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2004 season November 22, 2004 D. Murphy slams Desert Dogs to AFL championship
Donnie Murphy (Royals - 2B) saw only one pitch in his brief stint in Saturday's AFL championship game between the Phoenix Desert Dogs and the Scottsdale Scorpions. But the Desert Dog second baseman stroked the Steve Schmoll (Dodgers - P) fastball into the right field bullpen for a grand slam, breaking a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the eighth inning and giving the Desert Dogs a 6-2 victory. Murphy made Phoenix manager Dean Treanor, who decided the previous day that every eligible position player would see action in the one-game playoff, look like a genius. "(Murphy) knew that Schmoll is going to come in and try to get ahead with a fastball before he goes to his other pitches," said Treanor in a post game interview. "He was able to get a pitch that he could hit ... I couldn't be happier for him to come up and get the big hit for us today." Huston Street (Athletics - P), arguably the premier pitcher in the AFL this season, earned the victory by holding the Scorpions scoreless in the eighth and ninth innings. The championship game wrapped up what Street described as a dream season.
"This has been the most fun baseball total experience I've had in my life," said Street, who was the closer for a University of Texas team that made regular College World Series appearances during his career there. "I've never been around a group of guys ... that just jelled like we did. I'll cherish these six weeks forever." Treanor was equally enthusiastic about Street's performance and about his major league potential. "We turned it over to Mr. Huston Street," remarked Treanor, "and he did what he's done all year." When asked about Street's chances of jumping immediately to the big leagues next year in only his second pro season, Treanor answered, "In my mind, absolutely. A lot of people have asked my opinion ... From the pitching side, he was the talk of the league and you're going to see him in the big leagues next year." Scottsdale had started the scoring early, with Corey Myers (Diamondbacks - 3B) leading off the top of the second inning with a solo homerun to left field off Phoenix starter Steve Obenchain (Athletics - P). The Desert Dogs turned the game over to Keith Bucktrot (Phillies - P), who yielded a one-out homer to Tommy Whiteman (Astros - SS) in the bottom of the third.
Those two early runs were all that the Scorpions would score. Phoenix tied the game in the bottom half of the third with a solo homerun to right field off the bat of Jeremy Hermida (Marlins - OF), followed by a Jeremy Brown (Athletics - C) sacrifice fly that plated Mark Teahen (Royals - 3B). Neither team scored again for the next four and a half innings. Ben Diggins (Brewers - P) came on in the bottom of the eighth for Scottsdale and promptly walked Carlos Ruiz (Phillies - C) on four pitches. Omar Quintanilla (Athletics - SS), who earlier had tripled, doubled and walked, pulled a single to right field, advancing Ruiz to third base. With the Scorpion infield drawn in, Teahen hit a ground ball to second baseman Kevin Howard (Reds - 2B), who bobbled the grounder, allowing the runner to reach base while Ruiz held at third.
Scottsdale manager Ivan DeJesus came to the mound and summoned reliever Schmoll to face Murphy, who had replaced Casey Smith (Angels - 2B/SS) in the field one inning earlier. Less than 60 seconds later, the Desert Dogs had a commanding 6-2 lead. Whiteman singled to lead off the bottom of the ninth. Jesse Gutierrez (Reds - 1B) and Conor Jackson (Diamondbacks - OF) hit towering drives to the warning track, but both balls were caught. Myers then grounded out to Teahen for the final out, and the Desert Dog players met in the middle of the field for a jubilant celebration. ----------------------------
Chris Shelton (Tigers - C/1B) was honored in a pre-game ceremony with the Joe Black award, given to the league's most valuable player. The right-handed hitting slugger, who was acquired by Detroit from Pittsburgh in last year's Rule 5 draft, led the AFL in batting average (.404), RBIs (33), hits (46), on-base percentage (.470) and slugging percentage (.667) Mark Teahen (Royals - 3B) was presented with the first Dernell Stenson award for sportsmanship, named in honor of the former Cincinnati Red player who was tragically murdered one year ago while playing in the Arizona Fall League. Conor Jackson (Diamondbacks - OF) and Jason Repko (Dodgers - OF) tied for the league lead in homeruns with eight. Joey Gathright (Devil Rays - OF) had the most stolen bases with 15, despite missing the last third of the season due to injury. Desert Dog teammates Huston Street (Athletics - P) and Wes Wilkerson (Royals - P) tied for the league lead in ERA at 0.98. Street was the league leader in saves with seven. Bobby Bradley (Pirates - P) was the leader in strikeouts with 37. --- Bill Mitchell All photos on the Arizona Fall League Report are credited to Bill Mitchell, unless noted otherwise, and are not to be used for any other purpose without express permission.
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