[NYY #23]

The Twins didn't do us any favors winning the Wild Card Series in four games against the White Sox. So that didn't give us much time to heal before taking on the 91 win Twins, but we jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the series behind strong starts by Alex Terry, Cipriano Castillo, and Shaun Austin. In his first start back Pedro Jimenez didn't look like himself allowing 5 runs in 2 innings as the Twins won 9-4, then followed that up with a 4-2 win in Game 5. But Game 6 the Monks came back and won 3-2 to win the series. Pedro Torres won MVP of the Series after hitting .333 with a home run, 2 RBI, and 5 runs scored.



The Tigers were our opponent in the American League Championship Series after they upset the 101 win A's. We matched up well against the A's this year (8-4) and the Tigers (5-1) so I felt good about our chances and it was an uneventful five game series win. Pat Thompson hit .474 with a home run and 5 RBI to win MVP of the Series.



That set us up for an epic World Series against the 109 win Dodgers. Game 1 of the Series ended with a bang - a 10th inning home run by Pedro Torres that sealed our 3-2 win. The Monks went deep six times in a 20-8 Game 2 win. The Dodgers would come back and win Game 3 by a score of 8-1, but the Monks held on for a 3-2 win in Game 4 to move within one game of winning our third straight World Series.

The Dodgers would storm back and win the next two games to even up the series at 3 games apiece before a Game 7 that saw Richie Bennet hit a three run homer and Michael Gibbs hit a solo homer in a 6 run second inning and Shaun Austin dominating for 6 1/3 innings. But the bullpen almost let the game slip away, but the Monks held on for a 7-5 series win, and our third straight World Series.



With 307 home runs this year the Monks topped last year's all-time record of 304 team home runs. As we head into the offseason I don't expect major changes, but we'll see what happens.