This Quarterfinal series was the only one going to a third game and as such was a test of the depth of pitching and frankly of endurance and circumstance. Each team had three good pitchers and used them strategically. Game one was the match-up of aces, Chris Dunn and Ron Massaroni.

Ron had taken a tough loss on our first regular season meeting in a walk-off deep right field double by Dan McQuire back in June. Chris enjoyed that victory and the following match-up at Doubleday in late August. (in that victory ,An over managing Marlin walked their powerful RBI man to load bases for Dunn to hit a grand slam to the deep bleachers in Cooperstown to bust that game open. Jon Martin was pitching a great game that day.)

Marlins secured the key game one quarter-final victory by a narrow margin in this pitchers duel. 4-1. and immediate start to game 2 enabled Dunn to start game two and this time his endurance and skill shut down a tired and older Marlin squad who admittedly felt the strain of a DH'er more than the younger Braves. ( the Marlins average age is into the 60's , but if you take out the indomitable Jimmy Konstantakis we drop down to age 49, I think?) Jimmy became our sacrificial lamb to the series and it happened early. we fell behind, to stay, by an offensive onslaught and several defensive misuses in the first inning. Jim endured to save our remaining starter, Jon Martin , and our usual relievers , who by the way, hold down key defensive positions. You never know your role, sometimes until it changes...here Jim , the great teammate he is, stayed in and actually settled down to prevent a run rule Braves victory and have Dunn tire ,finally in the 5th inning ; which in turn forced Manager Steve Schaefer to use his third pitcher, Ray Colletta, to secure the game as the Marlins made a brief but notable surge at the end. 12-4 score I think.

It should also be noted that the Braves number three hitter, Ron Lochner, was seeing his daughter off to matrimony and was unavailable this weekend. Its takes a certain oomph out of the games when Ron isn't there. the Braves also were forced to platoon at third as a result. the Marlins were also up against attendance issues but having qualified 18 players and eager ones at that we adjusted smoothly. We even had a teammate in attendance who didn't qualify. Tom Maney, whose been in more playoff games than Lou Gehrig and Cal Ripken was there to cheer us on. One of our main thrust this past August was to get Jon Martin 7 games so we'd be in the exact position we found ourselves on Sunday. Jon has had a rough few years dealing with arm issues that have limited his pitching appearances. late in the 55 season he was asked by the 55+ Americans to do some mound work and he was surprised to find that those issues had abated to the extent he could throw effectively and relatively pain free again. His first 45 appearance was 5 strong innings in July win over the Giants.

So Jon started game three , and frankly I thought Dunn might even go out again for the Braves. But a very capable Marc Dinicola got the start. Marc is an old veteran of the division and knows all the Marlin guys and deftly showed that in keeping our offense under control. And lest you don't know, the Braves hit up and down the order. and they did. Jon held that back as best he could. he stayed on till completing 4 innings, and finally a tiring Dinicola allowed a long dormant Fish team to catch up at 6 all after 5 . Marc stayed on in the 6th and Jon handed things over to Ron Massaroni in the bottom of the 5th. Ron held the Braves scoreless for two innings . Marc's replacement, Ray Colletta , entered late in the 6th with the score already unknotted and with the marlins ahead by 4. he shut us down in the 7th. Meanwhile we did not expect a third inning out of Ron ,and had strategized to use Ron for only two innings, and then our relievers to close. But the 55+ playoff MVP took the hill with no discussion ,to finish. We got the first out, but had trouble with the next two ..... dropping pop ups which is attributable to the heat, humidity, and the long weekend of baseball. But in the midst of that SS Ralph Caputo made a great play charging a ground ball to get that second out. the Braves did send the tie-ing run to the plate so there was some concern we could fall apart but Ron induced the final out .

That third game also had a key injury to the the Braves which had them compromise their best defense. The Marlins lost a three key players/hitters to attendance and injury but as said earlier qualifying 18 remedied that to some extent.

I know the pain of losing to a lower seed, Hats off to a solid and championship caliber Braves squad. The Braves had their best season and Steve will recover. He has built that squad over the years recruiting and stabilizing each position while maintaining the required perspective of a manager looking to win it all while building slowly but surely. with respect to everyone involved. Sportsmanship was never an issue with Steve's players, they took the loss with grace and congratulated our guys on a great series. I suspect his team will come out stronger next year.

We on the other hand find our sub .500 squad in the semifinals. Ironic beyond the record. Skip Treece and I reflected on this as we sat after the game. We restarted this franchise 4-5 years ago when the 35 Cubs graduated to the 45's and that new Cubs franchise by way of common association brought in considerable youth. Skip , Jim Ansel and I thought it best we stepped aside to let the new Cubs grow to whatever they could be. We went off to become or stay the Golden Marlins and do what we needed to do to just find players. We did well to find Billy Smith , Jerry Soloman, Dave Plew, Ed Rogers, Wayne Nicholson, Greg Smith, Scott Ross, and Tim Brown join us along with a host of others seeking to just keep playing 45 ball. We were older. Our high point was winning the 8th seed in "hell weekend" 2 season ago. We were crushed in two quick games by the Giants. So we kept going. the Cubs folded for lack of depth and we took on most of those players on. ( except for Lochner and Dunn). This year we also took on some Giants as that team retooled under new management. Key add ons for us have been Cubs, Jim Mcquade, Shawn Maney, Ralph Caputo, Andy Hoyle , Jon Martin and Dave Mitchell. The irony continues perhaps in that we now have 3 Giants that took part in not only that aforementioned blood letting but in years of rivalry baseball between the Marlins/Cubs and Giants/Orioles/Hornets. We have some more baseball to play but before then i would like to point out its been a pleasure being in the same dugout with guys i used to strategize against. I believe in the long run baseball leagues such as ours over come animosities borne in opposition, and that now we have a squad, perhaps still finding its feet competitively, but with players from three formidable old franchises. Make new friends, keep the old ones. good luck to the other three semifinalists. nothing like September baseball.