After Tuesday's 2-0 game, both Florida and San Francisco were anxious to put more lumber to leather in the second game of the series. OF-L Juan Pierre and 2B-S Luis Castillo, who went a combined 0-8 in Game 1, opened Game 2 with consecutive singles. They each advanced on a wild pitch and then Pierre scored from 3rd when 1B-R Derrek Lee grounded out to short. Castillo remained stranded on third when the inning ended, so while the Marlins were pleased to be on the board San Francisco wasn't worried about their deficit.

2B-S Ray Durham led off the bottom of the inning with a single to right for the second day in a row. RHP Brad Penny chose to pitch to OF-L Barry Bonds, who hit a double hard down the first base line, allowing Durham to score and tying the game at one.

After the opening offensive burst, both pitchers took control for a couple of innings. Bonds made an impressive sliding catch to end the second inning, continuing his display of athleticism beyond the batters' box this playoff series. SS-R Rich Aurilia opened the bottom of the fourth with a bunt single and then moved to second as Bonds walked. When 3B-R Edgardo Alfonzo hit a double into deep center, Bonds crossed the plate no more than a yard behind Aurilia, as Bonds had realized the ball was going to drop in the outfield while Aurilia waited to tag up before running home.

Of course, Florida countered with a three run inning of their own in which Pierre collected an RBI and a Run, tying the game at four. The lead looked likely to volley back-and-forth for a while with San Francisco scoring in the bottom of the inning, but in the top of the sixth Florida pulled ahead with a OF-R Juan Encarnacion solo homer and a two run double by Pierre. No error was awarded on Pierre's double due to the difficulty of the play, but OF-S Juan Cruz was almost in position to catch the fly ball when he slipped on the edge of the grass at the warning track and fell, letting the ball drop.

Florida's bullpen made quick work of the Giants' offense in the bottom of the sixth and seventh innings, while San Francisco added a run to the Marlins' lead in the top of the seventh and eighth innings. The PacBell crowd was stunned when famed first base defender 1B-L J.T. Snow allowed a 3B-R Miguel Cabrera grounder to pass through his legs and into the outfield in the seventh. Marlins' manager Jack McKeon almost allowed the Giants' to come back in the eighth when he sent projected Game 4 starter LHP Dontrelle Willis out to pitch. According to the ESPN announcers, Willis first got up in the pen in the fifth an hour and a half before the eighth and was up four times before taking the mound. Bonds returned to the dugout after hitting a foul pop up down the third base line. Willis then allowed back-to-back singles to Alfonzo and C-R Benito Santiago, before RHP Braden Looper came in to shut down the rally. San Francisco kept the Marlins off the board in the ninth, but they lost the game without even putting a runner on base against RHP Ugueth Urbina in the bottom of the inning.

Cubs' fans around Turner field smiled as LHP Mike Hampton opened the Game 2 of the Chicago/Atlanta Series with walks to OF-L Kenny Lofton and 2B-R Mark Grudzielanek. Then OF-R Sammy Sosa hit a long fly ball that looked like it was going over the centerfield wall. However, the ball bounced back off the yellow stripe of padding topping and into the waiting bare hand of OF-R Andruw Jones, who turned and threw it back towards the infield. Lofton beat the relay to the plate, putting a run up for Chicago with Grudzielanek on third, Sosa on second, and no outs. Unfortunately, while the Cubs' were able to bring Grudzielanek home and load the bases, Hampton struck out 1B-R Eric Karros, SS-R Ramon Martinez, and C-R Damian Miller to get out of the inning with only a two run deficit. RHP Carlos Zambrano proved hittable and the Braves narrowed the score to a highly surmountable 2-1 in the bottom of the first.

Hampton reached six consecutive strikeouts in the second, setting the Cubs down one-two three. Zambrano also settled down, but Chicago clearly wasn't dominating the Braves. Atlanta put together a few more hits in the fourth and tied the game. They repeated the exercise and took the lead in the sixth before Cubs' Manager Dusty Baker sent RHP Kyle Farnsworth in to relieve Zambrano.

Atlanta Manager Bobby Cox went to closer RHP John Smoltz in the eighth, wanting to make sure the Braves maintained the lead. However, Smoltz didn't have his best stuff and allowed the Cubs to tie the game. Undaunted, the Braves offense put another two runs up in the bottom of the inning. Smoltz returned to the mound, where he remembered how to keep runners off base, and Atlanta won the split going into Chicago on Friday.

I was surprised when I saw that Game 1 of the Boston/Oakland Series was scheduled to start at 10:00 on the east coast. This game clearly had appeal for fans across the country and yet even if played quickly it would stretch past the end of Late Night television in most areas.

Watching the end of the Cubs/Braves game, we learned that Boston had scored early in this predicted pitchers' dual with a 2B-L Todd Walker solo home run. Oakland struck back in the third, putting up three runs against RHP Pedro Martinez. Hudson gave up a solo homer to C-S Jason Varitek in the fifth and left the game with one runner on base in the seventh. LHP Ricardo Rincon relieved Hudson, and Walker went deep for a second time. Bleary eyed, we settled on the couch and began rooting for a quick end to the game.

Boston made another offensive push in the eighth, but failed to add any insurance runs to their lead. A's closer RHP Keith Foulke shut them down in the ninth. Consequently, Oakland was able to tie the game when Red Sox Manager Grady Little pulled closer RHP Byung-Hyun Kim, who was one out away from ending the game. While he didn't look great walking OF-L Billy McMillon and hitting OF-L Chris Singleton with a pitch, Kim had just struck out 2B-R Mark Ellis and only needed to retire one more batter to end the game. Instead, Little called in LHP Alan Embree who gave up the single to DH-L Erubiel Durazo that drove in OF-R Eric Byrnes and tied the game. Embree hasn't been close to automatic this season and actually possessed a slight reverse platoon split this year. Meanwhile, Durazo did slightly better against left-handed pitching in 2003.

Extra Innings

Foulke needed only seven pitches to retire Oakland in the 10th, and Boston caught a break when 1B-L Scott Hatteberg was called out on an attempt to steal second because of catcher interference by OF-L Terrance Long, who had just struck out.

Both teams put runners on base in the 11th but neither team scored. The game dragged on as the Boston offense wasn't able to drive in their runners in the top of the 12th. Even though the bases were loaded in the bottom of the inning, I was mentally adjusting the amount of sleep I'd be able to get with the game going at least another inning, as there were two outs and we'd repeatedly seen runners stranded. Then there was a flurry of activity on the screen, as C-R Ramon Hernandez bunted safely, 3B-L Eric Chavez scored, and the game was over.