'09 EBA Championship Series

[agrudez]

With the EBA season coming to an end, the championship participants have officially been determined as the Amsterdam Neptunes edge out the Munchen Brauers by 3 games in the Western Alliance and the Brussels Eagles coasts into the postseason, winning the Eastern Alliance by 9 games. The 9 game championship series should prove to be a high scoring affair as these team’s bring the arguably 2 best offenses in the league together (Amsterdam was 1st in OPS [.829] and runs scored [986] and Brussels was 2nd in OPS [.808] and 4th in runs scored [878]) to match up against two league average rotations (Amsterdam was 5th in starter ERA [4.76] and Brussels was 4th in starter ERA [4.59]). Where Brussels may have the leg up; however, Is in the ‘pen, as their league best bullpen (4.04 ERA) squares off against the Neptune’s below average (5th) bullpen (4.99 ERA).

Leading Amsterdam into the postseason are Jude Longton, Carlin Adie and Lionel Hubert whom finished the season with .957, .882 and .868 OPS’ respectively; however, the team was dealt a severe blow when their already suspect pitching staff took a serious hit as staff ace Edwyn Odenthal (fresh off of setting the single season strikeout record with 226) injured his shoulder just before the start of the postseason… ironically against these very Eagles.

On the other side, Brussels has been lead to the postseason by Jean-Marc Fraysse and Larry Wilkes offensively whom finished the season with 1.032 and 1.011 OPS’ respectively and the deadly combination of Lionel Sanguinacco and Kenneth Mathieu at the back of their bullpen, whom posted 1.72 and 3.58 ERAs respectively this season. As for injuries, the Eagles are similiarly stricken as staff ace Jose Olivarria will miss the entirety of their series after undergoing surgery to remove bone chips from his elbow.

*Update*
As of this writing, Amsterdam currently sits in a 3 game hole in their 9 game series with Brussels, having lost each game by 3, 3 and 6 runs respectively.

Game 1 saw the Neptune DH Lionel Hubert explode with 2 HRs and 5 RBIs; however, the Eagles’ balanced attack (which resulted in 17 hits on the day) led by Jean-Marc Fraysse and Javier Soto (whom combined for 6 Hs, 3 HRs and 7 RBIs) was too much for Amsterdam’s pitching staff to handle.

Game 2 was a much closer affair that was not decided until the 9th inning when Brussels broke a 5-5 tie to hang 3 on the board against the Neptunes’ starter Herman Mitchell. Questions will continue to persist as to why Amsterdam’s manager left the 36 year old in for 137 pitches in the game.

Game 3’s story centers firmly around the Eagles’ starter Pierre Bourque whom went 7 strong allowing only 8 Hs, 1 BB and 1 ER while striking out 5. The mystification of Amsterdam’s lineup continued even after he left; however, as Ariel Nobles entered the game and proceeded to pitch 2 completely clean innings to close out the lopsided 7-1 victory.

Hoping to stymie the bleeding, Amsterdam turned to Southpaw Alberto Bejinez, whom started only 4 games in ’09 and only 6 games total over the past 2 seasons (though did, admittedly, performed very well both seasons in the ‘pen with 3.18 and 3.65 ERAs respectively). He will be countered by Chris Allen for the Eagles whom has shown a penchant for getting lit up by the better offenses in the EBA this season (with a 5.63 ERA and 4.99 FIP on the year)