SUPER-REGIONAL O:   Only one pennant winner began this group of 64, and it didn’t survive into the super-regional, although there were two Reds teams from consecutive seasons that seemed to constitute a mini-dynasty.  Given that those two squads faced one of the few White Sox teams to survive the jinx as well the final surviving Rockies team that would probably disappoint brother Chuck, the Reds teams might face off to see who makes the bracket final here.  Regardless, I thought the stronger part of the group was in the top teams, with all four teams representing franchises within a couple of seasons of a pennant.  I had no idea which of those four would prevail, nor did I have a clue about which Reds team would win their perhaps inevitable faceoff, so I guessed that the most modern team in the bunch, the Phillies, would prevail against the 2010 version of the Reds.   The ELO ratings aligned perfectly with that prediction, also noting that the two halves of the super-regional were very imbalanced, with the 2011 Phils a top 100 team of all time while the 2010 Reds barely made the top 1000.

Round four action

The 2011 Phillies won 102 games for the top record in baseball and were ranked as a top 80 team of all time by the ELO ratings, so for the Zoom game of the week I felt it was important to turn over the managerial duties to partisan Philadelphian Tall Tactician to try to sustain the tournament success of this era of the franchise. By comparison, the 79-75 1950 Cardinals were less impressive but Stan Musial was a force to be reckoned with, so Eagfesfly Roy felt pretty good about their chances, particularly with Philly 2B Chase Utley out as usual with an injury.  Both teams were down to their #4 starter, Gerry Staley (13-13, 4.99) for the Cards and Vance Worley (11-3, 3.01) for the Phils, and Staley looks like the bottom of the rotation as he doesn’t survive the 2nd inning, with a bases loaded single by injury replacement Wilson Valdez driving in two and Hunter Pence, Shane Victorino, and Ryan Howard all contributing ribbies in a five run inning.  Al Brazle manages to get the third out of the 2nd, but only can record one more in the 3rd before Philly DH John Mayberry Jr. sends a homer into the recesses of Sportsmans Park and it’s 7-0 Phils after three–and the Cards haven’t yet seen a baserunner in a home uniform.  They finally get a walk, a hit, and a run on a sac fly by Del Rice in the 5th, but that was only after Pence and Victorino had added three more Philly runs in the top of the inning.  Raul Ibanez responds to my remarkably robust Philly dice-rolling with a solo homer in the 8th, and the beating doesn’t stop as the 4th and 5th St. Louis pitchers get rocked for seven more runs in the top of the 9th.  Musial doubles in the bottom of the 9th and scores on a Bill Howerton single, but the rally falls sixteen runs short as the Phils march on in dominating fashion with the 18-2 win.  

The 1970 A's won 89 games at the beginning of a memorable dynasty, and they had bashed their way through Regional #115 with three consecutive two-homer games from three different sluggers: Reggie Jackson, Rick Monday and Don Mincher.  The 80-82 1964 Pirates reached this level in a different fashion, only allowing a total of three runs in their three regional games, but in the regional final they suffered a prolonged injury to their best player in Roberto Clemente, meaning that Joe Gibbon (10-7, 3.67) would need to continue the string of strong pitching against the A’s and Chuck Dobson (16-15, 3.74).   The A’s start off in good form in the top of the 1st with Joe Rudi driving in Monday on a sac fly, but the Bucs respond immediately with back to back doubles from Willie Stargell and Jerry Lynch to tie it in the bottom of the inning.  Lynch doubles again in the 4th, but the 1-9+2 slugger is thrown out trying to score for the last out of the inning.  However, the third base coach doesn’t give up that easily, and in the 6th he gives the green light to 1-10+2 Stargell to try to score on a two-out Jim Pagliaroni double; this time it works and the Pirates take the lead, and Dobson is out for Jim Roland who gets the third out.  When Monday doubles in the 7th, Pittsburgh takes no chances and summons closer Al McBean to preserve the lead, and he retires the side although Rudi puts a scare into the Forbes Field crowd by missing McBean’s HR 1-2/flyB split.  Faced with a tough decision to burn McBean or preserve some use for the next game, the Pirates stick with their closer for the 9th, figuring that the top of the rotation is coming around for round five.   He rewards them with a 1-2-3 inning and the Pirates pitching prevails again for a 2-1 win as they survive and advance.

With two of our favorites on the line, brother Chuck and I did a Zoom doubleheader, with the first game of the matchup involving Chuck’s 2016 Rockies, the last surviving representation of their kind in the tournament, while I rolled for the 2009 Reds.  Neither one of these squads had been world-beaters in real life, with the Rockies going 75-87 and the Reds slightly better at 78-84, and the pitching matchup of Colorado’s Chad Bettis (14-8, 4.79) and Cincinnati’s Aaron Harang (6-14, 4.21) suggested that this might be a typical high-scoring afternoon at Coors.  But these pitchers rolled better than they looked; the Reds took a 1-0 lead in the top of the 3rd on a Johnny Gomes RBI single but the Rockies pulled even in the 4th with David Dahl singling home a run.  Colorado then moves out in front in the 6th with a pinch hit double from Ryan Raburn, but the Reds counter that with a pinch hit solo homer from Drew Stubbs in the 7th that ties the game heading into the 9th, with both managers looking nervously at depleted bullpens if extra innings are needed.  In the top of the 9th, Bettis gets two out, but then the wheels come off the bus with a double and a Scott Rolen single that puts the Reds ahead.  Chuck calls upon Chris Rusin as the only non-terrible option available in the Rockies pen, but it’s Rusin roulette gone wrong as Stubbs, remaining in the game in CF, crushes his second solo homer of the game into the pine trees at Coors.  When Gomes later adds an RBI double, the fat lady is singing and Harang hangs in for the 9th to seal the 5-2 victory for the Reds, and the final chance for the Rockies head to the card catalogs while Cincinnati heads to round five.

The second game of the double-header was my probably jinxed 2011 White Sox against a 2010 Reds team that sported most of the same players as the prior year team that had just dispatched the Rockies, giving Chuck a chance to return the favor.  This Reds team would use Homer Bailey (4-3, 4.46) as their #4 starter while the Sox tapped Jake Peavy (7-7, 4.92), and the Reds picked up where they left off with an RBI double in the bottom of the 1st from Jay Bruce giving them a 1-0 lead.  And that was Peavy’s most successful inning, as in the 2nd the Reds got an RBI single from Drew Stubbs, who had apparently earned the starting CF job given his performance in the previous game, but that just sets up a 2-out 3-run homer by Joey Votto and it’s 5-0 Cincinnati.  The good news for the Sox is that they can now pull Peavy for a decent bullpen, and a young Chris Sale comes in and performs decently, allowing only one hit in four innings.  Unfortunately, that one hit followed two walks in the 4th, and it was Votto’s second tape measure shot of the game for another 3-run homer and it’s 8-0 Reds.  The Sox manage an unearned run in the 7th on the second of three errors, but that’s all they can manage as the Reds mini-dynasty plows on with an 8-1 win, setting up an all-Reds round 5 in which Chuck and I both hope that they both lose.

The survivors:  round five

After scoring 18 runs under the direction of Tall Tactician in round four, it seemed appropriate that I set up an emergency Zoom night so that he could attempt to extend the run of the 2011 Phillies in the tournament; I recruited brother Chuck to provide the loyal opposition in the form of the 1964 Pirates.   Both of these squads had lost key members of the lineup to injury:  the Bucs were without Roberto Clemente, while the Phils would be without Chase Utley for the entire project.  With both teams sending out their top starters, Bob Veale (18-12, 2.73) for the Pirates and Cole Hamels (14-9, 2.79) for the Phils, it didn’t look like anyone would be scoring 18 runs in this game, but the Phils did score a run in the top of the 2nd on a Carlos Ruiz sac fly for a 1-0 lead.  With Bill Mazeroski leading off the bottom of the 3rd, we explained to Chuck the history of Maz’s famous walk-off homer in the World Series, and Chuck absorbs the information by finding and converting Maz’s HR 1-6/flyB split and the game is tied.  However, in the 4th Shane Victorino singles a run home and the following inning Raul Ibanez adds a solo homer; another solo shot from Hunter Pence in the 6th provides additional insurance.  It turned out no further insurance needed to be purchased, as Hamels finishes out a 5 hitter and the Phils march on with a 4-1 win.

A battle of dopplegangers, the round five matchup of the 2009 Reds and the 2010 Reds required many of the players to violate the conventions of time travel and face versions of themselves separated by 12 months.  The alternative versions had the opportunity to return to their #1 starters to determine which would move on to represent the franchise, with Bronson Arroyo (15-13, 3.84) going for the 2009’s and Johnny Cueto (12-7, 3.64) for the 2010s.   In the bottom of the 1st, the 2010 Drew Stubbs wastes no time finding the weaknesses on Arroyo’s card, rolling the solid 5-9 homer as the leadoff batter, and two outs later Jim Edmonds rolls his own solid homer and the 2010s lead 2-0.  The 2009s respond immediately in the top of the 2nd with back to back doubles from Jay Bruce and Laynce Nix, but the 2010 Stubbs finds his own homer in the 3rd for his second solo shot in two AB and it’s 2010 with a 3-1 lead.  A two out rally in the 7th puts runners on 2nd and 3rd for the 2010s and Arroyo is yanked for Arthur Rhodes, who retires defensive replacement Paul Janish to prevent further damage.  The 09s then get a single and a Scott Rolen double in the 8th to put the tying runs in scoring position with nobody out, and the 2010s summon their own version of Rhodes, but after recording two outs he yields a 2-run single to Jay Bruce and the game is tied.  Neither team can do anything in the 9th, although 2010’s Edmonds does manage to get injured, and the game hits the Rhodes to extra innings.  In the top of the 10th, 2009’s Johnny Gomes crushes a solo homer to put the younger team ahead, and in the bottom of the inning they try to preserve their version of Rhodes for a later date after three hitless innings, and they trust the game to their closer Francisco Cordero who whiffs Stubbs for the final out and the 2009s come from behind to take the 4-3 win that propels them into the super-regional final.  Arthur Rhodes earns the unusual distinction of being both the winning and the losing pitcher in the same game.  

Super-regional finals

As the second game of the emergency Zoom doubleheader, the 2011 Phillies would attempt to continue their domination under the direction of Tall Tactician, while brother Chuck played the “if you can’t beat em, join em” game by manning the 2009 Reds that had knocked out his Rockies in round four.   For the Phils, it would be Cy Young runner-up Roy Halladay (19-6, 2.35) while Johnny Cueto (11-11, 4.41) had a decent card for the Reds, albeit with some gopher ball issues.  The Reds jump out to a quick 2-0 lead against an uncharacteristically sloppy Halladay with a sac fly by Laynce Nix and an RBI single from Jay Bruce.  However, Halladay quickly settles down, while in the 4th Ryan Howard converts a HR 1-3/flyB split for a two-run blast to tie the game, while John Mayberry Jr. and Howard drive in two more in the 5th and the Phils move into the lead.    Cueto lasts six innings but the Reds can’t afford to fall behind any further, so Chuck moves to reliever Nick Massett to begin the 7th.  He does his job, but it’s too late, as Halladay doesn’t allow a hit after the second inning and finishes with a 3-hitter as the Phillies win 4-2, capturing the super-regional and joining their 2008 brethren in the final group of 32 teams.

Interesting card of Super-Regional O:  Joey Votto held the rare distinction in this tournament of leading not one, but two Reds teams to their regional championship that ended up in the same super-regional.  Furthermore, both posted round four wins in this bracket, setting up a round five matchup between dueling Vottos that were the best hitters in each lineup.  Although both were impressive cards, this 2010 version was particularly strong as Joey won the NL MVP award by leading the league in OBP, SLG%, and of course OPS, while finishing 2nd in batting average and 3rd in RBI for a near miss at a Triple Crown.  He stayed with the Reds for what is likely to be his entire major league career, but they did not resign him after the 2023 season; being one of the greatest Canadian ballplayers in the history of the game, the Blue Jays took a flyer on him and signed him to a minor league contract, but he hit only .165 and felt he did not deserve an “honorary” promotion to the majors.   This signalled the end of a great career in which he averaged .294 with 356 homers, a .409 career OBP and a .511 lifetime SLG%.  Are those Hall of Fame numbers?   Well, according to the Jaffe WAR Score (JAWS) Hall of Fame rating system, he would place 13th of the 25 first basemen currently in the HOF, with numbers that are pretty much dead average for that group, suggesting that he’s an entirely reasonable candidate for enshrinement.  One factoid that underscores just how good a hitter he was is that on April 17, 2019, he popped out to first base in a game against the Los Angeles Dodgers–and it was the first time he had popped out to the infield in 1,592 career games!

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.