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A's and Red Sox to Play for American League Championship

The American League Championship would come down to the two teams with the best records in the league. The Oakland Athletics were the defending AL champs and were looking to defend their crown after posting another 100+ win season. The A's would face the Boston Red Sox, who won the east division easily and topped the Mariners in the first round of the playoffs.

SERIES BOX SCORES

GAME ONE

The A's would send Tim Hudson to the mound to face off against Rick Heiserman in the opener. Oakland would get to Heiserman early when Eric Chavez hit a 2-run homer in the 1st inning. Boston would cut the lead to 2-1 in the 4th. Boston would load the bases, but Chris Stynes got cut down at home plate trying to score on a sacrifice fly to end the threat. The A's would strike again in the 5th with an Adam Piatt 2-run shot and add a Jason Giambi solo homerun in the 6th for a 5-1 lead. Boston cut the lead again in the 7th by plating a run, then mounted their big rally in the 8th. Chris Stynes singled and Manny Ramirez walked to lead off the inning. Mark Guthrie relieved Hudson and gave up a 3-run homer to Carl Everett to tie the game. One batter later Craig Biggio hit a solo homerun and the Red Sox had the lead for the first time. The A's went down in order in the 8th and 9th innings and Boston took the early lead in the series. Boston-6 Oakland-5 Boston leads series 1-0.

Craig Biggio rounds the bases after a solo homerun.

GAME TWO

The Athletics were juggling pitcher from the start of the divisional series against the Twins and were having trouble finding fresh arms. In game two the A's sent Jeff Andrews to the hill even though he had struggled in the second half of the season and spent the last month on the DL. This game would be no different for Andrews as the Red Sox hit him early and often. Andrews would not survive to see the 4th inning as the Sox piled on 5 early runs. Oakland was never able to make a game of this one as Boston took the series lead easily.

Boston-7
Oakland-2

Boston leads series 2-0.


GAME THREE

If Oakland's backs weren't against the wall going into game three of the ALCS, then they were at least moving towards that wall. Down 2 games to none, Oakland sent Mark Mulder to the mound to face Rolando Arrojo in a matchup of tough lefties. Mark Ellis would double to bring in Brook Fordyce and Terrance Long to give the A's a 2-0 lead in the top of the 2nd. Boston would get a run back in the bottom half of the inning when Troy O'Leary singled home Carl Everett. Arrojo would lose control of the game in the 3rd when he gave up two more runs on five walks. Boston would load the bases in the 4th and again in the 8th, and get a runner to third in the 5th, but all runners were stranded as the A's picked up the 4-1 win.

Oakland-4
Boston-1

Boston leads series 2-1


GAME FOUR

The A's put Barry Zito on the mound in game four hoping that he could stymie the Red Sox and even the series at two game apiece. But the Red Sox score a run in the 1st and scorch Zito for four more runs in the 3rd, giving Oakland an early 5-0 deficit to climb out of. But Oakland was up to the challenge, or at least so it seemed. The Athletics would plate three runs in the 4th and 5th innings and take a 6-5 lead. The A's held that lead until the 9th inning, but Jim Mecir, baseballs best closer this season, would allow two runs in the inning to give Boston the comeback win.

Boston-7
Oakland-6

Boston leads series 3-1


GAME FIVE

Down three games to one, Oakland refused to go down without a fight. Miguel Tejada hit two homeruns and Tim Hudson gave up just one run over eight innings as the A's thumped the Red Sox 9-2. Oakland would build a 3-1 lead through the first 5 innings, but Boston would cut it to 3-2 in the 6th with a Chris Stynes homer. Tejada would walk and eventually score on a Brook Fordyce RBI single in the 8th and Oakland would explode for 5 runs in the top half of the 9th to put the game away. Oakland-9 Boston-2 Boston leads series 3-2

Miguel Tejada homered twice to lead the A's to a win in game 5.

GAME SIX

For the second time in the series Oakland would have a chance to even things up. The series would shift back to Oakland and Johnny Damon would give the bay area fans something to cheer about when he led off the bottom of the 1st with a homerun. Boston would take the lead back in the second with a 2 run shot by Ryan Klesko off of pitcher Justin Miller. The game would stay locked at 2-1 until the bottom of the 7th. Brook Fordyce would hit a one out solo shot to tie the game at 2. Once again the Red Sox would answer with an RBI single by Manny Ramirez that would score Nomar Garciaparra for a 3-2 Boston lead. The A's would rally in the bottom of the 8th for 2 runs on four hits to take the lead again, but for one final time the Red Sox would have the last word. Boston would put up 4 runs in the 9th and the A's didn't have a response as Boston won the game 7-4 and wrapped up the series.

Boston-7
Oakland-4

Boston wins series 4-2.


WORLD SERIES

Boston would go on to the World Series, but the curse of Babe Ruth would continue. The Red Sox were beaten by the Los Angeles Dodgers 4 games to 3.