Creighton Cup Finals, Game 1

Playoff baseball! Does it get any better than this?! (Ask me again if the Yankees manage to win a ring this year...)

The Blue Legs hosted the Resolutes for Game 1 of the best-of-five Season 8 championship series. The story tonight was all about pitching. The Legs handed the ball to new ace Tim Keefe, acquired during the offseason for just this very purpose: to pitch this team to a championship and end their seven-year title drought. Opposing Keefe was Christy Mathewson, starting for the Resolutes in place of the injured John Clarkson. 

Keefe struck out Pete Hill to open the game, eliciting a hearty cheer from the Legs' long-suffering fans. The crowd fell silent a moment later, however, when Hughie Jennings drove one to the gap and hustled to third for a triple. He scored on Elmer Flick's sacrifice fly to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.

In the bottom of the first, Wee Willie Keeler led off with a single. Would he test the arm of Connie Mack, the league's best defensive catcher? Hell yes! Keeler swiped second and scurried home on Nap Lajoie's ensuing single. Keeler and Lajoie have been the Legs' one-two punch this season, so it wasn't surprising to see them manufacture their team's first run. 

After both teams drew blood in the opening frame, Keefe and Mathewson settled in for an old-fashioned pitcher's duel. Both men are classic strikeout pitchers, mixing velocity and movement to generate plenty of swings and misses. Mathewson in particular was masterful, complementing his heater with a maddening screwball that toyed with the Legs' hitters inning after inning.

We didn't see another run until the bottom of the eighth, when the Legs started to catch up to Mathewson's offerings. With two on and two out, Sam Crawford and Jimmy Collins hit back-to-back run-scoring singles to make it 3-1 for the home team. 

The Resolutes had one more chance in the top of the ninth. Although the Legs had closer Vic Willis ready to roll, Keefe came out to finish what he started. The visitors made him work for it. Frank Grant tripled to lead off, and then promptly came home on John McGraw's groundout. Down to the their last two outs and trailing by a run, the Resolutes sent Mack and pinch hitter Jim O'Rourke to the plate, but neither could reach base. The game ended 3-2 for the Blue Legs, who are now two wins away from breaking their championship curse!