Baseball fans across New England were probably crying over their clam chowder last night as they watched their despised rivals, the New York Yankees, secure a return to the American League Championship Series (ALCS). After coming back against the Oakland A's, the Yankees now face the Seattle Mariners, who narrowly defeated the Cleveland Indians. In the National League, the Atlanta Braves swept the Houston Astros and now take their tomahawk chop west to face the ArizonaDiamondbacks in the NLCS.
The Athletics were on the brink of throttling the Yankees, winner of the past three World Series, but choked after jumping out to a 2-0 series lead, which featured two wins at Yankee Stadium.
In hostile New York territory, Oakland walked away with wins in the first two games of the series, 5-3 and 2-0, only to come home and lose two more in a stadium where it had won its last 17 regular season games. The Yankees became the first team to win a division series after losing the first two games at home and proved that experience generally wins out over youth. Shortstop Derek Jeter was one of the heroes of the series, during which he broke Pete Rose's record of 87 postseason hits. In Game 3, Jeter had an impressive backhand flip to the plate after an overthrow to preserve the 1-0 win for Mike Mussina. And in Monday night's Game 5, Jeter dove into the stands in the eighth inning to record an out and prevent a Mariners score.
The Yankees fell behind early in Game 5 but came back to life in the late innings. Rookie Alfonso Soriano had a two-run single in the second inning, and New York capitalized on errors to score two more runs. Mariano Rivera notched the save for New York and has converted 20 consecutive postseason save chances since 1998.
The Seattle Mariners, after a magical 116-win season, came close to having their World Series hopes dashed, when it took them five games of grappling with Cleveland to secure the ALCS bid. Cleveland blew the Mariners away in Games 1 and 3, 9-2 and 17-2, and Seattle fought hard for its 3-1 Game 5 win on Monday night. Jamie Moyer won the start and had a 1.50 ERA in the series, while rookie sensation Ichiro Suzuki went 12 for 20 to lead the offense.
Pitching - or the lack thereof - in Game 4 proved pivotal in this series, and Moyer's performances in his two starts in addition to reliever Jeff Nelson's work in Game 5 sent the Mariners to victory. Seattle silenced the bat of Cleveland's star hitter, Roberto Alomar, who hit just .190 in the series.
The Mariners send Aaron Sele to the mound tonight in the first game of the ALCS against the Yankees. While baseball history would dictate a New York win and return to the series, the talented Seattle team proved in the division series that it will fight hard for a World Series berth.
While the Mariners' failure to wallop the Indians surprised baseball fans, baseball observers received a bigger shock when Atlanta did not exit stage right after the first round. Against a Houston team that was clearly better on paper, the Braves orchestrated a three-game sweep to return to the NLCS for the ninth time in ten years.
In Game 3, Atlanta's Paul Bako, a name previously unknown to much of baseball, homered and drove in three runs, while third-baseman Chipper Jones added two RBI of his own in the 6-2 win. Houston's "Killer B's" faltered in the postseason, as Craig Biggio and Lance Berkman each went 2 for 12, Jeff Bagwell was 3 for 7 but had no RBI. Atlanta easily took the three games, 7-4, 1-0, and 6-2.
The Braves now face the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NLCS, after Arizona beat the St. Louis Cardinals and advanced to the NLCS for the first time in team history. After losing Games 2 and 4, Arizona's pitching proved too much for the Cardinals to handle. Curt Schilling and his 22-game-winning arm shutdown the Cardinal hitters in the 2-1 win. Reggie Sanders' 447-foot home run off Morris put Arizona ahead 1-0 in the fourth inning and J.D. Drew's two-out home run off Schilling tied the game at one in the eighth. Tony Womack singled home the winning run in the bottom of the ninth to allow Arizona to advance.
While Schilling performed like an ace in the two games he started - he gave up only one run in 18 innings to earn 1-0 and 2-1 wins - Arizona's number-two starter Randy Johnson once again faltered in the playoffs. He has a lifetime record of 2-7 in the postseason, with the only two wins coming for the 1995 Seattle Mariners.
With Schilling having pitched twice against the Cardinals, it will be up to Johnson to come through for the D-Backs in the NLCS. Arizona scored only ten runs in the division series, and the match-up against Atlanta will be determined by which team pitches better.
