REGIONAL #204:  The draw for this group closed out the last remaining teams in the tournament for three seasons spaced a decade apart:  1973, 1983, and 1993.  The three representatives from those seasons seemed like they would all be competitive, as the ‘83 team involved the Cardinals a season after and two seasons before pennants, and the ‘73 selection was the Red Sox two seasons before their legendary Series.  I was less confident in the other five entries; the Dbacks had won a pennant much earlier in the decade but I doubted there was much left of that team, the Tigers were probably beginning to climb out of some truly terrible seasons but I didn’t think they were there yet, the Rangers were probably mediocre as they have been for most of their history, and my hunch was that the Brewers and Royals weren’t on anyone’s greatest teams list.   As such, I guessed that it would be the Cards against the Red Sox in a potentially epic final, and I picked the Cards to prevail, as I seemed to remember my buddy Jim whacking me with that team back in the day.  The ELO ratings predicted the same two teams in the final, but picked the Red Sox to triumph as they represented the only top 1000 team in the bracket. 

First round action   

The 1983 Cardinals looked more like a team from the deadball era, with five A or AA stealers but only two hitters reaching the teens in home runs; with a mediocre rotation fronted by John Stuper (12-11, 3.68) they weren’t able to reach .500, going 79-83.   The 2001 Brewers were a polar opposite, a slow team with a couple of big bashers in Richie Sexson and Jeromy Burnitz, but their pitching was dreadful with Ben Sheets (11-10, 4.76) sporting the best ERA in the rotation.  A leadoff double by Willie McGee in the bottom of the 2nd sets up a sac fly from Ozzie Smith to put the Cards on the board first, and then three doubles in the 3rd by Tommy Herr, George Hendrick and David Green precede a 3-run homer from Andy Van Slyke.  At that point the Brewers cast Sheets to the wind and Chad Fox comes in to get the third out, but St. Louis now leads 6-0.  Fox does his job, but after he pitches his four inning allotment Ray King comes in to immediately yield a 2-run blast to Darrell Porter to extend the Cards lead.  Devon White finally gets the Brewers in the barrel with a 2-run homer of his own in the 8th, but Stuper hangs on and the Cards continue their quest for a second straight regional crown with an easy 8-2 win.

In my lifetime, most Dodgers teams have been pretty good, but the 1993 Dodgers were a mediocre 81-81 with a young Mike Piazza and a bunch of past-their-prime sluggers trying to support a pretty good rotation fronted by the knuckleball of Tom Candiotti (8-10, 3.12).  In contrast, the Royals during the same span have occasionally been very good and more often have been very bad, and the 2001 Royals represented the latter, losing 97 games with Carlos Beltran and Mike Sweeney as their main attractions, and a host of bad starters with Jeff Suppan (10-14, 4.37) probably the best of the lot.  Royals 1B-4 Sweeney manages to make two errors in the top of the 2nd, but the Dodgers can’t score as CF-2 Beltran makes a great catch to end the inning.   The Dodgers get their first hit in the 3rd, a two-out solo shot by Piazza, and Suppan has a hard time recovering from that blow, needing a stellar play by 2B-5 Luis Alicea to end the inning and prevent more damage.  In the bottom of the inning, consecutive errors by 2B-2 Jody Reed and SS-4 Jose Offerman lead to problems when a knuckler gets past Piazza that allows a game-tying run to score.  Nonetheless, Mike atones in the 5th, missing a HR 1-15 split on Suppan but driving in a run with the resulting triple, although Suppan strands him at 3rd to keep it a one-run game.  A two-out single in the 7th and the Royals pull Suppan for reliever Jason Grimsley, who retires PH Raul Mondesi with no issues.  Candiotti takes the slim lead into the bottom of the 9th, and gets two quick outs before Neifi Perez collects his third hit of the game to keep the Royals’ hopes alive.  Joe Randa steps to the plate with a 1-17 pinch runner on first representing the tying run, but Randa hits a lazy fly to the outfield and the Dodgers survive with a 2-1 win, Candiotti tossing a nice 5-hitter to advance.   

This first round game might be the best of the bracket, with the top seed taking on the #3 ranked team.  The 89-win 1973 Red Sox were an interesting transition team between their pennant-winners of ‘67 and ‘75, with Yaz and Petrocelli being teamed with Fisk and Dwight Evans, and they had 20-game winner Luis Tiant (20-13, 3.34) on the mound.   They faced an 86-win 2009 Tigers squad that was coming out of a run of terrible teams thanks to some young talent like Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander (19-9, 3.45), who finished third in the Cy Young voting.  Cabrera tees off in the bottom of the 1st for a solo shot to give the Tigers an early edge, while Boston struggles to get anything going against Verlander.  And they can’t mount any kind of a threat until the top of the 9th, when Reggie Smith draws a walk and then with two out Tigers C-2 Gerald Laird drops a popup that puts the tying run in scoring position and the go-ahead run on, with Tommy Harper at the plate.  Harper lifts a deep fly to left that would have been off the Green Monster, but here in Comerica Park it’s an easy out and the Tigers upset the top seed 1-0 to advance thanks to Verlander’s 3-hit shutout.

The 1984 Rangers lost 92 games, with some atrociously bad fielding and a bottom of the lineup that looked like they should be in the minors, but they did have some decent starting pitching and swingman Mike Mason (9-13, 3.61) would get the round one start.  They faced a 2008 Diamondbacks team that squeaked above .500 at 82-80; they had 7 guys in the lineup with double digit homers, paced by the well-traveled Adam Dunn’s 40, and Brandon Webb (22-7, 3.30) was the Cy Young runner-up in essentially the final year of his MLB career.  The Dbacks power asserts itself in the top of the 2nd with a 2-run homer from Conor Jackson off Mason’s card, and some bad defense then loads up the bases and Mason walks Mark Reynolds to score another run.  Jackson comes up again in the 3rd, and again he finds and converts Mason’s HR split for a solo shot that makes it 4-0 Arizona.  Justin Upton adds a 2-run blast in the 5th, this one off his own card, but the Rangers decide to get Mason’s card out of there and try Dave Schmidt, but his outing begins with two straight singles off his card and a sac fly extends the Dback lead.  Schmidt loads up the bases again in the 6th and another sac fly adds more padding, and the Dbacks empty the bench with defensive replacements in the blowout.  That seems to be the cue for the Rangers to erupt, as they reel off six hits against Webb, with RBI singles from Pete O'Brien and Mickey Rivers, and then pinch hitter Marvis Foley comes in with the bases loaded and converts a HR 1-2/flyB split for a grand slam and suddenly it’s a 2-run game after six.  A leadoff single in the 7th and Webb is pulled for Max Scherzer, who loads the bases for Curtis Wilkerson; he rolls Scherzer’s HR 1-10/flyB and the split is an 11, but the runner on third comes in to make it a one-run game.  Next batter is Billy Sample–it’s the same roll on Scherzer, but this time the split is a 3 which stands for 3-run homer and the miracle Rangers take the lead.   The Dback scrubs rally for a run in the 8th to make it a one-run game, but the Rangers continue the beatdown with three more runs in the bottom of the inning off new Arizona pitcher Chad Qualls.  With Schmidt now burnt for the regional, the Rangers move to Dave Tobik and hope for the best, and he issues three walks to load the bases with two out for Adam Dunn as the tying runn.  But he dunn rolled a 2-6 strikeout, nestled next to his 2-5 solid homer, and the Dbacks are dunn and the Rangers move on with the 13-9 win in which they came back from an 8-0 deficit.

The survivors

The 1983 Cardinals were the top remaining seed in the semifinals, and it would be up to Dave Lapoint (12-9, 3.95) to overcome the jinx imparted by my selection of them to win the regional.  The 1993 Dodgers would have Pedro Astacio (14-9, 3.57) on the mound, and both teams had fully rested pens after first round complete games.  Lonnie Smith leads off the top of the 1st with an infield single, and then steals second on C-3 Mike Piazza; Dodgers RF-3 Cory Snyder then drops a Tommy Herr flyball for a two base error and Darrell Porter adds a double and the Dodgers trail 2-0 before 95% of their fans make it to their seats in Chavez Ravine.  They also miss Jose Offerman getting injured for 4 games in the bottom of the 1st, but some of them catch Smith leading off the 5th with a walk, stealing second again, and then scoring on an error by CF-2 Brett Butler.  The Dodgers threaten in the 8th, as an Eric Davis single and two walks loads the bases with two out for PH Raul Mondesi; he rips a grounder to 1B-3 George Hendrick who makes a highlight play to retire the side without damage.  In the top of the 8th David Green walks, steals second, advances to 3rd on an error by 3B-2 Tim Wallach, and scores when Ozzie Smith pushes a single past SS-4 Lenny Harris, but there is still enough life left in Piazza’s arm to swing the bat and he belts a leadoff homer in the bottom of the inning to put the Dodgers on the board.  A leadoff double in the 9th by Tommy Herr off Astacio sends the Dodgers to the pen for young Pedro Martinez, and he holds, leaving an increasingly ineffective Lapoint to try to finish out the bottom of the 9th.  And although he relinquishes a single to Jody Reed, he strikes out three other Dodgers to seal the 4-1 win and earn the Cards a trip to the finals.

The 2009 Tigers were the #3 seed in the bracket and had already eliminated the favorite, but although ace Verlander was spent it seemed like Edwin Jackson (13-9, 3.62) was a capable second starter.  The 1984 Rangers had demonstrated plenty of grit in coming back from an eight run deficit in the first round, although Frank Tanana (15-15, 3.25) would need to go deep in the game as their best reliever was Texas toast after that game.  The Tigers threaten in the 2nd when Curtis Wilkerson walks, steals second, and heads for home on a Placido Polanco 2-out single, but the 1-16+2 Wilkerson is nailed on a 20 split.  That opens the door for the Rangers in the bottom of the 3rd, who ride RBI singles from Buddy Bell and Pete O’Brien for a 2-0 lead, but Brandon Ingle pokes a solo HR in the top of the 4th to narrow the lead to one.  Bell responds with a HR to lead off the bottom of the 5th, and when a single and a walk put two Rangers on in the 8th, Detroit summons Fu-Te Ni to get the final out, but PH Mickey Rivers drills a single that scores an insurance run for Tanana to take into the 9th.  He closes out the 5-hit complete game and the Rangers move to the finals with a 4-1 upset.

Fire up the MTV, it’s an all-80s final with the #2 seeded 1983 Cardinals against the upstart #7 seed 1984 Rangers for the regional title.  The Cards opted to start Joaquin Andujar (6-16, 4.16) who looked better than his record, while the Rangers pinned their hopes on the knuckleball of Charlie Hough (16-14, 3.76).  Lonnie Smith opens the top of the 1st and promptly steals second on C-4 Ned Yost, who may be in for a long night, but Hough mystifies the heart of the Cards order to strand Smith.  Ken Oberkfell leads off the 2nd with a walk, but Yost throws him out on an attempted steal; however, Willie McGee follows with a single, a successful steal, and then David Green smacks a hard single to score the swift McGee and the Cards lead.  Green of course then steals second, but Hough manages to get the knuckler working again and strikes out two in a row to end that threat.  The Rangers then respond in the bottom of the inning as Gary Ward puts a solo shot into the Arlington Stadium stands and it’s a tie game.  In the 5th, Lonnie Smith pushes a single past SS-4 Curtis Wilkerson, steals second again, and scores on a Tommy Herr single, but the Rangers escape further damage thanks to a nice DP turned by one of the few capable Texas fielders, 1b-2 Pete O’Brien.  In the 6th, the Rangers opt for backup catcher Marvis Foley, and he hits a double and then barely slides under the tag on 2-out single by Buddy Bell, with a 12 split on his 1-11+2 chance.  Thus, the game is reset once again, tied entering the 7th.  In the top of the inning, the Cards look on in horror as sparkplug Lonnie Smith is injured for 6 games, to the relief of the Rangers catching staff.  When Ward singles in the bottom of the inning, St. Louis doesn’t like the direction things are going and move to Jeff Lahti out of the pen, and he dispatches the Rangers to preserve the tie.  A leadoff single in the 8th by Darrell Porter and Texas inspects its own pen, but with their top reliever burnt it’s up to Hough, who induces a DP from McGee and the game stays tied entering the 9th.  Both Hough and Lahti are perfect in the 9th and it’s going to be an extra-innings final; Hough does his job in his final inning of eligibility as does Lahti, and both teams now must explore the darker recesses of their pitching staffs.  For Texas, that’s Dave Tobik, who earned the save in the first round game, and although he allows a single to McGee, backup catcher Foley throws out McGee on the attempted steal to eliminate that threat.  The Cards continue to avoid the dubious card of Bruce Sutter and summon Dave Rucker for the bottom of the 11th, who walks the first two batters and the crowd in Arlington are on their feet for Buddy Bell–who grounds into a DP and it’s two out with Foley as the winning run on 3rd and Larry Parrish at the plate.  Rucker delivers, it’s a 4-6, a strikeout on Sutter but a solid single on Rucker and it’s game over, regional over; the Remarkable Rangers win 3-2 and take what is only the 2nd regional crown for the Texas team. 

Interesting card of Regional #204:  This entry merits consideration mainly for a topic brought up previously in this feature (e.g. see Regional #190), namely great final Strat cards of one’s career. This 2008 card represented the Cy Young runner-up for the NL, an award that many felt he should have won.  He’d made a habit of being in the race, as he’d also finished 2nd in 2007 and won the award in 2006, and at age 29, Webb looked poised for a Hall of Fame career.  Of course, the Arizona ace was the Opening Day starter for the 2009 season, but he only lasted four innings and was removed with tightness in his shoulder.  On April 7, he was placed on the disabled list with right shoulder bursitis, and he never pitched again in the majors.  Still, through the magic of Strat, we are able to take out his excellent last card and give him a go in the first round of this tournament; unfortunately, the shoulder must still be a problem as he allowed 7 runs and 9 hits in six innings, getting pelted by the lowly ‘84 Rangers.  Even so, I think he has to make the “great final Strat cards” team, joining Sandy Koufax in the rotation with Ted Williams and Barry Bonds providing run support.