Redbirds Win Road Opener

Woody Williams and the St. Louis Cardinals defeated division rival Philadelphia 5-4 at Coors Field spoiling the Phillies home opener. . . . . .

Strat-O-Matic Report

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BOXSCORE: 2003 St. Louis Cardinals At 2003 Philadelphia Phillies     4/3/2003
 
  Cardinals          AB  R  H RBI AVG     Phillies           AB  R  H RBI AVG
  E.Renteria SS       4  1  1  0 .375     L.Matos CF          2  2  1  0 .379  
  C.Baerga 2B         3  1  1  2 .333     M.Loretta 2B        4  0  1  1 .323  
B-P.Polanco 2B        1  0  0  0 .214     A.Pujols LF         4  0  0  0 .462  
  J.Drew RF           4  0  0  0 .083     V.Guerrero RF       4  0  1  1 .259  
  J.Edmonds CF        4  1  0  0 .286     M.Lieberthal C      4  0  1  0 .259  
  J.Payton LF         4  1  1  1 .267     B.Surhoff 1B        4  1  0  0 .273  
  B.Broussard 1B      3  0  1  1 .400     M.Tejada SS         4  0  0  0 .385  
D-P.Konerko PH,1B     1  0  0  0 .500     E.Chavez 3B         4  1  1  1 .400  
  V.Castilla 3B       3  1  1  1 .214     J.Vazquez P         1  0  0  0 .167  
  T.Hall C            3  0  0  0 .308     R.Dickey P          0  0  0  0 ----  
  W.Williams P        3  0  0  0 .000   A-B.Wilkerson PH      1  0  0  0 .429  
  C.Leskanic P        0  0  0  0 ----     J.Brower P          0  0  0  0 ----  
  D.Marte P           0  0  0  0 ----   C-A.Rowand PH         1  0  1  1 .200  
                                          M.Remlinger P       0  0  0  0 ----  
                     -- -- -- ---                            -- -- -- ---      
         Totals      33  5  5  5                 Totals      33  4  6  4
 
A-Pinch Hit For Dickey In 6th Inning
B-Subbed Defensively (2B) For Baerga In 7th Inning
C-Pinch Hit For Brower In 7th Inning
D-Pinch Hit For Broussard In 9th Inning
 
Cardinals....... 0 0 1  2 2 0  0 0 0  -  5  5  0
Phillies........ 0 0 0  1 0 1  2 0 0  -  4  6  1
 
Cardinals (4-0)          IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR    ERA
W.Williams WIN(1-0)       6 2/3   6   4   4   0   4   0   5.40
C.Leskanic HOLD(1st)      1 1/3   0   0   0   1   2   0   0.00
D.Marte SAVE(1st)         1       0   0   0   0   0   0   0.00
Totals                    9       6   4   4   1   6   0
 
Phillies (4-3)           IP       H   R  ER  BB  SO  HR    ERA
J.Vazquez LOSS(1-1)       4 2/3   5   5   3   0   3   2   5.71
R.Dickey                  1 1/3   0   0   0   0   0   0   9.35
J.Brower                  1       0   0   0   0   1   0   2.45
M.Remlinger               2       0   0   0   0   3   0   2.84
Totals                    9       5   5   3   0   7   2
 
ATTENDANCE- 32,040 DATE- Wednesday, April 3rd 2003 TIME- Night WEATHER- Average
UMPIRES- Terry Craft, Phil Cuzzi, Paul Schrieber, Tim McClelland
T- 2:36
LEFT ON BASE- Cardinals: 1  Phillies: 4
DOUBLE PLAYS- Cardinals: 0  Phillies: 0
ERRORS- M.Tejada
DOUBLES- J.Payton(2nd), V.Guerrero(1st), E.Chavez(3rd)
TRIPLES- M.Loretta(1st)
HOME RUNS- C.Baerga(1st), V.Castilla(1st)
WALKS- L.Matos
HIT BY PITCH- L.Matos
STRIKE OUTS- E.Renteria, P.Polanco, J.Drew-2, J.Edmonds, J.Payton, W.Williams,
             L.Matos, M.Loretta, A.Pujols, V.Guerrero, M.Lieberthal, J.Vazquez
WILD PITCHES- J.Vazquez
WEB GEMS- Bot 2nd: Edgar Renteria robbed B.J. Surhoff of a base hit.
          Top 7th: Mark Loretta robbed Vinny Castilla of a base hit.
          Top 9th: Mike Remlinger robbed Paul Konerko of a base hit.
 
One run was the difference at Coors Field as the St. Louis Cardinals defeated
the Philadelphia Phillies 5 to 4.
 
Woody Williams(1-0) delivered a fine performance for St. Louis.  He
surrendered 6 hits and no walks in 6 and 2/3 innings.  Damaso Marte was great
in relief and recorded his 1st save.  
 
Javier Vazquez(1-1) was hit with the loss.  He allowed St. Louis 5 runs in 4
and 2/3 innings of work.

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Contreras Spins No-Hitter

Anaheim (AP) - Anaheim's Jose Contreras pitched the season's first no-hitter against the Houston Astros. Contreras, the Angels' 2nd round selection in the 2003 draft, paid instant dividends with his fine outing. Jose pitched nine sparkling innings in baffling Houston batters all night. Contreras struck out nine and walked five.

Amazingly, of the seven no-hitters pitched in the Millennium League, three of the games have been tossed by Angels' pitchers.

Boston and Garret Atkins Agree on Multi Year Deal

Garret Atkins started out in A ball with the Portland Rockies and has since played his way up to AAA, where he will play for the next two years. Even though Atkins will play in the minors, Boston expects that Atkins will be a major contributor at 3rd base for a long time. In the meantime, the Red Sox will go with a committee led by David Bell.

Rounding Out Top Five Picks

Our remaining top five picks were infielders Chone Figgins selected by Montreal and Chase Utley picked by the Dodgers.

Figgins, a somewhat surprising pick by the Expos, played all last season with the Salt Lake Stingers of the AAA Pacific Coast League. Chone hit .305 with 39 steals in 125 games for the Stingers.

Chase Utley, just 23, played his entire 2002 at AAA Scranton-Wilkes Barre. He hit .263 with 17 homeruns while playing for the Red Barons.

Webb First Pitcher Taken in Draft

The Oakland A's continued building their impressive pitching staff with another blue chipper - Brandon Webb with the third pick in the draft. Brandon, born and raised in Ashland, Kentucky, attended the University of Kentucky.

Last season with the Double A El Paso Diablos of the Texas League, Brandon compiled a 10-6 record with a 3.14 ERA in 152 innings. Webb was then promoted to the Triple A Tuscon Sidewinders late last season.

Webb continues to live in Ashland, Kentucky and is looking forward to joining the A's formidable starting staff. . .

Cabrera & Reyes Go 1 & 2 in 2003 MSL Draft

Make no mistake about it - the Blue Jays and White Sox improved their teams by selecting some high quality talent with their first round selections. A year ago, the first two draft picks were pitchers - Carlos Zambrano (Minnesota) and Mark Prior (Cleveland).

This season, the first two picks went to infielders: Miguel Cabrera, a young hard hitting third baseman selected by Toronto and Jose Reyes, a slick fielding, superfast shortstop by Chicago.

Phillies Trading Frenzy

The Philadelphia Phillies have been the most active trading in this offseason. The Fightin' Phils acquired starting pitcher Javier Vazquez, second basemen Mark Loretta and utility infielder Juan Castro in separate transactions.

Vazquez, who has pitched the last three seasons with Montreal, had won 36 games for the Expos. Loretta was selected by Oakland as the 57th player in the 2000 draft. He appears to be coming into his own and will solidify second base for Philly. Finally, Castro has been a reserve player for both Atlanta and Houston.

To acquire these three players, Philadelphia gave up their first, second, third and sixth round draft picks. Only time will tell if these trades pan out. . . . .

Astros Looking Forward to New Stadium

The Houston Astros Look forward to playing their 2003 season in the Sky Dome. SkyDome fun facts:

The SkyDome JumboTron is a 115-foot-by-33-foot video display board that has 420,000 light bulbs, making it the largest scoreboard in the world.

A 348-room hotel is located in center field. Seventy of those rooms have views of the field.


When the roof is open, the closed end of the stadium causes a downdraft in the outfield that tends to prevent home runs.

Biggio Traded to Twins

HOUSTON (AP) - The Houston Astros cut ties with their long time second baseman, Craig Biggio last night in a trade with Minnesota. Biggio played three season with Houston and hit a dissapointing .246 with 47 homeruns. Houston acquired Minnesota's fourth round draft pick in the trade.

Phils Acquire Freddy Garcia

Philadelphia (AP) - The Phillies have announced that they have sent pitcher Jason Jennings and third basemen Morgan Ensberg to Seattle for pitcher Freedy Garcia.

Jennings was a Phillies sixth round draft pick in 2001; Philadelphia drafted Ensberg as the eighth player selected in last year's draft.

Garcia, who has pitched for Seattle for three seasons, sports a 36-27 career record.

Expos All Set For New Ball Park

(Fans toured the seating areas at Great American Ballpark during this weekend's open house.) Montreal's Cinergy Field is no more - the Expos will be playing in their brand new stadium for the coming 2003 season.

At 217 feet, 9 inches (66 m) wide, the scoreboard is the third largest in Major League Baseball; only the scoreboards at Coor's Field and Comerica Park respectively, are larger.

Chase Utley Available in 2003 Draft

After spending his minor league career as a second baseman, Chase Utley jumped from A-ball to Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre in 2002 and spent the year playing third base. He hit 17 home runs in 461 at-bats. However, Utley made 28 errors and posted a .918 fielding percentage in 123 games.

Nevertheless, Utley figures to be a high first round draft pick for some patient manager.

Byrd Out For Season - Traded to Kansas City

What a difference a year makes!.....last season, Yankees' pitcher Paul Byrd finished with a league leading 24 wins. This coming 2003 season, Byrd will be out for the season with "Tommy John" surgery to reconstruct the elbow and replace ligaments.

Consequently, in an effort to pare down to the 18 player roster limit, the Bronx Bombers decided to ship off their former 2001 #1 draft pick to the Royals for a 2003 seventh rounder.

White Sox Move Up To Second Pick

Chicago moved up a slot to the second pick by winning tonite's lottery draft. (The winning number was 5-0-3.) Oakland will move down to the third selection. So the first three picks in the 2003 draft will be: 1. Toronto 2. Chicago 3. Oakland

Blue Jays Secure 1st Pick

Congratulations to the Toronto Blue Jays for winning tonite's lottery and the first pick in the 2003 draft. The winning number was 0-5-8. The lottery for the second pick in the draft will be conducted tomorrow night.

Draft Lottery to be Held on Thursday, Oct 4th & Friday, Oct 5th

We will be conducting our draft lottery on Thursday, October 4th and Friday, October 5th.....


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.



2003 Lottery Drawing Chances:

000 to 249 – Toronto (40-122)

250 to 449 – Oakland (66-96)

450 to 604 – Chicago (69-93)

605 to 724 – Montreal (73-89, outscored Los Angeles 31-27 in tie-breaker)

725 to 814 – Los Angeles (73-89)

815 to 879 – Houston (74-88)

880 to 924 – Florida (75-87, defeated Kansas City 4 games to 2 in tie-breaker)

925 to 954 – Kansas City (75-87)

955 to 974 – Cleveland (79-83, defeated Minnesota 4 games to 2 in tie-breaker)

975 to 986 – Minnesota (79-83)

987 to 994 – St. Louis (82-80)

995 to 999 – Anaheim (84-78)

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

ARIZONA WINS AGAIN!

For the second time in three years, the Arizona Diamondbacks have won the World Series!

Game 1: Boston 7-3
Boston opened up a close game late with 2 pinch hit homeruns and Glavine gave up just 1 er in 6 ip's. Schilling turns in another subpar playoff performance.

Game 2: Arizona 2-1
Randy Johnson got the cg victory. He went 8 scoreless before allowing a pair of doubles in the top of the 9th that knotted the game at 1-1. Arizona won it in the bottom of the 9th with a run scoring pinch ht single by Fick. Lowe pitched very well for Boston allowing just 1 hit in 6 ip's.

Game 3: Boston 2 - 0
Pedro Martinez pitches 7 scoreless innings, and then Timlin and Smoltz pitched 2 innings of relief to win it. Eric Young scored the winning run in the 7th as he pinch ran for Mike Sweeney, then stole second and came home on a Ken Griffey, Jr base hit.

Game 4: Arizona 4 - 0
Curt Schilling made up for his "subpar" performance in game 1 as he pitched 8 innings of 1 hit shutout baseball. He struck out 10 in the win.

Game 5: Arizona 9 - 5
Tom Glavine only lasted 2 innings giving up 5 runs on 3 homeruns by Diamondback hitters. Rafeal Furcal and Doug Mientkiewicz, batting 1 and 2, went 5 for 9 with 3 runs scored and 2 rbi's, to pace the Arizona attack.

Game 6: Arizona 4 - 3
Lowe pitched 6 great shutout innings for Boston but was lifted for a pinch hitter in the 7th. Yan came on in relief and proceeded to blow the 3-0 lead. Arizona's bullpen pitched 4 2/3 scoreless innings. Weber got the win and Shuey got the save.

It's a Arizona - Boston World Series

The Red Sox - Pirates series went to the 7th and deciding game in a hard fought series, as Boston edged out the Pittsburgh Pirates 4 games to 3. They advance to face Arizona for the championship!

Game 1: Roy Oswalt pitched 8 shutout innings to beat Boston, 4-0.

Game 2: Nomar Garciaparra hit 2 homeruns and Derek Lowe went 7 innings for a 8-7 win over the Pirates to send the series to Boston, tied at 1-1.

Game 3: Pedro Martinez went 7 and 2/3 innings throwing 5 hit shut out baseball as Boston won 3-0 over Zito and the Pirates.

Game 4: Matt Clement and B.K. Kim edged out the Red Sox, 3-2. Clement had 9 strikeouts in the win.

Game 5: The game was tied 1-1 going into the bottom of the 10th when Boston loaded the bases with 2 outs. Ramon Vazquez stepped in and took ball four to force in the winning run as the Red Sox sent the series back to Pittsburgh, up 3 games to 2.

Game 6: Pittsburgh, with their backs to the wall sent Kerry Wood to the mound, and with only 1 run in the first, beat Boston to tie the series at 3-3, with a 1-0 win.

Game 7: In a rematch of Game 3 with Pedro and Zito matched up again. Pedro Martinez pitched 7 perfect innings and John Smoltz capped it with 2 no-hit innings of his own, as Boston won the game and the series, 1-0, on a combined no-hitter! In the series, Pedro Martinez went 14 2/3 innings, giving up only 5 hits, 2 walks and 14 strikeouts.

Indians Announce New Manager

Cleveland (AP) - Former Seattle Mariners manager Michael Petersen was hired yesterday to manage the Cleveland Indians.

Introduced at a late-afternoon news conference, Petersen said, "I am looking at this challenge with great enthusiasm."

Petersen most recently managed the division rival Seattle Mariners for 3 seasons. In that time, the Mariners won the MSL Championship in 2001 and were eliminated in the first round of the 2002 playoffs. He agreed to a long term contract, but the details were not immediately available.

"I want to thank the Indians for giving me the opportunity to come to Cleveland," he said.

Arizona Defeats Phils in 7 Games

In an extremely hardfought series, Arizona came from a 3-0 series deficit to win the series 4 games to 3. The series featured several highlights including an incredible bases loaded triple play turned by Arizona in the critical 6th game. A brief game recap follows:

Game 1 @ Arizona: Philly 4-2
Randy Johnson pitched 11 strong innings versus the highpowered Philly attack. He gave up a 2-run shot to Mike Lieberthal in the top of the 11th. Pujols added a homerun and the Philly bullpen pitched 5 scoreless for the winners.

Game 2 @Arizona: Philly 9-2
This one was decided early. Schilling got hit hard and was behind 8-1 by the time the dust cleared in the 5th. Chavez and Hatteberg homered for Philly and Rodrigo Lopez gave up just 1 er in 6 ip's for the win.

Series moves to Philadelphia with Phils up 2-0

Game 3 @Philly Philly 4-0
The Arizona bats remained silent and Philly took a huge lead in the series 3-0. 3's were wild as 3 Philly hurlers limited Arizona to 3 hits and 3 Philly batters hit triples.

Game 4 @Philly Arizona 8-2
D'Backs erupt for 8 runs and 13 hits and avoid the sweep! Randy Johnson pitches another CG. This one the 9 inning variety. He allows 2 er's and k's 15. Matt Williams homered for Arizona and Vlad added a shot for the Phils.

Game 5 @Philly Arizona 11-5
Hmm ...2 games in a row for D'Backs? Arizona cracks out 14 more hits enroute to their 2nd victory in the series. Schilling picks up the win and 4 Arizona relievers slow the Philly attack.

Series returns to Arizona with Phils holding 3-2 game lead

Game 6 @Arizona Arizona 8-2
Brian Lawrence pitched 4 innings allowing 1 run. 5 more D'Back relievers limit Philly to 1 er over the next 5 innings. The highlight of this game was a 4-5-4 Triple Play turned in the top of the 5th to stimy a Philadelphia threat! J Hairston set the tone early with a leadoff homerun for Arizona.

Arizona has fought back from a 3-0 deficit and head to game 7 with the Unit on the hill.

Game 7 @Arizona Arizona 4-3
Randy Johnson throws his 3rd complete game of this series. He goes 9 full, allows 2 er's and k's 12. Steve Finley hit a 2-run homer for the D'Backs and Magglio Ordonez added a run scoring triple and a double. Mark Bellhorn and Vlad went long for Philly.

An incredible series. This was 1 of those times that it really was too bad someone had to lose. Rick and his Philadelphia team gave the D'backs all they could handle. Arizona heads to the finals hoping to win the title for the 2nd time in 3 years.