The 2003 American League Division Series (ALDS), the opening round of the 2003 American League playoffs, began on Tuesday, September 30, and ended on Monday, October 6, with the champions of the three AL divisions—along with a "wild card" team—participating in two best-of-five series. The teams were: *(1) New York Yankees (Eastern Division champion, 101–61) vs. (3)

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

(Central Division champion, 90–72): Yankees win series, 3–1. *(2)

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...

(Western Division champion, 96–66) vs. (4) Boston Red Sox (Wild Card, 95–67): Red Sox win series, 3–2. The Yankees defeated the Red Sox in the AL Championship Series, then lost the

2003 World Series The 2003 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2003 season. The 99th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff between the National League (NL) champion Florida Marlins and the American Leagu ...

to the National League champion Florida Marlins.

Matchups

New York Yankees vs. Minnesota Twins

Oakland Athletics vs. Boston Red Sox

New York vs. Minnesota

Game 1

Yankee Stadium (I) in

Bronx, New York The Bronx () is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the U.S. state, state of New York (state), New York. It is south of Westchester County, New York, Westchester County; north and east of the ...

The Twins struck first in Game 1 when

Cristian Guzman Cristian is the Romanian and Spanish form of the male given name Christian. In Romanian, it is also a surname. Cristian may refer to: People * Cristian (footballer, born 1994), Brazilian footballer * Cristian Adomniței (born 1975), Romanian engi ...

and Shannon Stewart hit back-to-back one-out singles in the third off Mike Mussina, then the former scored on

Luis Rivas Luis Wilfredo Rivas (born August 30, 1979) is a former Major League Baseball infielder. He played for the Minnesota Twins from 2000 to 2005, Cleveland Indians in 2007, and Pittsburgh Pirates in 2008. He batted and throws right-handed. Rivas ...

's sacrifice fly.

Matt LeCroy Matthew Hanks LeCroy (born December 13, 1975) is an American former professional baseball catcher, first baseman, and designated hitter and current manager for the Rochester Red Wings. During his time in Major League Baseball (MLB), LeCroy had th ...

singled to lead off the sixth, then scored on a triple by Torii Hunter, who himself scored on Yankees second baseman Alfonso Soriano's error. The Yankees scored a run in the ninth on Soriano's two-out single with runners on second and third off Eddie Guardado, but Nick Johnson then grounded out to end the game as the Twins, despite using five pitchers, took a 1–0 series lead.

Game 2

Yankee Stadium (I) in

The Yankees loaded the bases with no outs on three singles in the first off

Brad Radke Brad William Radke (born October 27, 1972) is an American former Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher who played his entire 12 season career with the Minnesota Twins. Radke won 148 career games and was one of the most consistent pitchers in ...

, but scored just once on Bernie Williams's sacrifice fly. The Twins tied the game in the fifth on Torii Hunter's leadoff home run off Andy Pettitte. Radke hit Nick Johnson to lead off the seventh. After Juan Rivera's sacrifice bunt, LaTroy Hawkins relieved Radke and allowed an RBI single to Alfonso Soriano. Hawkins's error on

Derek Jeter Derek Sanderson Jeter ( ; born June 26, 1974) is an American former professional baseball shortstop, businessman, and baseball executive. As a player, Jeter spent his entire 20-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the New York Yankees ...

's ground ball put him at second and Soriano at third. Both scored on Jason Giambi's single and Mariano Rivera pitched two perfect innings for the save. The Yankees' 4–1 win tied the series heading to Minnesota.

Game 3

Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

The Yankees struck first in Game 3 on Hideki Matsui's two-run home run in the second off Kyle Lohse. They added another run next inning on Bernie Williams's single that scored Juan Rivera from second. A. J. Pierzynski's leadoff home run in the bottom of the inning off Roger Clemens cut the lead to 3–1, but neither team scored after that with Mariano Rivera again pitching two perfect innings for a save as the Yankees took a 2–1 series lead.

Game 4

Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in

In the fourth, Jason Giambi doubled with one out, then scored on Bernie Williams's double. After Jorge Posada singled, Hideki Matsui's ground-rule double scored Williams. Aaron Boone popped out before Juan Rivera was intentionally walked to load the bases. Nick Johnson's double scored two more and knocked Johan Santana out of the game.

Juan Rincon ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

in relief allowed a two-run single to Alfonso Soriano, then walked

and Giambi to load the bases again.

Eric Milton Eric Robert Milton (born August 4, 1975) is an American former Major League Baseball left-handed starting pitcher who played for several teams between 1998 and 2009, and is currently the head coach at Severna Park High School. Amateur career A na ...

relieved Rincon and got Williams to ground out to end the inning. The Twins got on the board in the bottom of the inning on three consecutive singles off David Wells, the last of which by Michael Cuddyer scored Torii Hunter, but could not score again off Wells or Gabe White. The Yankees added a run in the eighth off LaTroy Hawkins when Boone hit a lead off single, stole second and scored on Juan Rivera's bunt single that was misplayed by Hawkins. Jeter's home run in the ninth off Eddie Guardado put the Yankees up 8–1 as they secured their place in the American League Championship Series with a blowout win.

Composite box

2003 ALDS (3–1): New York Yankees over

Oakland vs. Boston

Game 1

Network Associates Coliseum in Oakland, California The Red Sox went up 1–0 in the first on Todd Walker's two-out home run off Tim Hudson, but in the third, Erubiel Durazo drove in two runs with a double off Pedro Martinez before Durazo himself scored on a single from Miguel Tejada, who was tagged out at second to end the inning. The Red Sox cut the Athletics' lead to 3–2 in the fifth on Jason Varitek's home run. In the seventh, Hudson allowed a two-out single to Nomar Garciaparra and was relieved by

Ricardo Rincon Ricardo is the Spanish and Portuguese cognate of the name Richard. It derived from Proto-Germanic ''*rīks'' 'king, ruler' + ''*harduz'' 'hard, brave'. It may be a given name, or a surname. People Given name *Ricardo de Araújo Pereira, Portugue ...

, who allowed a home run to Walker to put the Red Sox up 4–3. In the ninth, Byung-hyun Kim walked

Billy McMillon William Edward McMillon (born November 17, 1971) is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) during six seasons between 1996 and 2004, for four different teams. As a player, he threw and batte ...

, then hit Chris Singleton with a pitch. After Mark Ellis struck out for the second out, Alan Embree relieved Kim and allowed a game-tying RBI single to Durazo, sending the game into extra innings. Oakland won it in the 12th when catcher Ramón Hernández laid down a two-out, bases-loaded bunt single off

Derek Lowe Derek Christopher Lowe (born June 1, 1973) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. During his career, he played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves, Cleveland I ...

, scoring Eric Chavez from third base. This was Oakland's ninth consecutive playoff win over Boston in the wake of ALCS sweeps in

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

and

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

, breaking the record for consecutive playoff wins against one team set by the New York Yankees against the

Chicago Cubs The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The Cubs compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as part of the National League (NL) Central division. The club plays its home games at Wrigley Field, which is located ...

with World Series sweeps in 1932 and 1938. Incidentally, the Yankees

nearly Proximity may refer to: * Distance, a numerical description of how far apart objects are * Proxemics, the study of human spatial requirements and the effects of population density * ''Proximity'' (2000 film), an action/thriller film * ''Proximit ...

got a chance to extend that streak the same year.

Game 2

Network Associates Coliseum in Oakland, California The Athletics won Game 2 with a five-run outburst in the second inning off Tim Wakefield.

Jose Guillen Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. The name was popular during the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods. *Jose ben Abin *Jose ben Akabya *Jose the Galilean ...

walked with one out, moved to second on a passed ball, and scored on Ramón Hernández's single. After Jermaine Dye was hit by a pitch, Eric Byrnes's double scored both runners. After a walk and ground out, Todd Walker's errant throw to first on Eric Chavez's ground ball scored two more runs. The Red Sox scored their only run of the game in the third on back-to-back doubles by Doug Mirabelli and Johnny Damon off

Barry Zito Barry William Zito (born May 13, 1978) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played 15 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants. His pitching repertoire consisted of a curveball ...

. The Athletics were one win away from a trip to the ALCS.

Game 3

Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts In Game 3, three errors in the second allowed the Red Sox to go up 1–0 on Damian Jackson's fielder's choice. The Athletics had a potential rally stifled by controversial outs. Eric Byrnes was tagged out after failing to touch home plate after a collision with catcher Jason Varitek. Miguel Tejada was similarly retired after being obstructed by Bill Mueller while rounding third base. Obstruction was called by umpire Tim Welke. However time was not called by the umpire and Tejada stopped running thus giving the Red Sox time to tag him. The one run scored in the inning sent the game into extra innings, where Boston won on a two-run walk-off home run by Trot Nixon off Rich Harden. This loss ended Oakland's playoff-record winning streak against the Red Sox at ten games, a record the Red Sox themselves would break in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

when they won their 11th consecutive playoff game against the Angels.

Game 4

Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts After Oakland starter Tim Hudson left with a strained left oblique after only one inning, the A's bullpen held the Sox to only three runs over the next seven innings. The Athletics went up 1–0 in the second on Jermaine Dye's bases loaded RBI single off John Burkett, but Johnny Damon's two-run home run after a walk in the third off Steve Sparks put the Red Sox up 2–1. In the sixth, Burkett allowed a leadoff single to Scott Hatteberg, who scored on Adam Melhuse's triple one out later, then Dye's home run put the Athletics up 4–2. Todd Walker's home run in the bottom of the inning off

cut the lead to 4–3. In the eighth, closer Keith Foulke allowed a one-out double to Nomar Garciaparra, then a two-out single to Manny Ramirez before both scored on

David Ortiz David Américo Ortiz Arias (born November 18, 1975), nicknamed "Big Papi", is a Dominican-American former designated hitter (DH) and first baseman in Major League Baseball who played in the American League (AL) from 1997 to 2016, primarily wit ...

's double. Scott Williamson earned the win with two shutout innings to close as the Red Sox's 5–4 win forced a Game 5 in Oakland.

Game 5

Network Associates Coliseum in Oakland, California The Athletics struck first in Game 5 in the fourth off Pedro Martinez when Scott Hatteberg walked with two outs and scored on

's double, but Jason Varitek's lead-off home run in the sixth tied the game off

. Following a walk and hit-by-pitch, Manny Ramirez's three-run home run put the Red Sox up 4–1. The Athletics cut it to 4–2 in the bottom of the inning when Erubiel Durazo doubled with one out and scored on Miguel Tejada's double one out later. They cut it to 4–3 when Chris Singleton hit a leadoff double off Martinez and scored on

's single in the eighth. The A's loaded the bases on three walks in the ninth inning, but temporary closer

struck out Terrence Long looking to end the game. The win was marred by a violent collision between outfielder Johnny Damon and second baseman Damian Jackson. Damon was sent to the hospital where he was diagnosed with a

concussion A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a head injury that temporarily affects brain functioning. Symptoms may include loss of consciousness (LOC); memory loss; headaches; difficulty with thinking, concentration, ...

. Boston's victory secured their place in the American League Championship Series while Oakland lost the ALDS after being up two games to none for the second time in three years.

Composite box

2003 ALDS (3–2): Boston Red Sox over

Notes

External links