Game 4 of the 9th annual ABA All Star series will be in the mysterious land of the pharaohs and pyramids. At today's press conference the Mays gm's arrived riding camels. The camels each bore the name of an Aaron gm. "I'm kicking Lentz's ass just like I.ve done all year," SJ gm Eshbaugh said as he pretended to dig his heels into his camel's sides. "You play guitar like Susanna Hoffs!" Lentz screamed from the dais. Yeah, it was ugly. Later as the group was treated to a barge ride down the Nile river Scott Cullen playfully pushed Dymek into crocodile infested waters. A good laugh was had by all and, interestingly, no one appeared eager to pull him from the water.
The first two games of the series it looked as if the Aarons were ready to sweep the Mayses right off their feet. The Aarons came out swinging in Game One and rocked Mays starter Vazquez to his core winning 10-5. In Game 2 Jason Schmidt went pitch for pitch with Barry Zito and the Aarons came away with a 2-0 allowing the Mayses one hit. However, Game 3 the Mayses put the "Hammer" down behind early clutch hitting by San Jose's Magglio Ordonez and Jorge Posada. Bartolo Colon pitched eight solid innings and John Smoltz closed the door in the ninth.
Tonight's game pits young Jerome Williams against the veteran Pat Hentgen. Williams was one of the few non-unanimous Mays players, but he has put up good numbers for a struggling Manhattan team through the first half. This may be the first of many All Star games for the rookie. Hentgen, on the other hand is now old school and seems to be overlooked as a factor every year. But, here he is starting game four for the Aarons and looking to drive the next-to-last nail in the Mayses' sarcophagus.
Bonds to open the frame. Marte came in and poured gasoline on the fire by giving up singles to Delgado and Sheffield scoring Reyes. Spooneybarger came in and Boone brought home Bonds on a sacrifice fly. Delgado followed Bonds home on a fielder's choice by Pierzynski and a single by Boone scored Sheffield before the inning was ended. Helton added an insurance run for the Mayses in the ninth with his second home run of the series.
The ninth inning was a real heartbreaker for the Aarons as an error by Blalok, then a single by Reyes, put two runners on with no one out. Bonds then popped a foul to the left side that Blalok nimbly misplayed to give Bonds another chance. He stroked the ball sharply to Tejada who stepped on second and threw out Bonds for a double play. Delgado grounded to Kent to end the game and even the series.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 2003 Mayses 1 0 1 5 0 0 0 0 1 8 8 2 1 1 2003 Aarons 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 4 8 0 9 1 Mayses AB R H BI AVG Aarons AB R H BI AVG Anderson cf 4 1 1 2 .294 Ichiro cf 4 0 1 0 .471 Giles cf 0 0 0 0 .000 Castillo ph 1 0 0 0 .000 Tejada ss 4 1 2 1 .267 Reyes ss 4 1 1 0 .059 Blalock 3b 4 0 0 0 .118 Bonds lf 3 1 1 0 .267 Pujols lf 4 0 0 0 .067 Delgado 1b 5 1 2 1 .308 Soriano 2b 3 1 1 0 .214 Sheffield rf 3 1 1 0 .400 Marte p 0 0 0 0 .000 Boone 2b 3 0 0 1 .267 Spooneybarger p 0 0 0 0 .000 Pierzynski c 3 0 1 1 .438 Helton 1b 3 2 1 1 .333 Rolen 3b 4 0 1 1 .400 Ordonez rf 4 1 1 1 .286 Hentgen p 1 0 0 0 .000 Posada c 4 2 2 3 .455 Turnbow p 1 0 0 0 .000 Williams p 3 0 0 0 .000 Guillen ph 1 0 0 0 .000 Kent 2b 1 0 0 0 .000 Cormier p 0 0 0 0 .000 34 8 8 8 Thome ph 1 0 0 0 .000 Mantei p 0 0 0 0 .000 34 4 8 4 Mayses INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Williams W 1-0 7.0 4 2 2 5 5 106 64 2.57 Marte 0.0 2 2 2 0 0 5 4 40.50 Spooneybarger 2.0 2 0 0 0 0 30 21 2.45 9.0 8 4 4 5 5 141 89 Aarons INN H R ER BB K PCH STR ERA Hentgen L 0-1 3.2 7 7 7 2 1 63 37 17.18 Turnbow 3.1 0 0 0 0 3 27 19 0.00 Cormier 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 10 7 0.00 Mantei 1.0 1 1 1 0 3 17 12 27.00 9.0 8 8 8 2 7 117 75 MD : Kent inserted at 2b in the 8th Giles inserted at cf in the 9th AD : Guillen batted for Turnbow in the 7th Thome batted for Cormier in the 8th Castillo batted for Ichiro in the 9th E-Blalock 2. 2B-Tejada, Ordonez. HR-Anderson(2), Tejada(1), Helton(2), Posada(2). K-Anderson, Tejada, Ordonez, Posada 2, Williams, Kent, Ichiro, Sheffield, Boone 2, Hentgen. BB-Soriano, Helton, Reyes, Bonds 2, Sheffield, Pierzynski. SF-Boone. GWRBI: Tejada Temperature: 101, but it is a dry heat, Sky: partly cloudy, Wind: left to right at 11 MPH. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E LOB DP 2003 Mayses 1 0 1 5 0 0 0 0 1 8 8 2 1 1 2003 Aarons 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 4 8 0 9 1 Mayses -----A------ -----B------ -----C------ -----D------ -----E------ Anderson cf 1>k 9 HR.1-H 53 Giles cf Tejada ss HR D Turnbow k 9 Blalock 3b 53 9 5>6 8>Cormier 9 Pujols lf 43 4>2/fl 63 8 Soriano 2b 2>S W 9 7 Marte p Spooneybarger p Helton 1b 8 W.1-2 6>9 9>Mantei HR Ordonez rf 463/gdp D.2-H;1-3 9 k Posada c 3>HR S.3-H;2-H k k Williams p 9 3/fl 7>k Kent 2b k Aarons -----A------ -----B------ -----C------ -----D------ -----E------ Ichiro cf 1>k 3>9 S 43 Castillo ph 9>e5.B-1 Reyes ss 3/g 31 43.1-2 8>W S.1-2 Bonds lf S 9 W W.1-2 e5/fl 63/gdp.2-3 Delgado 1b S.1-2 4>63 6 Marte 43 S.2-H;1-2 Sheffield rf k W 6>63 S.2-3;1-2 Boone 2b 2>9 k k note 1 note 2 Pierzynski c W S.1-2 53 note 3 Rolen 3b 3/fl 9 7>43 S.2-H Hentgen p k Turnbow p 5>63 Guillen ph 53 Cormier p Thome ph 64/f Mantei p 1: Spooneybarger 2: 9/SF.3-H;2-3 3: 3/g.3-H;1-2 Mayses IN OUT ER Aarons IN OUT ER Williams A1 D3 2 W 1-0 Hentgen A1 C1 7 L 0-1 Marte D4 D5 2 Turnbow C2 D2 0 Spooneybarger D6 E4 0 Cormier D3 D5 0 Mantei D6 D9 1