game 1 pineiro vs martinez
steve got one in the 3rd, i got one in the 5th. steve got single runs again in the 6th and 7th, but i got one back in
the top of the 8th, to cut his lead to 3-2. with one out, spivey hits a hit and run three run homer off romero. pedro
merely needs three outs for the win, with a 4 run lead. not that easy. huff singled and kent doubled. schneider hits
a two run single, but is thrown out trying to stretch it to second (we had no choices there). he then retires cora and
jones for the 6-4 wilber victory. erstad had 2 hits and nomar three for the victors.
game 2 buehrle vs moyer
giles hits a solo in the first. bordick hits a solo in the second. kent hits a two out 2 run triple in the third.
giles hits another solo in the 5th. 5-0, and buehrle is cruising, becoming a 17 in the 8th. then steve rallies for two
runs, but buehrle gets beltran with a K, and spivey to pop up, with two runners on, and the rally is squelched. 5-2
pirates. i had a single, 3 doubles, a triple, 3 homers and 6 walks off moyer. buehrle gets the complete game victory
game 3 ortiz vs wells
after i left the bases loaded with one out in the 2nd, klesko hits a two run triple in the 3rd. steve gets one back in
the 4th on doubles by olerud and spivey. in the fifth, with 2 outs, thome walks, and klesko hits a 2 run jack (he seems
to like baserunners!). i face the minimum the rest of the way (jones did walk, but got caught stealing), and hold for a
4-1 win. steve managed just 4 hits (2 by olerud) and one walk off wells and romero. klesko had all my rbi, and garcia
chipped in for 2 hits.
game 4 lawrence vs nomo
steve loads the bases in the 2nd on an error, and 2 walks, but nomo strikes out davis (he is pumped!) and gets olerud to
ground out. i come right at him in the bottom half with a colbrunn homer, an rbi double by santiago and a squeeze bunt
by cora. 3-0 pirates. steve comes back in the top of the 3rd with 2 on a beltran double, singles by jones and ibanez,
and a spivey groundout. nothing else until the bottom of the 6th, with a 2 out solo homer by andruw. steve seemingly
leaves a runner in scoring position in every inning the rest of the way, and i hold for the 4-2 win. my bullpen gives
up just 2 hits in 7 innings of relief (plus 4 walks). steve has 6 walks and 3 steals for the game, but leaves 10 on
base.
game 5 pineiro vs martinez
this is possibly for the cup. all i need is a strong performance by pineiro. andruw leads off the game with a homer.
pineiro gives up 6 in the second, pretty much ending this game. with 2 outs and the bases loaded, steve gets 2 singles
a triple and a double to take the 6-1 lead, as he puts 10 guys to the plate. i get 2 back in the 7th on a garrett
homer, but i cant manage another baserunner, and steve wins 6-3. pedro struck out 13, and i manage no singles. hinske
and beltran combine for 5 hits and 4 rbi for the winners
game 6 moyer vs buehrle
twice during the regular season, moyer threw one hit shutouts against me. in the bottom of the first, pratt walked, and
with two outs klesko doubled. i sent pratt home against beltran, and he was safe (according to what i read after the
game, i think he had a 22 of 36 chance of being safe). no 1 hit shutout this game!! well, i didnt get any more hits
for the game, but the one run held. steve had left 2 guys on in the first, 1 in the 2nd, 1 in the 3rd, 1 in the 4th, all
off buehrle. i got my only other runner for the game on a 2 out walk by giles in the 6th. steve got another runner on
with 2 outs in the 7th, but romero put out that fire. reed came in for a 1-2-3 8th. then in the 9th, nomar grounded
out, and then ibanez doubled. cedeno then steals thrid and home to tie the game. just kidding. but he does steal
third. pich hitter loduca flies out to jones who then throws out cedeno trying to tag up. (again hindsight thinks he
had about a 15 in 36 chance of being safe). the script says he was tagged out, not even close.
if you read the scripts carefully, during the whole series, both teams had a lot of strikeouts and fly balls that according to the scripts "were about to drop, but get caught", all with runners on, in key situations. this series was far from being well managed by either team, but you do what you can in these scenarios.
me steve and keith really had a lot of fun. ken watched and listened to the whole series, and greg watched some. thanks to everyone for a great season, and pay attention for my review, as it will come out in about a week, and should take you just as long to read it!