Kings 2005 Playoff Finals Notes
August 21, 2005

The Kings and Eastern Savings Bank had never met ESB past the 3rd Round of the Playoffs prior to today's FINALS.

The teams finished the 2005 Regular Season with an identical 17-7 record, with the 2 teams having split their Regular Season series 1-1 on June 5. Kings lost opener 14-12. Kings won nightcap 9-8. ESB finished with a better seed because of the run differential. The Kings actually held a 9-6 lead into b-7th of game 2, but Cap Plokemba hit a 2-run HR over the CF fence on NWRP #1. While ESB still lost the game 9-8, Plokemba's HR was enough to give ESB the season tie-breaker over the Kings.

These 2 teams met in Round #2 of this year's tournament with the Kings coming out ahead 5-2.

All 3 games in 2005 prior  to the FINALS had featured Ted Winner vs. Chuck Grant, but the FINALS match-up of both rounds today pitted Kings Dan Frignito vs. ESB Larry Hineline. Kings Chuck Grant missed the FINALS to attend a wedding in Atlanta, GA as the best man. ESB had a healthy Ted Winner available to start, but elected to go with fastballer Hineline in both games. For Frignito, it was his 3rd and 4th career playoff starts and his first doubleheader start in either the Regular Season or Playoffs.

ESB was appearing in the FINALS for 2nd straight year. This was the Kings first visit to the FINALS since 1998.

The Kings had been to the FINALS in 1991 (Attman's Deli), 1993 (Quizno's OM), 1996 (Palmgard), 1997 (Attman's Deli), 1998 (Attman's Deli).
ESB had previously been to the FINALS in 2004 (Havana Club Cannons).

Kings won FINALS in 1993 and 1996, and now again in 2005.
ESB was defeated by the Havana Club Cannons in their previous FINALS appearance in 2004.

With the split today, Kings lifetime are 4-2 in Round 5 and 1-3 in Round 6. Their 2 previous championships were 5-0 undefeated playoff runs.

Kings still have 5 regular players from their 1996 Championship Season-- Manager Mike Herr, Associate Coach Alan Varhaftik, Assistant Coach Dave Sandler, Chuck Grant, and Kenny Salzman. 1996 Kings ring wearer 2B Brian Wolf was not eligible for the 2005 tournament for the Kings, but he did fill in for the team earlier this season.

In their 17th season in the league, the Kings have a 44-29 (.603) lifetime record in the playoffs.

Former Kings in attendance for the FINALS included Jeff Kurland (1999), Todd Katz (2000-04), and Kings hall-of-famer #17 Steve Levy (1988-1999). Levy is the Kings all-time wins leader in playoff games.

The scores of the PLAYOFF games are much different than those of the Regular Season. Witness the Kings run to the Championship this season. In their 6 games, the Kings averaged scoring just 7.2 runs/game, while allowing a small 5 runs/game. Pitching, defense and timely hitting led to the wins. Comparatively, the Kings averaged 10.6 runs/game in the Regular Season and allowed 7.5 runs/game.

ESB and the Kings played 5 close games during the Regular Season and Playoffs. The margin of victory in each game were Kings +1,ESB+2,Kings +3,ESB +4,& Kings +5.

Kings Rings:
Chris Blankenship (2005)
Dan Frignito (2005)
Mike Frignito (2005)
Chuck Grant (1996,2005)
Troy Hendricks (2005)
Mike Herr (1993,1996,2005)
Jan Katzen (2005)
Scott Katzen (2005)
Shilo Merwitz (2005)
Keegan Rettaliata (2005)
Kenny Salzman (1996,2005)
Dave Sandler (1993,1996,2005)
Alan Varhaftik (1993,1996,2005)

Barry Foland (1993,1996)
Larry Getlan (1993,1996)
Joel Gordon (1993,1996)
Alan Klawans (1993)
Brad Lamont (1993,1996)
Steve Levy (1993,1996)
Larry Newman (1993,1996)
Dave Schwartz (1993)
Jeff Slutzker (1993,1996)
Skip Spriggs (1993)
Marc Summerfield (1996)
Brian Wolf (1993,1996)

Bad Timing?
Marc Goldstein (255 games) and Ken Zalis (131 games) are the only Kings players with more than 100 games played without a Kings Championship Ring. Goldstein's timing has been rotten twice. He left the Kings following the 1992 season, rejoined in 2000, and left again after the 2004. Both times he has left, the Kings won the Championship the following year. Goldstein went with the Kings to the Finals in 1991 in a losing effort against Attman's Deli. Zalis went to the Finals with the Kings in 1997 and 1998 where they lost to Attman's Deli.