Maybe it was the free
McDonalds breakfast on the way, but most likely Gothenburg’s sluggish start at
the beginning of Game one Saturday was a mix between the four hour drive and
day-dreaming of Lena PH’s performance of ”Oh, It Hurts” that would finish off
the night’s Eurovision Song Contest in Istanbul. (if you don’t know what I’m
talking about, search Google for ”Eurovision Song Contest” + ”Lena Philipsson”)
Trust me boys…she’s got legs and she knows how to use them!
Whatever the reason, the Sharks found themselves trailing six runs to none
after the first inning. ”I have got to admit, things did not look good for us
after the first inning. We had no pep. It didn’t feel like the Gothenburg
Sharks that I’m used to playing for.”, noted Andy Vanecek. The Sharks needed a
catalyst, some kind of spark to get them going. That spark came in the bottom
of the second in the form of a superb diving catch by left-fielder Jens Mahler
that could have topped the highlight reel on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight.
The ball that was hit by Eskilstuna’s big swinging American import looked like
a sure hit as it headed for the gap in left-center and was about to start
another rally for the home team. ”I just ran with everything I had and then all
of a sudden I heard the ball crack in my mitt and thought, yes, I got it”
remembered Jens about his spectacular grab. The catch was exactly what was
needed to turn the tide and it’s momentum carried on into the third.
The Sharks who had only batted 7 men in the first two innings were about to
change that trend. Three singles and a double later Gothenburg had cut
Eskilstuna’s lead to 6-3 with left-handed hitting shortstop Andreas Wallin
coming to the plate. With runners at the corners and nobody out, Wallin swung
at the first pitch and drove a high and deep drive over the right field fence!
Tie ball game! Wallin on his game-tying drive, ”It felt good…you know, I’m not
known as a homerun hitter but sometimes ya get lucky. It was nice that my
mental training paid off.” Apparently Wallin visualizes at-bats the night
before each game, hey, whatever works man! As Arnold might say, ”different
strokes for different folks” – Wallin’s stroke was about 350 feet! Though
Andreas doesn’t feel like a homerun hitter, he certainly does hit like one- his
third inning dinger was his fourth round-tripper of the year!
After a defensive stop in the bottom of the third the Sharks added three more
in the fourth and appeared to be on their way to a 3-0 start to 2004.
Eskilstuna, however was not going to roll over and die (they would wait until
game two for that…). They tacked on three runs of their own in the bottom of
the fifth knotting the score at nine and threatening to take the lead with the
bases loaded and one out.
Despite Canada’s win over Sweden only a week earlier in hockey’s World
Championships, Gothenburg didn’t hold a grudge and went to Canadien
right-hander Curtis Dionne to stop Eskilstuna’s surge. The move worked. Curtis
forced a ground ball that Tore Hansson grabbed at first and threw home for the
force and the second out. Curtis’ nasty curveball would end the inning with a
strike out. Dionne pitched superbly, shutting out Eskilstuna for 2 2/3 innings
before being replaced in the 8th inning due to a Swedish rule that non-EU
players may only pitch 3 innings per game.
Not to be outdone, shortstop and former Swedish junior national team player
Andreas Wallin took over duties on the mound and hurled a scoreless bottom of
the eighth.
Plenty of missed opportunites at the plate with runners in scoring position in
the next three innings sent the game into extra innings dead-locked at 9-9
(Swedish Division I plays 7 inning games). ”Now it’s time for somebody to be a
hero…” said Curtis as the Sharks went to bat in the top of the ninth. Maybe it
would be Curtis himself as he stepped in against Eskilstuna’s hard-throwing
lefty #28, with Mattias Niklasson on second base and Johan Weidolf on first and
one out. With a 2-1 count temporary third-base-coach Vanecek gave the
hit-and-run signal. The runners broke with the pitch and Curtis hit a soft fly
toward left-center field. Eskilstuna’s speedy centerfielder closed in but
couldn’t get there and Niklasson scored from second to give the Sharks a 10-9
lead…but would it be enough?
It was tense and looked like it may go to the tenth as Eskilstuna’s lead off
hitter and player of the game, #28, led off at secondbase with one out and a
quality hitter at the plate. Shortstop Andy Vanecek, playing deep was just
hoping to knock down any grounder that headed for the outfield to keep the
tying run from scoring. Wallin delivered and the batter hit knuckling
line-drive that appeared to be an rbi single to left over short. But, Vanecek
had other plans. Timing his jump as he had seen Ozzie Smith, Cal Ripken Jr. and
even Greg Gagne do so many times growing up, Vanecek leaped and snared the
liner while in almost the same movement throwing to Mattias covering second
base. The throw caught the runner of the bag for a double play!
Sharks win another thriller!
