REGIONAL #80:  There were two pennant winning teams in Regional #80 that were almost 100 years apart:  the 1911 Giants and the 2002 Angels.   The bracket was laid out in an interesting manner, with the top half all 20th century teams, the bottom all 21st century squads.  Aside from the pennant winners, competitive teams abound; the '90 Giants had won the pennant the previous year; the 2012 Royals would win one in two years; the 1920 Red Sox were just entering the curse of trading the Babe, and when I pulled the 2018 Yanks out of the drawers, staring me in the face was a Ruthian card from Luke Voit that I noticed was DH-eligible under tournament rules.  Given the way that Mark McGwire smashed his way through Regional #77, I picked Voit to do the same for New York, but the only team that I don't think has a shot are the '64 Mets.  The ELO ratings aren't provided for 2018, so the Yanks aren't rated, but those rankings viewed the two pennants winners as two of the best 100 teams of all time, with the Giants expected to prevail.  However, deadball teams don't seem to last long in this tournament, so I liked the Yanks to win the region, which surprisingly that franchise has only done twice before.  

First round action

The 1920 Red Sox had recently traded away Babe Ruth, and had fallen to 5th place in the AL with only 72 wins, but they still had a solid rotation (e.g. Herb Pennock and Waite Hoyt, who would both shortly join the Babe) and HOFer Harry Hooper.  The 1964 Mets lost 109 games, with some bad fielding and few guys who could get on base, but had more power in their lineup than the still-deadball Red Sox which gave them a puncher's chance for the win.  However, they were punchless against Pennock, who threw a 6-hit complete game shutout aided by 3 double-plays.  The Red Sox got all they needed in the 2nd inning, when Tracy Stallard loaded up the bases with a couple of walks and then Boston catcher Mike Menosky blasted a 3-run triple.  Stallard only allowed 5 hits, but the Red Sox converted them into 6 runs and a 6-0 victory.  However, one of the best Boston hitters, CF Tim Hendryx, went down to injury and is lost for the entire regional, and the limited Red Sox offense will sorely miss his .328 average.

This first round matchup featured two Giants teams that were nearly a century and a continent apart.  The 1911 Giants of New York won 99 games and the NL, boasting solid batting averages, remarkable team speed, and a rotation capped by Christy Mathewson.  However, the 1990 Giants of San Francisco were no doormat, winning 85 games and having power in the meat of the lineup from Will Clark, Kevin Mitchell, and Matt Williams that the 1911 team could only dream about.  Nonetheless, SF jumped out to a quick lead in the top of the 1st using smallball--Brett Butler walked, stole second, and was driven in by DH Mike Anderson.  A Fred Snodgrass single tied it in the 3rd, but SF moved back on top in the 4th with a solo HR from Matt Williams.  Buck Herzog tied it in the 5th with a single, but in the 7th a Butler double put the 1990 team back on top, 3-2.  In the 8th, NY put runners on 1st and 3rd with one out, forcing SF to call upon Jeff Brantley in relief of an effective start from John Burkett. SF played for the double play, and got it off the X-chart courtesy of 2b-2 Robby Thompson.  Brantley then survived the 9th inning, and the 1990 Giants move on with the 3-2 upset of what supposedly was one of the 50 best teams of all time.

The 2002 Angels won 99 games, and the World Series from a wild card berth, and with their team offense, killer bullpen, and decent rotation for the era one could see why the ELO rankings put them in the top 100 teams of all time.  Their opponents, the 2011 Rockies, only won 73 games and had a shallow rotation, although their offensive numbers rivaled those of the Angels.  When Angels leadoff batter David Eckstein homered off Rockies starter Jhoulys Chacin's card, it looked like it was going to be a long night for the Rockies.  It did turn out to be a long night, but not as expected.  Chacin settled down, and a 2-run homer by Jason Giambi put the Rockies up 2-1 in the 4th and a fielders choice by Carlos Gonzales added a run to the lead in the 5th.  However, in the 6th back-to-back doubles by the Angels narrowed the score to 3-2, and a Garret Anderson single tied the game in the bottom of the 7th, and the score remained tied to send the game into extra innings.  At that point, the Angels were confident that the depth of their bullpen would win out, and a parade of Shields, Donnelly, and Troy Percival held the Rockies in check until finally, in the bottom of the 12th, back to back doubles by Fullmer (his 3rd of the game) and Tim Salmon gave the Angels a walk-off 4-3 win.

Setting the lineup for the 100-win 2018 Yankees posed an interesting dilemma, as although I was determined to get Luke Voit's awesome card into the lineup, a confluence of tournament rules then forced Aaron Judge to have to come in off the bench to get into the game.  Their opponent, the 2012 Royals, may have lost 90 games, but aside from a terrible starting rotation, their combination of team speed and defense illustrated why they would win the pennant two years later.  The Royals demonstrated their aptitude immediately in the top of the 1st, when leadoff hitter Escobar singled, stole second, and was singled home by fellow AA-stealer Jarrod Dyson.  However, in the bottom of the inning Miguel Andujar answered, doubling in Voit to make it 1 to 1 after 1, but that was it for the Yanks.  KC starter Luis Mendoza survived into the 6th without allowing additional runs, and meanwhile the Royals offense continued to chip away run by run, with two more largely generated by the stolen base, running NY catcher Gary Sanchez ragged (a c-4, there was not much he could do about it) until Sanchez eventually was injured in the 7th, no doubt throwing his arm out.  It didn't matter by that time as the Yanks were unable to muster any offense against the Royals bullpen, and Kansas City ultimately sent the Yanks packing with a 5-1 upset win.

The survivors

The semifinal matchup between the 1920 Red Sox and 1990 Giants began with the game remaining scoreless through five innings with each team trying to feel out the weaknesses of the two swing starters on the mound (SF's Trevor Wilson and Boston's Allen Russell).  The Giants finally struck in the bottom of the 6th, scoring runs on a Brett Butler RBI fielder's choice, a steal of second, and a double by Will Clark.  When Wilson allowed a baserunner in the 7th, I felt the need to get him out because of a solid 5-10 HR result that was making me nervous, so of course my bullpen selection, Francisco Oliveras, immediately allows a split result HR off his card, and the game is tied 2-2.  However, Robby Thompson puts the Giants back in the lead with a solo HR in the bottom of the inning.  That lead is short-lived, as I pulled Oliveras in favor of Jeff Brantley, who had saved the first round game for the Giants, and Brantley managed to allow .228-hitting Cliff Brady to tie the game with an RBI single.  The bottom of the 8th saw Dave Anderson drive in Butler to regain the lead for the Giants, but after the Giants then loaded the bases Russell retired Gary Carter to limit the damage to 1 run.  In the top of the 9th, Brantley faced the top of the Boston order and the first two batters reached safely to bring up Sox HOFer Harry Hooper, but Hooper hits into the DP, Schang pops out, and the Giants head to the regional final with the 4-3 win.

The 2002 Angels, starting Ramon Ortiz, and the 2012 Royals, starting Jeremy Guthrie, were both nervous going into this semifinal matchup as both starters had a propensity to allow the longball.  Tim Salmon doubled in a run in the top of the 1st for the Angels, although a second (1-16) runner was cut down at the plate to end the inning.   In the bottom of the 5th, Alcides Escobar finally found Ortiz's solid HR at 5-9, and the game was tied.  Because tournament rules mandate that starting pitchers must go 5 innings or 5 runs, both teams yanked their starters for the 6th, with the Angels particularly confident in their deep bullpen.  In the 7th, Scott Spiezio doubled in a run for the Angels, but yet another 1-16 runner was cut down at the plate on the play to end that rally.  Brad Fullmer singled in a run against Greg Holland in the 8th, and the Angels led 3-1.  In the bottom of the 9th, Troy Percival came in for the Angels to close things out, but the Royal got two baserunners on with a walk and a squib hit, so Percival faced pinch-hitter Lorenzo Cain as the potential game-winning run.  Cain fanned, the Angels win it 3-1, and they move to the finals seeking only the second regional win (1989 being the lone example) for the Angels franchise.

Can't stop this

The 2002 Angels went into the regional final just wanting starter John Lackey to get through his requisite five innings against the 1990 Giants so that they would be able to turn the game over to their stellar bullpen, and when they went up 1-0 on a Brad Fullmer solo HR in the bottom of the 2nd they were off to a good start.  However, Lackey ran into trouble in the top of the 3rd, allowing four hits with Kevin Mitchell and Matt Williams turning two of those into RBI and a 2-1 SF lead.  Nonetheless, things seemed to be going according to script when the Angels scored two in the bottom of the 5th to grab a 3-2 lead that would enable them to put Lackey on a short leash.  Sure enough, Brett Butler doubled to start the 6th and Lackey was immediately pulled for Brendan Donnelly and his 2.17 ERA.  But, the Angels pen finally failed them, as Donnelly walked Anderson and then allow a triple to Will Clark and the score was now 4-3 Giants.  The Angels pen wouldn't allow another hit, but it was too late, as Giants starter Scott Garrelts (with closer Jeff Brantley unavailable after two previous appearances) was able to finish what he started, throwing a 6-hitter to clinch the 4-3 win and the regional--the 7th for this venerable franchise.  Brett Butler was selected as regional MVP, demonstrating a remarkable knack for getting on and scoring from his leadoff position.

 

A promising start

Interesting card of Regional #80:  Although Luke Voit's Ruthian card (.689 SLG) from the 2018 Yanks was tempting as a selection, his team went down in the first round and because it was a recent release, many are probably already familiar with his card.  Instead, I decided on reliever Francisco Rodriguez from the 2002 Angels, a card which is much more obscure as an extra player.  F-Rod's card is interesting for a number of reasons.  First, how many times do you see a pitcher receive a card with 6 IP (actually, 5.2)?  Second, these were F-Rod's first innings in the majors, not even qualifying as a rookie with his Sept. 18th call-up.  Now, most of the time these low AB/IP wonder-cards resulting from late season call-ups never materialize into anything, but F-Rod became one of the best relievers in baseball, leading the league in saves 3 times and ending his career with 437 saves, good for 4th in baseball history.  Thus, despite the miniscule IP, this card was actually quite reflective of the pitcher he would turn out to be.  Finally, consider that SO to IP ratio, good for a SO per 9 inning rate of 20.6--yes, that's "averaging" 21 strikeouts for a nine inning game.  As part of a great bullpen for the 2002 Angels, Rodriguez made two brief but flawless appearances in the regional, including striking out the side in the top of the 9th in the finals, albeit to no avail for the Angels.