  Greg Halman in Triple-A Play-Offs
Nederlands
 SEATTLE, Washington (USA) -
Greg Halman, one of the Dutch players who play professional baseball this season, is currently participating with his team Tacoma Rainers in the Pacific Coast League Play-Offs. Tacoma is the triple-A team of the Seattle Mariners.
The Tacoma Rainers won its second title in a row in the Pacific North Division last Saturday-evening. The Rainiers then won 9-0 at Fresno Grizzlies (San Francisco Giants) and closed the season on Sunday. In Saturday's game Yusmeiro Petit threw seven scoreless innings and the Venezuelan struckout eight batters. In the first inning, Greg Halman hit a solo-homerun, which was his team-leading 33rd homerun of the season. In the second inning, the Rainiers added three unearned runs.
...Greg Halman hitting for the Dutch Team...
...during the 2009 World Baseball Classic...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the best-of-five Play-Offs, Tacoma opened with a 10-8 come-from-behind win on Wednesday vs. the Sacramento River Cats (Oakland A's), the champions in the Pacific South Division. At Raley Field in the Californian capital light rain slowed play in the first three innings, resulting in a 4 hour, 10 minutes game. Sacramento initially held a 7-1 lead after two innings, but then Tacoma scored a run in the third and added four more in the fourth to narrow the deficit to 7-5. The first three runs in this at bat were the product of a 3-run homerun by Greg Halman, who turned 23 on August 26. Trailing 8-6 after six innings, Tacoma came alongside in the seventh, then scored twice in the ninth to win. On Thursday, Tacoma also won Game 2, 8-5. In the sixth, Tacoma broke an 1-1 tie when Dustin Ackley hit a grand slam, but Sacramento came alongside in the seventh inning. Tacoma then came back again and scored three runs in the eighth to win.
Tacoma now will play the next game (and if necessary Game 4 and 5) at home, which will be Safeco Field, the home of the Seattle Mariners. Tacoma's own site, Cheney Stadium, was demolished earlier in the week, as the 51-year old facility will get a major reconstruction, costing 30 million dollar.
In the other semi-final in the PCL, the American North Division-champion Memphis Redbirds (St. Louis Cardinals) are also leading 2-0 in their Play-Off vs. the Oklahoma City RedHawks (Texas Rangers), the winners of the American South Division. Joe Mather hit two homeruns for Memphis in the opener, which was won 7-5. In the second game, Memphis won 3-2. The RedHawks scored twice in the fifth, but Memphis answered with two runs in its fifth, then took the lead in the sixth on a double by Ruben Gotay.
(September 10)
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