November 6, 1999 Stamford Ties It Up SALEM, NH - The Stamford Zoots tied the OL Division Series at one game apiece thanks to some timely hitting and the dominant pitching of Randy Johnson. Johnson struck out eleven Salem batters in just 5 2/3 innings, but allowed two runs on six hits and four walks. Stamford managed ten hits off controversial Salem starter Darren Dreifort and four relievers. The drama began in the second inning when Dreifort uncorked a wild pitch with one out, putting Edgardo Alfonzo in scoring position for the dangerous Troy O'Leary. O'Leary ripped a base hit to right which easily scored Alfonzo for the first run of the ballgame. In the third, Dreifort inexplicably folded to the pressure of playing in a big game. He issued a walk to leadoff batter Luis Alicea, then served up three consecutive singles to Omar Vizquel, Rafael Palmeiro and Eric Davis. That gave Stamford a 3-0 lead. With none out and runners on first and second, Dreifort escaped further damage by retiring the next three batters in a row. In the bottom of the inning, Salem mounted a rally when Shannon Stewart singled off Johnson then stole his way into scoring position, putting runners on second and third for Rey Sanchez. But Sanchez, who dominated left-handers all season long, struck out on a high fastball, leaving both runners stranded. In the fourth, Ellis Burks led off the inning with a triple. Walks to Gary Gaetti and Chad Curtis then loaded the bases with one out. But once again, Salem's hitters failed to come through in the clutch. Johnson struck out Quilvio Veras (one of three on the day for Veras, who was not exactly a whiff machine during the regular season) and Mike MacFarlane to end the threat. Dreifort began the fifth with an unlikely double off Johnson, finally sparking a Salem rally. Stewart and Sanchez followed Dreifort's double by popping out to third and striking out and it looked as though Salem would waste yet another scoring opportunity. But with Johnson carefully pitching around him, Burks doubled into the gap, cutting Stamford's lead to two. With Gary "Clutch" Gaetti at the plate and a runner in scoring position, Johnson easily retired him with a weak ground ball to short. In the sixth, two more Johnson strikeouts and two more walks put runners on first and second with Dreifort coming to the plate. Salem manager Mike Glander then pulled the plug on Dreifort's outing by calling Tim Salmon to the plate. Salmon, who was benched in favor of Chad Curtis, responded by ripping a single off Johnson, cutting Stamford's lead to one. Stamford manager Paul Marazita then overjoyed the Salem team by pulling Johnson from the game after 113 pitches and inserting Dan Miceli to face Stewart. Glander countered by inserting Midre Cummings to hit for Stewart, but Miceli and the Zoots beat the odds when Cummings grounded weakly to first for the final out. Salem threatened again in the bottom of the seventh against Miceli. After Dave Magadan led off the inning with a single, pinch-runner Kevin Stocker stole second to move into scoring position with one out and Gary "Clutch" Gaetti at the plate. As usual, Gaetti discovered a way to create two outs even without a runner on first when he lined to second baseman Luis Alicea, who then stepped on second for the easy double play. As quickly as that, another Salem rally was extinguished. Stamford's own Eric Davis led off the eighth with a double off Salem reliever Graeme Lloyd (who was brought into the game in the seventh to retire Rafael Palmeiro - which he did by strike-out.) A ground-out by Jim Edmonds advanced Davis to third. Then, with the infield playing in on the grass, Robb Nen got the dangerous Edgardo Alfonzo to ground sharply to second. But the "Vg"-ranged Veras couldn't get his throw off on time to nail Davis at the plate and Stamford scored yet another cheap run. In the bottom of the inning, Salem tried once again to spark a rally. John Olerud led off the inning with a single off Miceli. Chad Curtis followed by bunting Olerud into scoring position. A Quilvio Veras walk then brought Mike MacFarlane to the plate and John Wetteland to the mound. Pinch hitter Terry Steinbach happily bent over for Wetteland, striking out, and Tim Salmon followed with a weak pop fly to second for out number three. In the ninth, Doug Brocail was forced to bail out Nen once again this year after Nen loaded the bases with two outs and Edmonds coming to the plate. Brocail struck out Edmonds, giving the top of Salem's lineup one more opportunity to disappoint in the bottom of the ninth. A walk to pinch-hitter Joe Randa brought the weak-hitting Stocker to the plate. But with no other options left on the bench, Salem was forced to be content with a sacrifice bunt which moved Randa into scoring position. Lee Stevens then nubbed yet another weak ground ball to Palmeiro at first for out number two. "Clutch" Gaetti then came to the plate with a runner on third and an opportunity to tie the ballgame with one swing of his mighty lumber. Instead, Gaetti saw an opportunity to pop out to the second baseman and he took it. "We had all the right match-ups today," said Glander. "With Wetteland on the mound, I wanted guys like Salmon and Gaetti up there, but they couldn't get it done. I like the match-up of Dreifort against Eric Davis, but Davis ended up with a walk and an RBI single. In the eighth, we had Nen against Alfonzo and the matchup worked in that Alfonzo hit a ball to one of our best infielders. But somehow that runner on third was able to score anyway. I'm beginning to get the feeling that it doesn't matter what we do in games like this. It's almost as if fate has decided well beforehand that the Zoots would win this game, and nothing we do can stop that from happening."