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Wow! All 3 American League Divisions were decided in one night, leaving the NL Central and the wildcard battles to be determined. The AL playoff matchups are nearly a done deal: Boston will travel to Oakland and Minnesota will visit New York unless something extraordinary occurs. Houston pitching had one really bad inning and now trail the Cubs in the NL Central. Today - Philly's last stand: two exciting young pitchers, Brett Myers and Josh Beckett, face off in Florida.



AL West: Athletics have clinched ; AL Wildcard
TeamWinsLossesRemainingYesterdayScheduleElim
Oakland95634Tex 4-3  Tex 1, @Sea 3__
Boston93645Bal 6-5  Bal 2, @TB 3__
Seattle90684Ana 2-1  @Ana 1, Oak 32

Jorge Julio is not going to get any Christmas cards from the Mariners this year. The Baltimore closer gave up a game-tying 3-run homerun to Todd Walker in the bottom of the 9th with 2 out. David Ortiz hit a leadoff walkoff homerun the next inning, putting another nail in the Mariners' coffin.

Freddy Garcia and Scot Shields hooked up in a pitchers' duel. Freddy loaded the bases with none out in the 2nd, but a run scoring double play limited the damage to a single run. Shields' stuff was darting all over the place - the M's managed to threaten in the 5th, after Randy Winn doubled with 1 out and moved to third on Mike Cameron's single. But a weak fly ball to LF by Rey Sanchez wasn't deep to score the runner, and the rally fizzled. Shields went an impressive 8 innings and allowed only 3 hits. Troy Percival walked the leadoff man Carlos Guillen in the 9th. With 1 out, pinch-runner Luis Ugueto stole second and went to third on an Edgar Martinez flyball to centre. John Olerud worked the count full and fouled off the next pitch, at which point Percival went with his first curve ball (all fastballs to that point). John flinched, but the ball was high - a walk. Randy Winn calmly punched a groundball single into centrefield to tie the game. The Mariners had a tie game and had a life.

Freddy came out for the ninth, and promptly served up a groundball up the middle to Jeff DaVanon. Arthur Rhodes made a brief appearance and was dismissed after Garret Anderson's ground single into rightfield. Enter Rafael Soriano. One would think a bunt would be automatic in this situation (2 on, none out), but managers usually don't ask someone like Tim Salmon to bunt. Salmon put a good swing on a 1-2 pitch but produced only a flyball to RF. DaVanon stayed rooted to the 2nd base bag as Ichiro made a routine catch. News came in that the Athletics had tied the Rangers in the 9th 3-3 on an RBI-double by Jermaine Dye. Speizio hit a sharp grounder that newly-minted first baseman Willie Bloomquist (Olerud left for a pinch-runner after his walk) made a game-saving diving stop on. The runners advanced on the 3-1 putout. Melvin chose to walk the lefty Adam Kennedy (I HATE, HATE, HATE this type of move) to load the bases and face righty Shawn Wooten. Soriano blew Wooten away with a 1-2 fastball high and away and we were headed to the tenth.

The Angels' best relief pitcher, Brendan Donnelly, entered the fray. Nothing doing for the Mariners, as the side was retired on 3 flyballs. In Oakland, Adam Melhuse singled in the winning run with the bases loaded and two outs in the 10th - Seattle now had to win to stay alive in the division race. With 2 out in the 11th, Edgar drew a walk off Francisco Rodriguez, but confounded the Pacific Northwest by attempting a steal (with predictable results). In the bottom of the 11th, Shiggy Hasegawa came in to face the heart of the Angels' order. Anderson nearly reached on a grounder because of an errant throw, but Bloomquist was able to handle it. It didn't matter, as the next batter, Tim Salmon, smoked a pitch far beyond the left-centrefield wall to end the game. The Mariners had lost the game and (realistically) their season on that swing.

NL Central
TeamWinsLossesRemainingYesterdayScheduleElim
Chicago85725Cin 6-0  @cin 2, pit 3__
Houston84736SF 3-10  sf 1, mil 45
St. Louis82764Mil 5-1  @mil 1, @arz 32

San Francisco scored 10 runs in the 2nd inning. The key at-bat was Barry Bonds' bases-loaded 1-out grounder to Jeff Bagwell. Bagwell made a poor throw home to try for the force and all hands were safe as Bonds reached on an error. The Giants parlayed that into ten runs and Jason Schmidt wasn't going to blow that kind of lead - the Giants cruised to a 10-3 win.

NL Wildcard
TeamWinsLossesRemainingYesterdayScheduleElim
Florida87705Phi 5-4  phi 2, nym 3__
Philadelphia85725Fla 4-5  @fla 2, atl 34
Houston84735SF 3-10   sf 1, mil 43
Los Angeles83736SD 2-1  @sd 2, @sf 43

Great game in Florida last night. Dontrelle Willis battled for 6 innings, giving up 3 runs early in the game (Jimmy Rollins plated 2 runs with a double). Kevin Millwood made it stand up until the fateful 7th inning. After a pair of walks and a fly out, Jeff Conine slammed a 3-run shot to left-centre to tie the game. Millwood was chased, the bullpen poured gas on the fire, and Florida had a 5-3 lead by the end of the inning. Braden Looper struggled with his control in the 8th, Chad Fox had to relieve him and limited the damage to a single run. The Phils' rally fell short as tripe-U (Uggie Urbina) nailed down the victory. The Phillies are faced with 2 must-win games in Florida to stay alive.

AL Homefield
TeamWinsLossesRemainingYesterdayScheduleElim
NY Yankees98595CWS 7-0  @cws 1, bal 4__
Oakland95634Tex 4-3  tex 1, @sea 32


NL Homefield
TeamWinsLossesRemainingYesterdayScheduleElim
Atlanta98604Mon 2-0  mon 1, @phi 3__
San Francisco97596Hou 10-3  @hou 1, la 4__

The top 3 clubs in MLB all won, and are within half a game of each other for the best record in baseball. The Yankees clinched their division within minutes of the Twins doing the same. Technically, Boston and New York can still finish with 98 wins each, but NY has a better head-to-head record and so Boston would slot in as the wildcard.

AL Central: Minnesota Twins have clinched
TeamWinsLossesRemainingYesterdayScheduleElim
Minnesota88695Cle 4-1  cle 1, @det 4__
Chicago82755NYY 0-7   nyy 1, @kc 4elim
Kansas City82755Det 6-15  det 1, cws 4elim

Detroit shocked Kansas City last night. Instead of a coronation, the Twins were given a surprise division-clinching party.

Today's Probable pitchers
PHIBrett MyersatFLAJosh Beckett7:05
SFSidney PonsonatHOURoy Oswalt2:05
CHIShawn EstesatCINJ Hall7:10
STLMatt MorrisatMILMatt Kinney8:05
MONZach DayatATLRuss Ortiz7:05
LAKevin BrownatSDBen Howard10:05
BALPat HentgenatBOSJohn Burkett7:05
SEARyan FranklinatANAJohn Lackey4:05

IF the season had ended last night ...



New York Yankees
versus
Minnesota Twins
ALDS
...........|  |...........
Atlanta Braves
versus
Chicago Cubs
NLDS
 
ALCS
 
NLCS
 
Oakland Athletics
versus
Boston Red Sox
ALDS-WC
...........| |...........
San Francisco Giants
versus
Florida Marlins
NLDS-WC
Pennant Crunch: Wednesday, September 24, 2003 | 13 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Gerry - Wednesday, September 24 2003 @ 09:03 AM EDT (#90984) #
Even more impressive. Now improved with play by play and playoff matchups. Great job Robert.

If pitching is the key to the playoffs, Anaheim notwithstanding, which of these teams has the best pitching?

In the AL Yankees pitchers are older, Minnesota's questionable, and Oakland and Boston have good 1-2's and not so good 3-4's.

In the NL you have some good young un's, with Prior, Wood, Zambrano, Willis, Williams, Beckett, etc.

I think the Cubs have the best pitching, starting pitching that is. Whether their offense can generate enough runs for them is a different matter.
robertdudek - Wednesday, September 24 2003 @ 09:09 AM EDT (#90985) #
I think the Cubs could be very dangerous in the playoffs. Not only do they have a great starting 4, but the additions of Aramis Ramirez and Kenny Lofton have strengthened the offence (BTW, if Jayson Stark advocates Shannon Stewart as AL MVP because of the turnaround in the Twins fortunes he "caused", he should be trumpeting Aramis as NL MVP for similar reasons.).
Craig B - Wednesday, September 24 2003 @ 10:23 AM EDT (#90986) #
Terrific stuff, Robert. I agree that Chicago are very dangerous in a playoff situation - they have some great starting pitching - but is that offense going to be able to score any runs? I don't know... they are 10th in the NL in runs scored and Dusty is using Kenny Lofton and Mark Grudzielanek at the top of the order.

In addition, the Cubs' outfield defense is a disaster. Thankfully for them, they strike out a lot of guys.
Mike D - Wednesday, September 24 2003 @ 12:03 PM EDT (#90987) #
Erubiel Durazo stole a base last night!
Pistol - Wednesday, September 24 2003 @ 12:25 PM EDT (#90988) #
I'll be the person that doesn't like the Cubs' chances. Pitching is nice and all, but you still have to score and I don't think they're strong enough to compete with Atlanta or SF. They may take the series to 5 games, and they may have a chance in each game, but I don't think they can win a series.
robertdudek - Wednesday, September 24 2003 @ 12:46 PM EDT (#90989) #
Obviously, the Giants and Braves should be favoured, but the G'ints don't have a lot of offensive depth and the Braves starters don't look very solid to me.
_Cristian - Wednesday, September 24 2003 @ 01:59 PM EDT (#90990) #
Open question: If you are the Twins, how do you set up your rotation for the playoffs?
robertdudek - Wednesday, September 24 2003 @ 02:11 PM EDT (#90991) #
Santana, Rogers in Yankee Stadium.
Radke, Milton in Metrodome,
Santana for deciding game.

Lefties in Yankee Stadium is a obvious choice, I think.

Conventional widsom has it that you start an experienced pitcher in game 1, but the Twins are decided underdogs and the only way they can win (I think) is if they get brilliant performances from their starters. I think Santana has the best chance of coming up with a gem.
_Cristian - Wednesday, September 24 2003 @ 02:18 PM EDT (#90992) #
Santana and the Yankee Killer to start? That's an awful lot of faith in Santana. And hasn't the 'Yankee Killer' mystique come off of Rogers yet? I can't really disagree with you in your choice but Radke has been great lately. I'm really curious how this will eventually shake down. I'm sure Aaron Gleeman will have something to say about this in the coming days.
Craig B - Wednesday, September 24 2003 @ 02:35 PM EDT (#90993) #
Santana and the Yankee Killer to start? That's an awful lot of faith in Santana

He's one of the ten best starters in the American League. Radke would be a good choice too, but starting Radke in Game 3 allows him to take (I think?) three starts in the ALCS if need be... and I'd rather have Radke in the Dome than in Yankee Stadium.

I'd set my rotation exactly as Robert has.

I guess one reason to prefer Radke on the grass instead of the carpet is, he's more of a groundball pitcher than Santana is and with the Twins' crapalicious middle infield, it may help to have those grounders slowed down a tad. You could make an argument for him on that basis. (Or for just biting the bullet and playing Gomez and Hocking as the keystone combo)
_Cristian - Wednesday, September 24 2003 @ 05:33 PM EDT (#90994) #
This is the Yankees lineup today playing a meaningless game against the ChiSox:

Soriano
N. Johnson
Jeter
Giambi
Posada
Williams
Matsui
E. Wilson
K. Garcia

Aaron Boone gets a day off but otherwise the Yankees put out their A lineup. Now, here's the Giants lineup today against Houston. Keep in mind that Houston is in the middle of playoff fight with the Cubs.

E. Young
M. Bernard
J. Hammonds
A. Galarraga
P. Feliz
N. Perez
T. Linden (not the Canucks centre--I checked)
Y. Torrealba

If I was the Chicago Cubs I would be incensed.
_jason - Wednesday, September 24 2003 @ 06:24 PM EDT (#90995) #
http://somecalzoneforderek.blogspot.com/
Santana, Rogers in Yankee Stadium.
Radke, Milton in Metrodome,
Santana for deciding game.


Totally agree, but now that Milton's back, and the fact that he's a leftie, I would also tempted to put him in Roger's spot.

That being said I wouldn't be surprised to see the Twins open the series with Radke. They shouldn't, but they're the Twins.
Coach - Wednesday, September 24 2003 @ 07:44 PM EDT (#90996) #
The Mariners, still alive in the wild card race, surrendered meekly this afternoon. Seattle got just five hits off John Lackey, who isn't exactly a Cy Young candidate, but tossed a complete-game shutout.

Roy Oswalt was brilliant against the Giants' B team, spinning a 3-hitter through eight to keep the pressure on the Cubbies.

The Marlins have drawn first blood on a solo HR by Encarnacion.
Pennant Crunch: Wednesday, September 24, 2003 | 13 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.