Division Series

MINNEAPOLIS - As Game 3 of this American League Division Series got under way yesterday, 55,915 screaming, Homer Hanky-waving Minnesota Twins fans were doing their best to press their team's greatest advantage: We have the Metrodome! We have the super-fast turf! That ugly roof! And the noise! Get out your earplugs! But Hideki Matsui took the air out of the dome with a two-run home run in the second inning, and Roger Clemens and Mariano Rivera did their best to press the New York Yankees' greatest advantage - pitching.

ANAHEIM, Calif. - The oddities were so many that the whole day was hard to describe. The Red Sox scored seven runs in an inning, a postseason record for them and for the Anaheim Angels, and Boston won big without a really big game from Curt Schilling. By just about any measure, it was extraordinary. Except that these are the Red Sox, and oddities are second nature to them. So they had their distinctive way of looking at their 9-3 win in Game 1 of the American League Division Series yesterday.

CHICAGO -- All year, the Boston Red Sox have been hoping that history could repeat itself, and now they know to be careful what they wish for. Before they won the World Series last year, they always did have a lot of stories they'd like to forget. now they have one more. They also have trouble on their hands. the defending World Series champions are one loss away from being eliminated because they couldn't overcome a gaffe by tony graffanino and couldn't find a way to keep the chicago white sox from winning, 5-4, last night in game 2 of their american league division series.

MIAMI - Florida Marlins catcher Ivan Rodriguez may be a one-year, $10 million rental. But he earned every penny in Florida's wild 4-3 victory in 11 innings yesterday at Pro Player Stadium, which has the mighty San Francisco Giants dangling on the precipice of elimination. Rodriguez drove in all four runs, including a two-run homer in the first inning off starter Kirk Rueter that staked the Marlins to a 2-0 lead that held up until the Giants' two-run sixth. The Giants were seemingly cruising to a 3-2 victory after Edgardo Alfonzo's RBI single in the top of the 11th.

ATLANTA - After all was said and done and the Chicago Cubs had clinched their first postseason series victory since the 1908 World Series, Kerry Wood, Carlos Zambrano and Mike Remlinger ran out to the stands of Turner Field and began dousing the fans with champagne. After a 5-1 victory over Atlanta in Game 5 of their National League Division Series that delivered the Cubs into the NL Championship Series, it was time to share the glory. Drinks were on the house. "I'm just happy for everybody in the Cubs' organization," first-year Cubs manager Dusty Baker said.

MIAMI - The replay ran multiple times from multiple angles on the Pro Player Stadium JumboTron. Here were the Florida Marlins, frolicking about in real time after eliminating the San Francisco Giants yesterday, and the largest crowd ever to attend a Division Series game couldn't take its collective eyes off the massive screens. With each clip of J.T. Snow plowing through Ivan Rodriguez at the plate, 65,494 unbelieving spectators responded with louder awe. They reacted to Rodriguez absorbing the blow and holding up the ball from under Ugueth Urbina's embrace for all to see. They reacted to the Marlins winning the best-of-five Division Series with a 7-6, Game 4 victory and sustaining their bid for another National League pennant.

NEW YORK - A strange sense of calm filled the visitor's clubhouse at Yankee Stadium after the opening game of the American League Division Series. Nobody panicked or cursed his fate. One defeat wasn't going to leave the Anaheim Angels shaken, even with the history of their opponent and quality of the stakes. "There's no such thing as a loss that's easy," said Angels manager Mike Scioscia. "It's how you respond to them that's important." The Angels gave Scioscia the proper response last night.

ANAHEIM, Calif. - They wore red jerseys and red caps, and gripped red plastic tubes that were banged on railings or against each other. This wasn't a splash of color, it was a tidal wave. Fans of the Anaheim Angels, in a celebratory mood for the first home playoff game in 16 years, had every reason to brighten their surroundings. It's not their season that's fading to black. Trailing big in the third inning, the Angels staged the kind of rally usually created by their opponent. It became complete in the eighth when doubles by Adam Kennedy and Darin Erstad broke a tie and gave Anaheim a 9-6 victory last night over the New York Yankees before 45,072 at Edison International Field.

Today's games AL Division Series Cleveland (Colon 14-12) at Seattle (Garcia 18-6) 4:20 p.m., chs. 45, 5 NL Division Series Atlanta (Maddux 17-11) at Houston (Miller 16-8) 1:12 p.m., Fox Family St. Louis (Morris 22-8) at Arizona (Schilling 22-6) 8:15 p.m., Fox Family Series previews [Page 3D]

SATURDAY'S HIGHLIGHTS MLB play. Division Series: teams TBA TBS6 Division Series: teams TBA TBS9:30 C. foot. Navy@Air Force 13, 911:30 a.m. Boston College@Army CBSSNNoon Northwestern@Penn State ESPNNoon Arkansas@Auburn ESPN2Noon Connecticut@Rutgers ESPNUNoon South Florida@Temple MASNNoon Virginia Tech@North Carolina 45, 512:30 ...