Hooks Win Title; Express, V-Cats Fall Short

Wade Robinson's 14th-inning single drove in Jorge Cortes with the game-winning run, and the Corpus Christi Hooks, in only their second year of existence, took the Texas League championship early this morning to cap a nearly five hour long baseball game.

It's nearly game time for the Astros, so I am forced to be more brief than I might like^*, but it looks like this game had everything.

Tons of bases loaded opportunities squelched, great catches to save the game, a starting pitcher removed after 2/3 of an inning, a ninth-inning triple play, and of course, the two requisites in all such long games, outstanding relief pitching from those towards the end of the pen, and the late-inning replacement who ends up as hero.

Read more about this, I urge you. Greg Rajan says the game was "one of the most spellbinding and heart-stopping in the 118-year history of the Texas League," and the MiLB story, while predictably a little less stirring, is worth a scan, as well.

I also dug the call of the game-winning hit that MiLB has made available.

Unfortunately, while Corpus was ending their Championship Series on a winning note, both Round Rock and Tri-City were having their seasons ended in a less desirable way.

The Tucson Sidewinders parlayed a five-run seventh inning off Phil Barzilla and Jailen Peguero into a second-consecutive 6 - 3 victory, and completed their PCL Championship with a three-game sweep of the Express.

And in Staten Island, New York, the ValleyCats were once again unable to score runs, and a very serviceable start from Chris Salamida did the V-Cats little good, as the Short Season Yankees wrapped up their second straight New York Penn league title, and eliminated Tri-City.

Still, as I say elsewhere, it was a fantastic year for the minor leagues. There are some players down there, it seems, and it looks like both reinforcements for the major league squad and trade-ammunition should be plentiful for the forseeable future.

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^*Peanut Gallery: "Hooray"