Coppinger Masterful in Second Victory October 7, 1999
Punxatawney, PA (AP)
With a 1-0 series advantage, the Punxatawney Groundhogs sent young Rocky
Coppinger to the mound in an important game 2 of their divisional playoff
series against Binghamton. Only 22 years of age, Coppinger led the Hogs in
wins this year. He was facing veteran David Cone, who struggled a bit
during this season.
"I remember at least 4 or 5 teams wanted to trade for Rocky last year and
this year. I've said no to every one of them. He's the future of this
rotation," said manager Dan Shapiro.
Coppinger did not let anyone down on this day. He was utterly masterful,
throwing one of his best games of the season. Rocky needed only 108 pitches
to throw 8 innings, allowing just 2 hits, no walks, and no runs while
striking out 6. Closer Ricky Bottalico came on for the save, getting the
last out on a Jeff Bagwell grounder to Tony Batista at second.
The offense once again came from the unlikely hero, Jason Giambi. For the
second straight game, the Hogs 1B hit a crucial homerun. With the score 1-0
in the 5th inning and two outs, he crushed a Cone fastball over the
right-centerfield wall, driving in Geronimo Berroa to give his team a 3-0
lead. The earlier run came when Dave Martinez doubled, stole third, and
scored on a Jose Valentin sacrifice fly.
"I'm very proud of everyone today," said Shapiro. "It was a team effort
again. Almost everyone was on base once. Four or five different guys were
crucial in getting our offense."
Binghamton did not even get a hit from any of their big three, as Bagwell,
Caminiti, and McGwire combined to go 0-10 with 3 strikeouts. Only Arnold
O'Niell and Joe Carter managed hits. Cone lasted only 5 innings, giving up
3 runs on 4 hits, 1 walk, and 1 strikeout. Reliever Mel Rojas mopped up
with 3 scoreless innings, but it was to no avail--the Hogs were the rightful
winners on this day.
"When you throw 75% strikes, its hard to lose," noted pitching coach Mark
Fidyrich.
With a comfortable 2-0 lead, the Hogs need just 1 win in the next three
games to advance to the DLCS. They were last there in 1997 when Vero Beach
topped them 4-1 before going to on lose to the Hartford Whalers 4-0 in the
World Series.
Scheduled to pitch tomorrow for Binghamton is Frank Rodriguez. He will face
Bobby Thomas, who is coming off two of the best months of his career in
which he improved his record from near .500 to 14-6. Rodriguez is a very
worthy opponent, 16-5 with a 3.21 ERA and 20/31 QS this year. Thomas has
had two distinct seasons this year. In the earlygoing, he was struggling to
win with an ERA near 5.00. Recently, he's had a hard time losing with an
ERA near 2.00. It averages out to a 14-6, 3.92 year, with 14/26 quality
starts.
Not pitching tomorrow, in a bit of a surprising move, is Sean Bergman.
Bergman had a 16-7 record with a 2.67 ERA this year, and the decision not to
pitch him in a possible series clinching game was questioned by many.
"I'm annoyed, I won't lie about that," said Bergman. "I deserved to throw
game 1 the way I pitched this year, and now I might not get to pitch at all.
I'm a competitor, I want to be out there."
Shapiro had a different view on the matter.
"I went with the guys who have been historically best. Sean has only
started 57 games in his career. Lieber has always been our ace, and Rocky
has been great the last two years. Bobby has had a great second half of
this year, and is our top strikeout guy with over 80 starts. If there's a
game 4, Sean will pitch it," Shapiro said. "He might pitch game 1 or 2 of
the DLCS if we make it there too."
Who will Punxatawney play if they make it? That's still up in the air.
Washington and Phoenix have played to a pair of great games, each team
winning one. In the Voyager League, a major upset is brewing--New Diggens
slaughtered the Galena Hamsters 13-5 today, taking a 2-0 lead in that
series. In addition, Deadwood leads Motor City 2-0 after a solid victory
today.
"We want this series over tomorrow. We'll get an extra day or two to rest
before the LCS," said slugger Ryan Klesko. "We don't care who we play next
round either--we care about getting there. We'll worry about winning that
series after we finish off the Mets."
The series now switches to the hotbed of the Mets Militia, in Binghamton.
In order to preserve team safety, the Hogs will be travelling in armored
tanks with a police and national guard escort.
