Major League Baseball roundup

SCOREBOARD <br><br>Monday, Oct. 7 <br><br>San Francisco at Atlanta (8:20 p.m. EDT, if necessary). A victory by the Giants in Game 4 would force a decisive Game 5, with the winner facing the St. Louis Cardinals

Saturday, October 5th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

SCOREBOARD

Monday, Oct. 7

San Francisco at Atlanta (8:20 p.m. EDT, if necessary). A victory by the Giants in Game 4 would force a decisive Game 5, with the winner facing the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS.

STARS

Saturday

_ Doug Mientkiewicz, Twins, went 3-for-4 with a two-run homer and two singles in Minnesota's seven-run fourth inning as the Twins routed the Oakland Athletics 11-2, tying their best-of-five American League division series at two games apiece.

_ Eric Milton, Twins, scattered six hits over seven strong innings, striking out three, as Minnesota defeated Oakland 11-2.

_ Shawn Wooten, Angels, homered and singled in Anaheim's eight-run fifth inning to lead the Angels past the New York Yankees 9-5, winning the series.

_ Keith Lockhart, Braves, hit a three-run homer to cap a five-run sixth inning, powering Atlanta to a 10-2 victory at San Francisco.

_ Miguel Cairo, Cardinals, filling in for the injured Scott Rolen, went 3-for-3 with two RBIs at St. Louis beat Arizona 6-3.

YESTERDAY'S NEWS

There will be no rematch of last year's World Series: The Arizona Diamondbacks and New York Yankees were sent home Saturday. Anaheim ousted New York with a 9-5 win, taking the series 3-1, while St. Louis finished off a three-game sweep of the Diamondbacks with a 6-3 victory. The Angels will face the winner of Sunday's Game 5 between Minnesota and Oakland, while the Cardinals take on the winner of the Atlanta-San Francisco series, which the Braves lead 2-1. Without the Diamondbacks and Yankees, baseball fans are assured of seeing two new teams in the World Series for the first time since 1998.

STILL ALIVE

The team that baseball couldn't get rid of will be around for at least another day. Minnesota flustered Tim Hudson and Oakland with a seven-run fourth inning, and Eric Milton shut down the Athletics as the Twins forced a decisive fifth game in their AL division series with an 11-2 victory Saturday. Nearly eliminated by baseball's owners this winter, Minnesota is one win away from the AL championship series. Game 5 is Sunday afternoon in Oakland, with Mark Mulder pitching for the A's against Brad Radke.

POUNDED

The New York Yankees finished their first-round series with Anaheim with an ERA of 8.21, the Yankees' worst in 57 postseason series. New York's four starters allowed 20 runs and 32 hits _ including five home runs _ in 17 1-3 innings for a 10.38 ERA, and Anaheim's .376 average was the highest of any major league team in any postseason series. The Yankees lost the series, 3-1, when Anaheim took game four 9-5 Saturday.

MILESTONE

Derek Jeter recorded his 100th postseason hit _ a major league record _ in the New York Yankees' 9-5 loss to Anaheim on Saturday.

FINALLY

Anaheim's 9-5 win Saturday over the New York Yankees gave the Angels a 3-1 series win _ the franchises first-ever victory in a postseason series.

TRY, TRY AGAIN

After Sunday's 11-2 loss to Minnesota, Oakland now heads to a decisive fifth game for the third straight postseason. The Athletics, eliminated by the New York Yankees the past two seasons, lost for the fifth straight time when they were one win away from the ALCS.

FOURTH INNING BURST

Minnesota scored seven runs in the fourth inning Saturday in an 11-2 win over Oakland. The inning included two wild pitches, a hit batsman, two Athletic errors and four hits _ with all seven runs being unearned. The Twins' Doug Mientkiewicz became just the second player to get two hits in an inning during a division series. Chuck Knoblauch did it for the New York Yankees in 2000 against Oakland.

SHORT STAY

Oakland's Tim Hudson threw 90 pitches in 3 1-3 innings _ his shortest outing since lasting three innings on Sept. 19, 2001 _ as the Athletics lost to Minnesota 11-2.

MIGHTY MADDUX

Greg Maddux ended a four-game postseason losing streak and avoided tying teammate Tom Glavine with the most postseason losses in Atlanta's 10-2 win over San Francisco on Saturday. The Braves lead the Giants 2-1 in their best-of-five division series.

SPEAKING

``We did it for D.K. I know in our hearts he was here.'' _ St. Louis' Miguel Cairo, whose Cardinals wrapped up a three-game sweep of their NL division series against Arizona with a 6-3 win Saturday. Teammate Matt Morris carried the No. 57 jersey of Darryl Kile, who died earlier this summer, on the field during the postgame celebration.

``It's been a long time coming for myself and this organization, a lot of blood, sweat and tears. To finally come through and do it, it's just special.'' _ Tim Salmon, whose Anaheim Angels picked up their first-ever playoff series victory Saturday. Anaheim's 9-5 win over the New York Yankees gave the Angels a 3-1 win in the best-of-five playoff.

SEASONS

Oct. 7

1904 _ Jack Chesbro got his 41st victory of the season as New York defeated the Boston Red Sox 3-2.

1928 _ Lou Gehrig's two home runs led the New York Yankees to a 7-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series, giving them a 3-0 lead.

1945 _ Hank Greenberg's three doubles led Detroit to an 8-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs, giving the Tigers a 3-2 lead in the World Series.

1952 _ Billy Martin's running catch on a high infield pop with the bases loaded in the seventh inning snuffed a Dodgers rally and the New York Yankees went on to win Game 7 of the World Series 4-2.

1961 _ New York's Roger Maris won the third game of the World Series with a ninth-inning home run off the Reds' Bob Purkey. The Yankees won 3-2 at Cincinnati's Crosley Field.

1984 _ The San Diego Padres won the NL pennant with a 6-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs in the final game of the playoffs. The Padres won three straight after dropping the first two games.

1987 _ Don Baylor singled to break an eighth-inning tie and Gary Gaetti homered in his first two playoff at-bats as the Minnesota Twins beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in the opening game of the AL championship series.

1995 _ Edgar Martinez of the Seattle Mariners hit a tie-breaking grand slam in the eighth inning and drove in seven runs _ the most ever in a postseason game _ to lead the Mariners past the New York Yankees 11-8 and send the AL playoff series to a decisive Game 5.

1998 _ Chuck Knoblauch argued for an interference call at first base instead of picking up the ball while Enrique Wilson rounded the bases and scored to break a 1-all tie in the 12th inning of the Cleveland Indians' 4-1 victory at New York in Game 2 of the AL championship series.

2001 _ San Diego's Rickey Henderson became the 25th player with 3,000 hits with a bloop double in a 14-5 loss to Colorado. Teammate Tony Gwynn ended his 20-year career by grounding out to shortstop in the ninth inning. Gwynn left the game with eight NL batting titles, a .338 lifetime average and 3,141 hits.

2001 _ Barry Bonds wrapped up his record-breaking season with his 73rd homer and shattered the slugging percentage record that Babe Ruth had owned for 81 years. He finished the season with a .328 batting average, a career-high 137 RBIs and a slugging percentage of .863, easily surpassing the mark of .847 that Ruth set in 1920.