REGIONAL #128:  This group includes the 1,024th team to play in this tournament, which means that the ultimate survivor among all those teams will have to win 10 games in a row to stay alive.  However, for this particular regional only three wins are required, and this bracket was the inverse of the prior regional in that 7 of the 8 teams were from the 20th century.  And they looked to be pretty interesting teams at that; there were Braves and Marlins teams that were one season removed from a pennant, two different Giants teams that were two years removed from one, and Diamondbacks and Senators that each had won a pennant three years prior.  I felt that the bottom of the bracket was stronger than the top, and I put my chips on the lone 21st century team, the Diamondbacks, over the ‘91 version of the Giants in the finals.   The ELO rankings found my pick of the Dbacks laughable, as they were ranked as the worst team in the regional by far and one of the 100 worst of all time.  Instead, those rankings selected the Senators to take the final over a middling 1955 Reds team.

First round action

The 80-82 1996 Marlins and the 75-79 1955 Reds both had solid lineups anchored by a slugger who couldn’t field, Ted Kluszewski for the Reds and Gary Sheffield for the Marlins.   However, one big difference in the teams was that the Marlins had Kevin Brown (17-11, 1.89), runner-up for the NL Cy Young award.   The Reds rotation wasn’t bad, but Joe Nuxhall (17-12, 3.47) would need his best knuckler to keep pace with Brown.  That doesn’t seem to be happening, as two singles and a walk to lead off the top of the 1st brings up Jeff Conine, who crushes a non-knuckler into the cheap seats of Crosley Field for a grand slam and a 4-0 lead before an out is recorded.  The Reds get one of those runs back in the bottom of the inning on a Wally Post fielder’s choice, although both pitchers then settle in.  However, a bit of wildness from Nuxhall loads the bases for the Marlins in the 6th, although they can only convert for one run on an Edgar Renteria sac fly, and it’s now 5-1 and Florida is putting in the defensive replacements.  Gus Bell then hits the first pitch of the bottom of the inning out of the park, and the Marlins wonder if it might have been too early, although the next batter hits a fly out to defensive replacement Jesus Tavarez and he makes a great play on the ball to keep the score at 5-2.  In the 7th Sheffield scores on a Devon White single, but in the bottom of the inning the Reds put together a two out rally that culminates in a 3-run homer by Wally Post, and suddenly it’s 6-5 and the Marlins are wondering if Brown is really up to the task of finishing out the game.  A walk and a single in the bottom of the 8th helps them decide that the answer is “no”, and Rick Helling comes in to try to quash the rally.  A squib single by Johnny Temple loads the bases, but once again Taverez makes a great play on a Bobby Adams flyball to end the inning and the Marlins still cling to the lead.  Nuxhall does his job in the top of the 9th, and so in the bottom of the 9th it comes down to Helling vs. the meat of the Reds order.  Big Klu leads off with a single, but the horribly slow Reds bench has no reasonable pinch-runners so he’s on his own out there.  Post then draws a walk to bring up Gus Bell.  Helling delivers, 3-5, HR 1-14, Bell converts the split and it’s a walk-off homer as the Reds complete an amazing comeback to take the 8-6 win against what may be the best starter in the regional.

The 1991 Giants went 76-87 and had a good core in Will Clark, Matt Williams, and Kevin Mitchell, but from there the supporting cast was uneven.  Still, that seemed like more weapons than the 72-81 1955 Cubs, who had Ernie Banks and not a whole lot else.  The pitching matchup between the Giants’ Trevor Wilson (13-11, 3.56) and Chicago’s Bob Rush (13-11, 3.50) looked quite even, but Wilson gets torched for five hits and four runs in the top of the 1st, including a 3-run homer by Jim King.  A Kevin Mitchell sac fly in the bottom of the 4th puts the Giants on the board, and a solo shot by Will Clark in the 6th narrows the score to 4-2.  Wilson has settled down in the meantime and pitches seven shutout innings, but when he allows a hit in the top of the 9th the Giants turn to Dave Righetti to stymie any insurance for the Cubs.  He does so, and it now comes down to Rush against the heart of the Giants order in the 9th.  Singles by Clark and Mitchell brings up Kevin Bass with one out, and Bass rips a triple that ties the game and puts the winning run on 3rd.  Backup catcher Terry Kennedy is up and the Giants have no decent PH options on the bench; Rush delivers and Kennedy lofts a deep fly to RF, Bass tags and scores easily, and the Giants take the walk-off win 5-4.  This marks the second game in a row where a team scoring 4 runs in the top of the 1st manages to lose the game in a walk-off.  

I make my predictions for regional winners totally blind, with no research and without looking at the cards, and nowhere was this more apparent than in my selection of the 2004 Diamondbacks to win this bracket.  See, I knew the Dbacks had won the NL sometime early in the 2000s, and the 2007 team that had made the semifinals in the previous regional wasn’t too bad, plus the steroid era teams usually carry an advantage.  Little did I know that they went 51-111 and were the #8 seed according to ELO ranks, one of the 100 worst of all time.  However, they did have Randy Johnson (16-14, 2.60) who was the NL Cy Young runner-up despite playing for the league’s worst team; with his opponent being the 1949 Braves’ Warren Spahn (21-14, 3.07), the NL leader in wins and 7th in MVP voting, it was a high-powered pitching matchup.  The Braves had won the NL pennant the prior year but this squad was a mediocre 75-79, although they had a potential secret weapon in Jeff Heath.  The Braves jump to a quick lead on a 2-run homer by Bob Elliott in the top of the 1st, but that proves short-lived as Spahn’s wildness in the bottom of the inning loads the bases for the Dbacks, which are then cleared by a Chad Tracy grand slam off Spahn’s card.  The Braves load the bases against Johnson in the 5th, but only convert for one run on an Elliott squib single, although when the Dbacks Robby Hammock misses Spahn’s HR 1-12 split and gets stranded at second in the bottom of the inning, the Braves feel like the momentum might be shifting.  But Johnson wasn’t going to allow that, striking out 13 Braves and holding them hitless for the final four innings.  He does issue a walk, and with two out Elbie Fletcher hits Johnson’s 4-7 DO 1-9/flyB roll with Al Dark (1-18 with two out) on first off with the pitch, but the split roll is a 12 for the final out and the Dbacks score a 4-3 win, with both pitchers ending with 5-hitters despite rocky first innings.

By the ELO rankings, the best matchup of the first round had the #1 seed 1927 Senators against the #3 seed 1953 Giants.  The Senators went 85-69, good for 3rd place in the AL, led by Tris Speaker and Goose Goslin, although a 39 year old Walter Johnson was ineffective and was unlikely to make an appearance.  The Giants did not fare as well in their season, going 70-84 and seriously missing Willie Mays, who was in military service, although even without Mays the Giants had five guys on their team with more homers than the Senators’ leader.  It was the Nats’ Hod Lisenbee (18-9, 3.57) against NY’s Ruben Gomez (13-11, 3.40), and they both get through the first inning without allowing a run, the first time in this regional that has occurred.  The Giants do score in the 2nd when DH Bobby Hofman laces a leadoff triple and scores on a Monte Irvin sac fly; the Senators then threaten in the 3rd but the inning ends disastrously for them when Speaker (almost literally) kills the rally with a tournament-ending injury (split of 20).  The Nats have a chance to tie it again in the 6th but Earl McNeely, in for the injured Speaker, is gunned down at the plate trying to score from second (1-15) on a Joe Judge single.  Another Washington threat in the 8th has the Giants warming up Hoyt Wilhelm, but they decide to stick with Gomez and he records the third out with a roll that would have been a game-tying hit on Wilhelm.  The Nats make one more effort in the 9th when Ossie Bluege pushes a double into the gap that Don Mueller can’t get to, but Gomez bears down and finishes out the inning to clinch a 1-0 win for the Giants, one in which both starters toss 6-hitters.

The survivors

Oliveras didn't have a Klu

The first semifinal matches two teams that came back from big deficits to score walkoff wins in round one, with the #5 seed 1991 Giants glad to be at home and batting last against the #4 seed 1955 Reds.  The Reds go with swingman Johnny Klippstein (9-10, 3.39) against the Giants and Bud Black (12-16, 3.99), and it’s the Reds double play combo that puts them on the board first when SS Roy McMillan doubles to lead off the 3rd inning and 2B Johnny Temple singles him home.   The 4th inning goes similarly for the Reds, with this time Stan Palys leading off with the double and Chuck Harmon singling in the run, and it’s now 2-0 Cincinnati.  And, in the 5th it’s Bobby Adams who leads off with the double, and although Kluszewski’s single isn’t enough to bring him home, the succeeding Wally Post fielder’s choice does and the Reds have a three-run lead.  In the bottom of the 5th, Klippstein issues his 4th and 5th walk, and Willie McGee adds an RBI single that is the Giants’ first hit of the game to make it 3-1.  However, in the 6th Chuck Harmon swats a solo HR into the teeth of the wind in Candlestick, and the Giants yank Black for Jeff Brantley, but LF-4 Kevin Mitchell horribly misplays a McMillan flyball and Bobby Adams find’s Brantley's HR result, and when the dust clears it is now 6-1 Reds.  Things don’t get any better for the Giants when they lose Matt Williams to injury, and then Brantley walks the bases full in the 7th and then walks in a run, so it’s Dave Righetti’s turn.  Righetti holds the Reds scoreless in the 8th (for the first time since the 2nd inning), and the Giants try to mount their comeback in the bottom of the inning with a leadoff triple from Robby Thompson; he scores on a Will Clark single, and then a Mike Felder single is followed by a 3-run Kevin Mitchell blast and suddenly it’s 7-5 with still nobody out.  The Reds eye their bullpen but hope that Klippstein can recover his form; two straight walks and they have to try something different, so Bud Podbielan takes the mound.   Steve Decker greets him with an RBI single, Podbielan issues a walk to load the bases and then a passed ball by Smokey Burgess and the game is now tied.  McMillan finally turns a DP to end the inning, but it’s a whole new ballgame.  Righetti sets the Giants down in the 9th in order but he is now burned for the regional, so it comes down to Podbielan against the 3-4-5 hitters for the Giants in the bottom of the 9th–but with Matt Williams missing from the cleanup spot.  They get singles from Clark and Kevin Bass, but can’t score, and the game heads to extra innings.  The Giants bring out Francisco Oliveras as their 4th pitcher, and he sets the Reds down in order in the 10th but Podbielan does likewise.  In the 11th, Oliveras hangs a curveball to Kluszewski, who deposits it deep in the stands for a solo shot, and the game heads to the bottom of the 11th with Podbielan in his last inning of eligibility for the regional.  He gets the first two out to face Mike Felder, in for the injured Williams, and Felder squibs a SI* 1-15 with a 13 split to get on base as the tying run and Mitchell at the plate.  But Mitchell grounds out to defensive replacement 3B Rocky Bridges, and the Reds seal the deal with an extra-inning 8-7 classic.  

The semifinal between the 2004 Diamondbacks and the 1953 Giants featured two squads that pulled off upsets in the first round.  The Dbacks were aided in that effort by Randy Johnson, but that weapon was used up and it was now Brandon Webb (7-16, 3.69) against NY’s Al Worthington (4-8, 3.44), who had similar cards with identical patterns.  The Giants rack up five hits in the 2nd, some courtesy of bad Arizona fielding, but only push across two runs as they leave the bases loaded.  The Dbacks strike back in the 4th, when an error by Giants 2b-2 Davey Williams opens the door to triples from Chad Tracy and Shea Hillenbrand, and Arizona takes the lead 3-2.  Bobby Hofman ties it in the 5th with a solo shot which could have been more if not preceded by the Giants third GIDP of the game.  Webb is yanked after allowing three singles in the 6th to relinquish the lead, and Greg Aquino comes in and prevents any further damage.  A walk and a single in the top of the 8th pushes the Giants to bring in Hoyt Wilhelm, and he fans Alex Cintron so the Giants cling to the one run lead.  They try to add insurance in the bottom of the inning and get runners on first and third with one out, and the Dbacks summon Jose Valverde, whose card is pretty much either a strikeout or a home run, and Jose lands two of the strikeouts to send the game into the ninth with Arizona still down by just one run.  However, Wilhelm is in command and notches the save as the Giants move on with a comeback 4-3 win; they outhit Arizona 13-5 but the double-play ball killed multiple rallies, an issue they would like to correct for the finals.

 The regional final matched two NL teams from the ‘50s, and featured two workhorses on the mound with the 1955 Reds and Art Fowler (11-10, 3.90) against the 1953 Giants and Jim Hearn (9-12, 4.53).  Things start out rough for Hearn in the top of the 1st when leadoff hitter Johnny Temple finds Hearn’s HR result, but 2B-2 Temple taketh away in the 3rd when he drops a 2-out grounder with the bases loaded.  That opens the floodgates, culminating in a 3-run triple by Al Dark, and the Giants take a commanding 5-1 lead.  Given the runs, Hearn turns unhittable, allowing only two hits in the final eight innings to close out the game with a 4-hitter and the Giants take the regional by that 5-1 score.  The Giants decline to designate an MVP as the three wins were very much team efforts, but a pitching staff that only allowed five runs in the three games deserves special mention. 

Interesting card of Regional #128:  This card represents the final season for an outfielder who seemed like he could have been one of the all-time greats.  Instead, he had an erratic career and he was apparently an erratic and difficult person, frequently missing spring training by holding out and repeatedly getting into fistfights with teammates.  After wearing out his welcome following a long stint with the Indians and a few seasons with the Browns, none of which led to a World Series appearance, Heath was traded to the NL Braves and promptly led the Braves to their first NL Pennant in four decades.  As fate would have it, their opponent in the Series would be those same Indians who had given up on Heath a few years previously, setting up an eagerly awaited chance for retribution–but it was not to be.  With the pennant wrapped up and four games left in the season, Heath slid awkwardly into Brooklyn catcher Roy Campanella trying to score, resulting in a gruesome compound ankle fracture and Heath left the field on a stretcher.  Thus, he was on crutches as his remaining teammates could hit only .230 against the Indians pitching staff, losing the Series in six games.  Sadly, Heath never fully recovered from this injury (note his 3-8 roll).  In the following 1949 season in which Heath appeared as DH in this regional, he made his first start on July 15th and, although he obviously could still hit, he was largely immobile and the Braves released him at the end of the season.  Even as DH, Heath was unable to prevent his Braves from making a quick exit from this tournament, but as the final Strat card of his career this one isn’t a bad way to go out.