Jeter's 2 errors let '61 Yanks escape with win

A game that started as a pitcher's duel between the '01 and '61 Yankees came to life in the bottom of the 4th frame.  The inning started with a Mickey Mantle walk, '01 Yanks pitcher Mike Mussina jumping out to a 0-2 count before attempting to nibble the corners and eventually losing Mantle.  A Yogi Berra single would score Mantle and a Bill Skowron base hit followed by a Bobby Richardson double would cap the 2-run inning.

The '01 Yanks would show they can capitalize on opportunities as well in the top half of the next inning.  Scott Brosius would homer off of '61 Yankee pitcher Bill Stafford, in-and-out of the outstretched glove of Maris, who played the ball wonderfully but could not secure the ball before his arm was jarred against the top of the wall.  Maris was applauded for his effort.  However, the inning would continue as Mussina hit safely and lead off man Chuck Knoblauch reached on an error by Richardson, who was unable to transfer the ball to his throwing hand.  Derek Jeter would hit his second single of the day to score Mussina.  Bernie Williams would double to clear the bases and bring the '01 Yankee lead to 4-2.

The bottom of the 5th would see the '61 club pull one run closer with the first of Jeter's costly errors.  Back-to-back singles by Elston Howard and Mantle were followed by a scorcher from Maris that took a bad hop on Jeter and would ricochet off of his glove and into the outfield.  The return of the '01 Yankees offensive struggles against Stafford set the stage for the bottom of the 8th when the inning led off with another Skowron single.  Clete Boyer would single and pinch hitter John Blanchard would also single, scoring Skowron and tying the game.  With only one out Tony Kubek would send a ball up the middle for an apparent easy double play and an escape of the inning.  Jeter would field the ball cleanly but would send a weak flip behind second baseman Alfonso Soriano, allowing Boyer to score what would be the winning run.

"Those are plays that need to be made and I didn't make them today" said a dejected Jeter after the game.  The two errors were part of three that were made by the team and with the offense struggling those are mental errors that can not happen.  "The guys in the top and bottom of the order are getting it done.  It's our job as the heart of the lineup to bring them home,"  Tino Martinez, who along with Paul O'Neill and Jorge Posada would go 0-11 with one walk.

"I think it goes to show the will to win in this clubhouse.  We play hard everyday and because of that we never feel out of a game,"  Mickey Mantle, 1-4  2 strikeouts and 1 run, would say of his team.  This would be the team's fourth comeback victory of the year while improving to a 6-3 record.  The '01 Yankees team would drop their seventh game of the year and move to 2-7 overall.

WP : Bill Stafford
LP : Mike Mussina
S : Luis Arroyo

Team		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
'01 New York Yankees		0	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	0		4	10	3
'61 New York Yankees		0	0	0	2	1	0	0	2	X		5	10	1

Dodgers fight off relentless Giants to win in extra innings

In the second game at Ebbets field between the Brooklyn Dodgers and San Fransisco Giants both teams would put on a show.  The lefty Billy Pierce (0-1) would go for the Giants against a hot Billy Loes (2-0) for the Dodgers.  The Giants would start the scoring early when Jim Gilliam, a switch hitter batting righthanded, fought off a tough breaking ball with a full count through the hole between second and first.  With the next pitch by Pierce, Gilliam would take off for second and sneak in under the Jose Pagan tag.  Two grounders to short later, Roy Campanella, who finished 3-5 with two doubles on the day, would single.  Gilliam, who was running on contact, scored easily and the Dodgers took the 1-0 lead.

The third inning saw more action.  The pitcher Peirce led off with a double, and showing surprising speed would score on a Harvey Kuenn single.  After a liner to Gilliam was snagged, Mays would ground weakly to Loes who sailed the throw to first over Gil Hodges head.  With Mays on first and Orlando Cepeda working the count, Mays would steal his second base of season and set up an RBI opportunity for Cepeda, who would deliever with another single.  Already with two runs in the inning and two outs, Felipe Alou would blast a ball deep into the left field stands and the Giants would take the lead 4-1.

The Dodgers would climb back into the game.  In the 6th inning the second Campenella double of the day was cashed in with a Carl Furillo triple.  Furillo would score on a screaming groundball from Billy Cox that was to deep in the firstbase hole for Cepeda to make a play at home.  Then in the 7th, with Loes set to leadoff the inning, Bobby Morgan would come in to pinch hit and single just in front of an oncoming Kuenn in left.  Jackie Robinson would then single with one out, moving Morgan to third.  Duke Snider followed up with his only hit of the day, a two RBI single.

This game was far from over.  Felipe Alou in the bottom of the 8th would connect for his second homerun of the day, another bomb into left, to tie the game.  Then in the 9th, the pitcher Billy Pierce would hit an unassuming ball that would continue to sail right over the fence, and just like that the Giants had retaken the lead.  The Dodgers weren't without last inning heroics.  Pinch hitter George Shuba would jump all over a Pierce changeup and put it way over the fence in right.

In extras, Willie Mays led off with a double in the top half of the tenth only to be stranded by his teammates.  While in the bottom half of the inning the combination of Furillo, Cox and Pee Wee Reese linked for three straight singles off of relief pitcher Stu Miller to claim the win for the Dodgers.

The Dodgers improved to a league best 6-2 and the Giants fell to 3-5.
WP : Jim Hughes
LP : Stu Miller

Team		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	R	H	E
Giants		0	0	4	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	6	10	0
Dodgers		1	0	0	0	0	2	2	0	1	1	7	14	1

Palmer stymies Cards for first win of season

The winless Orioles faced to tough test in Day 11 of the season by going to St. Louis to take on a Cardinals team that has been playing very good baseball of late.  The Cardinals come into this series tied for first at 5-1 and leading the league in runs scored.  However, Baltimore ace, Jim Palmer, would take the mound for the third time this year and would show why he won 20 games last year.

The O's would strike first when in the top of the 4th inning Boog Powell singled up the middle with two outs.  Davey Johnson followed up with line drive homerun that just hooked inside the right field foul pole.  Then in the 7th they would rally, starting with a lead off double by Ellie Hendricks, who would score when Mark Belanger singled over Pepper Martin's head and down the third base line.  Palmer, who was on cruise control, was not pinch-hit for and grounded into a double-play but the top of the O's lineup would come through.  Lead-off man Merv Rettenmund singled in between short and third and was followed by a gapper into right field by Paul Blair, scoring Rettenmund.

That would be all the scoring Baltimore needed with Palmer pitching his best game of the young season.  St. Louis, who had threatened early in the game, came up short thanks to timely strikeouts (Palmer finished with seven) and routine groundballs that the solid Oriole infield ate up all day.  The Cards would finally get on the board in the bottom of the 7th, after Virgil Davis would start with a leadoff double, Leo Durocher would single with a hotshot back up the middle, glancing off of Palmers glove and into the outfield.  Durocher would score on the play but pinch hitter Bill DeLancey would strikeout and player/coach/lead-off hitter Frankie Frisch would ground to short to end the inning.  St. Louis would only muster one hit in the last two innings as Palmer finished for the complete game, his second of the year.

The O's moved to 1-6 on the year while the Cards drop to 5-2.
WP: Jim Palmer (1-1)
LP: Tex Carleton (1-1)

Team		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Orioles		0	0	0	2	0	0	2	0	0		4	9	0
Cardinals		0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0		1	9	0

To The Season!

It should be of note that I have started this season prior to the start of this blog.  The idea of this blog has rejuvenated my desire to play this season and I am hoping to finish the season in a month or two.  Having only completed 10 days of the 48 total days in the season there is still a long way to go and no one has missed out on the drama of a pennant race!  So without much further ado, I'll post the standings as they are currently and the next post will be actual games. Enjoy!

2009 Strat-o-matic Sportswriter's League Standings
Team		W	L	PCT	GB	RS	RA
1934 St. Louis Cardinals		5	1	0.833	-	42	23
1953 Brooklyn Dodgers		5	1	0.833	-	40	31
1961 New York Yankees		4	2	0.667	1	21	18
1962 San Fransisco Giants		2	4	0.333	3	30	37
2001 New York Yankees		2	4	0.333	3	26	44
1971 Baltimore Orioles		0	6	0.000	5	20	26

Meet The Teams

2001 New York Yankees

The 2001 Yanks are probably the team I relate to most of the teams in the season.  I grew up hearing those names: Bernie Williams, Paul O'Neill and of course Derek Jeter.  These names were big for good reason.  Having won three straight World Series titles, the '01 Yanks found themselves in the Fall Classic again.  Clemens was dominate, going 20-3 and winning the American League Cy Young award.  Andy Pettitte and Mike Mussina also had quality years.  The offense, however, was unreal.  Only four regulars in the lineup had under 20 homeruns! They were led by Tino Martinez who hit 34.  The Yankees struggled somewhat in the regular season, only winning 95 games, but still finishing 13.5 games ahead of the Boston Red Sox in the division.  In the playoffs, the Yanks would win the Divisional Series 3-2 over the Oakland Athletics and would go on to play the Seattle Mariners, winners of 116 games, in the ALCS.  The Yankees handled the Mariners with ease, taking the series 4-1 and would look to become World Series Champions four years in a row.  The series would go to game 7, where one of the most memorable moments for me as a young up-and-coming baseball fan would occur.  Luis Gonzalez hitting a blooper over the shortstop off of Mariano Rivera in the bottom of the 9th inning and the madness that ensued.  Some claim this year to be the end of the Yankees dynasty, however, having won the World Series in 2009 and with the look of their team going into 2010 they might have spoken to soon.

Meet The Teams, cont.

1971 Baltimore Orioles

One word could accurately describe the 1971 O's : pitching.  With already three 20 game winners from their Championship campaign the previous year, the addition of Pat Dobson from the San Diego Padres made an already very strong staff into one of the best staffs, top to bottom, in history.  At the end of the season the team would have four 20 game winners, which no team has done since.  In fact, the starting rotation was so strong the manager, Earl Weaver, only used four starters throughout the season.  Something unheard of today.  The O's lineup was no slouch either, boasting two Hall of Famers, Brooks and Frank Robinson (no relation) and fan favorite (if maybe just for his name) Boog Powell.  While not the focal point on the team, the Orioles were second in the league in runs and well above the league average in homeruns, largely due to a weak offensive year from all of Major League Baseball.  Regardless, the O's went 101-57 in '71 and swept the ALCS against the Oakland Athletics.  Only to meet the Pittsburgh Pirates, and the buzzsaw that was Roberto Clemente, in the 1971 World Series.  The Orioles lost in 7 and failed to become repeat champions while Clemente sealed his place in baseball history.  Baltimore would continue to contend in years after this but with 1971 being a good balance between stars that would fade and the dominant pitching they make for an intriguing team.

Meet The Teams, cont.

1962 San Fransisco Giants

After winning the 1954 World Series as the New York Giants, the Giants franchise entered a miserable period in their storied history, never winning more than 85 games in a season.  Seemingly from nowhere the 1962 Giants exploded for 103 wins, still the most post-dead ball era for the franchise.  The team would feature five All-Stars and two young Hall of Famers in the making, Willie McCovey and Juan Marichal, but at the heart of the lineup were two Hall of Famers at the height of their game.  Orlando Cepeda's production tapered off slightly from the previous year but still posted excellent numbers (35 HR, 114 RBIs, .306 BA) and Willie Mays, who is, with out a doubt, on the short-list for best player of all time.  Mays would put up some of the best power numbers of his lengthy career (49 HR and 141 RBIs) while also hitting .304 and stealing 18 bases.  The '62 team was very balanced, quality players up and down the lineup as well as having four 15 game winners on the mound.

Yet even after winning 103 games they found themselves tied with the hated Los Angeles Dodgers.  A three game playoff was played to decide who would play the New York Yankees in the World Series.  The Giants would take care of business in the playoff just to see their improbable run end at the hands of the Yankees 1960 dynasty in seven games, losing a classic game, 1-0 in game 7 of the series...

In the bottom of the 9th, with the Giants down one run, pinch-hitter Matty Alou, batting for relief pitcher Billy O'Dell, led off the inning with a bunt base hit after first having a foul ball dropped, but Ralph Terry struck out the next two batters, Felipe Alou and Chuck Hiller. Mays hit a double into the right field corner, but Maris brilliantly played the carom, then hit cut-off man Richardson with a throw that was relayed perfectly to home. Alou, already aware of Maris' great arm, stopped at third. Facing Willie McCovey with two outs, Terry elected to pitch to him rather than walk the bases loaded and bring up Orlando Cepeda. Terry's inside fastball on the second pitch completely handcuffed McCovey, who nonetheless adjusted his bat in mid-swing to extend his arms and hit what he later claimed was the hardest ball he had ever struck. The line drive appeared at first to be going over the head of a perfectly-positioned Richardson, but was in fact sinking from topspin and Richardson made the catch without leaping to end the game.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1962_San_Francisco_Giants_season#Notes]

Most will say the team "caught lightning in a bottle" and they are probably right.  After the 103 win outbreak the team would again fall to mediocrity, failing to reach the World Series or playoffs until 1971.  The 1962 Giants team, however, stands as an example of when all the pieces fit and it all comes together for one magical season.

Meet The Teams, cont.

1961 New York Yankees

1961 was, by all accounts, an incredible year for the New York Yankees as well as baseball in general.  1961 was an expansion year, not only in teams (increasing from 8 to 10 teams) but in the length of the season as well (moving from 154 to the now standard 162).  That year was also the race between Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris to break Babe Ruth's homerun record.  Maris finally hitting his 61st and record breaking homerun on the final day of the season, creating controversy because of the 8 extra games Maris had to break the record.  On the way to breaking individual records, the Yankee club also broke the single season record for homeruns by a team (240), showing the all around power by the whole lineup.  Unsung heros like Bill Skowron and Elston Howard hit for solid average as well as hitting 28 and 21 homeruns respectively.  Even a 36 year old Yogi Berra, in his last season playing significant time, knocked 22 out of the park.  It doesn't hurt having two players named Maris and Mantle combining for 115 homeruns, 270 R.B.I.'s and a combined .291 batting average.  While Whitey Ford would go on to win 25 games the '61 Yankees didn't beat you with pitching on most days, rather, would pummel opponents offensively over the course of nine innings.  The Yanks cruised to a 109-53 record in the regular season and onto a 4-1 drubbing of the Cincinnati Reds in the World Series.  The 1961 Championship would be their 19th, which is still more than any other team has even appeared in the World Series.

Meet The Teams, cont.

1953 Brooklyn Dodgers

The 1953 Dodgers were coming off a demoralizing loss in the 1952 World Series, losing to the New York Yankees in 7 games.  Dropping the last two games in their home stadium, Ebbets Field, while having led 3-2 in the series.  While the core group of players remained the same from the previous year, the '53 team made some notable changes to the lineup and rotation.  An aging Jackie Robinson was moved from second base to left field in favor of 24 year old rookie Jim Gilliam.  On the mound 11 game winner Ben Wade was moved to the bullpen while the steady Russ Meyer was added to the starting rotation, as well as a rookie Johnny Podres who would go on to be a 4 time all-star.  An incredible balance of power, average and speed the '53 Dodgers still are one of the most dynamic offensive teams ever and not to mention packed full of stars.  Some like Duke Snider and Gil Hodges were hitting their prime, while others were at the end, Roy Campanella and Jackie Robinson.  Four future Hall of Famers are on this team as well as multiple All-Stars.  The Dodgers would go on to win 105 games and the National League Pennant.  105 still stands as the most by any Dodger team to this day.  Unfortunately, they were met again by the Yankees, and a young Mickey Mantle, and were dispatched in 6 games in the World Series.  While they failed to win the series for the second year in a row the 1953 Dodgers is still regarded as one of the best Dodger teams of all-time.

Meet The Teams, cont.

1934 St. Louis Cardinals

The '34 Cards won 95 games and lost 58 on their way to winning the National League Pennent and a World Series in 7 games against the Tigers.  Refered to as the "Gashouse Gang", which is said to have been coined by shortstop Leo Durocher who was quoted as saying that they wouldn't let them in the American League because they thought "they were a bunch of gashousers".  Referring to the gas houses that manufactured coal for lighting and cooking.  Or it might have been the names of the players that scared the American League.  Dizzy, Daffy, Dazzy, Ripper, Ducky and Pepper.  Nicknames besides, the Cardinals were a powerhouse, full of gritty players, who in prior years had clashed, but led by new player/coach Frankie Frisch, had brought it all together.  By seasons end the team had five regulars who had hit over .300.  Not to mention the last 30 game winner for 33 years in Dizzy Dean.  The '34 Cards were all-around good, they had hitting, pitching and great character, which is why they're one of my favorite teams to play.