November 17, 2000 Undertakers Buried 8-1 LOS ALTOS, CA - The Stamford Zoots, who were worried about their offense coming into this series, clubbed four home runs today in an 8-1 drubbing of the Los Altos Undertakers in Game One of the 2000 Ozzie League Championship Series. Two of those homers came off the bat of Stamford MVP candidate Rafael Palmeiro. Another came from Magglio Ordonez, who has seemingly snapped out of his post- season slump. And the fourth came from Stamford starter John Smoltz. 'Nuff said. Smoltzie's jack - a two-run bomb - broke a scoreless tie with two outs in the second inning. The fateful longball was served up by Los Altos starter Scott Elarton, who dominated the Salem Cowtippers during the OLDS earlier this month. The ever-resilient Undertakers fought back in the bottom half of the inning with back-to-back singles by Paul Konerko and Brett Mayne, and an RBI double by Hanley Frias. Bill Mueller then grounded to a drawn-in Stamford third baseman Corey Koskie, who fired home in time to nip fleet-footed Mayne at the dish and prevent the tying run from scoring. Palmeiro's first blast, a solo shot in the third, restored Stamford's two-run lead. His next at-bat, in the fifth, resulted in a two-run blast that gave the Zoots a commanding 5-1 lead. Meanwhile, Smoltz settled into the form that prompted many to cry out in pain when he first came to the Zoots through trade this summer. After getting roughed up in the second, Smoltz retired 13 of the next 16 batters he faced. Through seven innings and just 79 pitches, Smoltz yielded just one run on six hits and no walks. In the eighth, Ordonez's blast made it a 7-1 game. A fielder's choice in the ninth then made it an 8-1 final.