2000 Miller Divisional Playoffs
Antioch vs New Jersey                Dresden vs Vienna
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Gil Heredia and 4 relievers limited Antioch to 5 hits as the New Jersey Patriots won their first ever playoff game. Heredia started shakily, walking the bases loaded in the first, but Ben Grieve bounced out to end the inning. Troy Glaus went deep with a man on for the Patriots in the bottom of the inning, and Antioch didn't threaten again until the 7th. Steve Karsay came on and got Edgardo Alfonzo on a 5-2-3 DP, and the Patriots added two more in the bottom of the inning to win going away.

           123 456 789   R  H  E
Wizards    000 000 000   0  5  0
Patriots   200 001 20x   5 10  0
ANT - Elarton (L,0-1), Speier (7), Rhodes (7), Lowe (8)
NJP - Heredia (W,1-0), Karsay (7)(H,1), Spradlin (8), Rivera (8), Foulke (9)
HR - NJP: Glaus(1), McGriff(1)

Game 2 - Antioch at New Jersey

Andy Pettitte (15-5) vs Steve Sparks (8-2)

Andy Pettitte scattered 5 hits over eight innings and Antioch blasted three home runs to even the series at one game apiece. Orlando Palmiero doubled home two but Tim Salmon struck out to strand the bases loaded in the 3rd. Salmon homered his next time up, and Spradlin came in and allowed HR, S, D, HR in a 7 run 7th.

           123 456 789   R  H  E
Wizards    002 001 700  10 12  1
Patriots   000 001 000   1  7  1
ANT - Pettitte (W,1-0), Swindell (9)
NJP - Sparke (L,0-1), Karsay (7), Venafro (7), Spradlin (7)
HR - ANT: A.Rodriguez (1), Nevin (1), Salmon (1)

Game 3 - New Jersey at Antioch
Osvaldo Fernandez (5-4) vs Paul Abbott (14-6)

Fernandez allowed just three hits in 6 2/3 innings, while Adam Kennedy went 4-5 for the winners. New Jersey scored in five different innings, and the offense was spread around.  Any hopes the WIzards had were dashed in the ninth when pinchhitter Jeffrey Hammonds greeted new reliever Nelson Cruz with a 2-out 2-run bases loaded single.

           123 456 789   R  H E 
Patriots   011 010 102   6 11 1
Wizards    000 010 001   2  4 1
NJP - Fernandez (W,1-0),Karsay (7)(H,2), Foulke (9)
ANT - Abbott (L,0-1), Lowe (6), James (8), G.White (9), N.Cruz (9)
HR - ANT: Helton (1)

Game 4 - New Jersey at Antioch
Reid Cornelius (8-4) vs Brett Tomko (5-1)

Ben Grieve homered to ignite a five run second inning, in which the Wizards tallied seven straight hits off Reid Cornelius. Brett Tomko, the WIzards' fourth starter, didn't allow a runner past second base in hit 6+ innings of work. Series tied 2 games apiece. 

           123 456 789   R  H E 
Patriots   000 000 010   1  9 0
Wizards    050 010 02x   8 16 0
NJP - Cornelius (L,0-1), Spradlin (8), Venafro (8)
ANT - Tomko (W,1-0), Speier (7), Swindell (8), Rhodes (9)
HR - ANT: Grieve (1), Nevin (2)

Game 5 - New Jersey at Antioch
Cal Eldred (11-4) vs Elarton

The Wizards got off to another 5 spot in the second inning, with A-Rod's leadoff homer, Elarton's bases loaded double, and Helton's two out two run double being the big blows. New Jersey crept back to 5-3 against game 1 loser Scott Elarton, but the roof caved in on the Patriots in the sixth. With one out Alfonzo doubled in two with the bases loaded, and following an intentional walk to Helton, Mariano Rivera came in and allowed a bases loaded double to A-Rod and a two run homer to Ben Grieve. When the dust settled, it was 12-3; when the game finished it was 13-4.

           123 456 789   R  H E 
Patriots   002 100 010   4 10 0
Wizards    050 007 10x  13 12 1
NJP - Eldred (L,0-1), Rivera (6), Venafro (7), Spradlin (8)
ANT - Elarton (W,1-1), Speier (8), Cruz (9)
HR - ANT: Grieve (2), A.Rodriguez (2) NJP: Glaus (2)

Game 6 - Antioch at New Jersey
Pettitte vs Heredia

The Wizards got off to their customary good start, scoring 2 in the first and 3 in the second. Todd Helton drove in runs in each inning. The Wizards made it 9-1 by the 6th. The Patriots rallied to 9-4, but once again couldn't control the hot hitting visitors. New Jersey scored twice in the 7th and twice in the 9th, but it was too little and too late. The teams combined for 35 hits. Antioch wins in six.

           123 456 789   R  H E 
Wizards    230 112 300  12 19 1
Patriots   100 003 202   8 16 1
ANT - Pettitte(W,2-0), Lowe (6), Swindell (7)(H,1), Cruz (8),White (9)
NJP - Heredia (L,1-1), Karsay (4), Foulke (6), Spencer (7),Rivera (7), Spradline (9)
HR - ANT: Bautista (1), Nevin (3), Hernandez (1)  NJP: Clark (1)

MVP: Alex Rodriguez, who hit .391 with two homers. Helton drove in eight runs and Nevin hit three homers. Eleven homers were hit in all by the Wizards. Troy Glaus supplied most of the Patriot offense, going 10-20 with 2 HRs, 8 RBIs, and 6 walks. The series was notable for the lack of close games: no combined saves and only 3 combined holds.

Millwood wasn't the most successful Dresden pitcher, but he did win a bunch of playoff games the year before. But he was awful, and Kenny Rogers, who was acquired from Springfield, was worse, allowing the brunt of a 9 run second inning. Of course that was all that Pedro needed, although the Blacks touched him up for four runs, including a couple of homers. Nomar Garciaparra had 4 hits in the romp and Mark Quinn had 5 RBIs.

           123 456 789   R  H E 
Blacks     030 000 001   4  6 0
Penguins   190 000 30x  13 16 0
DRE - Millwood (L,0-1), Rogers (2), Stottlemyre (2), Hitchcock (7), Meche (7), Kline (8)
VIE - Martinez (W,1-0), Cormier (9)
HR - DRE: McGwire (1), C.Johnson (1); VIE: Ja.Giambi (1)

Game 2 - Dresden at Vienna
Jeff D'Amico (14-5) vs Brian Bohanon  (16-6)

Blacks and Penguins were 3-3 in the sixth, when the Penguins put together 4 singles against D'Amico and two relievers. The big blow was Jason Kendall's two run single off Paul Shuey. Blacks only had six hits, and didn't have much offense following Mark McGwire's three run homer in the first.

          123 456 789   R  H E 
Blacks    300 000 000   3  6 0
Penguins  201 003 01x   7 13 0
DRE - D'Amico (L,0-1), McElroy(6), Shuey (6), Kline (6), T.Jones (8)
VIE - Bohanon, Herges (5)(W,1-0), Wunsch (7)(H,1), Fetters (7)(H,1), Wall (8)(H,1), Remlinger (9)
HR - DRE: McGwire (2)

Game 3 - Vienna at Dresden
Jamey Wright (9-5) vs Brad Radke  (17-7)

Blacks tied the game in the 3rd on two wild pitches, and went ahead on VanderWal's single and another McGwire home run. In the ninth, Todd Jones retired the first batter but then allowed singles to Berkman and Ochoa. Roosevelt Brown drew a walk, and then Mark Quinn singled in two to tie. Gil Meche got out of the mess, but Sterling Hitchcock gave up the game winning hit to Ochoa in the 10th, and 2 more runs scored on a passed ball and suicide squeeze.

          123 456 789 0   R  H E 
Penguins  002 000 002 3   7  8 0
Blacks    002 011 000 0   4 11 1
VIE - Wright, Wunsch (5), Herges (6), Cormier (6), Adams (7), Wall (9)(W,1-0), Fetters (10)(S,1)
DRE - Radke, McElroy (7), Shuey (8), T.Jones (9)(BS,1), Meche (9)(L,0-1), Hitchcock (10), Millwood (10) 
HR - DRE: McGwire (3)

Game 4 - Vienna at Dresden
Dave Burba (11-10) vs Kenny Rogers  (13-11)

Jason Kendall had four hits and Jason Giambi three more as Vienna completed the sweep. Mark McGwire homered in his 4th straight game, but otherwise, the Blacks offense lacked the clutch hit, leaving runners on in 8 of 9 innings.

           123 456 789   R  H E 
Penguins   402 000 102   9 19 1
Blacks     200 001 00x   3 13 0
VIE - Burba, Remlinger (5)(W,1-0), Fetters (7), Cormier (8), Adams (9)
DRE - Rogers (L,0-1), Stottlemyre (2), Hitchcock (4), Meche (5), Kline (7), McElroy (9), Shuey (9)
HR - VanderWal (1), McGwire (4)

MVP: Nomar Garciaparra, going 10-16 in the series with 3 walks. He wasn't alone. Kendall went 9-16, Berkman 5-10, and Quinn and Martinez each hit over .400. Overall, the team hit .364. For the Blacks, Mark McGwire hit homers in all 4 games, but Biggio, VanderWal, Larry Walker and Charles Johnson each hit less than .200. Dresden team ERA was 9, led by Kenny Rogers miserable performance allowing 8 hits and three walks over 16 batters face (and a 48.60 ERA). Blacks have won three championships in the last six years, in the other three years they failed to win a single playoff game.