REGIONAL #167:  The Padres won their first regional in quite a while last time out, and they apparently decided to press their luck with two entries in this grouping, one of them fairly close to the pennant winners that took the prior bracket.  However, they won’t be the featured attraction here; that honor will belong to a certain infamous home run hitter in his record-breaking year, and a certain  pennant winning team infamous for their former trashcan-bangers.  Add to the mix a Yankees team from a few seasons before they broke the MLB record for wins in a season, a Mets team the season after their most recent NL pennant, and there should be some fireworks.   I guessed that “cheaters never win” wouldn’t hold here, and that Bonds would lead the Giants to the finals but that the Astros would prevail.  The ELO season-ending ranking for the Astros also put them as the tournament favorite, but picked a different opponent in the finals as those rankings predicted that Bonds would get his comeuppance from the Yankees in the first round.

First round action

The 87-win 2016 Mets made a brief postseason appearance as a wild card team, but it seemed like they could have gone further with a lineup with some power and a strong pitching staff fronted by 23-year old phenom Noah Syndergaard (14-9, 2.60).  I didn’t see how they could be ELO underdogs to the 1989 Padres, who did win 89 games but had little pop aside from Jack Clark, although Tony Gwynn led the league in hitting and Bruce Hurst (15-11, 2.69) was a decent option on the mound.  The Mets turn on the power quickly as Neil Walker leads off the game with a moon shot; the Padres decide to play the smallball game and it works in the 4th as Bip Roberts singles, steals second, and scores on a Roberto Alomar base hit to tie the game.  When Curtis Granderson leads off the 7th for the Mets with a tiebreaking blast, the Padres waste no time and bring in Mark Davis to try to keep things close, and Chris James makes him the pitcher of record with a solo shot in the bottom of the inning to tie the game back up.  In the 8th, Alomar doubles with one out to bring up Gwynn and the Mets turn to Addison Reed to try to keep him from scoring; P-4 Reed makes a miracle play on a Gwynn grounder and then he retires Clark and the game heads to the 9th with the tie in the hands of the bullpens.  Both pitchers navigate the 9th successfully, and it’s time for extra innings.  The Padres decide to burn Davis with his last inning for the regional as he’s been masterful, and he wraps up with a 1-2-3 inning, but Reed holds serve in the bottom of the inning and SD summons Greg Harris to begin the 11th and the Mets have no luck against him either.  To try to preserve Reed somewhat, the Mets move to their closer Jeurys Familia in the bottom of the 11th and both relievers continue to churn through the batters.  In the top of the 13th, Walker misses a HR 1-3/flyB to end the inning, and then in the bottom of the inning a leadoff walk to Roberts and an Alomar double puts runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out and hit machine Gwynn at the plate.  The infield comes in, the 51-save Familia delivers, and SS-2 Asdrubel Cabrera makes a highlight play to keep the runners in place and get Gwynn at first.  Familia then whiffs Clark and now with two outs, he  stares down the next batter in an attempt at intimidation.  But yelling a war cry of “I’m Chris James, b*tch”, that batter rips a liner that bounces off the wall and Roberts trots home with the winning run, giving the Padres the walkoff 3-2 win in 13 innings.   

In the marquee game of the first round, the #2 seeded 1994 Yankees faced the #3 2001 Giants, with the strike year Yankees going 70-43 for the best record in the AL, although there was no postseason for them to conquer.  There was a vote for the Cy Young Award, and Jimmy Key (17-4, 3.27) came in 2nd in it; the 90-win Giants (2nd in the NL West) would counter with their best starter by far, Russ Ortiz (17-9, 3.29).  However, the featured attraction for the Giants was the record setting Barry Bonds, who hit almost as many homers as the Yanks starters combined (albeit in a shortened season).  However, it’s not Bonds but Shawon Dunston who gets the early lead for the Giants with a long 2-run homer in the 2nd, but RF-3 Dunston immediately gives those runs back in the bottom of the inning by committing two errors resulting in two runs.  However, he tries to atone in the 4th with a 2-out solo shot that continues his attempt to account for all the runs in the game and gives the lead back to SF.  The Giants begin to get to Key in the 7th and when defensive replacement Calvin Murray knocks an RBI single, the Yanks opt for a Key change and summon Steve Howe from the powder room.  But Benito Santiago proves to be a buzzkill by greeting Howe with an RBI single, and then John Vanderwal rips a 2-run single through the drawn-in infield and by the time Howe whiffs Bonds to end the inning the Giants have pulled away to a 7-2 lead.  Ortiz is looking adequate until the bottom of the 9th, when the 4th Giants error of the game, this one by 3B-3 Ramon E. Martinez (I guess we now know what the E stands for), sets up a 2-run single for Luis Polonia and the margin narrows with nobody out.  The Giants wish to take no chances and bring in Felix Rodriguez and his 1.68 ERA to close things out, but the Yanks aren’t done yet as after an out Paul O’Neill doubles in Polonia and it’s a two-run game.  A walk to Mike Stanley and Danny Tartabull comes up as the winning run; the roll is a HR 1/flyB on FRod but the split is a 17 and there’s two out.  It’s up to longtime Yankee Bernie Williams, but Rodriguez blows it past him for strike three and it’s game over, the Giants hang on for the 7-5 win–with no help from Bonds. 

At the time of this writing, the 2021 card set was the most recent available and the 95-win 2021 Astros were the AL pennant winners from that set; of course, it turned out that they went on to win both the AL and the Series this yet-to-be-printed season.  The 2021 version didn’t have quite the same pitching without Verlander, but Lance McCullers (13-5, 3.16) came in 7th in the Cy Young voting (while leading the league in walks issued) and the lineup had pop from top to almost bottom (sorry, Martin Maldonado).  The 1995 Padres went 70-74 in a strike year, but they had many of the same players as the ‘98 team that captured the previous regional, with Andy Ashby (12-10, 2.94) getting the round one start here.  The Padres serve notice of their capabilities in the top of the 1st, when after two quick outs they grab a 1-0 lead when Tony Gwynn and Ken Caminiti hit back-to-back doubles–the former hit past CF-3 Chas McCormick, and does anyone want to bet that he’s a better fielder in 2022 after his WS catch??  The Padres add another run in the 3rd when Bip Roberts doubles and scores on a Gwynn single, and when Gwynn strokes a one-out double in the 6th for his 3rd hit of the game, McCullers is pulled for Kendall Graveman, who escapes the inning without incident.  With their offense struggling, the Astros move to their bench and pinch hit Jason Castro for Maldonado to lead off the bottom of the 6th, and Castro responds by putting the ball in the Crawford boxes to make it a one-run game; two outs later and Kyle Tucker does the same and the game is tied.  The Padres load the bases with one away in the top of the 7th but Graveman escapes with no damage, and in the 8th the Astros bring in closer Ryan Pressly who sets the Padres down in order and we head to the 9th with the game still deadlocked.  In the top of the 9th PH Marc Newfield leads off with a double and Ray Holbert comes in to pinch run as the go-ahead run in scoring position; after two outs another PH Archi Cianfrocco singles, the fleet Holbert races for home and scores easily, and it’s now up to Ashby in the bottom of the 9th as the Astros face elimination but have the meat of the order scheduled to bat.  Altuve grounds out; Tucker grounds out; and Yordan Alvarez then rips a grounder to 2B-2 Jody Reed, who gobbles it up, tosses to first, and Padres magic continues with the 3-2 win as Ashby finishes out a 3-hitter.  The Astros’ loss means that both 2021 pennant winners were first round casualties, not a good showing for the current card set.   Worthy of note:  in playing this game the cardstock for the 1995 team was so much thicker than that for the 2021 team that I had to keep checking the ‘95 cards because I thought two of them might be stuck together!

The 2000 Reds won 85 games and were a representative steroid-era team with five .300 hitters and eight guys with double-digit homers in the lineup, but a starting rotation that had mainly bad options, with swingman Scott Williamson (5-8, 3.29) looking like the best bet to get them past round one.  Although from a similar period in baseball history, the 94-loss 2004 Blue Jays didn’t have quite the lineup that was seen in their opponents, but they did share the problem of the sorry pitching staffs of that era, with Ted Lilly (12-10, 4.06) as the opening round starter.  The Reds move on top when Ken Griffey Jr. leads off the 2nd with a long blast, but Alexis Rios and Reed Johnson knock back-to-back doubles to begin the bottom of the inning, and after Williamson walks the bases loaded Carlos Delgado rips a 2-run single past 1B-4 Sean Casey and the Jays take a 3-1 lead.  The Reds get one of those runs back in the top of the 3rd when Barry Larkin scores on an Alex Ochoa sac fly, but both pitchers then settle in.  However, in the bottom of the 8th, Williamson has been struggling with control all game and he walks the leadoff batter, and Reed Johnson follows with a triple, his third extra base hit of the game, and the Jays extend their lead.  That brings it to the top of the 9th with a two run Lilly pad, but Lilly allows a leadoff double to PH D.T. Cromer off the pitcher’s card, and then Lilly drops a Michael Tucker grounder to put the tying run on.  The Jays check their pen but don’t like the alternatives much, and decide to give Lilly the chance to work his way out of the jam.  That proves unwise, as Eddie Taubensee then finds and converts Lilly’s HR 1-17 split and the Reds take the lead, and the Jays belatedly summon their closer Jason Frasor, who yields a solo shot to Barry Larkin before the side is retired and in a turnabout it’s now the Reds who take a 2-run edge into the 9th.  However, Williamson as usual can’t find the strike zone and walks the first two batters of the inning, and now it’s the Reds who make the decision to lead their starter in.  So Williamson winds and delivers to Vernon Wells, it’s a 2-12 roll, LOMAX, triple play and the game is over; the Reds win a see-saw 6-4 battle and Williamson survives a 6-hitter in which he walks 8.

The survivors

The 13-inning marathon that got the 1989 Padres to this semifinal game took a serious toll on their bullpen, so they were hoping for a performance from Ed Whitson (16-11, 2.66) that was both strong and long.  The 2001 Giants would start Jason Schmidt (13-7, 4.07) and were mainly hoping that Barry Bonds would wake up after he seemed to nap through most of their round one win.  Their worries continued when Bonds misses a SI* 1-16 split in the bottom of the 1st to kill the inning,  Former Giant Jack Clark shows how it’s done in the top of the 4th with a solo shot that gives the Padres a 1-0 lead; Bonds leads off the bottom of the inning with a feeble groundout but after a whiff, Dunston/Galarraga/Benard/Santiago go double/triple/double/double and the Giants move ahead 3-1.  In the 5th, Giants DH John Vanderwal is knocked out of the game with an injury, but Jeff Kent then singles and Bond hits one out of Pac Bell Park that might have actually reached Candlestick, pushing the Giants lead to 5-1 and to stave off further injuries the defensive replacements begin coming in for the 6th.  Of course, what should happen but one of those replacements, JT Snow, promptly gets injured leading off the inning, but another replacement, CF Calvin Murray, doubles and scores on a single by Ramon E. Martinez and the Giants extend their margin.  However, the Padres magic is not dispelled yet, and a 2-base error by SS-3 Rich Aurelia in the 7th sets up an RBI single from the SD version of Benito Santiago, who is starting for both teams, and then it’s the Padres’ Martinez, Carmelo, blasting a 3-run homer and suddenly it’s a one-run game and there’s still nobody out.  The Giants have seen enough of Schmidt and they turn to Robb Nen to try to hold the lead, and although he allows two more hits the Giants escape when 3B-3 “E” Martinez makes a highlight play on a Gwynn grounder to end the inning.   Fortune smiles on the Giants in the bottom of the inning, as Kent scores from third on a Dunston SI* 1-16 split for which the roll is “16”, but in the 8th the Padres come roaring back as Jack Clark leads off with a double and he scores on a screaming single by Chris James; Nen then drops a Santiago grounder and he’s pulled for game one savior Francisco Rodriguez having recorded no outs in the inning.  FRod shuts down the Padres in order and the game heads to the 9th with SF still clinging to the one-run lead.  Garry Templeton misses a SI* 1-15 split to lead off, but then Alomar gets aboard as Ramon E. Martinez again lives up to his middle name; Alomar is held, and although the Padres think about sending him on the steal they let Gwynn bat, and he singles with Alomar racing to third with only one out.  With Jack Clark up, the Giants opt to hold the A-stealer Gwynn at first to try for the DP; Clark rolls a SI* 1-13 split on FRod but misses the split and there are now 2 outs with game one hero Chris James at the plate.  FRod delivers, a line drive is snared, and the Giants survive and move on to the finals with the 7-6 win; FRod records his second consecutive save but is now burnt for the regional.   

With one Padres team eliminated in the semifinals, it’s up to the 1995 Padres to carry the torch for the second straight regional win for the franchise, and Joey Hamilton (6-9, 3.08) would have a fully rested bullpen if he were to get in trouble.  The 2000 Reds, who only got here because of a 4-run 9th inning comeback, were the ELO favorites here, although after Denny Neagle (8-2, 3.52) the starting pitching options would get ugly fast if they were to make the finals.  The Padres make a statement in the top of the 1st with a long 2-run homer from Ken Caminiti, but the Reds get one back in the bottom of the inning courtesy of an Alex Ochoa RBI triple, although Ochoa gets stranded on 3rd when Dante Bichette misses a 2-out SI* 1-10 split.  Caminiti adds an RBI single in the 3rd, and then in the 5th Neagle commits his second error of the game, putting Tony Gwynn on 2nd and he scores when Reds LF-4 Dmitri Young misplays a Caminiti single, giving Ken his 4th RBI of the game.  In the bottom of the inning, Ochoa hits his second triple of the game and scores on a Griffey Jr. sac fly, and the score is now 4-2 Padres.  A leadoff single by Young in the bottom of the 7th and the Padres check their bullpen but are horrified to discover that closer Trevor Hoffman is a gopher ball waiting to happen, so they stick with Hamilton and he gets a DP ball out of Pokey Reese to quiet that threat.  Two straight hits to begin the top of the 8th and it’s the Reds turn to eye the pen, and Neagle is yanked for closer Danny Graves, and he escapes with no damage.  It then becomes a one run game when Barry Larkin leads off the top of the 8th with a homer, and when Chris Stynes singles to bring up Ochoa the Padres feel like they have no choice but to go to their closer Hoffman.  Hoffman gets Ochoa to line into a DP and then whiffs Griffey Jr. so the game heads to the 9th with both closers in and the Padres still up by a run.  Graves survives the top of the inning, and so it’s time to see if the Reds can pull off more 9th inning magic.  Two quick outs, but then Eddie Taubensee singles and Gookie Dawkins comes out to pinch run as Dmitri Young steps to the plate.  But Young grounds out harmlessly and the Padres continue their quest for two straight regionals with the 4-3 win; Ken Caminiti accounts for all the Padres runs and he guarantees that he will give Barry Bonds a dose of his own medicine in the finals.

The finals matched the #4 seeded 2001 Giants and the #7 seed 1995 Padres, and featured two infamous examples of the consequences of the steroid era in Barry Bonds and Ken Caminiti.   Considering the era, both teams were able to field okay #3 starters, with the Giants’ Shawn Estes (9-8, 4.02) against the Padres’ Andy Benes (4-7, 4.17).  In the bottom of the 1st, the Padres rap two singles to start the game, and although Tony Gwynn then hits into a DP, Bip Roberts is able to score to give SD an early 1-0 edge.  In the top of the 4th, Benes whiffs Bonds for the second time in a row, but gets overconfident to the next batter, Rich Aurelia, whose solo shot promptly ties the game, but that doesn’t last long as in the bottom of the inning Brad Ausmus singles, and the rare A-stealing catcher steals second and scores on a Jody Reed double.  Andujar Cedeno then singles in Reed and the Padres lead 3-1, but the inning ends with sparkplug Bip Roberts getting knocked out of the game with an injury that could prove costly.  Both pitchers control things for a while, but in the bottom of the 8th Gwynn leads off with his 3rd hit of the game and Caminiti walks, so the Giants pull Estes for Robb Nen, who gets out of the jam and sends it to the top of the 9th with SF down by two and the heart of the order coming up.  Jeff Kent starts the inning with a single, bringing up Bonds, and the Padres confer but decide an intentional walk that puts the tying run on base is not a good idea, and Benes is instructed to pitch cautiously.  However, he’s struck out Bonds twice already and isn’t afraid to go after him again, and sure enough Bonds whiffs and the Padres are two outs away from the regional win. Next up, Aurelia–whiff, two away.  The adrenaline is roaring in Benes and Shawon Dunston digs in, it’s strike three, and Benes is mobbed as the 3-1 win claims the second straight regional for 90s Padres squads.  And it’s back to the drawers, or perhaps the medicine cabinet, for Bonds and his teammates.

Interesting card of Regional #167:  When I saw that my little random team selector program had spit out the 2001 Giants as an entry in this bracket, I had no doubt what the featured card of the regional was going to have to be.  Has there ever been a more infamous individual season in the history of baseball?  Obviously, this was the season that smashed the home run record.  This card got me thinking about the old-school Strat Hall of Famer set, the ones that were all Basic only (which I obviously appreciate); those cards had a player's career stats represented on one side and their “best” season on the other.  I’m not sure if Bonds will ever make the HOF, but if he did and if Strat ever updated that old set (probably less likely than Bonds getting into the Hall), I wonder what they would select as Bonds’ “best” season?  In terms of OPS, his best season offensively was actually in 2004; however, by that time he had apparently become so musclebound that his fielding (LF-4) and speed (C 1-12) suffered, and to make matters worse he wouldn’t cooperate with the MLBPA and thus the game company couldn’t put his name on the card, seriously spoiling the aesthetics for me.  For me, I’d have to go with this card for his “best season” side, and it would be difficult to imagine that, in a draft involving that set, there would be any left fielder selected before him.