2001 N.L. DIVISION SERIES #1
 
ManhattanGas Hornets@Flora-BamaMullets |
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| PREVIEW – Manhattan Gas Hornets (98-64) vs. Flora-Bama Mullets (109-53) It seemed inevitable that these two NL East powers who battled all season would meet again in the playoffs. The Gas Hornets won the head to head season series 12-10 while the Mullets finished with the better overall record and the division title. |
| GAME #1 – Matt Morris 18-9 (3.14) vs. Randy Johnson 27-3 (1.99)
Manhattan jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the second inning on back to back doubles by Tino Martinez and late season pickup Chris Singleton. Flora-Bama tied it up on a Juan Gonzalez rbi single in the 4th and went ahead 2-1 on Jeff Liefer’s solo homerun in the 5th. Gonzalez added another rbi single in the 6th driving in Aaron Rowand after he’d stolen second base. Randy Johnson was still pissed about losing twice to Manhattan in their last series of year and he locked it down after the second inning. He just missed the complete game when Singleton singled with two outs in the 9th and the Mullets used Norm Charlton retire Garret Anderson. Final Score: Flora-Bama 3 – Columbus 1 Win: Randy Johnson 1-0 (1.04) |
| GAME #2 – Steve Sparks 14-8 (4.31) vs. Curt Schilling 21-12 (3.38)
The Mullets scored first in the bottom of the 1st with a Lance Berkman double and a Juan Gonzalez rbi single. In the top of the 2nd, the Gas hornets tied it up on a Derek Jeter single and a Ray Durham rbi triple. Back to Back doubles by Adam Kennedy and John Olerud knocked out Steve Sparks in the third inning and gave the Mullets a 2-1 lead. Manhattan used four relievers to shut down Flora-Bama from the 3rd to the 7th. In the 6th, Durham hit his second triple off the game off Curt Schilling and scored the tying run on a Jason Kendall sac fly. Schilling turned it over the pen in the 8th. In the top of the 8th, Kendall doubled off Cliff Politte, but Norm Charlton got Tino Martinez to fly out. In the bottom of the 8th, Tom Gordon issued a walk to Alex A. Gonzalez and a single to David Segui that put runners on the corners. Torii Hunter’s sac fly broke the tie. Then a sac bunt by Neifi Perez and and a rbi single from Prince made it 4-2. Charlton recorded the first two outs in the 9th and Kazuhiro Sasaki got the last out. Final Score: Flora-Bama 4 – Columbus 2 Win: Norm Charlton 1-0 (0.00) |
| GAME #3 – Robert Person 8-1 (3.04) vs. Brandon Duckworth 4-3 (4.68)
Tino Martinez connected on a two-run homer in the first that gave the Gas Hornet an early lead. Robert Person settled down and was nearly unhittable for six innings after the homerun. Brandon Duckworth cruised until the 5th, when Torii Hunter knocked a solo shot to break the shutout. 2-1. In the top of the 7th, Armando Rios doubled and Hunter singled off Vladimir Nunez to tie it 2-2. Hernandez replaced Nunez. Perez dropped a sac bunt that moved Hunter to second and then a wild pitch allowed Hunter to move to third base. Adrain Hernandez got David Segui to line out and then walked John Olerud. He then issued a second wild pitch when facing Berkman that gave the Mullets the 3-2 lead. Lance Berkman eventually walked, but Hernandez pulled it together and got Mike Piazza to fly out. In the bottom of the 8th, Dave Martinez tripled with one out off Polite. Kazuhiro Sasaki was brought in keep the lead and Jeter immediately hit his first pitch over centerfield. 4-3. Byung-Hym Kim locked down the 9th for Manhattan’s first win of the series. Final Score: Columbus 4 – Flora-Bama 3 Win: Adrian Hernandez 1-0 (0.00) |
| GAME #4 – Randy Johnson 27-3 (1.99) vs. Matt Morris 18-9 (3.14)
This was a good old pitching duel between aces with both starters putting up zeros for the first six innings. The Mullets finally got to Matt Morris in top of the 7th. Armando Rios singled and Aaron Rowand stole 2nd as a pinch runner. Torii Hunter then walked which forced the Gas Hornets to turn to Tom Gordon who had 18.00 ERA from game two. Gordon hit Adam Kennedy to load the bases. The Mullets brought on David Segui to pinch hit and he crushed a GRAND SLAM!. Neifi Perez then doubled and Mike Piazza singled him home. 5-0 Flora-Bama!. In the bottom of the 8th, Ron Coomer took Randy Johnson deep for a two run homer. In the top of the 9th, David Segui and Lance Berkman singled and Ruben Sierra hit a three run pinch hit homer that put the game away. Final Score: Flora-Bama 8 – Columbus 2 Win: Randy Johnson 2-0 (1.65) |
| GAME #5 – Curt Schilling 21-12 (3.38) vs. Steve Sparks 14-8 (4.31)
John Olerud and Mike Piazza each hit solo homeruns to start the game in the 1st. In the top of 2nd, singles by Torii Hunter and Neifi Perez yielded another run for the Mullets. In the top of the 3rd, Lance Berkman doubled and Piazza hit his second homerun of the game for a 5-0 lead. In the bottom of the 4th, Ray Durham walked, Jason Kendall singled, and Tino Martinez singled to load the bases. Chris Singleton then singled off Curt Schilling to drive in two runs. Ron Coomer walked to re-load the bases with Matt Stairs coming up. Flora-Bama yanked Schilling for Norm Charlton who got Matt Stairs to ground out. In the top of the 5th, Olerud singled and Berkman hit a two run homer off Jeff Shaw. Norm Charlton, Josh Beckett, Jose Mesa, Kazuhiro Sasaki and Cliff Politte pitched a scoreless 5.1 innings to wrap up the game and the series. Final Score: Flora-Bama 7 – Columbus 2 Win: Norm Charlton 2-0 (0.00) |
| SUMMARY – Flora-Bama won the series in five games behind their solid pitching and excellent hitting off the bench. Manhattan’s pitching gave them the opportunity to win in three of the five games, but their offense struggled the entire series. The commissioner wouldn’t let the Mullets give their MVP to Tom Gordon, so the series MVP award was shared by pinch hitter David Segui and Nasty Boy Norm Charlton. Segui hit .571 with 1.768 OPS as a pinch hitter and led the team in RBI’s during the series. Charlton finished 2-0 and picked up a 1 save with a perfect 0.00 ERA. |