Boston's 3-4-5 hitters did most of the damage tonight to even this series at 1 game apiece. Mike Piazza (a definite candidate for AL MVP) led the way with 3 RBI, including a 2-run double in the 4th. Carl Everett also hit 2 doubles and knocked in 2 runs. But it was Aubrey Huff who came through when it was most needed -- with a 2-run walk-off HR in the 9th inning to send the series back to Detroit. For the Tigers, Jayson Werth had a triple and 3 RBI, and AL MVP candidate Casey Blake hit a 2-run HR in the 4th.

This game looked like it would be a rout from the beginning. David Ortiz hit a 3-run HR and Garret Anderson singled in Scott Rolen to put Cincy ahead 4-0 in the 1st inning. In the 2nd, Ramon Hernandez hit a grand slam to double the Reds' lead. But Washington clawed their way back into the game. Johnny Estrada hit a solo HR in the bottom of the 2nd, and Lyle Overbay and Jimmy Rollins hit run-scoring singles in the 4th. In the 5th, Chris Burke homered, Melvin Mora knocked in J.D. Drew, Overbay scored Mora with a single, and Estrada scored on Rollins' double to pull Washington to within 1 run of Cincy. In the bottom of the 8th, Washington put the game out of reach. Brian Giles, Carlos Lee, and Overbay all hit run-scoring singles, followed by a 2-run double by Larry Bigbie and a run-scoring single by Burke. The inning ended with Giles drawing a walk that scored Bigbie from 3rd base. Washington doubled their score in 1 inning and took the 1st game of the series handily.

It was Houston's turn to get blown out tonight as San Diego jumped on Livan Hernandez in the 1st inning. Jason Kendall singled in Juan Pierre, and Magglio Ordonez homered to score Kendall and Eric Chavez and give the Padres an early 4-0 lead. The Astros scored in the 2nd when Rod Barajas beat out an infield single that scored Frank Catalanotto. San Diego got that run back in the 3rd with a solo homerun by Chavez. But, Houston came right back with 2 more in the 3rd as well. Albert Pujols doubled in Willy Taveras, and Marshall McDougall doubled in Pujols to cut the lead to 5-3. But, after that, it was all San Diego. They added another run in the 5th and 4 more in the 7th on a grand slam by Travis Hafner to even the series at 1 game apiece. They will meet again on Saturday in San Diego.

In their first trip to the postseason, the Nationals are proving themselves to be quite fond of the playoffs. Once again, Cincinnati got out to a big early lead. Ramon Hernandez hit a 3-run homerun in the 2nd inning, Garret Anderson added a run-scoring single in the 3rd, and Hernandez again homered in the 4th to put the Reds up 5-0 after 3-1/2 innings. In the bottom of the 4th, Carlos Lee got Washington on the board by grounding into a fielder's choice at SS that scored Melvin Mora. Washington added 2 more in the 5th when Larry Bigbie singled in Lyle Overbay and then Bigbie scored on a single by Mora to cut the lead to 5-3, Cincy. In the bottom of the 7th, Mora and Brian Giles hit back-to-back homeruns to give Washington the lead at 6-5. They added two more on a double by Mora in the bottom of the 8th. David Ortiz brought one home for Cincy in the 9th with runners on the corners and 2 outs, but after a walk to Scott Rolen that loaded the bases, Anderson grounded out harmlessly to Chris Burke to seal the Nationals' win and put Cincy on the brink of elimination. The series goes to Cincinnati on Saturday for Game 3.

Game 3 of this series became a pitcher's duel. Tim Hudson went 9 innings and gave up 1 earned run on 4 hits and a walk while striking out 4 for the win. Keiichi Yabu, a strong candidate for AL Rookie of the Year, went 7 innings in his 1st postseason start and gave up 1 unearned run on 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out 7. Boston took the early lead in the 3rd inning when Javy Lopez allowed a passed ball and Dustan Mohr scored from third. Detroit tied the game in the 7th when Frank Thomas doubled in Andruw Jones. But it was Aubrey Huff who came up big for the second game in a row when he singled in Jose Vidro from second to give Boston the lead. Dan Kolb threw a perfect bottom of the 10th, getting 3 straight outs on 7 pitches to save the game. Paul Shuey got the loss for giving up the winning single. Game 4 is Saturday, October 8. Boston has a 2-1 lead.

Cleveland took advantage of key errors by Rangers' players tonight to take Game 3. Aaron Boone scored on a throwing error by Ryan Drese to give the Indians a quick 1-0 lead in the 1st inning. Texas struck back in the 3rd with a solo homerun by Alfonso Soriano and a run-scoring double by Khalil Greene that gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead. Carl Crawford scored on a fielder's choice in the 5th inning to increase the lead to 3-1. In the 9th, however, Rondell White cut the lead to 3-2 when he scored on a throwing error by Greene that also allowed Jerry Hairston to move into scoring position and later score on a fielder's choice to tie the game. In the 13th inning, Hairston scored again on a throwing error by Bo Hart that also put Angel Berroa in scoring position. Berroa came home 3 pitches later when Edwards Guzman doubled to right center. In the bottom of the 13th, Texas threatened to extend the game. Soriano singled, then Jose Guillen doubled him over to third, and Soriano scored on a fielder's choice. But, with Guillen on 2nd and Bo Hart on 1st after getting hit by a pitch, Eric Gagne struck out Casey Kotchman and Ian Kinsler in succession to end the threat. The former starter-turned-closer pitched 3-2/3 innings, giving up 1 earned run on 2 hits while striking 4 to earn his 1st postseason win. Game 4 is Saturday, October 8, with Texas having a 2-1 lead.

The ALCS got its second team today as Cleveland completed its come-from-behind series victory with a 5-2 win at Jacobs Field. Vernon Wells had 2 RBI, and Bernie Williams and Edwards Guzman had the other 2 RBI for Cleveland. Sidney Ponson gave up 2 earned runs on 9 hits and 3 walks while striking out 6 in 7-1/3 innings to get the win. Jason Bay and Alfonso Soriano had the only Rangers' runs, and Randy Johnson gave up 4 earned runs on 9 hits and 2 walks while striking out 5 in 6 innings to get the loss. But, it was mostly a day of missed chances for Texas as they stranded 9 baserunners, including having the bases loaded twice in key situations. Jose Guillen popped out harmlessly to Aaron Boone in the 3rd inning, and Khalil Greene and Casey Kotchman both struck out in the 8th to kill rallies. Cleveland will host Boston in the 1st game of the ALCS on Tuesday, October 11.

As the reigning OBSL champions, Cincinnati had much more on the line today than any other team. For 1 more day, at least, they proved themselves to be up to the task of defending their title. Washington got off to a quick 1-0 lead in the 1st when Melvin Mora singled in J.D. Drew. But Cincinnati came back with quick successive scores to take the lead. In the 3rd, David Ortiz doubled in Glendon Rusch and Tike Redman, and B.J. Surhoff singled in Ortiz and Scott Rolen to put Cincy up 4-1. In the 5th, Ramon Hernandez hit a grand slam to double Cincy's lead to 8-1. And, in the 6th, Ortiz homered to make the score 9-1, Reds. In the 7th, with runners at the corners and 2 outs, J.D. Drew ended his team's rally by grounding out to second. In the 8th, Brian Giles hit a solo shot to cut the lead to 9-2. And, in the 9th, Giles hit a sacrifice fly with bases loaded to score Chad Tracy, and Carlos Lee singled in Drew to make the score 9-4, where it stayed after Ray King struck out Johnny Estrada to end the game. Game 5 will be Monday, October 10.

The NLCS got its first team today as San Diego eliminated Houston in an extra-inning thriller. Both teams missed opportunities to take this game early. Travis Hafner and Craig Wilson homered in back-to-back at-bats in the 2nd inning. In the 3rd, Houston's Willy Taveras swung for the fences with Marshall McDougall on third only to pop out harmlessly to shallow right field to end a rally. In the 4th, the Astros finally got on the board when Frank Catalanotto doubled in Albert Pujols to cut the lead to 2-1. But Magglio Ordonez got that run back in the bottom of the inning with a solo shot. In the 7th, Houston tied the game with a small rally. Matt Stairs singled in Jason Alfaro, and Rod Barajas doubled in McDougall. But, rookie Ian Snell ended the rally by grounding out to third. In the 8th, the Padres re-took the lead on a single by Hafner that scored Jason Kendall. But with runners on 1st and 2nd and only 1 out, Wilson struck out and Cristian Guzman grounded out to 2nd to end the inning. With the score 4-3, Padres, Brad Lidge came on to pitch the 9th. After striking out Catalanotto and getting Alfaro to ground out to short, Lidge served up a homerun ball to Matt Stairs, who deposited it deep into the right field bleachers. Then, McDougall and David Dellucci both walked to set the plate for Brooks Conrad, who was called on to pinch-hit for Rudy Seanez. But Lidge struck the rookie out on 7 pitches. In the bottom of the 10th, with runners on 1st and 2nd and 2 outs, Craig Wilson swung for the fences only to have the ball be caught just before the warning track in centerfield. Finally, in the 13th inning, Albert Pujols broke the tie with a solo shot over the left field wall. Bobby Seay came on in the bottom of the inning to save the game. But instead, he gave up a lead-off homerun to Travis Hafner and then walked Craig Wilson in the very next at-bat. Tony Fiore was then brought in to clean up the mess. Cristian Guzman then bunted his way on base, having had Wilson forced at 2nd by his bunt. Fiore then picked Guzman off of first, but a throwing error by Pujols allowed Guzman to take second. Then, after striking out Omar Infante, Fiore threw a wild pitch that allowed Guzman to take third. And, in a gutsy move, Jim Brower was allowed to hit for himself and he did just that, rapping the series-winning single into left field. San Diego will face the winner of Monday's playoff on Wednesday, October 12.

In what has been the most productive playoffs series in OBSL history, this game seemed anticlimactic in its finish. Combined, the Reds and Nationals had been hitting .341, had put up 27 runs each on the scoreboards, and had been averaging 25 hits per game. Tonight, the 2 teams had just 13 hits combined, and they missed many opportunities to add to their historical series. In the 1st inning, both teams had runners on 1st and 2nd and only 1 out. For Cincy, Scott Rolen ground into a double play to end their threat. For Washington, Brian Giles pooped out to short and Carlos Lee ground out to second to finish their inning. In the 2nd, Jason Schmidt ground out to 2nd to end another threat. And, with Lyle Overbay on 2nd, Carlos Zambrano flied out to right field to move the game on to the 3rd, where Brian Giles finally got Washington on the board with a 3-run homerun. Cincy struck back in the 4th when Rolen scored on a fielding error by Giles. In the bottom of the 5th, the Nationals extended their lead. J.D. Drew tripled to lead off the inning then scored on an infield single by Melvin Mora, and Chad Tracy, who pinch-ran for Mora, scored on a fielder's choice. Zambrano cruised through the 6th and 7th innings, retiring 6 Reds in a row. In the 8th, Tike Redman hit a leadoff single and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Garret Anderson to cut the lead to 5-2. And, in the 9th, Francisco Cordero got Ramon Hernandez to line out to Brian Giles. Then, Jack Wilson grounded out to Cordero. But, Alex Sanchez and Tike Redman hit consecutive singles to keep the Reds alive, only to have an overeager Cesar Izturis swing at the first pitch he saw and send it to the right center gap, where Giles took the out at a full run to preserve Washington's 1st playoff series win. The Nationals will host the Padres at RFK Stadium on Wednesday, October 12.