championship notes

After the close races and wild finish left most teams shuffling their pitching staffs for the first round of the playoffs, it just so happens that all the shuffling has brought up a pair aces for game one of the finals.

Harwich will send star lefty Chris Manno to the mound tomorrow against Seth Blair and Cotuit. Both pitchers have sub-1.00 ERAs. At 1.55, Blair’s is better, and, in fact it was second in the league. But Manno has more strikeouts, and he also hasn’t taken a loss. He had probably the most impressive outing of any pitcher at the all-star game, and in his one start since then, he helped Harwich clinch a playoff spot with seven innings of four-hit ball.

Blair is no stranger to the big stage, either. He started the second-to-last game of the season for Cotuit, the game that ultimately clinched them a playoff berth. He went seven shutout innings.

So this is quite a match-up, and it’s pretty awesome to see in the championship series. Sometimes, it doesn’t work out like this, and with the season dragging longer and longer, I was afraid this year would be one of those years.

Thankfully, it’s not. I’d expect Manno and Blair to put on a show tomorrow.

Some more notes:

• This championship berth has been a long time coming for both of these teams. Cotuit was last there in 1999, when they beat Chatham. For Harwich, it’s the first time since 1997. That year, the Mariners lost to Wareham.

• This time last summer, league MVP Conor Gillaspie was heading back to school and missing the championship series. We’ll see if there any departures this year, but so far I haven’t heard of any.

• Blair will be on the hill tomorrow for Cotuit, and Nick Hernandez, whom I’d call a co-ace, will get the ball in game two. No game two starter has been announced for Harwich, but I’m thinking it could be J.J. Hoover, just based on the calendar.

• The teams split the season series, with Cotuit taking the last meeting by a 6-1 score on July 28. There’s also a lot of history between these teams and the pitchers they’ll be facing. Hernandez picked up the win in the most recent game, allowing five hits and a run in 6.1 innings. On July 20, when Harwich won 4-3, Manno allowed three runs in 7.1 strong innings. And back on July 16, Blair had his best outing of the summer against Harwich, a complete-game, one-hit shutout with 10 strikeouts and no walks.

• Harwich has some bad playoff batting averages, but all those 0-for-7’s probably have something to do with that. Tommy Medica and Joseph Sanders each have three hits to lead the Mariners. Sanders’ three-run home run in game one against Orleans was the team’s biggest hit of the postseason.

• For Cotuit, six players have at least two hits so far in the playoffs. That lends credence to the fact that, top to bottom, Cotuit had the best-hitting team in the league. There aren’t any weak spots.

• Lucky for Harwich that Cotuit didn’t win in two, and that Monday’s game was postponed. The extra days off mean the team actually got to rest after its 18-inning marathon on Sunday. That will be especially big for the bullpen. Willie Kempf should be fine to go. Not sure about Steve Kalush, who will be on two days’ rest after throwing 5.2 innings on Sunday.

• The only problem with the days off: momentum. Sometimes, when you win in wild fashion like Harwich did, you want to keep it going right away.

• Whatever happens, we’re seeing the two hottest teams in the league meeting for the title, which is pretty awesome. Cotuit has won 9 of its last 12 games, with two losses and a tie mixed in. Harwich has won seven of eight.

• I was initially hoping to get over for game one, but since it’s in Cotuit and it’s at 3 p.m., that’s probably not going to happen. If I’m home from work in time, I will be listening and doing a live blog. We’ll see what happens after that. Regardless, it should be fun tomorrow. Enjoy.

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