Tampa Bays Survives and Ends Cleveland's Season

Here’s your morning baseball briefing for Thursday October 3, 2013:

Wednesday Results:

Tampa Bay Rays 4, Cleveland Indians 0

Tampa Bay pitcher Alex Cobb pitched the game of his young life in Cleveland with the season on the line, hurling a shutout into the seventh inning and striking out five in the 4-0 win.  They advanced to play the Boston Red Sox in the best-of-five American League Division Series.  Cleveland had won ten in a row before this game, and fans were pumped up from the start trying to will the Indians to score, but they threatened to score only a few times, their season ended after just one post season game.

Schedule (Times EST)

Today:  National League Division Series – Best of 5

5:07pm – Pittsburgh Pirates (Burnett 10-11) @ St. Louis Cardinals (Wainwright 19-9)

8:07pm – Los Angeles Dodgers (Kershaw 16-9) @ Atlanta Braves (Medlen 15-12)

Predictions:  St. Louis and Los Angeles

Playoff Predictions Overall:  3-0

Friday

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

6:07pm – Los Angeles Dodgers @ Atlanta Braves

9:37pm – Detroit Tigers @ Oakland Athletics

History

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

          The 2000 World Series between the two New York clubs marked the first postseason Subway Series since 1956 when the Yankees beat Brooklyn in seven games.  This series electrified the Empire State, as the Yankees were gunning for their third straight championship, while the Mets, huge underdogs, made their first World Series appearance since beating Boston in 1986. 

          The Yankees had home field advantage and Game 1 started with a pitching duel between Andy Pettitte and Al Leiter from the Mets.  Yankee outfielder David Justice broke the shutout with a double that scored two runs in the sixth, but Pettitte quickly gave up the lead in the seventh and the Yankees trailed 3-2 in the ninth.  Mets closer Armando Benitez, known to Yankee fans for inciting a nasty brawl at Yankee Stadium in 1998 with the Orioles when he hit Tino Martinez in the back, took the mound to a chorus of boos and curses.  It worked as Benitez allowed the Yankees to score the tying run on Chuck Knoblauch’s sacrifice fly, and the game remained scoreless into the twelfth inning when Yankee second baseman Jose Vizcaino singled home Tino Martinez with the winning run.

          The drama from Game 1 carried over to Game 2 immediately, as Yankee starter Roger Clemens faced off against Mike Hampton.  Things got very heated right away when Clemens, who earlier in the year hit Mets catcher Mike Piazza in the head with a fastball, faced Piazza again in his first at-bat, and shattered his bat with an inside pitch that was fouled off.  The barrel of the bat caromed toward Clemens, who picked it up and threw at the feet of Piazza who was standing at the start of the first base line.  Piazza screamed back and the two exchanged heated words as both teams spilled from their dugouts to protect their players.  No punches were thrown, but this series became very personal and very weird. The Yankees scored the first six runs of the game and led 6-0 in the ninth, but the Mets rallied for five runs in their last at-bat, but fell short and lost 6-5 and they faced a 2-0 series deficit with it moving across the city to Queens.

In Game 3, the Mets broke open a 2-2 tie in the eighth when they scored twice, and eventually won 4-2 in front of their home crowd.  The loss ended the Yankees 14-game World Series winning streak, dating back to 1996.  In Game 4 the Yankees scored on the very first pitch as Derek Jeter belted a home run, and they scored once more in the next two innings as the three runs stood in a 3-2 win.  They now led the series 3-1. 

Jeter homered again in the sixth inning of Game 5 to tie the score at two, and the game remained tied into the top half of the ninth.  Mets started Al Leiter surrendered a two out single to Luis Sojo, and the throw from centerfield hit Jorge Posada in the back as he was sliding into home plate, and went into the Yankee dugout, allowing Scott Brosius to score the fourth run.  Yankee closer Mariano Rivera closed the game by getting Mike Piazza to fly out to deep center as the tying run, and New York had won their third straight World Series title to become the first team to three-peat since the Oakland Athletics from 1972-1974.

New York Wins 4-1

For the series, the Yankees outscored the Mets 19-16 and outhit them 47-40.  No current Hall of Famers played in the series.

Tomorrow:  2001 World Series – New York Yankees vs. Arizona Diamondbacks

Trivia

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

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

Answer:  Ty Cobb.  The Hall of Fame outfielder from the Detroit Tigers won the American League batting title 9 straight seasons from 1907 - 1915.

House Bet

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

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

Result:  Push.  Salazar pitched just 4 innings.

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).

Tampa Bay Bests Texas to Advance to Wildcard #2

Here’s your morning baseball briefing for Tuesday October 1, 2013:

Monday Results:

Tampa Bay 4, Texas 2

Tampa Bay pitcher David Price pitched a complete game, and third baseman Evan Longoria hit a two-run home run as the Rays won the play-in tiebreaker game in Texas, advancing to face Cleveland in the one game wildcard game, with the winner to face Boston. 

This is the first year Major League Baseball expanded the playoff teams to what they’re calling five teams, with a one-game wildcard (Wildcard #2) played before the League Division Series featuring the top four teams.  Everywhere I’ve read it’s written as Tampa Bay has made the playoffs, but the loser of their game with Cleveland on Wednesday goes home for the season, never having played a playoff series.  I don’t consider a one game play-in to be a series, and Webster’s dictionary defines it as a number of things, events, or people of a similar kind or related nature coming one after another.  So one game cannot be defined as a series, but somehow MLB history says it is.

The Cincinnati Reds play the Pittsburgh Pirates today in the National League Play-In game, or what MLB calls Wildcard Game #2.  The loser’s season is over, never having played a playoff series, so why will MLB history state they made the playoffs? 

Today’s Schedule (Times EST):

National League Play-In Game

8:00pm – Cincinnati Reds (Cueto 5-2) vs. Pittsburgh Pirates (Liriano 16-8)

News & Notes: 

The grievance to overturn Alex Rodriguez’s 211 game suspension began on Monday before arbitrator Frederic Horowitz.

History

1998 World Series – New York Yankees vs. San Diego Padres

          The American League champion New York Yankees cruised to a 22-game division win with a then record 114 regular season wins, advancing to their second World Series in three years, while San Diego won the National League to advance to their second World Series in franchise history, having lost to the Detroit Tigers in 1984.  1998 was also the first year that a city, San Diego, hosted both the Super Bowl and World Series in the same year.

          New York had home field advantage in the series, and San Diego battered Yankees’ pitcher David Wells for five runs in six innings in Game 1, with three of those runs coming off two Greg Vaughn home runs.  New York rallied in the seventh off the Padres bullpen, with second baseman Chuck Knoblauch’s three-run home run tying the game at five with more to come.  Later in the inning, first baseman Tino Martinez belted a grand slam home run off the right field upper deck façade that blew the game open and made the score 9-5.  New York hung on to win 9-6 to take a 1-0 series lead.

          The Bronx Bombers lived up to their name in Game 2 as outfielder Bernie Williams and catcher Jorge Posada each homered, leading New York to an easy 9-3 win, and inching the Yankees within two games of another World Series win.

          San Diego hosted Game 3 and the game remained scoreless into the sixth inning when the Padres scored three runs off Yankees starter David Cone.  New York came right back in the top of the seventh when third baseman Scott Brosius hit a two-run home run to make the score 3-2 San Diego, and Brosius flexed his muscles again in the eighth with a three-run home run that gave New York a 5-3 lead.  San Diego would score once in the ninth, but fell 5-4 and now trailed the series 3-0.

          In Game 4, Yankees starter Andy Pettitte tossed seven and a third shutout innings to outduel Padres starter Kevin Brown, and New York held a 3-0 lead in the ninth when closer Mariano Rivera came in to record the final three outs and end the series.  The Yankees swept the Padres in four straight games, winning their 24th World Series title in franchise history.

New York Wins 4-0

For the series, New York outscored San Diego 26-13 and outhit them 43-32.  Hall of Famers in the series included for the Yankees: None; and for the Padres: outfielder Tony Gwynn.

Tomorrow:  1999 World Series – New York Yankees vs. Atlanta Braves

Trivia

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

Yesterday’s Question:  Miguel Cabrera won his third consecutive American League batting title.  Who was the last player to win three consecutive American League batting titles?

Answer:  Wade Boggs, Boston Red Sox, who won four straight from 1985-1988.

House Bet

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

Yesterday:  Over/Under 7 strikeouts by Tampa Bay starter David Price vs. Texas.

Result:  Under.  Price struck out 4 in a complete game win.

Predictions (my pick highlighted)

Today:  Cincinnati vs. Pittsburgh

Playoff Overall:  1-0