Leo: We’re goin’ to the ‘ship!

Well, here we are again. The Clippers are three wins away from back-to-back Governors’ Cup Championships and the ninth title  in franchise history. Mike Sarbaugh’s club should be confident, considering they’ve held the best record in the league for most of the year, but they also know they have another tall mountain to climb to beat Ryne Sanberg’s IronPigs.

• Lehigh Valley won the season series 5-3, splitting four games in Columbus and taking three of four in Allentown.
• The IronPigs are making their first-ever post-season appearance. They were never above .500 in the first three years of their existence (this is year number four).
• The Clippers are attempting to become the 12^th team in league history to win back-to-back championships. The Clippers have won consecutive titles twice before (1979-81 and 1991-92).

Pitching Probables
Game #1 – RH Zach McAllister (12-3, 3.32) vs. RH Scott Mathieson (2-2, 3.28)
Game #2 – RH Mitch Talbot (4-2, 2.26) vs. RH Nate Bump (5-9, 4.97)
Game #3 – RH Joe Martinez (8-9, 4.04) vs. RH Dave Bush (1-2, 3.91)
Game #4 – RH Paolo Espino (2-1, 3.43) vs. LH Ryan Edell (5-5, 3.27)
Game #5 – RH Corey Kluber (7-11, 5.56) vs. RH Brian Bass (8-10, 3.81)

Possible Starting Lineups

Lehigh Valley
1. Rich Thompson (CF) – led league with 48 stolen bases
2. Scott Podsednik (LF) – recently off DL, over 1,000 Major League games
3. Kevin Frandsen (3B)
4. Brandon Moss (RF) – team leader in HRs (23) and RBIs (80)
5.  Dominic Brown (DH)
6.  Josh Barfield (2B) – former Cleveland Indians infielder
7.  Cody Overbeck (1B) or Tagg Bozied (1B)
8.  Erik Kratz (C – Three-time IL All-Star
9. Freddy Galvis (SS)

Columbus
1.  Tim Fedroff (CF) – had 20-game hitting streak in Double-A
2.  Travis Buck (RF) – battling injury, had two momentum-building catches in first round
3. Jared Goedert (3B) – hit .356 with 7 HRs and 23 RBIs in last 23 games
4.Beau Mills (1B)
5.  Jerad Head (LF) – 24 HRs and 70 RBIs
6.  Nick Johnson (DH) or Chad Huffman (DH)
7. Juan Diaz (SS) – joined Columbus from Double-A for playoffs
8. Paul Phillips C or Luke Carlin C
9. Argenis Reyes (SS)

* The Clippers led the league in runs scored (716) and homers (152), finishing fourth in team batting (.264).

* Lehigh Valley was ninth in runs (601) and homers (117), finishing 11^th in batting (.256).

 Columbus’ team ERA was 3.94 (6^th) and the IronPigs’ was 3.68 (3^rd).

Schedule
Tue. – LHV @ COL, 7:05pm
Wed. – LHV @ COL, 7:05pm
Thu. – COL @ LHV, 7:05pm
Fri. – COL @ LHV, 7:05pm (if necessary)
Sat. – COL @ LHV, 6:35pm (if necessary)

See you at the park!