2007 IIBL Conference Playoffs
Dresden Blacks vs New Jersey Patriots
Seoul Fighters vs Bocomo Blues
[History]

Blacks had 10 hits and all sorts of baserunners but scored two scant runs on solo homers by Marlon Byrd and Brian Giles. Aaron Harang was lifed after giving up only his third hit, a leadoff double in the 7th, and the bullpen carefully protected the lead.

              123 456 789    R  H  E
Blacks        100 001 000    2 10  0
Patriots      000 000 100    1  4  0 
DRE - Harang (W,1-0), Marte (7)(H,1), Vizcaino (7)(H,1), Okajima (8)(H,1), Putz (9)(S,1),; NJP: Escobar (L,0-1), Mitre (6), Rivera (8), Shouse (9). HR- DRE: Byrd (1), B.Giles (1).

Game 2 - Dresden at New Jersey
A.J.Burnett (15-7,1-0) vs Carlos Silva (16-10,1-0)

Mike Rabelo, who came in after A.J. Burnett hit Yadier Molina with a pitch, threw out a basestealer in the 8th, singled in the bottom of the 9th and scored the winning run on Cabrera's single.

              123 456 789    R  H  E
Blacks        001 100 000    2  7  0
Patriots      000 010 101    3  7  0 
DRE - Burnett, Okajima (7)(BS,1), Broxton (8)(L,0-1); NJP - Silva, Bell (8), Shouse (9), Percival (9)(W,1-0). HR - DRE: C.Jones (1).

Game 3 - New Jersey at Dresden
Chien-Ming Wang (11-6,1-1) vs Orlando Hernandez (12-6, 0-1)

New Jersey walked 8 times en route to a 7-5 win. Blacks scored 5 after spotting Glaus a 2RHR in the 1st, but Torii Hunter's 3RHR in the 6th tied it. Cuddyer followed with a single, and Dresden's bullpen couldn't hold the tie. Luis Vizcaino walked a couple and Christain Guzman's pinchhit groundout off Broxton made it 6-5. Broxton got in trouble in the 7th, and Glaus walked with the bases loaded in the 7th. The Blacks could not solve the Patriot bullpen and New Jersey took a 2-1 lead.

              123 456 789    R  H  E
Patriots      020 004 100    7  8  0
Blacks        003 020 000    5 10  0 
NJP - Wang (W,1-0), Rivera (6)(H,1), R.Perez (7)(H,1), Percival (8)(H,1), Shouse (9), Bell (9)(S,1); DRE - O.Hernandez (L,0-1), Vizcaino (6), Broxton (6), Gallardo (7), Marte (8); HR- NJP: Hunter (1), Glaus (1); DRE: C.Jones (2).

Game 4 - New Jersey at Dresden
Joe Blanton (17-9,1-0) vs Harang

Harang struggled on three days rest,  allowing RBI singles to Glaus and Doumit in the second, then the first 4 batters reached in the 3rd. Harang escaped but had thrown 70 pitches through 3 and gave way to Yovani Gallardo who allowed two run doubles to Thome and Cuddyer in the 4th. Blacks got back to 7-5 behind a 4 hit performance by Byrd but could get no closer.

              123 456 789    R  H  E
Patriots      021 400 010    8 14  0
Blacks        000 002 300    5  9  0
NJP - Blanton (W,1-0), Mitre (7), Rivera (7), Shouse (8)(H,2), Percival (8)(H,2), Bell (9)(S,2); DRE - Harang (L,1-1), Gallardo (4), Okajima (8), Vizcaino (8). HR- NJP: Hunter (1), Glaus (1); DRE: C.Jones (2).

Game 5 - New Jersey at Dresden
Escobar vs Jarrod Washburn (10-10,0-0)

Derrek Lee hit a 3RHR in the first and Jarrod Washburn pitched 6 strong innings as Dresden narrowed the series gap to 3 games to 2. Jhonny Peralta hit a 3RHR in the 8th to take any remaining suspense out of it.

              123 456 789    R  H  E
Patriots      000 100 000    1  4  0
Blacks        400 000 03x    7 11  0
NJP - Escobar (L,0-2), Mitre (7); DRE - Washburn (W,1-0), Broxton (7)(H,1), Putz (9); DRE: Lee (1), Peralta (1); NJP - Glaus (2).

Game 6 - Dresden at New Jersey
A.J.Burnett (15-7,1-0) vs Carlos Silva (16-10,1-0)

Neither started did particularly well. Blacks got 3 in the first, two on Brian Giles' single. New Jersey got three doubles and three walks before the first out was recorded, but Burnett escaped further damage getting Molina on a DP. Derrek Lee's 2run double gave Dresden the lead back, but Cuddyer's 2RHR in the bottom of the 3rd turned the lead again. It was Torii Hunter's 2RHR in the 5th off El Duque that broke the game open, though Thome homered off Okajima a couple of innings later. New Jersey advances to their first World Series.

              123 456 789    R  H  E
Blacks        302 001 000    6 10  1
Patriots      402 020 11x   10  9  1 
DRE - Burnett (L,0-1), Hernandez (4), Okajima (6), Vizcaino (7), Putz (8); NJP - Silva (W,1-0), Shouse (6)(H,3), Rivera (7)(H,2), Perez (9). HR - NJP: Thome (1), Hunter (2), Cuddyer (1).

MVP - Torii Hunter  had the big hits: the 3RHR to tie game three and the 2RHR to settle game 6, 8 RBIs in all. e game 4. Troy Glaus also had 2 HRs and tied with Michael Cuddyer with 6 RBIs. The Dresden bullpen failed while the New Jersey pen shone, allowing only 1 run in 14 innings, aside from a couple of Marte mopup appearances.

Blues went up quickly 3-0 on first inning RBI singles by Griffey and Aramis Ramirez (4-4) and a second inning HR by Hunter Pence. Just as quickly Seoul tied, loading the bases with one out, getting a sac fly and a Travis Hafner two run double. Nothing much quick thereafter. Both teams playing for one run, neither came through. Ronnie Cedeno got a pinchhit single with one out in the 9th, stole second with two outs, and Edgar Renteria singled to left for the gamewinner.

              123 456 789    R  H  E
Fighters      003 000 000    3  6  0
Blues         120 000 001    4 12  1
SEO - Haren, Timlin (6), Lopez (7), Madson (8)(L,0-1); BOC - Garland, Dempster (7), Embree (7), Rodney (8)(W,1-0); HR - BOC: Pence (1).

Game 2 - Seoul at Bocomo
Roy Halladay (12-10, 1-0) vs Derek Lowe (13-9,0-0)

A wild game. Bullpens blow three saves. Bonds' 2run single in the 6th ties it and Loretta singles a go ahead run later in the inning. Pence ties it with an RBI single off Timlin in the bottom of the 6th. Bonds singles off Embree to give Seoul a 5-4 lead in the 7th, but Bocomo rallies with 2 outs in the 8th: Pence double, Renteria game tying single, and Prince Fielder 2RHR. Weathers on to close, but one out walks to Bruntlett and Willits, followed by a Vidro single and Bonds sac fly, and we're tied again. Oswalt in in relief in the 12th, gives up a one out single to Pence, who steals second. Renteria strikes out and Oswalt walks Fielder to get to Ordonez. Wrong move, Bocomo leads 2-0.

            123 456 789 012   R  H  E
Fighters    100 003 102 000   7  9  0
Blues       000 211 030 001   8 20  0
SEO - Halladay, Timlin (6)(BS,1), Wagner (6), Madson (8)(BS,1), Casilla (8), T.Johnson (9), Lopez (11), Oswalt (12)(L,0-1); BOC - Lowe, Rowland-Smith (6), Proctor (7), Embree (7), Otsuka (8), Weathers (9)(BS,1), Dempster (11)(W,1-0) HR - BOC: Fielder (1).

Game 3 - Bocomo at Seoul
Jake Peavy (22-4,1-0) vs Roy Oswalt (12-13,0-0)

The bottom of the Blues lineup did the most damage as Pudge Rodgriguez and Mark DeRosa each got three hits and 2 RBI. Peavy was just simply better than Oswalt, giving up 5 hits and striking out 10.  Oswalt pitching in trouble the whole game, allowing 19 baserunners in 7 innings.

            123 456 789    R  H  E
Blues       021 012 010    7 16  1
Fighters    000 000 110    2  6  0
BOC - Peavy(W,1-0), Proctor (7), Rodney (8), Embree (9); SEO - Oswalt (L,0-2), Casilla (8), Jenks (9). HR - BOC: Griffey (1).

Game 4 - Bocomo at Seoul
Roger Clemens (7-3,0-0) vs Haren

Aramis Ramirez' three run homer in the top of the first meant the Fighters were playing catchup all day, and with only 5 hits, it wasn't close. Clemens wins his 8th lifetime playoff game, tying  .

            123 456 789    R  H  E
Blues       400 110 200    8  9  1
Fighters    010 000 000    1  5  0
BOC - Clemens (W,1-0), Proctor (7)(H,1), Otsuka (8), Weathers (9); SEO - Haren (L,0-1), Madson (8). HR - BOC: A.Ramirez 2(2).

MVP - Aramis Ramirez went 11-18 in the series, with the two early home runs to settle game 4. Hunter Pence and Edgar Renteria also hit .400 at the top of the lineup. The Blues hit .350 as a team, and the pitching limited Seoul to a .230 slugging percentage. Blues have won 8 of 9 playoff games going into the World Series.