Cardinals & Dodgers Flex Their Aces to Take Series Leads

Here’s your morning baseball briefing for Friday October 4, 2013:

Thursday Results:

St. Louis 9, Pittsburgh 1

Carlos Beltran’s three-run homer off Pittsburgh starter A.J. Burnett sparked a seven-run third inning for the Cardinals, and ace starter Adam Wainwright dominated the Pirates’ hitters with seven masterful innings, allowing three hits, 0 walks, and striking out nine.  St. Louis leads 1-0 (best of five)

Los Angeles 6, Atlanta 1

          The Dodgers jumped on Atlanta starter Kris Medlen early, and led 5-0 after four innings, while ace pitcher and probable Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw baffled Braves hitters all night to the tune of, one run, three hits and 12 strikeouts in seven innings in a convincing 6-1 win.

Los Angeles leads 1-0 (best of five)

Schedule (Times EST)

Today 10/4:  All series best of five.

1:07pm – Game 2 N.L.D.S. Pittsburgh (Cole 10-7) @ St. Louis (Lynn 15-10). 

St. Louis leads 1-0.

3:07pm – Game 1 A.L.D.S. Tampa Bay (Moore 17-4) @ Boston (Lester 15-8)

6:07pm – Game 2 N.L.D.S. Los Angeles (Greinke 15-4) @ Atlanta (Minor 13-9)

Los Angeles leads 1-0

9:37pm – Game 1 A.L.D.S. Detroit (Scherzer 21-3) @ Oakland (Colon 18-6)

Predictions:  St. Louis, Boston, Atlanta, Detroit

Saturday 10/5

5:37pm – Game 2 A.L.D.S. Tampa Bay (Price 10-8) @ Boston (Lackey 10-13)

9:07pm – Game 2 A.L.D.S. Detroit (Verlander 13-12) @ Oakland (Gray 5-3)

Predictions: Tampa Bay, Detroit

Sunday 10/6

4:37pm – Game 3 N.L.D.S. St. Louis (Kelly10-5) @ Pittsburgh (Liriano 16-8)

8:07pm – Game 3 N.L.D.S. Atlanta (Teheran 14-8) @ Los Angeles (Ryu 14-8)

Predictions: Pittsburgh, Los Angeles

Playoff Predictions Overall:  5-0

History

2001 World Series – New York Yankees vs. Arizona Diamondbacks

          The 2001 World Series was played in the shadow of the tragedies of 9/11 between the New York Yankees and the Arizona Diamondbacks, who reached the World Series in just their fourth year of existence, breaking a previous record held by the Florida Marlins.  The series went the distance and many “did that really just happen” moments.

          Arizona had home field advantage as the series began on October 7, the latest start date ever, and the Diamondbacks won the first two games easily 9-1 and 4-0, behind pitchers Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson who allowed just one run in 16 innings.

          The series returned to an emotional New York for Games 3, 4 & 5 where the Yankees gave the fans hope & excitement with three incredible games.  They won Game 3 by a narrow 2-1 margin behind Roger Clemens and trailed 3-1 in the ninth inning of Game 4 when the ghosts of Yankee past appeared.  With two outs, Tino Martinez smashed a two-run, game-tying home run to right off Arizona closer Byung-Hung Kim.  The game surpassed midnight now on October 31, and in the bottom of the tenth, Derek Jeter hit a line-drive, game-winning home run just over the right field wall that earned him the nickname Mr. November as the Yankees won 4-3.

          Game 5 topped the drama of Game 3 believe it or not, and with Arizona leading 2-0 in the bottom of the ninth, closer Byung-Hung King was brought in to close the game.  Jorge Posada doubled to lead off and Kim struck out the next two batters, when Scott Brosius hit a towering, game-tying, two-run home run over the left field wall that sent the ghosts swirling again.  The Yankees won the game in the twelfth on Alfonso Soriano’s RBI single, and the New York led the series 3-2 by winning three unbelievable games.

          In a must win Game 6 for Arizona, they battered Yankee starter Andy Pettitte for six early runs in route to a 15-2 shellacking.  Randy Johnson held New York in check with just two runs in seven innings, including seven strikeouts.        

          Game 7 featured ace pitchers Curt Shilling for Arizona against Roger Clemens in a winner-take-all contest.  The game was tied 1-1 in the eighth when Yankee outfielder Alfonso Soriano homered off Shilling to make the score 2-1.  New York manager Joe Torre sent closer Mariano Rivera to start the eighth and try for a two-inning save.  He struck out the side and came back out for the ninth.  He let up a single to Mark Grace and committed a throwing error fielding a bunt to put two runners aboard.  Tony Womack then doubled down the left field run that tied the game at two, and Rivera had blown the save.  He hit the next batter that loaded the bases, and Arizona outfielder and best hitter Luis Gonzalez willed a broken-bat single to center just over the drawn-in infield that scored the winning World Series run.  Arizona won their first title in franchise history and became the fastest to achieve the feat in just four years, and New York was denied a fourth consecutive crown, one that would’ve meant so much to their mourning fans. 

Arizona Wins 4-3

          I toured Arizona’s stadium in 2009 with my brother, and as a Yankee fan, from the Arizona dugout I painfully stared at the mound where Rivera couldn’t hold a one run lead in the ninth, and at the field where we lost the World Series.  I took these photos.

For the series, Arizona outscored New York 37-14 and outhit them 65-42.  No current Hall of Famers played in the series.

Tomorrow:  2002 World Series – Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim vs. San Francisco Giants.

Trivia

Today’s Question: What Yankee outfielder and beloved player retired after the 2001 World Series?

Yesterday’s Question:  When was the last year the two World Series teams came from the same state?

Answer:  2002, when the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim beat the San Francisco Giants in seven games.

House Bet

Today: 
Over/Under 8 runs scored in the Tampa Bay – Boston game.

Yesterday:  Over/Under 16 combined strikeouts by Adam Wainwright and Clayton Kershaw today.

Result: 
Over.  They struck out a combined 21 batters (Wainwright 9, Kershaw 12).