The New Jersey Devils had their chances to tie their series with the New York Rangers at two games apiece,but ironically the man that kept them in the game helped to seal their demise in a 5-3 Ranger win that gave the Rangers a 3-1 series lead and put the Devils in the difficult position of having to win three games in a row to win the series.
Patrik Elias scored two second period goals to once tie the game and another to give the Devils the lead,but in the third period Elias would give the Rangers the puck and watch helplessly as the puck was quickly moved to an open Marc Staal and within seconds the tie was broken and the game was gone.
After such an excellent outing for Patrik,it was a frustrating ending but such has been this series for the Devils-a few miscues and bad breaks.
The teams are basically pretty evenly matched with the exception of the Rangers having more scoring talent.
So the Devils need to play solid defense and not make the boneheaded error and of course at the worst times-they have done just that.
The other New Jersey goal went to Mike Mottau,who scored in the third to tie the game at 3.
The final Ranger goal was an empty netter.
Game 5 is Friday night at the Rock,here is hoping for a win because I really do not feel like doing a Devils season in review quite yet.
Devils Pitchforks
Gold:Patrik Elias-2 goals
Silver:Mike Mottau-1 goal
Bronze:Marty Brodeur-Some of this stuff cannot be blamed on the goalie
The Pirates finished their first California visit with another thrashing at the hands of the Dodgers in a 8-1 loss.
Poor fielding and balls that just found the right spot gave the Dodgers a 6-0 lead after 2 innings and the Dodgers cruised home from there.
In the first,Los Angeles got things going on what is in the play by play as a bunt single,but actually was a poor play by Adam LaRoche.
LaRoche broke towards the lightly hit ball (not a bunt) and flipped to the covering Maholm with a 3 foot toss.
The problem was the toss needed to be about twice that.
Seems like a small thing in an 8-1 loss,but those are things that start the snowball rolling down the hill.
The next three guys singled and the fourth hit a sac fly and the rout was o
n.Maholm was chased after 5 innings and 6 runs allowed,although only 4 were earned in falling to 0-2 on the season.
After that,about the only bright spot was a dazzling double play that the Pirates turned in the 4th as Brian Bixler ranged deep into the hole to backhand the ball and fire to Freddy Sanchez,who then completed the DP with a off balance throw.
Good stuff.
The Pirates are off today and will travel to Chicago for a three game visit to Wrigley Field.
The Hagerstown Suns returned home for a contest against the visiting Delmarva Shorebirds and in the end it was not much of a contest in a 10-1 Delmarva win.
The Shorebirds smacked out 18 hits paced by returning Shorebird David Cash with 4 hits,1 homer and 4 RBI.
Only one Shorebird failed to get a base hit in the game.
Erik Arnesen pitched 3 innings of mop up work allowing 2 runs on 6 hits and fanning 4 Shorebirds.
Bullpen Notes
Anyone notice Sean Avery last night?
Didn't think so.
Once the antics are gone,he will be quickly forgotten.
Although he does seem to be a good match for Vince McMahon's crew of entertainers.
Baltimore prospect Zach Britton started for Delmarva last night and got the win
,but the pitcher that I was more impressed with was the reliever Cliff Flagello.The power armed Flagello struck out 7 Suns in 3 and two thirds and generally overpowered Hagerstown in earning the save.
Toss that name into your memory banks.
I don't know how hard Flagello was throwing as I am in exile in the GA seats for the season (Wait til next year),but I would wager at least low 90's.
On the Signing Front
Not a bad night as I added a few more Suns and a large chunk of the Shorebirds that I needed.
I am passing on tonight's game as the Shorebirds will return many times over the course of the season.
The main Hagerstown player was 2006 first rounder Colton Willems,who signed everything that I had and was quite personable as well.
The Shorebirds top prospects all seemed like good guys and took a bit to talk.
Tyler Henson,Kieron Pope,Ryan Adams all signed everything and swapped some baseball talk as well.
Tony Butler signed everything as well,Butler was part of the Erik Bedard trade with the Mariners and so did the previously mentioned Britton and Flagello.
Maybe back later with the first part of Pirate top prospects.
Photo Credits
Brodeur-Bill Kostroun-AP Photo
Sanchez-Mark Terrill-AP Photo
Flagello-Shorter.Edu
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