Stranger Things

This post was originally supposed to be titled "Called It!", but as the World Series played out, it went from a strange series to even stranger by series end.

For all my readers, it may come as no secret that my favorite player in the game of baseball is Houston starting pitcher Justin Verlander. My favorite hitter in the game happens to be Jose Altuve. It was amazing to watch these two get put together in 2017 on their way to a World Series title.

So it should come as no surprise who I am rooting for to win the World Series in 2019.

I have been very vocal in who I want to win the World Series, and why not? Verlander is my favorite player, and I want the very best for him, and I want to see more of his great pitching in 2019 -- So rooting for him is a no-brainer.

I have been confident all year that they would end up representing the American League with a shot at their 2nd World Title in 3 seasons. I was confident that they would beat the New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series, I knew they would win, and I knew once again (like 2017) that it would be a dog fight.

So when they went down 2-0, I was hearing it from casual fans and haters, that the Astros were done, toast! I'm not going to lie, I felt a little sick to my stomach looking at the 0-2 deficit. This is a team that had been hitting poorly in the postseason, slumping, especially with runners in scoring position. So there was plenty of reason for most baseball fans to say that it was over....

but not me...

Here is a picture of my Facebook post, in the early morning hours of the Astros facing an 0-2 deficit...

My facebook post in early hours, just after Houston being in the series hole, 0-2.

... and for awhile, especially after the Astros won all three in Washington, outscoring them 19-3, I momentarily looked like a genius. I have made great predictions in the past, and just had so much faith in this Astros team that they would pull it off. 

This series has been strange on so many levels, I knew Houston could answer back, it was a matter of time, they have been overall lousy at the plate, and even worse with runners in scoring position... but they were bound to wake up. 

Now defeating Washington, 19-3 over three games?! I would never have expected that, and to be fair most of those runs probably came off the bullpen as the games slipped out of reach, because all those games were fairly close early on & even later.

So when the Astros knotted it up, I posted this meme I made (It only took 2 seconds to make, nothing special) ...

That was in response to what I was hearing after Game 2, but then they evened the series up. 

After Game 5, I couldn't believe all of the whining over the strike zone. It went both ways, although you would never have guessed that with all the Nats fans and Astros haters in full force. 

Here is the thing, I personally don't care for the square on my TV screen, let the umpires ump, it is never going to go to electronic home plate umpires -- so keep dreaming. I am with Mark DeRosa, a former hitter I might add, mentioned "You want the game to go faster, expand the strike zone." That's a good point, although I say let's also start the postseason games no later than 6-6:30 pm E.T. -- like the Super Bowl...

Just saying, you wonder why football is winning & why an entire generation not growing up with your sport. That would definitely be a start in the right direction...

but back to the strike zone, people were making a big deal that Gerrit Cole was benefiting more than Joe Ross from the strike zone. In a lot of ways, he was, because that's what the great, experienced veterans do, they adjust, they keep making the right pitch later, even if they don't get it earlier. Cole's nasty stuff will be harder to call, while Ross' stuff is plain in comparison. 

Another example, although he pitched it down main street is Mark Langston. The San Diego Padres' Langston pitched a ball down the middle to Tino Martinez in the 1998 World Series, and it wasn't called a strike (it definitely should have, but it wasn't), Langston still has a chance to make the adjustment, has a chance to make the right pitch, but then Tino clobbered it to right, and the rest is history.

There is winners such as Gerrit Cole, and then there are losers like Mark Langston. The difference between a winner & loser, is making the right pitch, and the timely pitch. Joe Ross put on a good face, knew he wasn't the first choice going out to the mound that day (due to Max Scherzer being scratched from the start), his fans gave him the support he needed....

but he was at a huge mismatch from the start, he was up against Cole. The sad truth is that you could add Joe's brother Tyson to the equation, and you might, might have a decent starting pitcher... I know that's harsh, but just trying to make people understand how much Ross was in over his head, and to be honest I thought he did as great as job as he possibly could.

Cole put Houston up 3-2, but his number would not be called again.

I also want to be on record that balls and strikes have never decided a series. Miscalls at first base (Jorge Orta safe at first, 1985)? Definitely. First basemen physically pulling off baserunners (Kent Hrbek & Ron Gant)? Sure... and managers pulling pitchers (Matt Williams pulling Jordan Zimmermann) too early? Well, of course! Back in the day, I blamed an expanded strike zone for Livan Hernandez as the sole reason for the Braves' demise in 1997... but truth be told, the Braves had other opportunities to finish the Marlins.

Like Ryan Zimmerman mentioned after the game, "Lance (Barksdale) didn't cost us the game", mentioning that Cole defeated them. 

Luckily, for the Nationals & their fans, they didn't dwell on Game 5 and powered forward.

When they won Game 6, I will admit my confidence in the Astros winning it, actually was at a postseason low. I had a feeling that they missed their chance, and Game 7 would play out the same way....

Early runs, then nothing, and late-game heroics. 

It was the same broken record the Astros have been playing all postseason long. It was odd, if Houston was able to play their game, they would be the World Champs today, but many of their hitters were cold. Jose Altuve completely disappeared, Alex Bregman was taking way too many pitches, being too selective & Carlos Correa was feast or famine.

When the Nationals won Game 6, it was the 6th time that the road team won during the series, before that, it never happened before in the major sports leagues. So for me, who was rooting for Houston, thought that the laws of averages certainly had to balance out...

In this series? Nothing has been normal about it.

Game 7 was bizarre in its own right. I think heading into the game, people believed that Max Scherzer will certainly out-pitch Zack Greinke... but Greinke came in dealing, which to be honest, I sensed he was starting to do better as the postseason moved on, he did have a good outing in New York against the Yankees and that Yankees' aura.

But the shocker came when A.J. Hinch took Zack out for Will Harris, who Hinch said prior to the game that Harris was probably looking at a night off, that Harris was beyond tired. Plus not to mention, Cole was available in the pen. Now I hope in the long run, that Houston fans don't blame Harris, he was having an excellent postseason prior to Game 6, and the Astros may not have got past the Yankees if it were not for some solid timely outs by Harris himself. But a long delay in Game 6 over the controversial Trea Turner interference play and over-usage would be his downfall.

Some people might say, well Greinke did give up a home run, to cut the game down from 2-0 to 2-1, but the overall reaction and the gut feeling I had was Greinke made a simple mistake and was very likely going to get out of it. He had 68 pitches or something like that? Had a couple single digit innings in pitch counts?! Who does that? I don't think Cole or Verlander recorded an inning that series with less than 10 pitches (maybe I'm wrong).

Anthony Rendon, a Houston native, who grew up loving the Astros -- not to mention local college hero, leading Rice to a College World Series championship, would be one of the daggers to Houston's chance at declaring themselves a dynasty. The other was Howie Kendrick, when that ball hit the right field pole, I knew at that moment the whole entire game was over... it mind as well have been a walk-off, you could literally hear the heartbreaks of millions of Houston fans. 

Strasburg was solid in Game 6 & series, earning MVP honors.

Stephen Strasburg becomes the 3rd pitcher to win 5 games in a single postseason, while the city of Washington got to celebrate their first world title in 95 years. Montreal Expos' faithful fans get to finally celebrate in their own strange way, but with this series, strange is the new norm, and now for the first time and possibly the only time (or at least in our foreseeable future, because we'll all be dead), a road team has now won all 7 road games.

After this series, I am not sure if stranger things can happen.

Scherzer & Sanchez finally get a ring after falling short in together in Detroit.

1992 Alternate Season - World Series Conclusion (OOTP)

John Smoltz of the Atlanta Braves.

GAME 6 (at Minnesota)

The Braves' John Smoltz faces off against the Twins' Kevin Tapani. The game has not started as like Smoltz has planned, loading up the bases with runners Chuck Knoblauch (walk), Marty Cordova (hit by pitch) and Chili Davis (single to right) for their star player Kirby Puckett. Puckett hits one to the third baseman Terry Pendleton, who makes a diving stop, but is not able to make a play anywhere as Knoblauch scores & gives Minnesota a 1-0 lead. Smoltz continues his 1st inning slide, by walking Kent Hrbek, another run crosses the plate & his pitch count is already at 25 pitches with no outs. Brian Harper narrowly beats out the double play bid, as Hrbek is out at second, Davis crosses the plate to give Minnesota, a 3-0 lead.

Bobby Cox visits mound early, and chats with Smoltz, hopefully he can settle down & not let this game get away in a hurry. Smoltz against Greg Gagne, throws a wild pitch as Puckett scores from third. Smoltz would momentarily find a groove as he strikes out both Gagne & Pedro Munoz to get out of the 1st inning... but not before the Twins put a four-spot on the scoreboard.

Smoltz would settle down the next two innings, but after giving up two walks in the bottom of the 4th to Greg Gagne & Pedro Munoz, the Braves decided to go to the pen in favor of Charlie Leibrandt. Smoltz pitches 3.2 innings, while throwing 84 pitches in such a short ugly stretch, allowing an uncharacteristic 5 walk. Chuck Knoblauch scores in two (off of Leibrandt) with a triple, with the Twins making this game pretty lopsided early on, 6-0. Marty Cordova would make it back-to-back triples as the Braves are down, 7-0.

A solo HR by Sid Bream & RBI single by Terry Pendleton, puts a small chink into the Twins' armor during the top of the 5th.

The Braves just couldn't keep up, down 12-3 during the top of the 9th, with two outs, and Otis Nixon at the plate against Willie Banks, the game would end on a 5-4 force at second...

The Minnesota Twins complete the repeat! 

This series will look back at the Game 2 meltdown, which witnessed the Twins coming back from a Major League World Series record of 8 runs down in the bottom of the 9th, to win Game 2, with the score of 10-9. The Braves were up 7-0 after 4 innings in that game. The Braves' bullpen in Games 2 & 3 combined, allowed 15 runs during the 8th & 9th innings alone... which makes Braves fans sick to their stomachs.

Brian Harper was named the 1992 World Series Most Valuable Player, while batting .417 (10-for-24), .986 OPS with 5 RBI in the series, while Marty Cordova (.348, HR & 5 RBI / 1.009 OPS) & Chuck Knoblauch (.375, 4 RBI & 1.006 OPS) both had great series as well; They did all without Kirby Puckett's bat (.208 AVG, 5 RBI).

Off to the off-season....

1992 Alternate Season: Down to Atlanta (OOTP18)

The 1992 World Series travels down to Atlanta, as the Atlanta Braves look to rebound from a Game 2 that at one point looked like a sure win (7 innings in) that transformed into a total collapse; The pen allowed 9 hits & 9 runs in the last 2 innings. The game's collapse also ruined an excellent performance by veteran Charlie Leibrandt, who allowed only 3 hits through 7 innings of work.

GAME 3 (at Atlanta)

Smiley: 42 wins, past two seasons.

Tonight's Game 3 match-up is between Atlanta's John Smoltz (17-9, 2.72 ERA & 218 K) and Minnesota's John Smiley (22-4, 2.73 ERA, 193 K & 7.1 WAR); Smoltz was 3rd in wins & strikeouts, while Smiley has now accumulated 42 wins the last two seasons, leading the N.L. in 1991 for the Pirates & leading the A.L. this season for the Twins.

Otis Nixon got things started early for the Braves with a lead-off triple during the bottom of the 1st, he would score a few batters later, as Terry Pendleton grounded to second, thrown out at first. During the second inning, the Braves would leave the bases loaded, runs are going to be hard to come by, with Smiley & Smoltz on the mound in this one.

Still clinging onto a 1-0 lead during the bottom of the 7th, the Braves decide to pinch-hit Lonnie Smith for John Smoltz; Smoltz had 93 pitches & was tired at this point, he possibly could have gone one more inning for me, but I chose to go with Lonnie at the plate. Smith would collect his 8th hit in 16 at-bats this postseason, while he also has 1 HR & 6 RBI as well.

I decide to go with Charlie Leibrandt in the 8th inning, and he surrenders two quick singles to pinch-hitter Matt Lawton & second baseman Chuck Knoblauch. I quickly made another pitching change, and went with Greg McMicheal to face Kirby Puckett -- Puckett makes him pay, with a two-run double to the left-center gap. Twins now lead, 2-1, with no outs.

The bullpen's execution in both Games 2 & 3 for the Braves have been awful!

McMichael would continue to walk Kent Hrbek, and then would allow a single to the Game 2 walk-off hero, Brian Harper... Bases loaded, no outs. I decided to still with McMicheal, since his postseason numbers have been great, and he walks Marty Cordova, walking in the run. I go to the pen again & call on Mike Stanton to face Chili Davis, Stanton rewards me with that move, by also walking in a run. The Braves would finally record an out, as Pedro Munoz grounded to third, and was thrown out at first, but another run scores, making it 4-1, with runners on 2nd & 3rd. Dante Bichette would hit a sac fly to right, scoring in another run. Stanton would end the bleeding, by striking out Matt Lawton, who kicked off this inning.

What a nightmare!

John Smiley is done for the day, going 7 strong innings, with 4 K, while allowing 6 hits & a walk... Gary Wayne comes in and shuts the door on the Braves with 2 strong innings of relief.

The Braves now trail the series, when it really should be 2-1 in Braves favor, the Braves have to be kicking themselves right now.

Another quick note on Smiley, his 1992 postseason record is 3-0, with a 1.66 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, with 11 K in 21.2 innings (3 starts).

GAME 4 (at Atlanta)

The Braves send their southpaw Tom Glavine (15-8, 2.81 ERA) against the surprising Twins rookie Brad Radke (12-9, 3.30) -- Will he continue to surprise, or will his inexperience show against these Braves? The Braves will need every break they can get at this point, after two bad performances by their bullpen.

Things start off sloppy for the Braves, as Tom Glavine surrenders a lead-off double to Chuck Knoblauch. In his match-up against Kirby Puckett, he would throw a wild pitch, that would advance Knoblauch to third -- with Puckett eventually drawing a walk. Two batters later, Brian Harper would knock in Knoblauch, while Puckett advances to second on Harper's RBI single. Kent Hrbek and Greg Gagne would collect RBI singles, to make it, 3-0 Twins after the top of the 1st.

Terry Pendleton's RBI single in the bottom of the 1st, helps keep the Braves within reach.

Bottom of the 2nd, Mark Lemke leads off with a double, followed by a walk to Dave Valle. The Braves' starting pitcher Tom Glavine helps his own cause with an RBI double into the right-center gap, as Valle holds at third; Braves trail 3-2, with runners on 2nd & 3rd with no outs. Brad Radke gets a much-needed strike out against Otis Nixon, while Chipper Jones flies to center, with Valle taking no chance on Kirby Puckett's arm. Batting .280 with runners in scoring position, Terry Pendleton knocks in Valle on a single to right, tying the game at 3-3. Radke gets Dave Justice to fly to right to finish the inning.

Top of the 3rd - Brian Harper leads off the inning with a double, he would eventually score on a Pedro Munoz sac fly to right, giving back the lead to Minnesota, 4-3.

Bottom of the 3rd - Brad Radke strikes out the side in Sid Bream, Deion Sanders & Mark Lemke, as he appears to be settling in.

Bichette delivers lethal hit against Atlanta.

Innings later, top of the 7th, Braves' reliever Juan Berenguer plunks Brian Harper with a pitch, walks Kent Hrbek. With one out, the Twins call on lefty Matt Lawton to pinch-hit, the Braves counter with a southpaw in Kent Mercker; Lawton flies to right for the 2nd out. Mercker walks Pedro Munoz to load the bases, as the Twins send up Dante Bichette; Bichette makes Mercker pay with bases-clearing triple, to give the Twins a comfortable 7-3 lead.

Dave Justice tries to keep the Braves' hopes alive with solo HR off of Twins' reliever Bill Krueger during the bottom of the 7th.

Bottom of the 9th, Twins call on their closer Rick Aguilera. Chipper Jones leads off with a single to right. Thought about hit & run, and swung away with Terry Pendleton as he hits it to the second baseman & gets the force at second, if I did hit & run, I would probably have a runner at second in Jones, instead of a runner at first in Pendleton, with one out. Aguilera would get Justice to fly out & Bream to ground out, as the Twins now own a 3-1 lead, with the Braves on the brink of elimination.

GAME 5 (at Atlanta)

Steve Avery with Bobby Cox prior to start.

Desperation is in the air for the Braves, as they decide to bench struggling Sid Bream (.205 AVG & .250 OBP) in favor to get Lonnie Smith's bat into the lineup, with Lonnie playing first. Deion Sanders' bat has been hot the last few games, and he will stay in left. Lonnie is batting .500 with a HR & 6 RBI in 18 at-bats this postseason, as his career postseason numbers have him batting .302, 4 HR & 17 RBI with a .801 OPS in 205 at-bats -- He has played 42 playoff games for the Phillies, Cardinals, Royals & Braves.

The pitching match-up is between playoff stud Steve Avery of the Braves & Twins' Scott Erickson, who has not been great in the playoffs (Career: 0-2 with 4.62 ERA). The Braves' goal is to provide offense to keep Avery out there, and to keep the pen sitting.

Brian Harper's RBI double during the top of the 3rd broke the game's short scoring drought, to give the Twinkies a 1-0 lead... while the Braves answered back with a RBI sac fly by Dave Justice, tying the game up.

Greg Gagne led off 4th inning with a triple & would score on Dante Bichette's sac fly. Once again, Atlanta literally matches Minnesota with lead-off triple by Deion Sanders, who scores on a sac fly by Dave Valle.

With a 2-2 tie entering the 5th, the game has not gone exactly great for Steve Avery so far, who has shown that he's human in this one, allowing 7 hits & a walk, the first 4 innings.

The Twins' starter Scott Erickson did his part by allowing only 2 runs, 6 hits & 2 walks, with 3 strikeouts in 6 innings of work; Gary Wayne comes in to take over during the bottom of the 7th.

Chipper: The kid delivers huge two-run single.

Wayne would allow a lead-off single to Mark Lemke, while the Braves decide to keep Steve Avery (who has settled down the last 3 innings) in the game, as he successfully lays down a sacrifice bunt to move Lemke over to second. Otis Nixon draws the one-out walk, putting runners on both 1st & 2nd for Chipper Jones at the plate; A wild pitch by Wayne during the at-bat, advances the runners to 2nd & 3rd. Jones hits two-run single to left, Braves take 4-2 lead.

That would be it for Wayne, as reliever Mark Guthrie comes in to face Terry Pendleton; Pendleton delivers single to left, runners on 1st & 2nd, still one out. Guthrie strikes out Dave Justice for out number two, with Lonnie Smith nearly knocking one out to deep center, but Kirby Puckett was at the warning track to end the inning.

Top of the 8th, after lead-off single to Kirby Puckett, Deion Sanders makes diving catch in foul territory on a ball hit by Marty Cordova; Sanders is injured in the process, as Lonnie Smith will move to his natural position of left field to take Sanders' spot, and Sid Bream will come in to play first. Brian Harper hits into a 6-4-3 double play and ends the inning.

Bottom of the 8th - Dave Valle hits one-out single to right, Mark Lemke bunts Valle over to second, for the 2nd out. Braves make tough decision and pinch-hit for Steve Avery, who only had 82 pitches under his belt (but his health meter in Out of the Park had him in the red / really tired) -- So Braves will call on Ryan Klesko, so far, 0-for-5 this postseason (5-for-9 during the season) in pinch-hitting duty. Klesko grounds out to finish the inning.

The Braves will call on southpaw Mike Stanton, who has fared better than some of the other Atlanta relievers of late, as he will face lefty Kent Hrbek; Hrbek draws a lead-off walk. Greg Gagne strikes out for the 1st out. Stanton walks the tying run with Pedro Munoz on 1st, while Bobby Cox goes out to the mound & calls on Greg McMicheal, the Braves only need two outs, a double play would get them out of this inning & secure a much-needed win. Chili Davis flies to right, with the runners staying put. It all comes down to Matt Lawton, he lines it to Terry Pendleton who makes a diving catch on the third base line, a few inches further to his left, and that ball was going to the left field corner.

Braves win, and will live to play another day! This series goes back to Minnesota. The Game 6 starters will be John Smoltz (Braves) & Kevin Tapani (Twins).

1992 Alternate Season - 91' World Series Rematch!

The Atlanta Braves would find themselves against the Minnesota Twins, once again. A year later, after what may be arguably the best World Series of all-time (1991) -- a season which both teams found themselves transitioning from last to 1st in a single-season.

The Braves will send out Steve Avery (19-9, 2.76 ERA) to face Scott Erickson of the Twins (15-9, 3.51 ERA)... This game alone, makes me think about 'what could have been' when it came to Avery's career; Avery led my the National League with 19 wins in this alternate 1992 season.

Avery in real-life, went 47-25 during a three-year stretch (1991-1993) with a 3.17 ERA, 391 K, 1.199 WHIP in 667.1 combined innings. He was only 21-to-23 years of age, during this stretch, in which he also sported a 122 ERA+... and although he would have a couple huge moments in the 1995 playoffs (Game 4 - NLCS vs Cincinnati & Game 4 of the World Series vs. Cleveland), 1994 was the beginning on the end, a derailed career due to a 1994 arm injury.

I still have his 1989 Topps Rookie Card to this day, which is actually (although not worth anything) one of my favorite Baseball rookie cards that I own; He is pictured in his Kennedy High School (Taylor, Michigan -- just southwest of Dearborn) uniform. It was one of those cards that you would believe that this could be you someday, I was a 12 year-old when I pulled this card out of the pack.

Back to the project now...

GAME 1 (at Minnesota)

The Metrodome will host Game 1 of this highly-anticipated match-up, with two key injuries on both sides, Ron Gant (.261, 29 HR, 96 RBI & 32 steals) of the Braves, torn his meniscus (during Game 5 of the NLCS) and will be out for the remainder of the postseason, while Shane Mack (.338, 26 HR, 127 RBI & 13 steals) of the Twins, will likely miss the World Series as well with a hamstring strain. Tony Tarasco was added to the playoff roster for Atlanta in Gant's place.

All was quiet the first few innings until Lonnie Smith, the designated hitter, smacked a three-run HR (off Erickson), following a throwing error by Twins' third baseman Marty Cordova on the previous play (all in the 4th Inning).

Minnesota would not collect their first hit, until 3.2 innings through, with a single to center by Cordova.

In a humorous moment, after a Chili Davis single, Kent Hrbek successfully laid down a bunt (in the 5th), and moved Davis up to second -- none of it paid off as the Twins still trailed, 3-0.

Things got interesting in the bottom of the 8th, as Chuck Knoblauch batted in Pedro Munoz on a two-out double off-the-wall in deep center, trailing the Braves by only two runs (3-1); Knoblauch smacked the double off of setup man Greg McMichael, who came in after the one-out walk that Munoz drew from Avery. The Braves decided to intentionally walk Kirby Puckett, and face the aggressive Marty Cordova, who is known to swing at bad pitches; Cordova ends up hitting into a force to end the inning.

Bottom of the 9th, the Braves call on their closer Alejandro Pena, who closed 40 of 47 save opportunities this season. Brian Harper leads off with a single to center. Chili Davis hits into a fielder's choice, as Harper is out at second... which made me scratch my head, why did they not pinch-run for the slow Harper instead, in a game that runs are hard to come by. Pena walks Kent Hrbek, and now there are runners (slow runners I might add) on 1st & 2nd with one out... We need the Braves to get the Twins to hit into a game-ending double play here.

The Twins call on pinch-hitter, lefty Matt Lawton (.358, 3 HR & 27 RBI in 190 AB); Lawton, like Brad Radke, got his MLB debut three years early. I'm calling on my lefty Kent Mercker (5-2, 2 SV, 1.24 ERA, 1.24 WHIP & 62 K's in 73.1 innings) who had an amazing season for the Braves, his real big flaw is the walk (35 BB).

Lawton does what I was hoping for, by hitting into a 4-6-3 double play... Braves win a nail-biter!

Lonnie Smith just loves playing these Twins in the World Series, he hit 3 home runs in the 1991 World Series, and added another one tonight. Steve Avery wins another playoff game (2-0), striking out 4, while only allowing 4 hits in 7.1 innings; His 1992 postseason has been outstanding so far, with a 1.71 ERA in 21 innings, with 12 K's.

Avery's career postseason (1991-1992) is a notch better: 4-0, 1.61 ERA, 37 K & 8 BB in 50.1 innings, with a 0.95 WHIP, 250 ERA+ & 1.9 WAR.

GAME 2 (at Minnesota)

The Twinkies will have to bounce back after a tough loss that watched their team struggle to collect 6 hits, and were still within reach to tie or win the game at the end... only to still lose the game.

The Braves will be sending out southpaw Charlie Leibrandt (13-11, 4.27 ERA) to face off against Kevin Tapani (18-7, 3.94 ERA). Both teams head out with the same lineups; Lonnie Smith is batting .500 (5-for-10, HR & 4 RBI) in limited play this postseason, as he was the difference maker along with Steve Avery in Game 1.

Now it's Game 2, the board has been cleared off, new script...

The Braves' Chipper Jones starts things off quickly, by smacking a deep two-run homer to right-center; Jones has filled in nicely at short for the injured Jeff Blauser (Blauser is out for the remainder of the season). Chipper batted .294 with 2 HR & 30 RBI in 265 at-bats, his rookie year.

Terry Pendleton followed with a single, while Dave Justice draws a walk, all with no outs for Sid Bream, but the Twins eventually get out of what could have been a huge inning.

Top of the 3rd, with runners on 1st & 2nd, two outs -- Lonnie Smith strikes again, with an two-run double (scoring in Justice), Dave Valle would hit in Smith, to make it 5-0 Braves.

Meanwhile, while the Atlanta Braves have 7 hits through 3 innings, the Minnesota Twins are struggling to collect hits, with one.

Top of the 4th - Chipper Jones collects his 3rd hit, a lead-off double, to go along with a single & home run (a triple away from the cycle). Sid Bream would drive in Jones on a two-out double, as Deion Sanders would add to the Atlanta hit parade (single), driving in Bream, giving the Braves a commanding 7-0 lead.

Bottom of the 4th - Marty Cordova would hit out a Leibrandt mistake-pitch to put a run on the board.

This game would be the tale of two games...

Charlie Leibrandt had good stuff, and allowed only 3 hits (2 hits by Cordova) through 7 innings of work, with 3 K's. The Twins appeared to have been shut down for a second consecutive night, the Twins would score a cheap run in the bottom of the 8th, trailing 8-2; Atlanta would add an insurance run (which didn't seem necessary) in the top of the 9th, to give the Braves a 9-2 lead.

Bottom of the 9th, seemed normal, I decided to give Marvin Freeman some work, he allowed a hit, and had two outs recorded. I decided to give Mike Bielecki some work, and although he was allowing some hits, I never thought it would become a problem, I was one out away. Called in Alejandro Pena, no cigar, before I knew it... Marty Cordova delivered a game-tying two-out, two-run double, setting up Brian Harper's walk-off single.

A total collapse of the bullpen, allowing 9 hits & 9 runs in two innings!

Atlanta could be returning home to Atlanta with a 2-0 series lead, but it's tied up now at 1-1.

Harper: Walk-off hero in bizarre game.

1982 NXPL Showdown: Tigers vs Cardinals

My 1982 Detroit Tigers are World Series bound -- We will be playing the Cardinals soon. The league is called the NXPL (No Expansion Professional League), with 20 total teams (10 in A.L. / 10 in N.L.) -- League Pennant Winners only advance like old days, it's been a fun league (BBW) to be part of, with 20 different owners (including myself).

Lance Parrish was my team MVP, batting .295 with 34 HR & 100 RBI, slowed down a bit the second-half while Ben Oglivie and Jason Thompson improved as the season went on.

My big 3 in pitching (actually I should say 4, giving Jerry Udjar's one-year wonder season some props, plus he pitched a no-no) -- Mario Soto, Joaquin Andujar & Dan Petry have had solid seasons.

Cardinals stats below....

This is a keepers league, and we'll have Tom Seaver bouncing back in 1983 -- this staff will be solid for a few years at least until 1986 or so, with Walt Terrell coming on as 5th starter.

Here are the stats, wish me luck!