Tuesday, August 26, 2014

ALCS: Orioles Move Past Twins in 4

GAME 1 - Memorial Stadium
Orioles 5, Twins 1
J.Perry vs Cuellar

Cy Young award winner Mike Cuellar was masterful scattering 6 hits and allowing just 1 run in the top of the 4th.  Baltimore jumped out to a 3-0 lead when they batted around in the bottom of the 1st.  The O's added 2 insurance runs in the bottom of the 7th and never looked back.  Frank Robby had the big stick going 2 for 4 with 3 RBI's.  Mark Belanger chipped in with 2 hits from the 8 hole.
Orioles lead series 1-0

GAME 2 - Memorial Stadium
Twins 4, Orioles 2
Boswell vs McNally

The Twinkies struck back by breaking a scoreless tie in the 6th with 3 big runs off of O's starter Dave McNally.  Bob Allison's two out two run double broke the ice and Rich Reese's triple scored Allison.  The O's made it 3-1 on a two out pinch hit single by Chico Salmon.  Tony Oliva's solo blast in the top of the 8th put the Twins back up by 3.  The O's answered back with one in the bottom of the inning, but never again threatened.  Dave Boswell went 6 strong innings for the win and the troika of Bob Miller, Ron Perranoski and Dean Chance (who got the save) held the mighty O's at bay over the final 3 frames.
Series tied 1-1

GAME 3 - Metropolitan Stadium
Orioles 8, Twins 2
Palmer vs B.Miller

Up 4-1 after 7 innings the O's blew it open with 4 runs in the 8th off of lefty reliever Tom Hall.  Frank Robby's 3 run shot was followed by Boog Powell's solo blast, which account for all the damage.  Jim Palmer gave up just 1 run on 5 hits in 6 1/3 innings of work.  Pete Richert finished off the 7th inning to get Palmer out of trouble.  Jim Hardin came on board for the final 2 once the game was out of reach.  Frank Robby looked like a true MVP going 3 for 4 with 5 RBI's and 2 runs scored thanks to 2 huge long balls.
Orioles lead series 2-1

GAME 4 - Metropolitian Stadium
Orioles 1, Twins 0
Cuellar vs Perry

Facing elimination the Twins handed the ball to 20 game winner Jim Perry, who pitched his guts out scattering 5 hits and allowing just 1 run.  Unfortunately for Perry, that one run was a solo homer by Boog Powell (3-4).  With Mike Cuellar flirting with a no hitter and baffling the mighty Twins lineup that solo shot looked like a ten spot.  Cuellar finished the day with a 1 hitter (Leo Cardenas single in the 5th).  Cuellar who was dominant in both the series opener and the final was easily the series MVP as the O's move on to the Fall Classic.
Orioles win series 3-1
Congrats to Kurt for playing a gr8 series and doing better with twins than they did in RL.

Saturday, August 9, 2014

Cincinnati 6 Atlanta 5

Cincinnati reached Atlanta starter Ron Reed for 4 home runs to build a big lead. Cincinnati “fireman” (term used loosely) Wayne Granger just about coughed it up in bottom of 9th, as Atlanta scored 4 to shrink lead to 6-5. Rookie Dennis Ribant came on to squelch the rally and send Cinci to face one of the beast of the East.

Thanks to Bruce for staying up late to get this one in.

Bill

Pirates 6 Mets 5

The miracle Mets had no miracles left as the Bucs walked off in the bottom of the 9th before a packed house at Forbes Field.
Game pitching matchups
Tom Seaver vs Bob Veale

Tom Terrific Seaver got the start for the Mets opposed by Bob Veale.  The game was scoreless until the bottom
of the 3rd when Richie Hebner hit a 3 run homerun to give the Bucs an early 3-0 lead.  The Mets responded by scoring 3 in the top of the 5th to tie the game 3-3.  Ken Boswell hit a single to drive in 2 and Cleon Jones also had a run scoring single.  The Mets would break the tie in the 6th as Bud Harrelson lined a triple into right scoring Jerry Grote to give them a 4-3 lead.  The Bucs offense went to sleep for 5 innings.  The Mets added another run in the 9th to take a 5-3 lead as Cleon Jones tripled home Tom Seaver.  The Mets needed just 3 outs to close it out.  The first 2 batters for the Bucs went down meekly and they were down to their last out.  The Bucs brought up Jose Pagan to pinch hit for their last hope.  Jose hit a homerun to left and now suddenly the Pirates only trailed 5-4.  Tom Seaver still in the game trying to close it out but laboring.  Gene Alley was the next pinch hitter and he lined a single to keep the rally going.  Tug McGraw was brought in to face lefty hitting Matty Alou.  Matty hit a single sending Alley to 3rd and the Bucs had men on first and 3rd still fighting.  The crowd was going crazy and stood on their feet as Roberto Clemente came up.  The crowd sensed something good would happen with their best player up to bat.  The Mets brought in Ron Taylor.  Roberto grounded a single into left between 3rd and SS to bring home Gene Alley and tie the game.  The next batter was Richie Hebner who homered earlier in the game.  The crowd was now yelling and screaming and it looked like 1961 world series again.  Hebner lined a single up the middle to score Matty Alou with the winning run as the Pirates walked off with the win 6-5.  The improbable happened to the Miracle Mets as the Bucs scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th with 2 outs on 5 straight hits.  The Bucs advance to the playoffs to face their arch rival the Reds.  

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

National League Battles to TIE

Guys:
Congrats on a great season...can't believe we are this far already.  After the 162 game grind, the NL (both divisions) finished in a tie for 1st.  The Pittsburgh Pirates and the NY Mets both finished at 100-62 and likewise, the Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves finished at 90-72.  According to playoff tiebreaking rules for 1969:

Tiebreaking Rules:
1) 1 game playoff, played as a regular season game, will determine the division winner
2)  Coin flip will determine home filed advantage.
3) Game is to be played the NEXT day after the regular season has ended

Under those rules, the following games must be played before I can send out the playoff disk.

Cincinnati at Atlanta (1 game playoff)
NY Mets at Pittsburgh (1 game playoff)

These games must be played head to head (if you can not, please find a sub for your team) and since it is a regular season game, all player fatigue and roster limits will be accounted for as if they were on the last game of the regular season.  Please set your lineups and starting pitcher however you wish....but make sure to check pitcher fatigues

Good luck!