2003 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

Game one showcased a battle between two of the top NL Cy-Young candidates.  Baltimore capitalized on Moyer’s early control issues by quickly loading the bases with one out in the 1^st. Randa singled, Young walked, and Jenkins took a costly pitch off his elbow for the team. (8-day injury for Jenkins).  The next batter, Wilson, grounded to Huff, but he threw the double play ball away, allowing two runs to score.  Moyer avoided any further damage, but Hudson had a nice 2-0 lead before even throwing a pitch. In the bottom of the 2^nd, Jeff Kent hit a solo shot off Hudson for the first Mullet run.  In the top of the 5^th,  Young popped a solo shot off Moyer to give Baltimore a 3-1 lead.  In the bottom of the 7^th, Huff worked a walk, Rolls pinch ran, stole 2B, and scored when Kent reached on an error.  Moyer turned it over to the Mullet pen after seven, and they pitched a scoreless 8^th and 9th. Hudson remained in the game and pitched a perfect 8^th. He recorded two quick outs in the 9^th before allowing a walk to Fullmer. Goodwin pinch-ran and stole second base, but Hudson got pinch hitter David Ross looking to finish the complete game two-hitter.

Final Score: Baltimore 3 – Flora-Bama 2
Baltimore leads the Series 1-0

Win: Tim Hudson 1-0  (2.00)
Loss: Jamie Moyer 0-1  (2.57) 

A Dmitri Young home run in the 1st and Matt Kata’s two-run home run in the 2nd gave Baltimore a quick 3-0 lead.  Flora-Bama put a run on the board in the bottom of the 2^nd when Berrora and Palmeiro hit back-to-back doubles at the bottom of the order.  Palmeiro picked up another RBI in the 4^th to cut the lead to one run.  The Mullets pivoted to the pen in the 5^th when Baltimore’s lineup came up for the third time. In the bottom of the 6^th,  Bigbie led off with a single that ended Zito’s day.  Worrell came on for the Blue Crabs and got three outs to keep the 3-2 lead intact.  In the bottom of the 7^th, Eischen came on and recorded the first out, but then gave up a one-out single to Huff. Goodwin pinch ran for Huff, stole 2B, and then scored the tying run on a Berkman RBI single. 3-3.   In the bottom of the 8^th, Lopez worked a lead-off walk on Fox.  Kennedy pinch-ran and stole 2B. Fox lost his composure and plunked Ross to put runners on 2^nd and 1^st with no outs. Baltimore brought in Fuentes, and he got the first out, but then gave up a single to Clark that scored the go-ahead run and also put runners on 3rd and 2nd when the Blue Crabs went for the play at home. 4-3.  Palmeiro then picked up his third hit of the day to drive in two more runs. 6-3 Mullets.  A Dunn solo shot with two outs in the 9^th was all Baltimore could manage. Spooneybarger pitched 1.2 innings and picked up the win as the Mullets rallied against the Blue Crab pen.

Final Score: Flora-Bama 6 – Baltimore 4
Series Tied at 1-1

Win: Tim Spooneybarger 1-0  (0.00)
Loss: Chad Fox 0-1  (-.–) 

The series shifted to Baltimore for the next three games. Lance Berkman led off the game by taking Padilla’s first pitch of the game over the centerfield fence to give the Mullets a brief lead.  The Blue Crabs’ first three hitters reached base to start the bottom of the 1st. Jones doubled, Dunn walked, and Young took one for the team (2-day injury).  Wilson’s infield groundout tied it up, but Schilling struck out Posada and got Tejada to avoid what could have been a big inning. 1-1.  In the 3^rd, Hunter singled, Berkman doubled, and Bigbie singled to go up 2-1 and put runners on the corners with one out.  Padilla put Lopez on with a pitch in his back to load the bases, but then got Huff to hit into a double play.  In the bottom of the 6^th, Wilson worked a one out walk.  Schilling knicked Posada on the knee to put a runner in scoring position, but also injured Posada for three days.  Flora-Bama brought on Spooneybarger. He got Tejada swinging, but then gave up a game-tying single to Randa. 2-2.  Baltimore went to the pen in the 8^th. Bigbie doubled to start the inning, and Rolls singled with one out, but Wilson gunned Bigbie at home to preserve the tie.  In the bottom of the 8^th, Casey hit one off the wall, but Goodwin got him at second trying to make it a double.  In the top of the 9^th, Palmeiro took Villarreal deep or a 3-2 lead.  Acevedo was back for a 3^rd inning of work in the bottom of the 9^th. He got Randa to pop up, but then gave up a triple to Kata. Plesac came in to face Roberts.  With the infield in, Robert laid down a suicide bunt towards 3rd, but Rolls made a great play and got the speedy Kata at home.  Flora-Bama then walked Jones, which put the potential tying run back in scoring position, but brought up the left-handed-hitting Dunn. Hammond was called on to get Dunn, but Dunn worked a walk to load the bases.  …Hammand facing Casey and it’s a hot smash to Kennedy… over to second for the third out.

Final Score: Flora-Bama 3 – Baltimore 2
Flora-Bama leads the Series 2-1

Win: Jose Acevedo 1-0  (0.00)
Loss: Oscar Villarreal 0-1  (9.00)
Save: Chris Hammond #1

GAME TEXT

Final Score: Flora-Bama 19 – Baltimore 9
Flora-Bama leads the Series 3-1

Win: Tim Spooneybarger 2-0  (0.00)
Loss: Victor Zambrano 0-1  (16.20) 

GAME TEXT

Final Score: Baltimore 9 – Flora-Bama 8
Flora-Bama leads the Series 3-2

Win: Oscar Villarreal 1-1  (4.50)
Loss: Ryan Wagner 0-1  (9.00)

GAME TEXT

Final Score: Baltimore 1 – Flora-Bama 0
Series Tied at 3-3

Win: Barry Zito 1-0  (1.26)
Loss: Curt Schilling 0-1  (3.00) 

The Blue Crabs sent Padilla out to make his second start of the series after only giving up two runs in seven innings of work in game three. The Mullets countered with Moyer for his third start of the series, and he was still looking for his first victory while sporting an ugly 9.00 ERA.  Would the third time be the charm for Moyer or more of the same? The Mullets struck first in the bottom of the 2nd when Brad Fuller led off with a solo home run to right field.  Flora-Bama threatened in the 3^rd when Berkman led off with a double and Hunter came on to run for him, but Padilla got two strikeouts and an infield ground out to avoid any damage.  In the top of the 4^th, Moyer gave up his first hit to Young, but then got a double play to erase the threat.  Fullmer led off the bottom of the 4^th with a double. Rowand pinch ran for Fullmer and moved to 3B on a balk.  Juan Gonzalez hit a grounder to Dunn at 1B and he booted it to give Flora-Bama 2-0 lead.  Posada singled to start the 5^th, but Moyer induced another double play.  In the bottom of the 5^th, Bigbie hit a solo homerun off Williams to make 3-0 Mullets.  In the top of the 8^th, Posada and Tejada worked lead off walks to bring the tying run to the plate with no outs.  Moyer recovered, striking out Randa and then getting Stynes to hit into the fourth double play of the game.  Moyer was back for the 9^th. He allowed a one-out single to Chipper, but then got Dunn and Young to ground out for the series victory.  Moyer pitched a three-hit shutout with five strikeouts. 

Final Score: Flora-Bama 3 – Baltimore 0
Flora-Bama Wins the Series 4-3

Win: Jamie Moyer 1-1  (4.74)
Loss: Vincente Padilla 0-1  (3.48)