Anchorage AK (AP) - Just six months ago, Oil Can Boyd was sitting at his
home in Boston, Mass. contemplating retirement. The 41-year-old right hander
then received a call from Anchorage general manager "the Man". As unlikely
as it seems, Oil Can was called upon to hold off a hot-starting Galena club
that ran surprise starter Mike Bottenfield after just three innings.
Willie VanLandingham was scheduled to start game one of the series, but
manager Nick Tulach through a surprise move out by starting his number one
guy, Bottenfield. "I talked with Mike during BP and he said he felt good.
It was obivously a mistake on my part, but luckily we have a good pen to
help me out." said Tulach. After giving up three runs in three innings,
Bottenfield was replaced by Boyd, who proceeded to pitch nine scoreless
innings en route to the Abominations first ever playoff victory.
Things looked bleak until the sixth inning. With Galena still up 3-0,
Cairo walked and Jaha smacked a single into right center. Jeff Cirillo,
hitting in the fourth position for the first time all season, then drove
a hanging breaking pitch off the fair-pole for a three run home run to
tie the game at three. "I was looking for a breaking pitch and he gave me
one, right out over the plate. I really thought it was going to curve foul
because I really jumped on it early. Lucky for us the pole is fair." said
Cirillo.
Catcher Mike Lieberthal rounded out the scoring with the game-winning RBI
in the 14th inning. With Canseco on second after his double, Lieberthal
lined a pitch into the gap and past the speedy Galena outfield for a
game-winning RBI single. "That was a great feeling. After I rounded first
and saw Canseco heading for home, I couldn't believe it. What a way to win
a game." said Lieberthal.
Anchorage squares off again today against the Hamsters in the final game
of the series at Poopmoose Park. Anchorage is still very confident about
the series. "Well, we should be able to easily sweep the Hamsters and then
move through the league championship. I don't know much about the DL, so I
can't really say anything about those guys, but I'm sure we'll easily win
the whole thing." said pitcher Scott Service.
