when all was said and done, FTC ended up winning two out of three -- with the middle game's statistics being re-created by memory:

Game 1: FTC 3, Army 2
W-Verlander (1-0), L-Bedard (0-1).
Army's Erik Bedard fanned 15 men, but The Club's Robinson Cano gave him fits with two solo homers -- including a walk-off job in the bottom of the ninth. FTC's only other run was a first-inning leadoff homer from B.J. Upton to start the season.

Game 2: Army 2, FTC 0
W-Guthrie (1-0), L-McGowan (0-1), S-Accardo (1).
The Steamrollers broke open a scoreless tie in the seventh with a leadoff walk to Jason Varitek, a hit-and-run single from Brendan Harris and an RBI single from Aubrey Huff. Harris later scored on a two-out passed ball, and the Army staff silenced FTC on five hits.

Game 3: FTC 9, Army 4
W-Halladay (1-0), L-Bonderman (0-1), S-Betancourt (1).
A four-run second for the Steamrollers seemingly put the writing on the wall. But FTC chipped away, inching back on a two-run homer from first-round pick Jorge Posada. The Club went ahead 5-4 with a three-run fifth. That triggered the first appearance of ultra-limited Joba Chamberlain, who came in to face Grady Sizemore with two on and two out in the sixth. Joba retired Sizemore (off Sizemore's card) and faced only one more batter (Derek Jeter) to start the seventh. FTC had a lousy day injury-wise, losing half of its starting infield in 3B Mike Lowell (3 games) and 1B Ryan Garko (2 games). Posada finished 4-for-5 and Ryan Raburn went 3-for-4 for FTC.