November 3, 2000 Durazo Mania!! LITCHFIELD, CT - In the history of post-season play, baseball hasn't seen an ending like this since Kirk Gibson's historic blast off Dennis Eckersley in 1988. One out away from elimination in the OLDS, Erubiel Durazo stepped to the plate against Stamford's lefty specialist, B.J. Ryan. Trailing 1-0 with a runner on first, Durazo connected for a long fly ball to the gap in right that continued its arc over the wall for a game-winning, and series-saving, walk-off home run. Until that time, the only scoring of the day occured in the second inning, when little Luis Polonia (Stamford's cleanup hitter) connected for a leadoff homer off Litchfield starter Hideki Irabu. Aside from that one swing, Irabu was brilliant today, allowing just one run on four hits and a walk through eight innings, striking out seven. Irabu's counterpart, Randy Johnson, was equally impressive through a short six- inning stint. Coming off a sub-par Game One, the Big Unit allowed just two hits and two walks through six shutout innings, striking out 14 Litchfield batters. The only scoring threat by Stamford all day came in the fifth inning, when Stamford loaded the bases with two outs on an error by Litchfield's Game Three goat Mark Grudzielanek. But Corey Koskie flied out to center to end the inning. Meanwhile, Litchfield got only two runners to second base through the first eight innings against Johnson and reliever Donne Wall. In the ninth, trailing 1-0, Grudzielanek struck out to lead off the inning. Bobby Chouinard then came into the game and struck out Edgar Martinez for the second out. One out away from elimina- tion, Ryan was brought in to face lefties Barry Bonds and Durazo. Bonds delivered a clutch base hit to extend the inning, and Durazo came through with his stunning game-winning homer. For the second year in a row, Litchfield and Stamford will play a do-or-die playoff to decide who advances to the next round. Last season, Stamford received two solo homers from Luis Alicea to win Game Seven by a score of 2-0.