Game 5 of the Cabbagetown Crackers vs. Boston Chippewae series was played in typical New England weather. Yesterday it was 71 degrees and clear, today it's 51 degrees, partly cloudy and we've had some rain, so the field is a little wet. Fenway has never had a great drainage system anyways. Clearly one of these teams was going to be going under for the second time after the game. Hideo Nomo took the mound for the Chippewae, facing Shane Reynolds for the second time this series. Nomo prevailed in the first encounter, but now they're back in Boston and Nomo's penchant for flyball's could hurt him, especially with a 6MPH wind blowing out to right. Nomo started out by retiring 12 of the first 13 batters. The exception being who I have come to refer to as John #$$@#$@ Valentin. Val proved he likes Fenway by jacking one over the monster with one out in 3rd for a 1-0 Crackers lead. The Chippewae struck back inthe bottom of the fourth - finally. They seemed to be falling into the LOB opattern again, leaving 4 baserunners on through 3 with another erased by a 363 DP. Albert Belle led off with a walk in the fourth and stole second. Bill Spiers (playing second today) [insert ominous foreshadowing music here] followed with a triple to bring in Uncle Albert. Tom Lampkin, today's catcher, followed up with a SF to left to give the Chippewae a 2-1 lead. The Crackers threatened to break it wide open in the fifth. Chili Davis singled then stole second. CHILI DAVIS STOLE SECOND? Well, yeah. Jeff King struck out two pitches later, probably still stunned by Chili's baserunning exploits. Fletcher singled Davis home to tie the score. Our pal Val singled to move Fletcher to second. Cangelosi, the pesky hittter that he is, walked to load the bases. However, David Segui struck out, with Lampkin dropping the ball, but with the bases loaded Lampkin just stepped on home plate for the force. Score tied at 2. Cabbagetown came back again in the 6th. Two quick outs - an Alomar whiff and an Edmonds flyout to Sheffield in right - were followed by an error by Bill Spiers at second. Doesn't it just suck when you make an error with two outs? You know something bad is coming. I probably wouldn't mention it at all if King had made an out. BAM. Home run over the monster. Crackers lead 4-2. The score did not change for eithr team as we headed to the bottom of the ninth. Reynolds had given way to Mathews in the after giving up a leasdoff single inthe 8th. Two outs and a walk later, Robb Nen came into close out the eighth. Now he had a chance to nail down the game in the ninth. All he had to do was hold a 4-2 lead with the #8 hitter in the Chippewae lineup coming to bat. A quick look into the dugout sees everyone still left on the Chippewae bech stretching. Lyle Mouton pinch-hit for Leo Gomez to start the ninth (Will Clark had pinch-hit for Lampkin to end the 8th). Lyle doubled. PH Santiago lined out to Jeff King at third for the first out of the ninth and Daryl Hamilton waved at strike three for out 2. Bill Mueller was the last hope - would he pull a Dave Henderson? Not quite, but he did double to drive in Mouton. Crackers up 4-3. Gary Sheffield, the stud, comes to the plate with a chance to win the game dramatically. Robb Nen throws four wide ones as the crowd boos lustily. The going doesn't get any easier after Sheffield, though. Edgarrrrrrrrr walks up to the plate and doubles off the wall, driving in Mueller to tie the score. Cangelosi is up with the ball in good shape, relays to Valentin, here's the throw to the plate...! Sheffield was held at third. Jesse Orosco relieves Robb Nen. Albert comes up with second and third in a tie game in the ninth with two outs and works a walk. One of those unintentional intentional walks with Bill Spiers on deck. The bench was running a little thin for the Chips at this point. Will Clark, Lyle Mouton, Orlando Miller, Benito Santiago and Steve Scarsone had already been used leaving th best pinch-hitting option as Joey Cora. Joey struck out. End of nine, score tied 4-4. And Boston's moves had paid a price. Edgar moved to 1b, leaving the pitching batting in the #5 spot. Dan Naulty had come in to get the final out of the ninth for the Chippewae (after a walk and a stolen base by Valentin) and stayed on to face the top of the order for the Crackers. John Cangelosi flied out harmlessly to Hamilton in center. David Segui made up for his earlier gaffe with the base loaded by taking one deep, deep, deep to center for the go-ahead home run. A bunt single by Alomar later, Naulty was gone. John Franco came in to face Jim Edmonds, but Edmonds was pulled for pinch-hitter Glenallen Hill. Good move as Hill singled, moving Alomar to third. But not a great move as Hill was thrown out stealing second for the second out of the inning. Chili Davis singled home Alomar to close out the scoring for the Crackers. Crackers lead 6-4 going to the bottom of the tenth. Could the Chippewae come back again? No. Scarsone, in at second, struck out against Orosco. (How old is that guy anyway?) With the bench depleted, Orlando Miller in at short had to hit for himself...or not hit in this case - flyball to right. Benito Santiago walked to avert the end, but Daryl Hamilton popped out to shortstop to end the gaem and put a hurtin' on Boston playoff chances. Final score: Crackers 6-4. Orosco with the win, Naulty with the loss. Going back to Cabbagetown and the treacherous 3Com Park, the Chippewae have to have great performances by Darryl Kile and Mark portugal to come back. Knowing this, the Chippewae fans turn out at Logan Airport in Boston and cheer up the team with the cry "Wait 'til next year!" Fenway Park 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E LOB DP 97 Crackers 0 0 1 0 1 2 0 0 0 2 6 9 0 6 1 97 Chippewae 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 4 9 1 12 0 Crackers AB R H BI D T HR BB K SB CS IW HP SH SF AVG PO A E PB Cangelosi lf 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .118 3 0 0 0 Segui 1b 5 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .350 6 1 0 0 Alomar 2b 5 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .261 2 2 0 0 Edmonds cf 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .278 1 0 0 0 Hill ph 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .500 0 0 0 0 Davis dh 5 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 .316 0 0 0 0 King 3b 5 1 1 2 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .350 1 1 0 0 Fletcher c 3 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .167 10 0 0 0 Valentin ss 3 1 2 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 .471 3 2 0 0 Henderson rf 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 4 0 0 0 Reynolds p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 1 0 0 Mathews p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0 Nen p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0 Orosco p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0 39 6 9 6 0 0 3 3 7 2 1 0 0 0 0 30 7 0 0 Chippewae AB R H BI D T HR BB K SB CS IW HP SH SF AVG PO A E PB Hamilton cf 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 .261 2 0 0 0 Mueller 3b 5 1 2 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .500 0 5 0 0 Sheffield rf 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 .357 4 0 0 0 Martinez,E dh 4 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .350 0 0 0 0 Belle lf 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 .263 0 0 0 0 Spiers 2b 3 1 2 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .667 0 4 1 0 Naulty p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0 Cora ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .111 0 0 0 0 Franco,J p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 0 0 Lampkin c 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 7 0 0 0 Clark ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .250 0 0 0 0 Scarsone 2b 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 1 1 0 0 Gomez 1b 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 13 2 0 0 Mouton ph 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .333 0 0 0 0 Miller ss 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .083 0 0 0 0 Branson ss 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .167 0 1 0 0 Santiago c 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .125 1 1 0 0 Nomo p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 1 1 0 0 Charlton p 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 1 0 0 0 37 4 9 4 4 1 0 8 10 1 0 1 0 0 1 30 15 1 0 Crackers INN H R ER BB K BF HR IW HP WP DP BK ERA Reynolds 7.0 6 2 2 4 7 30 0 0 0 0 1 0 5.11 Mathews 0.2 0 0 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 3.38 Nen 1.0 3 2 2 1 1 7 0 1 0 0 0 0 6.00 Orosco W 1-0 1.1 0 0 0 2 2 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 10.0 9 4 4 8 10 46 0 1 0 0 1 0 Chippewae INN H R ER BB K BF HR IW HP WP DP BK ERA Nomo 8.1 5 4 2 2 7 33 2 0 0 0 0 0 3.14 Charlton 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3.86 Naulty L 0-1 0.2 2 1 1 1 0 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 13.50 Franco,J 0.2 2 1 1 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 13.50 10.0 9 6 4 3 7 42 3 0 0 0 0 0 CAB: Hill batted for Edmonds in the 10th Hill moved to cf in the 10th BOS: Clark batted for Lampkin in the 8th Santiago inserted at c in the 9th Scarsone inserted at 2b in the 9th Spiers moved to ss in the 9th Mouton batted for Gomez in the 9th Cora batted for Spiers in the 9th Miller inserted at ss in the 10th Martinez,E moved to 1b in the 10th GWRBI: Segui Temperature: 51, Field: wet, Sky: partly cloudy, Wind: out to right at 6 MPH.