World Series Champs

Congratulations to drvmu1 and his El Paso Federales on winning the 15th Fingers World Series.

WORLD SERIES MVP:

Hardball Dynasty's

Walter Swindell

.375 - 9 for 24 - 6 runs - 4 HR - 10 RBI - 3 BB - 0 errors in 24 chances at 3B

World Series 15

El Paso Federales (101-61) vs. Fargo Red River Sandbags (100-62)

Game 1 @ Cash Field, Fargo

El Paso 8, Fargo 5

WP: Nick Gil (1-0)

LP: Marlon Purcell (0-1)

Save: Eli Martinez (1)

HR: El Paso - Vince Moriarty, Walter Swindell 2; Fargo - Mike Parnell, Thurman Ellenwood

Player of the Game: Walter Swindell - 2 for 5, 2 HR, 5 RBI

Game Note: Purcell was chased by his former teammates during a five-run 7th inning that broke a 3-3 tie.

Game 2 @ Cash Field, Fargo
Fargo 5, El Paso 4 - 12 innings
WP: Joe Lankford (1-0)
LP: Travis Kapler (0-1)
HR: El Paso - Walter Swindell (3), Pepe Sosa; Fargo - Thurman Ellenwood (2), Ken Roosevelt, Juan Alou
Player of the Game: Juan Alou - 1 for 6, HR, RBI - hit a walk-off HR with 2 outs in the bottom of the 12th.
Game Note: Fargo was down 4-0 in the 7th inning. Ellenwood and Roosevelt hit homers to make it 4-3. Then in the 8th inning El Paso starting pitcher Felipe Moreno threw a wild pitch with the bases loaded to allow Fargo to tie the game. *Fargo starting pitcher Yamid Santiago had his playoff streak of 25 1/3 scoreless innings pitched broken up in the 3rd inning with Swindell's three-run HR.

Game 3 @ Citibank Ballpark, El Paso
El Paso 10, Fargo 9 - 11 innings
WP: Howie Timmons (1-0)
LP: Tony Iwazaki (0-1)
HR: El Paso - Vince Moriarty (2), Chuck Moore, Alex Arroyo; Fargo - Bum Kent
Player of the Game: Walter Swindell - 2 for 6, RBI - drives in game winning run in 11th with RBI single
Game Note: El Paso came back from a 9-1 deficit. They scored six runs in the 7th, and Moriarty tied the game an inning later with a 2-run blast. After 3 games Moriarty is 7 for 16 with 7 runs scored, 5 RBI and 2 HR. Swindell is 5 for 16 with 3 runs, 9 RBI and 3 HR.

Game 4 @ Citibank Ballpark, El Paso
El Paso 8, Fargo 5 - 13 innings
WP: Travis Kapler(1-1)
LP: Davey Terrero (0-1)
HR: El Paso - Pepe Sosa 2 (3); Fargo - none
Player of the Game: Pepe Sosa - 2 for 5, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 2 SB - hit a walk-off 3-run HR in 13th inning.
Game Note: Third straight game to go into extra innings and end with a walk-off hit.  The bullpens combined to allow 0 runs in 16 2/3 innings before Sosa hit the game winner.

Game 5 @ Citibank Ballpark, El Paso
El Paso 5, Fargo 1
WP: Nick Gil (2-0)
LP: Yamid Santiago (0-1)
Save: Eli Martinez (2)
HR: El Paso - Walter Swindell (4), Alex Arroyo (2), Rafael Jose; Fargo - Benji Morrison
Player of the Game: Nick Gil - 8 2/3 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 6 K
Game Note: El Paso wins series 4 games to 1. The Federales hit 13 HR in the series.

ALL-STAR GAME and MORE

Charlotte, N.C., home of the Wyverns, hosted the Fingers League's 15th All-Star Game. The NL bested the AL 14-6 for their 4th straight All-Star game victory.

Fargo's Juan Alou hit a first inning grand slam off of Milwaukee's Boomer Charles to put the NL up 6-0.  Alou was named the game's MVP because of the slam. Charles only made two outs while allowing six base runners to score. He took the loss.

Colorado's Al Abreu was the winning pitcher. He allowed only two hits in his three scoreless innings of work. He easily performed the best of all the game's pitchers in what turned out to be a slugfest.

The two teams combined for 20 runs, 29 hits and seven home runs.

ALL-STAR GAME WEEKEND NOTES:
-- Seven players hit home runs. They were: San Juan's Gary Buckley, Jacksonville's Damon Washington, El Paso's Chuck Moore, K.C.'s Russ Bale, Atlanta's Buzz Stewart, Mexico City's Victor Lopez and Alou.
-- Russ Bale has hit a HR in each of the past two All-Star Games.
--  Chuck Moore won the HR Derby. He hit 37 HRs to beat San Juan's Santos Lopez, who hit 36.
-- The World Futures Team crushed the US Futures Team 8-1. Santa Fe's Dave Cannon got rocked. He gave up six runs in 1 1/3 innings but at least he didn't take the loss.

LAST QUARTER OF THE SEASON
We're coming down to the final 40 games of the season and here's a list of things to watch down the stretch:

Chuck Moore is having an incredible season. He is on pace for: 78 HR, 202 RBI and 231 hits. All of which would place him top 5 in those categories for single season records. There should be no question about Moore winning his 3rd AL MVP.

Jacksonville rookie pitcher Alton Pierce has a 1-19 record.  Seven more losses will put him in the top 5 for losses in a single season. It begs the question: With splits like his, why is this guy in the big leagues?/

It seems like every season one player chases the single season batting average record for 100+ games and then falls fast as the season closes. This season Julio Ramirez is that player to chase the record. Ramirez is hitting .380, which is .003 points higher than the league record. He's a .320 lifetime hitter so he has the tools to break it.

And lastly, I will go far out on a limb here and say an American League team will win the World Series again. Six of the seven major league teams playing .600+ ball are in the AL. But at least the NL owns the All-Star Game