Angels, Dodgers and Yankees Advance
The MLB Playoffs were alive and well this weekend. Though three series ended in a sweep, it didn’t take away from the excitement of the games. Well start with the Los Angeles Dodgers vs. St. Louis Cardinals Series. The Dodgers were up 2-0 after an incredible comeback in Thursdays Game 2. You could tell that this was a tough loss for the Cards because they where expecting at least a split in LA and they were one out away before the Dodgers came back. This set up Game 3 in St. Louis where the Dodgers jumped out to a lead and never looked back. Albert Pujols though he had a MVP type season got little to hit in this series and couldn’t really make an impact. The Dodgers won this series with timely hitting and solid pitching especially from their bullpen. We’ll see if they can keep it up for the next series where they await the winner of the Rockies and Phillies.
Right now the Phillies lead 2-1 with Game 4 later today. If the Phillies win it would set up a rematch of last years NLCS with the Dodgers looking for some revenge.
Now in the American League two series were going on between the Angels vs. Red Sox and Yankees vs. Twins. We’ll start with the Angels-Red Sox series were the Angels went into the weekend with a surprising 2-0 lead. The Red Sox had dominated the Angels in years past and many thought that this year would be more of the same. But it wasn’t for the first two games where Angels starting pitching shut down the Sox and the Angels won each of the first two games convincingly. The Red Sox though were going to be at home, where they had one of the best records in the majors and are tough to beat in the playoffs, and had comeback from a big deficit before in past years. This year was different though. It started out great for the Sox as they jumped out to a 5-1 lead. Usually the Angels would have just folded and conceded the game, but they didn’t. They fought back and got it to 6-4 in the 9th even then it still looked bleak as they were down to their last strike, against a great closer in Jonathan Papelbon, when the rally started. Erick Aybar got a hit up the middle, then Chone Figgins walked, Abreu followed with a double scoring Aybar. With runners on second and third and first base open the Red Sox decided to walk Torii Hunter to get to Vladimir Guerrero. This was a mistake because on the next pitch Vlady lined in to center and the Angels took the lead. The crowd and the Red Sox were stunned and quiet and after the final out was recorded the Angels could finally celebrate for beating the Red Sox.
The other series going on was a mismatch though the Twins hung in and fought till the end. They were leading in Game 3 till Arod and Posada hit homeruns to take the lead. After that it was never close and the Yankees will now play the Angels in what should be a great ALCS. The series will start on Friday.
Image Source: AP Photo
