THE MORNING CALL TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2009

SO YOU KNOW SPORTS GET YOUR KIXX FIX Can you play soccer? The Kixx of the National League is holding an open tryout for players 18 and older BLOG: Groller’s Corner on Allshouse from 10 a.m.-noon Saturday at Tri-State Sports, 63 Concord themorningcall.com/blogs Road, Aston. There is a $75 tryout fee. Info: www.kixxonline.com.

NLCS GAME 4: VS. Mathis’ J-ROLL: JUBILATION clutch gets Angels back in it Los Angeles beats Yankees 5-4 in 11 innings to cut N.Y.’s series lead to 2-1.

By Greg Beacham OF THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ANAHEIM, Calif. — When led off Game 3 with a homer into the bullpen, this AL championship series seemed un- complicated. Power hitting and steady pitching appeared to be driving New York to the . About 261 minutes, 14 , six hom- ers and several big blunders later, a win- ning hit by a backup catcher left only one thing certain in this cuckoo series: The Los Angeles Angels won’t be trampled by the mighty Yankees. Jeff Mathis drove home with a two-out in the 11th inning, and the Angels survived a second straight ALCS thriller, beating New York 5-4 Mon- day to trim the Yankees’ series lead to 2-1. “There was a lot of great baseball on that field ... ,” Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. “There were a lot of twists and turns, and both teams played a terrific game. We just got it done at the end.” Kendrick, himself a part-time infielder, homered and tripled before singling with two outs in the 11th off rookie Alfredo Aceves. Mathis followed with his drive up against the left-field wall, and Kendrick slid home well ahead of a desperate throw, set- ting off an on-field celebration of the back- ups’ bonanza. Mathis, a .211 hitter in the regular sea- son, came up with his third late-inning, ex- tra-base hit of this outlandish series, just two days after the clubs’ 310-minute, 13-in-

Please see YANKEES SPORTS 6

ROB KANDEL / THE MORNING CALL Phillies' (11) is met by teammates after scoring the winning run in the ninth inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday at . Rollins delivers dramatic two-out two-RBI double in bottom of ninth to rally Phillies past Dodgers.

By Mandy Housenick Another memory for OF THE MORNING CALL PHILADELPHIA — Goat to hero. Jimmy Rollins came into the ninth hit- ting just .167 in the series but delivered a two-out, two-run double in the bottom of the suffering Phillies fans ninth inning off Dodgers stud to lift the Phillies to a 5-4 PHILADELPHIA — victory on Monday night in Game 4 of the Phillies fans now have NLCS. a new NLCS Game 4 The Phillies lead the best-of-seven series JAE C. HONG / ASSOCIATED PRESS memory they’ll take 3-1 and can clinch the pennant with a win in Jeff Mathis of the Angels reacts as he rounds fondly with them to Game 5 Wednesday night at Citizens Bank first base after driving in the winning run to the grave. Park. beat the Yankees 5-4 on Monday. Remember that The Phillies were in position to mount a pitoval come-from-be- comeback in the sixth and eighth innings, hind win in Game 4 (each time they had the go-ahead run on last year in Chavez Ra- base), but waited for more ninth-inning dra- vine, you know, the As usual, game? Keith Please see PHILLIES SPORTS 6 That one was run-of- the-mill compared to Groller LOOKING AHEAD: Teams take a day off today. what happened late Phillies try to clinch the series in Game 5 Wednes- Eagles can Monday night at Citizens Bank Park. day. Down to their last out against one of the most imposing closers in baseball, the Phil- MULTIMEDIA lies pretty much clinched a return to the Blogs: More on the playoffs in Phillies Files and World Series with a stunning 5-4 win over go either way Groller’s Corner. what has to be a shell-shocked Los Angeles team. ROB KANDEL / THE MORNING CALL Pictures: Phillies postseason photo f there is one thing everyone should Manny Ramirez of the Dodgers reacts after galleries. have learned over the years about try- grounding out in the second inning against themorningcall.com/sports ing to figure out Please see GROLLER SPORTS 6 the Phillies on Monday in Philadelphia. I the under Andy Reid, it is that nobody OUTDOORS can figure them out. Not by the end of Oc- tober, anyway. The kind of game Little Lehigh a year-round gem for anglers they played Sunday against the Oakland From the bank or the creek Raiders in a 13-9 loss is VIDEO rains, it muddies up very quickly. indicative of the way bed, it’s a valuable resource, Still, the stream is an excellent resource Reid’s teams have tradi- Nick Fishing the Little Lehigh with expert for anglers. A special regulations area for Bob Metz. tionally teetered al- Fierro says expert Bob Metz. catch-and-release fly-fishing-only provides most every season on themorningcall.com/outdoors a wonderful spot for novice through experi- the NFL’s nearly invisi- By Gary R. Blockus enced fly fishermen to ply their passion. ble line between excellence and failure. OF THE MORNING CALL Most of the rest of the stream is a pure joy Clearly, they have fallen toward excel- along with one of his custom-built fishing whether anglers are interested in fishing lence most of the time. Five conference Bob Metz has been fishing the Little Le- rods, in August during the picnic of the Le- from the banks or wading in the water away championship game appearances over the high Creek in Allentown for more than 40 high River Stocking Association at the Wal- from the special regulations area. last eight seasons is the proof. This year’s years. The 62-year-old former insurance nutport Canal. My friend Gordie Snyder Metz loves to wade as he fishes, and team certainly has the ability and the time man knows the creek so intimately that — won the prize, but offered to let me take knows practically every medium and large half-jokingly half-seriously — he had advantage of the guided tour of the flowing rock that sits in the creek bed and along the “guide” shirts made up with his name to gem that bisects the Lehigh Parkway. banks. He joked about the time he tripped Please see EAGLES SPORTS 4 highlight his prowess. “This is one of the top 10 trout streams in over a rock he knew was there — on a frigid Metz also is a master craftsman when it Pennsylvania, especially in the East,” Metz day in February — and by the time he got MORE INSIDE comes to rod building, and last week on bragged. “It’s a cold water fishery. It used to back to his car, he had icicles hanging from A Wednesday, the day before the surprising be even better 30, even 20 years ago, but it’s his fishing vest. Desperate times for the Eagles. early fall snow flurries hit the Lehigh Val- degraded a lot since then.” Wednesday started out very cold as he PAGE C4 ley, Metz led a guided tour of a two-mile Metz blamed the housing and construc- hit the water by 7:30 a.m., but wading in the stretch of the Little Lehigh from just above tion boom in the area of the Little Lehigh as creek never approached uncomfortable be- the red covered bridge off 24th Street in the main reason for its deterioration. Even cause the water temperature was in the low BLOG Allentown to below the iron bridge near the though the water was gin clear this day, 50s. While the sun even came out to make it More on the Birds in Eagles Insiders. Lehigh Valley Road Runners house in the construction has allowed all kinds of mud a beautiful day, it was not a great day for themorningcall.com/eagles Lehigh Parkway. and runoff to flow into the water, lowering The crafty angler auctioned his services, its level over the years, he said. When it Please see OUTDOORS SPORTS 2