Warpigs 4, Sidewinders 1

In what qualifies as probably my favorite regular season series ever, the Pigs took 4 out of 5 from the Snakes. This series featured two very bad teams, but that's usually a necessary component for fun.

Gm 1 @ The Snake Pit - Warpigs win 7-3. Edinson Volquez throws his first complete game of the year in the win, striking out 14. The Pig batters pounded Jon Lester and company for 13 hits. Daniel Stubbs and Gordon Beckham homered for the Snakes.

Gm 2 @ The Snake Pit - Sidewinders win 10-2. Volquez gets the Snakes out with ease in game 1, but Jeremy Hellickson gets clobbered. Go figure. Michael Pineda went 7 innings for the win. David Wright hit a grand slam.

Gm 3 @ The BallPork - Warpigs win 9-3. Erik Bedard allowed only 4 hits over 8 innings to get the win, but the key stat of the game: the Pigs stole TEN bases. Thanks to the holds of Ubaldo Jimenez and Carlos Marmol, seven different Pigs stole bases, but the last one was the best. After Geovanny Soto walked in the 8th, Stephen Drew came off the bench specifically to try for steal #10. The Snakes, sensing the strategy, changed pitchers. Neftali Feliz came in to make the hold -7. Drew is only a *15 anyway (and has a pickoff at 9!), but we had to try. Drew got the lead and took off. It was only 1-8, but he got the 7 for the tenth steal of the game. It also drew this response from the Snakeman: "Fucker."

Gm 4 @ The BallPork - Warpigs win 7-6. The game started with Dee Gordon singling, stealing 2nd, stealing 3rd, and then being doubled off when Colby Rasmus lined out to 2nd. It was that kind of day for the Snakes. The much-maligned Edinson Volquez was tooling along with a 1-0 lead when he was taken out in the 6th. The Snakes were so happy to see the Pig pen, that they erupted for 6 runs in the top of the 7th. The Pigs immediately went into "at bat saving" mode. Geovanny Soto was called on in the 8th to do just that, and he took advantage of it by slapping an rbi double. Brandon Crawford of all people, active only because it was a September game, singled him home. Chris Sale was then brought on to put out the small fire but only made it bigger when pinch hitter J.D. Martinez blasted a 2-run homer. With the score now 6-5, Craig Kimbrel came on for what would have to be a 5-out save, but he was greeted by a pinch hit double by John Mayberry and a game-tying double by Jeff Francoeur. With two outs, David Freese singled in Francoeur with the go-ahead run. Marc Rzepczynski muddled thru the top of the 9th for the save.

Gm 5 @ The BallPork - Warpigs win 2-1. Brandon Morrow and Jeremy Hellickson faced off in a game that featured an ALL LEFTY LINEUP by the Snakes vs an ALL RIGHTY LINEUP for the Pigs. With those lineups, it was no surprise that the game came down to Vinnie Pestano (9R) vs Rzepczynski (6L). But the fun of it all was in the bottom of the 9th. Adam Dunn, another September call up, doubled off of Pestano (missing the 1-18 triple). A ground out moved pinch runner Mike Leake to 3rd. Then the Pigs brought in Jordan Zimmermann to pinch-bunt. With Omar Infante, another A bunter, on deck, the Snakeman took a long time to deliberate before deciding to bring in Craig Kimbrel and intentionally walk both of the A bunters to pitch to Brett Lawrie. But the Pigs had another plan in mind, and pinch hit for Lawrie with Jake Westbrook, yet another A bunter. This led to...
SNAKEMAN: You sir, are an asshole.
PIGMAN: Oh, like I haven't heard THAT before.
Westbrook attempted the suicide squeeze, but naturally, the bunt ended up being a force out at home. Freddie Freeman then promptly doubled singled to end the game.

Aside from the usual NetPlay problems, this was as fun a series as I have had in a long time.