REGIONAL #110: Although none of the teams in Regional #110 won a pennant, the 1954 Yankees won the year before and the year after, while the 1989 Twins captured the AL two seasons before as well as two seasons after, so those squads were ones to be reckoned with. The remaining teams didn’t strike me as particularly distinguished, and I had the feeling that the expansion 1969 Padres wouldn’t fare well. In picking a winner, I went with the obvious, selecting the Yanks over the Twins in the final, which would avenge the Regional #103 flameout of the WS champ 1953 Yankees in their first round game. The ELO rankings listed the ‘54 Yanks as the 27th best team of all time (unfortunately for them, the ‘54 Indians were ranked 24th) and thus had them as overwhelming favorites in the finals over a Rangers team that I couldn’t remember much of anything about, but which according to the ELO numbers was the only other “good” team (i.e., top 1000) in the bracket.
First round action
As a first year expansion team, the 52-110 1969 Padres were predictably terrible, ranked as one of the 25 worst teams of all time. With only Nate Colbert and Downtown Ollie Brown looking ready for the majors, the Padres started 18-game loser Joe Niekro, who unlike his team was better than his record suggested. The 73-89 1989 Mariners were only good by comparison, as their 19-year old rookie CF Ken Griffey Jr. was not quite the player he would ultimately become and there were other holes in their lineup both on offense and on defense. The M’s move out in front 1-0 in the 3rd when Jay Buhner singles in Vizquel, and a Dave Valle sac fly in the 4th extends the lead to 2-0. The Padres load the bases with one away in the 5th, and then Jose Arcia hits a weak grounder to 2B-1 Harold Reynolds...and he boots the sure DP ball and the Padres narrow the lead to 2-1. Seattle gets the run back in the bottom of the inning when Griffey scores on a Jeff Leonard single, but Alvin Davis is cut down at the plate trying to stretch the lead further to end the inning. In the 6th Colbert crushes a fastball from M’s starter Scott Bankhead for a solo shot, and it’s 3-2 and the Padres are looking like a team that won’t go down quietly. Sure enough, in the 7th Ed Spiezio singles in pinch-runner Larry Stahl and it’s all tied up for the 7th inning stretch. When Buhner hits a 2-out double in the bottom of the inning, the Padres pull Niekro for Frank Reberger, and he retires Leonard to keep things even. However, in the 8th Reberger’s defense lets him down with two consecutive errors, and then Reynolds makes them pay, missing a TR 1-15 to score one, but again a Mariner is cut down at the plate to end the inning, with Seattle now in front 4-3. So, it’s now up to Bankhead to get the last three outs, and he does so, finishing up a 6-hit complete game and sending the Mariners to the semis with a 4-3 win, Reberger absorbing the loss on the unearned run.
The 1954 Yanks went 103-51 but remarkably still finished eight games behind a great Indians team. Even so, the Yankees had a strong rotation and a powerful lineup that really only had one hole--we’re looking at you, Rizzuto, a SS-3 with a .195 batting average who made Willie Miranda, who was also on this team, look like Honus Wagner by comparison. After agonizing around starting pitching options, I decided to hold off on Whitey Ford, who had lost the first round game that knocked the ‘53 squad out of the tournament, and went with 20-game winner Bob Grim. They faced a 76-78 1960 Indians team that had nothing in common with the squad that beat out the Yanks in ‘54, and generally looked worse than their record aside from the young starting pitcher that would face the Yanks, Jim Perry. However, the Indians move to a 1-0 edge in the top of the 1st when a Rizzuto error is followed by singles from John Romano and Woodie Held, and they extend the lead to 2-0 on a Tito Francona fielder’s choice in the 3rd. The Yanks don’t get their first hit off Perry until the 5th, when Joe Collins leads off by finding Perry’s solid HR result, but the Indians get the run back in the 6th when Bob Hale, playing for injured (for the rest of the tournament) Bubba Phillips, singles in Jimmie Piersall and it’s 3-1. The Yanks threaten in the bottom of the frame but Hank Bauer hits into an inning-ending DP to squelch the rally, and Yankee Stadium is rocking with boos. Perry keeps the shackles on until the 9th, when he records two quick outs but then Collins singles, Andy Carey doubles, and the tying run is on second….with SS sub Willie Miranda at the plate. The Yanks call on Bob Cerv to PH with the game on the line, hoping that his power can deliver the walk-off win--but he grounds out, and once again a highly touted Yankees team from the 50’s crashes and burns in the 1st round, eliminated by the Indians by the final score of 3-1.
Two seasons away from a pennant both forward and back, the 1989 Twins didn’t look as good as I’d imagined before setting their lineup--they looked like the 80-82 team that they actually were. In contrast, the 1996 Rangers were far better than I’d guessed, winning 90 games and the AL West. My failure to anticipate this suggests I’m a slow learner since I had just managed the 1998 Rangers successfully to the finals in the regional before last, and the teams had one big factor in common: Juan Gonzalez, featured previously as an Interesting Card of Regional #108, won the AL MVP in both seasons. The starters involved Twin Frank Viola against the Rangers’ Ken Hill, whose 16 wins were double that of Viola’s total. The Rangers get to Viola early when Rusty Greer triples and Gonzalez singles him home to spot Hill a 1-0 lead after one, and things get worse in the 2nd when Darryl Hamilton finds Viola’s HR result for a 3-run shot. In the 4th, Hamilton and Will Clark add RBI singles and then Viola loads up the bases to face Gonzalez with two out; Twins management can’t stand it any longer and yank Viola for Gary Wayne. Wayne walks Juan Gone to score another for the Rangers, but then gets Dean Palmer to ground out, and the tally is now 7-0 after four innings. The Twins finally put up a run on an Al Newman RBI single in the 7th, but although Wayne and later Jeff Reardon keep the Rangers from further damage, the Twin can’t sustain anything against Hill and Texas heads to the semis with a 7-1 win.
For the second game in a row, a Minnesota team enters a first round matchup as the underdog, but the 92-loss 1998 Twins were ranked considerably lower than the ‘89 squad that was just eliminated in a blowout, as they were made up of guys either too early (e.g. David Ortiz) or too late (Paul Molitor, Otis Nixon) in their careers. Although they didn’t fare much better than the Twins, the 87-loss 2015 Tigers looked to me like a much better team, with strong defense, offensive pop from Miggy Cabrera and JD Martinez, and although they had no depth in the starting rotation, they did have Justin Verlander in the #1 slot who compared very favorably to Twins starter Brad Radke. It gets ugly fast for the Twins, as in the top of the 1st JD Martinez hits Radke’s HR result for a 3-run shot, and James McCann also hits it for a 2-run blast, and although the Tigers lose DH Victor Martinez to injury for 2 games, they don’t look like they’ll need him in this one with a 5-0 lead. Radke settles down, but when Rajai Davis, subbing for the injured Martinez, smacks an RBI double off Radke’s card in the 6th the Twins go to their closer, Rick Aguilera, but he allows the two runners he inherited to score and the Tigers are up 8-0, and Verlander isn’t even breaking a sweat. The Tigers add an unneeded insurance run in the 8th, and Verlander closes out the 6-hit shutout and the 9-0 blowout win. However, after looking at the rest of the Tigers rotation, I’m guessing they might want to have saved some of those runs for later rounds.
The survivors
Both the 1989 Mariners and the 1960 Indians finished under .500, although the Indians had the superior ranking and defeated a much better team to reach this semifinal game. The Indians started Bobby Locke against Seattle’s Erik Hanson, and Cleveland explores Hanson’s weaknesses in the bottom of the 1st with an Aspromonte double and a John Romano RBI single, both off Hanson’s card. Woodie Held drives in another in the 3rd to make it 2-0, although Harvey Kuenn is cut down at the plate to prevent another run from scoring. The M’s get a run in the 4th on a Henry Cotto sac fly, and tie it up in the 6th when Buhner singles in Griffey Jr., and as is often the case it’s looking like it will be a tightly contested semifinal. In the bottom of the inning, Romano walks, Francona doubles, and the Mariners bring the infield in and replace Hanson with Mark Langston (despite rumors that he’s about to be traded to Montreal). Langston comes through, no runners score, and the score remains knotted. The Mariners mount a threat in the 8th, with runners on 1st and 2nd and one away, so the Indians turn to their relief ace, Johnny Klippstein, to put out the fire, and he does. Then, Langston makes a 2-out mistake to Jimmie Piersall, who puts it into the grandstand at Cleveland Stadium to make it 4-2 Indians, and the crowd is rocking. So it’s up to Klippstein in the 9th, and he sets Seattle down in order to propel the Indians into the finals, and dashes the hopes of the Mariners in their quest for their first regional win. Seattle just had the misfortune of running into one of the most successful franchises in this tournament, as the Indians will be playing for their 11th regional win in the finals.
The 1996 Rangers had the distinction of being the only team with a winning record to make this regional’s semifinals, and as a division winner they are bent on avenging the defeat of the ‘98 team in the Regional #108 finals. However, to have a chance they have to get past the 2015 Tigers, who blew out their opponent in the first round. Neither team was blessed with a surplus of good starting pitching, and the matchup of the Rangers’ Roger Pavlik vs. Detroit’s Anibel Sanchez was hardly the stuff of legend. Juan Gonzalez started things off in the top of the 1st with a solo HR, his first of the regional, but Rajai Davis finds Pavlik’s HR result to lead off the 2nd and quickly ties it up. Gonzalez then leads off the 4th with his second homer of the game, but back to back errors by Pudge Rodriguez and Dean Palmer hand the Tigers a run and the game is once again tied. With two out in the 6th, Kevin Elster finds ONE of Sanchez’s HR results, gets the 1-10 split with a 10, and the resulting 2-run blast sends Sanchez to the showers and Alex Wilson is called upon to try to keep things close for the Tigers. Of course, Rajai Davis again finds Pavlik’s HR result for a 2-run shot that ties it up, and the Rangers have to turn to their weak bullpen, giving Dennis Cook a try, but that is a disaster as Cook allows 5 hits without closing out the inning. Mike Henneman comes in and does no better, and when the inning finally ends with JD Martinez tagged out trying to score on a Davis single (the Tigers having batted around), Detroit has scored 6 runs on 9 hits in the inning and have an 8-4 lead. The Rangers narrow the gap to 8-5 on a Dean Palmer RBI single, and the Tigers turn nervously to their gopher-ball prone closer, Joakim Soria. Soria does his job, and the 2015 Tigers head to the finals with the hope of following in the footsteps of the 2014 Tiger team, winners of Regional #60.
According to the ELO ranks, the regional final matched the 4 vs. 5 seed in a battle of two mediocre squads with differing strengths. The 2015 Tigers combined strong fielding and decent hitting with terrible pitching depth, while the 1960 Indians had a decent staff (albeit most with control issues) but limited offensive weaponry. Thus far the Tigers were averaging 8.5 runs a game, while Indians opponents averaged 1.5 runs, contrasting the strengths of the two teams. Because of their lack of rotation depth, the Tigers had no choice but to start Alfredo Simon and his 5.05 ERA, while the Indians countered with Gary Bell. Detroit strikes first when Victor Martinez, back from an injury suffered in the first round, hits a solo HR in the 3rd, and the Tigers’ other Martinez, JD, leads off the 4th with a round tripper to make it 2-0. However, the Indians start the top of the 5th with five straight singles, and by the time Simon gets things under control, Cleveland leads 3-2 and it was only that close because Tito Francona was cut down at the plate. When the Tigers load the bases in the 6th on single and two walks, the Indians fear more wildness from Bell and decide to go to their closer Klippstein with the game on the line, and he gets the final out of the inning to preserve the lead. Vic Power lives up to his name, finding Simon’s HR result for a solo shot that makes it 4-2, and the Tigers go to their pen for Alex Wilson, the winner of their semifinal game--and he induces a DP that prevents further damage. In the bottom of the 8th, Klippstein is burnt after tossing two perfect innings, so the Indians have to turn to far worse bullpen options, selecting Don Newcombe in the hope that he can relive his past glory. Although he allows two singles to start the bottom of the 9th, Kinsler hits into a DP and Cabrera grounds out to end the game and the regional, which goes to the Indians for the tournament-best 11th time in franchise history. One of those prior wins was by the 1961 squad in Regional #50, giving that era of Indians an unexpected run of success in this tournament.
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