The Kane County Cougars season came to an end on Sunday, as they lost their best-of-three division playoff series to the Quad Cities River Bandits, 6-5.

It was a heart-breaking loss for the Cougars, as they received excellent starting pitching from Jason Mitchell. Mitchell pitched eight strong, as he left leading 5-2. It wasn’t until the 8th inning that Mitchell got into trouble against the River Bandits. He allowed two runs on one hit, a hit batter, and a passed ball.

That inning seemed to have ignited the River Bandits, especially when the Cougars bullpen entered.

Chase Boruff began the 9th inning, needing just three outs to send the series to a win or go home Game 3. He walked the first batter he faced and he moved to second base on a wild pitch. After getting an out, he gave up an RBI single to the River Bandits Jonathan Rodriguez.

That was all for Boruff, and in came Antonio Cruz. The first batter he faced singled. Still with just one out, Nicholas Longmire expected a fastball with the first pitch from Cruz and got what he expected. He deposited the fastball over the left-center field wall for a walk-off three-run homerun. That hit sent Quad Cities to the Midwest League finals and set off a crazy celebration. Unfortunately just 528 were in attendance.

Offensively, the Cougars received a solo homerun each from Kevin David and Angel Franco. In the 5th inning, Jake Kuebler tripled in two runs and scored on a sac fly. That’s how the Cougars were out to a 5-0 lead.

*Quad Cities has swept both best-of-three series so far in 2011. The Midwest League finals are a best-of-five series.

The minor league playoffs begin on Wednesday night for three of the KC Royals affiliates.

Triple-A Omaha begins its quest for the Pacific Coast League title against the Round Rock Express. It is a best-of-five series. Despite losing quite a few impactful players to the big leagues, the Storm Chasers have still excelled this season. It is unfamiliar territory for Omaha, as they will be playing their first playoff game in 13 years. Round Rock won the season series 11-5 and posted a club record 86 wins. The Express actually wanted to play Omaha because they feel they match up better against the Storm Chasers and have had success against them.

Omaha is dominated by left-handed hitters like Kila Ka’aihue, Clint Robinson, and Jarrod Dyson. The Express feel they can counter with lefty relievers like Beau Jones and big leaguer Michael Kirkman. Round Rock has come from behind to win 44 games in 2011.

Here are the pitching matchups for the first three games (Games 4 & 5 are if necessary):

• Game 1 (Wed 9/7): PCL Pitcher of the Year Luis Mendoza (12-5, 2.18 ERA) @  Eric Hurley (8-3, 5.55 ERA)
• Game 2 (Thurs 9/8): Vin Mazzaro (7-2, 4.29 ERA) @ Martin Perez (4-4, 6.43 ERA)
• Game 3 (Fri 9/9): Mike Montgomery (5-11, 5.32 ERA) vs. Neil Ramirez (4-3, 3.63 ERA)

Double-A NW Arkansas begins its quest for a repeat in the Texas League against the Arkansas Travelers. The Travelers won the first half division title, but struggled much of the second half after losing Mike Trout to the big leagues. Arkansas won the season series over the second half champion Naturals, 15-14.

Here are the pitching matchups for the first three games (Games 4 & 5 are if necessary):

• Game 1 (Wed 9/7): Chris Dwyer (8-10, 5.60 ERA) @ TL Pitcher of the Year Matt Shoemaker (12-5, 2.48 ERA)
• Game 2 (Thurs 9/8): Jake Odorizzi (5-3, 4.72 ERA) @ Chris Scholl (4-3, 2.32 ERA)
• Game 3 (Fri 9/9): Mario Santiago (5-1, 2.23 ERA) vs. Orangel Arenas (9-10, 4.48 ERA)

*UPDATE: Elisaul Pimentel and Kevin Chapman were taken off the Naturals playoff roster to make room for Ryan Dennick and Justin Marks from Wilmington. Congrats to Dennick and Marks!

The Kane County Cougars begin their playoff season with a best-of-three series against the Western Division first half champion Burlington Bees (who last year was the Royals Low-A affiliate). The Bees won the season series 8-7 over the Cougars. Brian Fletcher of the Cougars won the Midwest League batting title and pitcher Greg Billo will be counted on to give the Cougars a win. Billo led minor league baseball in ERA for most of the season and struck out 119 batters (compared to just 25 walks) in 135 innings pitches.

Here are the pitching matchups for the three game series (Game 3 is if necessary):

• Game 1 (Wed 9/7): Greg Billo (9-5, 1.93 ERA) vs. Blake Hassebrock (7-8, 2.64 ERA)
• Game 2 (Thurs 9/8): Yordano Ventura (4-6, 4.27 ERA) @ Josh Bowman (8-6, 3.55 ERA)
• Game 3 (Fri 9/9): Jason Adam (6-9, 4.23 ERA) @ Jose Macias (8-4, 3.46 ERA)

It’s been a tough start to the baseball season for many after coming north out of spring training. Baseball cities have had temperatures settling in the 40s and 50s at game time, with cold winds, making it tough on players and fans alike. Rain has been rampant throughout the country and high winds have brought tornadoes (St. Louis was hit hard last night with the Cardinals and Cincinnati Reds game delayed for over two hours).

A familiar site of baseball stadiums across the country

The saying “April showers” has been true in 2011 as rain has wreaked havoc on the early baseball season. Most teams have been postponed at least once and the last week has seen many teams playing doubleheaders. You know how there is a rain dance? Is there a sun and warm weather dance that we can all participate in?

Last Saturday (4/16) was a big day for postponements. The entire Eastern League was rained out with doubleheaders scheduled for Sunday. Two games in the Carolina League were rained out with then doubleheaders on Sunday. The Scranton Yankees were rained out on Saturday, but couldn’t play a doubleheader on Sunday due to a doubleheader scheduled for Monday. They also will play a doubleheader today (4/23) after being rained out last night.

On Friday 4/15, all but two games in the Midwest League were rained out, so most teams played doubleheaders on Saturday (two of those were rained out too). The Midwest League ended up with five doubleheaders on Sunday.

The KC Royals minor league affiliates have all played doubleheaders this week. The Wilmington Blue Rocks played a doubleheader on Sunday and play another tonight. The Kane County Cougars have had three doubleheaders since last Saturday. Both the Omaha Storm Chasers and NW Arkansas Naturals have had a doubleheader over the last week or so.

The Buffalo Bisons may be the minor league kings of doubleheaders this week. Their game up in Pawtucket was suspended on Saturday 4/16, so they finished that game up on Sunday (along with their regularly scheduled game). Their opening series at home against the Rochester Red Wings was postponed on Monday, so they played a doubleheader on Tuesday. The two teams again were postponed on Wednesday and played a doubleheader on Thursday.

The Bisons Major League affiliate NY Mets have complained about the amount of doubleheaders they have had to play in a short amount of time. They played doubleheaders on both 4/14 (against the Colorado Rockies) and 4/16 (down in Atlanta), thus putting a strain on their already paltry pitching staff.

MLB has seen many teams play through the rain, but the heavy downpours have forced postponements in the nicest of parks. The NY Yankees and Baltimore Orioles have seen their series openers against each other rained out twice (with no date yet for makeups). The Yankees have already had three rain outs.

The Washington Nationals have also had three rain outs already. The Nats were rained out on 4/16 and played a doubleheader on 4/17 against the Milwaukee Brewers. On 4/19, they were rained out in St. Louis and played a doubleheader on 4/20 against the Cardinals. The Nats were rained out again last night and will make up the game at Pittsburgh on the two teams’ mutual day off on Monday (4/25).

I know I am tired of wearing tons of layers, my winter coat, gloves, scarf, and hat at games, while still freezing by the middle of the game. What makes me colder is those around me that wore shorts, tee shirts, and flip-flops to a game with a starting temperature of around 50 degrees and winds gusting over 20 mph. I know that the players are just as cold as I am and are tired of playing doubleheaders regularly. The saying “April showers bring May flowers” better come true this year.

I WANT spring already with the sun shining and temps in the 70s or 80s!