REGIONAL #117:  For the first time in 14 regionals, this group included a pennant-winner, the 1951 Yankees, who would be facing a bevy of Astros teams (a couple of them probably pretty good), a few 21st century teams that didn’t make much of an impression on me, and a Brooklyn team from almost 100 years ago.  Although the Yankees seemed like the obvious choice to win, their pennant winners from the 50’s have a dismal record in this tournament, and I had a feeling they would go down again in this regional, maybe in the first round to their hated rivals, the Red Sox. Instead, I figured that my random team selector program was trying to tell me something by tapping three Astros squads, so I decided that this was going to be the bracket of the Astros and that one of them was bound to win an all-Houston final.  Not certain which one, I picked the one in the middle, the 1985 team, to best the 1996 Astros team in the finals.  Interestingly, the ELO ranks for all three Astros teams were quite similar, portraying all three teams as “decent”, but those rankings had the Yanks as huge regional favorites over the old-school Dodgers (actually Robins at the time).

First round action:

The first and oldest of three Astros teams in this regional, the 82-80 1973 Astros boasted a great year from Cesar Cedeno, supported by a couple of guys named Wynn and Watson, and although their starting rotation wasn’t as good as I’d imagined an Astrodome team to be, they did have this young kid in the bullpen named JR Richard who might have some promise.  Their similarly mediocre opponents, the 78-84 Reds, were also was lacking in pitching but had some boppers like Joey Votto and Johnny Gomes, but it is the Astros who lead off the game with a homer by Tommy Helms, courtesy of Reds starter Bronson Arroyo’s solid 5-9 HR result.  But the Reds tie it in the second when slow-footed Reds catcher Ramon Hernandez manages to score from first on a two-out double by Paul Janish, and in the 3rd the Reds record two straight hits off Astro starter Jerry Reuss’ card to make it 2-1 Cincy.  That lead is short-lived, as in the top of the 4th Bob Gallagher finds Arroyo’s 5-9 for a 2-out 2-run shot that vaults Houston back into the lead.  The Reds tie it in the 7th on a pinch-hit solo HR by Edwin Encarnacion, and then decide to pull Arroyo before that 5-9 comes up again, turning to Arthur Rhodes to try to give Houston a problem.  However, the Reds defense lets Rhodes down, committing two straight errors in the 8th that put the Astros back on top 4-3, but in the bottom of the inning Reds defensive replacement catcher Ryan Haniger delivers a two-out RBI single that ties the game once again heading into the 9th.  The Astros can’t score off Rhodes in the top of the 9th, and then Reuss delivers to the leadoff batter in the bottom of the inning--defensive replacement CF Drew Stubbs, who converts a HR 1-5/flyB split for a walk-off 5-4 victory for the Reds that saw five lead changes.  

My selection of the 1985 Astros to win the regional was based upon a vague memory of the Mike Scott/Nolan Ryan years being good ones.  They did finish over .500 at 83-79, and while Scott and Ryan were indeed solid starters, the offense was typical of Astrodome teams--decent speed and defense, little power.  They were ELO underdogs against 92-62 1924 Brooklyn, the NL runner-up that boasted .375 hitter Zack Wheat, Jack Fournier and his 27 homers, and 28-game winner Dazzy Vance, who won the NL MVP award as a pitcher (with Wheat coming in 3rd and Fournier 9th).   However, the Astros get to Vance in the 2nd when Craig Reynolds hits a 2-out triple, and then Phil Garner pushes a single past Brooklyn 2B-3 Andy High, and Scott has a one run lead to work with.  That turns into a 2-0 lead in the 3rd when Terry Puhl doubles and Kevin Bass singles him home.  Meanwhile, Scott has the scuffball working until the 6th, when he walks Wheat and Fournier, bringing up Hank Deberry, in the game to replace catcher Zack Taylor who was injured in the 4th.  Deberry takes advantage of his shot, lacing a triple to tie the game, but the Astros move back in front in the top of the 8th when Glenn Davis leads off with a double and Bass singles the runner home once again.  That lead holds into the bottom of the 9th, when Scott walks the bases loaded with two outs and is pulled (although he has only allowed 3 hits all game) in the hopes that Dave Smith can record the final out.  It’s Deberry at the plate again, with yet another chance for glory, but he grounds out and the Astros pull off the 3-2 upset against what is almost certainly the best pitcher in the regional.

Although ranked slightly worse than the other two Houston teams that had gone 1 for 2 in the regional thus far, the third version, the 1996 Astros, were over .500 at 82-80 and had the beginnings of the “killer bees” lineup in Bagwell and Biggio that would lead them into the postseason within a few years.   Their opponents, the 73-89 2018 Blue Jays, seemed even worse than their ranking suggested and confirmed by a 93-loss Pythagorean projection--bad defense, little starting pitching, and a lineup that hadn’t seemed to learn that on-base percentage is a good thing.  The matchup of Houston’s Danny Darwin against Jays Aaron Sanchez did not suggest a pitcher’s duel would be forthcoming, and Jays DH Teoscar Hernandez confirms that by leading off the bottom of the 1st with a monster homer.  In the 4th, Astros SS-4 Orlando Miller gifts the Jays with a 2-base error that sets up a 2-run single by Devon Travis, and the Jays lead is now 3-0.  Derek Bell gets the Astros on the board when he leads off the 6th with a HR, which is followed by a walk and a Sanchez error, so the Jays waste no time in going to their bullpen for Seung Hwan Oh, who promptly commits a 2-base error himself and the score is now 3-2 Toronto.  The Jays strike back in the bottom of the inning with a 2-out RBI single by Russell Martin that chases Darwin for Billy Wagner; Wagner promptly walks Hernandez to load the bases and then grooves one to Billy McKinney for a grand slam that makes it 8-2.  The Jays lead off the 7th with a HR by injury replacement SS Lourdes Gurriel, and sporting a seven-run lead the Jays give Ryan Borucki a turn on the mound to preserve their pen for later rounds.  Although a Bell double does drive in Biggio in the 9th, it’s far too little too late as the Blue Jays coast to the 9-3 win and the semifinals.

The World Series champs 1951 Yankees won 98 games and were prohibitive ELO favorites in this regional.  Not since Regional #103 had a pennant winner made an appearance--however, that pennant winner was the 1953 Yanks, and they were unceremoniously dumped in the first round.  Nonetheless, these Yankees sported five Hall of Famers on the roster, a pair of 20-game winners to choose from to start, solid defense, and a surplus of great outfielders with names like Dimaggio and Mantle to choose from.  In contrast, their opponents, the 1960 Red Sox, won only 65 games and they had a bunch of holes in their team, but they did have Ted Williams, and the NY-Boston rivalry was especially poignant in this matchup as it paired Dimaggio and Williams both in their final year with one last chance to see who comes out on top.  The Red Sox decided to try swingman Billy Muffett against 21-game winner Eddie Lopat, and the game remains scoreless until the 5th, when Boston CF Willie Tasby misplays a Johnny Mize flyball into a double, opening the door for an RBI single by Jerry Coleman and a sac fly from Gil McDougald that makes it 2-0 Yanks.  Meanwhile, Lopat is masterful, and he carries a 2-hitter going into the bottom of the 9th for Boston’s last chance.  With one out, Tasby hits a grounder to 3B Billy Johnson, a fielding downgrade by the Yanks that allowed a fielding upgrade at 2B by McDougald, and Johnson boots it to bring up Williams.  The result is predictable, a shot deep into the bleachers that ties the game, and we head to extra innings.   Both starters get through the 10th and must turn it over to the bullpens with identical strong pitching lines (10IP, 5H, 2R), and here the Sox have the advantage with Mike Fornieles over the Yanks Bob Kuzava.  They both get through the 11th, but in the top of the 12th Gene Woodling leads off with a triple, followed by a walk, a Joe Collins RBI single, and a Rizzuto sac fly and once again the Red Sox are facing elimination with a 2-run deficit.  Vic Wertz leads off with a walk, but McDougald then turns a DP (that Coleman would have dropped) and Kuzava whiffs Green to seal the extra-inning 4-2 win and doing what the 1950, 1953, and 1956 pennant-winning Yanks couldn’t do--getting past the dreaded first round.  

The survivors

Of the three Astros teams in this bracket, the 1985 Astros were the only version to survive round one, and they felt pretty good about having Nolan Ryan going for this semifinal matchup against the 2009 Reds and Johnny Cueto.  The Reds draw first blood in the top of the 3rd when Brandon Phillips misses a HR 1-5/DO split with a 6 roll, but Joey Votto singles him home to make it 1-0.  They push it to 2-0 in the 5th when Willie Taveras singles, steals second, and Scott Rolen provides the two-out RBI single.  In the 7th, the Reds call upon a succession of pinch-hitters and defensive replacements, which yields no runs but does result in injuries to Phillips and PH Chris Dickerson.  In the bottom of the 8th, the Astros get a walk, a squib single, and a Scott Rolen error to load the bases with one out, and the Reds call on Arthur Rhodes again to face Houston cleanup hitter Glenn Davis.  The result:  LOMAX, double play, threat over, and you can hear a pin drop in the Astrodome.  However, the fans come back to life when Kevin Bass leads off the 9th with a huge blast into the cheap seats, but that was all she wrote for the Astros as Rhodes sets the next three down in order to save the 2-1 victory and send the Reds to the finals--but seriously shorthanded, with Phillips still hurt and Rhodes burnt.

Rhodes Scholar of Relief

The 2018 Blue Jays pulled off a modest upset in the first round, but they had a much bigger fish to fry in their semifinal game against the World Champion 1951 Yankees and 17-game winner Allie Reynolds, who had an ERA two and a half runs lower than Jays starter Marcus Stroman.  The Yanks have Hank Bauer miss a HR 1-15 split with a 16 in the 2nd inning, and Stroman strands him to keep the game scoreless.  However, a Mize double in the 4th sets up a Rizzuto 2-run single that gets by Jays 2B-4 Devon Travis, and Stroman loses composure, walking a couple and then allowing a 3-run blast to Gil McDougald that puts the Yanks up 5-0.  The Jays try Thomas Pannone on the mound, and Bauer misses his HR 1-15 split again, this time with a 19, but two runs score on the resulting double and it’s NY 7-0 after five.  Russell Martin gets the first Toronto hit in the 6th, but he goes nowhere, and in the 8th both Martin and Billy McKinney get injured for the Jays, perhaps to get a head start on traffic.  Justin Smoak finally gets the Jays on the board in the 9th by leading off with a homer, but an annoyed Reynolds retires the next three in order to finish out a 4-hitter, striking out nine and sending the Yanks to the finals with a dominating 7-1 win.  

The 2009 Reds, with the worst ELO rank in the top half of this regional, had the unenviable task of facing the 1951 Yankees, the best ranked team, with their starting SS and one of their best relievers out, and having to face 21-game winner Vic Raschi with 8-game winner Homer Bailey.  Of course, the Reds had been thriving on being underestimated the entire regional, and in the top of the 1st they take a 1-0 lead on a 2-out solo blast from Johnny Gomes.   However, the Yanks respond in the bottom of the inning when Berra converts a TR 1-2/SI that scores Jensen and ties the game.  The Reds regain the lead in the 5th when Scott Rolen smacks a 2-out double and Joey Votto singles him home, but once again the Yanks tie it immediately without even garnering a hit when a walk and a Bailey error set up a Rizzuto sac fly.   Raschi walks the first two Reds in the 6th, but Joe Collins, who had just been brought in to replace the aged Johnny Mize and his “4” rating at 1B, turns a crucial DP to end the threat.  However, the Reds move ahead in the 7th 3-2 on Rolen’s second double of the game; the Yanks chase Bailey in the bottom of the inning for closer Francisco Cordero when Rizzuto and Billy Johnson hit consecutive singles, but Cordero whiffs McDougald and retires Dimaggio on a popup to preserve the slim lead.  The Reds add some insurance in the 8th when Rizzuto commits a 2-base error (the Yanks 3rd of the game) that scores two runners, and they pile on 2 more in the 9th when another Gomes solo HR and another 2-base Rizzuto error make it 7-2 heading into the bottom of the 9th.   It’s time for the Yanks to prove their mettle, but they go down to Cordero 1-2-3 and the improbable Reds win their 10th regional, making them one of the most successful franchises in the tournament.  How did the Reds do it?  The formula here seemed to be good team defense, a deep bench, and a couple of relievers in Rhodes and Cordero who got the job done when needed.

Interesting card of Regional #117:   So his team didn’t make it past the first round, but it certainly wasn’t his fault, as his two-run homer in the bottom of the 9th broke a shutout and he single handedly sent that first round game into extra innings.   This is the card of a 41-year old Ted Williams in his final season, who by this time had given up on fielding and running but still had the best hitting card in the regional.  It is fairly well known that Williams hit a home run in the final at-bat of his career, in a game on September 28, 1960 against the Orioles, appropriately punctuating one of the greatest hitting careers of all time.  But we Strat-heads can also appreciate this card as a fitting swan song for his career.  He only came back for the 1960 season because he didn’t want to leave the game after a disappointing 1959, and he certainly put up a year to remember him by.  I’ve tried to think of anyone who might have had a better card in his final year before retiring; Barry Bonds had a monster card in his last season in 2007, but Williams outhit Bonds by 40 points and outslugged him by 80 points, for an OPS of almost 1.100.  I can’t think of anyone else who is even close--maybe Koufax as a pitcher?