Ex-Rattler playoff action (10/19)

Game Seven ALCS:

@Rays 3, Red Sox 1
Box score

Ex-Rattlers for Boston:
David Ortiz ('96): 0-for-3, BB, 2K

Highlighted Ex-Midwest Leaguer:
Matt Garza (Beloit, '05): Last night, Garza allowed one run on two hits and struck out nine over seven innings for a Rays win. He was a first round pick of the Twins in 2005 and quickly went to Beloit after four starts in the Appalachian League.

Ex-Rattler playoff action (10/18)

Red Sox 4 @ Rays 2

Ex-Rattler for Boston:
David Ortiz ('96): 2-for-4, RBI, run
Highlighted Midwest League alumni:

Mark Kotsay (Kane County, '96): The Florida Marlins selected Kotsay with a first round pick (ninth overall) in the 1996 draft. Once Kotsay signed, he was sent to Kane County. Kotsay played 17 games with the Cougars went 17-for-60 with two homers, eight RBI, and 16 runs scored.

Game 7 is tonight ex-Beloit Snapper Matt Garza gets the ball for the Rays against Jon Lester.

Photo Credit: Barry Chin/Boston Globe

Did you see it?

BJ Upton just hit another home run and the Rays are leading the Red Sox in Game Six of the ALCS....Oh, that's right. TBS is having technical difficulties. The Steve Harvey Show is on right now.

NOTE: I reserve the right to take down the snark on this post if something serious knocked the broadcast off the air.

UPDATE: Snark will stay. It may even ramp up a bit.

The reason

Game 6 of the American League Championship Series started without a nationwide television broadcast on Saturday, as TBS experienced power-related transmission problems.

TBS officials informed Major League Baseball that it was working to correct a "router failure" that had created the issue. The failure occurred in the moments leading up to the broadcast of the game between the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays and has been traced to ongoing power problems in Atlanta, where Turner Broadcasting Systems is based.

"Router failure"? That's okay. It's not like baseball fans across the country were tuning in to watch this game.

Ex-Rattler playoff action (10/16)

ALCS Game Five:

@Red Sox 8, Rays 7:
Box score

Ex-Rattler for Boston:
David Ortiz ('96): 1-for-5, HR, 3RBI

Highlighted Midwest League Alum:
Coco Crisp (Peoria, 2000):

Crisp drove in the tying run for the Red Sox in the bottom of the eighth inning last night. He was a 7th round pick of the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1999 draft and joined the Chiefs on August 2, 2000 for a game against the Dayton Dragons.

He was known as Covelli Crisp at the time of his first two games against the Rattlers on August 5th and 6th at Vonachen Stadium. He batted ninth and second and went hitless in both games. Then, on August 7 Crisp went into the lead-off spot and went 1-for-4 with a run scored in a 4-1 Peoria win. He was the lead-off batter in the game on August 8 and was 1-for-4 with a walk.

To wrap up the 2000 regular season, the Chiefs were in Grand Chute. He went hitless in the first two games of the series, but went 2-for-4 in the third game. Crisp doubled in a run and scored in the top of the ninth in a 4-1 Chief win. He did not play in the final game of the 2000 season.

Crisp hit .276 with 0 homers and 7 RBI with 7 stolen bases in 27 games with the Chiefs.

The Cardinals traded him to Cleveland as the player to be named later for Chuck Finley in 2002. The Indians sent him to Boston in 2006.

Photo credits: Boston.com

NLCS over

The Phillies beat the Dodgers 5-1 in Game Five of the NLCS to advance to the World Series.

Box score

Ex-Rattler Greg Dobbs ('02) did not get into the game last night, but he's into the Fall Classic.

Highlighted Midwest League Alum from the game last night: Greg Maddux (Peoria, '85): Maddux was 13-9 in 27 starts with six complete games and 186 innings for the Chiefs as a 19-year old. He made his major league debut late in 1986 and picked up the first two of his 355 major league wins.

Ex-Rattler playoff action (10/14)

Game Four ALCS

Rays 13 @ Red Sox 4

Box score

Ex-Rattler for Boston:
David Ortiz ('96): 1-for-4, run

Highlighted Midwest League Alum:
Andy Sonnanstine (Southwest Michigan Devil Rays, '05): The 13th round pick of the Devil Rays out of Kent State in 2004 pitched in Battle Creek during the 2005 season. He went 10-4 in 18 starts and struck out 103 batters in 116-2/3 innings.

Sonnanstine face the Timber Rattlers one time during the 2005 season. On May 2 at C.O. Brown Stadium, Wisconsin got to him for six runs on 10 hits over six innings. Brandon Green, Josh Womack, and Rob Johnson all hit homers off Sonnanstine.

Ex-Rattler playoff action (10/13)

ALCS Game Three:
Rays 9 @ Red Sox 1

Box score

Ex-Rattler:
BOS: David Ortiz ('96): 0-for-4

Higlighted Midwest League Alum:
TB: Matt Garza (Beloit, '05). Garza was the winning pitcher for the Rays last night. In 2005, he went 3-3 in 10 starts for the Beloit Snappers. Garza made one start against the Timber Rattlers. On September 4 at Pohlman Field, Garza allowed two runs on six hits with seven strikeouts over six innings. The Rattlers scored a game in the top of the eighth inning for a 3-2 win.

NLCS Game Four:
Phillies 7 @Dodgers 5
Box score

Ex-Rattler:
PHI: Greg Dobbs ('02): 1-for-2

Highlighted Midwest League Alum:
PHI: Brad Lidge (Quad City, '98): Brad Lidge was a 1st round pick of the Houston Astros in 1998 out of Notre Dame. His first stop in pro ball was with Quad City. He made four appearances (all starts) and went 0-1. Lidge walked five and struck out six in 11 innings for the River Bandits.

Ex-Rattler playoff action (10/11)

@Rays 9, Red Sox 8 (11 innings)

Ex-Rattlers for the Red Sox:
David Ortiz ('96): 0-for-3, run, 3 BBs

Ex-Midwest Leaguers in the game:
BOS:

Jason Bay (Clinton, '01)

Mark Kotsay (Kane County, '96)

Coco Crisp (Peoria, '00)

Josh Beckett (Kane County, '00)

TB:
Fernando Perez (Southwest Michigan, '05)

Grant Balfour (Quad City, '99)

Highlighted Midwest League Alumni for Tampa Bay:
I got a serious case of deja vu when Fernando Perez scored the winning run for the Rays last night.

Here's why.

May 3, 2005. Timber Rattlers at Southwest Michigan Devil Rays. Wisconsin had a 3-1 lead going into the bottom of the ninth.

Eric O'Flaherty walked the first two batters of the inning and a sacrifice bunt put the tying runs in scoring position. Tommy Nichols followed with an RBI single. Then, Fernando Perez pinch-ran for Nichols.

Craig Markel drove in the tying run and sent Perez to second. John Asanovich was next and his single knocked Perez across the plate with the game-winning run.

Bonus ALCS Fact:
Rays manger Joe Maddon both played and managed in the Midwest League.

He played for the Quad City Angels in 1976. That team lost in the MWL Championship Series.

Maddon managed the Peoria Chiefs in 1984. The final year the Angels were in Peoria.

Ex-Rattler playoff action (10/10)

@Phillies 8, Dodgers 5:
Box Score

Ex-Rattler for the Phillies:
Greg Dobbs ('02): 2-for-3, BB, 2 runs

Highlighted Midwest League Alum for the Dodgers:
Clayton Kershaw (Great Lakes, '07): Kershaw pitched 1-2/3 of scoreless relief for LA last night. Kershaw faced the Timber Rattlers one time in 2007. At Dow Diamond on May 8, he allowed two runs on five hits with two walks and eight strikeouts over 5-2/3 innings. He picked up the win.

Red Sox 2 @ Rays 0:
Box score

Ex-Rattler for the Red Sox:
David Ortiz ('96): 0-for-3, BB

Highlighted Midwest League Alum for the Rays:
Grant Balfour (Quad City, '99): Balfour pitched 1-1/3 innings of scoreless relief for the Rays with a strikeout and a hit batsman. He was 8-5 in 35 games (10 starts) for the River Bandits in 1999 as a farmhand for the Twins.

Bonus ALCS Fact:
The Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays were the first and last parent club of the Midwest League team that used to be in Battle Creek.

The Michigan Battle Cats were the Midwest League affiliate of the Red Sox from 1995-1998. The Southwest Michigan Devil Rays were in Battle Creek for 2005 and 2006 as the affiliate of the (at the time) Devil Rays.

After the '06 season, the Battle Creek franchise moved to Midland and the Rays left for the South Atlantic League.