Anaheim

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Jean-Sebastien Giguere got the rallying cry started Friday when the Anaheim Mighty Ducks goaltender snapped, "We're not a fluke!" and demanded that his teammates play with more emotion. Mission accomplished. The Ducks showed more passion than they had in the Stanley Cup Finals last night from the opening faceoff right until Ruslan Salei's overtime winner 6:59 into the extra session, as Anaheim made this a series again with a dramatic, 3-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils in Game 3 at the Arrowhead Pond.

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Bryan Murray, who has been general manager in Anaheim two years, calls Paul Kariya "a Mighty Ducks lifer." Drafted fourth overall in 1993, Kariya has traveled through the good times and the bad and has experienced Anaheim's entire history. He's previously had chances to bail out on the organization and go to a winning team, but he always has decided to stay. Kariya's been the catalyst and poster boy for a franchise that was built from the ground up, a team that came into the league with the Florida Panthers and had to watch them go to the Stanley Cup Finals after just three years.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - When your team is owned by Disney, a company that already employs Donald Duck, the last thing you want on your roster is Disgruntled Duck. That's why Anaheim Mighty Ducks general manager Bryan Murray decided to ship left wing Jeff Friesen to the New Jersey Devils in July. Murray said he felt Friesen "wasn't on board and happy to be here." In the deal, which included fellow unhappy Duck Oleg Tverdovsky, Murray acquired wing Petr Sykora, who became Anaheim's leading regular-season goal scorer (34)

NEW YORK -- The Anaheim Angels arrived at Yankee Stadium last week to find an unexpected tribute on the marquee that graces the upper deck of the historic ballpark. The sign normally exhibits just the name of the opposing team and the starting time of the game, but somebody had added an extra word to alert fans of the significance of the series. "Champion Angels ... 7:05." It was only one line, but you could still read between it. Somebody upstairs -- and everyone knew who that somebody was -- probably ordered the change both to congratulate the Angels for their unlikely wild-card World Series title and to remind the New York Yankees who allowed it to happen.

ANAHEIM, Calif. - The Anaheim Angels have spent this October dismissing the demons of postseasons past, but Game 6 of the 98th World Series may finally have slammed the door on the "Angels jinx" once and for all. The champagne was chilling in the San Francisco Giants' clubhouse last night when the Angels battled back from a five-run deficit to score a heart-stopping 6-5 victory and extend this now-classic Fall Classic to a climactic seventh game tonight...

Anaheim vs. San Francisco(Best of seven; *-if necessary) TV:Chs. 45, 5 (all times p.m.) San Francisco leads series 3-2 Game 1:San Francisco, 4-3 Game 2:Anaheim, 11-10 Game 3:Anaheim, 10-4 Game 4:San Francisco, 4-3 Game 5:San Francisco, 16-4 Today:at Anaheim, 7:58*Tomorrow:at Anaheim, 8:02 SunSpot:For more coverage, visit sunspot.net/baseball

ANAHEIM, Calif. - One loss from elimination, one loss from seeing the San Francisco Giants walk off with the championship trophy, the Anaheim Angels finally feel comfortable. After advancing through the first two rounds of the American League playoffs against the New York Yankees and Minnesota Twins without facing an elimination game, the Angels will get that test tonight in Game 6 of the World Series. "I look at it as the pressure's on them," Angels right fielder Tim Salmon said. "They're trying to get one game.

SAN FRANCISCO - Anaheim Angels manager Mike Scioscia plotted his strategy through Game 5 of the World Series as if he never had a doubt his team was coming back, blissfully unaware the San Francisco Giants were about to turn in one of the biggest routs in Series history. The Angels have starting pitching concerns, and they faced an early six-run deficit, but Scioscia had seen his team do too much hitting this postseason to alter his best-laid plans. Before long, those decisions didn't look so foolhardy.

Anaheim vs. San Francisco(Best of seven; *-if necessary) TV:Chs. 45, 5 (all times p.m.) San Francisco leads series 3-2 Game 1:San Francisco, 4-3 Game 2:Anaheim, 11-10 Game 3:Anaheim, 10-4 Game 4:San Francisco, 4-3 Last night:San Francisco, 16-4 Tomorrow:at Anaheim, 7:58 *Sunday:at Anaheim, 8:02 SunSpot:For more coverage, visit sunspot.net/baseball