As a result of rain postponing Game 3 of the ALCS, Game 5 was scheduled for 4:10 p.m. CDT yesterday, which otherwise would have been the Red Sox and Yankees' travel day. With the late afternoon start, we expected there would be some overlap with the NLCS Game 5 scheduled for 7:05 p.m. CDT but we did not imagine the scope of that conflict. The ALCS game was tied going into the top of the ninth when the NLCS game commenced in Houston. St. Louis and Houston were done with eight innings before New York and Boston finished their marathon.

RHP Pedro Martinez may have walked 3B-R Alex Rodriguez in the first, but he looked strong as he struck out both SS-R Derek Jeter and RF-R Gary Sheffield. In the bottom of the inning, SS-R Orlando Cabrera, LF-R Manny Ramirez, and DH-L David Ortiz strung together consecutive singles to put the Red Sox on the board first. With Ramirez on second and Ortiz on first, RHP Mike Mussina walked 1B-R Kevin Millar to load the bases for RF-L Trot Nixon. Nixon hit a ground ball to 1B-S Tony Clark, who threw home to get Ramirez. The bases remained loaded, so when C-S Jason Varitek worked Mussina for a walk, Boston scored another run. 3B-S Bill Mueller then struck out, ending the Red Sox's opportunity to prey upon Mussina's early unsteadiness.

CF-S Bernie Williams launched the first pitch of the second inning into the stands down the right field line, narrowing Boston's lead to 2-1. In the third following Jeter's second strikeout of the night, ARod lobbed a low fly ball down the right field line. Nixon, who had been standing in mid-right well away from the line, ran full out in pursuit of the ball, making a sliding catch that brought him to the base of the sideline wall. If he had allowed the ball to drop, ARod likely would have had a double and the Yankees may have put a run on the board, since Sheffield walked and LF-L Hideki Matsui mustered a singled later in the inning. As it was, Sheffield and Matsui remained stranded at third and first respectively when Williams struck out to end the inning.

Ramirez led off the bottom of the third with a groundball single into left field. Millar later hit a groundball to Jeter, who for the second time in three games was eaten up by a routine grounder. While Jeter did not fall down this time, he was not even able to attempt a toss to second on what probably should have been a double play ball. Mussina covered for him, striking out Nixon and Varitek to prevent the Red Sox from scoring as a result of the error.

In the top of the sixth, Martinez gave up singles to C-S Jorge Posada and DH-S Ruben Sierra before hitting 2B-R Miguel Cairo in the left elbow to load the bases for Jeter. Jeter hit a line drive down the right field line. Posada and Sierra scored easily, and while Nixon made a strong throw home, it was off just enough to allow Cairo to avoid the tag, giving New York a 4-2 lead. With Jeter at third, Martinez proceeded to hit ARod on the left elbow and walk Sheffield to reload the bases. Nixon was playing deep, and Matsui almost dropped a line drive into the middle of right, but Nixon ran in and made another sliding catch, stranding the Yankees' baserunners.

Prior to the seventh, RHP Mike Timlin relieved Martinez, who had thrown 111 pitches while striking out six as well as allowing five walks and seven hits. After 2B-S Mark Bellhorn led off the bottom of the seventh with a groundball double down the right field line, New York replaced Mussina with RHP Tanyon Sturtze. Sturtze retired CF-L Johnny Damon but walked Cabrera, prompting the Yankees to bring in RHP Tom Gordon to face Ramirez, who grounded into a double play.

Leading off the eighth, Cairo hit a flyball into deep center for a double. Jeter then chose to lay down a sac bunt to advance him to third. Timlin struck out ARod, but after he walked Sheffield, Boston chose to send RHP Keith Foulke out to face Matsui, who hit a catchable fly into left field. Ortiz hit a towering shot off the Volvo sign above the Green Monster as he led off the bottom of the eighth. Gordon then issued a walk to Millar, creating an opening for the Red Sox to use Dave Roberts as a pinch-runner. Nixon hit a line drive single into right center, advancing Roberts to third and provoking New York to relieve Gordon with RHP Mariano Rivera. However, with Roberts at third, Varitek only needed to release a flyball into center in order to bring the tying run home.

In the top of the ninth, Foulke walked Sierra, who would have scored and given the Yankees the lead had Clark's flyball down the right field line remained in play rather than bouncing into the stands, limiting Sierra's advancement to two bases on the automatic double. New York left Sierra and Clark stranded, so the game remained tied. Between the top and bottom of the ninth, RHP Curt Schilling, RHP Derek Lowe, and RHP Tim Wakefield traveled from the dugout to the bullpen in order to be ready if needed in an extra inning situation. Damon, whose bat has been cold throughout the ALCS, beat out a broken bat grounder to second for a single, leading off the bottom of the ninth. On the first pitch of Cabrera's at-bat, Damon took off for second. Cabrera showed bunt, but when the pitch was up and in, he got out of the way quickly, allowing Posada to make a clean throw down to second. The throw reached the base before Damon, but Damon appeared to slide under the tag and get his foot to the bag before Jeter tagged him just above his knee. Nevertheless, the umpire called him out, and Boston was unable to score, so the game continued into extra innings.

RHP Bronson Arroyo relieved Foulke prior to the tenth and pitched a perfect inning, which included striking out ARod and Sheffield. LHP Felix Heredia took over from Rivera for the Yankees in the bottom of the inning. After Ortiz lost an appeal on an attempted check swing and struck out, 1B-L Doug Mientkiewicz slapped a flyball into right, where it bounced over the fence for an automatic double. New York then exchanged Heredia for RHP Paul Quantrill, who prevented the Red Sox from driving in Mientkiewicz, which sent the game into the eleventh.

In light of Arroyo's strong performance in the tenth, the fact that the game looked like it might continue for quite a while longer, and LHP Mike Myers' lack of success against Matsui earlier in the series, we disliked Manager Terry Francona's decision to send Myers rather than Arroyo out for the eleventh. However, Myers secured a strike out from Matsui before Francona further confused us by bringing in LHP Alan Embree. Embree gave up a single to Williams but struck out Posada and Sierra, validating Francona's decision.

Mueller and Bellhorn opened the bottom of the inning with singles, but Damon popped out on an attempted bunt. The Yankees then replaced Quantrill with RHP Esteban Loaiza, and Cabrera hit into a double play. With potential Game 6 starter RHP Jon Lieber traveling ahead to New York, the Yankees' pen consisted of RHP Orlando Hernandez, RHP Kevin Brown, and RHP Javier Vazquez. Of the three, Vazquez was the most appealing option, and he had just thrown 96 pitches on the 16th. After throwing 95 pitches in Game 4, Hernandez was basically unavailable, and with Brown's health questionable and effectiveness unreliable, he was unlikely to pitch, so Loaiza seemed apt to remain on the mound indefinitely.

Wakefield went out to the mound for Boston in the twelfth, as the two teams settled in to see whose starter in relief could hold out longer. When compared to New York, Boston had slightly more appealing options left in their pen with RHP Curt Leskanic and RHP Ramiro Mendoza still in reserve, but neither was likely to last much more than two innings, and the Red Sox did not want to find themselves out of arms. Consequently, Boston was unlikely to pull Wakefield before he ran into serious trouble. After starting the night before, Lowe essentially was unavailable, and even if the Red Sox had been willing to leave themselves without a Game 6 starter, Schilling's ankle may not have allowed him to abbreviate his pre-start routine in order to enter the game in relief.

In the bottom of the twelfth, Ortiz walked. He then attempted to steal second during Mientkiewicz's at-bat. Posada's throw was high, but Jeter leapt up to prevent it from soaring into the outfield. Ortiz dove head first into second and appeared to get his hand on the bag before Jeter's tag swept down on his back, but Jeter once again got the call, and Ortiz was out.

Unaccustomed to catching Wakefield's knuckleball, Varitek failed to catch Sheffield's swinging third strike. The right fielder safely reached first while Varitek retrieved the ball, but the mistake did not cost Boston a run. Loaiza was perfect in the bottom of the thirteenth as was Wakefield in the top of the fourteenth. Early in the fourteenth, the blimp that had been providing aerial views of the series was forced to depart due to a fuel shortage.

In the bottom of the fourteenth, Loaiza struck out Bellhorn, walked Damon, struck out Cabrera, and walked Ramirez. After an at-bat in which he fouled off six pitches, Ortiz dropped a ball into shallow centerfield, driving in Damon and winning the game by a score of 5-4 for the Red Sox. The series will continue with Game 6 today in New York.

One of the reasons the NLCS game was so close to done before the ALCS game ended was that the pitchers' dual between RHP Brandon Backe and RHP Woody Williams made for fast paced competition. 1B-R Jeff Bagwell knocked a ground ball up the middle into center for a single off Williams in the first, but neither pitcher gave up another hit until two outs into the top of the sixth inning.

Houston seemed to find a chink in Williams' armor in the bottom of the fourth when he walked RF-S Lance Berkman and grazed the top of 3B-R Morgan Ensberg's helmet with a pitch, but it was not enough for the Astros to muster a run. CF-L Jim Edmonds broke up Backe's perfect game with a walk one out into the fifth inning. 2B-L Tony Womack ended Backe's no-hitter with a ground ball single into right field two outs into the sixth. RF-L Larry Walker then worked Backe for a base on balls, but the Cardinals were not able to turn the baserunners in to a run. In the top of the seventh, CF-S Carlos Beltran made an impressive diving catch of a line drive hit into center by SS-R Edgar Renteria.

Williams allowed only one hit and two walks while striking out four in seven innings before St. Louis pinch-hit for him two outs into the top of the eighth. He had thrown 94 pitches at that point. The Cardinals sent closer RHP Jason Isringhausen out to the mound for the bottom of the eighth. Backe threw 101 pitches, allowing only one hit and two walks while striking out four in eight innings, before Houston pinch-hit for him one out into the bottom of the eighth. The Astros sent closer RHP Brad Lidge out to pitch a perfect ninth, which included striking out Walker and Albert Pujols.

Beltran led off the bottom of the ninth with a line drive single into right center. Isringhausen held Beltran at first during Bagwell's at-bat, but after Bagwell hit a catchable fly into deep right center, Beltran stole second while Berkman was at the plate. St. Louis then called for Isringhausen to intentionally walk Berkman to set up a double play scenario for 2B-R Jeff Kent. Kent sent his first pitch from Isringhausen bouncing off the top of the arches above the stands in left field, winning the game for Houston with a three-run homer. With the Astros up 3-2 in the NLCS after this 3-0 win, the series will shift to St. Louis tomorrow.