REGIONAL #74: No pennant winners in Regional #74, but there were versions of the Orioles, Braves, and Cubs that all won a pennant in the following season, all in the top half of the bracket; the bottom half of the bracket featured another version of the Cubs that was two years after a pennant, and a solid representative of the Angels that might be able to capture the first regional win after 19 previous tries for that franchise. No idea who will survive the top half of the bracket, but I'm guessing whoever it is beats the Angels for the regional final. 

First Round Action: 

 The 86-win 1934 Cubs and the 65-win 1990 Braves may both have been a year away from a pennant, but their respective records accurately reflected that the Cubs seemed a lot closer to greatness than the Braves. With four Hall of Famers in the starting lineup and 22-game winner Lon Warneke on the mound, the Cubs were certainly not expecting the ambush they received: a 12-0 smackdown with multi-run homers from Ron Gant and Oddibe McDowell, a 4 for 4, 3 RBI showing from Lonnie Smith, and a three-hit shutout from John Smoltz. I was thinking that these Cubs might take the three games of this regional, but they were basically out of the tournament after three innings. 

 The matchup of the 94-win 1982 Orioles and the 69-win 1958 Phillies featured two Hall of Fame starting pitchers, Jim Palmer and Robin Roberts. The Orioles struck quickly in the top of the 1st when with two out Lowenstein doubled in Eddie Murray from first, and then Lowenstein added a solo HR in the 4th to make it 2-0. The Phillies got on the board in the 6th with a solo blast from catcher Stan Lopata, but in the 9th Cal Ripken's solo shot added an insurance run to make it 3-1. Palmer got two quick outs in the 9th, but a double by Harry Anderson and a single by Bob Bowman sent Earl Weaver out to the mound to pull an irate Palmer and bring in Tippy Martinez. Martinez promptly struck out Wally Post to preserve the 3-1 Orioles win, Palmer ending with a 4-hitter with Roberts only allowing 5. 

The 1989 Angels won 91 games while the 1965 A's finished with 103 losses, although the DH rule allows KC to trot out their secret weapon, Jim Gentile with his .542 slugging percentage. The two teams traded punches in the first, with Landis driving home Campaneris after he stole second, while Brian Downing drove in Johnny Ray to knot the score at 1-1. Angels CF Devon White is lost to injury in the 3rd, but Jack Howell launches a solo HR to give them a 2-1 lead in the 5th. The A's retaliate with two in the 6th, with Ed Charles rapping a 2-out single with men on 2nd and 3rd, which sends Bert Blyleven to the showers as the Angels bring in their best reliever, Bob McClure, to try to keep their hopes alive. The Angels retake the lead 4-3 in the 7th on timely hits from Ray and Joyner, but in the 9th the Angels put men on 2nd and 3rd with Campaneris the go-ahead run on 2nd and secret weapon Gentile at the plate. McClure, at the end of his endurance, gets Gentile to pop out and the Angels move on with a 4-3 win, although McClure won't be eligible for action for the remainder of the regional. 

The 75-win 1920 Cubs were celebrating their 100th anniversary with a first round matchup against the 74-win 2000 Orioles. These were two teams that were both significantly flawed, but in very different ways--one a deadball-era team with little offense and a fairly shallow rotation, the other a steroid-era team with steroid-era pitching and consistently bad fielding. I thought that the difference would be that the Cubs were sending HOF 27-game winner Pete Alexander to the mound, a decided advantage against the Orioles Mike Mussina. And Alexander showed his stuff, scattering 5 hits in a complete game shutout. Mussina pitched capably but lost control in the 7th, with the Cubs batting around to score five, and the Cubs head to the semis with a 7-0 win--but without any remaining HOF pitchers up their sleeves. 

The survivors:

In the first semifinal, the 1982 Orioles sent Mike Flanagan against Tom Glavine and the 1990 Braves, but it didn't look like it would be a pitchers duel when Eddie Murray and Cal Ripken both homered in the 1st to give Baltimore a 3-0 lead. Lonnie Smith retaliated with a 2-run HR in the top of the 3rd, which he celebrated afterwards by tackling the Orioles mascot. This apparently infuriated the O's, who scored 5 over the next three innings to send Glavine to the showers. Oddibe McDowell managed to single in a run in the 9th, but it was too little too late as the Orioles cruise to a berth in the regional final with an 8-3 win. 

 Chuck Finley had lost pitching duels for the Angels in both Regionals #62 and #69, but surely he figured that the third time would be charmed as he took the mound for the 1989 Angels against Hippo Vaughn and the 1920 Cubs. It started off promising, with the Angels jumping to a 2-0 in the 1st on a Wally Joyner HR, and then Chili Davis added a 2-run double in the 3rd to make it 4-0. However, in the bottom of the 3rd the Cubs solved Finley with 2 out, rapping four consecutive hits to bring the score to 4-3. The Cubs then tied it in the 6th when a 2-base error by RF Tony Armas (only playing because of an injury to Devon White) was followed by a Bob O'Farrell single, and the Angels and Finley were beginning to panic. But in the 8th Jack Howell picked up a clutch two-out SI* 1-15 with Davis on third, and Finley struck out the side in the 9th to finally give Finley a tournament win, and the Angels one game away from hanging their first regional banner. 

 A classic regional final between two teams who had proven they knew how to win. The 1982 Orioles jump out to a lead when Cal Ripken hits a solo shot with one out in the top of the 2nd; on the next pitch 1989 Angels starter Kirk McCaskill gets hurt and is out of the game. Greg Minton comes in and holds off the Orioles while the Angels take the lead on RBI singles in the 2nd and the 5th from Devon White, who had been out with injury since the first round but was back with a vengeance. Lowenstein then drives in two in the top of the 6th to regain the lead for the Orioles, but a Brian Downing double ties it at 3-3 in the bottom of the inning and sends Sammy Stewart to the showers in favor of Tippy Martinez. Martinez and his counterpart Willie Fraser lock things down and after nine innings, things are still tied 3-3. In the 11th, both teams have to reach even deeper into their bullpens; Rich Monteleone retires the Orioles in the top of the inning, but the O's Tim Stoddard watches Jack Howell convert a Double 1-4 to put the winning run in scoring position with one out. Stoddard retires pinch hitter Max Venable and his .358 average, but with two out Johnny Ray raps one into the gap and the Angels capture their first regional win with a 4-3, 11 inning victory. 

Poor old Johnny Ray

The 1989 Angels are a good study in the type of team that can survive this single elimination format--they're unspectacular in anything, but pretty good in everything. Decent fielding (no 4s anywhere, more than half the starting lineup are 1s or 2s), four pretty good starting pitchers, and a batch of decent relief pitchers. Probably their weak spot is hitting, at least relative to many post-1989 teams; this was a typical Gene Autry Angels team, with an offense consisting of a bunch of aging free agents who had better seasons elsewhere (Lance Parrish, Chili Davis, Claudell Washington). They still had enough offense to pull out games while their bullpen kept things close.

REGIONAL #73:   This regional boasts three Tigers teams from three different decades, a fairly recent Royals team trying to win its first regional for that franchise, a couple of undistinguished Pennsylvania representatives, but only one pennant winner:  the 1960 Yankees.  Boasting the M&M boys, the Yanks seem the odds-on favorite, but Yankees teams have horribly underperformed in this tournament, winning only one regional in 31 tries (the 1979 team).   The famous sibling for this Yankee team, the 1961 version, was eliminated in Regional #27 in the first round by the lowly 1971 Expos, by the score of 7-6.   So, although I might point to the '60 Yanks as a favorite, I'd easily bet the field of seven other teams against them.            

First round action: 

 The 1960 Yankees won 97 games in capturing the AL pennant, and their opponent was somewhat familiar in the 79-win 1963 Tigers, a team that finished 25 games behind a Yankee squad that featured many of the same players from 1960.  The Tigers didn't fare any better against these Yankees; Detroit starter Hank Aguirre staked the Yanks to a 3-0 before leaving the game with an injury in the 4th, and then three Tiger relievers combined to allow three multi-run homers by Maris, Mantle, and Cerv.  Meanwhile, Whitey Ford had a no-hitter going that was broken up with 2 out in the 8th, and he ended with a 2-hit shutout and an easy 10-0 Yankee win--meaning they've already proceeded further in this tournament than the '61 Yanks could manage.

Two slightly under-.500 teams facing off in the first round; the 79-win 2000 Tigers, like most teams that year, had lots of scoring threats but frightening pitching; the 75-win 1954 Phillies had much better pitching, including 23 game winner Robin Roberts, plus some decent offense that led me to believe they were better than their record suggested.  They were certainly better than the Tigers this day, with homers by Willie Jones and Stan Lopata, a couple of RBI doubles from Smokey Burgess, and Roberts in control on the mound.   Final score:  Phils win 8-2, with Roberts really make just one mistake, a 2-run homer to Bobby Higginson.  Strat error trivia:  Strat incorrectly listed Del Ennis's primary position in 1954 as RF but he played slightly more games in LF.  Just noticed this because there wasn't a plausible primary LF on the team when I tried to set the lineups.

Another set of slightly under-.500 teams, the 75-win 1992 Tigers and the 78-win 1999 Pirates, looked closely matched on paper; both teams with some offensive muscle but without much of a rotation.  The Pirates built a 6-0 lead with homers from Al Martin and Ed Sprague before Cecil Fielder got the first hit for the Tigers in the 5th, and from there starter Jason Schmidt just had to be adequate to earn the win for Pittsburgh.  Schmidt did manage to load the bases in the 9th with two walks and a Warren Morris error, but Scott Sauerbeck came in to retire Mickey Tettleton and save the 7-3 win for the Pirates.  Note:  The three Tigers team in this bracket all managed to get blown out in the first round...Motown or Woetown?

The 2001 Rockies had a heart of the order featuring three guys with OPS over 1.000, but also had a starting rotation loaded with landmines and could only win 73 games in that steroid-filled season.  Their opponents, the 2010 Royals, won even less--67 games--but did have one solid starting pitcher, Zack Greinke, which can be all it takes to survive the first round in this tournament.   However, Larry Walker and Jeff Cirillo got to Greinke with homers, and Colorado starter Denny Neagle allowed only 5 hits (three of them extra-base hits off his card) and the Rockies move on with a 5-3 win.  The Royals will have to wait once again for a regional win for this franchise.

The survivors:

A regional semi pitting 1960 Yankees and Art Ditmar against the 1954 Phillies and Curt Simmons proved to be a tight one.  The Yankees scored three in the 2nd inning, with a 2-run shot from Clete Boyer providing the big blow, but Simmons held the Yanks scoreless after that rough patch.  The Phils score two in the 4th with RBI singles from Burgess and Ennis, and in the 7th Ditmar gets into trouble with two consecutive walks, but Bill Stafford comes in to squelch the rally.  In the bottom of the 9th, the Yanks hand the ball to Arroyo and he retires the side in order to save the 3-2 win for New York and send them to the regional final.

A wild one in the other regional semifinal.  The 1999 Pirates jump out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the 1st off gopher-prone Mike Hampton, Jason Kendall providing a 3-run HR.  The 2001 Rockies manage to lose two of their Big Three, Walker and Hollandsworth, to injury early in the game but manage to put up a run in the 3rd; however, Hampton allows two more blasts to Kevin Young and Ed Sprague and the Pirates lead 6-1 going into the 8th.  A solo shot from Alex Ochoa, and a 2-run homer by the sole surviving member of the Rockies Big Three, Todd Helton, makes it 6-4, and the Pirates bring in Jason Christiansen to relieve starter Todd Ritchie.  The Pirates go down in order in the top of the 9th, and in the bottom of the frame with one out Ed Sprague makes the 3rd Pirate error of the game.  Christiansen then walks two consecutive batters, and Pittsburgh turns to Scott Sauerbeck to pitch to Todd Helton with the bases loaded.  Helton fans, and the Rockies final chance rests with injury replacement Brooks Kieschnick.  The roll is a 4-6: DOUBLE 1-4, flyB 5-20.  The split die:  a 2, 1-15 Jeff Cirillo is on first, and he beats the throw....ROCKIES WIN on an improbable bases loaded double by an injury substitute.

Big game with bat and glove

The 2001 Rockies thus went into the regional final without injured HOF RF Larry Walker (1.111 OPS) and DH Todd Hollandsworth (1.075 OPS), with their best reliever Mike Myers burnt after earning the win in their come-from-behind semifinal win, and having to start Shawn Chacon and his 5.06 ERA against the powerful (and healthy) 1960 Yankees.  But when Roger Maris hit a solo shot in the top of the 1st, the Rockies showed that they weren't going down easily, quickly matching the run with an RBI double from replacement RF Mark Little.  Solo blasts from Boyer and Skowron put the Yanks back on top, but the Rockies narrowed the gap to 3-2 when 2B Jose Ortiz doubled in a run on a missed HR 1-12 split on Yankee starter Ralph Terry's card.  When little Bobby Richardson opens the 8th with a HR off Chacon's card, Chacon is pulled (having allowed 6 hits, 4 of them solo HRs), but Jay Powell is no better and the Yanks stretch their lead to 6-2.  To save Arroyo with a 4-run lead, the Yanks give Ryne Duren the ball in the 9th, and although he walks two (of course), he manages to retire the side without incident, and the Yankees take the regional title--only their second in the tournament, and a rare win by a pennant winner.

REGIONAL #72:  This regional gave the Expos/Nationals franchise a good chance for their first regional win, given that they held three of the four spots in the upper half of this bracket.  However, they faced a bulky obstacle in the form of a nameless card situated on the 2003 Giants.  The bottom half of the bracket featured two versions of the Indians, who have 5 regional wins to their credit ('48, '54, '61, '67 and '75), along with Phillies and Mets teams that boast a couple of decent pitchers such as Steve Carlton and Doc Gooden.  Not a pennant winner in the bunch but a few competitive teams; I have no idea who will win.  Maybe a Nationals/Mets final--who knows?

First round action:

Working on the lineup for the 100-win 2003 Giants, I was thinking "how did these guys lose to the Marlins in the NLDS?"  It certainly didn't seem like the 79-win 1973 Expos had much of a shot, but Les Expos jumped to a 4-0 lead against SF starter Jason Schmidt in the 1st, led by a 3-run blast from Bob Bailey.   The Giants retaliated in the 3rd with a 2-out rally that scored three, largely because of control issues with Expos starter Steve Renko loading things up for a JT Snow double.  Both Renko and Schmidt settled down, and things remained at 4-3 until the 7th, when Montreal CF Ron Woods misplays a Grissom flyball into two Giants runs, and that decided the game.  Schmidt allowed only two hits in the final eight innings to earn a CG 5-4 win, saving a good Giants bullpen for later rounds.

The 86-win 2013 Nationals had to be favored over the 1995 Expos, who only managed a 66-78 record in a strike shortened season, but the matchup did feature two of the best starting pitchers in the history of this franchise:  Pedro Martinez vs. Stephen Strasburg.  When Denard Span greeted Martinez with a leadoff triple in the 1st, with Werth then singling him home, the Nationals looked formidable.  But that 1-0 lead lasted only until the 2nd, when Expos C Darren Fletcher homers off Strasburg's card to tie the game, and in the 3rd the Expos rapped four hits to score two more.   By this time Martinez was in fine form, and although Werth had three chances to tie the game, he could convert none of them, and the Expos hold on for the 3-1 win.  This leaves the '95 version of this franchise, probably the weakest of their three entries in this bracket, as their only remaining regional hope, with by far their best starter burned.

The 89-win 1989 Mets looked to be big favorites over the 62-win 1969 Indians, but Cleveland starter Sam McDowell accounted for 18 of those 62 wins and had a formidable card.  However, McDowell walked four Mets in the 1st inning, leading to four runs on only one hit (a double by Magadan), and the Indians were in a hole they would never recover from.   Behind 8-0 in the 6th and with Sid Fernandez throwing a no-hitter, Fernandez suddenly lost control himself, walking three and allowed two unearned runs courtesy of a Juan Samuel error in CF.   And that is how it ended, an easy 8-2 win for the Mets, Fernandez ending with a 4-hitter.   However, the Mets won despite making four errors, and their porous defense will become increasingly concerning as they go deeper into their rotation.

The 1972 Phillies won 59 games to finish comfortably last in the NL East; amazingly, Steve Carlton won 27 of those games, a remarkable feat that won him the Cy Young award.  His opponent, the 1976 Indians, won 81 games and while not exactly the '27 Yankees, they had a lot more weapons than the Phils.  However, Cleveland starter Jim Bibby was not exactly in Carlton's league, so anything could happen, and so it did:  The Indians get to Carlton early, scoring twice in the bottom of the 1st led by singles from George Hendrick and Ray Fosse.  Hendrick adds a solo HR in the 4th, but the Phils finally get on the scoreboard when Willie Montanez hits a 2-run shot in the 5th.   However, that was it for the Phils; Bibby tosses a 4-hitter, while Carlton looks mortal in allowing 10 hits, and the Indians move on with a narrow 3-2 win.

The survivors:

The 2003 Giants won 34 more games than the 1995 Expos in their respective seasons, but neither team was blessed with a very deep pitching staff, and the Sidney Ponson vs. Carlos Perez matchup was hardly one for the ages.  However, Perez came through with flying colors, holding the Giants to 2 hits and no runs as the Expos scratch out a 3-0 win, led by two doubles from Mike Lansing.  Barry Bonds was a non-factor, going 0-4 and drawing nary a walk.  This undistinguished version of the Expos is the 5th version of the franchise to make it to the regional final, with all four previous efforts (all Expos teams from the seventies) falling short.

The 1976 Indians had knocked around Steve Carlton in the first inning of their first round matchup, and Doc Gooden of the 1989 Mets met a similar fate, as the Indians scored three in the 1st and added another in the 2nd to move out to a quick 4-0 lead.   By the beginning of the 8th, Cleveland had a commanding 8-3 lead and their starter Dennis Eckersley was in control, but Eckersley took a line drive to the face with one out and was placed on the 15-game DL--in other words, out for the tournament.  Not wanting to dip too deeply into their strong bullpen, the Indians put Tom Buskey on the mound, but Buskey was a disaster, allowing a 2-run shot to Kevin McReynolds and putting the tying run at the plate before finally retiring the side.   Not taking any chances in the 9th, the Indians called on closer Dave LaRoche, who retired the side in order to preserve the 8-5 victory and earn a trip to the finals.

Regional MVP

In an effort to capture the first regional win for the Montreal franchise, 1995 Expos starter Butch Henry did what neither Steve Carlton or Doc Gooden could do--he held the 1976 Indians scoreless in the first inning.   Unfortunately, that did not apply to the 2nd or 3rd innings, and Henry was yanked after 2.3 innings having allowed 7 hits and 6 runs, including a two-run George Hendrick blast.   A series of Montreal relievers then held the Indians in check while the Expos attempted to solve Cleveland starter Pat Dobson, and a two out rally capped by a 3-run David Segui homer made it 6-3, but Jim Kern came in to lock down the Expos and preserve the 6-3 win and the regional for the '76 Indians.  This was an interesting reprise of the victory by the '75 Indians in the very first regional of this tournament, played roughly 35 years ago.   Something about those mid-70s Indians teams, mediocre on paper, seems to be magic in this format.

REGIONAL #71:   The draw for Regional #71 didn't include any pennant winners, but it did have a nice collection of old school teams.  The 1951 Dodgers, of course, missed a pennant by a Bobby Thomson homer, and given that the '51 Giants won Regional #67, the Dodgers could get another shot at the Giants soon if both teams can keep winning.   The '88 Brewers try to win the first regional for that franchise, the '63 White Sox feature the pitching/defense combo of that era as well as Dave Nicholson's strikeout artistry, and the Phillies get two representatives separated by 50 years, a 1955 team a few years after a pennant, and a 2005 team a few years before one.   I guessed a White Sox/Dodgers final, but thought that the 2005 Phils might be able to outgun any of these older squads.

First round action:

The 77-win 1955 Phillies got off to a quick 3-0 start in the 1st inning against Pedro Ramos and the 73-win 1960 Senators, courtesy of a Jim Greengrass homer.  To keep with the color scheme, the leadoff hitter for Washington, Lenny Green, homered off Robin Roberts, and the game remained 3-1 until the 5th.  At that point, the Senators figured out Roberts in a big way, scoring four runs on four hits to move out to a 5-3 lead.  Things got worse for the Phillies in the top of the 6th, when key weapon Del Ennis went down to injury.  In the 8th, Lopata singled in Ashburn, bringing Ennis's replacement, Glen Gorbous, to the plate.  A roll of 2-4, and Gorbous hits into a double play to end the inning.  A quick glance at Ennis's card confirms my suspicion--2-4 is a solid home run that would have put the Phils up.  Instead, Ramos sets the Phils down in the 9th and the Senators move on with the 5-4 win.

The 94-win 1963 White Sox did finish in second place in the AL, but their defense wasn't as good as I remembered it (Pete Ward 3b-5, ouch!) and despite a few great starting pitchers, the offense was the "hitless wonders" approach typical of that era Sox teams.  However, their opponent, the 78-win 1948 Tigers, wasn't exactly a powerhouse either, and things got worse when one of the Tigers' main weapons, rf Pat Mullins, when down to injury in the first inning.  The Sox squeaked out a run in the 3rd on a walk, stolen base, and Floyd Robinson single, and the game stayed at 1-0 until the 7th.  At that point, Detroit starter Hal Newhouser suddenly forgot how to get anyone out, and the Sox put up 5 runs, 3 on a Dave Nicholson homer.  Gary Peters was money for the Sox, tossing a 6-hit shutout, and they move on with a 6-0 first round win.

The 1934 Pirates were a sub-.500 74-win team that included SEVEN Hall of Fame players on the roster, with nearly all of them having pretty good years.  Their opponents, the 87-win 1988 Brewers, had only two (Yount and Molitor) but was a more competitive team in their season.  In the end, it was two Hall of Forgotten Brewers, starter Ted Higuera and SS Dale Sveum, who made the difference, with Sveum going 3-4 with a homer and 3 RBI and Higuera spinning a 4-hit shutout to best HOFer Waite Hoyt and the Pirates by a 4-0 margin.  Worthy of note:  Pirates catcher Earl Grace (a 4, remember this is Basic) threw out AA stealer Paul Molitor THREE TIMES attempting to steal second, although other Brewers stole four bases on Grace.

The 97-win 1951 Dodgers looked like a team built for a single elimination tournament, with offense top to bottom, a strong rotation, and excellent defense.  However, the 88-win 2005 Phillies asserted themselves early, greeting Don Newcombe with a hit, three walks, and a Jackie Robinson error that put the Phils up 2-0 before the Dodgers even batted.  Gil Hodges blasted a solo HR in the 2nd, and the game stayed tight until the 5th, when a bases loaded double by Pat Burrell and an Abreu single put the Phils up 5-1.  And that's how it ended, as Brett Myers finished what he started, scattering 7 hits for the win.  The Phils also only garnered 7 hits (three by Chase Utley), but Newcombe also walked 7 and that was the nail in the coffin for the Dodgers; unlike the '51 Giants (in reality and in this tournament), the Dodgers did not come through in a game they had to win to stay alive.

The survivors:

The 1963 White Sox squeezed out a run in the 1st and 2nd against the Camilo Pascual and the 1960 Senators, but Washington had played from behind in the first round and was not showing signs of worry.   However, they looked a lot more worried in the 5th when Billy Gardner (2b-2) booted a grounder that loaded the bases for Chicago catcher Cam Carreon, who promptly put it into the grandstands of Old Comiskey and when the dust cleared, the Sox had a 7-0 lead.  The Senators, true to form, did fight back, scoring 2 in the 6th and 2 in the 9th, but it was 2 late, and Juan Pizarro and the Sox head to the regional finals with a 7-4 win.

With the 1988 Brewers in the semis, there was hope for the franchise to get its first regional win, and they got off to a quick start in the 1st when Joey Meyer doubled home Yount (missing a HR 1-15 in doing so) for a run.  In the 4th, Jeff Leonard hit a solo HR off 2005 Phillies starter Jon Lieber's card, but in the bottom of the inning Chase Utley answered with a 2-run shot (on HIS card) to tie the game.  The Phils score another pair in the 5th with timely hitting by Michaels and Rollins, but Rob Deer answers with a run-scoring double in the 6th (on another missed HR split), chasing Lieber in favor of Urbina.  Urbina ends the inning, but in the 7th loads the bases with a single and two walks, forcing the Phils to turn to their relief ace, Billy Wagner.  Wagner strikes out Yount with the bases loaded, and the Brewers never mount another threat, giving the Phillies a 4-3 win and a berth in the finals--but with Wagner forced to rest it out.

Rookie of the Year and the regional

The 1963 White Sox against the 2005 Phillies matched an old school pitching/defense style against a modern power-minded offense, and the result was apparently quickly when the Phils scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 1st off Sox starter John Buzhardt, led by homers from Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell.  Phils rookie phenom Howard homered again in the 3rd, putting the Phils up 5-0 and allowing their starter, Cory Lidle, to go on cruise control.  Lidle hamstrung the Sox until the 9th, when Nicholson hit a triple and McCraw drove him in with a double, but that was the last gasp.  Lidle ended with a 5-hitter and the Phillies capture an easy 5-1 win, and the franchise's second regional title in this tournament in 27 tries.  Worthy of note:  Phils starting CF Kenny Lofton was injured in the first round and was out for the entire regional, but another advantage of the modern era squads, aside from team power, seems to be team depth.

REGIONAL # 70:    This regional included one WS champ--the 1959 Dodgers--and three examples of franchises still attempting to notch their first regional win:  the Expos, Blue Jays, and Angels.  I try to make predictions based entirely on my memory of these teams--before looking at any cards or even their team record--and it seemed to me like many of these squads were in competitive runs at the time.  Even so, I'd probably have bet on the Dodgers, who were in a transitional period between two great versions of that franchise--the Brooklyn teams of the mid-50s and the LA teams of the mid-60s.  However, I am mainly familiar with those Dodgers (and dislike them) for beating one of my favorite teams, the Go-Go Sox, in the Series.

First round action

Assembling the lineup for the 71-win 1949 Pirates, I was thinking that this team was pretty terrible, although I reconsidered somewhat when I came to the last player in their deck--Ralph Kiner, with a card of Ruthian proportions.   Even so, things didn't start out well for the Pirates when the leadoff hitter for the 86-win 1963 Reds, Tommy Harper, homered off Pirates starter Murray Dickson's card.  However, the Pirates rebounded with 5 runs against Jim Maloney in the 2nd, led by a Dino Restelli homer.  A 3-run HR by Gordy Coleman in the 3rd narrowed the gap to 5-4, but Restelli tripled in 2 in the 5th and Dickson held on for a 7-5 victory.  Restelli lacked only a single to hit for the cycle; the Pirates won in spite of, rather than because of, Kiner who was hitless and parlayed all three of his chances out in LF into hits.

The 1959 Dodgers, might have won the World Series, but they only put together an unimpressive 88-68 record in winning the NL.  Their 1st round opponent, the 1985 Blue Jays, won the AL East with 99 wins, losing a 7-game series in the ALCS, and after putting together the lineups it seemed to me that the Jays were better than the Dodgers in every respect-better offense top to bottom, better defense, and even (I think) better pitching, although playing in the Coliseum probably didn't help the Dodger pitching any.  At any rate, the Jays certainly played like the better team this day, with a 2-run homer by Barfield in the 1st setting the tone early against Don Drysdale, whose efforts to intimidate the Jays lineup cleared didn't work as they rapped 11 hits.  Meanwhile, Dave Stieb held the Dodgers to four hits-two of which were triples by Neal--and the Jays eliminate yet another pennant winner with a 6-2 triumph.

A matchup between two mediocrities, the 81-81 1988 Expos and the 79-83 1973 Angels, had Nolan Ryan and Pascual Perez facing off.  The Angels were an interesting team, with two 20-game winners (Ryan and Singer) on a sub-.500 team, mainly because aside from Frank Robinson, the Angels didn't have much to offer on offense.  However, they hid that well this day, clouting Perez and a succession of Montreal relievers for 15 hits en route to an easy 12-5 win.  Jeff Torborg drove in four runs and Robinson went 4-4 with two doubles; Ryan wasn't particularly sharp but went the distance, striking out the side in the 9th to punctuate his appearance nicely.

It was old home week as the 79-win 1983 Giants took the field against the 81-win 1984 Twins; I had played that Giants team in a full-season replay, face to face, back in 1984.  In fact, Greg Minton was still bearing the marks of being crumpled and stuffed in a water glass following a long-ago gopher ball, a bit of ill-considered card defacing that nonetheless brought some nostalgia with it.  So I was curious how these aged pieces of cardstock would respond to me after all these years, and the answer was--it all seemed very familiar.  The Giants could only muster three hits and committed two errors, but I had tapped Atlee Hammaker to face the Twins--the guy who had always been the ace of this staff for me.  And, lo and behold, Atlee stymied the Twins, tossing a four-hit shutout, and one of the Giants hits being a 2-run homer by Darrell Evans paced the 3-0 win and a chance to continue my sentimental journey.

The survivors

Having disposed of the regional's only pennant winner, the 1985 Jays thought the 1949 Pirates would be a walk in the park, especially when Ralph Kiner went down to injury in the 1st inning while grounding into a double play.  However, Pirates starter Cliff Chambers was keeping the Jays in check, and his counterpart, Toronto's Jimmy Key, himself went down to injury in the 3rd inning.  Pirate pinch hitter Les Fleming drove in a run on a sac fly in the 5th, but it was matched in the bottom of the frame by a Rance Mulliniks homer.  The Jays moved to a 3-1 lead on unearned runs stemming from two consecutive errors by Chambers, but an Upshaw error and a double by Kiner's replacement, Dixie Walker, tied it up in the 8th, as Toronto had to bring in Henke to fix a mess started by Gary Lavelle.  Henke retired the Pirates in order in the top of the 9th, and in the bottom of the inning a depleted Chambers, with nobody decent in the bullpen, allowed consecutive hits to Whitt, Fernandez, and a walk-off single to Damaso Garcia to give the Jays a hard-fought 4-3 win, and the first berth in the regional finals for this franchise.

The 1973 Angels sent their second 20-game winner to the mound, Bill Singer, against an 1983 Giants team that had some trouble scraping out hits in the first round.   Singer did his job, holding the Giants to 5 hits and 2 runs through nine innings, but the anemic offense of the Angels showed through and they also could only muster two runs, pushing the game into extra innings.  Gary Lavelle (who had pitched into a near-disaster in the other semifinal) retired the Angels in the top of the 10th and Singer did the same in the bottom, forcing both teams to turn to the bullpen in the 11th.  The Giants brought in crumpled Greg Minton with trepidation, but he set the Angels down in order.  The Angels turned to Steve Barber, who failed to record an out--one error and two hits later, the Giants had earned a spot in the regional final with a 3-2 win.

For the regional final, it was Doyle Alexander for the 1985 Jays facing off against the 1983 Giants

RIP 4/15/2020

' Fred Breining.  A two-run shot by Dave Bergman moved the Giants out to a quick lead in the 2nd, but a sac fly from Barfield and back to back doubles from Bell and Moseby had the game tied 2-2 after 4.  The game remained knotted until the 7th, when Damaso Garcia homered off Breining's card, and crumpled Greg Minton couldn't fend off the Jays, allow an insurance homer to Garth Iorg in the 9th.  Meanwhile, Alexander settled down and ended with a 5-hit CG to give the Jays the 7-2 come from behind win, and the first regional title for Toronto.  Sadly, I only just realized in making this post that we lost the great DP combination for the Jays this year: Tony Fernandez in February and Garcia in April; their regional win was a fitting tribute. 
  

REGIONAL #69:   The draw for Regional #69 didn't include any pennant winners, although we could look forward to appearances by Clemente, Killebrew, Carew, Beltran, and the Wizard of Oz, and Jim Edmonds, Bill Virdon, and Willie McGee can argue over who was the better CF.  The Twins and the Rangers both had two entries in the regional; the Mets have another chance to get lucky; the Angels will make a try for their first regional title; and the 1957 Pirates attempt to follow-up on the regional win by their '56 version.  Although I saw no clear favorite here, my bold prediction was an all-Twins final...a prediction which was only made before looking closely at those two teams.

First round action
 
The 99-win 2007 Mets had erratic luck in their 1st round matchup against the 62-win 1957 Pirates.  Mets starter Tom Glavine had a rough 3rd inning, but was lucky to escape with only 2 runs allowed as the Pirates left the bases loaded.  RBIs by Beltran and Alou tied things up 2-2 in the 4th, but the Pirates moved out to a 4-2 lead in the 6th, courtesy of a 3-base error by Moises Alou on a Clemente fly ball.  Alou atoned somewhat in the bottom of the 6th, driving in David Wright, who has been gold this entire tournament.  The Mets had another big chance in the 7th with runners on 2nd and 3rd with only one out, but Castillo hit the dreaded LOmax to end that rally.  Finally, in the bottom of the 9th, with Bob Friend needing just one out for the complete game win, Lo Duca doubles, Gomez pinch runs, and Easley pinch hits a single to send it to extra innings.  The Mets turn to Billy Wagner in the 10th, and when Mazeroski nails a 2-out single with Frank Thomas on 2nd it looks bleak but the luck of the Mets persists with a 13 roll on Thomas's 1-12 chances of going home.  However, Roy Face comes in and shackles the Mets, and in the 13th Thomas leaves no room for doubt with his 2-8 solid HR, and the Pirates claim the 5-4 upset.

I had picked the 1968 Twins to reach the finals based upon a vague memory of the Twins of that era (obviously thinking of 69-70) and a thought that 1968 pitching might be formidable in a single elimination format.  However, I didn't realize that they had an injured Killebrew, terrible fielding, and typical 1968 hitting--i.e., none, which is probably why they were an under .500 team.  The 85-win 1998 Angels had much more offense, and Chuck Finley was on the mound seeking redress for a 2-0 loss to Hideo Nomo in Regional #62.  And, Finley was sharp, tossing a complete game 4-hitter with the only run coming off a Uhlaender sac fly.  Unfortunately for Finley, once again, Dean Chance was sharper, throwing a 6-hit shutout and giving the Twins a classic 1968-style 1-0 victory.

Upon further review, the 81-81 1973 Twins unfortunately looked a lot like their 1968 counterparts--bad defense, little offense besides Carew, Killebrew of little help--but without the 1968 pitching to make up for these weaknesses.  However, they were fortunate to draw the 95-loss 2018 Rangers, a team primarily notable for their remarkable ability to strike out.  And that's how the game went; the Twins mounted a few threats but couldn't score off Mike Minor, while Bert Blyleven struck out 14 while allowing only 3 hits--in 10 innings.  Yes, the game was a scoreless tie after 9, and Texas summoned Leclerc out of the bullpen (with no hits on his card at all) to try to pull things out in extra innings.  Blyleven was relieved by Campbell in the 11th, and things remained scoreless until the 13th, when with one out Carew doubled with 1-11 Joe Lis on 1st.  Thinking long and hard about the decision to send him, I did, and Lis scored the go-ahead (and only) run with Campbell closing out the 13th to give the Twins their second 1-0 win in a row.

Although only five years separated the teams and some of the names remained the same, the 91-win 2013 Rangers bore little resemblance to the 2018 version that just got shut out by the Twins in the previous first round game.  The 2013 team had a nice combination of speed, power, and defense, but it was Yu Darvish that sunk their opponents, the 76-win 1988 Cardinals.  Holding the Cardinals to two hits (one of them a Brunansky solo HR), Darvish turned in an impressive complete game performance to secure a 3-1 win for the Rangers.  The '88 Cards thus suffer the same fate as their pennant-winning '87 team did in Regional #64--first round elimination.  Of note:  Lefty Joe Magrane started both of those losses for the Cards and pitched well in both, to no avail.

The survivors

The 1968 Twins are the type of team that can get more competitive in later rounds, as the depth of their 1968-fueled starting rotation (Chance, Perry, Kaat, Boswell) is difficult for other teams to match.  However, it didn't look that way in this semifinal as Jim Perry got knocked around by the 1957 Pirates for 4 runs in the top of the 4th on triples by Baker and Clemente.  Nonetheless, the Twins quickly retaliated in the bottom of the inning with 3 runs on homers by Killebrew and Reese, and Minnesota tied things up in the 5th when Cesar Tovar added a solo HR off Vern Law's card.  Things remained that way through the 9th, sending the game into extra innings--the third such game in this regional so far.   Both Perry and Law wanted to continue in the 10th; Perry did his job, but Law was rattled when, with one out, Clemente dropped a fly for a two-base error.  Law then grooved one to the next hitter, and Killebrew put it into the far reaches of Metropolitan Stadium to give the Twins the 6-4 walkoff win and a trip to the finals.

The underdog 1973 Twins proved they had plenty of bite against 2013 Rangers starter Derek Holland, chasing him in the 2nd after racing out to a 5-0 lead.  Two Rangers relievers with sub 2.00 ERAs, Nathan and Cotts, weren't able to lock down the Twins either, but it mattered little as Twins starter Ray Corbin held the Rangers to 5 hits (two of them solo HRs by Pierzynski and Nelson Cruz) and Minnesota coasts to an 8-2 win, setting up an all-Twins regional final that I foolishly (but apparently accurately) predicted only because I hadn't actually looked at the mediocrity of the two teams.

1973 Rod was even better than his younger self

The Twins were thus a lock to take their 3rd regional title, although it was uncertain whether 1968 or 1973 would be the standard-bearer.  The two teams shared leadoff (Carew) and #3 (Oliva) hitters, and both versions of both players ended up driving in runs, causing some confusion for the official scorer.  The game started off nip and tuck, with the 1973 Twins putting up a run in both the 1st and 2nd innings, but Allison and Killebrew responding with timely hits for the 1968 Twins to tie it in the 3rd.  A '68 Carew single put that squad up in the 4th, matched by a Lis homer in the bottom of the inning to tie it again.  In the 5th, '68 again reclaimed the lead with an Oliva HR, but in the bottom of the 5th the '73s rocked '68 starter Jim Kaat for five hits and five runs, and Kaat didn't make it 5 innings, yielding to Al Worthington who came in to an 8-4 deficit.  '73 starter Dick Woodson then stabilized, helped by four replacements to shore up a leaky defense, and a 2-run homer by Jim Holt added some insurance for the 10-4 win for the '73s, and the regional title.

REGIONAL #68

This regional featured one pennant winner, an early version of the Gashouse Gang in the 1930 Cardinals.  However, a number of other squads in this regional were contenders just a year or two away from a pennant. There were various possibilities for a themed regional final:  perhaps an all-Cardinals final (1930 and 1980 versions), or an all-Reds final (1941 and 1978), or even an all-1930 final (NL champ Cards vs. AL runner-up Senators).  Although the lone pennant winner had to be considered the favorite, it was a challenging bracket and I thought at least 6 of the 8 teams had a decent shot.  However, as has been typical in this tournament, it turns out that the winner wasn't one of them.

First round action:

The 1941 Reds won 88 games after winning the NL pennant the prior year, and appeared to be favorites over the 90-loss 2017 Braves.  However, Johnny "double no-hit" Vandermeer quickly lost his no-hitter, as the Braves began the game with three straight hits (including a leadoff triple by Inciarte) to open with a 1-0 lead.  Reds CF Harry Craft tied it up in the 2nd with a homer, but in the 3rd Inciarte doubled and Freeman singled him home to put the Braves back on top 2-1.  Meanwhile, the knuckler was working for Braves starter RA Dickey, who allowed only 4 hits through 7 innings.  However, in the 8th Mike McCormick crushed a non-knuckling pitch into the seats to put the Reds up 3-2, and Vandermeer had found his stuff, allowing only two hits after the 1st inning to lead the Reds to a 3-2 comeback win.

The 94-win 1930 Senators faced off against the 1980 Cardinals, and found themselves in a quick hole when George Hendrick hit a bases-loaded double in the bottom of the 3rd to score 3.  In the 6th, the Senators finally got on the board when Joe Judge hit a solo HR off Pete Vuckovich's card, and then the Senators showed some 1930-style hitting, putting across 4 runs on 4 hits in the 7th to move out to a 5-3 lead, Urrea coming in to relieve Vuckovich.  The Senator lead did not last long when Dane Iorg converted a HR 1-2 roll in the bottom of the 7th for a 3-run shot, and Urrea held on to earn the Cards a 6-5 upset victory.

With 544 teams having played in this tournament, something happened when the 82-win 1975 Mets and the 92-win 1978 Reds faced off that I don't believe I've seen before:  the same pitcher, Tom Seaver, started for both teams.  Unfortunately for the Reds, their Tom was somewhat less terrific, allowing three runs on four hits in the top of the 1st.  The Reds recorded an unearned run in the 3rd on the first of four Mets errors (their left side of the infield is particularly terrible), although the Mets answered in the 5th with a 2-run homer from Ed Kranepool.  The Reds added unearned runs in the 6th and 7th, and when the Mets' Seaver walked two in the 8th they turned to Skip Lockwood, who retired the side without damage.  The Reds mounted a threat in the 9th but Bench grounded into a double-play to defensive replacement Bud Harrelson, and the Mets escaped with a 5-3 win.

The NL pennant winning 1930 Cardinals, who won 92 games, drew a tough first round matchup against the 89-win 1998 Giants.  Two offensive juggernauts, with the Cards having a team batting average of .314 while the Giants boasted serious power from Bonds and Kent in that homer-happy season.  The Cards made it look like it would be easy, riding two triples and 3 Giants errors in the 1st inning to a quick 4-0 lead.  By the 6th it was 6-0, and the Giants yanked starter Kurt Rueter for Steve Reed, who has no complete hits on his card, in a desperation move.  In the bottom of the 6th, with two out Cards HOFer Frankie Frisch (2b-1) drops a Barry Bonds grounder, and Jeff Kent follows with a 3 (unearned) run homer to bring the score to 6-3.  In the meantime, Reed is holding the remarkable Cards lineup hitless, and in the bottom of the 8th Cards starter Jesse Haines gets wild, allowing two walks and a single to load the bases for Ellis Burks.  With nothing but disaster in the bullpen for the Cards, they stick with Haines, and Burks responds with a grand slam--hit off Haines' card.  The Cards are shut down by Reed in the 9th, giving the Giants an impressive 7-6 comeback win.

The survivors:

The 1941 Reds got on the board quickly against the 1980 Cards with a run in the top of the 1st, but the inning ended with Reds HOF catcher Ernie Lombardi lost indefinitely to injury.  That loss seemed to galvanize the Reds, who smacked hit after hit against a helpless Bob Forsch and a motley crew of relievers, end up with 19 hits in a 14-3 blowout win.  Reds starter Bucky Walters allowed 6 hits, with all runs coming on homers from Hendrick and Hernandez, but the Reds scored eight in the last 3 innings to send the Cardinals south for the winter.

It was Hershiser against Koosman in the regional semifinal pitting the 1975 Mets against the 1998 Giants, and Dave Kingman greeted Hershiser with a two-run shot in the 2nd to give the Mets an early lead.  By the 4th, that lead had expanded to 4-1, and although both teams threatened nearly every inning, the two veteran starters kept any more runs from scoring until the 8th.  At that point, Koosman was pulled for Apodaca with two out and runners on 2nd and 3rd.  Pinch hitter Marvin Benard did his job, singling and scoring one, but Aurilia (1-15) was nailed at the plate trying to add a second.  The Mets made it academic in the 9th, scoring 3 off Giants relief ace Robb Nen and in the bottom of the inning Apodaca got Bonds to hit into a game-ending double play to seal the 7-2 win.

Critical injury sinks the Reds

The regional final thus pits the 88-win 1941 Reds against the 82-win 1975 Mets, with each team having their challenges to overcome.   The Reds will be without their Hall of Fame catcher Ernie Lombardi, lost to injury, while the Mets have to curtail the fielding woes that have led to six errors in their first two games.  It seems that mediocre Mets teams tend to be lucky in this tournament, and when it comes to single elimination, it may be better to be lucky than to be good.  And that's how it went for the Regional #68 finals, with the 1975 Mets taking a 4-1 victory on a deciding 2-run HR from Jerry Grote that was a HR 1-3/fly B roll on 1941 Reds starter Elmer Riddle.  Jon Matlack was in control for the Mets, limiting the Lombardi-less Reds to 6 hits, and the porous Mets defense didn't allow any hits/errors all game.  Although the Mets will have plenty of time to celebrate their regional win, in the fourth round they will ultimately face the 1951 Giants, who disposed of a much better Mets team in their regional final.