Boston right fielder Trot Nixon's sensational game-saving grab in the eighth inning maintained the Red Sox 2 run lead, and the Sawx would go on to defeat the Seattle Mariners 3-1 in their Wild Card matchup at Fenway Park. Nixon's mad dash to track down an Edgar Martinez rocket to right made a winner of Pedro Martinez and helped send the Red Sox to Oakland to face the Athletics in the ALDS.
Martinez was brilliant in 7.2 innings as he scattered 7 hits and struck out six while only allowing one earned run. After 111 pitches and two out, he had run out of gas leaving runners on second and third with Edgar Martinez due up. Just like Grady Little did in New York, I road Martinez as long as I could and considered leaving him in to face Edgar. However, I feared a repeat of misfortune for Pedro, so I yanked him in favor of Mike Timlin. Martinez slammed a Timlin offering deep into right field over the head of Nixon. After checking over both shoulders to locate the ball on the dead run, Trot reached out in desperation and snared the ball at the top of his glove. Alan Embree and Byung-Hyun Kim combined to silence the Mariners in the ninth with Kim earning the save. Below is a replay of Nixon's tremendous catch.
Boston's march to postseason glory began with a wildcard matchup with the Seattle Mariners. Even though there was no such contest in 2003, I am not able to adjust the playoff format to the bygone days of only one wildcard recipient for each league in MLB The Show 18. Therefore, I picked the team with the next best winning percentage during that season in the American League to play the Sawx at Fenway. In the National League, the Florida Marlins will have to get past the Philadelphia Phillies in order to revisit their world title run.
As mentioned in my primer for this postseason replay, one of my focal Red Sox players would be Pedro Martinez, and he certainly delivered. Pedro led the AL in ERA with a 2.22 mark in 2003 and was second in strikeouts with 206 finishing third in the Cy Young race. After getting clipped in the first inning, he went on to completely shut down a potent Mariner offense, giving the Boston attack time to figure out the hypnotic offerings of Mariner starter Jamie Moyer. Moyer was the ace of the Mariner staff in 2003 at the age of 40 with a 21-7 record and a 3.27 ERA. His 21 victories were second overall in the AL to Blue Jays great Roy Halladay (22) and his ERA was good for sixth best in the league. Jamie also has the second most wins in Mariner franchise history with 145.
Seattle's mini-uprising in the first came with two out. Randy Winn scored from second on a single from the newly christened Hall of Famer Edgar Martinez. Winn's single was sandwiched between strikeouts of Ichiro and Bret Boone, and Winn's speed allowed him to steal second putting himself into scoring position. Randy Winn was second in thefts on the Mariners that season stealing 23 bags. Ichiro led the team with 34.
Boston finally got to Moyer in the fourth with a two-out rally of their own. After setting down Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, Boston reeled off 4 consecutive singles that accounted for three runs. Kevin Millar started things off and was followed by Trot Nixon to put runners on first and second. American League batting champion Bill Mueller tied the game on his liner to left to plate Millar. Mueller beat out teammate Manny Ramirez for the batting crown by one point with his .326 BA. Jason Varitek capped the scoring by one-hopping the Green Monster in the left-center field gap driving home two runs. Varitek was a first time AL all-star in 2003, and it was also the best offensive season of his 15-year career as a Red Sox.
Boston took the ALDS with the A's in 2003 in five games but dropped the first 2 games in Oakland before roaring back to win the next three. Hopefully, I can defeat Oakland in my replay series much less dramatically. Highlights of the Wild Card game are below.
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