American LeagueJohan Santana and the Twins escaped trouble with the help of a record-setting five double plays, Jacque Jones homered in his first start since the death of his father, and the Twins beat the Yankees 2-0 Tuesday to win their eighth straight opener in a postseason series.
"I was able to throw the right pitch at the right time because I know my teammates can make some plays," Santana said. "Tonight we proved what the team, the Minnesota Twins, are all about."
PHOTO: AFP
Minnesota's Soul Patrol outfield twice denied the Yankees with jumping catches -- left fielder Shannon Stewart saved one run and possibly two on Ruben Sierra's shot in the second, and center fielder Torii Hunter pulled in an eighth-inning drive by Alex Rodriguez at the top of the wall.
Hunter also threw out John Olerud at the plate in the second, completing one of the double plays by the Twins, who set a record for twin killings in a nine-inning postseason game.
Brad Radke now starts for the AL Central champions today, trying to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series, which shifts to the noisy Metrodome in Minneapolis starting Friday.
New York, which lost the first game of all three postseason series it played last year, is in familiar position: The Yankees have dropped the first-round opener in three of the last four seasons -- winning the series each time, but losing to Anaheim two years ago after leading 1-0.
"We had many opportunities," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "Santana probably didn't have his best stuff tonight, but when he needed to get a groundball, he got it."
Santana, unbeaten in 16 starts since the All-Star break, allowed eight hits in seven innings, the most off him since May 23. Four of the Yankees' first six batters reached safely and 10 of the first 24, but Santana kept escaping.
Juan Rincon pitched the eighth and Joe Nathan finished for the save with the Twins' only 1-2-3 inning of the game. New York, shut out for the second straight time in postseason play, went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
Red Sox 9, Angels 3
In Anaheim, Curt Schilling pitched 6 2-3 effective innings, Manny Ramirez and Kevin Millar homered during a seven-run burst, and Boston beat Anaheim in Game 1 of the AL playoffs.
Pedro Martinez will pitch against Anaheim's Bartolo Colon in Game 2 on Wednesday before the best-of-five series moves to Boston.
Two years ago, the Angels lost the openers to the Yankees, Twins and Giants before bouncing back to win all three series en route to the championship.
Just like the 2002 postseason, most of the fans at Angel Stadium wore red and made it noisy by banging ThunderStix. The volume level decreased significantly after the Red Sox's big fourth inning gave them an 8-0 lead, and not even stuffed Rally Monkeys could spur the Angels.
The seven runs were the most ever scored by the Red Sox in an inning in the postseason and the most ever allowed by the Angels. Five of the runs were unearned because of a throwing error by third baseman Chone Figgins.
An eight-run lead was more than enough for Schilling, who entered with a 5-1 record and a 1.66 ERA in 11 previous postseason appearances.
He wasn't at his best, allowing nine hits and three runs, two earned, while walking two and striking out four. But that was good enough.
Schilling, who allowed at least one baserunner in every inning, was relieved by Alan Embree with a runner at second, two outs in the seventh and the Red Sox leading 8-3. Embree retired pinch hitter Adam Riggs on foul popup to end the inning.
Boston went ahead for good off Jarrod Washburn in the first on a two-out double by Ramirez and a broken-bat single by David Ortiz.
Ortiz walked to begin the fourth and Millar hit an 0-1 offspeed pitch into the left-field bullpen, making it 3-0. The Red Sox then loaded the bases with one out, and two runs scored when Figgins fielded Johnny Damon's grounder but was far off target with his throw home as he went for the force.
Scot Shields relieved and struck out Mark Bellhorn, but Ramirez capped the inning with a three-run homer over the left-center field fence.
Troy Glaus, MVP of the 2002 World Series, hit Schilling's second pitch in the bottom half for a long home run.
Darin Erstad added a solo homer in the seventh, and the Angels got another run on Schilling's throwing error and an RBI double by Glaus. Schilling grabbed at his right ankle after watching his throw to first bounce down the right-field line, and stayed in for one more batter.
National League
In St. Louis, Larry Walker homered twice as St. Louis tied a postseason record by hitting five home runs, overwhelming Odalis Perez and Los Angeles in a blowout in the opener of their National League playoff series.
Albert Pujols, Jim Edmonds and Mike Matheny also connected. Add in a strong six-inning performance from Woody Williams and the Cardinals looked every bit as dominating as they did in leading the majors with 105 wins.
The Dodgers, who set a franchise record with 53 come-from-behind victories, fell so far behind they couldn't recover with a huge rally.
Los Angeles still hasn't won a postseason game since it beat the Oakland Athletics managed by Tony La Russa in the 1988 World Series. The Dodgers were swept in the first round by Atlanta in 1996 and Cincinnati in 1995.
Game 2 of the best-of-five series is Thursday at Busch Stadium, where the Cardinals also swept the Dodgers in a three-game series in early September. Jason Marquis pitches for St. Louis against Jeff Weaver.
The Cardinals clinched the NL Central on Sept. 18 before ending the season on cruise control, going 8-7 while La Russa seldom used his regular lineup. The finish featured the team's only four-game losing streak of the year, causing some consternation among its fans.
When they again got to play a game that mattered, they pulled away quickly, hammering Perez for three homers in 2 2-3 innings.
Matheny connected off Elmer Dessens in the fourth to make it 7-0, giving the Cardinals a chance to cruise a bit again. After the Dodgers cut the deficit to 7-2, Walker homered again off Giovanni Carrara in the seventh.
Rafael Furcal's hearing on whether to revoke his probation was reset for Wednesday morning, hours before the Atlanta Braves open their first-round playoff series with the Houston Astros.
The shortstop's hearing was originally set for Friday. The Braves travel to Houston on Friday, with Game 3 of the best-of-five series to be held the following day.
The Cobb County Solicitor's Office released a statement Tuesday saying the probation revocation hearing had been rescheduled for Wednesday at 9am. Game 1 of the division series is scheduled for 4:09pm.
Furcal was arrested Sept. 10 on drunken driving charges, his second DUI arrest in four years. He was on probation in Cobb County for a June 2000 arrest on similar charges.
GUILLEN STILL GONE
The Anaheim Angels managed to wrap up the AL West title without Jose Guillen's help. They're confident they'll be just as successful in the playoffs without their enigmatic left fielder.
Guillen was suspended for the final eight games of the regular season and penalized two days' pay because of a tantrum he threw in the dugout and clubhouse after being removed for a pinch-runner on Sept. 25. He was left off Anaheim's roster for its playoff series against Boston.
"I've been saying from day one that we have a team, and we're supposed to make it work -- regardless of what happens," teammate Darin Erstad said. "The front office makes moves during the season, and whatever happens, happens. And this situation is no different. We have to make it work."
The Red Sox are glad they don't have to face Guillen, who had 27 home runs and 104 RBIs this season, both career highs, and batted .327 with runners in scoring position -- the eighth-best mark in the AL. The Angels were 20-6 when he homered.
"That's going to hurt them a lot," Boston slugger David Ortiz said. "Guillen is another player who you want to have in the lineup. I mean, if you're talking about winning a World Series -- I might punish him next year, or something like that. But you don't get that many opportunities to win a World Series. I don't know what he did, but it seems like what he did was really bad."
THOMSON UPDATE
The Braves are confident that John Thomson will be able to start Game 3 despite a strained oblique muscle. Thomson (14-8, 3.72) threw in the bullpen Tuesday.
"He didn't throw 100 percent," manager Bobby Cox said. "I would say he threw 75 percent. I think in a couple of more days, he'll be able to start. Right now, unless he has a bad night, wakes up and is really sore, he'll be starting Game 3."
Thomson was initially scheduled to start Game 2, but he hurt his left side in his final start of the regular season.
PETTITTE SITS
When Houston pitcher Andy Pettitte underwent season-ending elbow surgery in late August, the Astros appeared to be out of the playoff race.
Then, by winning 36 of their final 46 games, they managed to claim the wild card.
So, would Pettitte have put off surgery if he had known his team would make the playoffs?
"I was past the point of no return," Pettitte said. "I tried, but I wouldn't have been able to help the team. All the things I had to do just to get on the field to pitch, I exhausted every option I had."
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier