Ben Grimm showed why they are the defending champions in their second round matchup against Jeltz’s Jets, winning four games to three to move on to the third round in the Philaphans Whatifsports Tournament. Ben Grimm did it mainly with outstanding starting pitching, led by MVP Walter Johnson. Johnson won two games and had an ERA of 1.50. Offensive stars for Ben Grimm included Mike Piazza (two home runs, seven RBI), Lou Gehrig (four runs scored, three RBI) and Jimmie Foxx (1194 OPS). Ben Grimm won in spite of Babe Ruth’s performance. Ruth batted .095 for the series and struck out fourteen times in 21 at-bats. The Jets were completely overmatched at the plate, batting only .176 for the series. Mike Schmidt did manage three home runs for the Jets, but they were his only hits of the series.

Game one pitted Ben Grimm’s Walter Johnson against the Jets’ Curt Schilling. Johnson gained the victory by a 4-3 margin. All of Ben Grimm’ scoring came in the fourth inning. Lou Gehrig led off with a single and was followed by Barry Bonds with a double. Al Rosen was intentionally walked to load the bases for Mike Piazza. Piazza responded with a grand slam over the right field fence to give Ben Grimm all the cushion they would need. Schmidt homered in the sixth to cut it to 4-2. In the seventh, Joe Morgan came around to score on Richie Ashburn’s single to make it 4-3. Johnson loaded the bases that inning, but then struck out Mike Schmidt and Jim Thome to end the threat.

The Jets roughed up Randy Johnson for their only win of the series in game two by a score of 8-2. Bob Gibson got the win for the Jets, throwing a complete game and scattering six hits. Mike Schmidt had two home runs and four RBI for the Jets. Jim Thome and Lenny Dykstra also homered for the Jets.

Pedro Martinez was in control of game three as Ben Grimm won 4-2. Ben Grimm took a first-inning lead when Babe Ruth homered, bringing in Rogers Hornsby and notching a 2-0 lead. When Martinez came out in the bottom of the first, he promptly hit the Jets’ leadoff batter, Richie Ashburn. It’s impossible to know whether the pitch was purposeful or not and Martinez downplayed it after the game, correctly pointing out that his control was off all day (he walked six batters). However, the Jets had problems catching up to Martinez after that, scoring their only two runs on a Darren Daulton home run in the sixth. Randy Johnson took the loss for the Jets despite striking out 14.

Game four saw a matchup of Sandy Koufaxes as each team started him. Both pitched well, but Ben Grimm again came out on top 4-3. Barry Bonds two-run home run put the Jets on top 3-1 in the sixth, but Ben Grimm fought back with two in the eighth when Sandy Koufax and Hugh Duffy scored on Jimmie Foxx’s bases-loaded single. Barry Bonds went from hero to goat in the ninth. With Dennis Eckersley on the hill in relief of Koufax, Bonds dropped an Alex Rodriguez flyball. A-Rod would eventually score on a Lou Gehrig double to put Ben Grimm up for good. Eric Gagne got three straight in the ninth for the save.

Ben Grimm ended the series in game five with an easy 6-1 win. Again, Walter Johnson threw a complete game for the win. Gehrig and Piazza each had two-run homers for Ben Grimm. Curt Schilling got his second loss of the series.

Ben Grimm will next play the winner of the Team Thunder-CrowHuck series, while the Jets will play the loser of that same series.