It's D-Backs and Cards in World Series!

Arizona's Magglio Ordonez had three home runs and nine RBI's to help lead the D-Backs to a four games to one series win over the Cleveland Indians. This was defending league champs Arizona's fifth straight series win and they are now 9-1 (33-18 overall) in playoff series - an incredible record and best in the league. Arizona now faces St. Louis for the League Championship. A recap of the games:

Game 1 (Arizona 11, Cleveland 6) -Arizona chases Mark Prior early after scoring 5 runs. Cleveland gets within a run later in the game, but Arizona piles on a bunch more to make it a confortable game 1 victory.

Game 2 (Cleveland 4, Arizona 3) - Cleveland up 4-0 after 8 innings, thanks to home runs from Manny Ramirez and Geoff Jenkins. The 9th turned into a nail bitter, with Arizona scoring 3 but they leave the tying run on 2nd base.

Game 3 (Arizona 7, Cleveland 5) - Arizona was up 7-1 after 7, Mantei made it interesting in the 9th, but too little too late for Cleveland.

Game 4 (Arizona 10, Cleveland 0) - Prior again is terrible. On top of his pitching performance he committed an error and 2 wild pitches, Lawrence in his typical Jeckyl/Hide role throws the complete game shut out after not going 5 innings in game #1.

Game 5 (Arizona 2, Cleveland 1) - Tight one all the way through, aggressive Cleveland base running cost them in the late innings (Lofton pinch ran in the 8th, didn't get lead with 95% chance so stole with 70% chance and was thrown out. Randa leads off the 9th with a walk and is picked off.

Edmonds Leads Redbirds Past Halos

Jim Edmonds hit three homeruns and drove in eight runs to help St. Louis defeat Anaheim 4 games to 0 in their Semi-Final playoff series. A recap of the games:

Game 1 - Cardinals 11, Angels 5 (St. Louis came out blazing, scoring three times in the 1st and seven more in the 2nd. Paul Konerko connected on a 2-run HR in the opening frame and a grand slam in the 2nd. Troy Glaus also had a GS for Anaheim)

Game 2 - Cardinals 7, Angels 5 (Jim Edmonds ripped a 2-run HR in the 13th after delivering an RBI double in the 7th to tie the game. Richard Hidalgo had given Anaheim a 3-0 lead with a HR in the 1st. After the Cards tied it in the 4th, Cesar Izturis' 2-run single in the 6th gave Anaheim a 5-3 advantage. Jay Payton homered in the bottom of the inning to set up Edmonds' heroic efforts in the 7th and 13th)

Game 3 - Cardinals 7, Angels 6 (Edmonds snapped a 6-6 tie with his second HR of the game in the 8th inning. The Angels had fought back from a 6-4 deficit on a HR by Garret Anderson in the 5th and a sac fly by Anderson in the 7th)

Game 4 - Cardinals 4, Angels 3 (Jeremy Burnitz hit a 2-run PH HR in the 9th. The Angels led 1-0 into the 5th when a pair of bases loaded walks gave the Cards a 2-1 lead. Anaheim regained the lead in the 7th on a sac fly by Izturis and a HR by Anderson)

St. Louis now advances to the World Series for the first time in their history and will face the winner of the Arizona-Cleveland playoff series.

White Sox Nab 2nd Pick

Chicago, last place finisher in the 2003 season, secured the second draft pick. (For a complete history of draft lottery results, click here.) The White Sox appear poised to start turning around their past seasons performances based on an influx of new talent. Chicago had three picks out of the first 23 players selected in last season's draft and came away with Jose Reyes (#2 selected player), Jeremy Bonderman (#14) and Brandon Phillips (#23). In the upcoming draft, Chicago once again has a few extra picks: a #2 and #4 from Arizona in the A. J. Pierzynski deal and an extra #3 in the Sammy Sosa trade with Montreal. It will be interesting to see how the White Sox team improves in the the upcoming season.

O Canada!

The Montreal Expos, with just a 3% chance of snatching the top lottery pick, beat the odds and won tonite's draft lottery. Montreal finished 8th worst in last year's standings and had a very small chance in winning the pick. This was the first time in league history that a team higher than the "fourth slot" won the #1 pick. The Expos will have an opportunity to draft a player from a strong pool that includes David Wright, Ryan Howard, Scott Kazmir and Matt Holliday.

Arizona Advances

Millennium League defending champs Arizona defeated Florida 4 games to 1 in their Quarter-Final playoff series.

In game 1, Arizona rallied for 3 runs in the 7th which was aided by a costly Alex Gonzalez error as the Diamondbacks won 4-3. The Marlins evened up the series in game 2 by a 11-4 score behind Mike Lowell's five hits (with two home runs) and four RBI's.

The series moved to Florida for game 3 and Curt Schilling fired a 4-hitter with 11 K's to give Arizona a 2-1 win. Then, the D-Backs took a commanding 3-1 series lead as Brian Lawrence won his 2nd game of the series in a 5-3 Arizona win. Finally, it was all Arizona in game 5, as the D-Backs closed out the series with a 12-5 win. Steve Finley, who hit .391 in the series, had 4 hits which included two doubles and a triple.

Arizona now advances to meet the Cleveland Indians in the Semi-Finals.

Draft Lottery to be Held Next Week

We will be conducting our draft lottery on Wednesday, June 25th and Thursday, June 26th.....

The “Pennsylvania Daily Number NITE” lottery (http://www.palottery.state.pa.us/) on subsequent nights (7PM EST) will be used to decide who gets the #1 and #2 picks in the first round only. If the second pick yields the same result as the first night, then a third night’s lottery drawing will be used. The remaining 10 teams will draft in reverse order of record. So, the team with the poorest record can do no worst than pick third in the first round.


2004 Lottery Drawing Chances:

000 to 249 – Chicago (47-115)

250 to 449 – Kansas City (57-105)

450 to 604 – Seattle (69-93)

605 to 724 – Atlanta (72-90)

725 to 814 – Toronto (78-84)

815 to 879 – Oakland (79-83, 21-15 vs. Boston/Montreal in tie-breaker)

880 to 924 – Houston from Boston (79-83, 19-17 vs. Montreal/Oakland in tie-breaker)

925 to 954 – Montreal (79-83)

955 to 974 – Minnesota (80-82, 4-2 vs. Los Angeles in tie-breaker)

975 to 986 – Los Angeles (80-82)

987 to 994 – New York (82-80)

995 to 999 – Pittsburgh (84-79)

(Click here for a history of previous lottery numbers selected.)

Angels Upset Phillies

The Angels, who needed a one-game playoff victory just to reach the post-season, knocked off top-ranked Philadelphia in an exciting seven-game series. The Angels had a .324 team batting average in the series, which helped offset a 7.26 ERA. The Phillies were about the same (.320 and 7.36). Carlos Delgado was voted the series MVP as he hit .357 with 5 HRs and 14 RBIs. Richard Hidalgo, who was hot and cold after being acquired at midseason, hit .429 with 4 HRs and 7 RBIs.

Game 1 -- Angels 9, Phillies 7 (Rob Mackowiak and Adam Kennedy hit 2-run HRs and Pudge Rodriguez went 4-5)

Game 2 -- Phillies 10, Angels 3 (Torii Hunter hit a pair of homers)

Game 3 -- Phillies 8, Angels 5 (The game went extra innings after Tike Redman robbed Mark Loretta of a game-winning HR in the 9th. However, the Phillies scored four times in the 10th, sparked by Brad Wilkerson's 2-run double)

Game 4 -- Angels 6, Phillies 5 (Philly jumps to a 4-0 lead in the first inning, but Redman delivers an RBI double and DElgado a 3-run HR in the 3rd to tie it. Mike Lieberthal puts the Phils up 5-4 with an RBI single in the 7th, but the Angels tie the series by scoring twice in the 9th, first on Redman's RBI single, then on Kennedy's RBI double)

Game 5 -- Angels 14, Phillies 12 (The first of two wild offensive games. Loretta's 2-run single in the second helps the Phils take a 5-2 lead. However, Anaheim responds with six in the 3rd, capped by Kennedy's 2-run single. Lieberthal and Eric Chavez homer for Philly in the 4th to cut the deficit to 8-7. Hidalgo homers in the bottom of the 4th and Garrett Anderson hits a 2-run shot in the 5th for an 11-7 Anaheim advantage. Aaron Rowand's HR sets off a 5-run 7th for the Phils and they're back on top 12-11. However, Anderson's RBI single in the bottom of the inning ties it and Delgado's 2-run HR puts them up for good)

Game 6 -- Phillies 10, Angels 9 (Fourteen homers are hit -- 12 of them solo. Miguel Tejada hits three for the Phils, who trailed 8-6 after another Delgado 3-run shot. However, Chavez responds with a 3-run HR of his own and Tejada a solo shot in the 7th. The Angels have 1st and 3rd with no outs in the 9th, but after an RBI grounder, David Weathers retires Delgado and Hidalgo).

Game 7 -- Angels 5, Phillies 2 (Kind of anti-climactic after the previous two games. Phils have early 1-0 lead, but an Anderson RBI and a WP give Angels 2-1 lead in the 2nd. Anderson hits solo HR in the 6th and Hidalgo adds icing with 2-run shot in the 9th)

Players of the Block - Block 9

EDGAR GONZALEZ (SEA) -- AL Batter of the Block
Seattle DH Edgar Gonzalez ended the 2003 season with some impressive numbers. He batted .487 (19 for 39) with an AL leading 18 RBIs. His OBP was .592 and he also scored 15 times.

ALBERT PUJOLS (PHN) -- NL Batter of the Block
Philly slugger Albert Pujols had another impressive block. He led the NL with his .442 average for the block while also reaching base at a .500 clip. He drove in 10 and scored 13 times.

KIP WELLS (HON) -- AL Pitcher of the Block
Kip Wells, starter for the Houston Astros, was 2-0 in 3 starts in the final block. In those starts he had an ERA of 0.86 while striking out 16 in 21 innings.

JASON SCHMIDT (OAA) -- NL Pitcher of the Block
Jason Schmidt led the Oakland rotation with a strong block. In 23 2/3 innings he allowed only 12 hits while striking out 25. In those games he recorded an ERA of 0.76 and 2-1 record.