The 45 Yankees swept a big DH by beating the Golden Marlins 6-3 in the first game and the 3rd place Reds 10-7 in the second game...
Darrin Ambridge was the story of game 1 as he continued to show how he is among the best pitchers in the division and arguably THE best... Anytime you keep the big stick of the Marlins to 3 runs, you are doing something right, so that's all there is to that... Helps of course that we only had 1 error too, but Darrin makes it easy for us in the field as he has developed other off-speed stuff to go with his gas and become a more complete pitcher out there on the hill...
John Kalinski got a big hit and RBI, as did Mike Reutter, plus Lex is ALWAYS on base it seems, and while this matched our lowest run production of the season, it was more then enough for Darrin to work with as we never trailed in game one...
Mash pitched well also as again, holding our line-up to only 6 was as good as anyone has done all year and he gutted out a CG performance of his own after being ill recently... He's still one of the top pitchers in the division and I don't think anyone will be overlooking the defending champs come playoff time ~ I know we sure as heck won't...

Second game was a MUCH different story... We never had the lead and the Reds seemed to be in control ~ until the top of the 6th inning and the went off that is!
Down 7-2 with only 6 outs to go and Joe Burns looking good on the mound for Reds, things looked kinda bleak for our one-loss season standing that way... Dean Little led the inning off with a clean single to LF, followed by me hitting a sharp grounder to 3rd that the Reds narrowly missed turning a DP on as I just beat the relay throw to first... Donnie Dunham got plunked on the arm by a pitch and then another Hall of Famer, Kevin Jackson lined a single up the middle. I rounded third and was sent home but uh yeah, got nailed at the plate on a bang-bang play... So now it's STILL 7-2 and we are down to just 4 outs, iy-yi-yi...

But here's when the real comeback begins!
John Timpano hit a slow roller to third that the Reds 3rd baseman made a nice play on, but as John is speedy and was hustling down the line, the throw was rushed and into the dirt, getting by the first baseman and allowing Donnie to score with Kevin to third and John to 2nd...
Next was back to the top of the order and Lex came up big AGAIN delivering a 2-run double down the 3rd base line...
Now all of a sudden it's 7-5 and a game again as I sit on the bench lamenting the fact I essentially made the only 2 outs we had in the inning and especially getting thrown out at the plate ~

However, that's why it's a team game and with our line-up, it's never over and EVERYONE can pick up the other guy...
And who better to do so then the Manager of our squad himself??? He came back a day early from the PGA in Rochester and just in time too as he hit a perfectly placed blooper down the LF line to score Lex easily and trade places with him at second...
Now a 1-run game, another Yankee Hall of Famer, John Kalinski AGAIN delivered a big hit with knocking in the tying run on a solid rope to RF as we had come all the way back to tie it at 7...

John had also started the game on the mound for the Yankees and kept us in it until giving way to Dean Little to start the 6th... So after Dean started the rally in the top of the 6th, he was tasked with keeping our new found momentum by holding the Reds bats at bay after our big comeback... He proceeded to throw a beautiful 4 pitch inning in which the plays were all made easily and keep the mo rolling our way...

Next was top of 7 and now all tied at 7... I also forgot to mention that after Caruso's double, Reds manager Dave Van Wormer made the call to the bullpen and brought on one the best pitchers in the league, Ronnie Maz (yep, definitely in the conversation with Darrin and Stevie Lou of course for "best pitcher" in the league)... So Kalinski's big hit was off of Ronnie, but then Ronnie got clean-up Mikey Reutter to break his bat on a soft roller that Maz had to make a nice play coming off the mound on to get him and end that top of 6...

Anyways, so now Maz is on the mound and it's top of 7... Rich Royka comes up big with a lead off double that short-hopped the fence in right (yeah, see, ANOTHER name! I'm telling ya, ALL the boys can hit!)... Dean Little AGAIN comes up big with a single to LF that Rich had to make sure fell before going and hence stopped at 3rd ~ with no outs! And ME up!
Uh, I walked on a 3-2 pitch that was dare I say was uhhh, WAYYYY too close to take... Thank God for "good" umps like our friend Jimmy D!

Next up was our 3rd Hall of Famer Donnie Dunham and uh yep, he came up BIG ~ AGAIN ~ too! A clean single to RF produced 2 RBI's and continues his torrid year at the plate... John Sheehan then followed with another clean single to RF scoring me and it was then 10-7... We couldn't add to it from there, but the damage was done and we had our first lead of the entire game at exactly the right time, the end...

In the bottom of 7, the Reds showed their grit and threatened after a lead off single, a walk, and a FC ~ there was then a controversial play in which yeah, no question, went to the Yankees benefit and quelled any momentum the Reds were beginning to take back as the field ump (NOT Jimmy D) blew a big call to give us the 2nd out when the Reds would have loaded the bases... The next guy popped out weakly to end it, but I hate that a bad call played such a role in a good game...
I of course would have hated it more had I been Dave and the Reds, but I fully expect to hear more from the Reds as the playoffs near as I think they are still the clear #3 seed... Heck, I kinda only care about the #1 seed instead of the 2 because if it comes down to 1-4 and there are no upsets, then I'd MUCH prefer the Giants have to play Dave and his Reds in the semi's than us!

Kuddos to Dean as he picked up his first W since coming to the CDMSBL and introducing himself to the league in a big way... He's a stud that we have kept quiet (or wait, have I already mentioned him like a 1,00 times before) about but certainly one of our big off-season additions that has helped us to become real contenders... Of course, hard to get much mound time in the 45's with only 7 innings a week to go around and when our ace Darrin is generally out there mowing guys down...
Anyways, the fun is now beginning as the dog days of August are upon us all...

Good luck to everyone and looking forward to another DH next week, this time both games against the Dodgers...