Sweep Central – 3 ALDS Teams Advance with Weekend Sweeps
Monday, October 12th, 2009 | Boston Red Sox, General, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Los Angeles Dodgers, Minnesota Twins, MLB, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Sports, St. Louis Cardinals
It was an anti-climatic 1st round of the playoffs – with 3 teams advancing with sweeps over the weekend. Although there were some good games in each series, each team advanced with a Game 3 win on the losing team’s home turf over the weekend.
On Saturday, the Los Angeles Dodgers took out the St. Louis Cardinals with a 5-1 win in St. Louis. It was the 2nd year in a row that the Dodgers swept the NL Central division winner out of the playoffs in the NLDS (Chicago Cubs in 2008). The Dodgers will either play the Phillies in a rematch of the 2008 NLCS or the Colorado Rockies. Key game – the Dodgers rallied for 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th inning of Game 2 to defeat closer Ryan Franklin after Matt Holliday’s botched flyball error kept the game alive.
On Sunday, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim stunned the Red Sox faithful with a 3-run rally off Boston Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon in the top of the 9th inning. The Angels trailed 5-1 heading into the 8th inning, but scored 2 runs in the 8th and 3 runs in the 9th inning to complete the sweep. The Angels will face the New York Yankees in the ALCS in the Bronx on Friday night. Key stat – Papelbon had never allowed a single run in 27 career post-season innings.
And on Sunday evening, the Yankees completed the 3-game sweep of the Minnesota Twins at the Metrodome with a 4-1 win. Some long-time Yankees were instrumental in the Game 3 win – Andy Pettite picked up the win, Mariano Rivera recorded the save, and Jorge Posada clubbed a solo home run in the 7th inning to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead. Key Game – in Game 2, Alex Rodriguez crushed a 2-run HR to deep right center field off of Twins’ closer Joe Nathan in the 9th inning to tie the game at 3. Mark Teixeira went on to win the game for the game for the Yankees with his line drive walk-off HR to lead off the bottom of the 11th inning.
Stay tuned for some more great MLB playoff action…
