November 23, 2002 The Empire Strikes Back ALLENTOWN, NJ - As the series shifts to the heart of the Evil Empire, so has the momentum in this series. The Salem Cowtippers bullpen blew a two run lead today by allowing a two-run home run to the legendary Tyler Houston, giving the Allentown Ridgebacks a crucial win in the third game of this best-of-seven series. Todd Helton, the hero of Games One and Two, continued his hot hitting in the first inning by launching a two-run home run off Allentown starter Roy Oswalt. In the fourth, the Allentown offense finally woke up against Salem starter Brad Penny when Penny allowed a leadoff walk to Mark Kotsay. Kotsay advanced to third on a double by Edgar Martinez. Then, after an intentional walk to Barry Bonds, the BDBL's all-time RBI leader, Manny Ramirez, lofted a sac fly to right to score the Ridgebacks' first run of the game. Penny wriggled out of further damage by getting the ever-dangerous Robert Fick to ground out to third for out number three. Salem managed to get that run back in the sixth when Craig Wilson connected for a two-out homer off Oswalt. That gave Salem a 3-1 lead. Penny began the seventh by striking out Ramirez and Fick back-to-back. After a Bill Mueller walk, #8 hitter Ricky Gutierrez doubled home another Allentown run. "I should have known Brad was getting tired as soon as he surrendered a double to that guy," said Glander. "I should have pulled him, knowing that we might need him for Game Six. But as my old football coach used to say, 'woulda, shoulda, coulda.'" Instead, Penny was left in the game to pitch to the always-lethal Tyler Houston, who jacked a two-run home run to put Allentown in the lead. "You can't beat Tyler Houston," said Houston, "you can only hope to contain him." In the eighth, the heart of Salem's lineup wasted their final opportunity to get back in the game when Lance Berkman (now 1-for-11 in this series) and Craig Wilson both flied out to right against Jose Mesa, and Ray Durham grounded out against the ever-annoying Mike Lincoln to end the inning. After Norm Charlton and Paul Wilson combined to strike out the side in the Allentown half of the eighth, Lincoln mowed down pinch hitter Jose Canseco for out number one in the ninth. Pinch hitter Terrance Long then grounded out weakly to third for out number two. Mike Cameron then made things interesting by ripping a base hit off Lincoln. He advanced all the way to third on a base hit by David Eckstein off Felix Rodriguez, but was stranded ninety feet away from tying the game when Helton - the hero of Games One and Two - struck out. "That hurt," said Helton. "I had a chance to be the hero in three straight games, but I didn't get it done."