With only 15 games left in the regular season, still no team has yet to pull away from the rest of the pack in the Glad as the Akitas win 2 of 3 from the Pels at home and each team stays in the hunt, one GB the Cave.

Game One, Game Day 51
Erubiel Durazo homered in the second for a 1-0 Satika lead.  Tony Womack tripled in the 6th for a 2-0 lead that was quickly answered by New Orleans in the top of the 7th.

Mike Piazza lead of tthe 7th with a single and scored on a double by Ventura.  Ventura then scored on a Sac Bunt by Fernando Vina to tie the game at 2-2.

Neither team threatened until the 11th Henry Blanco singled and scored the winning run on another RBI double by Ventura.

The Akitas came close to tying the game as Womack singled with one out and went to 3rd on Abreu's single to CF.   With runners at the corner and one out, Pels pitcher Kim K'd Ch Jones and then got Trot Nixon to ground out to 1st for the final out and the save.

Kurt Schilling pitched 10 strong innings for the Pels while SAT All Star starter Valdes pitched 6 + inn before giving way to Graves in the 7th.

NOP   000 000 200 01   3  8  0
SAT    010 001 000 00   2  7  0

pit/cat:
NOP-  Schilling (W) 10.0,  Kim (S) 1.0 and Piazza 9, Blanco
SAT-  Valdes 6.0, Graves 2.2, Wagner 1.1, Quantrill (L) 1.0 and Varitek

Homeruns:
NOP-  none
SAT-  Durazo

Inj/Eject/Sus:
NOP-  Jeter ejected, 1st inn for arguing SB call on (safe) on Womack.
          Burrell ejected, 8th inn for arguring a strikeout call
SAT- none

Limits:
NOP-  Merloni, 1 AB vs RHP
SAT-  none for series
Shea Stadium,  Ump N,  August night game, 70's, clear, wind light

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Game 2, Game Day 52
Akita Ace Derek Lowe carried a perfect game into the 8th inn before a leadoff single by Mike Piazza.   The Pels were scoreless until a leadoff homer by Sean Casey broke open the shutout.  Satika scored all three of their runs in the 6th on homers by Tony Womack and Erubiel Durazo  for a 3-1 win. Lowe finished with 9 IP, 3 hits, 0 bb and 9 K's.   The Pels pitchers had a good night themselves combinining to pitch a 4 hit game with 2 bb and 11 K's.

NOP 000 000 001   1  3  0
SAT  000 003 000   3  4  0

pit/cat:
NOP-  Vasquez (L) 5.2, Borbon 2.1 and Piazza
SAT-   Lowe (W)  9.0 and Varitek

Homeruns:
NOP-  Casey
SAT-  Womack,  Durazo

Inj/Eject/Sus:   none either team
Shea Stadium,  Ump (N), 60's clear light August night game.

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Game 3, Game Day 53
Both offenses finally got on track in game 3.   Six homeruns were hit, 4 by the Akitas. SAT starter  Andy Ashby was ejected in the second after allowing2 runs in the 1st and was replace by Casey Fossum who got blown out in the 3rd inn allowing 5 earned runs for a 7-4 Pels lead.Satikas bats then took over for a 12-7 win.

NOP  205 000 000    7  10  1
SAT   301 130 13X  12  10  0

pit/cat:
NOP-  Ortiz (L) 5.0, Mecir 2.0, Hasegawa 1.0 and Piazza
SAT-  Ashby 2.0, Fossum 0.1,  Graves (W) 4.2, Lincoln 2.0 and Varitek

Homeruns:
NOP-  Piazza, Burrell
SAT-  Nixon, Durazo, Chavez, Abreu

Ejections:
SAT-  Ashby 3rd inn for arguing with HP umpire.
Shea Stadium,  Ump (N), August night, 70's, clear, wind light