REGIONAL #67:  The draw for Regional #67 included three pennant winners from three distinctly different eras of baseball.   Also included were two consecutive bad versions of the Rockies, one of Marge Schott's initial Reds teams, and a couple of other 21st century mediocrities that typically elicit a "who are these guys?" response from me.   I guess it's a sad commentary when I can recognize nearly every player on a team that played before I was born, but have no clue who is on a team that played three years ago.

First round action:

The ground rules of this tournament require starting pitchers to have at least 100 IP, and if there are not 4 starters that meet this minimum, then they are selected in descending IP order.  Typically I am able to select from among 5-6 starters with this rule, but the 2012 Rockies had exactly ONE starter with 100+ IP--Jeff Francis and his 5.58 ERA.  Perhaps this is why the Rockies lost 98 games.  Although they were facing a 91-loss 2017 Padres team, Francis could only make it 5 innings before leaving with a 5-1 deficit, and matters weren't helped with injuries to Tulowitzki and Helton, the only two guys on their team I had ever heard of!  The Rockies did put together a rally in the top of the 9th, finally chasing SP Jhoulys Chacin, but Brad Hand came in to preserve the 7-4 win.

Assembling the lineup for the NL pennant-winning 2000 Mets, facing the 1985 Reds in the first round, required me to determine who their "nameless" starting LF was--there was no name on the card because this player wasn't a member of the MLBPA.  To do so, I had to check the stats in Baseball Reference to see who it was, and turns out that it was Benny Agbayani.  However, looking at his stats on BR, I discovered that Strat gave him an extra double.  He hit 19, but Strat gave him 20, and it's not a typo because his slugging percentage is also incorrect on his card.  So Strat may not have given him a name, but they gave him a better card based on inflated stats!  Anyhow, Benny didn't hit any doubles, but he did draw two walks, and Derek Bell and Todd Pratt each nailed 3-run homers off Mario Soto to lead the Mets and Al Leiter to an easy 9-2 win.  No word on how much Pete Rose had riding on the game, or who he bet on.

Faced with the challenge of playing the NL pennant winning 1951 Giants, the 2013 Rockies decided that if you can't beat 'em, join 'em--so they started Jhoulys Chacin, the same guy who beat the 2012 Rockies in the first game of this regional.  And Chacin did a similar job, holding the Giants to 2 runs in 7 innings before falling apart late in the game and allowing a homer to Wes Westrum.  However, Sal the Barber Maglie was better, scattering 7 hits and earning the 5-1 complete game victory for the Giants.

The 1920 Dodgers squad won the NL pennant, but assembling the lineup for this team made me wonder if this might be the weakest pennant winner in my collection.  The team is basically Zack Wheat and the eight dwarves; there is little power, not much speed, and a pitching staff that is nothing to write home about.  As a result, I was skeptical that they would fare well against a bad modern team, and the 92-loss 2014 Twins fit that bill well.  Starting for Brooklyn, spitballer Burleigh Grimes held the Twins to only 6 hits, but apparently had trouble gripping the wet ball while fielding it, committing two errors in the 2nd inning that allowed two runs to score.  And that was basically the game, as the only run Brooklyn could muster came when Wheat tripled and was single home by Hy Myers.  Wheat did go 3 for 4 but had little help against an effective Phil Hughes, and the Twins move on to the semis with a 3-1 upset win.

The survivors

Although the 91-loss 2017 Padres were clear underdogs to the 2000 Mets pennant winners, they opened the top of the first with a quick lead on a Solarte solo HR.  However, the Mets answered with two in the bottom of the 1st, one on a solo HR by Agbayani to lead off the inning, and they added two more in the 2nd.  In the top of the 5th, the Padres loaded the bases courtesy of a few Mike Hampton walks, and Wil Myers doubled in two of the baserunners to narrow the score to 4-3.  However, the Mets again responded, scoring 3 in the bottom of the 5th with Agbayani hitting his second homer of the game, both coming off Padres starter Lamet's solid 6-5 home run reading.  Hampton was largely able to control the pesky Padres the rest of the way, and the 2000 Mets head to the regional finals with a 7-4 victory.

The 2014 Twins once again attempted to unseat a pennant winner by keying upon the latter's defensive lapses, moving out to a 3-1 lead over the 1951 Giants through 2 NY errors and an Escobar double.  However, unlike the Twins' first round opponent, the Giants were able to retaliate with a Whitey Lockman 3-run homer pushing NY to a 5-3 lead in the 6th.  Despite then allowing a solo shot to Brian Dozier, Giants starter Larry Jansen was able to hold onto the lead for a narrow 5-4 victory to set up a regional final between two pennant winners--the first time this has happened since Regional #31 (which featured the '53 Dodgers vs. '24 Senators).  However, on their last AB of the game, Giants 2b Eddie Stanky was injured and he will miss the regional final.

A big-time regional final matchup between two NL pennant winners, both from New York.  The 1951 Giants put Dave Koslo on the mound, and the 2000 Mets countered with Glendon Rusch.  Despite being down to the #3 starters on each team, both pitchers were in solid form, although Koslo found himself repeatedly pitching out of jams.  The Mets dodged a bullet in the bottom of the 2nd, when Bobby Thomson doubled with fleet rookie CF Willie Mays on first, but Mays was nailed at home.  However Rusch had some control issues in the 4th, and with the bases loaded Agbayani couldn't get to a Westrum liner, putting the Giants up 2-0.  The Mets pushed across a run in the 7th on an Edgardo Alfonzo RBI single; the Giants responded by putting runners on 2nd and 3rd, but Mets closer Armando Benitez came in and prevented any runs from scoring.  Benitez did allow a solo HR to Mays in the 8th, and in the 9th the Mets put men on 1st and 3rd, but Piazza fouled out and Zeile whiffed, giving the 1951 Giants the regional title, with nary a shot heard 'round the world.