Trenton series ends in disappointment

Trenton's playoff aspirations came to a crashing halt as they lost game 5 in Atlanta, 4-3 in 14 innings. Stephen Mills got Trenton off to a 2-0 lead in the first with an RBI double (driving in Bret King and Cap Herrera). Dwight Salmon left with a 2-1 lead and Magglio Perez stretched it to a 3-1 lead in the top of the 8th, but Atlanta tied it in the bottom of the 8th off Chris Jennings and Karl Coleman (Paul Turnbow RBI groundout and Lynn Abernathy 2-out single), then Trenton couldn't seriously threaten (1st and 3rd with 2 outs in the 11th was the closest they came) as Atlanta finally got a run off Will Piper on a Lynn Abernathy single.

Bandits force Game 5

Atlanta apparently has no intention of making their defense of the Season 6 World Series title a short one, as they won both games in Trenton to force a deciding Game 5 Friday night in Atlanta. Their game 4 win was a 7-0 victory over Traffic ace David Dunwoody, who was victimized by a key Enrique Park error in the second. All 7 runs scored in the second, six of which came in after Park booted a routine ground ball. But Dunwoody refused to blame the loss on Park. "Yeah, Ricky's (Enrique Park) error hurt, but I didn't get guys out after. I could have picked him up"

Dunwoody said after the game. When asked about game 5, he said, "I feel good. I've seen Dwight (Salmon) come up big time after time- if I can't be out there, there's nobody in this league I'd rather have out on the mound than him."

Traffic fail in closeout game

Game 3 of their first round series against Atlanta did not go nearly as well as Trenton had hoped. With a chance to close out the Bandits in 3 straight, the Traffic lost at home 13-0. Bert Pierre drew the starting assignment and was terrible, giving up 6 runs in 2+ innings. Will Piper wasn't much better, giving up 6 runs in 4 1/3 innings.

Stan Starr and Albie Torres were the offensive stars for Atlanta. Starr drove in 5 runs and Torres went 4 for 5 and scored 3 times batting ahead of Starr. Stone Curtis gave up 6 hits in 6 innings but didn't give up a run. Matty Eusebio pitched the last 3 innings for the save.

Trenton still has two shots to close out the series, with the first coming tonight with the same pitching matchup as game 1- Steven Michaels vs. David Dunwoody.

Salmon dominant in Game 2 victory

The "other" half of the newly acquired dynamic duo, Dwight Salmon, was utterly dominant in game 2 against Atlanta, leading the Traffic to a 3-0 victory. Salmon pitched 8 shutout innings, allowing only one hit (a leadoff bloop single in the 2nd to Ryan Snyder) and one walk to Albie Torres (to lead off the 4th). He retired the last 13 hitters he faced. In addition to pitching a masterpiece, he also drove in 2 of the 3 Trenton runs with 2-out RBI singles in the 2nd and in the 4th. Magglio Perez added a solo homer to lead off the ninth to provide the final margin of victory. The Traffic are now one win away from their first playoff series win ever.

Trenton takes Game 1 in Atlanta

Trenton earned a 5-2 victory in Game 1 of their 1st round matchup with the Atlanta Bandits. The keys to victory was getting 5 runs in the 6th inning and 8 strong innings from starter David Dunwoody.

Trailing 1-0 (on a sacrifice fly by former Traffic draft pick Paul Turnbow), Shawn Butler led the inning off with a game-tying solo homer to left. After Dunwoody struck out, Watty Miller and Bret King hit back-to-back doubles to give Trenton a 2-1 lead. With two outs and runners on 1st and 3rd, Stephen Mills hit a ground ball to short, which Atlanta SS Eric Baker booted, allowing King to score from 3rd. Magglio Perez and Vasco Lopez both followed with RBI singles, making the Baker error more costly.

Dunwoody was the star of the game. He gave up 2 runs on 4 hits over 8 innings, giving up the sacrifice fly to Turnbow in the 3rd and a solo shot to 3B Albie Torres in the 8th. In both the 5th and 6th innings he stranded runners on first and third with two outs. He walked 2 and struck out 4.

Trenton takes on Atlanta

The Trenton Traffic is all set to take on their division rivals, the Atlanta Bandits, in the 1st round of the playoffs. "We're ready to go. We can't wait to get on that field", said Game 1 starter David Dunwoody just before boarding the team charter to Atlanta for games 1 and 2. Remember, Trenton fans, WTRA 820 AM has wall-to-wall coverage of each and every game, from pre-game coverage to the post-game wrapup and, of course, live coverage of the game in between.

Atlanta clinches division, Trenton locked into Wild Card spot

Atlanta clinched their 4th straight division title with a 4-3 win over Washington coupled with a 7-4 Trenton loss to Norfolk. This means Atlanta will host Trenton in the first round of the playoffs and their upcoming 3-game series in Trenton will not mean anything in terms of playoff position. Trenton GM gumbercules said, "Yeah, it's a little disappointing that we couldn't catch Atlanta, but that doesn't mean we can't get what we want out of this season. We want to win the World Series, and we can do that from a wild-card spot. We're looking forward to the playoffs at this point. We'll get our shot." Expect the Traffic to rest most, if not all, of their starters; Damion Mays has already been announced as the starting pitcher in game 1 of the regular season series against Atlanta in place of David Dunwoody.

Trenton clinches top wild-card spot, eyes division

A day after clinching a playoff spot, the Traffic sew up at least the #5 spot in the NL with a 5-1 victory in San Juan. The victory also pulls the Traffic to within 2 games of division-leading Atlanta, with a 3-game series with the Bandits looming at the end of the season. Whether or not the Traffic catch the Bandits, it appears all but guaranteed the two teams will meet again in the first round of the playoffs as well, as the NL East division winner has little chance of catching Houston for 3rd (placing them 4th) and the second place team in this division is now locked in to the 5th seed.

Traffic clinches playoff spot

The Trenton Traffic clinched a playoff berth with a 13-5 win at San Juan. At 87-67. they currently sit 7 games above the two closest contenders (Austin and New Orleans) with 8 to play, but since Austin and New Orleans still have to play 3 games against each other, they can't both catch Trenton to knock them out. There was no locker room celebration, as they had to wait for the results of other games to come in, but the players were excited once they found out they officially had a spot in the postseason.

"It's been a while", said veteran 1B Stephen Mills, who has been with the organization since its inception. "We've been second every season for the last 4 seasons, with only one playoff appearance. This is probably our best team since the first season, when we won 100."

"I'll agree with Stevie, this is a talented team", added 3B Enrique Park, who has been on Trenton's ML roster all seven seasons. "We're looking to make some noise in the playoffs. "

Cap Herrera felt vindicated. "I took some flak for re-signing here. The critics said this team was stagnant, but I thought we had room to grow. I felt this could be a playoff team, without a doubt.

"This is why Dwight (Salmon) and I are here" added newly acquired sarting pitcher David Dunwoody. "We haven't really been close since winning the title, and Dwight and I both want another one. He and I are making sure the team knows that our work is far from done. Making the playoffs isn't enough for us, and we want the whole team to feel that way."

End of Season Awards

Several Traffic players have been nominated for end of the year awards based on their season's worth of work:

Cy Young: SP David Dunwoody
Fireman of the Year: RP Bernie Corino
Silver Slugger: CF Watty Miller
Gold Glove: SS Shawn Butler

Although Dunwoody and Corino are both in the top 5, they seem unlikely to win, as both have challenging competition. Miller and Butler are the leaders right now, so they could very well come away with the hardware.