REGIONAL #185:  After drawing this group, I spotted a number of teams that I thought would be bad and one that I knew would be good–the pennant-winning 2006 Cardinals.  As for the remainder, it seemed like a mixed bag, with another Cards team that featured Stan the Man perhaps having some potential, a late-80s Yankee team that was probably decent, a ‘67 Dodger team that I remembered as a good pitch/no hit bunch, and a 90’s Phillies squad from a few years after an NL pennant.  I figured that if the 2006 version of the Cards could escape the bottom of bracket, they would emerge on top, while guessing that the success of Yankee teams in the last regional would carry the ‘89 version to the finals but no further.  The ELO rankings indicated that pretty much every team in this group other than the ‘06 Cards were bad to terrible, and even those Cards were only ranked as the 7th best team in baseball that season despite winning the NL.  Still, the rankings indicated an all-St. Louis final, with the pennant winners listed as prohibitive favorites over the 1959 version.

First round action

For a team at the height of the steroid era, the lineup for the 93-loss 2000 Pirates tailed off pretty fast after the first four or five batters, and the pitching staff had little to offer past an adequate Kris Benson (10-12, 3.85).  Fortunately for them, they would be facing a 1989 Yankees team that didn’t look much better, having lost 87 games with few weapons beyond Don Mattingly, and swingman Clay Parker (4-5, 3.67) being the only starter with a WHIP below 1.5.  The Yankees continue their hot hitting from the previous regional in the bottom of the 1st, with Steve Sax drawing a leadoff walk and Roberto Kelly then wrapping one around the foul pole for a quick lead.  Mattingly then goes back to back and the Yankees lead 3-0 after one.  In the 2nd, Mel Hall contributes a 2-out, 2-run single with the bases loaded, and then Jesse Barfield clears the rest of the bases with a homer off Benson’s split, and it’s 8-0 and Benson leaves the game sporting a 43.11 ERA for the regional.  Closer Mike Williams doesn’t fare much better, as in the 3rd Kelly nails a solo shot for his second homer of the game, and a Barfield single gives him his 4th RBI of the game and the Yanks are in double digits.  The Pirates finally get on the board in the 6th with RBI hits from Wil Cordero and Kevin Young, but NY strikes back in the 7th against reliever Scott Sauerbeck as Steve Sax knocks in a run with a double and Kelly continues his onslaught with a 2-run single to make it 13-2.  Pittsburgh recoups those runs with RBI doubles from Young and Aramis Ramirez in the 8th, but the Yanks stick with the tiring Parker and he manages to close out the 13-5 blowout to send the Yankees to the second round.  

The 1959 Cardinals were a mediocre 71-83, with Stan Musial having a down year which limited their weapons in the lineup; Larry Jackson (14-13, 3.30) would get the round one start.  Fortunately for him, it would be against a terrible 2012 Astros team that lost 107 games that had a small young second baseman named Jose Altuve accompanied by eight minor leaguers; Lucas Harrell (11-11, 3.76) must have been pretty good to reach a .500 record with this outfit.  When Altuve gets injured on the first roll of the game, it’s looking pretty bleak, but in the 3rd the Astros take a 2-0 lead on a Brian Bogusevic RBI single and a Matt Dominguez fielder’s choice that scores a run.  That lead proves short-lived when Cards DH George Crowe crushes a moon shot with two aboard in the bottom of the inning, and Crowe picks up another RBI in the 5th on a fielder’s choice to push the lead to 4-2.  Houston’s Scott Moore takes a break from playing guitar for Elvis to hit a solo shot in the top of the 6th to make it a one-run game, but the Cards respond with two more in the bottom of the inning with Alex Grammas contributing a key RBI single from the #9 position in the lineup.  When the Astros get runners on 2nd and 3rd in the 8th on two hits off Jackson’s card, St. Louis decides to try young fireballer Bob Gibson in relief, but Houston does pick up a run on a sac fly by Moore to bring the game within two.  But Gibson holds serve in the 9th to earn the save and the Cards send Houston back to the drawers with the 6-4 win.

In a matchup of two 2006 NL teams, the overwhelming favorite was the pennant winning and World Series champion 2006 Cardinals–all despite a mediocre 83-78 record that was good enough to take the NL Central.  With Albert Pujols as the MVP runner up and Chris Carpenter (15-8, 3.09) third in the Cy Young votes, they looked miles better than the 2006 Pirates, who lost 95 games and were ELO ranked as the worst team in the league.  The Pirates’ main weapons were Jason Bay and Freddy Sanchez, whose .344 average led the league, but their rotation was dismal with Zach Duke (10-15, 4.47) drawing the short straw for the round one start.  In the top of the 2nd Cards 2B-3 Ron Belliard makes two errors to load the bases full of Pirates, but then he manages to turn an X-chart DP to get Carpenter out of the inning unscathed.  The Cards then pour it on in the bottom of the inning, with doubles from Scott Rolen, Preston Wilson, and Belliard being capped off by an RBI single from David Eckstein, and the inning doesn’t end until the 1-17 Eckstein is cut down trying to take third on a Jim Edmonds two out single.  However, disaster strikes the Cards when Pujols leads off the 3rd with a two game injury, with Scott Spezio called upon to fill his spot.  Edmonds squibs an RBI single in the 4th to make it 4-0 St. Louis, and they add another run in the 5th when a two-out wild pitch gets past Pirate C-4 Ronny Paulino.  When Scott Rolen cracks an RBI double past CF-3 Jose Bautista in the 6th, the Pirates finally realize that Duke’s a hazard, and bring in closer Mike Gonzalez who records the final out with the Pirates now down 6-0.  Pittsburgh finally gets on the board in the 7th when Xavier Nady finds and converts Carpenter’s HR split for a solo shot, but Carpenter survives Belliard’s third error of the game without further damage.  Edmonds gives Cards fans a scare in the 8th when he’s hurt, but he stays in the game, and the Pirates end the game in the 9th hitting into their 4th DP of the game as the Cards waltz to a 6-1 win–although they must try to get through their semifinal matchup without their biggest bat.    

For the Zoom game of the week, it would be Philly fan TT at the helm of the 1996 Phillies, a bad 95-loss squad who would eventually drive Curt Schilling (9-10, 3.19) out of town with limited run support and gruesome fielding.   Although Eaglesfly had no particular dog in this fight, he volunteered to manage the 1967 Dodgers, who took the retirement of Sandy Koufax hard by going from winning the pennant to finishing 8th in the NL with 89 losses in this season.  Although they had little offense, the Dodgers still had the arms as Bill Singer (12-8, 2.64) fronted a strong rotation.  Things began ominously for the Phils in the bottom of the 1st as terrible CF-4 Ricky Otero watched first a Willie Davis double and then a Jim Lefevre triple bounce by him, giving the Dodgers a lead before most LA fans had arrived at the stadium.  Schilling’s subsequent tantrum in the dugout seems to work, as the Phillies begin to catch a few balls, but Singer keeps setting them down with machine-like efficiency.  The game remains scoreless until the bottom of the 6th, when 2B-2 Mickey Morandini drops a Ron Fairly grounder and Schilling becomes unglued, loading the bases against the punchless bottom of the LA order to bring up leadoff man Willie Davis, who clears them with a triple and Schilling has to be physically removed from the game by Lenny Dykstra, who was nominated for the job by his teammates.  By the time reliever Ken Ryan records out number three, the Dodgers lead 6-0 and Eaglesfly is leading the fans in a chant of “game over”.  In the 8th, Davis comes up needing a homer to complete a cycle; he thrills the fans with a long foul but strikes out to fall short.  The Phils try to muster a threat in the top of the 9th, and Singer is showing some signs of fatigue; the game comes down to Pete Incaviglia with two away and a man on second, and Inky strokes a single to break the shutout, but Singer records the final out and the Dodgers move on to round two, cruising to a 6-1 win.

The survivors

This semifinal matched two teams who produced identical composite ELO scores 30 years apart, the 1959 Cardinals and the 1989 Yankees.  Unfortunately for them, those scores were pretty mediocre and so were their #2 starters, with swingman Greg Cadaret (5-5, 4.05) being the Yankees’ best option to go against Vinegar Bend Mizell (13-10, 4.21).  The Yanks jump out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the 1st when a Mel Hall fielder’s choice scores Steve Sax, and they score two more in the second courtesy of two doubles allowed by Cards CF-3 Gino Cimoli.  In the 5th Hall finds and converts Mizell’s HR split for a solo shot that pushes the lead to 4-0, but Stan Musial matches that in the bottom of the inning with a towering shot that is only the 2nd hit of the game for St. Louis.  Two quick hits to lead off the 6th and the Cards have had enough vinegar and hope Lindy McDaniel can provide a different taste, and he almost escapes the inning but Roberto Kelly strokes a 2-out, 2-run single to add to the New York lead.  Jesse Barfield adds a long 2-run homer in the 7th, and two more runs are plated in the 8th following a 2-base error from the hapless Cimoli.  Cadaret gives a run back in the bottom of the inning with a 2-base error of his own, and the Cards get one more in the bottom of the 9th with a two-out double from Joe Cunningham, but a tiring Cadaret holds on to whiff DH George Crowe and the Yanks put up double digits for the second game in a row with a 10-3 win and an appearance in the regional final.

For this semifinal, both the 2006 Cardinals and the 1969 Dodgers would be without their top home run hitters, and although the Cards had more secondary weapons than the Dodgers, the latter boasted a much better rotation, with Don Drysdale (13-16, 2.74) having a considerably better card than the Cards’ Jeff Suppan (12-7, 4.12).  The Cards are dealt another injury blow when the second batter of the game, Jim Edmonds, is knocked out for three games, but the next batter, DH Chris Duncan, delivers a colossal solo HR to soften the blow with a quick lead.  Scott Spiezio leads off the 2nd by converting a HR 1-5 split, Yadier Molina adds an RBI single past Dodger 2B-3 Ron Hunt, and another run scores on an error by SS-3 Dick Schofield and the St. Louis lead is 4-0.   However, the Dodgers figure out Suppan the second time through their lineup, as in the 4th Lou Johnson singles in fleet Willie Davis, another run scores on a 2-base error by Cards SS-2 David Eckstein, and Ron Hunt contributes a 2-out, 2-run single and the game is tied after four and it’s looking like another epic semifinal battle is on.   When Len Gabrielson opens the 6th with a leadoff triple, the Cards yank Suppan for Adam Wainwright who comes through with flying colors, stranding Gabrielson at third to preserve the tie.  Meanwhile, Drysdale is now looking sharp, but after fanning the first two Cards in the 7th, Scott Rolen celebrates his HOF election with a 2-out solo shot that puts St. Louis back on top.  Ron Perranoski comes in to relieve Drysdale in the 8th, and he does the job but it’s up to Wainwright to try to hold the lead in the bottom of the 9th.  A leadoff single by John Roseboro and he’s pulled for a pinch-runner; Hunt singles him to third, and Ron Fairly delivers a sac fly and the game is tied with one out and the winning run aboard.  But Eckstein turns a highlight reel DP and we head to extra innings.  Perranoski handles the top of the 10th, and with Wainwright now burnt the Cards still won’t call upon their rather terrible closer Isringhausen, instead going to Braden Looper.  However, Looper’s first pitch to Willie Davis gets knocked into the corner for a triple, and the winning run is 90 feet away and the Cards figure that Izzy’s walks and gopher balls no longer matter, so Looper is gone, Isringhausen is in as is the infield, the outfield, and everybody else.  True to form, Izzy walks Wes Parker, but then personally handles a grounder to retire Lou Johnson while holding the runner on third.  With one away, it’s yet another grounder to P-2 Isringhausen, and again he fields it flawlessly and holds Davis at third, so it’s now two out with Gabrielson up.  He grounds out, and Izzy pulls out a miraculous inning and keeps the Cards in the game.  The top of the 11th will be Perranoski’s last inning for a while, and he gets two out but then a 2-base error by LF-2 Johnson puts injury replacement So Taguchi in scoring position; Perranoski walks Duncan, and then Rolen misses a HR 1-10 split, but Taguchi scores although Duncan (1-14) is out at the plate to end the inning.  Thus, the game now rests on Isringhausen’s shoulders once again, and he gets two quick outs but Fairly singles to get aboard.  PH Bob Bailey steps to the plate, misses a TR 1-2 split but the single moves Bailey to third, 90 feet away from tying the game once again.  It’s the top of the order, Willie Davis….but he grounds out and the Cards hang on to the 6-5 win and a trip to the finals.

It was time for a Zoom regional final, with TT assuming responsibility for the top-seed 2006 Cardinals in a matchup against the #4 seeded 1989 Yankees, with Eaglesfly volunteering to manage the underdog Bombers.  One thing that both managers had in common was the angst experienced when the starting pitchers had to be selected; the Yanks tapped Andy Hawkins (15-15, 4.80) while the Cardinals somehow managed to win the World Series with Jeff Weaver (8-14, 5.76) occupying the third slot in the rotation.  Although the Cards had lost Jim Edmonds to injury in the previous game, they were getting the big bat of Albert Pujols back in the lineup, and it was looking like they would need all the bats they could get when Weaver’s first roll in the top of the 1st is a 4-4 solid HR result from weak-hitting Steve Sax and the Yanks jump out in front.  Roberto Kelly follows with a hit, but C-1 Yadier Molina guns down the AA Kelly trying to steal and Weaver escapes the rest of the inning.  However, a 2-run single from Sax in the 3rd extends the New York lead, but when Pujols is intentionally walked to get to Cards DH Chris Duncan, Duncan makes them pay with a 3-run shot that ties the game.   The game remains knotted through five, and at that point Weaver is pulled, with Braden Looper being called upon after a brief and unsuccessful appearance in the semifinal.   But Looper is perfect for two innings, and meanwhile the Yankees pound Hawkins and Lee Guetterman for five hit and four runs in the bottom of the 6th, with Duncan contributing a 2-run double and the Cards surge to a 7-3 lead.  However, Looper is burnt after two innings, so in the 8th it’s time for closer Jason Isringhausen’s frightening card that nonetheless won their semifinal game.  Not so this time, as Izzy lasts just 2/3rds of an inning, alternating walks and HR splits and not escaping the latter as Kelly smacks a 3-run blast and Mattingly then goes back-to-back and the game is tied.  It remains that way through nine, with the Cards repeatedly getting runners into scoring position and leaving them on base with a chance to put the game away.  In the 10th, Mel Hall strokes a solo shot to put the Yanks ahead; however, the Yanks have now burned reliever Dave Righetti and are moving to the manure-filled section of the bullpen.  In the bottom of the 10th, Juan Encarnacion drives in a run to tie the game once again, but Cards leave the bases loaded and fail to put the game away.  In the 11th St. Louis reliever Brad Thompson, recorded as Brian by official scorer Nacster, is in his final inning of eligibility but retires the side with no damage, and so now it’s up to Yankee reliever Lance McCullers, who allows a couple of hits and walks Pujols to load the bases with one out for DH Duncan–who already sports five RBI in the game.  McCullers delivers, it’s on his card….and it’s a walk-off walk, RBI number six for Duncan and a 9-8 win for the Cardinals, who managed to pull off the victory despite stranding 17 runners in the game.  It’s the 10th regional win for the Cardinals franchise, with the 2006 team joining 2004 to provide the beginnings of a mini-dynasty.

Interesting card of Regional #185:  The 2006 Cards won the World Series and were heavy favorites in this regional, but they lost their MVP candidate Albert Pujols to injury in the first round and their outstanding CF Jim Edmonds in the second round.  Nevertheless, they prevailed, with large thanks due to their rookie DH, Chris Duncan, who had two homers and eight RBI in the bracket, with six (including the walk-off winner) in the final.  In this season, Duncan set the franchise record for home runs by a left-handed rookie, and he looked primed for a promising career.  In researching Duncan I learned that his father was Dave Duncan, who I remembered as having the most pathetic card for a hitter in the original 1967 American League set that was the first Strat cards that I ever purchased as a kid.  Certainly this card for the younger Duncan fell a long way from the tree; with him batting behind Pujols, they represented a one-two punch that might carry this squad a long way in this tournament.  Unfortunately, the promising career was not to be; he never really managed a complete season, battling neck and arm injuries and playing his last game in 2009.  In 2012, Duncan was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a form of cancer that manifested in a brain tumor, and he ultimately succumbed to the disease in 2019; he was only 38 years old.  The Endless Single Elimination Tournament hopes to honor his memory by enshrining Chris Duncan as the unequivocal MVP of Regional #185.