WoW! last i posted, all was good. now, all is better!

we just beat the new york yankees in game 4 in yankee stadium to earn the right to take on the boston red sox in the ALDS! what an awesome game, what an awesome series.

each game should have justifiably had a posting, but with my parents in town, time did not allow. i should have posted before the season even ended, but what can you do? anyway, the series was definitely a microcosm of the regular season. no one hero, a team effort.

game 1 was a blow out. 12-3 was the final score. the game was very atypical for c.c. he only went 5 innings. he walked a career high 6. he never walked more than 3 batters in a game all season. he led the majors in innings pitched. but he came through when it mattered most. he got out of a bases loaded and one out jam to preserve what was at the time a one run lead. we then preceded to ice the game with 5 runs in our half of 5th. kenny lofton was huge. he had 3 hits all with 2 outs (to join omar vizquel as the only other player to do so in playoff history) which drove in 4 runs. of our 8 rookie playoff-wise starters on offense, 7 got their first playoff hit of their careers.

game 2 was even better. fausto was absolutely amazing, giving only a solo shot in 9 dominant innings. despite his brilliance, he was loosing 0-1 in the 8th. then some bugs descended and we tied up the game on a lead off 4 pitch walk to grady, a wild pitch, a bunt, and another wild pitch on which he barely got home. as clutch as we were in game 1, we were as unclutch in this game. we blew chance after chance after chance to score runs. finally, pronk came thru with the bases loaded and 2 down in the 11th, on a 3-2 count of course.

so we win a blow out, and we win a classic pitchers duel. we are off to NY up 2-0.

game 3 was sort of a bummer. we score single runs in each of the first 3 innings to go up 3-0. roger clemens is out of the game. then the bankees offense finally shows some life, and phillip hughes shuts us down to get the W. johnny damon's 3 run homer was the shot that gave the yanks the lead that they would not relinquish. of course, the boss stole the headlines before the game. he was quoted as saying that if new york did not go deep in the playoffs, torre would not be back. so he was given a temporary stay of execution. on the plus side, little used pie in the face instigator trot nixon had a solo HR and an RBI double. those runs were negated when he let a ball by him that allowed 2 unearned runs to score. final score 8-4, bad guys.

then there was today, game 4! paul byrd got into trouble, then got out of it. grady started things off on a good note blasting a lead off homer off game 1 starter and looser wang, who for the first time in his career started on 3 days rest. he recorded just 3 outs, allowing 4 runs. asdrubal had a 2 out single, victor had a key bases loaded 2 run single. kelly shoppach started and had 2 doubles. raffy perez lasted a nerve wracking 2 innings, the only damage though was a solo homer to a-rod. raffy betancourt breezed through the 8th. then joe b came on. he allowed a towering solo blast to bobby abreu, and almost did the same to jorge posada. but it was foul. jorge swung and missed at the next pitch. BALLGAME! SERIES!

now i will be smiling till friday. :)