The first two days didn't exactly go as planned for the Albany Capitals (45+) at the Fall Classic, but when the dust settled, the team was 1-2 with opportunities to move up the standings.
Game one on Monday against the Delaware Diamondbacks, a playoff team last year, was played in a light steady rain almost throughout at Bright House Stadium. For the Capitals, John Weber and Mark Marshall pitched well enough to win this game, and the offense saw a steady stream of runners on base. But most of them remained there, and the Delaware gang took advantage of our occasional mistakes and won 8-3. After the game, someone aptly remarked that while we were never out of this game, we somehow never quite seemed in it.
The rain continued and game two of our DH was postponed and rescheduled for Tuesday at 12:30. This one was forgettable from the outset. The South Atlanta Twins made the championship game last year, and they proved to be a solid team in all facets of the game. Meanwhile, we barely showed up. We must have made 5 first inning errors and we went to the second inning down 10-0. Things calmed down a bit from there, but never improved. Lex Herrlett, Curt Tucker, Tim Burns, and Tony Parella grinded through from the mound, and this game mercifully ended at the 3-hour time limit. If there were positives from this game, I suppose they were that we continued to put runners on base (though at this point we probably led the tournament in runners left on base) and the spirit of the team remained positive and enthusiastic.
That spirit got another boost in game three, when things finally clicked. Due to weather and rescheduling issues, we didn't take the field against the New Jersey Rays until almost 9:00pm. Hits came early and often, including triples by Lex and Parella, doubles by Marshall and Chicago MSBLer Ernie Trujillo, and base hits up and down the lineup. Darnell Baker was strong on the mound and Lex came in to close out the 16-6 win that ended shortly before midnight.
Little time to recover, as the team would take the field at 10:00am the next morning. Another win in their remaining two games would put them in the playoff round. Stay tuned.
