Twins Sweep Their Way To 2015 Nicewonger Division Championship
This year the Twins left nothing to chance. Kyle Madej's bunch of stalwarts posted 12-2 and 9-3 victories over the San José Angels to win their first Nicewonger division championship.
No strangers to perfection, the Twins ran the table in the 2015 Nicewonger playoffs winning all four playoff games and reversing their fortunes from last year's heartbreaking 19 inning championship game loss to the Mets.
Last year the Twins posted only the second perfect season in SJMSBL history winning all 20 regular season games. But the Twins came up short in the second season - the playoffs - splitting the six post season games and finishing a close second.
Taking that bitter lesson to heart the 2015 Twins dedicated themselves to going undefeated when it counts, in September.
The 2015 Twins started strong out of the gate when team ace Michael Monelo threw a no hitter on Opening Day. Monelo was the anchor of a very talented mound corps posting a 9-1 record with a ridiculous 0.88 ERA. The rest of the staff also enjoyed success with Sergio Herrara (3-1, 1.45 ERA), Jason Ethridge (4-3, 2.26) and Joey Kies (1-1, 2.76, 3 saves) all posting great numbers. Rob Rosales and skipper Kyle Madej also pitched in during the championship season.
Catchers Roberto Cueno and Mark Miloto provided the Twins with two outstanding receivers to handle the pitchers and manage the game from the field.
The offense was led by veteran Jason Ethridge who finished the regular season hitting .400 and then turned it up to .667 clip in the playoffs.
The Twins also belted 12 home runs on the season and stole 59 bases, setting franchise records.
Kris Watts and Greg Shepard provided left handed pop in the middle of the order while rookies Rich McDowell and Cody Guanera balanced the attack. Sergio Herrera and Raymond Montez set the table for the Twins all year at the top of the order.
All season long, Jeff Schwan provided gold glove defense that was the key to the championship effort.
Focusing all season long on the playoffs, the Twins used the regular season to get everybody playing time and work on fundamentals that are always the main ingredient in successful playoff runs.
The Twins finished the season with a 12-7-1 record to garner the number two seed entering the playoffs. Their semifinal opponent were the defending champion Santa Cruz Mets in a rematch of the 2014 epic championship series.
Game one found the Twins down to their last out in the bottom of the ninth inning trailing 3-2 when Rich McDowell laced a single into right field to drive in the tying run. It remained tied until Kris Watts led off the bottom of the 12th inning with a walk-off homer over the centerfield fence giving the Twins a hard earned 4-3 victory.
Game two of the first round series belonged to Sergio Herrera who spun a two-hit complete game 2-0 shutout thanks in large part to sparkling defense by second baseman Jeff Schwan.
The win sent the Twins to the championship series to square off against the red hot San José Angels who disposed of the Big Red Machine in a three game semifinal series.
Sergio Herrera took the mound in game one of the Championship Series and the Twins grinded out one inning at a time against a very game Angels team. Cody Guanera got the Twins on the board in the bottom of the second inning with a towering home run off the face of the DeAnza scoreboard in left-center field. The Twins built a 6-2 lead after 6 innings as Herrera gave way to Jason Ethridge who worked out of a jam in the top of the 6th. After escaping trouble in the top of the 7th, the Twins exploded for 6 runs in the bottom half of the inning that included a long home run by Gil Guerra. Final score 12-2.
The Twins opened game two by posting three runs in the top of the first inning on a home run by Kris Watts. With ace Michael Monelo on the mound the Twins never looked back scoring in each of the first six innings to take a commanding 9-1 lead.
Twins closer Joey Kies came on in the seventh inning and pitched the final three frames to earn his most important save of the season! It was the 14th save for Kies over the past two seasons but his first Championship Game save! Final score Twins 9 Angels 3.
The Twins had reversed their fortunes of a year ago by posting a perfect 2015 playoff record in winning all four of their post season games - making a nice bookend of perfection to their undefeated 2014 regular season - and giving manager Kyle Madej a perfect ending to the Twins 2015 Championship season.