REGIONAL #133: It was just three regionals ago that I lamented the poor performance of my favorite teams in this project, accurately forecasting that my ‘83 White Sox would go down (via shutout, no less) in the first round. And, here we go with another favorite Sox team, the 1994 version that “won” the AL Central and an MVP for Frank Thomas, but were robbed of a postseason appearance by the strike. They now have their chance for glory in this regional, but they face obstacles besides my jinx, such as a Twins team just a season away from a pennant and a more modern Tiger team two seasons away from the AL flag. The remainder of the bracket looked like they could be decent as well, and after a truly terrible team won the previous regional I doubted I’d be able to pick this one accurately. However, tradition required a selection so I went with the Tigers over the Sox in the finals, figuring the Sox would get my hopes up only to dash them as they have over nearly every season (except one) of my life. The ELO ranks added to the kiss of death for the Sox by listing them as by far the best team in the regional, predicting a win over the Twins in the final. We shall see.
First round action
The 1964 Twins were just one season away from winning the first pennant for that franchise in more than three decades, but they only finished 79-83, and looking at the team I couldn’t figure out why they were under .500. They had good offense from Killebrew, Oliva, Allison, Versalles et al., three solid starters, and a good bullpen, and their Pythagorean projection agreed with me, predicting that they should have won 87 games. Meanwhile, their opponent, the 1989 Orioles, did win 87 games to nearly win the AL East, but they overplayed their projection (in fact, they had lost 107 games in ‘88) and I felt that the ELO ranks were accurate in ranking the Twins as the better team. The pitching matchup had the O’s Jeff Ballard (18-8, 3.43), 6th in the AL Cy Young voting, against Minnesota’s recent Hall of Fame inductee Jim Kaat (17-11, 3.22). Killebrew begins the fireworks in the top of the first by crushing a homer to give the Twins a 2-0 lead that could have been worse as Bob Allison and Don Mincher both missed HR splits (1-11 and 1-17) in the inning. Allison leads off the 3rd leaving no doubt by nailing a solid HR on his card, but in the bottom of the inning Joe Orsulak leads off with a blast of his own and a couple of Kaat walks and a Zoilo Versalles error and the Twins’ lead narrows to 3-2. In the 4th, Rich Rollins doubles with 2 out and C Earl Battey (1-8) lumbers home successfully to make it 4-2; the O’s threaten again in the bottom of the inning but Mike Devereaux ends the inning by grounding out and getting injured in the process. In the bottom of the 7th, a 2-out, 2-run homer from Randy Milligan ties the game and Memorial Stadium is rocking; when Kaat issues a leadoff walk in the 8th the Twins move to Al Worthington and his 1.38 ERA, and he gets out of the inning without damage. The game moves to the 9th still tied, and when Battey leads off the top of the inning with a single the Orioles bring in their closer, Gregg Olson, who is bailed out by a failed bunt from Bernie Allen that keeps the score knotted for the bottom of the 9th. Worthington walks Tettleton, and then Twins CF-3 Jimmie Hall plays a Cal Ripken fly into a double, putting the winning run on 3rd with nobody out. The infield comes in; Milligan walks, and Craig Worthington (no apparent relation to the Twins’ pitcher) hits a grounder to Versalles, who fields it cleanly for the first time in 5 X-chart attempts this game, and there is one out. Orsulak pops out, and Billy Ripken grounds out, and we head to extra innings. Neither team can do much until the top of the 12th, when Don Mincher tries that HR 1-17 split again and this time converts it for a solo shot to put the Twins up. It’s now Johnny Klippstein’s game in the bottom of the 12th, and he sets the Orioles down in order to give the Twins the hard-fought 5-4 win.
Next up was a matchup of teams from the same season, the 2010 Tigers against the 2010 Diamondbacks. I had picked the Tigers to win the regional vaguely remembering that those were the years of Verlander and Scherzer, and sure enough those two were there and were solid, but the rest of the rotation was not so good, team defense was mediocre at best, and aside from Miguel Cabrera there wasn’t a lot of firepower in the lineup, resulting in their mediocre 81-81 record. That was still a far sight better than the 97-loss Dbacks, as when I was going through the cards to set their starting lineup, I kept wondering when I was going to run across somebody whose name sounded familiar. Arizona had a couple of hitters, a couple of fielders, and a collection of starting pitchers who were different flavors of bad, with Ian Kennedy (9-11, 3.80) the best of the lot to go against Verlander (18-9, 3.37). In the 3rd, a two-out error by Tiger 2B-3 Carlos Guillen opens the floodgates for consecutive RBI singles from Chris Young, Justin Upton, and Miguel Montero. That’s the scoring until the top of the 9th, when Stephen Drew leads off with a homer that gives the Dbacks a 4-0 lead, but all eyes are on Kennedy as he is tossing a PERFECT GAME going into the bottom of the 9th. Of course, the second I write that, Jhonny Peralta leads off the inning with a double to break up the gem, and to make matters worse I have to type his name four times before I can get the damn autocorrect to stop changing his first name. Then, Alex Avila doubles to bring in Peralta, and it is starting to get interesting here in Comerica Park. Kennedy walks Ramon Santiago and then Austin Jackson converts a squib single, and the bases are loaded with nobody out and the winning run at the plate. Kennedy is obviously spent after losing his no-no and the Dbacks give the ball to Daniel Hudson to try to hang on to the win. Johnny Damon hits a grounder to AZ 1B-3 Adam Laroche, who boots it and the bases remain loaded with the score now 4-2, and still nobody is out. Hudson whiffs Cabrera to get one, Magglio Ordonez lifts a flyball to CF-2 Chris Young for a sac fly that scores Santiago, and it’s now two away with the tying run on second and Carlos Guillen at the plate, eager to atone for his costly error earlier in the game. It’s on Hudson’s card: SI* 1-12, and the split is a 13. Guillen gets the double goat horns and the Dbacks barely hang on for the upset 4-3 win–one in which they lost 2B Kelly Johnson to injury with little depth to replace him.
The 1983 Angels had some names that would lead one to believe they were better than they actually were, such as a Reggie Jackson who hit .194 with 14 HR, and I thought that their ELO ranking was better than their 92 losses merited. The 94-loss 2004 Brewers had similar results but did so with a no-name cast of characters; their best hope lay in starter Ben Sheets (12-14, 2.70) who finished 8th in the Cy Young balloting and led the league in SO/W ratio, which is certainly more than Angels starter Ken Forsch (11-12, 4.06) could claim. The Angels load the bases in the top of the 1st, but only manage one run on a Fred Lynn fielder’s choice, as Sheets whiffs Reggie! to end the inning. The Brewers get that run back immediately when Lyle Overbay, whose error in the top of the inning had loaded the bases for the Angels, smacks a solo homer to make up for it. In the 5th, Bobby Grich connects for a 2-run shot to put the Angels up 3-1, but in the bottom of the 6th DH Russell Branyan comes up with the bases loaded and clears them with a double to put the Brewers on top, and after a walk the Angels yank Forsch for Luis Sanchez, who immediately converts a DP to prevent further damage. The game heads into the 9th with Milwaukee clinging to the 4-3 lead, and the Brewers decide that it’s Sheets’ game, but PH Ellis Valentine bats for Tim Foli and crushes a solo shot to tie the game. Sheets then walks Brian Downing to face Grich, who sends his second 2-run homer of the game into the cheap seats and the Angels reclaim the lead, so it’s now up to Sanchez to hold on in the bottom of the 9th. With one out, Keith Ginter rolls Sanchez’s 5-5 HR 1-5/flyB split and converts it with a 4, and it’s a one-run game. Sanchez then whiffs Podsednik, so it comes down to PH Junior Spivey, who rolls in his big 3 column but it’s a 3-12, lomax, and it’s game over. The Angels take the see-saw 6-5 victory; Sanchez gets credit for the win, but he’s burned up for the regional and there isn’t much else in the California bullpen to shore up their shaky starting pitching.
The 1994 White Sox went 67-46, the best record in the AL Central and the second best in the league. However, there would be no postseason in that strike year, shortchanging one of the best Sox teams in recent memory, with Frank Thomas as AL MVP along with decent pitching and defense (although I always thought Ozzie Guillen deserved a “1” range, but I guess they were saving up fielding points for Derek Jeter). They faced a 1983 Mariners team that lost 102 games, making them the #8 seed in the regional and without much to write home about–aside from a pretty fair #1 starter in Matt Young (11-15, 3.27), who would be matched against the Sox’ Jason Bere (12-2, 3.81) in a battle of guys with control problems. In the top of the 1st, Young issues a walk to Joey Cora which is followed by a blast from Thomas–off Young’s card–and the Sox have a quick 2-0 lead. Cora then allows .196-hitting Spike Owen to punch a two-out single past him in the 2nd that scores Rick Sweet, but the Sox regain the run in the 4th when Thomas leads off with a blast, this time on his own card, and it’s now Thomas 3, Mariners 1. However, in the bottom of the inning Owen connects off Bere’s card for a 2-run shot to make it Owen 3, Thomas 3. In the 6th, the Sox put runners on 1st and 3rd and with two out send PH Joe Hall and his .393 average to hit for Karkovice. Hall delivers with a single (nestled between two solid HR results) to drive in one, and then Lance Johnson follows by nailing Young’s HR split for a 3-run shot that sends Young to the showers. However, in the 7th Dave Henderson connects on Bere’s homer result for a 2-run HR that makes it 7-5 and the Sox bring in Jose Deleon to try to stop the bleeding, and he retires PH Richie Zisk and the apparently dangerous Spike Owen to do the job. Nonetheless in the 8th the Mariners twice find Deleon’s only complete hit on his card and one of them is an RBI single for the other Henderson, Steve, and it’s a one-run game entering the 9th. The Sox do nothing against Mike Stanton in their half of the inning, so for the bottom of the frame they bring in Paul Assenmacher to try to close things out. He gets two quick outs, and then fans PH Domingo Ramos to earn the save as the Sox stave off the upset with the 7-6 nailbiter. Worthy of note: this completes a first round in which the visiting team won every game by one run.
The survivors
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| Hall of Slam |
The first semifinal featured the #2 seeded 1964 Twins, who barely survived round one in an extra inning squeaker, and the #7 seed 2010 Diamondbacks, who lost one of their best players to injury but who had a bad pitcher come within three outs of a perfect game. The Dbacks had plenty more bad pitchers to choose from, with Edwin Jackson (6-10, 5.16) seeming to be the least terrible option, while the Twins had a much better choice in Camilo Pascual (15-12, 3.30), who unfortunately is winless in 6 starts in this tournament despite a couple of strong outings. A Tony Oliva solo shot puts the Twins up 1-0 in the top of the first, and a 2-out triple by Bernie Allen in the 2nd gives them another run, but in both innings Minnesota would have put up crooked numbers if they hadn’t hit into DPs before the big blows. The Twins load up the bases in the 5th, bringing up Jimmie Hall with one out, and Twins fans cringe awaiting yet another DP, but Hall launches a moon shot for a grand slam and the rather meager crowd at Chase Field begins heading for the exits. Versalles then singles and Earl Battey delivers the DP ball for the third time in five innings, but it’s hard to complain with a 6-0 lead. However, that lead and the crowd exodus doesn’t last, as the Dbacks go to town on Pascual in the bottom of the inning, who in the process boots an easy DP ball to make matters worse, and by the time injury replacement 2B Augie Ojeda finally makes the third out the score is now 6-4 Twins after five. In the 7th, the Twins lose their hero of game one, Don Mincher, to a minor injury, but it seems like both teams are spent from their 4-run 5th innings as neither squad manages a hit thereafter. So, the Twins survive the 6-4 win and head to the finals, buoyed by the news that Mincher will be available and that their bullpen, taxed heavily in the extra innings of their round one game, is now fully rested thanks to Pascual’s complete game and his first tournament win.
It’s the #1 seed 1994 White Sox and Wilson Alvarez (12-8, 3.45) against the #4 seeded 1983 Angels, starting Bruce Kison (11-5, 4.05), to determine the other team in the regional final, and the Sox load the bases in the bottom of the 1st with nobody out–but fail to convert a single run. The Sox then load the bases again in the 2nd, with Frank Thomas at the plate, but he flies out and the game remains scoreless. In the 3rd, the Sox finally push a run across when Lance Johnson’s 2-out single scores 1-16 Darrin Jackson from second, with a 16 split roll. However, in the 4th Sox 2B Joey Cora goes down with an 8 game injury, and the groan from the crowd can be heard in the Loop. The groaning gets louder when the Angels load the bases in the 5th with nobody out, including their first hit, a Juan Beniquez double, and unlike the Sox they score them all with a Tim Foli fielder’s choice and a 2-run single from former Sox Brian Downing, and the Angels now lead 3-1. Doug Decinces then leads off the 6th by converting Alvarez’s HR 1-9/flyB split, and a Fred Lynn double in the 8th chases Alvarez for Jose Deleon, who gets the Sox to the bottom of the 9th with no further damage and the top of the order up against Kison. A walk to Tim Raines and a single by injury replacement Craig Grebeck brings up Thomas as the tying run with nobody out. With their best reliever burnt, the Angels decide to stick with Kison, and he walks Thomas so once again the Sox have the bases loaded with no outs. Kison then walks Julio Franco, and now the tying run is on second and Franco is the winning run on first. Kison fans Robin Ventura, who thought about charging the mound but decided against it; and then Darrin Jackson rolls the gbA and it’s game over. The Angels pull off the 4-2 upset for a trip to the finals, and another favorite Sox team heads back in defeat to the card catalogs despite allowing only four hits to the Halos.
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| BD whacks Twins |
The regional finals match the #2 seeded 1964 Twins against the #4 seed 1983 Angels, but those seedings obscure the fact that neither team finished over .500 in their season. For the Twins, it would be swingman Gerry Arrigo (7-4, 3.86) against Angels workhorse Geoff Zahn (9-11, 3.33), and the Angels draw first blood on an RBI double from Doug Decinces in the 3rd. That seems to wake up the Twins, as they take the lead immediately in the top of the 4th on a 3-run homer by Zoilo Versalles, and then a two-run shot from Tony Oliva in the 5th makes it 5-1. However, there are no signs of quit from the Angels, as a 3-run blast from Brian Downing in the bottom of the inning narrows the gap to one run, and with both teams having rested bullpens both starters would be on short leashes entering the 6th. Thus, when Rod Carew pokes his 4th hit of the game in the bottom of the 6th to put runners on 1st and 2nd, the Twins summon Al Worthington from the pen, and that proves a disaster as Brian Downing crushes his second 3-run shot of the game to give the Angels the lead. California then loads the bases in the 7th, but Worthington strikes out Tim Foli and the score remains 7-5 until Killebrew leads off the 8th with a moonshot, and when Mincher follows that with a double Zahn is gone and the Angels put their hopes in John Curtis. He allows a single to Versalles, and with one out the Twins take a chance and send 1-9 Mincher home for the tie–and he’s nailed at the plate. However, Versalles takes second on the play, and the next batter, Earl Battey, raps another single off Curtis’ card and Zoilo is 1-18 going home with two out and scores easily, game tied. Worthington retires the side in the 8th–Downing missing a HR 1-5/flyB split–and we enter the 9th deadlocked at 7 apiece. In the top of the 9th, Allison misses a HR 1-9/DO split; Oliva follows with a single but 1-13 Allison is cut down trying to score. Foli then handles a Killebrew grounder and the game heads to the bottom of the 9th. Fred Lynn leads off and gets injured for the remainder of the game; that brings up Decinces, and Worthington delivers: 1-7, a solid walkoff homer for Doug Decinces and a fourth regional win for the Angels, with 1983 joining 1977, 1989, and 2004 in the winner’s circle.
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