After splitting the 3rd and 4th games of the DL LCS, the Punxatawney
Groundhogs find themselves on the brink of elimination at the hands of the
Vero Beach Bums 3 games to 1, who have played phenomenal baseball this
postseason, handily beating Phoenix in 4 in the divisional playoffs.
However, desparate times call for desparate measures. Mike Hampton or
Dustin Hermanson would be the logical choices to start this crucial game 5.
However, Hogs' manager Dan Shapiro has gone in another direction.
"Mike and Dustin have both sucked really really bad over September and
October. No reason to tiptoe around the issue--neither of them has been
effective at all," he said.
So rather than go with one of his slated pitchers or even reliever Rick
Aguilera who started a few games this year, Shapiro is turning to his solid
bullpen for help. Set to take the mound in game 5 is reliever Sean Bergman
who has yet to start a game this year. Over the regular season, he was 3-6
with a 2.77 ERA in nearly 100 innings of work in 55 appearances.
"We think his arm is as strong as Jon's [Lieber], and he's gone many innings
of relief on numerous occasions. We can only hope that he is on his game
today and reacts well to starting rather than coming out of the pen,"
Shapiro noted.
He also said that if they do manage to win game 5 behind Bergman, Jon Lieber
will take the mound on only 3 days rest for the first time and try to win
game 6. All he could say about game 7 is that "we'll cross the bridge if
and when we get to it."
"I do want to say that I respect Vero greatly. They've played through
injury and adversity this year and have managed to stay together as a team.
They don't have a superstar, but they are just a very solid, well balanced
team all the way through with a great middle infield. If they beat us,
we'll be proud to have them represent the DL against Hartford or Brooklyn."
