In a heavenly rematch, Giancarlo Stanton hit a game-tying two run blast with 2 outs and an 0-2 count to bring the San Antonio Saints back from the dead in Game 6 of the TBBL World Series.  Five innings later he laced a single into RF to score the eventual game-winning run as SAS defeated the Los Angeles Halos.  Stanton was the Series MVP despite having a rough middle of the Series.  He mashed two homers in the opener and hit his 3rd in the clincher on the way to an 11 RBI Series.  Stanton had a slash line of .308/.357/.692 and his three homers equaled the entire Halo squad.

Game 1: SAS 12, LAH 3

The Saints and Halos reprised their roles in the Series from last year when the Saints took the Series in 5 games.  This time it started poorly for LA again, as Stanton mauled Yu Darvish in game 1.

It started innocently enough with a two out RBI single by Halo Pedro Ciriaco off Saint starting pitcher David Price in the bottom of the 2^nd.  But Darvish ran into trouble in the top of the 3^rd when he walked David Wright and Buster Posey to start the frame.  Anthony Rizzo slapped an RBI single to tie the game before Stanton blasted a long homer to left center for a 4-1 lead.  Another Ciriaco single in the bottom of the 4^th halved the lead.  Then in the top of the 5^th Stanton  slammed a Darvish slider over the center field fence for a two run homer.  Jose Bautista added a two run bomb of his own and Adrian Gonzalez chipped in a solo.

Greg said he is pretty sure that Darvish never gave up three homers in any TBBL game in his career. SAS 1, LAH 0

Game 2: LAH 3, SAS 2

This time the Saints jumped out on top with a two run homer by Bautista in the top of the 2^nd.  Jake Peavy settled down after that, though and didn’t allow another run.  SAS’ Lucas Harrell couldn’t hold the lead.  The young righty gave up an RBI ground out to Andy Dirks in the bottom of the 2^rd and RBI singles to Curtis Granderson in the 3^rd and Mark Teixeira in the 5^th.

Vinny Pestano took over for Peavy in the 5^th and picked up the win, going 1.1 scoreless innings.  The Halo pen snuffed every Saint rally and Rafael Betancourt hurled a scoreless 9^th for a save. SAS 1, LAH 1

Game 3: SAS 7, LAH 3

The trend is that the winning team in this Series always comes from behind.  So the Halos were doomed to lose after they touched up Johnathan Niese for two runs in the top of the 1^st.  Rajai Davis singled to start the game and scored when Hanley Ramirez’s double bounced away from Stanton in the corner.  Ramirez scored on a ground out but Niese was able to stop the bleeding.

In the bottom of the 1^st, Wright bounced a one out single and moved into scoring position when Posey walked. Stanton doubled in a run and Posey scored when Gonzalez produced an RBI ground out.  Eziquiel Carrera’s RBI single gave the Saints a 3-2 lead.  Pete Kozma tripled in the 2^nd inning and scored when Wright lifted a double.

Niese never looked entirely comfortable, but did manage to hold the Halos scoreless until the 6^th inning.  He worked out of a jam seemingly every inning until Yadier Molina led off the 6^th with a long homer to left. This time it was the Saint pen who threw goose eggs to preserve the lead. SAS 2, LAH 1

Game 4: LAH 2, SAS 1

Matt Garza must have felt pretty comfortable when the Halos struck first with a run in the top of the 4^th.  The mercurial righty had been perfect until walking Aaron Hill with one out in that frame.  Molina moved him to 3^rd with a single.  Garza whiffed Big Papi, David Ortiz (who had a terrible Series) but couldn’t escape damage when Jason Heyward laced an RBI single into left center.

The Saints could never rally off Brandon Morrow or his pen, though.  And when Heyward launched a solo to lead off the 7^th the Saints were done for. SAS managed only a run in the 8^th before Betancourt saved the game with a scoreless 9^th. SAS 2, LAH 2

Game 5: SAS 6, LAH 4

The last game in Texas broke the comeback trend, too.  Both Darvish and Price labored early but matched scoreless frames until the bottom of the 3^rd.  Jose Reyes doubled to start the inning and moved to 3^rd when Wright’s infield topper died in fair territory.  Posey and Rizzo both walked to score the 1^st run.  Darvish then whiffed Stanton and Gonzalez to almost escape. But Bautista poked an RBI single through the infield and Neil Walker walked in a run for a 3-0 bulge.

The Halos weren’t giving up, though.  Ciraico’s RBI single in the 4^th started the rally.  An inning later, Hill hit an RBI single and Molina tied the game on a sac fly.  Betancourt came on in the 6^th to relieve Darvish and Wright crushed a one out solo to give the Saints a lead.  They built two more runs in the 8^th when Posey muscled an RBI single and Carerra lifted a pinch sac fly.  Those runs were big when Jonathan Papelbon gave up a two out Hill homer in the 9^th.  But Paps closed the door for his only save of the Series.  SAS 3, LAH 2

Game 6: SAS 3, LAH 2(14)

Peavy was clearly rejuvenated when the teams flew back to Cali for Game 6.  He held the Saints scoreless for 6.1 innings and his Halos built a 2-0 lead off Harrell.  Hill singled in a run in the 4^th and Norichika Aoki doubled in another in the 6^th.  It stayed that way with sparkling pen work by the Halos until the 9^th.

Casey Fien got the 1^st out in the 9^th and handed off to Pestano who promptly retired Posey (he is an MVP-esque catcher but has never hit a postseason homer for the Saints in over 100 PA, though he did hit one for Chemung in 2011).  Rizzo hit a harmless grounder to Macier Izturis, but reached when Izturis threw the ball under the tarp.  Pestano worked Stanton into an 0-2 hole before the big righty demolished a hanging breaking ball, yanking it down the left field line to stun the crowd.  In fact, I was typing “Rob was right. We’re going to go 7 games” when I read the result.  Pestano was so shaken that he walked Gonzalez and hit Lucas Duda with a pitch before ending the inning.

Both pens worked sharp, scoreless innings.  The Saints were getting desperate after 12 innings because they had only a lefty reliever and then potential Game 7 starter Niese remaining in the pen.  Since the Halos still had powerful righties on the bench the Saints were nervous handing the ball to Juaquin “strikeout or gopher ball” Benoit with a runner on 2^nd in the 12^th.  But Benoit worked out of the jam.  In the 14^th the Halos were betrayed by their defense again.  Rizzo again reached on an error, this time a leadoff error by Hill.  Pinch runner Dan Uggla came on and scored when Stanton bounced a single through the right side.  Benoit struck out two in the 14^th and ended the longest clincher in Saint history when he induced a Hill ground out. SAS 4, LAH 2

The Saints out hit the Halos .242/.332/.402 to .245/.298/.341.  If the Halos had won the Series, Yadier Molina would have likely been the MVP.  The catcher completely shut down the Saint running game and hit .360/.393/.520 with a homer and a double.

My guys fought back from an almost certain defeat in the 9^th inning of Game 6.  If Greg had won that one, he had the advantage in Game 7 as our pen was on fumes and several of my players couldn’t start because of usage issues.  This is so much a game of inches sometimes.  I am blessed to have beaten such good teams in the playoffs this year. Thanks to them for being good sports and to Rob for running an outstanding league.