Joy in Mudhenville – again!!

It’s back2back championships for the Toledo Mud Hens!!! They won the IL pennant tonight by blasting Rochester 10-1 in front of a sold-out frenzied crowd of 10,300 at Fifth Third Field.

2006 was much different for the Hens. Last year they cruised to the best record in the IL and, after escaping Norfolk to get past the first round, they swept the wildcard Indianapolis Indians to win their first pennant since 1967 (I was 2 years old when they won.) This year, they blew their first opportunity to lay the hammer down and win the division on the last day of the season, so Toledo fans had to sweat out a one-game playoff at Fifth Third against Indianapolis just to become eligible for the playoffs with the worst record of the four IL playoff teams at 77-66.

After a Game 1 loss to Charlotte at home, the Hens recovered in Game 2 to even the series – however, the last 3 games were scheduled in the Knights’ Castle, when Toledo was 0-4 this season (the last two scheduled regular season contests for the Hens in Charlotte were wiped out because of Tropical Storm Ernesto in late August.) But the Hens managed to broom the two contests in Charlotte and advance to the IL finals against the Rochester Red Wings, who were the IL wild card but knocked out the league’s best team recordwise (Scranton-Wilkes Barre). Much like the 2005 IL playoffs, the team with the better record (Rochester) was forced to play 3 road games, but this time it would be to Toledo’s advantage.

Toledo won the opener in New York, but dropped the second game there and the first back at home to fall behind in the series 2-1. But last night’s 6-0 whitewash of the Red Wings evened the series and set the stage for tonight’s heroics. Toledo took a 2-0 lead in the first, added 4 in the second on three homers and never looked back as the party could begin at home this season.

And as an added bonus, the Mud Hens advance to play the PCL champion Tucson Sidewinders in the first “Bricktown Showdown” on “the deuce” (ESPN2) Tuesday night from Oklahoma City. (Of course, that’s my bowling night. Hopefully they start at 7 p.m. local time so I can catch the end.)

Now I hope this is a sign of things to come. As the playoffs turned out, the Detroit Tigers’ top farm club first disposed of the Chicago White Sox’s top affiliate then defeated the top-level Minnesota Twins farmhands. I’ll happily take that Detroit/Minnesota/Chicago order in the AL Central this season as well.

Author: Michael

It's me from my laptop computer.