What the Indianapolis Colts Can Learn From the 2009 BlueClaws
UPDATE: Might have been off on this one
Sort of off-topic here for a minute…much of the talk in the sports world the last few weeks has surrounded the Indianapolis Colts and their decision to tank the end of the season, resting players to get ready for the post-season, which for them begins tomorrow night against Baltimore.
They took a lot of heat from their fans for pulling the starters in the Jets game (Week 16) and then again for playing some in a blizzard to pad their stats in Week 17.
Which brings us back to the BlueClaws getting ready for the playoffs.
The setting:
- Lakewood had clinched their playoff spot in June, winning the first half title.
- They knew then that on September 9th, they were playing a road game at the second-half champion.
- Lakewood entered a five-game series at Delmarva having won just 14 of their last 31 games, but could have played out the string, rested, and gotten ready for the playoffs. They chose not to do so.
The decision:
- The starters all played four out of the five games in that series and Lakweood dominated.
- The BlueClaws won four of the five games, out-scoring Delmarva 32-20 over the five games.
- 13 of the 20 Delmarva runs came in one game, and 9 of them came in one inning, a fateful 7th inning which was the worst in BlueClaws history.
The results:
- Lakewood went into the playoffs feeling very confident, and steamrolled both Delmarva and Greenville to win their second league championship in team history.
Said Anthony Gose: When we went to Delmarva, we basically got our confidence back. We knew we were playing well and we knew we were a winning team. That gave us a lot of confidence. Besides that one inning, we controlled that series. It kind of flipped that switch.
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