REGIONAL #197: The very first draw in this group was the Phillies team that immediately followed their infamous 1964 collapse in the pennant race–but I wasn’t certain whether that collapse continued into the following year. Another team that caught my eye was a White Sox entry from shortly after they had been shortchanged by the players strike a few years prior when they had been one of the best teams in baseball; I felt that they should still be competitive if they could surmount the Sox jinx. Other teams that seemed to have some potential were various National League draws from the Dodgers, Reds and Giants, while I didn’t expect much from what I guessed were down years for the Yankees and another Phillies team, while there was a post-expansion Angels team that had initially been surprisingly decent but I guess had crashed back to reality. Although I thought the Sox team should have a chance if anyone other than I was rolling for them, I suspected that they wouldn’t get past the Dodgers and I guessed that the Dodgers would then go on to best the Giants in a rivalry-fueled finals. The ELO ranks indicated that I had vastly overestimated both of those teams, picking what looked to be a good Reds team to best the Sox in the finals.
First round action
Two teams from the Sixties collide in this first round game. The 1965 Phillies had pulled a nosedive at the end of the previous season to blow a pennant, and their 85-76 record this season was only good for 6th place in the NL, but there was talent on the roster in the form of Dick Allen, Johnny Callison, and Wes Covington, and Hall of Famer Jim Bunning (19-9, 2.60) posted one of his best seasons. They faced the 91-loss 1963 Angels, who were just a few years into their existence, and aside from Leon Wagner there wasn’t much offense although their rotation was solid with Ken McBride (13-12, 3.26) sporting a fine card. McBride takes a no-hitter into the top of the 6th but Bobby Wine rolls Ken’s HR split; although he misses the split, the resulting double rattles McBride who issues two walks and then, with two away, he grooves one to Callison who whallops a grand slam, only the second hit of the game for the Phils. Allen then ends the inning by getting knocked out of the game with an injury, although he’s expected back for the semifinals should the Phils hold on. The Angels respond with a run in the bottom of the inning on a Jim Fregosi RBI single, but Alex Johnson answers with a 2-run homer in the 7th that chases McBride for Art Fowler, and Callison adds his second homer of the game in the 8th to pad things further. That is plenty for Bunning, who ends with a six-hit 7-1 victory, in which the Phils only managed 5 hits themselves, but three of them left the yard.
The 1995 Reds were the bracket favorite according to the ELO ranks, and I had forgotten that they went 85-59 in a strike-shortened season but lost the NLCS to finish as league runner-ups. They had three .500+ SLG% guys in the heart of the lineup, an all “1” DP combo in Barry Larkin and Bret Boone, and a career year from Pete Schourek (18-7, 3.22), who finished second in the Cy Young votes. I had unwisely predicted that they would lose to the 1995 Giants, who lost 94 games and had little going for them other than Matt Williams and a still-slim Barry Bonds, who finished 5th in the MVP votes; their rotation was putrid, with Kirk Rueter (6-8, 3.97) the only approximation of decent. The Reds score in the top of the 1st courtesy of the Giants’ all “3” DP combo, with a 2-base error by SS-3 Rich Aurelia followed by a sharp single past 2b-3 Steve Scarsone gifting the run. Aurelia commits his second 2-base error of the game in the 3rd, allowing one run to score and setting up a 2-run single by Benito Santiago, and after Hal Morris adds a sac fly the Reds hold a 5-0 and the Giants are still looking for their first hit. That does come in the bottom of the inning from Aurelia, who figures he might as well try to contribute with his bat since his glove doesn’t work, and the Giants do get a run on a Rich Wilkins fielder’s choice. But Reggie Sanders leads off the 5th with a colossal homer, and in the 6th Giants 1B-4 Mark Carreon can’t track down his wayward ball for a 2-base error that sets up a Boone RBI double. Receiving no fielding support whatsoever, Rueter then begs to be taken out of the game, and closer Rod Beck takes his turn. He gets to watch 3b-2 Williams drop yet another grounder that leads to yet another run, although in the bottom of the 8th Reds 3b-2 Jeff Branson returns the favor with an error that sets up a 2-run homer from Williams. Boone responds with a two out RBI single in the top of the 9th, and a tiring Schourek manages to hang on to preserve the pen and earn the 9-3 win.
The 1994 Phillies went 54-61 in that strike season but underperformed their Pythagorean projection by quite a bit and seemed better than their record, although the limited innings made for a shallow rotation fronted by a good Bobby Munoz (7-5, 2.67). My blind selection to take the bracket, the 2007 Dodgers, had a better 82-80 record but a slightly worse ELO ranking than the Phils; they had a group of solid hitters like Russell Martin, Andre Ethier and Jeff Kent, and Brad Penny (16-4, 3.03) came in 3rd in the Cy Young votes although I felt he might have been a bit undercarded. Things start out auspiciously as on the first roll of the game Dodger LF-3 Luis Gonzales commits a 2-base error, and on the second roll I’m charged with a wild pitch as I lose control of the dice and one ends up plunking into my coffee. But Penny survives the inning with no damage or stains, and the Phils end their half of the second with SS Kevin Stocker getting knocked out of the game with an injury. That turns the position into SS-4 Kim Batiste, and when he can’t turn a DP in the 3rd the Dodgers take a 1-0 lead. However, it also allows the Phils to bring in their supersub Randy Ready, and his double in the 5th sets up a 2-run single from Mickey Morandini that puts Philadelphia in front. A walk and a single to begin the top of the 6th and the Dodgers don’t like the way things are going, and they move to closer Takashi Saito to try to head off disaster; he proves remarkably efficient as he makes one pitch to Mariano Duncan, who promptly hits into a triple play. However, the Ready/Morandini combo strikes again in the 7th as Ready’s single is followed by a triple from Morandini; then a walk to Darren Daulton leads to a 2-out, 2-run triple from Lenny Dysktra, the man with no reputation to libel, and the Phils lead by four. The Phils now hope Munoz can close it out and save the pen, but a leadoff single by Pierre in the bottom of the inning, a walk to Martin, and then James Loney puts it into the pavilions in Chavez Ravine and very quickly it’s a one run game with nobody out and the Phils bring in their closer, Doug Jones. But errors by 1b-3 John Kruk and LF-4 Pete Incaviglia and another run comes in, and the game is tied after seven. With Saito at the end of his rope, the Dodgers move to Jonathan Broxton to begin the 9th, and he’s salvaged by some split rolls as a single to Kent is followed by a HR 1-13/DO on Luis Gonzalez; he misses the split with an 18, and not learning my lesson, I send Kent 1-10 home to try to win the game…no dice, it’s a 14 and Kent is nailed. Now with two out and Gonzalez still in scoring position, Matt Kemp steps up to pinch hit, but he grounds out and it's off to extra innings. The first batter in the top of the 10th is Incaviglia, and he takes no split chances with a solid homer and the Phils lead. With Jones at his limit, the Phils bring in Heathcliff Slocum to try to close, and he goes 1-2-3 and the Phils escape with the see-saw, extra-inning 6-5 win, while the Dodgers return to storage cursing the split die.
The 1996 White Sox won 85 games to finish 2nd in the AL Central; on the plus side of their ledger they had some hitters in Frank Thomas, Harold Baines and Robin Ventura, and Alex Fernandez (16-10, 3.45) earned some Cy Young votes as their best starter by far, but on the downside they had some defensive holes and the Sox jinx to overcome. On the bright side, they faced the 1990 Yankees, who according to ELO ratings were the second-worst Yankee team of all time, losing 95 games with illustrious names like Bye Bye Balboni, Bamm Bamm Meulens, and the not-quite-two-sport Deion Sanders, while Tim Leary (9-19, 4.11) was hoping the whole season was just a bad LSD trip. Of course, combine the Sox jinx with the tendency for teams that I make fun of to retaliate, and Steve Sax leads off the bottom of the 1st with a homer off Fernandez’s card to give the Yankees a quick lead. Baines then leads off the top of the 2nd with a homer on Leary’s tab, and it’s looking like a lively afternoon in the Bronx is forthcoming. But then both teams lapse into a race to see who can leave the most runners in scoring position; for example, bottom of the 5th sees Sax reach first on an error by C-1 Ron Karkovice, but then Kark throws out Sax trying to steal for the second time of the game. Roberto Kelly follows by missing a HR 1-16/TR split and then gets stranded on third, so after five the game is still knotted at one apiece. The starters are now settling in, but when Leary walks the leadoff hitter in the top of the 8th the Yanks decide Lee Guetterman is their best shot to win this game, but Baines finds and converts Guetterman’s HR split for a 2-run homer and a Sox lead. A leadoff single in the bottom of the inning and the Sox try their closer, Roberto Hernandez, and his first pitch is a two-run homer by Matt Nokes and the game is tied heading into the 9th. The Sox leave runners on 1st and 3rd in the top of the 9th, and Hernandez dispatches the Yanks so we head to extra frames. The Sox go down in order in the top of the 10th, while in the bottom of the inning Nokes draws a leadoff walk and Neon Deion gets into the game as a pinch-runner. But Mel Hall misses a SI 1-19 split and the rest of the Yanks are dispatched and we head to the 11th, with both closers looking at their last inning of eligibility for the regional. Guetterman does his job in the top of the 11th, while the Sox decide to try to save some of Hernandez and try Tony Castillo, who gets one out but then promptly has his HR 1-12/TR hit by Sax–who misses the split and the infield comes in with the winning run 90 feet away with one out. Castillo whiffs Roberto Kelly and Jesse Barfield flies out to shallow left and the game heads to the 12th, with Dave Eiland taking the mound for New York. Tony Phillips greets him with a leadoff double, and then 3b-4 Jim Leyritz boots a Dave Martinez grounder and Frank Thomas rips an RBI single; it looks like a big inning for the Sox but Ventura immediately lines into a triple play and the Sox take just a one run edge into the bottom of the inning. That edge lasts two batters, as backup catcher Rick Cerone finds and converts Castillo’s homer to tie the game and send the game to the 13th. The Sox strand Ray Durham at 2nd in the top of the inning; in the bottom of the frame, Castillo gets two quick outs, but then allows two consecutive doubles off his own card to Sax and Kelly and the Yanks walk it off in the 13th and head to the semifinals with a sloppy 5-4 win.
The survivors
The 1994 Phillies were seeking to make it an all-Philly Phinal and they were favored to do so against the bottom-seeded 1990 Yankees who seemed to have taken advantage of a jinx to get into the semifinals. With innings limitations from the season-ending strike, the Phils only starting option was Danny Jackson (14-6, 3.26), still comparing favorably to the Yanks’ Mike Witt (5-9, 4.00), the best of numerous mediocre choices for New York, and both bullpens had been stretched in the first round so both teams wanted their starters to go deep in the game. The Yanks luck seems to be holding as with two out in the bottom of the 1st and a man on, Phils LF-4 Pete Incaviglia manages to make a three-base error out of a Kevin Maas flyball to give NY the lead. A two-out RBI single from Mickey Morandini ties the game in the top of the 3rd, but the Yanks respond in the bottom of the inning as Steve Sax singles, steals second, and then scores on a Roberto Kelly base hit to regain the lead. Jackson then settles in but when Kelly leads off the 8th with a single and stolen base, the Phils move to Heathcliff Slocum and he staves off any threat, so we head to the 9th and New York goes wholesale on the defensive replacements to try to hold on to their one run lead. Witt gets two quick outs but then supersub Randy Ready strokes a single and Billy Hatcher comes in to pinch run; Witt then walks Kevin Stocker to put the tying run in scoring position. But Witt whiffs Morandini and Yankee Stadium erupts as the unlikely Bombers head to the finals with the 2-1 win.
The #8 seeded 1990 Yankees were an unlikely entrant in the regional final, rated as the second worst team in the history of the Bronx, but they had advanced further than most of the legendary teams to have worn the pinstripes. They faced the #4 seed 1965 Phillies, who themselves had something to prove having choked away the NL pennant in the previous season. The Phils’ starting pitching was holding up well with Ray Culp (14-10, 3.22) as a solid third starter, while the Yankees had a consistent if mediocre rotation and Chuck Cary (6-12, 4.10) was better than some I’d seen in the finals. However, he begins the top of the 1st by yielding two straight singles, and then Johnny Callison sends both runners home with a triple; the Yanks bring the infield in and Wes Covington shoots a single past the drawn-in third baseman and the Phils lead 3-0 before New York swings a bat. In the bottom of the 4th, Mel Hall records a triple of his own and he scores on a Jim Leyritz sac fly, and then Don Mattingly doubles past LF-4 Alex Johnson and he scores on a single by Alvaro Espinoza and suddenly it’s a one-run game. But in the 6th, the Phils stage a two run rally when Covington walks, Johnson singles with the snail-like Covington holding at second, but he can walk home when Dr. Strangeglove Dick Stuart launches one past the monuments at Yankee Stadium for a three-run blow. The Yanks respond in the bottom of the inning with a Mattingly triple that scores Hall and Espinoza singles him home, and for the first time in the regional the Phils start to examine their bullpen for solutions. They decide to stick with Culp for a while, and he escapes the inning but the Phils lead is now narrowed to two. However, in the top of the 9th Cary issues two walks and then 3B-4 Leyritz throws a relay into the dugout for a two base error and the Phillies add a run to their lead without the benefit of a hit. That leaves Culp needing three outs in the bottom of the 9th; he gets two quick ones but then walks Barfield and he drops a Kevin Maas grounder, so Matt Nokes steps to the plate as the tying run. Nokes hits a sharp grounder to first, but instead of 1b-5 Dr. Strangeglove it’s 1b-3 Ruben Amaro, and he fields it cleanly to close out the 7-4 win and provide the Phillies with the 8th regional win for the franchise, the only one currently between the years 1938 and 2005. The Phils thus atone for their 1964 collapse with essentially the same team, courtesy of a strong rotation and timely hitting from Callison and Stuart.
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