October 5, 2003 [LINK]
Divisional series surprises
Marlins catcher "Pudge" Rodriguez has turned out to be one of the most productive * acquisitions in baseball history, leading Florida to an upset 3-games-to-1 triumph over San Francisco almost single-handedly. His clutch hitting and dogged defense of home plate put him in the running for a postseason MVP award. The Twins upset win over the Yankees in Game 1 had New Yorkers worried about a first-round choke like last year, but the Yanks' depth and experience gave them the edge in the next three games, so things are back to normal. After Oakland won the first two games against Boston, it was looking like The Curse was coming back to haunt the Red Sox this year, but they showed a lot of guts in prevailing (barely) over the A's in Games 3 and 4... Cubs pitcher Kerry Wood supplemented his devastating pitching with a two-run double that gave the Cubs the margin of victory over Atlanta in Game 2 of their series. He's got a shutout going right now, the fifth inning of Game 5: stay tuned!
Bizarre sixth inning: the instant replay clearly showed that CF Kenny Lofton caught the short fly ball hit by Gary Sheffield, which should have nullified the run scored by Rafael Furcal. Also, Sheffield should have been called out, since he ran past Marcus Giles who saw Lofton catch the ball and assumed he had to tag up on first. It didn't matter, the Cubs scored another run in the ninth, and JUST WON THE GAME!!! Euphoria in Wrigleyville...