The Official Home of
The Farmington Hillsbillies
Charter Member of the
Metro Detroit Strat Baseball League (MDSL)
Playoffs
First Round:
FAR received a first round bye for finishing in 1st place.
Second Round:
FAR vs POR (Bill vs Rick)
GAME 1: FAR 6 POR 3 (Clemens vs. Smoltz ) Roger Clemens carried a no-hitter into the 6th to squelch any POR hopes in the opener. Three FAR HRs paced the offense. McGwire hit a 2 run blast in the first to open the scoring. FAR scored another in the 3rd to add to the lead. Bagwell's solo shot in the 5th and Garciaparra's 2 run HR in the 6th closed the scoring for FAR. POR did make things interesting though as they scored one in the 6th on a Sheffield HR to break up the no-hit attempt. POR then scored another in the 8th and loaded the bases in the 9th with 2 out before Abreu ended the rally by grounding out (1-11 roll) Boxscore
GAME 2: FAR 12 POR 4 (Harnisch vs. Finley ) POR jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead as Lankford balsted a 3 run HR deep into the second deck with 2 out in the 1st. FAR responded quickly by batting around in the first and scoring 4 of their own. FAR added 2 in the 3rd, 1 each in the 4th and 5th, then finally 4 in the 6th. The only FAR HR was by McGwire and accounted for the last three runs of the game for FAR. Other than Lankford's HR, POR's only run came on a solo HR by Segui in the 9th off Bohanon. Boxscore
GAME 3: POR 7 FAR 6 (13 inn.) (Ashby vs. Mussina ) Vinny Castilla's lead off homer in the bottom of the 13th ended this close battle. FAR scored first in the top of the 1st as a Chipper Jones sac fly drove home Bagwell. POR tied it right back up with an Abreu double and Castilla single. Jay Bell's HR in the top of 2nd gave FAR a 2-1 lead. POR answered again; this time with three run scoring singles by Kendall, Abreu, and Sheffield. FAR tied the game at 4-4 in the 3rd on a 2 run double by Griffey. The score stayed the same until the last of the 6th when Greer scored on an error by pitcher David Veres. POR scored again in the 8th on back-to-back doubles by Kendall and Abreu. McGwire's 2 run HR tied the game again at 6 in the 9th. This set the stage for Castilla's heroics. Boxscore
GAME 4: POR 6 FAR 4 (Benes vs. Reed ) Rick Reed went the distance and scattered 10 hits for the series tying victory. POR scored first in the 1st as Abreu doubled and Sheffield singled him home. Jay Bell's ground out scored Griffey to tie the score in the 3rd. FAR took the lead on a McGwire single and a Guerrero triple. FAR stretched the lead to 3-1 in the 5th as IRod doubled and Bagwell singled him home. Segui's HR brought POR within 3-2 in the 5th then POR took the lead for good in the 6th as Kendall singled; Abreu doubled him to 3rd; Kendall scored as Grieve was safe on Garciaparra's error; a Castilla sac fly drove home the lead run. POR stretched the lead to 6-3 in the 7th as Segui and Greer hit back-to-back doubles and Kendall hit a sac fly. A Garciaparra HR in the 8th for FAR completed the scoring. Boxscore
GAME 5: FAR 10 POR 4 (Clemens vs Smoltz) It was a see-saw game through the first 7 innings as FAR took a 1-0 lead in the first on an Edmonds HR. POR took the lead 2-1 in the 2nd as Segui hit a 2-run HR. In the FAR half of the 2nd, Jones led off being safe on a Renteria error. Garciaparra followed with a single. One out later, Rodriguez and Walker hit run scoring singles to give FAR a 3-2 lead after 2 innings. It stayed that way until the 5th when Segui hit another 2-run HR to give POR another 1 run lead, this time 4-3. In the bottom of the 6th, McGwire received a 1 out BB. With 2 out, Jones singled, then Garciaparra belted a 2 run triple to give FAR a 5-4 lead. In the bottom of the 8th, FAR exploded for 5 runs featuring a McGwire solo HR and a Rodriguez 3 run HR that gave FAR the 10-4 win. Boxscore
Game 6: POR 6 FAR 5 (Harnisch vs Wood) It looked bleak for the Devil Rays entering the bottom of the 9th. They trailed 5-1. However, a key error by Chipper Jones with 2 out and 2 runners on base set the stage for a dramatic three-run pinch hit home run by Craig Wilson off Mariano Rivera to send the series to a 7th game in Farmington Hills. Of course, POR did not have all the luck in this one. FAR scored three runs in the first on a walk, a BP HR by McGwire, another walk, a SB with catcher's overthrow and a balk. However, Harnisch was cruising until the 9th when he gave up back-to-back doubles off of his card (6-5 rolls I think). Rivera then got Castilla and Lankford, but a walk to Knoblauch and double by Billies' nemesis David Segui set up Jones' crucial error. POR's 4th run scored on the error. Then, Wilson pinch hit for Renteria and hit a 1-9 HR for the win. Rivera has unexpectedly blown 2 save opportunities in Port Charlotte. Boxscore
Game 7: FAR 12 POR 11 (Ashby vs Mussina) POR never gave up and almost pulled another miracle rally in the 9th inning. Trailing 12-7 entering the top of the 9th, POR rallied with 4 runs and still had runners on 1st and 2nd with one out and David Sequi up. Segui had hit 4 HR in the series thus far and was looking for only a single to tie the game. This time, however, Rivera induced a 1-6-3 double play to end the game and series.
POR scored first in the first as Kendall led off with a double. Abreu singled him to 3rd before Sheffield hit into a double play allowing Kendall to score. In the bottom of the 2nd Jay Bell capped a 4 run rally with a 3 run HR. Sheffield hit a 2 run HR (5-11 roll) in the top of the 3rd to draw within 4-3. In the 4th, FAR scored 5 capped by a 3 run McGwire HR. After a 1-2-3 POR 5th, Griffey hit a 2 run HR in the bottom of 5th to give FAR a seemlingly safe lead at 11-3. However, POR started their charge in their 6th with a 4 run rally started by a Castilla HR, followed by a 2 run Greer single and a run scoring Wilson single. Chipper Jones' solo HR in the 7th established a 5 run cushion for FAR at 12-7. This set the stage for the near dramatics in the 9th that ended with the game ending double play. Boxscore
Series Stats Summary:
Port Charlotte Devil Rays stats
Farmington Hillsbillies stats