REGIONAL #120:  This group looked pretty competitive; there were a couple of Orioles teams that were both within a season or two of a pennant, a Braves team a few seasons away from a dynasty, versions of the Angels and Dodgers that should both be good, and a pitching-rich White Sox team trying to win a second regional in a row with a squad of what I remember as hitless wonders.   Other than the ‘62 A’s, it seemed to me like any of these teams could win and I wouldn’t be surprised.  I decided to choose the 1980 Orioles over the Braves in the final, although I also suspected that the 2010 Reds might sneak in as the only new millennium squad in the bracket.  The ELO ranks predicted an all-Orioles final, agreeing with me on the 1980 squad as the favorite but portraying my runner-up pick, the Braves, as the worst team in the regional.

First round action

I guess I knew there was a bit of a lull for the Braves between the Murphy/Horner years and the great 90’s team with the killer rotation, but I apparently didn’t remember just how bad those years were; with Murphy too old and Glavine and Smoltz too young, the 1988 Braves went 54-106 and earned a spot in the worst 100 ELO team ranks of all time.  In thinking about their matchup with the 2010 Reds, I also seemed to have forgotten that the 2009 version of the Reds had recently won Regional #117, defeating a championship Yankee team in the finals, and the 2010 squad was a better version of that team with 91 wins and they captured the NL Central title.   The Braves sent a 22-year old Tom Glavine to the mound, who led the NL with 17 losses, while the Reds went with Johnny Cueto, who had bested Nolan Ryan in that prior regional.  Glavine gets off to a rough start in the bottom of the 1st, when a Scott Rolen double is followed by a blast from Joey Votto into the far reaches of Great American ballpark, but he does get out of a jam in the 3rd when Jay Bruce hits into an inning-ending DP with the bases loaded.  The Reds break through in the 5th for another run on back-to-back doubles from Drew Stubbs and Rolen, but the Braves finally get things going in the 7th when Ron Gant leads off the inning with a HR off Cueto’s card, followed by a Murphy double, but Cueto regains his composure and the Reds hang on to a 3-1 lead, and when the Reds threaten in the bottom of the inning Glavine yields to Paul Assenmacher, who records two quick strikeouts of Rolen and Votto to end the threat.  The Reds sense the momentum shifting, and when Ken Oberkfell leads off the 8th with a double Cueto is gone and it’s time for Arthur Rhodes, a relief star of Regional #117 who retires the side without incident.  A 2-run blast from Johnny Gomes in the bottom of the 8th puts the Reds up comfortably, but it proves unnecessary as Rhodes shuts down the Braves in the 9th to earn the save in the 5-1 Reds win.

The matchup between the 1964 Orioles and the 1962 A’s featured two franchises that entered the 60’s after years of futility and ended the decade as emerging dynasties.   The Orioles were much further along in their development, winning 97 games to finish 3rd in the AL, with building blocks for their pennant winners like Brooks Robinson, Dave McNally, and Boog Powell already in place.   In contrast, the 90-loss A’s were still years from competing, and even their top weapon, 1B Norm Siebern, wasn’t much of an advantage since he also played 1B for the Orioles.  The A’s get their first run off O’s starter and 19-game winner Wally Bunker in the 3rd when Dick Howser singles, steals second, and is driven in by catcher Heywood Sullivan, but Baltimore responds in the bottom of the inning with a 2-run blast from Brooks Robinson and it’s 2-1 for the Orioles.  Then, in the 4th things fall totally apart for KC starter Ed Rakow, who allows a 2-run homer to Jerry Adair and then a 3-run shot to Powell; Orlando Pena comes in and closes out the inning but Baltimore is now up 7-1.   A’s DH George Alusik leads off the 8th with a solo shot, but Bunker easily closes out the remainder of the game and the Orioles head to the semis with the comfortable 7-2 victory.

According to the ELO ranks, the 100-win 1980 Orioles were actually the best team in baseball that season, even though they finished three games behind the Yankees in the AL East.  They certainly had a strong rotation and a lot of weapons in the lineup, headed by Eddie Murray and Ken Singleton.   The 1994 Dodgers actually “won” the NL West in that strike year, but they only went 58-56 and were the only team in the division over .500.  Still, the Orioles weren’t taking any chances and went with Cy Young Award winner Steve Stone (25-7, 3.23) against Ramon Martinez (12-7, 3.97), but the Dodgers greet Stone in the bottom of the 1st with a colossal 2-run homer from Raul Mondesi.  The Dodgers load the bases against Stone in the bottom of the second, but only convert for one run on a Brett Butler single when Henry Rodriguez is cut down trying to score.  The Orioles respond in the top of the 3rd with three hits and two Dodger errors leading to three runs to tie the game, but the O’s leave the bases loaded.  Three Stone walks and a Piazza sac fly give the Dodgers a 4-3 lead in the 4th, and the Orioles bullpen is throwing frantically hoping that their ineffective ace Stone can survive the 5th.  He does, and the O’s put up a game-tying run in the 6th on a Lowenstein RBI single, but Murray hits into his second rally-killing DP of the game to end the inning.  When Doug Decinces hits a solo HR in the 7th to put Baltimore in the lead for the first time in the game, Martinez exits in favor of Ismael Valdes; when Piazza leads off the bottom of the inning with a hard single off Stone’s card, Stone is gone and Tim Stoddard quells the threat.   However, Rodriguez takes Stoddard deep to lead off the 8th, and the game is tied heading into the 9th inning; Stoddard walks two to begin the bottom of the 9th but is bailed out when Mark Belanger turns a key DP, and we head to extra innings.  In the 12th, new LA reliever Rudy Seanez allows three straight singles to start the inning, the last an RBI for Rich Dauer, and with a one run lead it’s up to O’s Tippy Martinez to try to close out the Dodgers.  He sets them down in order, and the Orioles take a nailbiter 6-5 win to survive and advance, but with a sorely taxed bullpen.

The ELO ranks pegged the game between the 1986 Angels, who won 92 games and the AL West, and the 83-win 1966 White Sox as the best first round matchup in the bracket, with both teams featuring some good pitching, speed, and defense, although the Angels seemed to have the superior offensive lineup.  However, the Sox did have Gary Peters (12-10, 1.98) on the mound, with Mike Witt (18-10, 2.84) a strong counterpart that suggested a pitching duel would be forthcoming.  Things did go that way, with both teams trading zeros; the first sign of action was in the 4th, when Bobby Grich missed a HR 1-9/DO split but got stranded at second.  Finally, in the bottom of the 6th with two out, 39-year old pinch hitter Smokey Burgess draws a walk, and then Jerry Adair converts a HR 1-7/flyB off Witt’s card to give the Sox a 2-0 lead--Adair’s second unlikely blast of the regional, since he also hit one for the ‘64 Orioles.  Meanwhile, Peters is cruising until the top of the 9th, when he walks Reggie Jackson to begin the inning, retires Decinces, and then Bobby Grich singles and Jackson heads to 3rd.  The Sox play the infield back for Dick Schofield, and sure enough he rolls the gbA++, which is game over and Peters wraps up the 2-0 shutout with a 5-hitter--three of them by Grich.

The survivors

The semifinal between the 1964 Orioles and the 2010 Reds paired teams from decidedly different eras, but both had some motivation with the Orioles hoping for an all-Baltimore finals, and the Reds wanting to follow up on the regional win by their 2009 predecessors.  It would be Baltimore’s Milt Pappas (16-7, 2.96) against the Reds’ Bronson Arroyo (17-10, 3.88), who sported the exact same 5-9 solid HR result that was hit repeatedly on his 2009 self in Regional #117.  The Reds take the lead in the 3rd when Drew Stubbs leads off by finding a HR result well-hidden at 1-2, but they give that run back immediately when their SS Orlando Cabrera allows a single and commits an error that ties it at 1-1.  Undaunted, the Reds pound Pappas in the 4th for 5 hits and 4 runs, with Jim Edmonds (back after a game 1 injury) hitting a bases loaded double resulting from a missed HR 1-8 split.  However, as often happens in semifinal games, the Orioles refuse to lay down, and Jack Brandt hits a 3-run homer in the bottom of the inning to narrow the Reds lead to 5-4, and there is still plenty of baseball left to be played.  Of course, the Reds retaliate in the 5th with a 2-run blast from Ramon Hernandez, although Brooks Robinson finds Arroyo’s 5-9 HR result right after Boog Powell misses a HR 1-7/flyB split, so the score is 7-5 heading into the 6th and both pitchers are on extremely short leashes.  Pappas walks Joey Votto to start the 6th and is immediately yanked for Harvey Haddix, who holds the Reds scoreless for the first time since the 2nd inning.  Similarly, Arroyo is gone when he allows a double to Charley Lau in the bottom of the inning, with closer Francisco Cordero coming in and he prevents any damage.  The Orioles do score in the 7th when Aparicio draws a leadoff walk, steals second, and scores on a Norm Siebern double, but the rally is cut short when Reds defensive replacement SS Paul Janish turns a key DP to end the inning, and the Reds still cling to a one-run lead heading into the 9th.  Cordero is in prime form and retires three straight, the final out on an X-chart play by Janish that Cabrera would have booted, and the Reds win a hard fought 7-6 battle to gain the finals.

The semifinal between the 1980 Orioles and 1966 White Sox boasted a pitching matchup between Scott McGregor ( 20-8, 3.32) and Sox swingman Bruce Howard (9-5, 2.30), and though the Orioles looked to have significantly better offensive weapons, Eddie Murray needed to stop hitting into rally-killing DPs if the O’s hoped to get very far in this tournament.   The O’s score in the top of the 3rd when Ken Singleton doubles with two on, converting a DO 1-7/flyB on Howard’s card, but the split dice taketh away when Lowenstein’s 2-out 1-17 dash for home comes up with an 18, so Baltimore settles for the 1-0 lead.   In the bottom of the 6th, Don Buford singles, records his second SB in three tries, and Floyd Robinson singles him home to tie things up, and then in the 7th Ken Berry leads off by converting McGregor’s HR 1-8 split and the Sox lead 2-1 heading into the 8th.  However, Lowenstein leads off the 8th with his third hit of the game, Murray grounds out but not into a DP this time, and then Singleton crushes one into the upper deck of old Comiskey and the O’s regain the lead.  Things stay that way into the 9th, and McGregor hangs on to complete the 3-2 win with a 7-hitter, and the Orioles head to the finals trying for their 4th regional win, while the Sox quest for a second consecutive regional title comes to an end.

Stubbing the O's

The regional final matched the top-seeded 1980 Orioles against the 5th seed 2010 Reds, although just three regionals ago a #6 seeded 2009 Reds team that was essentially the same triumphed over a World Series champion, so anything could happen here.  It was underwear salesman Jim Palmer (16-10, 3.98) against capable Reds spot starter Travis Wood (5-4, 3.51), with both bullpens a bit depleted from close early round games.  In the bottom of the 2nd, after Singleton walks, Decinces gets a knock on Wood that goes deep into the stands at Memorial Stadium, but Drew Stubbs responds with a solo shot in the top of the 3rd for the Reds.  Thus challenged, the O’s retaliate as a double from red-hot John Lowenstein scores Bumbry, and then Eddie Murray gets his first hit of the regional (off Woods’ card, no less) to drive in Lowenstein and it’s 4-1 O’s.  The Reds promptly load the bases in the 4th, but Rich Dauer turns a beautiful DP to erase any rally.  However, in the 5th Stubbs hits his 1-11 HR 1-18/flyB result for a second time and converts the split again for a 2-run shot, and it’s now Orioles 4, Stubbs 3.  A hit and a walk to lead off the 7th drives Palmer from the game, and Tippy Martinez is summoned to try to maintain the slim lead.  Scott Rolen greets Martinez with a pitcher’s card single that ties the game, but Martinez then fans Votto and defensive replacement Belanger converts a DP to end the rally with the game now tied.  Martinez and Wood both then toss perfect 8th and 9th innings, and the final heads to extra frames.  Martinez enters the 10th with one inning left in him, and it isn’t a good one, as the Reds crack four hits, including a Jay Bruce double, to score two and Cincinnati leads for the first time entering the bottom of the 10th, ahead 6-4.  The Reds stick with Wood, who hasn’t allowed a hit since the 5th, for his final inning and Lowenstein, Murray, and Singleton go down 1-2-3 to give the Reds their 11th regional win, and a clear Endless Tournament dynasty featuring 2009, 2010, and 2012 Reds all as regional winners.  Although Stubbs and his three homers (all on his own card, all at weird roll numbers) deserves regional MVP recognition, it was a genuine team effort with all nine starters contributing at least one RBI in the three games.

Interesting card of Regional #120:  If you pay attention to these posts, you’ve heard me extol the virtues of the old die-cut cards, but there was a downside--quality control was a bit more uneven with them.  In addition to the occasional missing (although more often extra) card, there were times when the old die-cutter wasn’t quite cutting in the right spot, and as a case in point I present 1986 Ron Romanick, or at least some of him.  It seems that if they’re only going to show 75% of his card, his ERA should be reduced to 4.12.  This is one of the more egregious examples I have; over the years, I did manage to replace this Romanick with one that was legible, but I suppose that if old Strat cards are ever worth as much as old postage stamps, such a misprint should be worth a fortune.