Pittsburgh Wins First Playoff Game in 21 Years

Here’s your morning baseball briefing for Wednesday October 2, 2013:

Tuesday Results:

Pittsburgh Pirates 6, Cincinnati Reds 2

Francisco Liriano tossed seven brilliant innings and catcher Russell Martin hit two home runs as the Pittsburgh Pirates and their fans celebrated a Wildcard #2 win against the slumping Reds.  The Pirates won their first playoff(?) game since 1992 and move on face their division rivals St. Louis Cardinals whom they finished 10-9 against in the regular season. 

Cincinnati concluded the season losing their final six games and failed to advance in the playoffs for the second straight season.  But history will show they made the playoffs in 2013, even though they never played a series.

Schedule (Times EST)

Today:  American League Wildcard #1 (Winner advances, loser’s season is over).

8:07pm – Tampa Bay Rays (Cobb 11-3) vs. Cleveland Indians (Salazar 2-3)

Prediction:  Tampa

Playoff Predictions Overall:  2-0

Thursday

5:07pm – Pittsburgh Pirates @ St. Louis Cardinals

8:07pm – Los Angeles Dodgers @ Atlanta Braves

Friday

1:07pm - Pittsburgh Pirates @ St. Louis Cardinals

6:07pm – Los Angeles Dodgers @ Atlanta Braves

9:37pm – Detroit Tigers @ Oakland Athletics

News & Notes:  The Kansas City Royals extended the contract of manager Ned Yost by two years.

History

1999 World Series – New York Yankees vs. Atlanta Braves

          The 1999 World Series was a rematch of the 1996 series won by New York in six games, and this time the Braves would have the home field advantage.  Game 1 in Atlanta featured Greg Maddux against Yankee starter Orlando Hernandez, and the pitcher’s duel lasted until the eighth when New York, trailing 1-0, tied the score and loaded the bases off Maddux, forcing him out of the game.  Reliever John Rocker replaced him, and Derek Jeter singled home two more runs to make the score 3-1.  Paul O’Neill added an RBI single, and Mariano Rivera closed out the Yankee victory.  Orlando Hernandez pitched seven dominating innings, allowing just one run and striking out ten.

          New York jumped all over the Braves early in Game 2, and led 7-0 after five innings to provide plenty of run support for starter David Cone, and the Yankees coasted to a 7-2 win and took a 2-0 series lead.

          The series shifted to New York for Game 3, and I was lucky enough to be at the game with a buddy of mine, and even luckier to witness what took place.  I sat in the top row of the left field upper deck, overlooking the foul pole, surrounded by screaming Yankee fans who rarely sat the entire game.  Atlanta roughed up pitcher Andy Pettitte early, and led 5-2 in the seventh when outfielder Chad Curtis took Braves starter Tom Glavine deep for a solo home run.  We stood for the rest of the game and I started loud chants of “Let’s Go Yankees” in my section.  Chuck Knoblauch must’ve heard us when in the eighth when he hit a two-run, opposite field, game-tying home run that barely cleared the right field wall.  Glavine was knocked out of the game, and during the pitching change we had time to high-five and hug strangers around us in pure elation.

The game remained tied until the bottom of the tenth, and with tension filling the cold October night (I had to wear gloves), Chad Curtis stepped to the plate and ended the game with a walk-off home run to right field that from my view seemed like it was coming right at me, even though I was like a mile away from home plate.  The ball landed in the section below me and everyone’s arms flew in the air as the celebration began. 

          New York swept the series a day later when they won 4-1 in Game 4 behind the pitching of Roger Clemens and timely hits from Tino Martinez, Jorge Posada and Jim Leyritz, and the Yankees won their second consecutive World Series title, third in four years, and 25th overall.  They became the first team to win sweep consecutive World Series since the 1938 and 1939 Yankees.  It was also the third consecutive time the Yankees defeated the Braves in the World Series, dating back to 1958 when the Braves were in Milwaukee.   

 New York Wins 4-0

For the series, New York outscored Atlanta 21-9 and outhit them 37-26.  There were no current Hall of Famers in the series.

Tomorrow:  2000 World Series – New York Yankees vs. New York Mets

Trivia

Today’s Question:  Who holds the record for winning the most consecutive batting titles in baseball history?

Yesterday’s Question:  Who was the last National League player to win at least three consecutive batting titles?

Answer:  Tony Gwynn, who won 4 straight from ’94-’97, and 3 straight before that from ’87-’89.

House Bet

Today:  Over/Under 4 innings pitched by Cleveland rookie Danny Salazar today vs. Tampa Bay.

Yesterday:  Over/Under 8 runs scored in the National League Wildcard Game #2 tonight between Cincinnati and Pittsburgh.

Result:  Push.  The teams combined to score exactly 8 runs (6-2 score).