Pennant Crunch: Saturday, September 27, 2003

Saturday, September 27 2003 @ 10:37 AM EDT

To all the readers who offered kind words regarding these updates: thank you.

It will be Mike Mussina in game 1 against the Twins. Joe Torre has decided on three starters (Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens); the fourth hasn't been named. Rumour has it that it will be David Wells. Boston made the expected announcement: Pedro Martinez will start game 1 in Oakland.

NL Central

Team	Wins	Losses	Remaining	Yesterday	Schedule	Elim
Chicago	86	73	3	Pit- ppd	pit 3	__
Houston	86	74	2	Mil 5-12	mil 2	3
St. Louis	83	77	2	Arz 6-7	@arz 2	elim

Mark Prior will get an extra days' rest after all. That's good news for the Cubs' division pennant prospects, but means that Prior will not be ready to pitch game 1 of the NLDS (and possibly game 2 depending on the scheduling). That's a huge break for the Braves, as they will not have to face Prior twice in the series.

Houston starter Jeriome Robertson couldn't get out of the first. Plan B for Houston didn't work out to well, either: the Astros found themselves down 9-1 before coming to bat in the 2nd. Houston then battled back, cutting the deficit to 9-5, while bringing in 4 relief pitchers by the end of the 3rd inning.

Richie Sexson put the game out of reach in the top of the 7th with his 45th homerun of the season, making the score 12-5. He hit a mammoth shot to leftfield (if it were Skydome it might have found either the fifth deck or the leftmost facade of the hotel), tying Jim Thome for the NL lead and tying his own single-season team record he shares with Gorman Thomas.

With the Cubs not playing and the Astros losing, the Cardinals were still alive when they took the field in Arizona. Despite scoring 3 runs in the late innings, Saint Louis fell 7 to 6 to the D-Backs, eliminating themselves from post-season play.

Because of the rainout in Chicago, Florida had the chance to clinch the wildcard by winning on their homefield. The Houston-Milwaukee ballgame started a half-hour after the Marlins' game, so a wildcard-clinching last out seemed on the cards. That's much more satisfying than watching some other team lose on TV and then reaching for the bubbly.

A solid performance by Carl Pavano, efficient table-setting by Juan Pierre (3 for 3 including a bunt single, a walk, two steals and a sac hit), and a solo homerun by Jeff Conine enabled the Marlins to build a 4-1 lead. The Mets rallied for 2 runs in the 8th off tiring starter Carl Pavano (could this be a McKeon weakness making itself evident? Beckett also tired and gave up runs late in the game 2 nights ago). Chad Fox entered and allowed a sac fly before getting the final out to preserve the lead. Uggie Urbina entered in the 9th in a tough save situation.

Urbina walked the leadoff man Ty Wigginton. Raul Gonzalez hit a high fly to the warning track to leftfield. Wiggington took advantage of Urbina's mental lapse and produced an uncontested steal of 2nd. Pinch-hitter Jason Phillips stepped up to the plate - Urbina struck him out on a nasty 0-2 slider. Vance Wilson was all that stood between the Marlins and the champagne. A very wild 1-1 fastball (about 3 feet outside) put the tying run on 3rd. The 3-1 just missed low and outside and the catcher walked. Danny Garcia pinch-ran and Pudge came to the mound to remind Urbina that the runner on first was the potential go-ahead run. Roger Cedeno came up to bat. Roger, not exactly the brightest bulb in the bunch, swung at the first pitch and lifted a flyball to centre. In this park it takes quite a poke to hit one out to centre, and the ball nestled in Juan Pierre's glove well shy of the warning track for the final out.

The Marlins celebrated as if they had won their division or a playoff series - I suppose it didn't matter to them that it was only a wildcard they earned.

The Yankees blasted the Orioles in the afternoon as Andy Pettitte won his 21st game, and then started the B-team in the 2nd game. The Orioles won that contest in extra-innings to keep the Athletics alive in the race for homefield advantage. The Athletics seemed not to care all that much as they were soundly beaten by the Mariners.

The Braves became the first team to reach 100 wins. I don't think I can recall any 100+ win club that has been taken so lightly as a possible World Series winner. Part of that is the Braves' relative lack of success in the Fall Classic, the rest is unease about the starting rotation. I don't think Atlanta's rotation is any worse than either participant's starting pitchers in the 2002 World Series. Could it be that the baseball public doesn't quite believe the Braves hitters are as good as they are.

IF the season had ended last night ...

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