SUPER-REGIONAL Q:   This collection of eight regional winners is dominated by Yankees teams, with three of the eight coming from the Bronx, and two of those were the only surviving pennant winners of the four that began this group of 64 teams.   There were also two Braves squads from different successful eras for that franchise, and the group was rounded out by entries from the Phillies, Red Sox, and Angels that I think had survived more on grit than on talent.   My hunch was that there would be multiple Yankees/Braves showdowns that would be the key games of the bracket, and I predicted that one such matchup would be in the finals, where I guessed that the 2003 version of the Braves would handle the 1958 version of the Yanks. The ELO rankings predicted an all-pinstripes final, with the ‘47 Yanks over the ‘58 Yanks in a matchup of two World Series winners.

Round four action

The 1968 Yankees were the least impressive of the three Bronx entrants in this super-regional, but they were over .500 at 83-79 and boasted a solid rotation typical of the Year of the Pitcher, with Steve Barber (6-5, 3.23) representing their #4 starter.  The 1967 Braves were a 77-85 team but they had persisted through Regional #130 despite some injuries, and Felipe Alou would still be out for this game and both his bat and glove would be sorely missed; however, like the Yanks the Braves had a solid option at the bottom of the rotation in Pat Jarvis (15-10, 3.66).  New York gets a run in the top of the 2nd when Joe Pepitone scores as Bobby Cox hits into a double play, although Pepitone returns the favor by misplaying a Rico Carty single in the bottom of the inning, setting up an RBI hit from Felix Millan–although Woody Woodward ends a promising rally by lining into a triple play.  Hank Aaron crushes a 2-out solo homer in the 3rd to put the Braves ahead, and in the 6th Tito Francona follows an error by 1B-3 Mickey Mantle with a 2-run homer to provide additional padding for the lead.  Steve Hamilton is then summoned from the pen, but he loads the bases for Aaron, whose fielder’s choice scores another and when Torre follows with an RBI single, it’s 6-1 Atlanta after six.  And that is how it ends as Jarvis holds on, as does 1B-4 Francona for the final out of the game to send the Braves on, buoyed by the news that Alou will be rejoining the lineup for round five.  

Having the Series champion 1958 Yankees reach the super-regionals was not much of a surprise, but their opponents were:  the 1938 Phillies, a 45-105 team that according to the ELO ratings were one of the 30 worst teams of all time, yet managed to win their regional as a #8 seed.   And it gets even worse, as these Phils suffered three costly injuries in that regional, and although Heinie Mueller would be back for this game, Chuck Klein and Hersh Martin were still out, and their number #4 starter was the aptly named Max Butcher (9-12, 4.47).  The Yanks had injury issues of their own, with HOFer Yogi Berra still out for several games, but they had a number of decent starter options and went with Art Ditmar (9-8, 3.42) on the hill.  They start off with a bang as Norm Siebern leads off the top of the 1st with a homer, but the pesky Phils tie it in the bottom of the frame on a fielder’s choice from Phil Weintraub.   In the 2nd, Hank Bauer misses his HR 1-12 split and gets stranded at second, and the Yanks load the bases in the 3rd but come up empty again.  In the 4th, Bauer now rolls Butcher’s HR 1-14 split, and this time he gets it with a 14 roll; Gil McDougald has a chance to go back to back with his own HR 1-14 split but it comes up a 20 for a double.  No problems, as Tony Kubek roll’s Butchers HR split again for the third HR 1-14 chance in a row, and he converts it–followed by Sieburn rolling HIS HR split once again, converting it to go back to back and Butcher is being slaughtered, and with Enos Slaughter in fact coming up to the plate the Phillies want to try someone with a more peaceful name, so Syl Johnson comes in to end the inning but the Yanks lead 5-1.  Philly responds in the bottom of the 4th with a 2-out RBI single by Earl Browne, but Gibby Brack leads off the 6th by getting injured and the Phils are fresh out of outfielders and begin scanning the bleachers for likely looking replacements.   Still, Johnson holds the Yanks at bay while the Bronx fielding falls apart in the 7th, with errors by SS-3 Kubek and P-5 Ditmar scoring one and setting up a 2-out 2-run double by Weintraub that ties the game.  With Ditmar unable to get the third out, the Yanks summon wild man Ryne Duren who blows three pitches by injury replacement Cap Clark, but we head to the 8th knotted at 5 each.  Unfortunately for Philadelphia, Johnson is toast and Elmer Burkart comes in with the game on the line, but Siebern doubles past RF-3 Morrie Arnovich and then he races home on a Slaughter 2-out single to put the Yankees back in front.  After earning the save in the regional final, Duren is burnt in the 9th but Bobby Shantz comes in to retire the Phils without incident, putting an end to their Cinderella run with the 6-5 Yankee win.    

The round four matchup between the 1983 Angels and the 1947 Yankees included such iconic names as Rod Carew, Reggie Jackson, Joe Dimaggio and Yogi Berra, with both teams at full strength behind starters Tommy John (11-13, 4.33) for the Angels and Bill Beven (7-13, 3.82) for New York.  A 92-loss team, the Angels were decided underdogs against these pennant-winning Yanks, but they draw first blood in the top of the 4th when Doug DeCinces finds and converts Bevens’ HR split for a solo shot and a 1-0 lead, but the Yanks immediately tie it when an error by C-1 Bob Boone sets up a 2-out RBI triple from Tommy Heinrich.  The Yanks then move ahead in the 5th on a 2-out double by Scooter Rizzuto that scores Billy Johnson, but DeCinces again converts that HR split in the 6th to tie the game once again.  Fred Lynn then goes back-to-back and the Californians regain the lead, and John is put on notice that his leash will be quite short to begin the 6th.  It turns out that Bevens is the first to exit after allowing a single in the 7th, and Joe Page is brought into to retire the side, recording the third putout himself despite being a P-4.  In the 7th, Yankee PH Allie Clark rips a 2-out double but 1-10+2 George McQuinn is cut down at the plate and the air goes out of Yankee Stadium.   And John never even requires a tug on the leash as he finishes out the 3-2 victory to upset the World Champs and send the 92-loss Angels on to round five.

The 1927 Red Sox were an unlikely entrant in a super-regional, having won their regional from the #8 seed and their 51-103 record was good for last in the AL; however, they were dogged in pulling off three upsets and swingman Jack Russell (4-9, 4.10) had showed his bite earning a save in their round one extra inning game.  They were underdogs once again against the 2003 Braves, who won 101 games and the NL East and had scored 17 runs in their regional final–although they had allowed 12 and they were hoping that Horacio Ramirez (12-4, 4.00) would be able to give a stretched bullpen a bit of a break.  The Braves offense picks up where it left off, as in the bottom of the 1st they get one run on an error from Boston C-3 Grover Hartley, and that’s followed by a 3-run blast from Gary Sheffield and it’s 4-0 after an inning.  The Red Sox hadn’t scored more than four runs in any of their three regional games, but they start trying to crawl back into the game with an RBI single from Ira Flagstead in the top of the 3rd.  The Braves add to their lead as a run scores on a Chipper Jones fielder’s choice in the 5th, and the Red Sox load the bases in the 6th but come away empty after Wally Shaner hits into a double play.  From there, both starters close out 5-hit complete games, but the Braves are more efficient with their hits and they march on with a 5-1 victory and keeps the possibility of an all-Braves super-regional final alive.

The survivors:  round five

This round five game features one of the two Atlanta squads to win in round four of this super-regional, the 1967 Braves, and the only surviving one of the two pennant-winning Yankee teams to begin this bracket, the 1958 Yankees.  With both teams coming around to the top of the rotation, it would be two Hall of Famers facing off with Whitey Ford (14-7, 2.01) and the Yanks battling  Phil Niekro (11-9,1.87) going for the Braves.   The injury scales were tilted in favor of the Braves, who would get Felipe Alou back while Yogi Berra was still out for the Yanks.   But something isn’t knuckling for Niekro in the bottom of the 1st, as after allow two leadoff singles Mickey Mantle sends one 500 feet to put the Yanks up 3-0.  In the 4th Hank Bauer triples and then scores on a 2-out Tony Kubek single that adds another run, but in the 6th Clete Boyer, playing for the Braves and not New York, swats a 2-out 2-run double to cut the lead in half.  However, that is the last hit of the game, as the Yanks hold on for the 4-2 win with Ford allowing only two hits, and while he committed two errors himself he allowed neither of those mistakes to lead to a run.  

On paper, this is a rather lopsided round five matchup between the 101-win 2003 Braves and the 92-loss 1983 Angels; both teams would return to the top of their rotation, although both Russ Ortiz (21-7, 3.81) for the Braves and Ken Forsch (11-12, 4.06) for the Angels had been knocked out of their round one starts with relievers earning the wins.  The Braves strike in the bottom of the 2nd with a solo homer from Gary Sheffield, but in the 4th Braves LF-4 Chipper Jones manages to make a 3-base error on a Reggie Jackson fly ball that ties the game, and then LF-4 Sheffield turns a Bob Boone flyball into a double and Ortiz loses his cool, walking the bases loaded and then walking Brian Downing and the Angels now lead 3-1.  In the bottom of the inning, a 2-out Vinny Castilla RBI single makes it a one run game, and in the 6th the Braves tie it when Sheffield doubles and scores on a single by Andruw Jones.  When Castilla singles, the 1-17 Jones takes off for 3rd but is thrown out, although Castilla ultimately scores on a sharp hit from Julio Franco, and when Forsch issues a walk he’s pulled for reliever Luis Sanchez, who promptly yields an RBI double to Rafael Furcal off his card and the Braves now lead 5-3 after six.  However, when Fred Lynn walks to lead off the 8th and Doug Decinces doubles to put the tying run in scoring position, the Braves head to the pen themselves for ace closer John Smoltz.  Smoltz gets two straight and it looks like he’s going to escape unscathed, but Boone delivers a clutch single to score both runners and tie the game.  It’s then up to the relievers for the 9th inning; Smoltz is flawless in the top of the inning, and Javy Lopez leads off the bottom of the 9th with a HR 1-14 split….the roll is a 14 and it’s a walk-off homer that seemingly dings off the foul pole to give the Braves the hard fought 6-5 win over an Angels team that punched above their weight in the entire tournament.  

Super-regional finals

This was the super-regional final that I had predicted, with the world champion 1958 Yankees against the division-winning, 101-win 2003 Braves.  The pitching matchup was suitably strong, with Greg Maddux (16-11, 3.98) going against Cy Young winner Bob Turley (21-7, 2.97), and although Yogi Berra was not quite recovered from the injury he suffered in the regional finals, that just meant more playing time for an excellent replacement in Elston Howard, who actually received more AL MVP votes than Berra did.  The Yanks waste no time, with Norm Siebern leading off the top of the 1st with a double and Enos Slaughter brings him home with a sharp single, and then Mickey Mantle and Andy Carey begin the 4th going back to back homers off Maddux’s card and the Bombers lead 3-0.  In the bottom of the inning, a walk and Turley’s first hit allowed, a double by Javy Lopez, puts two runners in scoring position with nobody out but Turley racks up two consecutive strikeouts and 2B-2 Gil McDougald makes a highlight play for the third out of the inning and the Braves come up empty.  In the 5th, it’s Tony Kubek’s turn to convert Maddux’s pesky 6-5 homer split, and when Howard singles off Maddux’s card in the 6th the Braves pull the Hall of Famer for Ray King, who ends the inning without incident.  However, in the 7th Mantle takes him deep for a 2-out, 2-run shot, and the Yanks take a big lead into the 9th.  However, Enos Slaughter gets injured for 15 games in making the Yanks final out in the top of the 9th, and that dampens the celebration of Turley’s 3-hit shutout that propels the Yanks to the 6-0 win and the super-regional crown.  Although Slaughter will be lost for the remainder of the tournament, the good news is that Berra will be back in the lineup as the Yanks advance to the final field of 32.  

Interesting card of Super-Regional Q:  I first started paying attention to baseball in the mid-1960s, and if you had asked me to name the greatest baseball player in existence, I would have said it was this guy.  In retrospect, it’s interesting that this White Sox fan would have had that view, since in those “game of the week” days I rarely if ever saw Mantle play; I suspect my view was shaped by a public relations aura that came with playing for a team in the media capital of the world, which tended to focus on a white superstar in an era when most of the other greats (e.g., Mays, Aaron, Clemente) were not.  However, when I got my first Strat set in the form of the 1967 AL season, I think I remember being pretty disappointed by the Mick’s card.  What I didn’t know at the time was that it would be his penultimate season, with his last hurrah represented by this card, presented in its original and advanced reissue forms.  The Yankees made three appearances in this bracket and Mantle figured prominently in two of them 10 years apart; his excellent 1958 card was already featured in my Regional #139 writeup, and that card seemed deserving of an MVP award to me.  Not so much this one, but it was the final Mantle entry in the Strat universe.

SUPER-REGIONAL P:   There was only one pennant winner that had begun this bracket of 64, and it had been eliminated in the regional final and did not reach the super-regional level.  However, there were two Canadian teams and two Giants teams represented in this group of regional winners, as well as some rare regional wins by franchises like the Rays, Brewers, and an unlikely White Sox team.   Both of the Giants squads were very close to some classic championship teams, and I guessed that the Polo Grounds would host the finals because both of those teams would be in it.  The ELO ranking agreed, suggesting that they were the only two deserving squads with the rest of the group getting through their regionals with smoke and mirrors.

Round four action

For one of the Zoom games of the week, it was Canadian choice with Canada’s own Eaglesfly having to select between the 1976 Expos and the 2005 Blue Jays.  Apparently having a thing for the underdog, he selected the 107-loss Expos, who had somehow managed to win Regional #121 as a bottom seed, but now were stuck with the bottom of the rotation in the form of Don Carrithers (6-12, 4.44).   That left ColavitoFan to helm the 80-82 Jays, with the equally unimpressive Dave Bush (5-11, 4.49) due for his turn on the mound.  And Bush is looking shrubbery in the early going, allowing a solo homer to Ellis Valentine in the top of the 1st with a Barry Foote sac fly and a 2-run single for Bombo Rivera making it 4-0 Expos after two innings. When Larry Parrish adds a solo homer in the top of the 3rd, the good news for Toronto is that Bush can be removed, with Jason Frasor coming in to prevent further damage.  Perhaps buoyed by the pitching upgrade, the Jays offense comes alive in the bottom of the inning, reeling off 7 hits and 5 runs against Carrithers with the biggest blow being a 2-run double from Vernon Wells; the game is now tied and it’s in the hands and arms of the respective bullpens.  The Expos show the mettle that led to their unlikely run and retake the lead on an RBI single by DH Jose Morales, but Montreal reliever Joe Kerrigan gets into trouble in the 6th, loading the bases and #9 hitter Gregg Zaun pokes a 2-run hit that pushes the Jays into the lead for the first time in the game.  From there, it’s a showcase for Toronto reliever Scott Schoeneweis, who tosses two and a third hitless innings to end the Cinderella run for the Expos and propel the Jays deeper into the project with the come-from-behind 7-6 win.

Although the 1960 Giants only managed a 79-75 record, the pieces were in place for what would be a dominating pennant winner two seasons later, and StratFan Rick was ready to send some of his favorites out against my 70-83 1927 White Sox, who had survived my Sox jinx mainly due to weak opposition in their regional.  The round four matchup meant we were at the bottom of the rotation, and while Billy O’Dell (8-13, 3.19) looked solid to me as the Giants #4 starter, Hall of Famer Red Faber (4-7, 4.54) was 38 years old and had the worst season of his career.  Orlando Cepeda finds one of the numerous singles on Faber’s card for an RBI in the top of the 3rd, but Faber manages to get out of later jams and eventually the Sox offense figures out O’Dell as a Bibb Falk solo homer and a Harry McCurdy RBI single in the bottom of the 6th give the pesky Sox a 2-1 lead.  Thus the Comiskey Park crowd gets a brief thrill before the Giants erupt in top of the 7th with Cedepa, Felipe Alou, and Willie Mays battering Faber for four runs and a 5-2 lead.  In the 8th, a two-run homer by Jim Davenport hammers the final nail in the Sox coffin to seal the 7-2 Giants win; the 1927 Sox fans trudge home, consoling themselves with the knowledge that none of them will live long enough to bear witness to the futility of the 2024 team.

The 2017 Rays had a middling 80-82 record and after defeating the top seed in Regional #125, they had a relatively easy path to the super-regional; Jake Odorizzi (10-8, 4.14) was not a bad #4 starter if he could keep the ball in the park.  On the other side, the 94-loss 2003 Brewers won their regional as a #8 seed, downing two very good teams in the process; Wayne Franklin (10-13, 5.50) would try to keep that streak alive, with a card that shared the gopher ball problems of his counterpart.  It takes two batters before Logan Morrison finds one of Franklin’s HR results for a solo shot in the top of the 1st, and then Franklin loads up the bases in the 4th for a double by Evan Longoria, although C Wilson Ramos is out at the plate trying for a third run.  They get that and more when Franklin walks the bases loaded again only to yield a 2-run single to Kevin Kiermaier, and that’s it for Franklin as closer Dan Kolb is summoned in desperation, just in time to deliver a three-run homer to Morrison.  Now down 8-0, the Milwaukee fans focus their attention on the beer vendors, perhaps missing the Brewers first hit of the in the 6th inning by Royce Clayton, but it amounts to nothing.  They do push across a run in the 8th on a Brady Clark single, but the Rays get that back in the 9th on a Colby Rasmus RBI double.  Odorizzi then retires the Brewers in order in the 9th to finish up a 4-hitter and the Rays march on with an easy 9-1 win.

This round four game looked like a fairly balanced matchup between two decent teams.   The 1953 Giants were one season away from a historic season, but with Willie Mays in the military the team only assembled a 70-84 record that was nine games worse than their Pythagorean project.   The 1930 Pirates went 80-74 but their projection was six games worse and they had a somewhat worse ELO rating than the Giants, so it was hard to pick a favorite between these two.  One tiebreaker was that the #4 pitcher in a 1930 rotation had to be pretty bad, and Glenn Spencer (8-9, 5.40) was no exception, while Larry Jansen (11-16, 4.14) was not a terrible option for the Giants although his gopher ball was a worry.   The game starts quickly for the Bucs as two Waners get on base for a Pie Trayner 3-run homer in the top of the 1st, but Giant 2B Davey Williams leads off the bottom of the inning by converting Spencer’s HR split, Bobby Hofman adds an RBI single, Monte Irvin contributes a run-scoring sac fly, and then Bobby Thomson fires a shot heard round the Polo Grounds for a 2-run blast and the Giants lead is 5-2 after just one inning.  Little Poison Lloyd Waner provides an RBI single in the 2nd but is deprived of a second tally when 1-14 Denny Sothern is cut down trying to take the extra base, and it’s a one run game after two.  Traynor then leads off the 3rd with a triple and he scores on a George Grantham single that ties it up, and when Gus Suhr follows with a single the Giants give up on Jansen and try Marv Grissom from the pen, but Dick Bartell’’s sac fly provides Pittsburgh with the go-ahead run.  A Whitey Lockman single and a Wes Westrum double from missing Spencer’s HR split puts two runners in scoring position with nobody out, and the Pirates look at their pen and recoil in horror, instead bringing the infield in and hoping for the best.  A walk loads the bases but Spencer induces consecutive grounders that nail the runner at the plate and he escapes with the lead still intact.  Traynor singles to lead off the 5th, leaving him a double short of a cycle, but he ends up stranded at 3rd; in the bottom of the inning Hofman gets knocked out of the game with an injury, and 1-16 Thomson is nailed trying to score so the Pirates cling to the lead after five.  Back to back doubles by Sothern and Rollie Helmsley provide an insurance run for the Pirates in the 6th, but when Don Mueller cracks a double past LF-3 Adam Comorosky in the bottom of the inning, Pittsburgh brings in their only non-dreadful reliever, Steve Swetonic, and he escapes the inning when 1-11+2 Mueller is out at home trying to score on a Dusty Rhodes single.  Traynor flies out to lead off the 7th, making his cycle unlikely, and in the 8th Hank Thompson rips an RBI single to make it a one-run game entering the 9th.  Paul Waner gets hurt in the top of the 9th to the chagrin of the Pirates fans; it’s a minor injury but he has to leave the game which downgrades RF from a 1 to a 4.  In response, Grantham converts a TR 1-2 on Hoyt Wilhelm’s card to provide a little padding for Swetonic entering the bottom of the 9th.  He gets Dark and Thomson for two quick outs but then walks Lockman to bring up Westrum as the tying run, but Swetonic whiffs him to send the Pirates to round five with the hard-fought 8-6 win.  

The survivors:  round five

The Zoom game of the week was an international grudge match with Canadian manager Eaglesfly and the 2005 Blue Jays against StratFan’s 1960 Giants that he had previously led to victory over my White Sox in round four.  Being a round five game, it was back to the top of the rotation and a strong matchup between the Jays’ Hall of Famer Roy Halladay (12-4, 2.41) and SF’s Mike McCormick (15-12, 2.70), the NL ERA leader; however, the Giant were having to make do after losing RF Willie Kirkland to injury for the tournament in the previous round.  Regardless, they came out swinging against Halladay, repeatedly rolling on one of the few extra base outcomes on his card to rack up six hits and three runs in the first two innings of play, and the Jays start making calls to Philadelphia to see if they’d be interested in a trade.  Felipe Alou adds a double in the bottom of the 4th for his second RBI of the game to make it 4-0 Giants, and McCormick is reaping the Jays lineup until the 6th when Shea Hillenbrand raps a 2-run single to cut the lead in half.  Toronto continues to fight back with an RBI double from Aaron Hill in the 7th and it’s a one-run game. A mound conference with McCormick convinces the Giants to stick with him, and he proves his mettle by shutting down the Jays the rest of the way as the Giants hang on for a 4-3 win and a trip to the super-regional final.  

Although middling teams on paper, the 2017 Rays and the 1930 Pirates had each survived an entire pass through their rotation and it was now back to the top, but neither Chris Archer (10-12, 4.07) for the Rays or Larry French (17-18, 4.36) were dominating starters, and both bullpens were seriously stretched.  The Rays strike in the top of the 3rd as Logan Morrison converts a 2-run triple off French’s card and Colby Rasmus drives him in with a pitcher-card single; Corey Dickerson then rolls on his own card for a long 2-run homer, and although it appears that French is fried there is nobody in the pen that is remotely as good and so he’s staying put despite the 5-0 deficit.  The Bucs make a game of it in the 4th as Adam Comorosky converts a HR split off Archer’s card for a 3-run shot, but Morrison leads off the 5th with his third homer in two games and Steven Souza adds another solo shot later in the inning to restore a comfortable lead.  Pie Traynor cuts the margin to three with a sac fly in the bottom of the 5th, but Rays PH Lucas Duda crushes a 2-run shot in the 6th as Tampa refuses to allow the Pirates to gain any ground.  Pittsburgh refuses to go quietly and Gus Suhr adds a 2-out RBI single in the 8th, but their hopes wane as the two Waners contribute a DP ball and a strikeout to end the bottom of the 9th and the Rays move on with a 9-5 win and an appearance in the super-regional final.

Super-regional final

The super-regional finals would be taking place over Zoom as a Friday Night Strat featured game, and Tall Tactician elected to manage the 2017 Rays, whose powerful lineup had averaged 8.8 runs a game in their previous five outings; Alex Cobb (12-10, 3.66) was hoping for similar levels of run support in this appearance.  Meanwhile, StratFan would be directing the 1960 Giants for the third time in this bracket, but not only had he lost RF Willie Kirkland to injury for the tournament, he was also faced with a lingering injury to his #2 starter Sam Jones that had occurred back in Regional #123.  Fortunately, under tournament rules there are no usage restrictions when an injury replacement must be made, meaning that 22 year old rookie Juan Marichal (6-2, 2.66) would be pressed into service.  Both pitchers start off in fine form, but in the bottom of the 4th Colby Rasmus and Corey Dickerson manage back to back doubles that are good for a 1-0 Tampa lead.  The Giants can only manage one hit against Cobb for the first six innings, but in the 7th it’s Willie Mays and Bob Schmidt with solo homers that provide SF with a 2-1 edge that lasts for one inning until Wilson Ramos’s own solo shot ties it up entering the 9th inning.   Now, in orchestrating the Zoom game, I keep asking TT if he’s interested in the status of the Rays bullpen, but he’s convinced that Alex is the best Cobb since Ty…at least until one away in the top of the 9th, when Orlando Cepeda finds and converts Cobb’s HR split for a solo shot that’s good for a one-run lead entering the bottom of the 9th.  Meanwhile, StratFan has the ultimate confidence in his promising young starter, and Marichal responds with a perfect bottom of the 9th to give StratFan his third straight victory with the Giants in this super-regional, a 3-2 win that is good for the bracket crown and a berth in the final field of 32 in the tournament. 

Interesting card of Super-Regional P:  Under tournament rules, starting pitchers must have at least 100 IP to take a spot in the rotation, unless there are not four such pitchers carded for the team (in which case the SP with the most innings must pitch).  However, another tournament rule is that any usage restrictions do not apply when an injured player must be replaced.  Thus, as a result, this 22 year old rookie wouldn’t get a shot until the #2 starter in the Giants rotation, Sam Jones, went down for seven games in his round two start.  Marichal’s limited innings were no fault of his own; he wasn’t called up for his major league debut until July 19th of 1960, when he was called upon for a start against the Phillies–he did pretty well, throwing a complete game shutout while allowing only one hit (a pinch-hit single to Clay Dalrymple in the eighth inning) while walking one and striking out 12.   Four days later he four-hit the eventual World Series champion Pirates for a 3-1 win, and in his third starting he outpitched Warren Spahn for 10 innings to earn a 3-2 victory.  Not a bad beginning to a Hall of Fame career, although it was a career that never saw him win a Cy Young award despite arguably being the best right handed pitcher of the 1960s.   Perhaps he hurt his case in 1965 when he was not on the mound, but in the batter’s box; after two consecutive brushback pitches from Sandy Koufax, when Dodger catcher John Roseboro buzzed a throwback past Marichal’s head, Juan turned around and began beating Roseboro with the bat, opening a gash on the catcher’s skull that resulted in Marichal’s ejection and the largest fine in NL history up to that point.  Fortunately for all involved, this tournament is an all-DH project and so in his start in the super-regional final, Marichal never was allowed to wield any lumber, allowing him to keep his cool and lead his team to the final round of 32 with a 5-hit complete game.