REGIONAL #107: This regional featured no pennant winners but had versions of the Rangers, Giants, and Mets who were building towards one, and a Yankees team that was just coming off a string of legendary winners. Given the way that the 1934 Yanks had blown through Regional #97, it seemed to me that the 1930 version was likely to be even better with Ruth closer to his prime, so I picked them over the 2008 Rangers in the finals. The ELO ranks agreed that the Yanks were a no-brainer favorite, identifying the Bronx Bombers as really the only good team in the regional--a designation that often turns out to be the kiss of death.
First round action:
The 1990 Expos won 85 games and struck me as a decent team, with many good players but who were not having their best years. They did have lots of team speed, with four AA stealers, and Dennis Martinez had a good season and represented a formidable #1 starter. They faced a 79-win 2008 Rangers team that had some eye-opening hitters (5 guys in the starting lineup with over .500 SLG%) and painfully bad starting pitching, so you had the feeling that those 79 wins were probably high-scoring affairs. But it’s the Expos who start off the fireworks, with Larry Walker and Mike Fitzgerald each hitting solo HRs in the 2nd--off their own cards, not Ranger starter Vincente Padilla’s, who gives up quite a few of his own. The Rangers respond in the bottom of the 2nd, with a two-out David Murphy single scoring Milton Bradley, and it’s 2-1 Expos. The Montreal team speed results in a run in the 3rd when Deshields walks, steals second, and scores on a Tim Wallach single, but the wheels come off for Martinez in the bottom of the inning when he loads the bases and then allows the grand slam to Bradley off the pitcher’s card, and the Rangers lead 5-3 after three in what is promising to be a slugfest. Sure enough, Galarraga blasts a 3-run shot off Padilla’s card in the 6th and the Expos reclaim the lead, and when Otis Nixon walks and steals second in the 7th, the Rangers leaf through their bullpen and select Frank Francisco as the best option. Francisco is masterful, but the Rangers come down to their last chance in the bottom of the 9th still down by a run. Martinez records two quick outs, but then Ramon Vasquez finds Martinez’ HR result, gets the split, and ties the game with a solo shot. Ian Kinsler follows with a double, and the Expos summon Steve Frey to try to keep the winning run from scoring. What happens next is a strange confluence of events. Frey has to face Hank Blalock, only in at DH because Milton Bradley (he of the grand slam earlier in the game) had suffered a minor injury in the 8th that knocked him out of the game. Blalock rolls the 5-10--the same number that Vasquez and Bradley had rolled on Martinez’ card for the HRs, but there is no HR there on Frey. Instead, it’s a GB(3B)X...however, because Tim Wallach (3B-1) had suffered a minor injury that had knocked HIM out of the game in the 8th, Junior Noboa (3B-4) was in there as the Expos' only option. Result: 2 base error, Kinsler scores the winning run on the error, and the Rangers move on to the semis with the 7-6 comeback/walkoff win.
Two fairly bad teams faced off in this first round game, with the 78-win 2002 Reds paired against the 1981 Mets who went 41-62 in that strike year. The Reds strike first in the 3rd inning when Adam Dunn sends a Mike Scott scuffball into the far reaches of Shea Stadium to give Cincinnati a 2-0 lead, and Ken Griffey Jr. adds a solo shot in the 4th to make it 3-0. Meanwhile, the Mets don’t get their first hit off Reds starter Elmer Dessens until the 6th when Lee Mazzilli singles, steals second, and scores on a Mookie Wilson base hit to narrow things to 3-1. The Reds get that run back in the top of the 7th on a solo shot by PH Brandon Larson. When Scott allows an RBI double to Todd Walker in the 9th, Terry Leach comes in, but by then it’s too little too late as Dessens closes out his 5-hit CG in the bottom of the 9th and the Reds head to the semis with a leisurely 6-1 win.
I was looking forward to exploring the 73-81 1949 Giants, being quite familiar with the legendary 1954 old-timers team as well as the ‘51 playoff winners, but also knowing that Willie Mays wouldn’t begin his long tenure in CF until the following season. Turns out that the Giants weren’t quite yet ready for prime time, with a weak infield and so-so starting pitching, with Dave Koslo getting the nod for the first round. However, they faced the worst rated team in the regional in the 51-64 1994 Marlins, who were only in their second year of expansion existence and had their season mercifully shortened by the players’ strike. Things don’t go the Marlins’ way quickly, as their best hitter Gary Sheffield is injured for 4 games in his first plate appearance. Then, in the 2nd Marlins starter Pat Rapp issues 3 straight walks, followed by a GBX to 3b-4 Jerry Browne (who apparently could field 5 positions about as well as the former Governor of California) that turns into a double, and the Giants lead 3-0. A Jack Lohrke fielder’s choice scores another run in the 3rd, and when Rapp issues a bases loaded walk in the 4th inning to Bobby Thomson, Rapp’s 3rd BB of the inning, he’s replaced by Luis Aquino, who ends the inning without further damage, but it’s now 5-0. The Marlins put up a run on a Kurt Abbott solo shot in the bottom of the 4th, and get another one in the 5th when Greg Colbrunn pushes an RBI single past Giants 2b-4 Hank Thompson, and the sparse crowd at Joe Robbie Stadium is starting to show signs of interest in the game. However, in the 7th Bobby Thomson rips a triple followed by a Lohrke sac fly, and the Giants hold the 6-2 lead at the 7th inning stretch. Unfortunately, in the bottom of the inning that stretching seemed to injure the Marlins replacement for Sheffield, Carl Everett, and he’s out of the game, and Florida is trying to talk some of the few remaining fans into playing RF. However, the Marlins put together a 2-out rally in the bottom of the 8th, with a Chuck Carr single and a Johnny Mize error leading to two Florida runs, and we have a game entering the 9th inning, with the score now 6-4. The Giants promptly get to Marlins new reliever Robb Nen for two more runs, keyed by a Bobby Thomson double, and it’s up to Koslo to hold the Giants lead as there isn’t much help in the pen for New York. He sets the Marlins down in order, and the Giants move on to the semis with the 8-4 win.
With Ruth and Gehrig in their primes and a remarkable 9 Hall of Famers on the team, it was remarkable that the 1930 Yankees only managed to win 86 games to finish 3rd in the AL. Their opponent, the 2008 Braves, lost 90 games but they did have two carded HOFers of their own--Chipper Jones who had a monster year, and a 42 year old Tom Glavine who was ineffective and retired after the season. The Yanks were starting one of their HOFers in Red Ruffing, and they had the added incentive for payback in that the vaunted 1927 Yanks had been eliminated from the tournament by a Braves team. The Yanks flex their muscles early when in the bottom of the 1st Earle Combs doubles, and Braves starter Jarr Jurrjens walks both Gehrig and Ruth wanting no part of pitching to them. However, Ben Chapman makes him pay by slicing a triple into the corner to score three, Bill Dickey singles Chapman home, and it’s 4-0 after one inning. The Braves show some life in the 2nd when Mark Kotsay triples and scores on a Kotchman sac fly, but the Yanks punish them in the bottom of the inning with 3 straight 2-out hits that include another Combs double and a Gehrig triple, and the score is now 6-1. Two more NY runs in the 3rd and Jurrjens has to be removed to preserve his sanity, and the Braves summon Will Ohman from the pen, as in “Oh man, can’t you pitch somebody else?” Chipper Jones scores on a Kotchman fielder’s choice in the 4th to make it 8-2, Ohman pitches four shutout innings, but the brief glimmer of hope for the Braves fades when Combs triples in Harry Rice in the 8th off Ohman’s replacement, Buddy Carlyle. However, Ruffing can’t get the CG as he is injured for 2 games in the 9th, leaving the Yanks to pull something out of an atrociously bad bullpen. They go with Roy Sherid and his 5.23 ERA as the best option, and he records the final two outs as the Yanks cruise to the semifinals with the 9-2 win.
The survivors
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| Milton Bradley gaming |
Both the 1930 Yankees and the 1949 Giants won their first round games easily, but each team expected a greater challenge in their Subway semifinal matchup. It was the Yanks’ George Pipgras against the Giants’ Sheldon Jones on the mound, and it was the Giants who struck quickly against Pipgras in the top of the 1st, with Sid Gordon singling in Hank Thompson for a 1-0 lead. Jones shackles the Yanks until the 5th, when Lyn Lary, the least likely slugger on the the team, nails the HR split on Jones’ card to tie the game, but the Yanks are stymied in the 6th when Dickey misses a TR 1-8 with a 9, and Chapman (1-17 with 2 out) is nailed at the plate on the resulting double to end the inning. The splits are more fortunate for the Giants in the 7th when Whitey Lockman gets a double on a 1-3 split and then gets the split to score on Bobby Thomson’s single, and they regain the lead 2-1. Facing the top of the Yankee order in the 8th, Jones insists on pitching to Ruth with 2 out and Jimmy Reese on 3rd, and Jones gets Ruth to hit a grounder to Sid Gordon, 3b-4, who boots it and allows the tying run to score. Pipgras sets the heart of the Jints lineup down in order in the 9th, and then Jones, facing the bottom of the Yankee order in the bottom of the 9th, has Harry Rice find Jones’ HR result, Rice gets the split, and the Yankees get the walk-off, come from behind 3-2 victory to earn a trip to the regional final. It’s worth noting that the powerful offense of the Yanks scores all of its runs off Giants’ pitching and defensive lapses.
The 2008 Rangers had no options other than Scott Feldman to pitch the regional final, giving him the unenviable task of facing the 1930 Yanks Murderer’s Row lineup and Herb Pennock on the mound, but Texas had come back from deficits in both previous games proving that they were not easily daunted. Sure enough, they begin the game with two straight singles and a sac fly from Nelson Cruz and take an early lead, but the Yanks load the bases in the bottom of the 1st and tie it up on a Ben Chapman sac fly. A David Murphy solo shot puts the Rangers back up in the 2nd, but that lead is equally short-lived as Josh Hamilton misplays a Lazzeri single, and Harry Rice drives Lazzeri home to knot the score at 2-2 after 2. Rice goes down to injury in the 4th, replaced by Sammy Byrd, but the Rangers run into some bad luck of their own when Cruz lines into a triple play to bring a quick end to the 5th inning. When Feldman allows a walk and a single to start the 6th inning, the Rangers waste no time in bringing in Frank Francisco, their relief hero from the first round win, and they get their money’s worth as Francisco retires three in a row to keep the game tied. However, the Yanks do pull ahead in the 7th when, with runners on 1st and 3rd and the infield back, Ian Kinsler fails to complete a DP that allows Combs to score from 3rd. When the Rangers load the bases with one out in the 8th, the Yanks remember the previous inning and bring the infield in for Chris Davis, who promptly rolls the gbA that would have ended the inning--but Hamilton whiffs anyway and the Yanks escape still holding the one run lead. The Rangers begin their last chance in the 9th with a David Murphy double, but Pennock bears down to retire the next three in order, aided by two great fielding plays from ss-3 Lyn Lary, and the Yanks squeak out the 3-2 win to capture the regional--without a single long ball from either Ruth or Gehrig in any of the games. Worthy of note: this was the first time since Regional #94 that I accurately predicted the result of the regional final, including which teams would be playing.
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