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Padres
waltz to their third World Series title in as many years and fourth
in five
San
Diego, CA. - November 15, 2007
The
San Diego Padres quickly have created a dynasty in the young league
called America's Baseball League. They beat the Anaheim Angels in 6
games to win their third title in a row and their fourth in five
years. The only other team to win the ABL World Series was expansion
manager Gary Gandara in the 2nd ABL World Series.
Talbott
has done it over the years with an extremely balanced roster. He has
played in Diamond Mind baseball for many years and is obviously got
a knack for it. Of course, if you ask him, he will say that its pure
luck to win the title as many times as he has. But the numbers speak
for themselves. If you ask this writer, I would say that Talbott is
being just a bit modest. He has relied on the continuing performance
of Johan Santana from the arms side and Vladimir Guerrero and Lance
Berkman from the bats, but has benefited from strong come back
seasons from Chipper Jones and Frank Thomas.
Heading
into the series with the Angels this looked on paper to be a very
even matchup, however, the Padres quickly made it known who the king
of the ABL was as they smacked the ABL Cy Young award winner around
and beat the Angels in game 1 19-3. The Angels would have a little
redemption in game 2 evening the series with a 12-5 win. In this
game the Padres had the early 5-0, but the Angels scored 12
unanswered runs to win the game. Angels took the lead in the series
in game 3, beating the Padres 6-5 in a see-saw battle that saw the
Angels take the early 5-0 battle. The Padres battled back to tie the
score but an eighth inning pinch hit single gave the Angels the 6-5
victory and the 2-1 lead in the series.
The
Padres had about enough and took the next three games. In game 4,
the Padres scattered single runs in five different innings and won
the game 5-1. Game 5 was another see-saw battled that saw the Angels
take the lead twice, but the Padres to immediately answer back both
times as the Padres go on to win game 5, 3-2 and take the commanding
lead in the series 3-2.
With
their backs against the wall and heading home, the Angels were
confident that a game 7 was possible, however the Padres did not
feel the same. San Diego came out of the gate shooting, scoring five
runs in the first four innings against Angels Clemens. That was more
than enough for Padres 2nd ace Roy Halladay as the Padres complete
this year's main event and go on to win the 2007 ABL World Series.
Vladimir Guerrero was crowned 2007 ABL World Series MVP as he
smacked 4 HR's and carried a .391 AVG during the series.
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