'82 Halos Sweep '02 Bombers to caputure AL Flag

2002 New York Yankees (Ed Mikhli) Vs. 1982 California Angels (Douglas Zaner)

Game 1: CAL 8, NYY 1 - Doug DeCinces' 3-run HR broke open the game in the bottom 6th inning and California cruised to a 8-1 win. Mike Mussina, fresh off his no-hitter just a few days ago, left his A-game in Toronto, gaving up a walk, 3 hits and 3 runs in the first inning. Angels starter Ken Forsch, who was rocked by the Bronx Bombers earlier this season, figured out what he had done wrong. He scattered 8 hits and gave up only 1 run on his way to a 90-pitch complete game.

Game 2: CAL 12, NYY 4 - Reggie Jackson, Fred Lynn and Doug DeCinces each hit a 2-run HR off lefty David Wells, as California banged out 17 hits on way to a 12-4 win. Fred Lynn led the Halos attack with 4 hits, as 9 of 10 Angels had at least 1 hit. The only bright spot for the Yankees was Jason Giambi's bases-clearing double in the top of the 5th to temporarily narrow the NY deficit to 7-4. But other than that, California starter Mike Witt pitched well, striking out 8 in 6.1 innings.

Game 3: CAL 6, NYY 1 - The series moved to The Bronx, with the Yankee hitters still searching for their bats. But Halos' ace Bruce Kison managed to keep them hidden, limiting NY to 3 singles over 7 and a third innings. Behind a Reggie Jackson HR, California held onto a 3-0 lead entering the top of the 7th inning. Then Doug DeCinces and Don Baylor each HRed to give the Halos a 6-0 lead to put the game out of reach. Jason Giambi's RBI double off Any Hassler prevented the shutout. Kison lowered his season ERA to 1.87, while El Duque took the loss for NY.

Game 4: CAL 10, NYY 3 - California completes the sweep behind balanced hitting and a gutsy effort from Halos surprise starter Angel Moreno, who won his 2nd post-season game. California bunched their hits to score 7 times in the first 3 innings to build a 7-0 lead off Yankees starter Roger Clemens. 4th inning solo shots by Jason Giambi and Nick Johnson got the Bombers closer. But it wasn't quite enough, as 4 Angels relievers pitched 3 innings of 2-hit, shutout baseball. Although Fred Lynn lead the team with 3 RBIs, 8 of 9 Angels had at least 1 hit in what again was an entire team effort.

Turning point: It's hard to identify a single turning point when a team scores 36 runs behind 50 hits, including 8 HRs, while yielding only 9 runs and 33 hits for the entire Series.

ALCS MVP: Doug DeCinces (8 for 17, 9 RBIs, 3 HRs) and Fred Lynn (9 for 19, 7 RBIs, 5 extra base hits) took co-MVP honors.
--submitted by Douglas Zaner--