Phils Phoil Mets 3 games to 1

88 Mets (Justin) vs 76 Phillies (Gary)

The Phils had some timely pitching and hit in clutch spots as they take the 1st 3 games. The Mets did take game 4 behind Doc Gooden to salvage the series.

The turning point had to be the Mets sloppy defense as all the games were close and could of went either way. Series MVP: Greg Luzinski 6-16. 3 runs- 4 rbi's --submitted by Gary B--

Motown sweeps Evil Empire

Tom Davis managed the 87 Tigers, Ed Mikhli managed the 02 Yankees

The first game was a hitting contest, with several lead changes and ties. The Tigers though pulled away fro the Yankees whenever they got close and ended winning 11-8 or so. The second game was a matchup between Jack Morris and Rogers Clemens and, as expected was a pitching duel Clemens left in the seventh or so, but Morris pitched into the extra innings and got the win at home in the 10th. The third game was a masterful gem won by Doyle Alexander as the Tiger bats stayed alive in Yankee stadium. The final score was 7 for the Tigers and not half enough for the Yankees. The last game featured the only lefthanded starters used int he series. Frank Tanana was staked to a nice lead, but Mike Henneman blew the save in the bottom of the 8th. Eric King came in to pitch the extra frames for detroit and allowed only one hit, winning in the 11th on a Darrell Evans homer.List the turning point. Probably came in the first game. The Yankees had rallied to tie the game at 8-8 in the 8th but in the bottom of the frame, Tom Brookens, the unsung hero of this Tigers team, got a two run double to spark a three run rally. after that, the Tigers were never in awe of the Yankee pitching and figured they would eventually score runsWho would you consider the MVP and why ? I would probably have to give it to Tom Brookens for his continued clutch hitting. batting in the ninth spot, he has started rallies and driven in big runs all season long and this series was no exception. But it would be close over Matt Nokes and Kirk Gibson who both had strong series. --submitted by Tom Davis--

Cards sweep Bums to get back in race

In a series where the teams battled back and forth, the 2002 Cardinals managed to come away with four straight victories over the 1985 Dodgers. It was the first time this Cardinal team showed some life, and actually played the way manager Bicycle Mike thought they would play coming in to the season.

The Cards came in to the series at 7-13, having lost three of four to the Atlanta Braves. It looked like another long four days for the beleaguered club when the Dodgers put four runs on the board in the 6th inning of the opener, to build a 5-1 lead at Chavez Ravine. But the visitors climbed off the deck, chipping away at the Dodger lead with a run in the seventh and two in the 8th. With Fernando Valenzuela laboring, Edgar Renteria greeted him with a line single to start the ninth. In keeping Edgar close to the bag, Fernando then balked him to second, and lost Albert Pujols to a base on balls. But he recovered to strike out lefty swinging Jim Edmonds, a common occurrence this season for the disappointing center fielder who is still looking for his first home run.

With righty swinging Scott Rolen at the dish, Valenzuela was pulled for the big right hander Tom Neidenfuer. Big Tom came in a took card of Rolen on strikes, but JD Drew, pinch hitting for Eli Marrero, singled to right plating Renteria with the tying run. Another pinch hitter, Tino Martinez, struck out. So despite striking out the side in the 9th, the Dodgers gave up the tying run.

Gene Schechschulte retired the Dodgers in the ninth. Jay Howell came on for LA. After Mike Matheny lead of the 10th with yet another strike out, pinch hitter Kerry Robinson drew a walk, then promptly stole second and scooted to third on Mike Scioscia's errant throw. Another Fernando, Vina this time, managed to launch a fly ball to fairly deep right, deep enough to score Robinson with the run that brought the Cardinals all the way back. Rick White and Jason Isringhausen finished up as the Cardinals earned a hard fought come back win, 6-5.

Game two was another extra inning affair, with the Cardinals eventually prevailing 4-1, exploding for three runs in the 11th inning off of Orel Hershiser.

Game three was the only one sided score, however the game was close until St. Louis exploded for six runs in the bottom of the eighth. Tino Martinez' grand slam was the big blow.

Game four was similar to the first game, with the Dodgers opening a big lead, but St. Louis chipping back and eventually tying the score. LA built an early 6-2 lead off of starter Chuck Finley with two in the second and four more in the third. Finley exited early, pitching only three innings. The Cardinal bullpen was terrific, with four hurlers allowing only one more Dodger run through the final six frames. Meanwhile the offense went to work like they did in game one, putting two on the board in the bottom of third on back to back homers by Albert Pujols and Scott Rolen, one in the fourth, and two more in the fifth to take a 7-6 lead,

After the Dodgers tied it in the seventh on singles by Ken Landreuax and Greg Brock, and a sac fly off the bat of Pedro Guererro, the Cardinals went right back in front on a Mike DeFelice single and Fernando Vina triple.

Jason Isringhausen came on to secure the win, although the Dodgers had the tying run at third when Izzy got Steve Sax to pop up to end the series.

87-Tigers take 3 of 4 from slumping 03-Red Sox

In a match up of two teams going nowhere fast, Detroit came out on top 3 games to one. The first game saw a real pitchers duel between Josh Burkett and Jeff Robinson. The Tigers scored first on a Kirk Gibson homer but Trot Nixon answered in the seventh with a two run shot to give Boston a 2-1 advantage. However, the Boston bullpen couldn't hold that advantage and surrendered a run on a pinch hit single by Scott Lusader and further singles by Tom Brookens and Alan Trammell. Todd Walker led off the tenth with a homer off Mike Henneman, but again the BoSox bullpen came up short. Alan Embree issued a two out walk to pinchhitter Bill Madlock and Byang-Hyun Kim gave up back to back doubles to pinchhitter Johnny Grubb and Tom Brookens. In Game two, Jason Varitek homered twice off Jack Morris and Pedro Martinez pitched a strong seven innings to earn his 3rd victory, 4-1. The third game saw the Tigers score 15 runs off a variety of Boston pitchers including starter John Lowe. Frank Tanana pitched well enough to earn the victory but was unable to finish. This was the third series in a row that saw the Tigers score 15 or more runs in a game. Manny Ramirez hit two homers off Tanana and Kirk Gibson hit his second homer of the series. The final score was 15-5. In the last game of the series, Tim Wakefield faced Walt Terrell. Todd Walker doubled home two runs in the second to give Wakefield a 2-1 lead. Chet Lemon put the Tigers ahead with a three run dinger in the 4th and then Tom Brookens tripled home another run. Walker and Nixon each doubled home a run in the bottom half of the frame and then Terrell gave up a tying run after Johnny Damon stole second and third and then came home on a Varitek single. Tiger manager Tom Davis had seen enough and brought in Eric King to face David Ortiz. Ortiz, suffering from a season long slump and hitting only 171, flied out King then got Kevin Millar to fly out to end the inning. The Red Sox would only manage one walk off King as he threw 4.1 innings of hitless relief to finish the game. He got the win when Kirk Gibson led off the 8th with his third homer of the series. The Tigers added two more in the 8th and won 8-5. --contributed by Tom Davis--

'73 Reds split with '76 Phils

The Phils took the opener 4-1 behind Steve Carlton's complete game 3-hitter. Dick Allen's 2-run double in the 2nd put the Phillies up 2-0, then he scored on Dave Cash's single to make it 3-0. The Reds scored an unearned run in the 6th when Bowa's error was followed by consecutive singles by Rose and Morgan to cut it to 3-1. Jay Johnstone's solo HR in the 8th added the final run to cap the scoring at 4-1.

In game 2, Larry Christenson pitched around trouble for 6 innings and departed with a 2-0 lead. The Reds had men on base every inning included a bases-loaded situation in the 5th. The Phillies' runs came by way of a pair of Dave Cash triples - one to lead off the game, followed by Larry Bowa's single, and the other in the 3rd which resulted in a run when Garry Maddox delivered a 2-out single. Top of the 8th Greg Luzinski started the inning with a double off Pedro Borbon. One out later he scored an important insurance run on Bobby Tolan's PH single. (Interesting as Bobby Tolan played against Bobby Tolan; neither team had Bobby Tolan in his prime.) With Ron Reed working his 2nd inning of relief in the 9th, Ken Griffey delivered a 1-out, PH single. Pete Rose singled, sending Griffey to 3rd to bring Joe Morgan to the plate with 1 out. Morgan lofted a fly ball to right, but Ollie Brown grabbed it and Griffey held 3rd. Dan Driessen followed and launched a 3-run HR to tie the game at 3. Things stayed that way until the 11th. With one out, Larry Bowa singled. Mike Schmidt followed and took a Tom Hall mistake deep into the night for a 2-run HR and a 5-3 Phillies' lead. Gene Garber closed out the bottom of the 11th as the Phils took their 2nd win, 5-3.

Game 3 moved to the Vet, and the Reds took an early lead. Johnny Bench tripled off Tommy Underwood to lead off the 2nd, then scored on Larry Bowa's error. A bunt moved the runner to 3rd, then Bobby Tolan's failed squeeze play resulted in 2 outs with Tolan on 1st. Don Gullett and Pete Rose singled, scoring Tolan for a 2-0 lead. Top of the 6th, Dave Concepcion led off with a single. He scored on PH Andy Kosco's single to give the Reds a 3-0 lead. Kosco's PH appearance resulted in an early exit for Don Gullett, who held the Phils to 1 hit over 5 innings. His replacement, Pedro Borbon, was not so fortunate. A 1-out walk to PH Fred Andrews and a 2-out single by Larry Bowa cut the lead to 3-1. Mike Schmidt followed with a drive that barely missed leaving the park, and his double made it 3-2. Top of the 7th, Ron Reed on in place of Underwood. Joe Morgan greets him with a HR to extend the Reds' lead to 4-2. Cincinnati adds another in the 8th on Pete Rose's RBI double and Tom Hall closes out the 9th for a 5-2 Reds win.


The series finale was a duplicate of game 3's score, a 5-2 Reds win. Johnny Bench's 2-run double in the first gave Cincinnati a 2-0 lead. But the Phils got to Fred Norman, who must have been happy to exit the 1st with only 2 runs against him. Cash and Bowa singled. Luzinski walked to load the bases with 1 out. Bench picked Luzinski off 1st, and then Garry Maddox doubled in Cash and Bowa to tie the game at 2. Norman settled down from there and worked 7 more scoreless, if not at times tenuous innings. Top of the 4th, The Reds took the lead for good on Cesar Geronimo's double and Pete Rose's 2-out single. Johnny Bench's solo HR in the 5th, followed by Denis Menke's single and Bobby Tolan's RBI double extended that lead to 5-2. Cincinnati loaded the bases in the 7th, but failed to score. Bottom of the 9th, Clay Carroll pitching, two outs, and he walks both Bowa and Schmidt. The Bull steps to the plate, but his fly to left stays in the park to end it 5-2. The teams split the four games, and it was a lot of fun.

Mets management overhaul complete...

Breaking news out of (toilet) Flushing tonight. On the heels of a modest 4 game win streak, the NY Mets dropped 3 straight to SF, with the final game of the series, suffering a humiliating 15-5 thrashing. Owner Justin Ryan has halted authority of his general manager, who is on double, triple, super duper probation, and fired the manager, hitting instructor, pitching coach, and bullpen coach.

Even more bizarre, Ryan has installed himself as acting team manager. "I've never actually stepped between the white lines, other than to shake Al Leiter's hand, who at this point is a nothing in the Yankees organization, because remember, this is 1988; but I've played enough fantasy baseball and video games to get the job done".

Many of the players seemed to have stopped playing for the manager. Reserve 1B Lee Mazilli: "The guys just feel deflated. Heck, I can do a better job managing...and if that doesn't work out, I can be a broadcaster. This '88 Mets team has a helluva future broadcast team....Keith (Hernandez), Ron (Darling), myself...one day, we won't need to pretend to stay awake during a ballgame."

4 HR / 12 RBI day for "the Giambino"

Jason Giambi set KOD records for most HR's and RBI's in one game as the 2002 Bombers destroyed the 2003 Bosox 19-6. NY swept the series and holds a 1 game lead on the AL East. Mike Mussina moved to 4-0 on the season.

Boxscore can be seen here