8. September, 2003 - game over, man

• Sunday’s Saints game started a little rough. Dave Wright was talking to the control-room pre-game, but there was no actual webcast during the first. I could hear the PA announcer announce four Saints batters during the top of the first, but that was it. Dave came on partway through the bottom of the first. Apparently the Twins game on KCCO was running late and he wasn’t aware that he should be calling the game on the web. Oops.
  After Dave apologized for the technical difficulties, and got caught up at the end of the first inning, the webcast went dead again. Argh.
  The webcast came back just as Winnpeg scored in the bottom of the second, making it 1-0, but the Saints got a couple back in the top of the third, taking the lead. It could have been more, but Justin Hall held up at third (or was held up–it wasn’t clear from the call), messing up the basepaths, which ended with Chris Jones hung up between first and second for an out.
  Winnipeg tied it at two in the bottom of the fourth. Von Haefen only pitched four and a third before being relieved by TC, who let in two of Von Haefen’s runners in the bottom of the fifth, giving the Goldeyes the lead.
  Warren Newson got his first (and as it turns out, only) hit of the playoffs in the top of the sixth, followed by a single from Alfonzo, which chased Luque. Donnie Smith took over, keeping the Saints to one run for the inning.
  Heath McMurray took over for Winnpeg in the seventh and shut down the Saints. Winnipeg wins 4-3.
  The key play of the game? It was either the base-running problem by Hall at third in the third or the dropped popup by Alfonzo in the second. Either one made at least the one-run difference the Saints needed, and also gave the Goldeyes a psychological boost.
  This was definitely a much better season than the past few years, but it’s a disappointing end to the season, and I’m not sure whether I would rather have been up in Winnipeg to watch it live or not. I’m pretty sure it would have been a depressing drive home if I’d gone up there.
• Saints' season ends with playoff loss, and Tsamis cites the same two mistakes that I noticed. It’s a bit odd that the Minneapolis paper gave this more prominent placement than the St. Paul paper did. Then again, the Saints website doesn't have the scores posted yet, either. [strib]
• Warren Zevon dead at 56. R.I.P. [strib]
• Continuing the bright sun-shiney tone of the day, I wrote up some thoughts on End of Summer recently.

Copyright 2008, Dave Polaschek. Last updated on Mon, 08 Sep 2003 08:17:31.