2004 ABA All-Star Series - Game 3

Dateline: Moscow, Russia

Game 3 of the 9th annual ABA All Star series will be in what was once the heart of Reagan's "Evil Empire." We now know the Soviet government could barely afford screws to hold the wheels on their fighter jets, but hey, it made for great rhetoric and fear back in the day.

Players, GMs, dignitaries, and press gathered prior to the game to generate interest since most Moscow citizens were far too occupied trying to find toilet paper to care much about a crazy American baseball game. In a display of bad taste (and way too much vodka) Aaron leader Scott Cullen banged his shoe on the podium at the pre-game press conference and proclaimed to the Mayses, "We will bury you!" League czar, Tom Krattenmacher, was visibly disturbed by Cullen.s antics stating, "As if I haven.t greased enough palms in this place, now I'll have to pay someone else off to keep him out of the gulag. It.s bad enough Alberta GM got picked up for stalking Agnetha Åse Fältskog in Sweden. Mamma mia, we.ll be sending out an SOS before we get to Botswana."

Let's get back to the series. If the All Star series were a heavyweight boxing match Mays "trainer" Tom Dymek would have his one hand on the towel ready to give it a toss. The Mayses were overmatched in games one and two and, after taking a terrific pounding in round one, were swinging blindly at thin air in round two. Were there enough smelling salts in the corner for a team on rubbery legs? One can only imagine Mays tough guy Albert Pujols before game three sitting on the bench all swollen-eyed with Tom Dymek playing the Burgess Meredith role and Pujols saying, "Cut me 'Mek".

Starters for game 3 are Joel Pineiro and Bartolo Colon. Both pitchers are quite capable of pitching deep into the game, but they are facing lineups with no holes from 1 through 8. Let's hope this isn't the Mays' "Waterloo."


Game 3: Moscow, Russia:

The Aarons smelled blood and right from the start and jumped on a couple of Colon walks to take a quick lead. But, that lead was quickly erased as Ordonez hammered a double to drive in Helton and even the score. Pierzynski made it to third with one out in the 2nd ,but was stranded. In the 4th and 5th it was the Mayses "'Putin' on the hits" to take a two run lead. Posada plated Soriano with a two out single in the 5th and Pujols doubled home Anderson an inning later. Delgado was plated by Sheffield in the 6th to cut the lead to one. Four- count 'em- double plays by the Mayses kept the Aarons at bay. Helton blasted a solo shot in the 8th and Anderson followed with one in the 9th and a three run lead was handed over to Smoltz and there was never a doubt.

So, Aarons, put the brooms away there will be no sweep.

One final note: The somewhat controversial selection of Jose reyes at shortstop may become a focal point as the 20-year-old is currently struggling at 0 for 13. Ouch.

 
                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9     R  H  E   LOB DP
2003 Mayses            0  1  0  1  1  0  0  1  1     5 11  0     8  4
2003 Aarons            1  0  0  0  0  1  0  0  0     2  8  0     7  2
 
Mayses               AB  R  H BI   AVG    Aarons               AB  R  H BI   AVG
Anderson          cf  5  2  3  1  .308    Ichiro            cf  4  0  1  0  .538       
 Smoltz           p   0  0  0  0  .000    Reyes             ss  4  0  0  0  .000       
Tejada            ss  5  0  1  0  .182    Bonds             lf  3  1  0  0  .250       
Blalock           3b  5  0  0  0  .154    Delgado           1b  2  1  1  0  .250       
Pujols            lf  5  0  1  1  .091    Sheffield         rf  4  0  2  2  .417       
Soriano           2b  4  1  1  0  .182    Boone             2b  3  0  0  0  .333       
Helton            1b  3  2  2  1  .333    Pierzynski        c   4  0  3  0  .462       
Ordonez           rf  3  0  2  1  .300    Rolen             3b  3  0  1  0  .455       
Posada            c   2  0  1  1  .429    Pineiro           p   3  0  0  0  .000       
Colon             p   3  0  0  0  .000     Borowski         p   0  0  0  0  .000       
 Giles            cf  0  0  0  0  .000     Rodriguez        ph  1  0  0  0  .000       
                     35  5 11  5                               31  2  8  2             
 
Mayses                           INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA
Colon            W 1-0           8.0  7  2  2  5  5 121  75  2.25
Smoltz           S 1             1.0  1  0  0  0  0   8   6  0.00
                                 9.0  8  2  2  5  5 129  81 
 
Aarons                           INN  H  R ER BB  K PCH STR   ERA
Pineiro          L 0-1           7.0  9  3  3  3  3 123  75  3.86
Borowski                         2.0  2  2  2  1  3  39  24  9.00
                                 9.0 11  5  5  4  6 162  99 
 
MD : Giles inserted at cf in the 9th
AD : Rodriguez batted for Borowski in the 9th
 
2B-Tejada, Pujols, Ordonez, Pierzynski 2, Rolen. 3B-Delgado. HR-Anderson(1), 
Helton(1). K-Anderson, Tejada, Blalock, Helton, Posada, Colon, Ichiro, Bonds, 
Boone, Pineiro 2. BB-Helton, Ordonez, Posada 2, Bonds, Delgado 2, Boone, 
Rolen. SH-Colon. 
GWRBI: Posada
Temperature: 66, Sky: partly cloudy, Wind: right to left at 10 MPH.
 
 
                       1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9     R  H  E   LOB DP
2003 Mayses            0  1  0  1  1  0  0  1  1     5 11  0     8  4
2003 Aarons            1  0  0  0  0  1  0  0  0     2  8  0     7  2
 
 
Mayses               -----A------ -----B------ -----C------ -----D------ -----E------
Anderson          cf 1>S          3>31         5>S            k          9>HR        
 Smoltz           p                                                                  
Tejada            ss   463/gdp      31           53.1-2     7>D            k         
Blalock           3b   5/fl         4            13           note 1       k         
Pujols            lf 2>6          4>7            D.2-H        7            5         
Soriano           2b   6            S            6          8>Borowski               
                                                              7                      
Helton            1b   W            k          6>S            HR                     
Ordonez           rf   D.1-H        S.1-2        W.1-2        43                     
Posada            c    IW           S.2-H;1-3    k            W                      
Colon             p    8            53           note 2       k                      
 Giles            cf                                                                 
 
 1: 8/dp.2X3(85)  2: 24/SH.2-3;1-2 
 
 
Aarons               -----A------ -----B------ -----C------ -----D------ -----E------
Ichiro            cf 1>k            9          5>53         7>S                      
Reyes             ss   6/fl       3>3            8            643/gdp                
Bonds             lf   W            k            53           9                      
Delgado           1b   W.1-2        W          6>T          8>8                      
Sheffield         rf   S.2-H;1-3    8            S.3-H        7                      
Boone             2b   8          4>W            63/gdp       k                      
Pierzynski        c  2>D            163/gdp      D          9>Smoltz                 
                                                              S                      
Rolen             3b   43.2-3       D            IW           7                      
Pineiro           p    k            4            k                                   
 Borowski         p                                                                  
 Rodriguez        ph                                          643/gdp                
 
 
Mayses           IN OUT ER                  Aarons           IN OUT ER              
   
Colon            A1  D6  2 W 1-0            Pineiro          A1  D4  3 L 0-1        
   
Smoltz           D7  D9  0 S 1              Borowski         D5  E4  2