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The semi-final match-up between the Morris Division
champs and the top wild-card seed promised to be a
competitive one -- both teams had identical 94-68
records, and there was no love lost between the two
squads after Stanhope denied Arkansas its chance to
become the first team in league history to
"three-peat" by defeating them in the 2000 World
Series.
After former Golden Falcon Mark
Eichhorn threw out the first pitch, Game
1 got underway in Quisenberry Memorial Park with
Stanhope's Derek Lowe matching
up with Ben McDonald Award contender Curt Schilling. The two hurlers
matched each other pitch for pitch -- in fact, Lowe
had the better line, allowing 0 ER, 4 H, 1 BB over 8
IP, while Schilling yielded 1 ER, 7 H and 1 BB over 9.
But Arkansas took home the victory as the Stanhope
defense unraveled in the sixth inning, with Alfonso Soriano, Derek Jeter and Todd Helton committing three
errors to allow two unearned runs. Cliff Floyd cut the deficit to
one run with a solo home run in the eighth inning, but
Schilling escaped the game without further damage to
give the Golden Falcons the first game of the series.
After giving away Game 1, optimistic Stanhope fans
could still say that all the road team needs is a
split in the first two during a seven-game series to
eliminate home-field advantage, and that's exactly
what the Mighty Men had in mind in
Game
2, with knuckleballer Tim
Wakefield on the hill against multi-McDonald Award
winner Pedro Martinez. The
Mites jumped out to an early 3-0 lead on an RBI triple
by Johnny Damon and an RBI
double by Tim Salmon in the
third and a fourth-inning solo shot by Eli Marrero. But once again,
Stanhope's shakey defense allowed the Falcons to get
back into the game in the bottom of the fourth, when
an errant throw from Cliff
Floyd allowed Barry Bonds
to score all the way from first on a single by Lance Berkman. John Olerud had already scored on
the play, making it a 3-2 game; in the sixth, Olerud
tied it up with a solo home run. More fielding follies
by the Mighty Men almost turned the sixth inning into
a disaster: After a one-out walk to Bonds, Berkman hit
a two-hopper to Jeter for a tailor-made 6-4-3 double
play. But Soriano's throw to first wound up plunking a
fan in the front row, extending the inning.
Wakefield's first pitch to the next batter, Ellis Burks, was a beauty of a
knuckler that fooled Burks and catcher Joe Girardi, plunking Tyler Houston in the on-deck
circle. With Bonds now on third, Wakefield pitched
around Burks to get to Houston and set up the force at
second base. But Houston proved magnetic, as he once
again took a Wakefield pitch off the hip, and this
time it counted for a free base to load the bases.
That brought up fleet-footed Tony
Womack, who lined out sharply to Jeter for the
final out of the inning without further harm done. The
score remained at 3-3, despite several scoring chances
-- including lead-off singles by the Mighty Men in
both the 7th and the 9th innings -- until the bottom
of the ninth. Reliever Joey
Eischen, in his third inning of work, appeared to
be on cruise control as he got the first three batters
to hit easy grounders right at his infielders -- but
the third batter, Jose
Vizcaino, reached when Jeter's throw sailed high
over Helton for a two-base error. Pinch-hitter Julio Franco then ended
Stanhope's misery with a clean single up the middle
for the game-winner.
Talking to reporters during batting practice before Game
3, manager Buck Showalter
was asked if his team still had any hope after losing
the first two games of the series in such
heart-breaking fashion. "Absolutely we have hope,"
Showalter said, shoving his hands deep into the
pockets of his trademark windbreaker. "We've made six
errors in two games, and yet they've beat us each time
by just one run. Does that say more about us, or more
about them?" Reporters were still puzzling that one
out when Matt Clement
immediately got into trouble in the top of the first
inning, loading the bases on a single and two walks.
But then he bore down and fanned Burks on three
straight fastballs in the high 90s. "It's on," a
pumped-up Soriano yelled to the Fox Sports cameras as
he ran out to the plate and promptly smacked a texas
leaguer that dunked into left field in front of Bonds.
As Arkansas left fielder casually jogged in to scoop
up the ball, Soriano turned on the after-burners and
dug for second. A stunned Bonds fired to second but
Soriano dove in under the tag to lead off the game
with a hustle-double. His moxie paid off when
Bernie Williams whacked a
single up the middle to give the Mighty Men an early
1-0 lead. Jeter would add another run with a home run
to lead off the third inning, and suddenly the
momentum was looking very much in Stanhope's favor.
The Golden Falcons were far from finished, however.
Starter Roger Clemens finally
settled down, holding the Mighty Men at two runs, and
in the fifth, the Falcs pounded out three straight
two-out singles to make it a one-run game. Two innings
later, Olerud would tie it at 2-2 with a sac fly. But
the Mighty Men weren't going to hand over a third
game. Salmon hooked a solo home run around the
left-field fair pole to give Stanhope the lead again,
and the bullpen took it from there: Brendan Villafuerte and Mariano Rivera each pitched a
scoreless inning to preserve the 3-2 victory and
finally get the Mighty Men back into the series, 2
games to 1.
Rain washed out Saturday night's scheduled game, and
the unexpected day off meant both Game 1 starters --
Schilling and Lowe -- would be able to pitch in Game
4 on an overcast, breezy Sunday afternoon. A buzz
went through Stanhope Stadium as Bonds smashed several
wind-aided moonshots into the upper deck during
batting practice, but Lowe just grinned. "Don't worry
about me -- I get grounders," Stanhope's starter said.
"Schill's the one you got to watch." Sure enough, Lowe
'breezed' through the first inning, getting two
ground-outs and a harmless can of corn to center
field, but Schilling found the gusty conditions more
troubling as Floyd launched a two-run home run into
the right-field bleachers and Mike
Lowell just missed a dinger of his own when
Berkman robbed him with a perfectly timed leap at the
wall. The two pitchers dodged a few bullets over the
next few frames, until Burks led off with a double in
the fifth, then scored on a wild pitch to shave the
lead to 2-1. But the Mighty Men blew the game open in
the bottom half of the inning, loading the bases on
singles by Soriano and Floyd and a walk to Bernie.
That brought up Helton, who bounced what looked like a
rally-killing 6-4-3 double-play ball to Womack. But
now it was the Falcons' turn to give to charity. The
ball clunked off the heel of Womack's glove, allowing
Soriano to score, keeping the bases loaded and
bringing up Lowell -- who made sure Berkman wouldn't
be able to bring this one back. He crushed Schilling's
2-0 slider deep into the seats for a grand slam, and
suddenly the score was 7-1 in favor of the home team.
Schilling was lifted for Gabe
White, and the rout appeared to be on. But the
Falcons -- who have played in four out of the last
five World Series -- weren't about to give up. In the
sixth, they climbed right back into it, loading the
bases on two singles and a walk to knock Lowe out of
the game, then Burks slammed a two-RBI single off Joe Borowski. Houston followed it
up with a base knock of his own to drive in another
run to make it 7-4. In the eighth, Eischen -- the
tough-luck loser in Game 2 -- took to the hill and
immediately fans started having flashbacks. Larry Walker smashed a grounder
down the third base line that Lowell fielded cleanly,
but his throw couldn't be scooped by Helton; Bonds
followed it up with a single, then stole second to put
runners on second and third with nobody out. After
getting a huge strikeout of Olerud, Eischen
intentionally walked Burks to get to Houston -- but
Arkansas manager George Brett
sent up pinch-hitter Phil
Nevin
instead. Showalter left Eischen in to face the righty,
but bad luck continued to dog him as a wild pitch
brought home Walker. Eischen then gave Nevin a free
pass to load the bases again and set up a chance for a
double-play. With Rivera warmed up in the 'pen,
pitching coach Ron Guidry had
a brief conference on the mound with Eischen, but the
32-year-old minor-league journeyman convinced the
Gator to give him a chance to wiggle out of it. Guidry
put the ball back into the southpaw's mitt and walked
back to the dugout, and Eischen rewarded him by
striking out Womack, then getting pinch-hitter Brad Ausmus to ground out to
short. Rivera came in for a 1-2-3 ninth, and the
left-for-dead Mighty Men had tied the series up at 2
games apiece.
The two teams flew back to Arkansas for Game
5, featuring a rematch of Game 2 starters Martinez
and Wakefield. Both teams threatened early, but no
blood was drawn until the third inning, when Walker
and Bonds each slammed home runs to stake Arkansas to
a 3-0 lead. The Golden Falcons would make it 5-0 in
the bottom of the sixth on a two-run shot by Houston,
but it was more than enough run support for Pedro. He
scattered five hits and three walks while striking out
10 to blank the Double-M Boys for 8.2 innings before
yielding to Dotel, who needed two pitches to coax
Soriano into fouling out to end the game, giving
Arkansas the advantage 3 games to 2. After the game,
Showalter was still optimistic. "The next game is in
our house," Buck said on the flight back to Stanhope.
"We win that one, and we bring back Lowe on full rest
for Game 7. We just have to get back to Arkansas and
let Derek take us home from there."
Showalter's squad looked ready to respond to his
challenge in Game
6, a rematch of Clement and Clemens, but the same
bad mojo that haunted them in Games 1 and 2 would find
them again. Early in the contest, Stanhope fans were
feeling fine as Clement survived a first-inning jam --
bases loaded and one out -- by fanning Berkman and
getting Burks to foul out to third. But Clemens wasn't
as fortunate in the bottom of the second, after a
lead-off walk to Lowell and a single to Marrero. After
Damon moved the runners along with a swinging bunt
down the third base line, Salmon doubled in both runs
to give the Mighty Men a 2-0 lead. But it wouldn't
stand long. In the next inning, Berkman responded with
a two-run double of his own, and Burks drove him in
with a RBI single to make it 3-2 Arkansas. In the
bottom of the fourth, Walker led off with a double,
then advanced to third on a Womack sac bunt back to
the pitcher; an Olerud single brought him home to make
it 4-2. Clement, who had been tagged for 7 hits, 4
walks and 4 runs over the first 3+ innings, was
finally pulled for Game 4 hero Borowski, who looked
sharp -- but was again betrayed by his defense. Bonds
reached on a Lowell throwing error, moving Olerud to
second; the runners then advanced on a ground-out by
Berkman. That brought up Burks, who hit a mile-high
pop up that should have been the final out of the
inning, but -- in a moment that will be shown on
blooper reels for years to come -- Floyd lost the ball
in the lights and stood there with arms outstretched
in bewilderment as it landed five feet behind him and
bounded away. By the time Bernie had retrieved the
ball and fired it back into the infield, Burks was on
second and both runners had scored to make it a 6-2
game. The disheartened Stanhope fans began to file out
of the stadium after their boys came up empty over the
next three frames. But the hard-core fans who stayed
behind -- many wearing Jerusalem
Rabbis jerseys -- saw the tide begin to turn in
the bottom of the seventh, when Bonds lost a Damon pop
fly in those same lights to give the Mighty Men a
lead-off baserunner. Salmon and Jeter then walked to
load the bases, and Brett then called on Dotel to shut
down the rally. Soriano and Floyd each lofted sac
flies to plate a run apiece and cut the deficit to
6-4. Meanwhile, Eischen -- who had entered the game in
the top of the seventh -- was cruising through
Arkansas's lineup, holding the lead at 2. In the
bottom of the 8th, Lowell smashed his second home run
of the series to make it 6-5, and Brett again went to
the bullpen, calling on Byung-Hyun
Kim. The youngster, clearly rattled by the
energized Stanhope fans, gave up three straight walks
to load the bases, then Jeter crushed a fly ball to
death valley that Berkman finally hauled in with a
running catch on the warning track -- but it was deep
enough for a sac fly to tie the score at 6-6. Kim
stopped the bleeding there, and the two teams traded
zeroes for the next two innings.
Eischen, now pitching into his fifth inning, struck
out pinch-hitter Juan Gonzalez
to open the 11th, but then Burks drilled a clean
single past Jeter's outstretched glove. Down three
games to two, Showalter had to go to his best: Rivera.
The slim closer trotted in from behind the left-center
wall to the strains of "Enter Sandman" and up to the
plate stepped Phil Nevin, who
had singled for Houston as a pinch-hitter in the
ninth. Mariano quickly got ahead, then Nevin was badly
fooled on a cutter in on the hands that broke his bat
at the handle. The dying quail was fisted just over
Soriano's leaping try but Floyd, racing in from right,
fielded it cleanly and fired to third to try and nail
Burks. A good throw would have had him, but it wasn't
a good throw. Instead, it plunked third base coach Brett Butler square in the
cajones and Burks scampered home with the go-ahead
run. But the damage wasn't done yet. Vizcaino then
whacked a line drive just inside the third base line
that rattled into the left field corner for an RBI
double; Vizcaino, in turn, scored on an Ausmus single.
Rivera finally got out of the jam on two ground-outs,
but the Mighty Men were now down three runs, with
three outs left in their 2003 season.
Jeter, leading off the bottom of the 11th, got it
started with an inside-out single off Arkansas's fifth
pitcher of the game, Damaso
Marte. When Soriano followed that up with a walk,
it brought the tying run to the plate in Floyd, eager
to atone for his earlier miscues, with Williams on
deck. But Showalter -- who loves to play the
percentages -- didn't like the lefty-lefty match-up
against Marte (.216, .565 OPS vs RHB). With Kim, Dotel
and Trevor Hoffman already out
of the game, Buck elected to go to the right-handed
bats on his bench. That would force Brett to either
use up Game 7 starter Schilling in relief, or leave in
Marte against the right-handed bats. Brett did just
that.
Showalter's decision to sit Floyd (.219, .594 OPS vs.
LHP this year) in favor of Carlos
Lee (.300, .809 OPS vs. LHP) looked like a
no-brainer, even though Lee looked awful as he fanned
on three straight pitches. But, after Bernie grounded
out to the pitcher to advance the runners to second
and third, most fans questioned his next move --
taking out Helton (.261, .792 OPS) for pinch-hitter D'Angelo Jimenez (.143, .360
OPS), who hadn't swung a bat throughout the
post-season. After the game, Showalter told reporters
that Jimenez had owned Marte when the two had faced
each other in the Santo Domingo Little League.
"D'Angelo went 24-for-36 off him with four home runs
and six doubles in 1985," Showalter said. "You can't
overlook numbers like that, even when they're off a
10-year-old." Unfortunately for Showalter, Marte had
learned some new pitches over the last 18 years, and
Jimenez meekly bounced out to second to end the game
and the series, 4 games to 2.
Two years ago, Newark swept Carolina in the division
series to advance to their first World Series in four
years. But this Carolina team promised to be a much
tougher opponent, having led the league in fewest runs
allowed. They also had the hottest hitter of the first
round in young Aubrey Huff.
But the No. 4 seed failed to knock off the defending
two-time champs as the Sugar Bears made themselves at
home in Carolina, taking all three games played in
Bullhead Memorial Stadium.
After Daniel Rodriguez, "the
singing cop," brought the Cereal Bowl crowd to its
feet with his stirring rendition of the National
Anthem, Game
1 got underway as a duel between two of the best
left-handers in baseball -- Randy
Johnson and Barry Zito.
With the help of some terrific fielding and a few
timely strikeouts, Zito pitched out of jams in the
first, third and sixth innings, never allowing a
Newark baserunner to advance past second base. As
impressive as he was, Johnson's performance was
historic. Except for a walk and a hit batsman in the
third inning, Johnson had retired every batter in the
Carolina lineup over the first eight innings,
including six strikeouts in a row at one point. "He
should have to pitch from second base," muttered Pat Burrell, who went 0-for-4
with 3 Ks. "This just ain't fair." But Newark batters
were just as helpless against Zito, with four singles
and two walks over the first eight frames. The Mudcats
finally broke up the no-no in the top of the 9th
inning, when pinch-hitter Benji
Molina led off the frame with a clean single to
right. After a fly out, Torii
Hunter beat out an infield single to put runners
on first and second with one out and the heart of the
order coming up. Carolina manager Lenny Dykstra quickly got closer
Jose Mesa warming up in case
his squad took the lead, but Mark
Bellhorn flew out to shallow left, and Burrell
whiffed on three straight pitches to end the threat.
Zito came out to pitch the bottom of the 9th, but he
was obviously gassed -- Manny
Ramirez hit a bullet line drive that somehow found
Bellhorn, and Dave Roberts
followed it up with a frozen rope into centerfield.
Wasting no time, Dykstra brought in Mesa to face the
right-handed hitting Edgardo
Alfonzo, and Newark manager Don Mattingly countered by
sending up pinch-hitter Mark
McLemore. Mesa quickly got ahead of McLemore, 0-2,
but the scrappy veteran refused to chase Mesa's
offerings out of the strike zone, spoiling anything
close by fouling it off. He then drew an audible "ooh"
from the crowd when Mesa's 2-2 backdoor slider was
called for ball three. Visibly annoyed with home plate
umpire Derryl Cousins, Mesa
stalked around the mound for several moments before
bearing down for the ninth pitch of the at-bat, with
the capacity Cereal Bowl crowd screaming its loudest.
Ball 4! That put runners on first and second for Jim Thome, Newark's Kevin
Mitchell Award candidate. Mesa didn't want any
part of the big left-handed rube, throwing him four
straight high-and-away fastballs to load the bases for
yet another slugger in Newark's lineup: Mike Piazza, but at least it was
a righty-righty match-up. Mesa's first pitch was high
and tight, and his second missed low and away. With
the infield in to cut off the winning run, all Piazza
needed was a sac fly to bring home the speedy Roberts
from third, so Mesa wasn't about to give in and throw
something down the middle. With the crowd roaring,
Mesa's next pitch was a slider in the dirt that almost
got away from Molina, running the count to 3-0. After
the game, Mattingly said Piazza always has the green
light, but the future Hall of Famer was taking all the
way as Mesa's next pitch sailed high and away for his
10th straight ball in a row and to force in the
winning run. "This is a hell of a way to lose a
ballgame," Carolina colorman Jeff
Frye muttered as Roberts trotted home with the
winning run and the Sugar Bears celebrated an easy
Game 1 victory.
 Game
2 at the Cereal Bowl featured Roy Halladay against Brian Meadows, and the
high-powered Sugar Bear offense looked like it was
primed to do more than just walking as Chipper Jones led off the second
inning with a clean single. After a fly out, Jones
stole second, then scored on a Piazza double. Alex Cora then executed a perfect
hit-and-run slap single to right to bring home the
slow-footed Piazza from second, giving the Bears a 2-0
lead. Meadows and Halladay held the game right there
for the next three innings -- including a tremendous
play by Jim Edmonds, who
gunned down Cora at the plate in the 4th inning to
keep the game at 2-0. In the top of the 6th, the
offense finally came together as Edmonds reached on a
fielder's choice, Burrell followed it with a single
and Richie Sexson slammed a
one-out RBI double to put runners on second and third
and cut the lead to 2-1. A visibly rattled Meadows
then threw his first pitch to Bellhorn to the screen
to score Burrell from third and tie the game at two,
with Sexson on third base and just one out. Pitching
coach Mike Grace, who shows
plenty of patience with his pitchers, conferred
briefly with Meadows but left him in the game.
Bellhorn then smashed a 2-0 bullet that McLemore
caught in self-defense, then stepped on the bag for a
huge double play. Meadows looked sharp from then on
except for one pitch -- a seventh-inning mistake to Randy Winn, which tipped off the
left-field fair pole for a two-out home run to make
the game 3-2. Meadows wouldn't allow another run, but
Halladay wouldn't allow another baserunner until two
outs in the 8th, when Piazza reached on a walk.
Showing faith in his closer, Dykstra went to Mesa
again for a four-out save, and Mesa rewarded his
manager's confidence by getting Cora to ground out to
end the inning. In the 9th, Thome came up to the plate
as the go-ahead run after McLemore reached on an
error, but this time Mesa went after him and struck
him out to end the game and tie the series at 1 game
apiece.
After two nail-biters, the series moved to
Bullhead Memorial Stadium, where Hurricane
Isabel brought driving rain, howling wind and the
promise of a high-scoring Game
3. After the start of game was delayed by nearly
two hours, the tarp was finally removed and the game
got underway between right-handers
Runelvys Hernandez and Tim
Hudson. Newark threatened in the first two
innings, but Hudson escaped both jams with 6-4-3
double plays. It looked like he'd finally have an easy
3rd after getting two quick outs, but Jose Hernandez broke the
scoreless tie by launching a high drive into the grey
sky for a solo home run. Jeremy
Giambi then walked, and McLemore followed it up
with a triple that chased him home and made the score
2-0. In the next inning, the Sugar Bears got back to
work again as Jones singled and Bobby Abreu doubled; Cora brought
home the former with a sac fly, and Hernandez the
latter with a two-out single to make it 4-0. An inning
later, they put up another two-spot as McLemore
doubled, then Thome turned around a Hudson fastball
that smashed off the scoreboard for a two-run home
run. Meanwhile, the 'Cats bats were also taking
advantage of the strong breeze to center, getting on
the board in the bottom of the 4th on a solo home run
by Sexson, and two more in the 5th on a two-run shot
by Huff to keep the game interesting at 6-3. In the
7th, after Winn and A.J.
Pierzynski executed an astonishing double-steal to
put runners on second and third with nobody out,
Hernandez pitched around Huff to load the bases and
set up the force at any base, but Edmonds and Burrell
refused to oblige, instead skying back-to-back sac
flies to cut the lead to 6-5. In the top of the 8th,
with Paul Shuey on the mound
for Carolina, Jones led off with a double, followed by
an Abreu walk. Piazza then laced a line drive to
left-center that Edmonds, rather than pulling up and
playing it on a hop, made an ill-advised dive for; the
ball skipped past him on the wet grass and bounced all
the way to the wall. By the time Hunter had fired it
back in, both runners had scored and Piazza was
calling for oxygen on third base, with the score 8-5.
But the tenacious Mudcats again battled back, leading
off the 8th inning with back-to-back home runs by
Bellhorn and Rich Aurilia off
Jayson Durocher to make it a
one-run game again. Looking for breathing room in the
top of the 9th, the Sugar Bears loaded the bases on
two walks and a single, then -- amazingly enough --
got two more free runs as Brendan
Donnelly gave up two walks to extend the lead back
to three. Those two runs proved the difference as, in
the 9th, closer John Smoltz
got into trouble with runners on the corner and two
out; Aurilia brought home one run with a single, but
Hunter ended the game on a weak ground-out to third,
giving the Sugar Bears an exhausting 10-8 win and the
series lead, 2 games to 1.
After all the wind and rain the night before, the
clear skies and warm weather set the perfect stage for
a Sunday afternoon ballgame. Former Mudcat Chili Davis threw out the first
pitch and Game
4 was underway, with Johnson looking to reprise
his Opening Night gem for the Sugar Bears. But Zito,
unable to come back on three days' rest after his
120-pitch effort in Game 1, would be saved for later
as fourth starter Cory Lidle
took the hill for the 'Cats, as he did in the series
against the Sharks. Lidle dodged some early trouble --
including a ringing double by Giambi to start the game
-- but kept it scoreless until the 3rd, when Hernandez
slammed a solo home run to give the Sugar Bears a 1-0
advantage. An inning later, Newark would plate two
more on back-to-back doubles by Ramirez and Jones,
followed by Piazza's RBI ground-out. Those three runs
would be more than enough offense, as the Big Unit
picked up where he left off in Game 1, fanning six of
the first nine batters he faced. He scattered two hits
and a walk through the first five innings and wasn't
really in trouble until the 6th, when Bellhorn cracked
a one-out double, then Burrell drew a walk. Former
Sugar Bear Raul Mondesi then
spoiled Johnson's bid for his second shutout of the
series with a crisp single to right that scored
Bellhorn. Johnson escaped further damage by getting Aramis Ramirez to ground into a
6-4-3 double play, and he wouldn't give up another hit
in the game. Piazza added an insurance run with a
two-out solo shot in the 9th, and John Smoltz closed it out with a
1-2-3 inning to push the Mudcats to the brink of
elimination as Newark took a 3 games to 1 lead.
Back in Newark, Sugar Bears owner Butch Garretson could imagine no
better birthday present from his squad on Sept. 28
than a victory to advance to the World Series for the
third straight season. But Game
5 was anything but a nice surprise as the two
teams had another slugfest. Both teams came out firing
as the 'Cats scored two in the top of the 1st on hits
from Edmonds, Burrell and Bellhorn; the Sugar Bears
responded with three runs on a two-RBI single by
Piazza, after getting their first run of the game on
their third bases-loaded walk of the series. The
Fighting Fish struck back with three runs in the 3rd
on an RBI single by Sexson and a two-run home run by
Bellhorn, and made it 6-3 in the 4th on Burrell's RBI
single. The Sugar Bears responded in the 6th with a
two-run double by Cora to shave the lead to one run,
then the game was turned over to the bullpens and
neither would yield another run. The Sugar Bears' last
chance to tie it up came with two outs in the 8th,
when Giambi singled, then advanced to second when
Abreu reached on an error by Huff; Ramirez then lined
a bullet to left field off Mesa. Giambi chugged around
third as Hunter cut off the ball in the gap and fired
home; the ball beat him by 10 feet and he slammed into
Pierzynski, leaving both players writhing on top of
home plate. After the umpires got them separated, the
ball was found still tucked in Pierzynski's glove and
Giambi was called out to end the inning. Newark went
down in order in the 9th to end the game, 6-5, to send
the series back to Carolina and give the Mudcats a
chance to tie it up at three games apiece.
In a seven-game series, momentum can swing with just
one win, and it was a thoroughly dejected Sugar Bear
squad that made the flight back to Carolina for Game
6. "I thought we were done with this shit hole,"
grumbled Keith Foulke as the
players stepped into Bullhead Memorial Stadium for the
third time. The pitchers would be Newark's Hernandez,
who pitched long enough to get the win in the Game 3
slugfest, and Carolina's Halladay, who outdueled
Meadows for a crucial win in Game 2. Newark's
frustration continued in the 1st inning, when they had
two on and one out but came up empty when Ramirez
grounded into a fielder's choice and Jones skied out
to left. Halladay got out of mini jams in the 2nd and
3rd, each time escaping courtesy of the double play,
as well as wiggling out of a two-on, two-out spot in
the 4th by getting Piazza to fly out deep to center.
Meanwhile, Hernandez was cruising against the Mudcats,
giving up just one 1st inning single and a 4th inning
walk. But Aurilia finally got the scoring started in
the 5th, when he launched a solo home run into the
cheap seats to put the 'Cats up 1-0. Winn then poked a
one-out double into the corner, but was stranded there
as Hernandez bore down and get Pierzynski and Huff on
ground-outs. The two pitchers traded zeroes for
another inning, then, in the 7th, Hunter added an
insurance run with a solo home run to make it 2-0 --
and it seemed like a very big lead as the Sugar Bears
continued to be handcuffed by Halladay. Down to their
last three outs, the Sugar Bears were suddenly faced
by the unpleasant situation of returning to Newark for
a winner-take-all Game 7. The Brick City Bombers
wanted no part of that. Ramirez, Jones and Abreu
rapped out three straight singles to lead off the 9th
to load the bases and finally chase Halladay off the
mound. Would Dykstra call on Mesa again? He did -- and
the closer rewarded him by getting Piazza to ground
into a 4-6-3 double play. Ramirez scampered home on
the GIDP to make it a 2-1 ballgame, but that seemed
irrelevant as all Mesa had to do was get the
light-hitting Cora to close it out. But the pesky
Cora, in an at-bat reminiscent of McLemore's battle at
the end of Game 1, fouled off pitch after pitch until
he'd worked the count to 3-2, then blooped a base hit
over Aurilia to score Jones and tie the score at two
apiece. The heart-broken Mudcat fans could only watch
in horror as the Newark merry-go-round continued on a
Hernandez single, a Giambi walk and a McLemore single.
By the time Mesa had struck out Thome to finally get
the third out of the inning, the Sugar Bears had taken
a 4-2 lead.
Despite having the new DMBL record holder in saves
sitting in the bullpen, Mattingly sent Hernandez back
out for the bottom of the 9th. "I figured he'd earned
it," Mattingly said, "but I had a hand on the bullpen
phone just in case." The second guessing started
almost immediately as Sexson led off the inning with a
single to bring the tying run to the plate, but
Mattingly didn't make a move, and Bellhorn flew out to
left. That brought up Aurilia, who'd homered off
Hernandez in the 5th; again, Smoltz was left watching
from the 'pen as Aurilia grounded into a fielder's
choice. Then came up Hunter, who'd homered in the 7th,
but Hernandez was again given the chance to avenge
himself, and he did by getting Hunter to ground out to
second to end the game and the series, 4 games to 2.
 Many thought the 2001 Ben McDonald
Award winner had his best days behind him, but the
39-year-old Randy Johnson
proved he still has plenty left in the tank as he
flat-out destroyed the Mudcats in the first round to
pick
up the Hulk
Smash Up Pitcher of the Week Award. Johnson
went the distance in both his starts
against Carolina, going 2-0 while allowing just 6
hits, 4 walks and 1 run while piling up an astounding
23 strikeouts... not to mention his no-hitter
for the first eight innings of Game 1. Runelvys Hernandez (3.94 ERA,
1.06 WHIP) also went 2-0 for the Sugar Bears, but Brian Meadows (0-2, 6.75 ERA,
1.42 WHIP) had an awful first round. In the
'pen, Keith Foulke was sharp
in his only appearance (0 R, 2 H, 0 BB in 3 IP), but
John Smoltz and Jayson Durocher combined to allow
5 hits, 2 walks and 3 earned runs in 6 innings...
Carolina got a terrific effort from Barry Zito in Game 1 (1 ER, 5 H,
2 BB, 7 K in 8.1 IP), but he had the misfortune of
going up against Johnson and took the loss.
Ironically, he pitched awful in Game 4 (5 ER, 5 H, 7
BB in 5.2 IP), but the 'Cats scored six runs for him
and he won the game. Overall, he was 1-1 with a
3.86 ERA, 1.36 WHIP. Roy
Halladay picked up Carolina's other win, just
edging out Meadows in the thrilling 3-2 Game 2 victory
(2 ER, 8 H, 3 BB in 7.2 IP), but it took him 132
pitches to do it and he clearly didn't have his best
stuff in Game 6, though he did pitch well enough to
win (6 H, 5 BB, 2 ER in 8 IP) -- the bullpen coughed
up both those runs. Cory Lidle
(4 ER, 8 H, 1 BB in 8.2 IP) and Tim Hudson (6 ER, 9 H, 3 BB in 5
IP) picked up the other two losses. Brendan Donnelly and
David Weathers combined to
give up no runs, one hit and one walk in 3
appearances, while
Paul Shuey (2 ER, 2 H, 2 BB in 2.1 IP) and Scott Sauerbeck (2 ER, 1 H, 5 BB
in 2 IP) were awful. But the goat horns go to Jose Mesa (0-1, 2 SV, 2 ER, 4 H,
4 BB in 3.2 IP), who allowed three inherited
runners to score, including the go-ahead runs in Games
1 and 6.
If not for Johnson, Arkansas's Pedro Martinez
could have joined Bonds in sweeping the weekly honors.
Pedro pitched a terrific Game 2 (3 ER, 11 H, 0 BB in 8
IP) but got a no-decision as the Golden Falcons pulled
out the come-from-behind 4-3 victory in the ninth; in
Game 5, he game within one out of a dominating
shutout, but was lifted after 146 pitches (0 R, 5 H, 3
BB, 10 K in 8.2 IP). Roger
Clemens (0-1, 5 ER, 12 H, 5 BB, 10 K in 12 IP) and
Curt Schilling
(1-1, 7 ER, 16 H, 3 BB, 7 K in 13 IP) will have to
step up their performances if Arkansas has a hope of
shutting down Newark's vaunted lineup in the World
Series. The bullpen was impressive, with
Octavio Dotel, Trevor Hoffman,
Byung-Hyun Kim, Damaso Marte and
Gabe White combining to post a
1.46 ERA in 12.1 IP... Stanhope's top pitcher was Derek Lowe, who continued
his dominant pitching from the first round (2-0, 0 ER,
9 H, 1 BB in 16.2 IP). Against Arkansas, Lowe was the
tough-luck loser in Game 1 (2 R, 0 ER, 4 H, 1 BB in 8
IP), and pitched better than his line in Game 2 (4 ER,
5 H, 1 BB in 5.1 IP) as three of his earned runs were
coughed up by the 'pen. Lowe finishes the post-season
at 3-1 with a 1.20 ERA, 0.70 WHIP.
Matt Clement went 1-0 despite
a 5.23 ERA, 2.23 WHIP, while Tim
Wakefield was 0-1 with a 4.72, 1.65. Though Joey Eischen had a nice 1.17 ERA,
he was tagged with two losses as he gave up three runs
-- only one earned -- in three appearances. Joe Borowski, Steve Karsay and Brendan Villafuerte combined to
give up 0 ER, 4 H and 0 BB in 6.1 IP, and Mariano Rivera picked up two
saves while allowing one hit and no earned runs in his
first two appearances -- but then gave up the three
straight hits that ended Game 6 with an Arkansas
champagne shower.
TWIB may have Ozzie Smith, but we
have the better Smith! Zane Smith, former pitcher for the San Antonio
Slingers and Sacramento Seahawks, now
writes this column exclusively for the Diamond Mind Baseball League. Click Here for past
articles.
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