Fellow Colonels,
The tear-down of the two-time defending champs complete, the Cons welcomed first-place, yet under .500, New Orleans to beautiful Mizzou for a three-game set.

Game 1 - Javier Vazquez vs. Tim Hudson
Hudson had it all over the Pellies, carrying a four-hit shutout into the 9th while his new teammates nickel-and-dimed Vazquez for a run in the 1st and two more in the 3rd, the last coming on a Michael Young suicide squeeze.  Milton Bradley homered to lead off the 6th to make it 4-0, and Hudson made it stand up.  Mike Piazza, who came to the ballpark as usual that day, just went to a different locker room, belted a two-run shot in the 9th to halve the deficit, and Nawlins got the tying run to the plate in Fernando Vina, but Hudson got the ground ball to end the ballgame and secure the first of what we hope will be many wins in a Jailbirds' uniform.

Pelicans   000 000 002   2    7  0
Jailbirds    102 001 00x   4  10  0

Pelicans:
Pitching - Vazquez (L) 7, Mecir 1
Catching - Piazza 8
Home Runs - Piazza (off Hudson, 9th inn., 1 on, 1 out)
Injuries - None
Limits - None

Jailbirds:
Pitching - Hudson (W) 9
Catching - Kendall 9
Home Runs - Bradley (off Vazquez, 6th inn., 0 on, 0 out)
Injuries - None
Limits - None

Night game, 60s, Partly Cloudy, Light Wind

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Game 2 - Russ Ortiz vs. Odalis Perez
The two starters locked up in a beauty, a game that went into the seventh-inning stretch not only without a run having been scored, but with only one baserunner from each team having gotten as far as second base!  Chris Magruder doubled with two out in the second and was stranded at second for the Pellies, and Michael Young walked in the 6th, was bunted to second by Odalis, and thrown out at the plate by Magruder after a Rusty Greer single.

The Cons finally broke through in the 7th, as ex-Pelican Jason Kendall led off the frame with a double.  A Bill Mueller groundout advanced him to third, from whence he scored on a single by Ramon Santiago.  As quickly as the 'Birds took the lead, though, they relinquished it, with pinch-hitter Gregg Zaun leading off the 8th with a double, and scoring two batters later on a single by Ichiro Suzuki.

The newfound offence continued after reliever Shigetoshi Hasegawa retired the first two hitters in the bottom of the 8th.  It was then that the Champs started gettin' Shiggy wid it, first with a Greer single, then a walk to Mark Little.  A huge two-run double by Kendall gave Missouri the lead for good.

Pelicans   000 000 010   1  6  0
Jailbirds    000 000 12x   3  7  0

Pelicans:
Pitching - Ortiz 7, Hasegawa (L) 1
Catching - Piazza 8
Home Runs - None
Injuries - None
Limits - Merloni (2 ABL), Zaun (1 ABL)

Jailbirds:
Pitching - OdPerez 7.1, Isringhausen (W) 1.2
Catching - Kendall 9
Home Runs - None
Injuries - None
Limits - Michaels (1 ABR)

Night game, 70s, Clear, Light Wind

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Game 3 - Jeff Suppan vs. Brett Myers
The finale was a wild one, with the Cons going for a post-reconstruction sweep they'd never thought possible.  New Orleans got over the offensive woes that had plagued them the first two games right away, as the Pellies opened the ballgame with four straight singles, and a batter later, a three-run homer by Ken Griffey, Jr. to cap a five-run first and put the anemic 'Boids behind the 8-ball before they even picked up a bat.    Myers, who had thrown seven shutout innings at the Thespians in his Cons' debut, brought nothing to the table this night.

Mizzou wasn't done, though, scoring a run without benefit of a hit in the bottom of the inning, thanks to three walks, a hit batsman and a couple of wild pitches.  Only one run, though, as Bradley left the bases loaded with a groundout.  Myers was gone after two, and Joey Hamilton came on to allow just three hits over 4 innings of relief.  One of those was Junior's second biggie of the night, and the Nawlins lead was 6-1 going into the bottom of the 6th.

That's when things changed.  With two out and a runner on second, Robin Ventura settled under a pop foul by Rob Fick..........and dropped it.  No big deal, right?  Right - except that Fick took advantage of his second chance by stroking an RBI single and Bradley singled behind him.  Those hits were followed by back-to-back doubles by Young and pinch-hitter Jason Michaels, and it was a one-run game thanks to four unearned Jailbird tallies.

Mark Little led off the 7th with a single, and scored on a Kendall double to bring the 'Boids all the way back to a tie game, and the bullpens really took over.  Five innings of one-hit shutout from Mizzou, and five innings of three-hit shutout from the Pellies took us to the 13th.

The Cons had a chance to win in regulation, when Mueller singled to right with Kendall on second and one out in the bottom of the ninth, but the great cannon of Suzuki shot down Kendall at the dish, the THIRD Missour runner thrown out at the plate in the series (Little had been gunned down by Griffey in the third, trying to score on a Mueller fly ball).

The suspense ended when Piazza took Tim Worrell deep to open the 13th, and the Cons couldn't respond against Esteban Yan - I know, I don't get it, either.

Strangely enough, both Missouri losses since the purge began were on extra-inning homers by guys they had traded (Delgado and Piazza).

Pelicans   500 100 000 000 1   7  11  1
Jailbirds    100 004 100 000 0   6  12  0

Pelicans:
Pitching - Suppan 6, Mecir 1.1, Hasegawa 0.2, Kim 3, Yan (W) 2
Catching - Piazza 13
Home Runs - Griffey 2 (off Myers, 1st inn., 2 on, 1 out; off Hamilton, 3rd inn., 0 on, 0 out), Piazza (off Worrell, 13th inn., 0 on, 0 out)
Injuries - None
Limits - Zaun (1 ABR)

Jailbirds:
Pitching - Myers 2, Hamilton 4, Mantei 1, Isringhausen 3, Worrell (L) 3
Catching - Kendall 13
Home Runs - None
Injuries - None
Limits - Michaels (1 ABR), EduPerez (2 ABR), Widger (1 ABR)

Night game, 70s, Partly Cloudy, Light Wind