SUPER-REGIONAL N:  This was the first group of 64 teams that didn’t include a single pennant winner, but the eight participants in this super-regional featured a number of squads that were near misses.  These included two Yankee teams from different dynasties that had considerable success, a Phillies team from a similar vintage to one that had overcome numerous injuries to capture the previous super-regional, and serious challengers from the Angels and the Red Sox.  And then there was a Cubs team that really had no business making it this far, doing so just to spite me and that spitefulness was all too likely to persist here.  However, I couldn’t see them handling three more wins against this competition, so I picked the Babe and the Iron Horse to handle the Angels in the final.  Although that Red Sox team was sort of a sentimental favorite for me, I figured that sentiment would spell doom against the Cubs, but I counted on the Angels to end the North Siders’ luck.  The ELO rankings yielded the same prediction as me, meaning that it was unlikely to happen that way! 

Round four action

The 1995 Yankees went 79-65 in a strike shortened year, and made a brief postseason appearance but would meet with considerably more success in the following years.  They had two rookies get a cup of coffee in Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera, and although they and their teammates had considerable real life success, this was one of the few squads from that era that had made any progress whatsoever in this tournament.  They would turn to Andy Pettitte (12-9, 4.17) on the mound, but two 13+ inning games in the regional semis and finals left their bullpen a bit ragged, so they were hoping Pettitte would go deep in the game against the 2006 Dodgers.  The Dodgers had also briefly visited the postseason with an 88-74 record, but their options for a #4 starter were not exciting, with Mark Hendrickson (6-15, 4.21) getting the nod.  However, they were at full strength with a fully rested pen, so they were hoping that their solid offense could stake Hendrickson to an early lead.  He escapes a NY threat in the top of the 1st, leaving the bases loaded, while the Dodgers do provide him with an early lead as Nomar Garciaparra knocks an RBI single in the bottom of the 1st, although LA also leaves the bases loaded to end the inning.  In the 2nd, AA Rafael Furcal singles, steals second, and scores on a 2-out Andre Ethier single that makes it 2-0 Dodgers, and then Nomar leads off the 3rd with a blast into the ravine as Pettitte can’t seem to keep LA off the scoreboard.  However, an error by SS-2 Furcal in the top of the 4th and Hendrickson seems to lose his composure, as Randy Velarde singles in a run, Tony Fernandez misses Hendrickson’s HR split but drives in another with the resulting double, and Wade Boggs singles in Fernandez to quickly tie the game.  Pettitte responds with a 1-2-3 inning and it’s game on, tied 3-3 entering the 5th.  Hendrickson holds for the 5th, but when he walks the leadoff batter in the 6th the Dodgers aren’t messing around and bring in closer Takashi Saito, who strikes out the side, punctuated by two walks that loaded the bases but resulted in nothing for the Yanks.  New York loses DH Ruben Sierra for three games with an injury in the 7th, and when Kenny Lofton leads off the bottom of the inning with a single and steals 2nd for LA’s 4th stolen base of the game,  it’s the Yankees turn to summon their closer, John Wetteland.  But Ethier drives a single under the glove of 2B-3 Randy Velarde and Lofton scores to the LA back on top.  Faced with a tough decision in the 9th, the Dodgers opt to burn their closer for the super-regional and trust Saito to seal the win against the heart of the Yankee lineup, and he sets them down in order to propel the Dodgers on to round five with the 4-3 victory.

The Zoom game of the week looked to be an epic battle of the titans, with Philadelphian Tall Tactician guiding an 85-77 2006 Phillies team that was quite similar to the one he had led to crown of the previous super-regional; this version boasted NL MVP Ryan Howard, who had smacked a Ruthian 58 homers.  In the other corner, StratFan Rick made a return appearance as guest manager after a long layoff in this tournament, unable to resist the allure of helming the 86-68 1930 Yankees, featuring an even more Ruthan Babe Ruth leading the league in homers with 49, and representing the last surviving team from the Ruth/Gehrig era of the Bombers. With both teams reaching the bottom end of their rotation, they both had options, but unfortunately all of those options were bad.  For the Yankees, Hank Johnson (14-11, 4.67) would get the starting assignment against the truly terrible Ryan Madson (11-9, 5.69), and although both teams had lost a regular to injury that carried over to this game, these powerful lineups suggested that a pitching duel was unlikely.  That becomes obvious in the top of the 1st as Gehrig rips an RBI single, helping to set up a Ben Chapman double that scores Lou, but the Babe is gunned down trying to score and then a DP ball ends the rally leaving the Yanks with a 2-0 lead that should have been more.  They get more in the 3rd as TT, issues a second intentional walk of the game to Bill Dickey, offending Tony Lazzeri who responds with an RBI single, and Earl Combs adds a solo homer in the 4th for a 4-0 Yankee lead.  Madson’s first pitch of the 5th to Ruth travels about 550 feet and the only good news for Philly phans is that Madson can now be pulled, but reliever Geoff Geary fares no better, yielding another RBI single to Lazzeri in the top of the 6th.  Finally, in the bottom of the 6th, the power of the Philly lineup begins to show, with back to back solo homers from Jimmy Rollings and Carlos Ruiz narrowing the gap to 6-2 after six innings.  With the possibility of a game emerging, TT wants nothing to do with Gehrig and Ruth leading off the 7th, so he intentionally walks both of them, but Chapman makes him pay with a 2-run double and although David Delucci knocks in a run in the bottom of the inning, the Yanks hold a solid 8-3 lead heading into the 9th.  Having now abandoned the intentional walk, TT directs closer Tom Gordon to pitch to Dickey, and he enjoys the opportunity to swing the bat with a solo homer to extend the lead.  In the bottom of the 9th, Johnson is still looking capable, and he gets two quick outs but Howard finally wakes up with a long home run, but it’s too little too late as the Bombers waltz to a 9-4 win and a trip to round five.

The 2004 Angels were a 92-70 team that won the AL West, but they had still needed to pull off three straight upsets to win a very strong Regional #109.  Thus battle-hardened, they would send out John Lackey (14-13, 4.67) supported by a deep bullpen against the 1960 Indians, a 76-78 team that would still be without injured 3B Bubba Phillips for the duration of the super-regional.   The Indians would pitch Barry Latman (7-7, 4.04) against a powerful Angel lineup that included MVP Vladimir Guerrero, and Vlad walks and races home in the top of the 1st on a two-out Jose Guillen single, although Troy Glaus is nailed at the plate trying the same thing on a Garret Anderson hit to end the inning.  The Indians retaliate immediately with a 2-run Woodie Held home run in the bottom of the 1st to take the lead; in the 2nd, they get an RBI double from injury replacement Marty Keough, a run-scoring single by Ken Aspromonte, and then Held adds another RBI double to chase Lackey before he can complete two innings.  The desperate Angels summon nearly unhittable closer Francisco Rodriguez and he gets the final out but the Indians lead is 5-1 after two.  Back to back doubles by John Romano and Tito Francona lead off the bottom of the 5th to extend the Indians lead, and Jimmy Piersall singles home Francona while Harvey Kuenn adds another RBI single to make it 8-1 Indians after five.  The Angels load the bases in the 6th but Piersall makes a highlight reel catch to end the threat, while Held picks up a single in the bottom of the inning to leave him one triple away from a cycle.  3B-4 Kuenn, having to cover third with Phillips hurt, drops a grounder that sets up a run-scoring fielder’s choice from Darin Erstad, but Angels reliever Brendan Donnelly loses all control in the 8th, walking three to set up two more run for the relentless Cleveland offense-including a Held single that fails to complete the cycle, since neither he nor Donnelly have a triple result on their cards.  Still, the Indians cruise to the 10-2 win and look forward to revisiting the top of their rotation for round five.  

The 1996 Red Sox were a sentimental favorite as I’d taken my oldest son to see this team at Fenway a number of times when I was on sabbatical in Boston, and it was a good team that won 85 games and it had one of the most legendary cards in Strat history, that of nameless Rudy Pemberton, available come the 6th inning.  However, the only option for a #4 starter was Tom Gordon (12-9, 5.59) who had the dubious distinction of leading the AL in earned runs allowed.  The 1959 Cubs had won Regional #112 despite a mediocre 74-80 record and a one-dimensional offense consisting of MVP Ernie Banks; Art Ceccarelli (5-5, 4.76) had a decent WHIP but had some issues with the long ball, although bad Cubs teams seem to play over their head in this project out of spite for this Sox fan.  Jeff Frye leads off the top of the 1st with a double and he scores on a Mo Vaughn sac fly to spot the Red Sox to a 1-0 lead.  However, 3B Tim Naering gets injured in the 2nd, and in the bottom of the inning Sammy Taylor rips an RBI single under the glove of Naehring’s replacement, young Nomar Garciaparra, and the game is tied.  It’s then Mo Vaughn’s turn to get injured in the 4th, this time for four games knocking him out of the super-regional and perhaps the tournament, and my dislike of these Cubs elevates even further.  Sammy Taylor then swats a solo shot in the bottom of the inning to give the Cubs a lead that they probably would not relinquish, a prediction that seems infallible when Irv Noren adds a three-run homer later in the inning that sends Gordon to the showers in a flash.  Rich Garces does no better, yielding RBI singles to George Altman and Al Dark and then a 2-run double to Lee Walls, and Garces is pulled after ⅓ of an inning.  Stan Belinda finally gets the final out, but the Cubs now lead 9-1 and Boston’s main excitement is waiting for someone else to get injured.  An RBI single by Frye in the 7th narrows the gap slightly, and in the 8th it’s Ceccarelli’s turn to get hurt, knocked out of the game to be relieved by Moe Drabowsky, who dispatches the Red Sox and the Cubs continue their upset ways, cruising to a 9-2 victory in which Banks was held hitless.  

The survivors:  round five

After watching StratFan lead the 1930 Yankees to a rout in round four, I dreaded playing them solo against the 2006 Dodgers because I had already driven every other Babe-led Bombers team into the ground in this tournament, and I was fairly certain I would jinx them here.  Although their starting CF Harry Rice was still out with injury, ace Red Ruffing (15-8, 4.38) had recovered from one that had knocked him out of his first round start, and he was ready to go here against Derek Lowe (16-8,, 3.63).  It doesn’t take long for the jinx to manifest as the second batter of the game, Andre Ethier, swats a solo homer to put the Dodgers up, while the Yanks roll three straight X-outs in the bottom of the inning and fail to respond.  The Dodgers then draw two straight walks to begin the 2nd and Wilson Betemit clears the bases with a solid homer and it looks like a rout.  This is further confirmed when Ethier leads off the 3rd with a triple, and Olmedo Saenz follows with another long home run and it’s 6-0 LA and Ruffing is hearing the Bronx cheers.  Saenz hits another 2-run homer in the 5th for good measure, and 1930 not being a good year for relief pitching, the Yanks just decide to let Ruffing go until he drops.  The Dodgers load the bases in the 6th, and after Russell Martin drives in one on a sac fly, a walk sets things up for Nomar Garciaparra–but he misses the HR 1-8 with a 9 split, still clearing the bases with a double and the Dodgers lead hits double digits.  Ethier doubles in the 8th, putting him a just a single away from a cycle, and although they try the Dodger fall just short of garnering enough baserunners to bring him up again.  Regardless, Lowe finishes up a 7-hit shutout against a collection of Hall of Famers and the Dodgers eliminate Babe and Lou from the tournament with the 12-0 blowout.

After watching my jinx play out in characteristic form in the previous game, it was time for the reverse jinx to manifest on behalf of the 1959 Cubs, as these north side teams typically overperform just to bedevil this south sider.  The probable victims were a near-contemporary 1960 Indians, with both of these sub-.500 teams playing over their heads in reaching round five of this tournament.  Both teams were sending out their top starters, Jim Perry (18-10, 3.62) for Cleveland and Glen Hobbie (16-13, 3.69) for the Cubs, and both pens were in good shape although 3B Bubba Phillips remained on the DL for the Indians.  Cleveland gets off to a good start in the top of the 1st as Tito Francona misses a HR split but still drives in two with a 2-out double, and Harvey Kuenn adds a sac fly in the 2nd to make it 3-0 Indians.  However, the Cubs show their persistence as a two base error by RF-3 Kuenn leads to a big inning with an RBI single from Al Dark and two run-scoring fielder’s choices tying the game after two.  Both pitchers then settle down, but in the 7th Mike de la Hoz gets the first Indians hit in five innings in the form of a solo homer; however, Ernie Banks matches that in the bottom of the inning and Perry is pulled for promising young reliever Johnny Klippstein, who ends the inning without further mishap but the score is again tied after 7 innings.  A couple of Cleveland hits put runners at the corners in the 8th, so the Cubs gamble on the strikeout pitch of reliever Bill Henry, but Francona greets him with a three-run homer onto Waveland Avenue and the Indians regain the lead.  In the 9th, Cleveland hopes to preserve Klippstein for a possible super-regional final and veteran Don Newcombe comes in and assures that they will make the trip, wrapping up the 7-4 victory and earning a date with a modern Dodgers team in the final.  

Super-regional finals

Although I had somehow rolled the 1960 Indians into the super-regional final, I thought it was time to turn over the reins to Cleveland partisan ColavitoFan (even though these Indians had just traded Colavito away) for the Zoom game of the week.  They faced the 2006 Dodgers, manned by brother Chuck who had no dog in this fight, although he did have an aging Greg Maddux (15-14, 4.20) on the mound to go against Cleveland swingman Bobby Locke (3-5, 3.37).  Both of these pitchers started off strong against offenses that had put up big run totals in the previous five rounds, but in the top of the 4th LA’s Jeff Kent managed to convert a HR split for a solo shot and the Dodgers take the lead.   Maddux is not dominating, but he’s crafty and although he’s allowing hits, the Dodgers use the double play ball to keep Maddux out of trouble, including one DP on an attempted sacrifice bunt that drives several Indians fans out of the park vowing to set the Cuyahoga River on fire.  With the game riding on every pitch, the Indians summon round five victor Johnny Klippstein to see if he can pull the same magic, and he provides his two hitless innings to keep the Dodgers at bay.  With dominating LA closer Takashi Saito burnt for this game, Chuck wants to stick with his Hall of Fame starter but the hits keep mounting, and so he opts for Jonathan Broxton to try to close out the game.  He does so, with any threat of a Cleveland rally wiped out by yet another DP in the bottom of the 9th, and the Dodgers earn their spot in the final group of 32 winning the 1-0 nailbiter–the second straight shutout recorded by a pitching staff that was really below typical Dodger standards. 

Interesting card of Super-Regional N:   Well, this one wasn’t featured in their regional writeup, but I felt obligated to present the lovely die-cut, old-school patterned card of the Bambino here. Unfortunately I probably won’t get another such opportunity; the loss of the 1930 Yanks in round five here eliminated the last version of the Babe from the tournament, unless the game company defies my expectations and finally releases another season from the pre-war era.  We can only hope.  In the meantime, at least we have 1930, one of my favorite Strat sets of all time.  The 1930 season is not necessarily regarded as one of the Babe’s best, and he finished a distant 10th in the voting for MVP, but he led the league in homers, walks, OBP, SLG%, OPS, and WAR, and at the end of June he was ahead of his 60-homer pace of 1927, but injuries slowed him down and he finished with 49.  His 1930 Yankees were an offensive juggernaut but they finished a relatively distant third to the Philadelphia A’s dynasty of those years, with the Yanks not having pitching to match that of Lefty Grove and company.  In fact, even the Yankees’ ace, Red Ruffing, came up short in this tournament, getting mauled by the eventual super-regional champs.  In the meantime, it’s sadly back to the storage drawers for the Babe and his teammates, but if someone needs an outfielder for their pickup team, this card should do the trick.