Friday, September 3, 2010

‘02 Halos win AL Flag in 5 over ‘84 Tigers

10/9-10/10 - Tiger Stadium
GAME 1 - Tigers 5, Angels 4 (14 inn)

Spiezio03 What a way to open up the ALCS.  A 14 inning extravaganza.  Respective starters Jarrod Washburn and Jack Morris were both long gone by decision time, but it must be duly noted that both pitched their hearts out.  Morris was protecting a 2-1 lead into the top of the 7th when his fielding, not his pitching let him down.  With runners on 1st and 2nd and 1 out Morris booted Adam Kennedy's sac bunt, which allowed Troy Glaus to score the tying run all the way from second.  In typical Morris fashion the mustachioed veteran got the next two batters out easily to avoid further damage.  Neither team could break the deadlock in regulation, so the contest went to extra innings where the Angels struck first with a solo run in the top of the 11th off of reliever Doug Bair, who would pitch 4 innings in total.  Bair looked like he was going to survive a Tim Salmon lead off double, but with 2 outs Scott Spiezio lined a single to right to score pinch runner Alex Oxhoa to make it 3-2.  Anaheim needed to get 3 outs from closer Troy Percival to lock it up.  That would not happen.  Larry Herndon led off with a walk.  Percival had to face Mr. Clutch, Kirk Gibson to lead off the inning.  Gibby must have thought Troy was Dennis Eckersley, because he treated Anaheim's closer the same way he treated "the Eck" in game 1 of the 1988 World Series...he lined a hanging slider into the right field overhang to tie the game up at 3.  Just like that, one swing, boom...we're tied again.  After a scoreless 12th and 13th innings the game looked to be in one of those extra inning ruts where nobody can score.  This changed dramatically in the top of the 14th when pinch hitter Benji Gil  singled home Troy Glaus to put the Halos back up top by one run once again in extra innings.  This time it would be Scott Shields' turn to protect the lead.  Following in Percival's footsteps Shields KirkGibson84allowed the tying run to score with 2 outs when Chet Lemon singled home Rupert Jones with the bases loaded.  Up stepped Kirk Gibson, who is un-phased by pressure.  Most batters would be anxious, but not Gibby who chose to wait Shields out.  As a result Shields walked Gibson (his 3rd of the inning) to allow Lance Parrish to score without the ball even being put into play.  Corktown was Partytown for at least one day !

GAME 2 - Angels 3, Tigers 0
Kevin Appier went 6 scoreless innings then let the pen do the rest.  KAppierBenji Molina broke a scoreless tie with a 2 run single off of Juan Berenguer in the top of the 4th.  The Halos would add an insurance run off of Aurelio Lopez thanks to a perfectly executed squeeze play by David Eckstein after Adam Kennedy led off the inning with a triple.  The Tiger offense looked rather toothless getting only 5 hits off of the 4 pitchers Anaheim used.  Atoning for his poor game 1 performance Troy Percival threw a scoreless 9th inning.  Lou Whitaker posted 2 of Detroit's 5 hits from the lead off spot, but nobody was able to bring him home.  The series now heads to Orange County tied a 1 game apiece.

10/12-10/14 - Edison Field
GAME 3 - Angels 8, Tigers 4

Detroit's Dan Petry looked to be in the driver's seat as the TigerTGlaus offense staked him to a 4-0 lead, until the home half of the 6th when Anaheim would erupt for 3 runs.  Pinch hitter Benji Gill came through with another clutch 2 RBI hit to put the Halos back in striking distance and send Petry to the showers.  If the 6th innings was unkind to the Tigers, the 7th inning was downright nasty.  This time the nastiness would come from one swing of Troy Glaus' bat.  With the bases jammed and nowhere to put Glaus Doug Bair had to pitch to him.  Glaus knew it and deposited the 2-1 offering deep into the man made waterfall in left center to turn a 1 run Tiger lead into a 3 run Angel lead.  Darin Erstad would hit a solo shot in the 8th off of Lopez to provide the final difference and put Anaheim up 2 games to 1 in the series.  Lost in the shuffle was Chet Lemon's 2 home run day, which was responsible for 3 RBI's.  Lemon had Halo starter Ramon Ortiz' number, but in the end it would not be enough

GAME 4 - Angels 9, Tigers 4
John_Lackey_ANA John Lackey was on the ropes as evidenced by the 2 runs he gave up to Detroit in the top of the 1st courtesy of a Lance Parrish 2 run shot.  Lackey was able to right the ship and throw 6 shutout innings after the bump in the road that he survived.  The same could not be said for his opponent, Milt Wilcox, who was under duress all game and cracked under the pressure.  Anaheim touched him for 5 run in the 2nd to evaporate Detroit's 2 run lead.  AnaheimLance_Parrish_DET played smart / small ball to post their 5 spot.  The bottom of the 6th would spell doom for Motown as the Halos posted 3 more runs and evicted Wilcox from the hill.  A 2 run shot by Eckstein would be the big blow.  Detroit would make it 8-4 with 2 in the 8th, but Adam Kennedy's run scoring single in the bottom of the inning bumped the lead back up to 5 an pretty much ended all hopes for a Detroit comeback.

GAME 5 - Angels 7, Tigers 1
Game5Hero

Throughout the regular season the Tigers dominated the American League, while the Halos fought to stay above .500 for the most part.  Some might say the Halos made the post season due to the fact that no other team in their division finished with a winning record.  I would say they underachieved thanks in part to not having their manager, Douglas Zaner, for at least 1/3 of the season.  While Douglas was in the process of moving from the US to Israel a host of substitute managers who didn't know much about the Angels and their unique platoon system found different ways to botch the season.  When Douglas was at the helm the Angels seemed to run like a well oiled machine.  This well Oiled machine was now one game away from reward Zaner with his 3rd KOD AL pennant.  This task would not be easy, since his team would be facing the 8-2 Jack Morris.  Forget records and stats, Morris is a clutch performer who rises above his numbers in key situations and will's his team to victory.  The good folks in Motown were sure hoping the Morris scenario would play itself out, so the series would return to Michigan and Trumbull.  Unfortunately for those fans Morris just did not have it.  It was apparent early on when the Halos, who were down 1-0 scored 3 runs in the bottom of the first.  In fact 4 of the first 5 hitters got a  hit.  Tim Salmon cleared the bases with a 2 run double and Scott Spiezo doubled home Brad Fullmer, who tripled.  Two innings later Fulmer would strike again, this time with a 2 run homer to make it 5-1.  Solo runs in the 4th and the 6th would only make Detroit's mountain to Fullmerclimb that much more impossible.  Jarrod Wasburn allowing just 1 run in 9 innings would make it impossible.  Morris would give up 13 of the 14 hits the Halos would post on the day including a 4 for 5 game by Darrin Erstad..  Tim Salmon was 3 for 5 as the Halos cruised to victory and their 3rd KOD-American League Flag.

No comments:

Post a Comment