Season 4 Championship, Game 2

With Ed Delahanty injured, the Canaries had to reconfigure the top of their lineup. Hugh Duffy retained his status as leadoff man, but slugger George Davis moved up several spots to the two-hole in place of Delahanty, regular cleanup hitter Honus Wagner took third, and Roger Connor fell back one slot to fourth.

These lineup changes made little difference at first. The Haymakers' Jack Chesbro worked quickly and efficiently, keeping the Canaries off balance in the early frames. His counterpart, Pud Galvin, matched him inning for inning. We had quite a pitcher's duel going, and neither team got a man as far as second base until the fifth.

In the bottom of that inning, the Canaries managed to load the bases with only one out. Unfortunately for them, the eight and nine hitters were up, and both Monte Ward and Pud Galvin failed to drive in a run. The Canaries had really struggled with runners in scoring position against Mickey Welch in Game 1, and it seemed that recent history was repeating itself.

Then we got to the bottom of the sixth. With one out, Davis smacked a ringing double. Wagner promptly singled him home, giving the Canaries a 1-0 lead. After Connor flied out, Buck Ewing and Fred Clarke hit back-to-back doubles, and in the blink of an eye the Canaries were up 3-0.

It was all the offense Galvin would need. Outdueled last postseason by the Blue Legs' Old Hoss Radbourn, Galvin made certain he was going to to lock down the win. The only question was whether he could pull off the first complete-game playoff shutout. With one out in the top of the ninth, Sam Thompson hit a moonshot that spoiled Galvin's shutout bid and pulled the Haymakers within two runs. They failed to score again, however, and the Canaries evened this series at one game apiece with a 3-1 triumph.

Next up is the winner-take-all Game 3 back on the Haymakers' turf. Galvin and Thompson are now the early frontrunners for Playoff MVP. I'm really impressed with Thompson so far. He's become the first player to hit multiple home runs during the same postseason, and it seems like he's in a position to change the course of the game every time he steps to the plate. If he were to win, it would be his second such trophy, as Thompson won this award in the Season 1 championship as a member of the Blue Legs after hitting the first grand slam in league history. Of course, we still have one more game to go, so perhaps another lad will step up and author his own heroic deeds!