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.