The Kansas City Star from Kansas City, Missouri • 43

Call it MISSOURI 41 NEBRASKA 24 A town 1 1 i Yankees get win but tempers flare Mil's 24-game losing streak to Nebraska was the third-longest current streak going into Saturday game The list: 39 34 By DICK KAEGEL The Kansas City Star imn tut BOSTON A sharp battle was expected when Pedro Martinez was matched against Roger Clemens It turned into all-out warfare Bad blood spilled all over Fenway Park on Saturday as Clemens and the New York Yankees held off the Boston Red Sox 4-3 taking the lead In the American League Championship Series two games to one The old rivals brawled in the fourth inning after two incidents involving Martinez and Clemens And it got both silly and ugly The focal point came when Martinez slammed Yankees bench coach Don Zimmer lo the ground think when this series began everyone knew it was going to be quite a Red Sox manager Grady little said "It was going to be very emotional a lot ol intensity But I think upgraded it from a battle to a The trouble began in the half of the inning Martinez walked Jorge Posada Nick Johnson singled and 1 lideki Matsui bounced an RBI double into the right -field stands Martinez threw a pitch that brushed Karim Garcia on the back and then struck his bat as he ducked The fuming Garcia took his base while SeeALCSC-13 James family a baseball bunch Bill fames fun fact No 1: JAMES can be an acronym for A Man Engaging LAWRENCF The Bill lames family Has ad justed They say baseball is a game of adjustments Well Isaac and Reuben the 4 sons an wearing Boston Red Sox T-shirts Susan the mom notes that Red Sox slugger and character Kevin Millar looked better with hair And Rachel the daughter is on the edge of the couch knocking on wood for Red Sox catcher Ja-SonVaritek Rachel who is 17 is very much into knocking on wood for luck these days so much more fun rooting for the Red Rachel says For so many years while Bill James was a mere writer challeng- ing the conventional (and quite often stupid) thinking of baseball people the family rooted heartily for the fcome town Royals But this season husband and Dad be gan his work as a senior baseball ope rations ativis er for the Boston Red Sox I le went inside And like we say baseball is a game of adjustments tee NSNANSKI Commentary JIM BARCUSThe Kansas City Star Mil's Brad Smith left a bunch of Comhuskert behind on hi 47-yard TD catch in the second quarter Tigers fans brought down the goalposts after the game Tigers back in the black after beating Huskers SeePOSNANSKlC-14 in front of a sellout crowd of 68349 who braved a nearly game-long rainfall to tear down both goal posts So there was dazzle too But above all there was Pinkel Harpooned by fans and media for previous offensive game plans Pinkel ordered up a fourth-down pass off a fake 32-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter And when holder Sonny Ricrio hit tight end Victor Sesay with a 14-yard TD strike Mizzou was not only up 28-24 but kick-started on the way to a 27-point final period that hung the first defeat on Nebraska in six games "You might criticize me" Pinkel said rolling his eyes as he added know you'd never criticize me that we By MIKE DeARMOND The Kaniet City Star COLUMBIA Unleashing Brad Smith and throwing the dice like a riverboat gambler Missouri head coach Gary Pinkel threw caution into the rain on an incredible Saturday night on Faurot Field Ending nearly a quarter of a century of frustration in a 41-24 upset of No 10 Nebraska Mizzou beat the Com huskers for the first time since 1978 The Tigers with Brad Smith not only running for three touchdowns but also catching a 47-yard scaring pass did itwithrazzle Mizzou recovered four Nebraska fumbles and picked off a Jammal Lord pass as the final minutes ticked away Cubs one win from Series See MU C-8 -Hfl'lld I By BOB DUTTON The Kantii City Star slide hits three in a row Victory for Kansas disappears in thin air Saturday's scores Jayhawks fall down in OT at Colorado Cowboys keep K-State reeling MIAMI Looking for passion and gritty drama in the national pastime? Not here The National League Championship Series is quickly turning into a coronation for the Chicago Cubs those legendary losers after Saturday's 8-3 victory over the Florida Martins at Pro Flayer Stadium The Cubs coolly derailed erratic D-TTain rookie lefthander Dontrelle Willis with four runs in the first inning on a grand slam by Aramis Ramirez The Martins never recovered Ramirez a midseason acquisition from Pittsburgh finished with six RBls in helping the Cubs take a commanding 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven scries He added an RBI Angle ibi the third and a second hornet this one with the bases empty in the seventh 'utUuiJFI Ramirez even imitated teammate Sammy Sosartr 1 game that was as sloppy as it was entertaining Kansas led 38-30 late in the third before Colorado rallied for a 44-44 tie with 14 seconds left in regulation A 35-yard field goal by Johnny Beck put KU ahead 47-44 at the beginning of overtime Rut Colorado's Brian Calhoun countered with a 12-yard touchdown run that proved to be the game-winner "We should have won this game KU coach Mark Mangipo said "But we didn't do A victory would have given KU a 5-1 record for the first time since 1995 while moving the Jayhawks "We don't seem to have the heart we used to have before" Houchin said following unranked Oklahoma 38-34 victory over -State "When I wake (today) it wfD be the same feeling I have right now Gutless It feds like your stomach dropped out We've got to do some thing about this' On the subject of dropping out say so long to No 22 K-Statek stay in the polls Once considered a team that might make a run at the national tide the Wildcats are in a free fall that they never could have imagined Can vou say Port Worth Bowf? By JASON KING The Kansas City Star BOULDER Colo As he made his way to the locker room Saturday Kansas quarterback Bill Whit-temore glanced at the mound of Colorado players who had gathered in a dogpile in the Folsom Field end zone the Whittemore said "that should have been out there Instead the Jayhawks left Boulder with a 50-47 overtime loss in a By HOWARD R1CHMAN The Knt City Slr STILLWATER Okia As he vanished into a tunnel Saturday at Boone Pickens Stadium Kansas State defensive end Thomas Houch ir stopped ki his tracks looked back toward the firid and stared The view from where he stands grows more bleak by the game Houchin thinks he knows why But be firmly believes the point has to get across if the Wildcats are going to rally from their nightmare SeeNLCS C-12 See KANSAS C-7 See K-STATE C-6.