November 20, 2002 Salem Heading to the World Series LOS ALTOS, CA - The skeptics said this day would never come. In particular, the biggest skeptic of them all, Salem manager Mike Glander, said this would never happen. Yet after four long years of hard work and tireless effort, the Salem Cowtippers are finally heading to the BDBL World Series. "Unbelievable," said Glander, his head soaked in Sam Adams beer. "I honestly have a hard time believing what just happened. We've worked so hard for so long, and never had anything to show for it. For everything to just fall into place so quickly, it's really overwhelming." "I told you this ain't your daddy's Cowtippers!," yelled winning pitcher and series MVP Brad Penny. "Forget everything you know about the Salem Cowtippers franchise. This team is different. We're hungry, and we're not just going to roll over and die. We all have one common goal and we work as a team to get there." Penny was brilliant today, allowing just three hits through his first seven score- less innings of pitching. By the time his armor finally began to crack in the eighth, the game was out of reach for the Undertakers. For six intense innings, Penny and Los Altos starter Chan Ho Park exchanged goose- eggs on the scoreboard. The game seemingly rested on which starter would blink first. Through the first six innings, Salem failed to reach second base. Los Altos reached second base twice - once on a first inning double by Larry Walker, and once on a pair of walks (one intentional) in the fifth. Finally, in the seventh, Park blinked. Sammy Sosa led off the inning with a home run, chasing Park off the field and into the showers. Reliever Jim Mecir then put two runners on via a walk and a base hit. After whiffing Ray Durham for the first out of the inning, Mecir uncorked a wild pitch that advanced both runners into scoring position for the clutch-hitting Robin Ventura. Los Altos manager Jeff Paulson then ordered an intentional walk of Ventura, loading the bases for Penny. "Man...that was a tough decision," said Glander. "Probably the toughest decision I've ever made in this league. The way Brad was pitching, and as inconsistent as our bullpen has been this series, I certainly didn't want to pull him out of there. He'd only thrown 64 pitches at that point, and I really didn't have confidence in our pen to hold a 1-0 lead. So I let him hit, but I told him not to swing at anything, because I didn't want a double play to end the inning. I tried to get something going with a safety squeeze, but he missed the first two pitches. Then, with an 0-2 count, I knew he wouldn't let me give him the take sign, so I ordered another safety squeeze, hoping he'd miss that one as well." Unfortunately for Salem, Penny popped up the third pitch, resulting in an inning- ending double play. "If (Salem third base coach) Graig Nettles wasn't my favorite player when I was a kid," said Glander, "I would have fired him on the spot. There's no excuse for allowing that runner on third to move even a foot off of that bag." After Penny tossed another shutout inning in the seventh, the Salem bats went to work in the eighth. A one out single by David Eckstein chased Mecir from the game, bringing lefty specialist Jeff Wallace to the mound to face Todd Helton. Helton walked, putting two runners on for Sosa. Game Three starter Ramiro Mendoza was summoned to face Sosa, who ripped a single to left. Eckstein was waved home when left fielder David Dellucci bobbled the ball, giving Salem an insurance run. Lance Berkman followed with a two-run double, and after an intentional walk to Craig Wilson, Ray Durham connected for a three-run home run to give the Cowtippers a 7-0 lead in front of an eerily-quiet Los Altos home crowd. Staked to a 7-0 lead, Penny finally began to falter a bit in the eighth, and was lifted in favor of Steve Karsay. With two outs and runners on first and second, Karsay served up a two-run double to Jeff Bagwell, followed by a two-run triple by Kevin Millar. After an intentional walk to pinch hitter Todd Hollandsworth, Shawn Wooten then drove home another run, making it a 7-4 game. He finally managed to get the third out when Craig Biggio popped out to left to end the inning. "Nothing is ever easy," said Glander. "Never, ever let your guard down against these guys. I've learned that lesson over the years, which is why I brought in our hottest reliever to close it out. Unfortunately, he wasn't so hot today." After Rudy Seanez pitched a scoreless top half of the ninth, David Weathers retired all three batters he faced in order in the bottom half. As the last pitch of the game nestled into Lance Berkman's glove down the line in left, the Salem bench and bullpen emptied onto the pitcher's mound. At the bottom of that pile was Glander, delirious and exhausted. "I was running an actual fever for most of that series," admitted Glander. "I was concentrating so hard, yet I still made so many mental mistakes. Fortunately, I got away with some of them." "We were so close," said Paulson. "So close to realizing our dream of a World Series. But it just slipped out of our hands. "This is more heartbreaking than I thought it would be. I didn't think we matched up well with the Cowtippers. But when we went up two games to zero, I thought we had them. It would have been easier to take if the Cowtippers just took us in 5 games. "We just couldn't find an answer for Penny. But I didn't have many other options on the bench to turn to. I believed in this offense, I'm still in shock that Aurilia, Millar...they just couldn't get it going. "The more I think about it, the more starting Dotel hurt us. I was trying to take the series back in our hands. But not having Dotel available for Game 6 or 7...that really hurt us. He didn't start all year for us. I'm not quite sure what I was thinking starting him now. "Let me tell you something. We've owned the Cowtippers these past few years in the BDBL. But they have paid us back this year. For the first time, they had a better head to head record. And see them celebrate, on our field. It makes me want to puke. There has always been a strong, intense rivalry. Well, it just got more intense, I will tell you that." "I came away from this series with nothing but respect for Jeff Paulson and the Undertakers," said Glander. "He did an outstanding job with that team this year, and he squeezed more out of that team than anyone could ever expect. It's really a shame that one of us had to lose this series. I think we both deserved to win. In the end - like I predicted before this series ever began - it simply came down to a coin flip. Which players showed up to play and which didn't. Which team got the clutch hits and which didn't. As a manager, you have very little control over that. I know how aggrevating it is to be in that other clubhouse right now, believe me. We've paid our dues, and it's nice to finally enjoy a little taste of victory. The Undertakers will have their day as well, you wait and see.