The National League will not be altered in anyway, due to my inter-league games not making a huge difference, for example, I didn't beat up on the Philadelphia Phillies more often than in real-life & lose more to the Mets, which could have helped the New York Mets win the division. Remember in real life, the Mets had a historical collapse of sorts.
So with no altering, the Colorado Rockies are destined to still reach the 2007 World Series, the question remains, will it be real-life opponent Boston, or any of the other three teams in Detroit, L.A., or New York?
GAME 1 - ALDS
Detroit at Los Angeles (A)
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| Lackey was in control for the Angels of Anaheim. |
Justin Verlander (B-X / 16-8, 3.61 ERA & 208 K's) will face off against the Angels' John Lackey (B-YZ / 19-9, 3.01 ERA & 179 K's).
A pitcher's duel was on display, as both starting pitchers would not allow any runs during the first 6 innings. Verlander was a little sloppier with his control, and got out of some sticky situations.
Bottom of the 1st, loaded the bases up with a single by Vladimir Guerrero, walking Garret Anderson and plunking Gary Matthews, Jr. with a pitch... but Casey Kotchman grounded out to second for the final out.
Bottom of the 5th, Verlander would once again plunk Matthews with a pitch to load bases, but got Kotchman to strike out for final out that time.
Top of the 7th, Brandon Inge of all people for the Tigers, would hit a solo HR, he reached base on all three plate appearances that night with a single in the 2nd, and a walk in the 5th. Inge gave the Tigers, a 1-0 lead.
Bottom of the 7th - The Angels strike back, Justin Verlander walks lead-off man Chone Figgins, Orlando Cabrera would hit into a fielder's choice to get the lead runner for out number one. Vladimir Guerrero would make Verlander pay with an RBI double. Manager Jim Leyland goes to the pen, for Tim Byrdak, Verlander done for the night.
Verlander went 6.1 innings, allowing 4 hits, 4 walks, and 2 HBP, while striking out 8 Angels hitters. He is responsible for Guerrero at second.
Byrdak would give up an RBI double to Garret Anderson, as the Angels take a 2-1 lead. Gary Matthews, Jr. (probably steaming from getting hit by two Verlander pitches) launches a two-run homer to give the Angels a commanding 4-1 lead.
Scot Shields and Francisco Rodriguez ("K-Rod") finish off the Tigers in 8th & 9th inning relief.
LOS ANGELES ANGELS 4
DETROIT TIGERS 1
Angels had 6 hits, no errors, while the Tigers had 5 hits and 2 errors.
GAME 1 - ALDS
New York (A) at Boston
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| Big Time Beckett: Josh owns Yanks. |
"The Rocket" Roger Clemens (C-Y / 6-6, 4.18 ERA & 68 K's in 99 IP), who once again came out of retirement, faces Boston's Josh Beckett (B-XZ / 20-7, 3.27 ERA & 194 K's), a gritty pitcher that has been compared to Clemens from time to time in his career.
Clemens shows his age early by loading the bases up in 1st inning with one out to Manny Ramirez, he would force in a run on a walk to Kevin Youkilis. Mike Lowell would fly out for out number two, with no runners advancing. J.D. Drew hits two-run single, driving in David Ortiz and Ramirez, for 3-0 lead. Jason Varitek strikes out to end inning.
The Red Sox were at it again, in the bottom of the 2nd, with lead-off double by Julio Lugo. With two outs, David Ortiz draws a walk. With runners on 1st & 2nd, Manny Ramirez delivers RBI single to right, scoring in Lugo. "Big Papi" would score off a RBI single by Kevin Youkilis.
The Red Sox jump to 5-0 lead and never look back, Clemens was lousy and lasts only 3 innings for the Yankees, allowing 6 hits & 4 walks, along with 5 earned runs, with only 1 K.
Josh Beckett on the other hand was spectacular, pitching a complete-game shutout, allowing only 5 hits & 2 walks, while striking out 7 Yankees.
BOSTON RED SOX 5
NEW YORK YANKEES 0
Yankees only managed 5 hits, Boston collect 9 hits; No errors for either team.
GAME 2 - ALDS
Detroit at Los Angeles (A)
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| "Little Sarge" putting charge into series. |
The Detroit Tigers who are no strangers to having their backs to the wall, find themselves trailing the series 1-0, they will send out Jeremy Bonderman (C-YZ / 18-7, 3.52 ERA & 161 K's) who led the Tigers in victories & ERA to face off against Kelvim Escobar (B-Y / 18-7, 3.40 ERA & 160 K's), who had similar stats for the Replay season.
Bonderman was far from sharp, and appeared rusty, walking off lead-off man Chone Figgins, followed by a single by Orlando Cabrera. Vladimir Guerrero bounces into a fielder's choice, as the Tigers get Cabrera in a force at second. With one out, and runners on 1st & 3rd, Garret Anderson hits three-run homer to get the Angels off and running. Bonderman fields an infield grounder by throwing the ball over first baseman Sean Casey's head at first, the hitter Casey Kotchman would reach second on the play. With two outs (after a Howie Kendrick pop-out), Gary Matthews, Jr. adds an RBI double. Angels lead 4-0 after one.
Top of the 2nd - Gary Sheffield, after a single & steal (and advancing to third on a ground out) scores off a sac-fly by Carlos Guillen.
Bottom of the 3rd - Matthews keeps taking it to the Tigers, scoring Casey Kotchman from third on a sac fly -- this is already "Little Sarge" Gary Matthews' 4th RBI of the series.
Magglio Ordonez gets his 1st hit of the series, a solo HR in the 4th, as Tigers still trail 5-2 -- But that will be as close as it gets, as the Angels will do the Tigers in with the long-ball in the late innings. Maicer Izturis was 4-for-4, with a two-run HR in 5th, plus a steal; Izturis is 6-for-10 in the first two games. Mike Napoli and Howie Kendrick add solo HR's.
The Tigers have no answers for the Angels offense so far this series, as Angels collect 12 hits in Game 2. The Tigers trail 18-14 in hits this series, which is not much of a different, but have not been able to capitalize as the Angels have.
Kelvim Escobar pitches 7 strong innings, allowing 7 hits and 2 earned runs, no walks with only 2 K's -- while Jeremy Bonderman allowed 6 hits, 5 earned runs, 3 walks in 3.1 innings with 4 K's. The Tigers' bullpen is getting worked early in this series, while Angels are in the driver's seat.
LOS ANGELES ANGELS 9
DETROIT TIGERS 3
Tigers had 9 hits with 2 errors (4 for the series), while Angels had 12 hits and 1 error.
GAME 2 - ALDS
New York (A) at Boston
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| Youkilis putting together some good numbers against Yanks. |
It's the sign of the times, with a Southeast Asian match-up of Chien-Ming Wang (B / 19-7, 3.70 ERA & 101 K's) will take the mound for the Yankees, while Boston counters with Daisuke Matsuzaka (C-X / 15-12, 4.40 ERA & 201 K's).
"Big Papi" David Ortiz struck first for Boston with two outs in the bottom of the first, with solo HR to right. The Yankees quickly answered back with a RBI double in the 2nd by Jorge Posada, RBI double by Bobby Abreu in the 3rd, and a RBI single by Johnny Damon in the 4th. Damon's RBI single was the 6th hit for the Yankees in the game, out-weighing the 5 total hits they collected in Game 1 off of Josh Beckett. Yankees leading 3-1 after top of the 4th.
Just when the Yankees looked like they were going to make this a game, the bottom of the 4th became a quick mess. Derek Jeter's off-throw pulled first baseman Andy Phillips off the bag, putting Dustin Pedroia on; Ortiz followed with a single, advancing Pedroia to third, with Manny Ramirez following up with an RBI single. Kevin Youkilis comes up big once again, with an RBI double, to give Boston a 4-3 lead; Youkilis is having a great series at this point, 3-for-5, reaching base 4 out of 6 plate appearances, plus 4 RBI.
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| Unlikely Goat: Jeter makes two throwing errors. |
The bottom of the 5th, started off the same way the previous inning with a throwing error once again by Derek Jeter. Coco Crisp smacks an RBI double to add to the lead, making it 5-3. The Yankees pull Chien-Ming Wang out of the game -- 4.1 IP, 6 H, 4 ER (6 runs) with 3 K's and bring in Mike Mussina to face Dustin Pedroia. Pedroia would make Mussina pay with two-run blast, breaking the game open 7-3 for Boston.
The Yankees would make things interesting, only later with a two-run triple by Alex Rodriguez, in the top of the 9th, that helped generate 3 runs. Hideki Okajima holds on in a non-save situation, to help hold down a 9-6 victory that was further than the final score indicates.
Even though Derek Jeter would reach base all five times at the plate in Game 2, with his 3 hits, and two walks... his two throwing errors sparked two big innings for the Red Sox.
The Red Sox and Yankees would each collect 10 hits in this one, while Boston made no errors.
BOSTON RED SOX 9
NEW YORK YANKEES 6
Both the Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees find themselves in 2-0 series holes, will a return in front of their hometown fans help bring these teams back from the depths?
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