The Cubs swept the Braves in the NLCS on 9/13.
The Cubs beat the Braves 10-1 and 4-2 in the NLCS and are now 4-0 in the playoffs and have outscored
the opposition 37-6. The Cubs started John Gordon in game 2. John Gordon was dominant in game two like
Tom Barnes was in game 1. John also gave up 4 hits and uncharacteristically gave up 6 walks. John gave
up two runs, one earned. He had two runners on in the 5th and the unearned run in when he struck a
batter out to end the threat. In the 6th, the bases were loaded with a run in for a 4-2 score and the
Braves cleanup hitter was up. John won the battle and got a 6-4 grounder to end it.
The Cubs played very well on defense for the day. Alex Scott had a great day at short and Brad Adams
was huge at first. Brad made a couple nice scoops, including the first batter of the game in game 2 on a
throw from Alex. PJ O'Toole was very good at third making every play. Paul Sonnett threw out two base
runners in the second game, including the leadoff hitter in the top of the 7th which pretty much ended
the Braves day. Chris Ricker played right field and made a great catch of a ball hit to right center in
the first inning of game two. There were 2 guys on already, so it was a huge play.
Offensively, the Cubs had contributions from everyone in the lineup. Cleanup hitter Ken Hamm had a great
second game going 3-3. The Cubs scored once in the third and three times in the fourth. Those four runs
held up thanks to the pitching and defense. In the third, after Tom Barnes hit a bomb to left and was
robbed by the left fielder, Chris Ricker singled to left center. Ricker got to third and a two out walk to
Rich Schwarz put runners on the corners. Alex Scott delivered a clutch RBI single to right. In the fourth,
Ken Hamm and Paul Sonnett opened with singles and ended up on second and third for Andy Luckhardt. Andy
delivered a two run single to make it 3-0. Earl Carpenter singled to drive home Andy for the last run of
the day for the Cubs.