The Baseball Report Volume
IV Issue 15 - Playoff Edition!
October 20, 2000
From The Editor,
Before you read the issue, I'd just like to remind you all to forward TBR to
anyone who you think may be interested, as the more people that read, the
better.
The issue covers the playoffs, so if you are here to read about the Montreal
Expos or the Texas Rangers, you will have to wait until next issue.
As always, the staff of The Baseball Report encourages and welcomes feedback,
so if you have an opinion or a comment on the issue, drop me a line. Similarly,
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Now, onto the issue...
Michael Frankel
Editor-in-Chief
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The National League Beat by Eric D. Larson
Seemingly without warning, Major League Baseball's World Series evolved into a
strictly New York affair. With subway tokens in hand, Big Apple baseball fans
await an inter-city rivalry in the 2000 World Series. The Mets were the first
to advance, waiting for their cross-town adversary to finally knock off the
Seattle Mariners. Perhaps they were enjoying a little of that famous New York
spotlight in the interim.
This season has not been easy for the Mets. New York spent the first part of
the year battling the Atlanta Braves for the best record in baseball. After a
late-season slump, winning the Eastern Division proved to be their primary
goal. Finally, after conceding the division title to Atlanta at Shea Stadium,
New York was happy enough to grab the wild card and the final spot in the
National League Playoffs. They followed with a 7-2 post-season record against
two of the toughest teams in baseball, the St. Louis Cardinals and the San
Francisco Giants.
The NL Championship Series showcased the New York team at its height, both
offensively and defensively. New addition Timo Perez sparked run production,
scoring 8 times in the five games against St. Louis. His hot bat at the leadoff
position, coupled with speed and decision on the base paths, was a major factor
in New York's control over the series. The Mets totaled 12 runs in the first
inning against the Cardinals, and their pitching left little opportunity for
catch-up. New York starter Mike Hampton won two games and pitched 16 scoreless
innings in the process. His catcher, Mike Piazza, also ended a rough October
descent. It seemed the whole team combined with its best overall effort against
the previously energized St. Louis Cardinals.
"We're playing the best baseball we've played all year," remarked
Mets pitcher Al Leiter after Game 5.
Perhaps a major part of New York's resurgence has stemmed from a complete
emotional detachment from San Francisco and St. Louis. Without the taunting
presence of the Atlanta Braves in the post-season this year, the Mets were able
to play quality baseball in a more sterile environment. In contrast, New York
has not proven strong in games marked by personal animosities and fan
controversy.
Perhaps the playoffs have allowed this strong New York team a chance to regain
their concentration, away from the influences of players like John Rocker and
Chipper Jones and their usually derisive off-the-field comments. Personal
vendettas will almost certainly play a part in the Mets' World Series match-up
with the New York Yankees.
On the prospect of playing the Yankees in the World Series, Mike Piazza
expressed mixed feelings. "Part of me is hoping for it, but part of me is
kind of scared," he commented after the Mets clinched the pennant on
Monday night.
Indeed, Piazza does have a history with the Yankees and, most especially, Game
2 starter Roger Clemens. It was not long ago that Clemens struck Piazza in the
head with a fastball, fueling a stronger and more enthusiastic rivalry between
both teams. Whether intentional or not, the stage is set for an emotional
series. The Mets are hoping that this new energy will not reflect negatively on
their current burst of momentum.
The World Series will open on Saturday in the Bronx. The Mets have proved
themselves an excellent road team in this year's post-season, although neither
team can depend entirely on a home-field advantage.
This is the first year that the Mets and Yankees have met in the World Series,
but it seems a fitting scenario. New York is the cradle of baseball's fabled
history. It claims the National Hall of Fame, as well as some of the greatest
teams and players that ever existed. From the stickball streets to the landmark
stadiums, no other setting can claim an equal amount of exuberance for
America's pastime. This year, the Mets are playing for a little more than a
world championship title. They are fighting for local
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The American League Side by Emily Liner
The AL Championship Series was quite exciting. The New York Yankees and Seattle
Mariners battled their hardest. The marquee match-up of superstar shortstops
Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter, along with the Yankees' brilliant pitching,
made it all the more thrilling. It took New York six games to defeat Seattle
and win the AL pennant for the third year in a row.
The Mariners took an early lead in the series by winning the first game 2-0.
Rickey Henderson hit a RBI single in the fifth inning, and Rodriguez added a
solo homer in the sixth inning. The Yankees left eight runners in scoring
position. Winning pitcher Freddy Garcia allowed three hits in his 6.2 innings.
Kazuhiro Sasaki got a save, his third in the playoffs. Denny Neagle, who did
not pitch in the ALDS, got the loss. The two teams combined for an ALCS record
twenty-two strikeouts.
Orlando Hernandez turned in a great outing on his birthday as New York won the
second game 7-1. Bernie Williams's RBI single catalyzed the Yankees' seven-run,
eight-hit eighth inning, which also featured RBI singles from Jorge Posada and
Chuck Knoblauch, a sacrifice fly from Paul O'Neill, and a two-run home run from
Jeter. New York set an ALCS record with the eight-hit inning. Reliever Arthur
Rhodes took the loss after spoiling John Halama's six shutout innings. Rhodes
broke the Mariners' bullpen's streak of fifteen straight scoreless innings.
Seattle had two errors. Their only run came from Stan Javier's RBI single.
New York won the third game 8-2. Closer Mariano Rivera got his fourth save of
the playoffs and broke Whitey Ford's consecutive scoreless postseason innings
record. Williams and Tino Martinez hit consecutive homers in the second inning.
David Justice collected three RBIs. Knoblauch and O'Neill also had a RBI each.
Williams added a sacrifice fly later in the game. Aaron Sele took the loss.
Roger Clemens, who had twenty-one regular-season wins against Seattle, pitched
spectacularly in the fourth game, allowing only one hit and striking out
fifteen in nine innings. His fastballs reached ninety-seven miles per hour. The
three-run home run from Jeter off of losing pitcher Paul Abbott and two-run
home run from Justice off of reliever Jose Mesa gave New York a 5-0 win.
Seattle managed to beat New York 6-2 in game five without even taking batting
practice. Edgar Martinez and John Olerud hit back-to-back home runs in the
fifth, and later in the inning Rodriguez hit a two-run single. Garcia got his
second win of the series, and Neagle got his second loss.
The Yankees clinched the ALCS with their 9-7 comeback win in game six.
Rodriguez went 4-5 with two doubles, a home run in the eighth inning, and two
RBIs. Guillen hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning, Martinez hit a RBI
double, and Mark McElmore hit a two-run double. However, the Mariners' offense
could not rectify the mistakes made by their pitching. Halama, Seattle's
starter, gave up a two-run double to Posada and a RBI single to O'Neill in 3.1
innings. Jose Paniagua, the losing pitcher, only threw .1 innings. Rhodes gave
up a huge three-run blast to Justice. He also gave up a two-run single to
O'Neill. He got his second blown save of the series without recording a single
out. Rivera's scoreless streak ended. Hernandez got his second win of the
series and became the first pitcher to go 8-0 in the playoffs.
Justice was named the ALCS MVP. The Bronx Bombers will be representing the AL
in the fourteenth Subway Series. The last one was in 1956, when the Yankees
defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers and Don Larsen pitched a perfect game.
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How Sweet It Is by Hollis T. Russell
It was all business as the New York Mets mowed down the St. Louis Cards in the
NLCS last Sunday night at Shea Stadium. Mets starting pitcher Mike Hampton said
before the game that he was going to throw a "career game" and that
is exactly what he did. He had plenty of help, from both dugouts.
The Mets batted around in the first inning, scoring 3 runs. The Cardinals might
as well have started Abbott and Costello as the two errors in the first inning
by their infield kept the Mets alive. Speaking of Cardinal errors, the good
news is that they only made nine in the Championship series. The bad news is
that they made two in the first inning of game five. The official box score
will reflect eight errors as one was reversed on Tuesday. During the first four
games, the Cards stranded 35 base runners. Predictably, the Mets take the NLCS
in five.
Tuesday night, the Yankees did something that they were not expected to do.
They eliminated the Mariners. When the season ended, the experts said the Yanks
looked old and tired, finished, washed up. Their bats were cold, they finished
the regular season 2-13, the worst ever for a Yankee team. Zimmer wanted to
quit and nobody trusted Clemens because his post-season record is iffy at best.
Moral was at an all-time low.
Please. These are the Yankees. This is the team that has no personal names
emblazoned across the backs of their uniforms, not even on the road! This is
the team that has been in the World Series 36 times and won it all 25 times.
Not your average Joes. Not by a long shot. This is the team managed by Casey
Stengel during their furious run in the 1950's and early 60's. The legends of
Ruth and Gehrig, DiMaggio and Mantle. This is the team that Billy Martin
managed four times. Lou Pinella tells of playing for Martin. After Steinbrenner
fired Billy, Lou was asked to take over as the manager. Two years later, Lou
was promoted to General Manager and Billy once again was hired as manager. When
Billy was fired during the season, Lou put the pinstripes on again as manager.
This is the Yankees, unpredictable and tough as nails. This team has never had
the label of "loser" pasted on it.
Now we know who is playing in the World Series and the only people that wish
the outcome were different are the airlines. Subway Series, here we come! Get
on the 7 train to Shea, scalp yourself a ducat and hold on because this one is
going to be a barnburner. Now a lot of people these days have never seen a
Subway Series. Some have no idea what in the world that term means. As with
most things in life, history repeats itself so let us go down memory lane for a
spell and reflect on some of the great Subway Series of the past.
The first World Series between cross-town rivals was in 1906 in Chicago. Since
there was no subway in Chicago at this time, the term was yet to be invented.
The White Sox beat the Cubbies in six, four games to two. The next time two
teams from the same city met in the World Series was in New York in 1921. This
World Series coined the phrase "Subway Series" as the largest subway system
in the world was opened there on October 27th, 1904. After the First World War,
Major League Baseball went to a best of nine games for the World Championship
and the Giants beat the Yankees five games to three. 1922 and 1923 saw the same
scenario with the Giants winning in '22, four games to none as Kennesaw
"Mountain" Landis came to his senses and went back to the best of
seven format. In 1923, the Yankees finally put the brakes on the Giants and won
the series 4-2.
These same two New York teams met yet again in a Subway Series in both 1936 and
1937. The Yankees had a rookie on that '36 team named Joe DiMaggio. Joltin' Joe
did nothing but lead the Bronx Bombers to ten American League pennants winning
nine World Series rings and losing only to the Cards in 1942. After that
season, he spent three years in the military during World War ll. In '37, the
Yankees beat the Giants four games to one.
In 1941, purists will say that because the Yankees and the Dodgers were not in
the same city, it was not a Subway Series. There are five boroughs that make up
New York City and Manhattan and Brooklyn are two of the five so the purists
need to go pound sand faster than a resigning Nixon. The Bombers beat the Bums
four games to one.
In 1944, the purists pop up again with the theme of "War Years." They
have a point, with 168 players in the American League in uniform and 174 from
the National League; dilution of talent was a problem. Adding in the fact that
the teams were from St. Louis and being unable to ascertain if St. Louis even
had a subway system then, as Fred Astaire sang, "Let's Call the Whole
Thing Off".
Next comes a plethora of Subway Series years. 1947, 1949, 1951, 1952, 1953,
1955 and 1956. All Yankees in the American League and with one exception, the
Giants in '51, "dem bums" in the National. Talk about a dynasty, only
the Dodgers in 1955 were able to wrest the Championship away from the Yankees,
but it took them all seven games to do it. Had Bobby Thompson not hit "The
Shot Heard 'Round the World" in that unbelievable finish in the 1951
National League playoff game between the Dodgers and the Giants, it would have
been Brooklyn crying in their beer every year but '55.
The question of why has it been 45 years since the last Subway Series begs to
be asked. The answer is simple, expansion and Television. But that is another
story; stick around, pitchers and catchers report in February.
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Playing The Short Hop by Michael Frankel
Every sign points the same. The Bombers struggled to win the Division Series,
after falling backwards into the playoffs. Then, they fail to finish off the
Seattle Mariners, forcing a game six, perhaps displaying for the first time
that this years' Yankees lack the killer instinct that made so successful in
1996, 1998, and 1999.
At the same time, the Mets fly by the St. Louis Cardinals in NLCS, taking the
series with ease, only after showing the world how insignificant the Wild Card
status truly is when they beat the San Fransisco Giants, the best record in the
NL Giants, in a quick four games.
The time has come for the Mets to dethrone the Yanks as the team of New York.
The Mets feature arguably the best offensive catcher the sport has ever seen in
Mike Piazza. The starting pitching is lead by two of the best left-handers in
the game today, one of whom will be the premier pitcher on the market this winter.
The bullpen has one of the top all-time closers…as a setup man. With an infield
defense featuring probably the best second baseman in the game not named
Roberto Alomar, and a perennial gold-glove winner at third base, the 2000 Mets
do not have many holes, if any at all.
But for some reason, it seems like this has all been said before.
In 1996, the Yankees, underdogs the entire season, shocked everyone by winning
the division. Then, they manhandled the Texas Rangers and Baltimore Orioles to
capture the AL Pennant. For those who recall, that was an Orioles team
featuring Mike Mussina, Roberto Alomar, Rafael Palmeiro, 50 HR Brady Anderson,
and so on. Then the Bombers met their toughest opponent, the defending champion
Atlanta Braves.
That was tough. The Braves were four pitchers deep, with the top two, Greg
Maddux and Tom Glavine likely being on their way to Cooperstown, not to mention
the NL CY Young Winner that year, John Smoltz. They had Chipper Jones. They had
Andruw Jones. They had Fred Mcgriff and Javy Lopez. Mark Wohlers shut the door,
and the Yanks were never supposed to have a chance. Then, they fell down 2-0,
and a Braves sweep was imminent.
In Atlanta, the Yankees won three in a row. David Cone beat Tom Glavine, the
Yankees came back miraculously after a Kenny Rogers disaster (yes Mets fans, he
had those for the Yankees as well), and Andy Pettitte beat John Smoltz in what
Smoltz would later call the "best game I ever pitched." Jimmey Key
then beat Greg Madduz in game six, and the Yankees won their first trophy in 18
years.
In 1998, the Yankees completed one of the greatest seasons of all-time by
sweeping the Rangers in the ALDS, beating an offensive minded Indians team in
the ALCS, and then sweeping a San Diego Padres team lead by the then premier
pitcher on the Winter market in Kevin Brown. The Yankees beat him twice.
In 1999 though, the questions came up. The pitching was not as good. The
players were hurt and tired. Many thought the Yankees would fall, be it to the
Rangers in the Division Series, the Red Sox in the Championship series, or the
Braves in the World Series. Again, the Yankees rampaged through, losing just
one the game en route to their 25th World Championship. Yet again, they beat
Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltz.
But maybe this is not the same Yankees team. Sure, the core group is the same.
But Paul O'Neill is hurt, David Cone probably could not get out a pitcher, and
the bullpen and bench are not nearly as deep.
Or maybe they are.
As written in the season preview edition ("The Yankees Mistake"), the
Yankees, as any team that wins consistently, lacked edge. They lacked a need to
win every game that made the 1998 team so good. The let themselves fall back on
their heels. They failed to show up for games that were not "big
games." They knew they would make the playoffs and they did. They just did
not make it as easily as other years because there was no need. Now the
playoffs are here. Now they turn it on.
Yes, maybe this it too much credit to them. But, 1-0 in the ninth inning of ALCS
game one, the feeling was there that they would come back. In game two they
did. In game six, down 4-0, the feeling was there again, not of probability but
of certainty. It almost seems as if the Yankees ran through the motions.
This is a team that knows how to turn it on. Be it the 8-0 in October Orlando
Hernandez, the out-pitched Kevin Brown, John Smoltz and Tom Glavine in Andy
Pettitte, or the big game proven offense with clutch October homeruns by
virtually the entire lineup. Not to mention a Yankees bullpen, that outside of
2000 ALCS game five, has been dominant in October, with the same cast of
characters.
Which brings the final point. People talk about questions heading into the
Subway Series. Well, the question should not be whether these are the Yankees
of 1997 or 1999, but rather, are these the Yankees of 1999, or are they better?
Yankees in five.
*Got some random thoughts or one-liners? Send them in to
baseballreport@aol.com.
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TRIVIA QUESTION
Last
Issue: What reliever has allowed the most post-season homeruns (career)?
Answer(s): Armando Benitez
This Issue's Question: In the 1995 American League Division
Series, Game 2, the Yankees beat the Mariners in 15 innings. Who was the winning
pitcher?
To answer, email baseballreport@aol.com subject trivia answer.
To submit a question to be asked, email baseballreport@aol.com subject trivia
question.
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may have.
That's all for this issue.
Till next time,
Michael Frankel
Editor-in-Chief
Feel free to forward this to anyone and everyone.
copyright 2000 The Baseball Report