GAME 1 @ Washington: Gridlock 11, Legends 4

The Legends got off to a good start in the top 1st, as Johnny Damon and Mark Kotsay hit one-out singles off Roy Halladay to put men on the corners, then scored the game's opening run on a Todd Helton grounder that forced Kotsay at second as Damon scored. The Gridlock cracked out their big sticks in the bottom 2nd off Colby Lewis, as Eric Chavez hit a leadoff homer to tie the game and Alex S. Gonzalez added a two-out, two-run shot to give D.C. a 3-1 lead. Tood Walker continued the batting-practice theme in the bottom 3rd with a solo homer that gave the Gridlock a 4-1 edge. The Legends answered with a couple long balls of their own, as Kotsay hit a leadoff homer in the top 4th and Helton belted a solo shot in the top 6th to close to within a run. But Lewis was still pitching for the Legends in the bottom 7th, and Jason Giambi smacked a one-out solo homer on Lewis' 135th pitch of the night to give the Gridlock a 5-3 lead. The Legends turned to Buddy Groom, and things unraveled quickly from there. Eric Chavez reached on a Tony Womack error, moved to second on a Shawn Green grounder and scored on a Marquis Grissom single. Then Brian Schneider mashed a two-run homer to right, and it was 8-3. Gonzalez singled, and Shane Spencer came off the bench to hit a moon shot over the fence in left-center. To add insult to injury, the Gridlock added a final run in the bottom 8th when Joe Roa walked Grissom with the bases loaded.

GAME 2 @ Washington: Legends 5, Gridlock 3

The Gridlock took an early 2-0 lead in the bottom 1st as Cliff Floyd hit a leadoff single, Dave Berg smacked an RBI double and Grissom added an RBI single before Lexington starter Denny Neagle could register a first out. Grissom hit a solo homer with two out in the bottom 3rd to give Washington a 3-0 lead. The Legends fought back in the top 4th, as Kotsay hit a two-run homer off R.A. Dickey -- the first hit Dickey allowed -- to pull the visitors within a run. Dickey was solid over seven innings, allowing just two hits, and it took his removal and some horrendous fielding by the Gridlock infield for the Legends to take the lead. Elmer Dessens took the hill to start the top 8th, but he gave way to Stephen Randolph after giving up a one-out single to Troy O'Leary. Dernell Stenson then hit what should have been a DP grounder to shortstop Matt Kata, but Kata muffed the play to keep the Legends alive. Womack followed with an RBI single to tie the game, and two batters later, Mark Kotsay reached first when catcher Matthew LeCroy misplayed a ball in front of the plate, loading the bases. Helton then ripped a two-run single to give the Legends a 5-3 lead. Legends reliever Jose Jimenez dodged several bullets over the final two innings for the save, and Lexington headed back home having taken an away game from the Gridlock.

GAME 3 @ Lexington: Gridlock 6, Legends 3

The Gridlock took a 1-0 lead in the top 2nd on a solo homer by LeCroy off Steve Trachsel, but the Legends came back in the bottom frame with consecutive one-out singles by Brad Wilkerson and Eddie Perez off Kyle Snyder to put men on the corners for John McDonald, who hit a deep sac fly to right to tie the game at 1-1. The visitors went back on top in the top 5th when Snyder helped his own cause with a two-run single. But Snyder undid his good deeds in the bottom 6th when he gave up a two-run homer to Eddie Perez to again tie the game. The Gridlock put men on the corners with one out in the top 7th when Trachsel was pulled for Groom, who again proved toxic as he gave up a two-out, two-run triple to Marco Scutaro, followed by an RBI single from Giambi, to give Washington a 6-3 lead. The Legends threatened in the bottom 8th, drawing three walks from Randolph to load the bases with one out, but Paul Shuey came in and got Perez to ground into a 5-4-3 double play to deflate the Legends' hopes.

GAME 4 @ Lexington: Gridlock 8, Legends 5

The turning point of the series. The Legends got off to a fast start in the bottom 1st, as Womack hit a leadoff single off Halladay, stole second and scored on a Damon single. Then Damon stole second, moved to third on a Kotsay grounder and scored on a Helton sac fly, and Lexington had a 2-0 lead. Perez added an RBI single in the bottom 3rd to make it 3-0. The Gridlock got their first run in the top 5th on a two-out RBI triple by Kata off Ben Sheets. But in the bottom 7th, the Legends again took advantage of Gridlock mistakes, as Kotsay reached second on a Chavez error and scored two batters later on a Randolph wild pitch to again stake the home team to a three-run lead. Sheets allowed only five hits over seven innings, throwing just 92 pitches, but the Legends elected to start the top 8th with Jose Jimenez on the hill. With one out, Floyd singled, Todd Walker added a pinch-single and Giambi walked to load the bases and chase Jimenez. Joe Roa was brought in to face Chavez, who ripped a two-run single to cut the Legends' lead to 4-3. Shawn Green then hit a shallow fly to freeze the runners, but Schneider came in to pinch-hit and beat out an infield single to load the bases with two out. Grisson followed with a two-run single to give the Gridlock a 5-4 lead, then Kata grounded a single to plate another run. The Legends turned to Rosman Garcia to stem the bleeding, but Mark Teixeira lined a two-run double to left-center to complete a seven-run frame. The Legends got a pinch-homer from Stenson off Shuey in the bottom 8th, but it was too little, too late, and the Gridlock were a game away from ensuring their return to the AL in 2005.

GAME 5 @ Lexington: Legends 9, Gridlock 4

The Legends decided not to go down without a fight, tearing into Gridlock starter Ramon Ortiz and Washington's porous defense in the bottom 1st. Damon hit a one-out single and Kotsay and Helton walked to load the bases. Wilkerson failed in his attempt to bunt Damon home, as Ortiz snagged the ball and fired to Schneider to get the second out at the plate. But then Ortiz misplayed Eddie Perez' hit to the mound, and the Legends had their first run. McDonald followed with a two-run single, then O'Leary lined a single up the middle that saw Perez beat Grissom's errant throw to the plate and McDonald come home with the fifth run of the inning as Schneider chased the ball around the backstop. Schneider hit an RBI single in the top 2nd off Scott Elarton for Washington's first run, but Helton countered in the bottom frame with a two-run blast that gave the Legends a 7-1 lead. Giambi cut the lead to 7-3 with a two-run homer in the top 3rd, and Grissom added a leadoff shot in the top 4th to make it a three-run game. But the Legends added two runs in the bottom 7th on a run-scoring Helton DP and an RBI double by Perez to gain a final measure of distance and send the series back to D.C.

GAME 6 @ Washington: Gridlock 2, Legends 0

Washington's R.A. Dickey and Lexington's Steve Trachsel both brought their A-game to Game 6. Trachsel surrendered solo homers to LeCroy and Floyd in the bottom 3rd, but allowed just one other hit in seven innings of work. Unfortunately for him and the Legends, Dickey was even better, getting out of a potential jam in the top 5th -- created by a Floyd error that put two men on with one out -- by striking out Trachsel and Womack. Dickey allowed just three hits in seven innings, striking out 10. The Legends' last gasp came in the top 9th, when Shuey was brought in with two out and a man on first. Perez singled and McDonald walked to load the bases, but Shuey got O'Leary to fly out to center, and the Gridlock fans filed out of Safeco Field to torch some cars in celebration.