|
14 |
MYERS' MOMENT
THE 20 GREATEST GAMES OF ALL-TIME
| Another thriller with Mobile
from mid-May of 2001. While the natural rivalry with Birmingham had its many moments, the Barons year in and year out since 1995 had won every season series, most years convincingly. Huntsville's matches with Mobile were tugs-of-war. Huntsville has held a 48-39 advantage since 2000, but the first three years were about even. Even after 2000, you could never know what to expect in a game between these two teams. Of all the Stars opponents, none provided more thrills than Mobile and this list bears evidence of that. On this list, there are still three games against Mobile that were the most memorable of all-time. The Stars were tied for 2nd place, 2 games back, in the middle of a long road trip, and battling for first-place in the Western Division. The Stars jumped out to a 6-0 lead for Nick Neugebauer going to the bottom of the 5th, but they knocked Noogie out, needing to get just one out for the winning decision, but a lot of pitches and a few walks took its toll. Mobile scored three runs and Jack Krawczyk had to finish out the inning. The Bay Bears rallied for another run off Krawczyk in the 5th and two more to tie it at 6-6 on an RBI grounder by Tim DeCinces and an RBI single by Alex Pelaez. That's how it stood until the 14th inning. Both teams had plenty of chances to put this away long before it ended. Note the number of hits in this game --- 33, the number of walks --- 16, and then the number of men left on base --- 37. I wish I had the scoresheet on this. The tales it would tell, but it was on the road, so all I can say about it is what the sketchy newspaper reports gave out. In the top of the 14th, Josh Klimek walked, then advanced to second on a Jeff Pickler grounder. On a wild pitch by Andy Bausher, Klimek went to third. Bausher walked .300 hitter Dave Gibralter to get to pitcher Aaron Myers. Myers had not allowed an earned run in 8 2/3 innings since coming off the disabled list on May 21. The former 3rd baseman, after pitching three stellar innings of relief, ripped a double to win the game. It was the Stars' second 14-inning game in three days. Myers would not finish out the season. Before an August 11 start against the Diamond Jaxx, he would suffer a back injury while warming up. He would return to the disabled list on August 12, not to return for the playoffs against Birmingham. He became a free agent in October, but was not picked up by any major league organization. He spent the 2002 season in the independent Northern League, where he became an 11-game winner for the New Jersey Jackals. |
| May 29, 2001 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | R | H | E | |
| Huntsville | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 17 | 2 | |
| Mobile | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 16 | 1 |
WP- Aaron Myers (2-0)
LP- Andy Bausher (0-1)
| HUNTSVILLE | ab r h bi | MOBILE | ab r h bi |
| Pickler, 2b | 7 0 0 0 | Owens, cf | 6 0 1 0 |
| Cesar, ss | 8 1 3 1 | Thrower, 2b | 8 1 1 1 |
| Gibralter, 1b-lf | 6 1 1 0 | Koonce, lf | 3 1 1 0 |
| Jacobsen, 1b | 3 2 2 0 | Loggins, pr-rf | 3 0 0 0 |
| Sanchez, pr | 0 0 0 0 | McNeal, 1b | 5 2 2 1 |
| Mallette, p | 0 0 0 0 | Benjamin, lf-rf | 7 1 3 1 |
| Mathis, ph | 1 0 0 0 | DeCinces, c | 6 0 1 1 |
| Kimball, p | 0 0 0 0 | Pelaez, 3b-p-3b | 7 0 2 1 |
| Brownson, ph | 1 0 0 0 | Davidson, ss | 7 0 3 0 |
| Myers, p | 1 0 1 1 | Bynum, p | 1 0 0 0 |
| DeRosso, 3b | 4 0 1 0 | Powers, ph | 1 0 0 0 |
| Coppinger, p | 0 0 0 0 | Pearson, p | 1 1 1 0 |
| Cridland, ph-lf | 4 0 1 0 | Green, ph | 0 0 0 0 |
| Fox, cf | 5 1 3 2 | Fikac, p | 0 0 0 0 |
| Kirby, rf | 6 1 4 1 | Nieves, ph | 0 0 0 0 |
| Moon, c | 6 0 0 0 | Condrey, p | 0 0 0 0 |
| Neugebauer, p | 2 0 1 2 | Camp, ph | 1 0 0 0 |
| Krawczyk, p | 1 0 0 0 | Bausher, p-3b-p | 0 0 0 0 |
| Klimek, 3b | 1 1 0 0 | Guttormson, ph | 1 0 1 0 |
56 7 17 7 |
57 6 16 5 |
||
| E- Kirby, Moon, Bausher... DP- Huntsville 1, Mobile 1... LOB- Huntsville 19, Mobile 18... 2b- Cesar, Jacobsen, Myers, Neugebauer, Guttormson... HR- Cesar (4, off Bynum)... SB- Fox (4), Kirby (2)... CS- Fox... S- Pickler, Moon. | |||
| HUNTSVILLE | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR |
| Neugebauer | 4 2/3 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 6 | 0 |
| Krawczyk | 1 2/3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Coppinger | 1 2/3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Mallette | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Kimball | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Myers (W. 2-0) | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| MOBILE | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR |
| Bynum | 5 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Pearson | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Fikac | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Condrey | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Bausher (L. 0-1) | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Pelaez | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| WP- Neugebauer, Krawczyk 2... PB- DeCinces. | |||||||
| Time: 4:35 | Attendance: 2,367 | ||||||