REGIONAL #77:  Like the previous regional, the draw for Regional #77 included one pennant winner, and also as previously, it was a Red Sox team from this century:  the infamous 2004 Red Sox, the first team in that franchise to win the World Series after an 86-year drought.  The Red Sox were the first team in history to come back from a 3 game deficit in the postseason (against the Yankees), so presumably they should be good in this win-or-die format, but after their 2013 WS Champ cousins were easily eliminated in the first round of the last regional by a bad team, I'm not putting any money on 2004 Boston.   There are plenty of good old-school teams in this regional with some Hall of Fame players, with versions of the Reds, Giants, Brewers a few years away from pennant wins.  I'll predict an all-1959 finals, with the Reds upsetting Boston in the first round and the Giants taking the top half of the bracket, with the Giants managing to stop the Reds from a second regional win in a row.

First round action:

The 1962 Astros/Colt 45s were an expansion team made up of castoffs and rejects and lost 96 games, but they did somehow manage to finish ahead of the Cubs and their fellow terrible expansion squad, the Mets.  They faced the 1996 A's, who lost 84 games themselves despite a godlike card from Mark McGwire and a classic steroid-era lineup--and rotation.  In a somewhat backwards arrangement, with little offense the Colts were hoping to roll on A's starter Ariel Prieto's card, while the A's wanted to avoid the card of 20-game loser Dick Farrell.  The Colts did find the landmines on Prieto's card quickly, jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the 1st, although a McGwire fielders choice made it 2-1 in the bottom of the inning.   A Bob Lillis double made it 3-1 in the 3rd, but then the steroids kicked in.  A 2-run HR by McGwire in the 5th, a 3-run shot by Berroa in the 7th, and then a second HR by McGwire, this one for 3 runs, in the 8th, and the Colts were out of bullets.  Final score:  12-3 Oakland, and it could have been worse if Mike Bordick hadn't hit into a triple play in the 6th.

The next first round game was a matchup of two teams that were both 3 years removed from a pennant.  Setting the lineup for the 1959 Giants, who won 83 games to finish third in the NL, I was thinking that this team was almost as good as the 1962 pennant winners, while the 1985 Brewers won only 71 games in a longer season and looked nowhere near the quality of the '82 Brew Crew.   However, looks can be deceiving.  The Giants jumped out to a quick lead in the top of the 1st on a Willie Mays 2-run homer, but the Brewers tied it up in the 3rd when a Cepeda error unsettled SF starter Sam Jones, who promptly walked three in a row and then allowed a squib single to Riles.  A 2-run single by Jim Davenport put the Giants up 4-2 in the 6th, but Riles doubled home a run in the 8th to narrow the gap to 4-3.   The Giants went down in order in the top of the 9th, and in the bottom the Giants had Stu Miller warming up but stuck with Jones, who had regained control after his earlier issues.  After a popout, Brewers pinch hitter and recent HOF inductee Ted Simmons rolled a HR 1-7/DO, missing the split with an 8.  Jones then faced the top of the order--two more HOFers in a row, Molitor and Yount, with the tying run in scoring position.  But, Jones dispatched with both HOFers, earning a tough 4-3 victory for the Giants.

A faceoff between two 8th place 60's AL teams, the 76-win 1962 Red Sox and the 92-loss 1965 Senators, got even worse when injuries decimated the already weak lineups of both squads.  The Red Sox lost starter Earl Wilson after 2 innings, and leading hitter Pete Runnels in the 6th, while the Senators lost the big bat of Frank Howard for 2 games in his first at-bat.  Neither depleted lineup could muster much offense, with the Senators eventually ending on top with a 2-1 win with Pete Richert tossing a 6-hitter, one a solo HR to Frank Malzone in the first inning.  Without Hondo, it's difficult to imagine this Senators team progressing much farther in the bracket.

The 2004 Red Sox recorded 98 wins and a WS championship from a wild card berth, and despite the flop of the 2013 team in the previous regional, on cardstock this team had to be considered regional favorites.  Their opponent, the 1959 Reds, were not at all the same team as the '61 Reds that won the NL, aside from Frank Robinson, as they only won 74 games to finish in the second division.  The Pedro Martinez vs. Don Newcombe pitching matchup looked like a good one, but the Reds showed early that they weren't intimidated by Pedro, with Bell singling home a run in the 3rd, and Roy McMillan hitting a 2-run HR off Martinez's card in the 4th.  Jason Varitek returned the favor with a solo HR off Newcombe's card in the bottom of the 4th to make it 4-1.  However, when McMillan hit yet another HR off Martinez's card in the 6th, it was time for emergency measures for the Sox, and they put in Scott Williamson in relief, with no hits on his card.  That wasn't entirely effective, either, as Frank Robinson smacked a 2-run HR in the 8th, and a Pinson double added an insurance run off Keith Foulke in the 9th while Newk was cruising.  Final score:  7-1 Reds, Newcombe with a 6 hitter, and another Red Sox champion is embarrassed in the first round.

The survivors:

A semifinal matchup by the Bay between the 1996 A's and the 1959 Giants got off to a quick start when Scott Brosius homered off Jack Sanford's card on the first roll of the game, and after a walk Sanford grooved one to Mark McGwire and the A's had a 3-0 lead before the Giants could record an out.   In the second inning, Brosius added a 2-run HR off his card this time, and the A's looked in control.  However, this A's team had dreadful starting pitching, and starter John Wasdin was a disaster just waiting to happen.  Jim Davenport punched a run across in the 5th, and he and Cepeda did likewise in the 6th to narrow the lead to 5-3 and send Wasdin to the showers.  With Sanford shutting down the A's with no hits past the 4th, Oakland had to turn to their relief tandem of Groom and Taylor, who had bailed out the team in the first round.   And they did so again, shutting down the Giants to save the game, including retiring Willie Mays as the go-ahead run in the 8th inning.  The 5-3 win gives the A's a shot at their 4th regional win (1931, 1957, 1989) but they enter the finals with the back half of a bad starting rotation and their only decent relievers depleted after being used in consecutive games.

MVP, roid warrior

Facing Jim Brosnan and the 1959 Reds without their main offensive weapon Frank Howard, the 1965 Senators could only muster 5 hits against Brosnan.  However, one of those hits was a 3-run homer by Howard's replacement, Jim King, and that was enough to give the unlikely Senators a 3-1 win and a berth in the regional finals.  Mike McCormick was sharp for the 'Nats, scattering seven hits (three by Ed Bailey), and Washington will get big Frank back for the finals against the A's, where they hope to join the '67 Senators as the sole representatives of that team name to win a regional.

The regional finals thus involved an unlikely pairing of flawed, under .500 teams, neither of which could be very excited about the Carlos Reyes vs. Howie Koplitz pitching matchup.  But, in the end it came down to the fact that one team had Mark McGwire and the other one didn't; McGwire hit two homers, driving in 3, and Mike Bordick added two RBI while Steinbach hit a solo HR to give the 1996 A's additional insurance against the 1965 Senators.  Reyes was quite effective until the 7th, when he walked the bases loaded, but with their top relievers burnt the A's had to turn to Jim Corsi, who was good enough to hang onto the save and bring home the 6-2 regional win for the A's.  McGwire was the obvious choice for regional MVP, with five homers and 11 RBI in the three games.

REGIONAL #76:  This group boasts one pennant winner, the 2013 Red Sox, but there are some other possible contenders lurking here.  The '82 Royals were hoping to duplicate regional wins by the '81 and '84 Royals, suggesting that they are going to be a tough out.   The 1953 Phillies might still have a few of the Whiz Kids still around, while the '83 Expos were hoping to be the first team to score a regional for that franchise. The 2019 Padres try to prove that their 2020 success wasn't a pandemic-induced fluke, and the 1994 Angels try to follow up on the success of the '89 team in Regional #74.  Even so, I'd bet on the Red Sox here, with a win over the Royals in the finals.

First round action:

Setting the lineups for the first round matchup between the division-winning 97-win 2012 Reds and the 1994 Angels, who went 47-68 in that strike-shortened season, gave me a bit of deja vu.  Part of it came because the 2013 version of these Reds reached the finals of Regional #59 (losing to the 2003 Rockies), and part of it was because this would be Chuck Finley's 4th start for the Angels in the past 14 regionals.  It turned out to be a tight one, with five lead changes and both Finley and Johnny Cueto driven out of the game in the 8th.  Ultimately, the favored Reds prevailed in an unlikely manner, as .206 hitting Wilson Valdez, subbing for an injured (for 7 games) Scott Rolen, hit a sac fly in the 8th that put the Reds up 6-5.  The Reds then called upon superstar reliever Aroldis Chapman, with nary a hit on his card.  Chapman struck out the first two batters he faced but Chad Curtis then rolled--and missed--a HR 1-6 DO split, and Chapman retired Harold Reynolds to strand Curtis at second and preserve the win.

The 2013 Red Sox won 97 games, the AL pennant, and the World Series, and were matched against the 2019 Padres, who lost 92 games but boasted a promising rookie named Fernando Tatis Jr.  On cardstock, the matchup didn't look very competitive but that's why you roll the dice, and the dice didn't roll well for the Red Sox.  By the 3rd inning, the BoSox were down 5-0 with alliterative Padre home runs from Margot, Myers, and Machado (all of their cards, as Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz didn't allow any on his card).  Boston could do nothing in response, hitting into four rally-killing double-plays over the course of the game, and by the time reliever Koji Uehara made his appearance in the 6th the game was out of hand.  Padre starter Chris Paddack scattered 8 hits, aided by the gbA's, and earned the complete game 6-1 win for the Padres as yet another pennant winner goes down in the first round.

The 1953 Phillies won 83 games and finished 3rd in the NL, but it was hard to see how aside from Robin Roberts and his 23 wins.  The 1988 Astros won 82 games in a longer season, but had a strong Astrodome-influenced pitching staff, probably more offense than the Phillies could muster, and the type of team speed that promised to give weak-armed Phillies catcher Smokey Burgess fits.  The Astros staked an early 2-0 lead and then erupted against Roberts in the 5th, with a two-run Puhl double followed by a two-run Glenn Davis homer making it 6-0.  Astros starter Mike Scott made just one mistake, allowing a solo HR to Phils SS Ted Kazanski (not to be confused with the Unabomber), and Scott recorded the 6-hit CG and a 6-1 victory for the Astros.  Note:  In his defense, Burgess did throw out two of four stolen base attempts by the Astros.

A solid, 90-win 1982 Royals team faced a decent squad of a similar vintage, the 82-win 1983 Expos who sported a AAA stealing season from LF Tim Raines.  Les Expos jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a Raines solo HR in the 3rd, and Raines added an RBI single in the 4th to make it 2-0, and Montreal starter Charlie Lea was cruising.  In the 8th, the Royals threatened but pinch runner Cesar Geronimo (1-16) got cut down at the plate to end the inning.  The Expos responded in the bottom of the 8th by sending Vida Blue to the showers with a quick run, and then Dan Quisenberry came in and threw gasoline on the fire.  When the smoke cleared, it was 6-0 Expos, and that's how it ended, with Lea pitching a 5-hit shutout to keep the hope alive for a first Expos regional title.

The survivors:

The 2019 Padres handled a World Series champion easily in the first round, but a division winner in the 2012 Reds proved too much to manage, as the Padres could only knock 3 hits against Mat Latos while the Reds took advantage of poor control by San Diego pitchers (7 walks, 4 in the 6th inning).  Xavier Paul, playing at DH as an injury replacement for Scott Rolen, had three hits and the Reds coast to a 5-1 win and a spot in the regional finals, where they seek a record 7th regional win for the franchise.

The second semifinal started auspiciously for the 1983 Expos when the leadoff batter for the 1988 Astros, CF Gerald Young (O HR on the year), blasted a homer off Expos starter Bryn Smith.   Things got even rockier for Smith in the 2nd inning, when he allowed four hits including a 3-run HR by Buddy Bell, and Smith was lifted for Schatzeder after recording only 5 outs and staking Houston to a 5-0 lead.  That was pretty much all the Astros Nolan Ryan needed, as Ryan tossed a 4-hit complete game with nine strikeouts.  For the second game in a row the Astros record a 6-1 win, and they still have plenty of depth in the starting rotation and a fresh bullpen moving into the regional finals.

Game over

When Joey Votto's fielders choice put the 2012 Reds up 1-0 in the top of the 1st of the regional final, it was the first time the 1988 Astros had been behind in the tournament.  A Billy Hatcher double did tie it 1-1 in the 2nd, but from then on it was all Reds--battering Astros starter Bob Knepper with solo HRs from Ludwick, Paul, and Todd Frazier, plus a two-run single from injury replacement Wilson Valdez.  The Reds were able to remove Homer Bailey in the 7th and turn things over to a strong bullpen, with Aroldis Chapman coming in to finish things out in the 9th, giving the Reds the 6-2 win and a tournament-best 7th regional title (to go with 1924, 1971, 1976, 1979, 1980, and 1993) for the franchise.  It was also redemption for these Reds, who were one win away from beating the eventual Series-winning Giants in the 2012 postseason when Cueto injured himself showing off his batting swing.

 

REGIONAL #75:  This group didn't include any pennant winners, or even any teams within a season of winning a pennant.   There were three teams that will go on to win pennants a few years down the road, and they were probably the favorites here:  the 1976 Phillies, the 1993 Indians, and the 1986 A's.   Given that these overviews are done without looking at the records or the cards of any of the teams involved, most of these squads are unfamiliar to me, although I thought that there were no great teams on hand here so any of these squads could have taken the regional.   If forced, I'd predicted a Phillies/Indians final, with the Phillies (1976, not the dreadful 1924 version) squeaking by for the regional title.  Turns out I was seriously wrong about that.

First round action:

Setting the lineup for the 81-81 1969 Astros, I was thinking that this team was better than I had thought they might be, particularly with 20-game winner Larry Dierker going for them on the mound.  That was NOT the reaction I had in reviewing the 55-win 1924 Phillies, which might have as bad a starting rotation as any team I've seen in this tournament.  Things then went pretty much as expected, with the Astros jumping out to a 9-0 lead by the 3rd inning and coasting from there to a 13-6 win.  Doug Rader had 2 homers and 4 RBI to pace the attack, although 8 of the 9 Astro batters had RBIs (we're looking at you, Johnny Edwards).  Cy Williams did his best for the Phillies with a HR and four RBI, and although Dierker wasn't particularly sharp, it didn't require much when you have 13 runs of support.

The 1976 Phillies won 101 games and the NL East; although they were swept by the Big Red Machine and denied a pennant, setting the lineup convinced me that this might qualify as a great team--it had offense, defense, and pitching.  Their first round opponent, the 1998 Orioles, only won 79 games but they boasted a prime steroid-era lineup, led by a pharmacologically enhanced Rafael Palmeiro and with Cal Ripken at the opposite end of his consecutive game streak that he began on the '82 team in the previous regional.  With two pretty fair pitchers in Steve Carlton and Mike Mussina facing off, the resulting slugfest was a bit surprising.  Schmidt led it off in the top of the 1st with a 2-run homer; Mike Bordick answered in the bottom of the 2nd with one of his own and the Orioles moved out to a 4-2 lead.  Dick Allen's 3-run shot in the 3rd made it 6-4, but a Chris Hoiles solo blast in the bottom of the inning narrowed it to 6-5.  In the 5th, Palmeiro juiced a 2-run shot to put the Orioles up 7-6; the teams traded runs in the 7th, the Phils score 2 in the 8th but the Orioles tied it in the bottom of the inning on a Brady Anderson double.  The game thus stands knotted at 9-9 after 9, and it's Ron Reed vs. Jesse Orosco as the squads head to extra innings.  The Phils get Bowa on 1st on a walk, then Garry Maddox misses a split HR/DO and 1-17 Bowa heads for home--roll: 20.  That brings up Luzinski, who lofts a FlyX to Brady Anderson:  Single-2, and the Phils score the go-ahead run.  Reed shuts down the O's in the bottom of the 10th, and the Phillies survive a tough one, showing that they won't go down without a fight.  Question:  Is it unnatural to yell at Tim McCarver's card, "If you know so much, how come you can't get a hit??"

Who are these guys?

The 76-win 1993 Indians were not nearly as good a team as I thought they might be, given their successes later in the decade, but they still seemed appreciably better than the 66-win 2013 Twins, who had hardly any names on their team that I recognized.  However, one of the names that I did, Justin Morneau, hit a 3-run HR in the top of the 1st, and another HR by Florimon in the 2nd made it 5-0 Twins and sent Indians starter Jose Mesa to an early shower.  Eric Plunk came in and held the Twins in check, and in the 5th Twins starter Sam Deduno (who?), with a no-hitter after 4, was battered by a succession of Cleveland hits and by the time reliever Caleb Thielbar (who?) managed to douse the flames, the Indians led 6-5.  However, Plunk eventually hit his limit and turned the ball over to Derek Lilliquist in the 8th, and that didn't go well as Brian Dozier finished things up for the Twins the way they began--with a 3-run homer, and Perkins came in for the 9th to retire the Indians in order and preserve the 8-6 win for the Twins.
 

The 76-win 1986 A's were still a few years away from their Bash Brothers prime, but they still looked a fair amount better than the 62-win 1957 Cubs, who looked a bit like Ernie Banks and the seven dwarves.  But chalk one up for the dwarves, as the Cubs used a 2-run HR in the first inning by Dale Long and three unearned runs in the 6th courtesy of a Bochte 2-base error to give the Cubs the 5-4 win.  Banks was hitless for the Cubs, while Kingman and Tony Phillips both homered for the A's, but Moe Drabowsky was just good enough for the Cubs to notch the complete game win.

The survivors:

In gushing about the near-greatness of the 1976 Phillies, I failed to note that their weak link was probably their starting rotation, although they could tap an experienced starter in Jim Lonborg to face the 1969 Astros.  In contrast, the Astros had a deep staff that was likely better than the Phils (no doubt aided by the Astrodome, and no ballpark effects here in the Basic game) and Tom Griffin was a strong counter to Lonborg.  The Astros got on the board in the 2nd on a sac fly by John Edwards (the only Astro who didn't have an RBI in the first round), but a Johnstone double followed by a Schmidt homer in the 3rd made it 3-1 Philadelphia.  Norm Miller singled in a run in the 6th to make it 3-2, but in the 7th a walk followed by a 2-base error by "1" CF Garry Maddox put the go-ahead run in scoring position for Houston.  The Phillies called upon Tug McCraw to preserve the lead, but Denis Menke lined a hard single, scoring two and putting the Astros up 4-3.  Griffin settled in and shut down the Phils the rest of the way, giving the Astros the 4-3 win and a spot in the regional finals, where they hope to join two previous Houston regional winners (1972 and 1980).

The second semifinal featured two 60-win teams who were underdog winners in the first round, but neither inspired much confidence as they went deeper into their rotations.   The 2013 Twins picked up a run in the top of the 1st on a sac fly from Joe Mauer, but the 1957 Cubs responded in the bottom of the inning with back to back HRs by Moryn and Banks.  Banks added a second solo shot in the 4th and Bob Speake did the same in the 5th, pushing Cubs out to a 4-1 lead.  However, a solo HR by Mauer in the 6th and a 2-run shot by Morneau in the 8th tied things up at 4-4.  In the bottom of the 8th, the Cubs get runners on 1st and 3rd with two out but coming to the plate is defensive replacement Jerry Kindall, a .160 hitter with a .472 OPS, and there is little other option at 3b on the bench.  So Kindall bats, and of course hits a double off Twins reliever Anthony Swarzak's card, putting the Cubs up 5-4.  In the 9th, Cubs starter Bob Rush allows a leadoff hit and is pulled for Jim Brosnan, who retires the side in order and sends the Cubs to the finals with a 5-4 win.

Shoulda kept this guy

It was thus the 1969 Astros with Denny Lemaster against the 1957 Cubs and Don Elston for the regional title, two teams with serious flaws but with a proven ability to win.  The Astros moved to a 1-0 lead in the 4th on a Norm Miller sac fly, but timely singles by Bobby Adams and Chuck Tanner pushed the Cubs out front 2-1 in the 5th.  It stayed that way until the top of the 8th, when Elston walked two and was replaced by Jim Brosnan, who had saved the semifinal game.  However, Denis Menke singled past defensive liability Dale Long at 1b to tie the game.  Knotted 2-2 in the 9th, Brosnan lucked out when Doug Rader missed a HR 1-10/DO split, but a walk and an infield in grounder put two runners in scoring position.  Brosnan induced another infield in grounder from Edwards, and then faced Joe Morgan with two outs.  One never wants to face a Hall of Famer with the game on the line, and Morgan smacked a single (missing a DO/SI split) to score two, promptly stole second, and then scored on a Marty Martinez base hit.  The shell-shocked Cubs could muster nothing against Lemaster in the bottom of the 9th, and the '69 Astros carry home the regional title.