1998 IIBL Divisional Playoffs
Springfield vs Dresden; Carolina vs San Juan
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At Fenway, Yoshii was pressed into service in game one, due to a Hermanson injury, and the Homers late playoff charge. He didn't pitch badly, but three home runs eventually did him in: back to backers by McGwire and Garciaparra in the 4th and a two run shot by Surhoff in the 6th. Radke, on the other hand, pitched solidly as the Blacks drew first blood.

            123 456 789 R H E 
Homers  000 100 010 2 6 1 
Blacks    000 302 00x 5 7 0 
DOH - Yoshii (L,0-1), Chouinard (7) DRE - Radke (W, 1-0), Peters (8)(S,1) HR - DOH Lankford (1), DRE McGwire (1), Garciaparra (1)

Game 2 - Springfield at Dresden
Kenny Rogers (19-9) vs Todd Stottlemyre (14-8)

Blacks led 3-0, thanks to a two run single by Sean Berry and a solo homer by Biggio, but Offerman doubled home two in the 6th to make it 3-2. After a leadoff single in the 7th, Stott was gone. Clark singled one out later off Rosado, but DiPoto K'ed the pinchhitter Sefcik, and got Gaetti to foul out. In the eighth, the Homers singled twice, but Pudge hit into a 3-6-3 DP. Christiansen came on to get the last two outs for the save.

                123 456 789  R  H E 
Homers     000 002 000  2 11 0 
Blacks       000 210 00x  3  6 2
DOH - Rogers (L,0-1), Mills (8); DRE- Stottlemyre (W,1-0), Rosado (7)(H,1), Dipoto (7)(H,1), Powell (8)(H,1), Christiansen (9)(S,1)  HR- DRE Biggio (1)

Blacks led 4-2 in the 7th, largely because of Gerald Williams' 3RHR. In the 7th, Steve Reed came on for the Blacks with 2 on and one out, allowed a single by Offerman to make it 4-3. After Jose stole second, Pudge walked to load 'em. Peters came on and got Lankford, but Ramirez hit a looping fly ball which Lofton couldn't control. Two runs scored and the Homers led 5-4. Rosado got Clark to end the inning, but got bombed in the next inning, a two run shot by Neifi Perez, inter alia, as Springfield won their first playoff game in history, 11-4.

             123 456 789    R  H E 
Blacks    000 400 000    4  7  0 
Homers  002 000 36x  11 16 0 
DRE - Millwood, Reed (7)(L,0-1), Peters (7)(H,1), Shuey(7)(BS,1), Rosado (8), Powell (8) DOH - Hitchcock, Simas (6)(W,1-0), TJMathews (S,1) HR DRE - G.Williams (1), DOH - N.Perez (1)

Hermanson, coming back after an injury, was staked a 5-0 lead early, as Henry Rodriguez key a 4 run first with a 2RHR. Blacks bullpen held the rest of the way, and the Blacks clawed back to 5-3. In the 8th, Dresden loaded 'em with two outs, but Alan Mills got Tony Fernandez to fly to the warning track to end the inning. Valerie De Los Santos pitched a 1-2-3 ninth. Series tied 2-2.

                 123 456 789    R  H  E 
Blacks        001 000 200    3   6  0 
Homers     410 000 00x     5 10  0 
DOH - Dreifort(L,0-1), Peters (3), Rosado (5), DiPoto (7) DOH - Hermanson (W,1-0), Mills (8) (H,1), DeLosSantos (9) (S,1-0)  HR - DRE- Dm.Jackson (1), McGwire (2); DOH- H.Rodriguez (1)

Yoshii scattered 3 hits over the first four, with Springfield holding a 2-0 lead on Lankford's 2RHR in the first. Lampkin singled to start the Dresden 5th, and was bunted to second. Lofton got an infield hit to snap an 0-16 series. After another out, Eric Davis delivered a key game tying two out double. McGwire then walked, Nomar doubled in the go ahead run, followed by a two run single by B.J. Surhoff. McGwire and Garciaparra hit back to backers in the 7th and the Blacks won going away, 9-3, taking a 3-2 lead back to Fenway.

                123 456 789   R  H  E 
Blacks       000 050 202   9 14  0 
Homers     200 000 010   3  8  1 
DRE - Radke (W,2-0), Reed (8), Christiansen (9) DRE - Yoshii (L,0-2), Tewksbury (6), JeGonzalez(9) HR- DRE: McGwire (3), Garciaparra (2) DOH - Lankford (2)

Game 6 - Springfield at Dresden
Rogers (0-1) vs Stottlemyre (1-0)

Blacks trailed 2-0 going into the bottom of 6, despite getting a hit in each inning. With one out, walks to Garciaparra and Davis and a single by Berry loaded them. Gerald Williams delivered a clutch 2 run single and Charles Johnson followed with a sac fly. DiPoto came on and pitched two effective innings, and following a leadoff single in the 9th, Jason Christiansen came on the register the final three outs. Blacks win series 4 games to 2 and advance to face Hana.

                 123 456 789   R  H  E 
Homers      101 000 000   2  7  1 
Blacks        000 003 000   3  8  1
DOH- Rogers (L,0-2) DRE- Stottlemyre (W, 2-0), DiPoto (7)(H,1), Christiansen (9)(S,2) HR - none

MVP - Brad Radke (2-0) coming up big in games 1 and 5. McGwire had three solo homers and scored 8 runs. Lofton and Biggio went a combined 7-47 at the top of the lineup. Offerman (1.047 O+S) was Springfield's most effective offensive player. 

Leiter was in trouble early and often, but San Juan couldn't convert. In the sixth, four straight hits to start the inning gave the Bums a 1-0 lead. But John Johnstone came into a bases loaded none out situation and retired the side without further damage. In the seventh, Wells left after the first two batters and Mike James allowed a game tying double to Tony Phillips. The go ahead run scored on a grounder to short, and when Roberto Rincon walked Griffey with two out to face Burnitz, Carolina countered with Wil Cordero, who produced a grand slam. Game, set, and match.

                 123 456 789   R H  E 
Hurricanes  000 000 610  7 13  0 
Bums          000 001 000  1 12  0 
RIO - A.Leiter, Johnstone(6) (W,1-0), M.Williams (7), Burba (9)  SJB - Wells (L, 0-1), James (7)(BS,1), Rincon (7), Plunk (8), Bottenfield (9)  HR - RIO: Cordero (1)

Game 2 - Carolina at San Juan
Kerry Wood (14-6) vs Carlos Perez (20-9)

Neither starter distinguished himself in the early going, and Perez left for a pinchhitter in the 4th, after allowing 5 runs and 8 hits. Pinchhitter Ellis Burks homered to tie it at 5, 3rd homer off of Wood, and things settled down for a while. Then, in the 7th, a couple of walks and a couple of outs brought up Mike Bordick, who had homered earlier. Ro Jiminez walked him to get to Wood, but Reggie Jefferson pinchhit a double off new pitcher Doug Brocail  clearing the bases. Two more scored before the inning was over, and the Hurricanes go home up two games to none.

                    123 456 789   R  H   E 
Hurricanes    301 100 500   10 14  0 
Bums            020 300 000    5   9  1
RIO - Wood (W, 1-0), Franco (7), Johnstone (8); SJB - Perez, Bottenfield (5)(L, 0-1), Brocail (7), Plunk (8), Service (9)  HR - RIO: Bordick (1), SJB: Ventura (1), Posada (1), Burks (1)

Sele pitched a key game for the Bums and helped his own cause with an RBI single as the Bums narrowed their deficit to two games to one. Canes wasted some opportunities early having runners thrown out in the second and third. There were no chances later, as the Bums pitching settled down and allowed little after the 4th. Bums finally tied it on a Melvin Benard groundout in the 5th, took the lead on a Thome HR in the 6th, and added an insurance run off Antonio Osuna.

                    123 456 789    R  H  E 
Bums            002 011 100    5   8   0 
Hurricanes    012 000 000    3   8   0 
SJB - Sele (W,1-0), Service (8)(H,1), Nen (9,S1) RIO - Schilling (L,0-1), Osuna (7), M.Williams (8), Howry (9)  HR - SJB: Thome (1)

Wells retired the first 17, and 2RHRs by Jordan and Thome built a 5-0 lead. In the 6th, Wells walked a couple and allowed a 2R double to Tony Phillips, and then left. In the 8th, pinchhitter Jefferson doubled, and one out later a walk and a single brought up Griffey. Rincon's wild pitch made it 6-3, setting up the intentional walk, setting up Service to pitch to Leyritz, who served up a grand slam. 3-1, Carolina.

                 123 456 789   R H  E 
Bums         003 020 100   6  9  0 
Hurricanes 000 002 050   7  5  0 
SJB - Wells, Brocail (7), Rincon (8), Service (8)(L,0-1,BS1) RIO - Benes, Painter (7), Williams (7), Burba (8)(W,1-0), Howry (9)(S1)  HR - SJB: Jordan (1), Thome (2)  RIO - Leyritz (1)

Bums, facing elimination, were able to break a 1-1 6th inning tie on  Brian Jordan RBI triple, and he later scored on a Thome ground out. Thome then singled in two his next time up, and Jeromy Burnitz contributed a meaningless two run shot in the ninth to make the final look respectable. Back to San Juan with the Bums trailing 3-2.

          `       123 456 789  R  H  E 
Bums           001 002 020  5  8   0 
Hurricanes   000 010 002  3 10  1 
SJB - Perez (W,1-0),James (7)(H,1), Brocail (7)(H,1), Nen (9) RIO - Leiter (L,0-1), Painter (6), Osuna (7), Franco (9) HR - RIO - Burnitz (1)

Game 6 - Carolina at San Juan
Kerry Wood (1-0) vs Aaron Sele (1-0)

Hurricanes built up a 6-0 lead early. Wil Cordero homered to start the scoring, and Kerry Wood won his second playoff game. Jeromy Burnitz homered and drove in three runs. Bums rallied late, scored 2 in the ninth and had Thome (previous AB: HR) up with the tying runs in scoring position. Don went to John Franco, Ro countered with the RH batter Damon Buford, who grounded to 2nd to end the game. Carolina advances. 

                 123 456 789 R H E 
Hurricanes  014 010 000 6 7 0 
Bums         000 001 012 4 5 0
RIO - Wood (W,2-0), Johnstone (8),Howry (9)(H,1),M.Williams (9)(H,1), Franco (9)(S,1)  SJB - Thurman, Bottenfield(4),Service (6),Rincon (8) HR - RIO: Cordero (2), Burnitz(2), Thome(3)

MVP - Jim Leyritz, 7-14, clutch grand slam home run in game 4. Griffey playoff watch, 5-20, 0HR, one double.