REGIONAL #78:   This regional had no pennant winners, but at a quick glance it seemed that all of the teams in the bottom half of the bracket were within three years of a pennant, while only one squad (the '69 A's) could make that claim among the top half teams.   So I guessed it would be those A's, looking for a second regional in a row for that franchise, against the survivor of the tough matchups in the lower half in the finals.   I had no clue who that will be, but whoever it is, I thought that survivor would win the regional.

First round action:

The 1924 A's only won 71 games, but the nucleus of their later great teams was beginning to form here--Al Simmons, Bing Miller, Jimmie Dykes, and Eddie Rommel tapped as the starter.  In contrast, the 2003 Twins won 90 games and the AL Central, and although they didn't sport any Hall of Famers, they did have the formidable Johan Santana on the mound.   Things got off to a fast start in the bottom of the 1st when leadoff hitter Jacque Jones blasted a homer, but Rommel largely settled down, although the Twins scored on a Rivas sac fly in the 4th and a Cory Koskie RBI single in the 7th.   The A's finally got on the scoreboard in the 8th to make it 3-1, but the rally against a tiring Santana was killed by a gbA from Bing Miller.  Santana stuck it out for the 9th in an effort to preserve the bullpen for later rounds, but a walk and a hit put Miller up to bat as the go-ahead run;  Santana held on, Miller popped out, and the Twins move on with a 3-1 win.

The 1969 A's were on their way towards greatness, winning 88 games and finishing second in the AL West; the 1941 Cubs were receding from their 1930s greatness, but tapped Bill Lee to start to try to recapture those glory days.  But the most evident factor in this game was my terrible managing skills.  After a Babe Dahlgren solo shot put the Cubs up 1-0 early in the game, Reggie Jackson doubled on a missed HR split and the A's led 2-1 entering the bottom of the 8th.  Catfish Hunter was throwing a 3-hitter but he had a solid 5-5 HR that was making me nervous, and I was eyeing reliever Jim Roland, who had some control issues but no hits other than singles on his card.  However, I decided to stick with Hunter, and of course the first hitter for the Cubs, Lou Stringer: 5-5 roll.  Game tied, it goes to extra innings.   Lee is doing well and I leave him in for the 10th, his last inning of eligibility.  Lee retires the first two batters in order, but walks Rick Monday to bring up the guy the Cubs did not want to see this inning:  Reggie Jackson.  Decision time again:  intentional walk or no?  I decide...pitch to him.  Boom, 2-8 roll, solid HR.  Bando then goes back to back, and the shell-shocked Cubs go down in order in the bottom of the inning to Roland.  Final score, A's 5-2, 10 innings.

This first round matchup involved two good teams that each made the postseason.  The 2010 Phillies won 97 games and the NL East, and represented a nicely balanced combination of power, defense, speed, and pitching.   Their opponents, the 2013 Indians, won 92 games and earned a wild card berth, but didn't seem to me to be nearly as solid top to bottom as the Phils, and facing 20-game winner Roy Halladay on the mound I didn't like Cleveland's chances.  The Indians jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 2nd on a Michael Bourn single; Carlos Ruiz did the same for the Phils in the 3rd but Carlos Santana's double in the bottom of the inning put Cleveland back up, 2-1.  Inning after inning, the Phils would get runners into scoring position but Indians starter Justin Masterson kept them stranded.  In the bottom of the 7th, Cleveland put men on first and third with two out, and I decided to bring in Brad Lidge, even though I was actually at the playoff game where Albert Pujols crushed a homer off Lidge that may still not have come down.  Sure enough, the first batter up, defensive replacement Yan Gomes, rolls the HR on Lidge's card, and in the 8th a 2-base error by Jimmy Rollins (the third of the game for the Phils, a squad of all 2s and 1s) scores two more and adds to the lead.  Final score, Cleveland 8, Philadelphia 1.

The 1959 Braves won 86 games as the runner-up in the NL; only two years after their '57 pennant, the middle of their lineup still boasted Aaron, Mathews, and Adcock and they had two 20-game winners in Spahn and Burdette to count on. The 2014 Astros lost 92 games, and although they had the seeds of a pennant winner in Altuve, Springer, and Keuchel, they had little else.  So, it was a bit of a surprise that after 9 innings, the score was knotted at 3-3, with homers by Springer and Mathews providing much of the scoring.  The Braves loaded the bases in the bottom of the 10th, but reliever Tony Sipp ended the threat, and neither team could score until the 14th, when the Astros drilled three extra-base hits off Milwaukee reliever Bob Rush's card, and the Braves had no answer as the Astros score the 5-3 upset.  The Braves displayed the syndrome that kills a lot of favorites--the tendency to strand runners in scoring position and to hit into double-plays, as they could only convert their 16 hits into 3 runs.

The survivors:

Neither the 2003 Twins nor the 1969 A's demonstrated much offense in their first round matchups (at least in regulation innings), and their semifinal matchup looked similar, with both Blue Moon Odom and Kenny Rogers holding the bats in check.  RBI singles from Shannon Stewart, Torii Hunter, and Phil Roof had the score at 2-1 Twins entering the 7th.  The A's had two hits and a walk to knock out Rogers, but in the middle of that rally AJ Pierzyski nailed Campaneris in a stolen base attempt and Latroy Hawkins came in to squelch the rally.  Things remained unchanged until the bottom of the 9th, when two Twins errors (both "2" fielders) put runners on 1st and 2nd with one out and Reggie Jackson at the plate.  Jackson singled, pinch runner Jose Tartabull (1-15) headed for home--out at the plate.  Twins closer Eddie Guardado then fanned Sal Bando for the final out, and the Twins head to the finals with a 2-1 win.

Two homers, no guitar solos

A wild semifinal game between contemporaries, the 2013 Indians and the 2014 Astros, had some unlikely heroes.  The Indians staked themselves to a 4-2 lead heading into the 9th inning, courtesy of 2 homers from non-guitarist Carlos Santana, and the Astros were down to their last batter with two out in the bottom of the 9th.  Jake Marisnick, in for the injured Dexter Fowler, delivered a two-run homer to tie the game and send it into extra innings, a familiar spot for the Astros who took 14 innings to win their first round game.  Astro's starter Collin McHugh stuck it out for the 10th, as he had only allowed 6 hits--albeit including the two blasts from Santana, now out of the game for a defensive replacement.  However, the Indians immediately reeled off four runs, two from a Nick Swisher double, and the Indians led 8-4 heading into the bottom of the 10th.  When Zack McAllister loaded the bases with one out, the Indians turned to Brian Shaw, who promptly walked in a run and then allowed a 2-run single to Marwin Gonzalez to narrow the score to 8-7.  Another walk loaded the bases for...you guessed it, Jake Marisnick again.   After some agonizing, I decided to play the infield back looking for the double play, as Marisnick's 3-column was pretty loaded with gbAs.   The roll...3-10, gbA, game over; the Indians move on to the finals, barely hanging on to an 8-7 win.

The finals matchup thus featured two 90-game winners that reached the finals in very different ways; the 2013 Indians with late-inning offensive bursts, and the 2003 Twins squeaking by in low scoring pitching duels, with the Indians outscoring the Twins 16-5 in the initial rounds.  The Twins took a 1-0 lead in the 3rd when Asdrubal Cabrera (ss-2) made two consecutive errors for the Indians, but the Indians had a burst in the 5th scoring four runs on five singles, chasing Twins starter Kyle Lohse.  Meanwhile, Indians starter Ubaldo Jimenez is cruising, striking out 10 in 8 1/3 innings, aided by a key Cabrera X-chart DP in the 8th.  However, in the 9th the Twins mount a rally, courtesy of some serious pinch hitting (e.g., Mike Ryan's .754 SLG%), and the Indians turn the ball over to Brian Shaw.  Pierzynski steps to the plate as the go-ahead run for the Twins, but Shaw induces the groundout, earning his second save in a row and the Indians earn the regional title with a 4-2 win.  A wild card team in real life, the 2013 Indians join six other Tribe teams as regional winners in this tournament, tying them with the Reds for the most successful franchise.