The 2013 Midwest League Playoffs

The Midwest League Playoffs started at Dow Diamond with the Great Lakes Loons losing a well pitched game to the South Bend Silverhawks 3-0.  Team President Paul Barbeau was walking all through out Dow Diamond prior to Game #1 beaming that the Loons were back in the Playoffs for the first time since 2010.  Barbeau said "The team played much better in the 2nd half of the season and should do well against the Silverhawks."   He continued "We are looking to have 2, 500 loyal Loons fan in attendance tonight, true baseball fans."   He was not far off with the official attendance of 2,331 at the Dow. 

The game was played under ideal conditions with Loons Manager Razor Shines starting the Los Angeles Dodgers #1 draft pick from the 2013 draft 21 year old Chris Anderson.   Anderson started the game for the first 2 2/3 innings of the game with 7 strikeouts and topping 96 mph on radar gun.  However a couple of walks and a base hit forced Shines to pull Anderson from the game.   As it turned out that would be the run that decided the game. 

South Bend Manager Mark Haley in his 13th season as manager of the Silverhawks a Arizona Diamondbacks affiliate would start their first round draft choice from the 2013 draft.   Aaron Blair pitched a solid game and got out of a couple small jams with the Loons.   The South Bend pitching staff limited the Loons to four hits on the night and would keep them scoreless.   The Dow Diamond crowd was noticeably quiet through out the evening.   Being in the Midwest League playoffs for the first time in 3 years I expected more.   

The first round of the Midwest League Playoffs is best of three games which means that Great Lakes will have to win the next two games in South Bend to advance to the Eastern Division Finals.  The Loons who finished with a 67-72 record on the season didn't show the spark that they did all through the month of August in order to get into the Playoffs.  They will need to turn things around very quickly to advance.  The Loons can be heard tonight and possibly Friday on ESPN 100.9 FM with Brad Golder and Jared Sandler calling the action from downtown South Bend at 7:00p.m. tonight.