REGIONAL #125: At first glance, the draw for this regional looked to me like a moldering mound of mediocrity, and I was hard pressed to remember much of anything about any of these teams. I knew that the Mets had been pennant-winners four years prior, and that the Rays would do so within a few years, but those two were facing off in the first round and beyond that it was pretty much a blind guess. Because the Rays had never won a regional (with the 2019 team losing in the finals of Regional #114), I decided to pull for them and predicted they would defeat the Indians in the finals. The ELO ranks suggested that I severely underestimated the Mets, ranking them as a very good team that was predicted to take the regional over the Indians.
First round action
On looking at the initial draw for the regional, I had guessed that the 1990 Mets had declined significantly from their ‘86 champions, but no–they won 91 games and still boasted a formidable pitching staff. In fact, it seemed to me that the Mets‘ #4 starter was better than the #1 of their opponents, the 2017 Rays, and so the matchup of NY’s Frank Viola (20-12, 2.67, third place in Cy Young votes) against Tampa’s Chris Archer (10-12, 4.07) was predictably lopsided. And it looks like it’s going to be ugly when Kevin McReynolds finds Archer’s HR result in the top of the 1st for a three-run blast to quickly put the Mets in front. The Rays try to stage a rally in the 2nd and load the bases with nobody out, but Adeiny Hechavarria manages to hit his LOMAX, triple play, rally over, and to make matters worse I also have to type his name out. However, the Rays are not discouraged, and in the 3rd inning they managed to hit Viola’s 6-4 HR 1-7 results THREE times, and convert it all three times, for homers by Logan Morrison, Corey Dickerson, and Wilson Ramos that put the Rays on top 5-3. Mets manager Bud Harrelson demands a dice inspection, but no foreign substances are detected, and NY now has to try to dig out of a hole that their ace has gotten them into. They try to let Viola work out his issues, but when Colby Rasmus hits a 2-run homer in the 5th (at least off his own card), Frank is gone and John Franco, who has an out at 6-4, is summoned to try to pick up the pieces. The Mets get two walks and an RBI single from Tim Teufel to send Archer to the showers in favor of Tommy Hunter, and he ends the rally with the Rays still up 7-4. The Rays get a run off a 2-out RBI single by Ramos in the bottom of the 7th, although Hechavarria again leaves the bases loaded. A Rasmus fielder’s choice in the 8th makes it 9-4, and the Rays bring in Steve Cishek for the 9th to set down the Mets in order as the Rays knock out the regional favorite in convincing fashion.
When two bad teams meet in this tournament, somebody is going to advance, so the 94-loss 1999 Expos and 93-loss 2019 Pirates could take heart from that guarantee. The Expos at least had a big season from Vlad Guerrero, while the Pirates had some decent relievers; the two starters had very similar cards, with neither Montreal’s Dustin Hermanson (9-14, 4.20) and Pirate Joe Musgrove (11-12, 4.44) making a dominating #1 starter. The first inning goes as one might expect, with the Expos hitting into an inning-ending DP with runners on 1st and 3rd in the top of the inning, and the Pirates DH Jose Osuna leaving runners on 2nd and 3rd in the bottom of the inning, while getting injured in the process. In the 4th, the Expos rap four hits and the Pirates commit their 3rd error of the game and Montreal takes a 3-0 lead. Although Musgrove allows only one more hit, the Pirates are dominated by Hermanson, who ends with a 3-hit shutout and the Expos move on with a 3-0 win, one in which they only mustered six hits themselves.
The 1971 Angels had a very strong pitching staff, with Andy Messersmith (20-13, 2.69) setting himself up nicely for the advent of free agency; however, their anemic hitting resulted in a mediocre 76-86 season. There was certainly no hitting shortage on the 1996 Orioles, a team loaded with steroid-era crushers but with a starting rotation that suffered accordingly. These Orioles went 88-74, lost to the Yankees in the ALCS, and I seriously underestimated them in my initial impressions, confusing them with the dismal version of the Orioles that lost 20+ games in a row some years earlier. However, the Angels tag Mike Mussina (19-11, 4.81) quickly in the top of the 1st with a Mickey Rivers single, a Roger Repoz double, and a sac fly by Ken McMullen and Messersmith has a 1-0 lead to work with. However, in the 3rd, Sandy Alomar drops a grounder that sets up a Bobby Bonilla RBI single that ties the game; in the Orioles dugout, Sandy’s son Roberto is cringing in embarrassment. The Angels reclaim the lead when a Rivers fielder’s choice scores Ken Berry in the 5th, but that lead only lasts until the bottom of the 6th when BJ Surhoff crushes a solo shot to tie it again. In the 8th, McMullen misses a HR 1-9/DO split, but scores on Jim Spencer’s double and the Angels retake the lead; the O’s bring in Jesse Orosco to prevent any more damage, and he does so. It then comes down to Messersmith trying to hold on in the 9th; he gets two quick outs, but then 3B-2 Ken McMullen makes his second error of the game, Todd Zeile walks, and the Orioles bring in 40 year old Eddie Murray to pinch hit with the tying and winning run both on base. The roll, SI* 1-4, no luck for Eddie on the split, and the Angels hang on for the 3-2 upset win as Messersmith completes the 4-hitter against the powerful O’s lineup.
The 93-win 2005 Indians looked pretty solid–they had some pop in the lineup, a couple of good starters, and a very good bullpen if those starters got into trouble. On the other hand, their opposition, the 79-83 2012 Pirates, had Andrew McKutchen and not a whole lot else, although they did sport a large collection of terrible individualized pitchers’ hitting cards that I apparently purchased that season. Even so, Pirate starter AJ Burnett (16-10, 3.51) was a decent option to go against Cleveland’s Cliff Lee (18-5, 3.79), who came 4th in the Cy Young balloting. Apparently the Pirates aren’t too impressed with Lee’s accolades, as in the top of the 1st there is a Neil Walker leadoff triple, a 2-base error courtesy of Indians’ SS-4 Jhonny Peralta, and a 3-run homer by Alex Presley and Pittsburgh leads 4-0 before the Indians have batted. Cleveland produces a run in the 3rd on an RBI single by Coco Crisp past Pirates 1B-3 Gaby Sanchez, and Lee holds serve until the 8th, when he’s pulled for Matt Miller after allowing a double to Presley. Meanwhile, Burnett keeps the Pirates off the board until the bottom of the 8th, when a Victor Martinez RBI single makes it 4-2, but the Pirates are uneasy about their relief options and let Burnett try to close things out. His job gets easier when the Pirates score three more in the top of the 9th, assisted by two Cleveland errors (including Peralta’s second of the game) and a bases-loaded single by McCutchen. Burnett loads the bases up for the Pirates in the bottom of the 9th to make things interesting; Crisp hits a sac fly, Hafner walks to reload the bases, and Grady Sizemore comes up as the tying run. But Burnett retires him on a lazy fly to seal the 7-3 win and send the Pirates to the semis.
The survivors
With the elimination of the three best teams in the regional in the first round, the 80-82 2017 Rays found themselves as the favorite among the remainders, which is only appropriate since they had defeated the top seed in their previous game. They were sending Alex Cobb (12-10, 3.66) to the mound against Mike Thurman (7-11, 4.05) and the 1999 Expos, and Tampa asserts itself quickly in the top of the 1st with an RBI single from Steven Souza. The Expos tie it in the 3rd when Chris Widger doubles and eventually scores on a DP ball, and take the lead in the 4th on a Rondell White RBI double. However, in the 5th Thurman falls apart, and the Rays bat around with most of the action on Thurman’s card; when the dust settles, the Rays lead 6-2 and the Expos are trying Steve Kline on the mound. The Expos then seem to be abandoning ship, as both Marty Martinez and Vlad Guerrero suffer injuries in the bottom of the inning and leave the game. From there, Cobb is adequate, the Rays continue to punish Kline and Urbina, and Tampa waltzes to the 8-2 win that puts them in the finals seeking the first regional win for the Rays franchise.
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| Almost a trio |
Two underdog first round winners match up in the semifinal between the 1971 Angels and the 2012 Pirates, with Clyde Wright (16-17, 2.99) for the Halos against Wandy Rodriguez (12-13, 3.76). Sandy Alomar (2B-2) makes his 3rd error of the regional in the bottom of the 1st, which sets up a 2-run HR by Garrett Jones; in the 3rd, Wright walks the first two batters and then allows a 3-run shot by Pedro Alvarez and the Angels are looking for divine intervention. When McCutchen converts Wright’s HR 1-4/flyB split for a solo shot in the 4th, that is interpreted as a sign that it’s Rickey Clark’s turn on the mound, but Jones nails his first pitch for another HR, and in the 6th Jones misses Clark’s HR split trying for #3 but still gets an RBI double that makes it 8-0 Bucs. A McCutchen sac fly extends the lead in the 8th, and Rodriguez enters the 9th trying to hang onto his shutout. An error and an X-chart single put two men on quickly, but Wandy bears down to retire three straight to lock down the 4-hit shutout and send the Pirates to the regional final.
The 2017 Rays were in good position to win their first regional title, being slight favorites in this final game over the 2012 Pirates. Befitting two mediocre teams, their #3 starters were fairly underwhelming as the Rays’ Blake Snell (5-7, 4.04) was matched against James McDonald (12-8, 4.21), but both bullpens were fully rested and the teams were injury-free, so there would be no excuses. The Rays opened the top of the 1st like a team on a mission, with two leadoff hits off X-chart shortcomings, followed by a Corey Dickerson blast, and that’s just the beginning as the Rays bat around, Evan Longoria adds another 3-run homer, and by the time the inning ends it’s 7-0 Rays with the Pirates still waiting to swing a bat. When Dickerson adds a solo shot off McDonald’s card in the 2nd, the Pirates decide it’s time to try Kyle McPherson on the mound, who gets out of the inning. Heartened, the Pirates cut the lead in the bottom of the 2nd on a 2-run homer from Michael McKenry, and in the 4th DH Rod Barajas adds another 2-run shot to narrow things to 8-4 and create a little discomfort in the Rays dugout. Colby Rasmus leads off the 5th for the Rays with a longball for a little more padding, but the Pirates get the run right back on a McKenry sac fly and it’s now 9-5. Two walks to start the 7th and Snell is gone in favor of Tommy Hunter, who walks the bases loaded but gets out of the jam unscathed. Not taking any chance with a shot at the regional, the Rays bring in relief ace Steve Cishek to begin the bottom of the 9th, and he mows through the heart of the Pirates order in order to preserve the 9-5 win and give the Rays their first regional win in franchise history. The Rays award the regional MVP to Corey Dickerson based on his 3 homers and 6 RBI in the three games, but special mention should be made of the Rays defense, which only made one error in three games and aside from 2B-4 Brad Miller (with defensive replacement “2” Danny Espinosa getting action in all three games), continuously bailed out the Rays rather shaky rotation.
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