November 20, 2002

Undertakers Force a Game Seven

LOS ALTOS, CA - We all knew it would come to this.  Heading into this OL Championship
Series, the consensus opinion was that this would be a hard-fought, tightly-
contested battle between two evenly-matched teams, with most of the games decided
by one run, one pitch, one swing of the bat or one mistake.  That opinion has been
justified throughout the first six games of this series, and it's no surprise to
anyone that the fate of the Ozzie League championship will rest with one final
winner-take-all game between these two ancient (in BDBL terms) rivals.

The Undertakers scored early today off Rolando Arrojo, getting a run in the first on
a home run by Larry Walker, and two in the second on an RBI single by Danny Bautista
and a fielder's choice by Rich Aurilia.

Arrojo's start was a last-minute decision by Salem manager Mike Glander.  "We didn't
expect Brad Penny to be ready to go today," said Glander, "but he came up to me 
before the game and insisted I put him in there.  I tossed the idea around for a 
while, but we had a game plan going into this series, and I thought it was best to
stick to that plan."

The Salem offense spent the better part of the first two innings putting runners into
scoring position, then not scoring them.  A one out double by David Eckstein was
wasted in the first inning when Todd Helton (now 1-for-22 this series) and Lance
Berkman both failed.  In the second, Salem put runners at the corners with one out,
but failed to score a run as a fully-rested Glavine bailed himself out of jam after
jam.

Finally, in the third, Salem mounted a two out rally on a walk, a double by Berkman
and an intentional walk to Craig Wilson.  That loaded the bases for Ray Durham, who
popped out to second, but not before a run scored on a wild pitch.

"The man is a beast," Undertakers manager Jeff Paulson said of Wilson.  "But I think 
we did a pretty good job of keeping him down. He got some pitches to hit early on. 
I wanted to see if the scouting reports were true.  And they are.  But after the 
first couple of games, I made sure Wilson was not going to beat us.  We pitched him 
real carefully, and I really think we limited the damage."

The next inning, Game Five hero Robin Ventura singled for the second time in the 
game, then advanced to second on a bunt by Arrojo.  He later scored on a base hit
by Eckstein, making it a 3-2 game.

Los Altos got that run back in the bottom half of the inning when Craig Biggio
homered off Arrojo to give the Undertakers a 4-2 lead.

In the fifth, sloppy base-running by Salem resulted in a rally being squashed before
it ever had a chance to begin.  First, Lance Berkman was thrown out by Larry Walker
while trying to go from first to third on a base hit to right.  Then, Wilson was
thrown out at second to end the inning while trying to advance on a pitch that 
momentarily skipped away from Los Altos catcher Shawn Wooten.

Salem didn't get another scoring opportunity until the eighth inning, when the 
first three batters reached base against Undertakers reliever Jim Mecir.  A base
hit, a hit batter and an RBI single by Durham gave Salem a run, and put a runner in
scoring position with no outs.  Mecir then magically transformed into Sandy Koufax,
striking out Ventura and pinch hitter Terrance Long, and John Riedling then struck
out pinch hitter Al Martin to end the inning.

"The problem with starting Craig Wilson," said Glander, "is that you have no bench."

Still fighting that one run deficit in the ninth, Salem's first two batters were 
retired by Riedling.  After a walk to Sammy Sosa, Juan Moreno then entered the game
to face Lance Berkman, who also walked, putting the tying run in scoring position.
Wilson was removed from the game in the eighth in favor of a pinch runner, leaving
Ben Davis to hit in his place.  Salem opted instead for pinch hitter Jose Canseco,
who drove a Moreno offering to the wall in right, where it was snagged at the warn-
ing track by Walker for the final out of the game.

"Our best opportunity to get back in this game was in the eighth inning, not the
ninth," Glander explained.  "That's why I removed Wilson when I did and put in a
pinch runner, who ended up scoring.  We had no outs and two runners on and didn't
get it done.  Their pitchers did an excellent job, and we simply didn't have the
bench to match them."