SERIES #12 @ NEW YORK BOMBERS - Baltimore Suffers Sweep. Walker and Belle Both Injured.

Baltimore heads to New York for a three game set with Benny and the Bombers at Old Yankee Stadium.  The Stouts have been playing pretty well of late, winners of four of their last five.  They enter with a 16-17 record and are only two games back of Milwaukee in the Continental Division.  The Bombers are also playing well, coming off a series sweep of Walt's Minnesota Millers.  They enter action with a 14-19 record on the season.  Let's get to the action.


Game 1
Old Yankee Stadium

May 7, 2014

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Baltimore Stouts (16-18)	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0		3	7	1
New York Bombers (15-19)	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	4	X		6	8	0
	W: R. White (3-2)   L: A. Embree (1-2) SV: D. Graves (4)

Kevin Appier takes to the hill for Baltimore in this one well rested, having missed his last turn after being suspended during his start on April 28.  His offense gave him an early lead with a run in the 2nd a two more in the 3rd.  He took a 3-2 advantage into the bottom of the 8th, but after opening the inning with a strikeout of Ramon Martinez, he walked Dave Martinez and was replaced on the mound by Alan Embree.

Now stop me if you've heard this before, but the Baltimore bullpen once again could not hold down a lead late in a game.  Embree faced on batter, Sean Casey, and he singled to left to move Martinez to third.  With runners on the corners, Baltimore summoned Felix Rodriguez into the game.  His first batter, Alex Rodriguez, promptly singled to tie the game.  After Torii Hunter was intentionally walked, pinch-hitter Dmitri Young singled to score two more.  By the time the inning was over, the Bombers had pushed across four runs to take a commanding 6-3 lead.  Danny Graves threw in the 9th to pickup the save.

The game will not be remembered so much by Baltimore fans for the bullpen blowing the game (which has become common news), but for the injury to right-fielder Larry Walker, who was knocked from the game in the 3rd when he collided at home plate with New York catcher Jeff Reed while scoring a run.  Both players had to leave the game, but Walker took the worst away of the altercation.  Reed will end up missing the rest of the series, but Walker will be down for a month, joining catcher Ivan Rodriguez on the disabled list.  Tough news, especially considering he had only been with the Stouts for two weeks.  Both All-Stars are expected back into the lineup in early June.



Game 2
Old Yankee Stadium

May 8, 2014

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Baltimore Stouts (16-19)	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0		1	7	0
New York Bombers (16-19)	0	1	0	4	0	0	0	0	X		5	10	2
	W: B. Jones (1-2)   L: S. Estes (4-2)

HR: A. Belle (2, 6th inning off R. White 0 on, 1 out)

Game two of the three game set was never in question, as the Bombers led 4-0 after four and never were threatened.  Bobby Jones pitched his best game of the young season, tossing five shutout innings to pickup his first win.  Four New York relievers limited Baltimore to just three hits and one run.  Dmitri Young continued to swing a hot bat.  A day after knocking home the game-winner as a pinch-hitter, he goes 3-4 with a pair of doubles and two runs scored, raising his season average


Game 3
Old Yankeee Stadium

May 9, 2014

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Baltimore Stouts (16-20)	0	0	0	2	0	1	0	0	0		3	9	0
New York Bombers (17-19)	1	5	2	0	0	0	0	0	X		8	12	0
	W: S. Hasegawa (1-1)   L: E. Dessens (0-4)

HR: T. Hunter (2, 3rd inning off B. Rekar 1 on, 2 out)

Torii Hunter went 3-5 with a homer,
two runs scored and two RBI in game
three to lead the Bombers to victory

This game was never in question as the Bombers jumped all over Baltimore starter Elmer Dessens, scoring six runs in only 1.2 innings to chase him from the game.  New York led 8-0 after three and never looked back.  The Stouts were unable to mount any sort of a rally.  To make matters worse, Garrett Anderson and Albert Belle collided with one another in the 3rd inning trying to make a play on a Tom Prince hit to the gap.  Both players would have to leave the game.  Anderson's injury was minor, but Belle will miss nine days of action.  Considering he was already replacing Larry Walker, who was injured earlier in the series, the time missed will be costly for the Stouts.

The Baltimore bats could never get on track in this series, pushing only seven runs across the plate in the three games.  Considering they were averaging over seven runs a game coming into the series, it's not surprising they suffered the sweep.  Todd Helton, the MLBs leading hitter, went only 3-12 to drop his season average to .434.  Bill Mueller was 0-10.  Leadoff hitter Fernando Vina only 2-11.  Lance Berkman 1-8.  Ricky Gutierrez 2-10.

The Stouts will try to get their bats back on track with a visit to Ebbets Field to take on Daryl's Brooklyn Broken Arrow Bums.  It promises to be an exciting series.