REGIONAL #153: After a bracket with three pennant winners, this regional looked far less competitive, although there was one pennant winner, the 2016 Indians. The rest of the groups didn’t look like much to me at first glance; there was a Tigers team from the 90s that I thought might be decent and there were two other teams from the 2016 AL, with the Angels possibly breaking through after two straight losses in regional finals. I predicted that the Indians would live up to their billing and handle this collection, and for karma’s sake I picked them to beat the Cubs (to whom they lost in the 2016 Series) in the final. The ELO ranks had the three 2016 AL squads as the three top seeds and really the only decent teams in the group, predicting the Indians to best the Mariners in the final.
First round action
The 75-87 2010 Cubs were sufficiently bad to get manager Lou Piniella fired midseason, although somehow interim skipper Mike Quade got them to go 24-13, for which he was rewarded with the job “permanently”, at least until he was replaced after the following unsuccessful season. Still, they were ELO favorites against the 73-79 1976 Padres, who had a major power outage with Dave Winfield’s 13 HR being the only bat in the lineup with double digit power. Still, somehow Randy Jones (22-14, 2.74) managed to win 20 games with that offense behind him, an achievement that earned him Cy Young honors and a seeming edge over the Cubs’ Ryan Dempster (15-12, 3.85). With two out in the bottom of the 1st, Winfield and Mike Ivie hit back-to-back doubles to give the Padres an early edge, and when Dempster walks the first two batters of the 3rd that sets up RBI singles from Winfield and Dave Rader that make it 3-0. That lead dissipates quickly, as the Cubs reel off four straight hits with two out in the 4th, the last one a 2-run double by Blake Dewitt on a missed HR split that gives the Cubs a 4-3 lead. The Padres tie it back up on a clutch 2-out single by Rader that scores John Grubb, but the Cubs reassert themselves in the 7th with a Starlin Castro RBI triple followed by Kosuke Fukudome’s sac fly. However, when Winfield doubles in Jerry Turner with one out in the bottom of the inning, the Cubs decide to try closer Carlos Marmol despite his propensity for wildness. Marmol gets one close enough to the strike zone for Ivie to rip a single that scores Winfield and ties the game once again heading into the 8th. And once again in the top of the 8th the Cubs respond, as Marlon Byrd smacks a 2-out RBI single past Padres SS-3 Enzo Hernandez. The Cubs thus take a one run lead into the bottom of the 9th, where they bring in defensive replacements and decide to let Marmol get one out before pulling him to preserve his innings. However, he walks Turner and then Grubb singles Turner to 3rd, so the tying run is 90 feet away and the winning run is on first in the form of pinch runner Luis Melendez with Winfield up. Marmol still is the best option given his strikeout pitch, so he stays in to face Winfield, who laces a hard single to tie the game and now the winning run is on 3rd with nobody out. Marmol remains in to face Ivie, and Ivie rips a single off his own card (as were all previous singles this inning, because Marmol has none on his card) and it’s ballgame; Marmol never does get that last out and the Padres move on with the wild 8-7 comeback win.
The 2016 Mariners were the #2 seed in this bracket, winning 86 games and featured three 30+ HR guys in Nelson Cruz, Robinson Cano, and Kyle Seager. Although they had a solid bullpen, their rotation left something to be desired, with Felix Hernandez (11-8, 3.82) still the best option although hitting the downside of his career. Their opponent, the 2012 Marlins, lost 93 games with their main weapon coming in the form of Giancarlo Stanton and his .969 OPS; top starter Mark Buehrle (13-13, 3.74) boasted good control but had an uncomfortable tendency to allow the longball. That tendency becomes apparent, albeit with some luck, in the bottom of the 1st when Cano converts a HR 1/DO off Buerhle’s card for a 2-run shot and an early Mariners lead. However, Mariners RF-3 Franklin Gutierrez, playing right in place of the even worse fielding Nelson Cruz, commits two errors and allows a 2-run double to John Buck in the top of the 2nd to single-handedly provide the Marlins with a 3-2 lead. A two-out single by Omar Infante scores Stanton in the 3rd and Miami extends their lead, but then their own poor fielding shows up in the bottom of the inning as 3B-5 Greg Dobbs commits two errors and then Cano laces a single through a drawn-in infield that scores two more that puts Seattle back into the lead, 5-4. Then it’s Miami’s turn as they lead off the 4th with three straight hits and retake a 6-5 lead before Hernandez can get the third out, and when Infante leads off the 5th with a homer the Mariner’s have seen enough of Hernandez and fetch Mike Montgomery from the pen, who survives another double allowed by Gutierrez’s fielding without further damage. When Buerhle allows a leadoff single to Leonys Martin in the 6th, the Marlins move to Steve Cishek to try to retain their lead, and he quickly retires the side. Seeing how well that worked for Miami, the Mariners then bring in their own version of Steve Cishek to begin the 7th, and he survives an error by 1B-3 Adam Lind to keep it a 2-run game. Miami then brings in some defensive replacements to get their two “5” fielders out of the lineup, and although they’d like to preserve their version of Cishek, the rest of the bullpen is a disaster and so they elect to burn him to try to assure the win. However, Martin leads off the bottom of the 8th with a single and then PH Mike Zunino converts a DO 1-8/flyB and the speedy Martin races home to make it a one-run game, and Nori Aoki ties it with a double off Cishek’s card. Gutierrez atones for some of his fielding miscues with a single, and Aoki scores on a Cruz grounder and the Mariners take the one run lead into the 9th. Having watched Cishek blow a save for the Marlins, the Mariners decide to avoid having him have two blown saves in one game and turn the game over to Edwin Diaz to pitch the 9th. The Marlins get singles from Infante and Stanton, but then they get down into their defensive replacements and without any viable pinch-hitters remaining, Emilio Bonifacio hits into a double play and the Mariners, courtesy of their bullpen, pull out the 8-7 win. In an unusual turn, Steve Cishek manages to be both the winning and the losing pitcher.
Although they would become famous in a few years as the Whiz Kids, the 1947 Phillies were ranked as the worst team in the regional, with a 62-92 record and Andy Seminick leading a punchless squad with 13 homers. However, they did have Harry the Hat Walker, who led the NL with a .363 average that included 16 triples, and Dutch Leonard (17-12, 2.68) was a solid staff ace. The 79-83 1990 Tigers had Cecil Fielder, whose 51 homers were nearly as many as the team total for the Phils, but the supporting cast wasn’t that strong and Jack Morris (15-18, 4.51) had his usual problems with the gopher ball. Both pitchers start the game in control, and scoreless innings go by as any threat is usually erased by the double play for both teams. In the top of the 7th, Emil Verban singles for the Phils and then Morris issues a 2-out walk to Lee Handley, so the Phillies bring in PH Ralph Lapointe. Fearing those homer results on Morris, the Tigers elect to go to the pen for Jerry Don Gleaton, even though Morris is pitching a shutout and is not happy about being pulled. He is even unhappier when Lapointe hits a single, but Verban (1-15) is nailed at home for the final out and the game remains scoreless. Tiger Stadium continues to roar when Travis Fryman leads off the bottom of the inning with a homer off Leonard’s HR 1-5 split to take the lead. Gleaton walks two Phils in the 8th but whiffs Del Ennis to end that threat with no damage, and Alan Trammell doubles in Tony Phillips for an insurance run in the bottom of the inning–but the Tigers lose CF Lloyd Moseby for the tournament to a 10-game injury. The Tigers summon Mike Henneman to close out the game in the 9th, and he puts the Phils down in order to preserve the 2-0 shutout, with both teams being limited to five hits apiece.
The 2016 Indians won 94 games and the American League, losing the Series in 7 games; they were stocked with power up and down the lineup (excepting catcher, which was the one big hole in the offense) and Cory Kluber (18-9, 3.14) came in third in the Cy Young voting. The 2016 Angels won 20 games fewer in the same league, and although they had Mike Trout as the AL MVP, their starting rotation fronted by Matt Shoemaker (9-13, 3.88) was uninspiring and they had one of the most impressive collections of gbAs on their cards that I remembered seeing in a team; I checked and they only came in 2nd in the AL in GIDP with 147, but perhaps that’s because as a team their OBP wasn’t that great. Even so, it’s the Angels who start out strong, as Kluber allows four hits and makes a 2-base error in the bottom of the 2nd to spot LA a 3-0 lead. The Indians respond in the 3rd when Tyler Naquin smacks a 2-out solo homer; Angels LF-5 Jefry Marte then allows a triple to Carlos Santana and Jason Kipnis singles the guitarist home to make it a one run game. A Jose Ramirez double in the 4th scores Coco Crisp to tie the game, and Francisco Lindor follows that with a 2-run single to give the Indians the lead. A leadoff single to Kipnis in the 5th and the Angels have to turn to their best reliever, Cam Bedrosian and his 1.12 ERA, to try to keep the game in reach. He quickly dispatches the Indians, and in the 7th the Angels mount a threat when Andrelton Simmons singles, is held on first, and then Carlos Perez knocks a single from a gbA++ that sends Simmons to third. After a long conference on the mound, the Indians decide to go to their relief ace, Andrew Miller, hoping to get the strikeout to strand Simmons or get the DP to end the inning. Miller gets Kole Calhoun to pop out, and then whiffs Yunel Escobar to prevent any runs from scoring. Another threat materializes in the top of the 8th when 2b-2 Kipnis drops a Trout grounder, and then Marte singles Trout to 3rd with nobody out. However, Miller then records three straight strikeouts, and again the threat is averted. By the 9th, Bedrosian, who has been near-perfect, is now toast for the regional and Joe Smith (apparently not an alias) comes in and sets down the Indians; the Tribe wishes to preserve Miller for later rounds and brings in Dan Otero to close things out in the bottom of the 9th. And so he does, retiring the Angels in order and sending the Indians on to the semifinals with a 5-3 victory, courtesy of some gutsy relief pitching from Miller.
The survivors
One might expect that when a 73-win team that has one pitcher win 22 of those, the rotation for the 1976 Padres would drop off pretty fast, but Brent Strom (12-16, 3.28) was not a bad #2 starter, and the SD bullpen, such as it was, was still at full strength after their round one win. The same could not be said for the 2016 Mariners, who used four pitchers to survive their first round battle, although each retained some eligibility if needed to support James Paxton (6-7, 3.79), selected because he had better control and fewer longball issues than the alternatives. The M’s put up a run quickly when Padres 3B-2 Doug Rader drops a grounder from leadoff hitter Nori Aoki in the bottom of the 1st, and he eventually scores when Nelson Cruz grounds into a DP. Given that both of these teams came from behind multiple times in their round one wins, it is no surprise that the Padres respond, with an RBI triple from Jerry Turner followed by a John Grubb sac fly in the top of the 3rd putting SD in the lead. Seattle evens it back up with a sac fly from Franklin Gutierrez in the bottom of the inning, In the 5th, Grubb misses a HR 1-5 split but Turner races home on the resulting double, and then Willie Davis, who had narrowly missed an injury his previous at bat, singles home Grubb and the Padres claim a two run lead. Having pitched his requisite 5 innings, Paxton is on a very short leash and when Enzo Hernandez pokes a one out double in the 6th, he’s gone and the Mariners start to turn to the trio of relievers that got them through round one, starting with Mike Montgomery who ends the inning without any damage. Strom gets in trouble in the bottom of the frame, putting men on 2nd and 3rd with two away but retiring Adam Lind on a flyball to retain the 4-2 lead, and then SS-3 Enzo Hernandez converts a key DP in the 7th to squelch another Seattle rally effort. However, in the bottom of the 8th Gutierrez finds and converts Strom’s HR result for a solo shot, and the Padres bring in Bruce Metzger to try to preserve the now one-run lead. It’s a good thing, too, as Nelson Cruz rolls the same 5-10 result as Gutierrez but on Metzger it’s a flyout to surehanded Willie Davis, and the game proceeds to the 9th. Steve Cishek sets the Padres down in the top of the 9th, and so it’s Metzer against the M’s for the game. He records two quick outs but then Leonys Martin converts a SI 1-16 with a 16 roll, and that brings up backup SS Shawn O’Malley and his .229 average–and he cannot be pinch hit for under tournament rules, because the Mariners have no remaining shortstops on the bench. So the Mariners decide to go for broke, with the A stealing Martin looking to get into scoring position against the Padre’s weak armed backup C-4 Bob Davis; Martin takes off for second and he’s gunned down, game over, and the unlikely Padres head to the finals with the 4-3 win.
The 1990 Tigers survived the first round with a 5-hit shutout from Jack Morris and a couple of relievers, but that looked unlikely to continue with Dan Petry (10-9, 4.45) being the least terrible option to throw out against the regional favorite 2016 Indians. Still, the Indians’ rotation wasn’t that great after Kluber, and Danny Salazar (11-6, 3.87) was not without his own weaknesses, and the Tribe bullpen had already seen some use in the first round. Alan Trammell finds one of Salazar’s weaknesses to lead off the game, rolling the latter’s HR 1-13 result but missing the split roll for a double, but Salazar strands him to escape the inning. In response, Jose Ramirez leads off the bottom of the 1st by rolling Petry’s HR result, and he does not miss the 1-17 split roll and so the Indians claim a lead courtesy of their first batter of the game. Two straight walks and a single by Lonnie Chisenhall and it’s 2-0 Indians after one. An RBI double in the 2nd from .167-hitting catcher Yan Gomes makes it 3-0, but the Tigers get on the board in the 3rd when injury replacement Milt Cuyler misses Salazar’s HR split but this time Trammell is there to single him home. The trend continues in the 4th; Cecil Fielder leads off the inning by missing the split for a third time on Salazar’s HR 1-13 result, and Salazar strands him for no damage, and then in the 5th Tyler Naquin finds Petry’s HR result and the Tigers again convert that split for a solo shot that makes it 4-1. However, a walk and a long single to leadoff the top of the 6th and the Indians have lost confidence in Salazar and turn to Andrew Miller, realizing that this will burn him for the regional. Miller whiffs Lou Whitaker, but then Miller’s weakness is revealed–he can’t field, and he turns a Larry Sheets grounder into a double that makes it a two-run game with runners on 2nd and 3rd. The infield comes in, and in a debatable move Mark Salas comes in to pinch hit for Mike Heath. Miller fans Salas and retires Cuyler and the Indians remain in front. When Chisenhall leads off the bottom of the 6th with a double off Petry’s card, the Tigers go the same path as the Indians, burning their bullpen to try to stay alive and bringing out Jerry Don Gleaton, their round one winner; he burns through three straight and the game heads to the 7th with Cleveland holding the 4-2 lead. Both Miller and Gleaton do their jobs in the 7th but both are toast at that point; the Tribe bring in Brian Shaw who sets the opposition down in order in the 8th, as does Lance McCullers for the Tigers. That brings the game to the 9th; Cleveland decides to stick with Shaw, and he rewards them by pitching his second perfect inning to send the Indians to the finals with the 4-2 win, with the Tigers demanding an inquiry into suspicious split dice function.
The #1 seed 2016 Indians made it to the finals, but it wasn’t an easy road and their bullpen was taxed in two close wins, with relief hero Andrew Miller burnt for the final, and with Carlos Carrasco’s (11-8, 3.32) gopher ball tendencies, that could come into play. Still, they were overwhelming ELO favorites over the #7 seeded 1976 Padres and Dave Freisleben (10-13, 3.51), a guy I have to admit I have no memory of. But things start off bad for Carrasco, as Padres’ Jerry Turner leads off the game with a single, 1B-4 Carlos Santana drops a grounder, and then Dave Winfield hits one of Carrasco’s HR results; he misses the split but the resulting double scores two runs and Mike Ivie singles Winfield home for another. A Willie Davis double puts runners on 2nd and 3rd, and with two out Enzo Hernandez singles in Ivie, but miraculously Davis (1-19 with two out) is nailed at the plate to end the inning, but the score is still Padres 4, Indians yet to bat. A Francisco Lindor RBI single in the 3rd puts the Indians on the board, but when Carrasco allows a leadoff single to Ivie in the 6th the Indians turn in desperation to Dan Otero from the pen in an effort to stay in the game. That proves futile, as Davis triples off Otero’s card to score Ivie and the Padres extend their lead to 5-1. Otero settles down after that, but the Indians can’t figure out Freisleben until Carlos Santana leads off the bottom of the 9th with a homer. However, it’s too little too late, as Freisleben then retires three straight to come out of obscurity and clinch the regional crown for the underdog Padres with the 5-2 upset. The Padres win all three games without hitting a single home run, and somehow managed to win even though their worst pitching performance of the regional was turned in by their Cy Young Award winner. This is only the second regional win for the Padres, with the 1971 squad having been another unlikely winner, suggesting that in this tournament the franchise seemed to peak shortly after being created as an expansion team!
No comments:
Post a Comment