Amazin's take 3 of 4 from '68 Cards

Game 1: The Great Bob Gibson went the distance and struck out 7 and allowed only 2 to outduel Al Leiter. The Cards jumped out to a 3-0 lead and after yielding 2 in he 7th and 9th innings respectively held on to the victory. Tim McCarver had 2 doubles and an RBI. The game winning run was scored by Lou Brock who doubled and moved to third on a ground out and scored on a Curt Flood single. Derek Bell homered for the Mets.

Game 2: Mike Hampton had a shutout going into the 9th, but tired and yielded 2 runs as the Mets won 7-2. Nelson Briles was horrible as he yielded 6 runs (5 earned) in 6 innings of work. Edgardo Alfonzo homered and knocked in 3 runs. Hampton's ERA is 0.59.

Game 3: It took 11 innings for the Mets to overcome the Cardinals. Mike Bordick (3-5 lead off the inning with a clean single and reached 2nd on a wild pitch and scored 2 pitches later on a Todd Zeile single. Armando Benitez notched the win with 2 solid innings of relief.

Game 4: New York scored 2 in each of the first 2 innings and Glendon Rusch went 7 2/3 innings with 1 run ball. Washburn gave up 4 in 5 innings for the Cards and was chased from the box. Met sub "Super" Joe McEwing went 3 for 4 with a big run scored. Alfonzo knocked in 2.

Battle of the Sox goes to the Red version 3 games to 1

Game 1: Johnny Pesky went 3 for 5 and Joe Dobson tossed a 4 hitter to blank the Go-Go Sox 3-0. Boston went up 1-0 in the top of the 1st as Pesky led off with a single, went to second on a wild pitch by Chicago starter Early Wynn. On the following pitch Sherm Lollar was handcuffed and charged with a past ball. Dom DiMaggio grounded to short and was credited with an RBI as Pesky scored. Boston scored twice more in the top of the 4th. Rudy York and Bobby Doerr led off with consecutive walks, then Rip Russell and Hal Wagner followed with consecutive RBI singles to round out the scoring as Boston went on to win 3-0.


Game 2: The South Siders struck back and won a close one 5-4 despite Pesky getting 3 more hits and Ted Williams hitting his 3rd HR of the season. Chicago jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead, but Boston narrowed the lead to 1 in the top of the second as they plated 2. Boston scored 1 more in the 6th and 7th to take a 1 run lead, but 2 in the bottom of the 7th by Chicago gave them a lead that they would never relinquish. With Aparicio on 3rd and two out Jim Landis received an intentional pass to get the lefty/lefty matchup vs young Norm Cash who singled to right to tie it. The next batter, Jungle Jim Rivera hit a sharp grounder that ate Pesky up and allowed Landis to score. Staley came on to pitch the last 1 1/3 innings to notch the save, his first of the season.

Game 3: The Pale Hose manufactured a run in the second and hoped it would hold up. Unfortunately for them the Bosox put 6 runs on the board in the bottom of the 4th and 1 in the bottom of the 7th to break it open. Tex Hughson was cruising until the top of the 9th when he lost interest and gave up 3 before finally closing the door. Williams hit hit a 3 run homer, his fourth on the year, but Red Sox fans are beginning to worry as his average is at .185. Rudy York is hitting a woeful .077 and Bobby Doerr is at .120.

Game 4: For 7 1/2 innings Dick Donovan and Mickey Harris dominated hitters and posted goose eggs on the board. Then in the bottom of the 8th Boston scored 2 runs as Harris helped his own cause with a lead off double. Pesky singled him over to third and Dom DiMaggion doubled them both home. Chicago scored one in the top of the 9th as the game ended with Al Smith getting nailed at the plate by Ted Williams after Phillips singled home Landis. Williams raised his avg to .233 as he went 2 for 3 with 2 doubles and a IBB + the spectacular throw from left.

'96 Braves split with '70 Reds

Game 1 saw the Big Red Machine tag Greg Maddux for 4 runs in the opening inning. Gary Nolan gave up only 4 hits and two earned runs as the Reds won 6-2. Bernie Carbo and Lee May both went 2-3.

Game 2 was a blowout. John Smoltz gave up 9 runs in a little over 5 innings worth of work. Jim Merritt scattered 5 hits enroute to a complete game shutout. Catalyst Bobby Tolan had 4 hits for the Reds. Chipper jones had 3 of Atlanta's 5 hits. Johnny Bench and Lee May both homered.

Game 3 pitted Jim McGlothlin against future HOF'er Tommy Glavine. Cincy jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the second and looked poised to take the first 3 games of the series. Light hitting Woody Woodward singled home Lee May who had walked. The second run was accounted for by a Chipper Jones fielding error at third. The Crime Dog, Fred McGriff lead off the bottom of the 4th with a 425 foot tape measure shot to center to cut the deficit to one. Glavine was flirting with trouble until the 6th when he finally ran out of gass and was replaced by mike Bielecki. Before he could leave Glavine was the beneficiary of a 3 run 6th that gave the Braves a 2 run lead that they would not relinquish. 4 consecutive singles by Klesko, Dye, Blauser and Perez help account for the runs. Glavine squeezed home one run himself with a perfectly executed bunt down the 3rd base line. Wohlers notched his 3rd save as he came on to pitch a scoreless 9th.

Game 4 was the most exciting game of the series. Flame throwing Wayne Simpson faced rookie Terrell Wade. Both starters threw 109 pitches before leaving. Simpson managed to spread his out over 8 innings, while Wade only lasted until there was 1 out in the 5th. The Braves struck first when Javy Lopez homered to lead off the 3rd. That lead lasted half an inning as Cincy scored 2 in the top of the 4th when Bench and May hit back to back solo shots. The Reds added 1 more in the 8th when catlyst Bobby Tolan lead off with a triple. Atlanta pulled in the infield and both Pete Rose and Tony Perez hit sharp grounders right at people as Tolan looked to be stranded. With Bench stepping to the plate lefty Pedro Borbon Jr. was replaced with right Greg McMichael who promptly served up an RBI double to Bench. The bottom of the frame saw the Braves get the run back when Mark Lemke hit a sac fly to plate Javy Lopez. Still that left the Braves down 3-2 with only 3 outs left. Wayne Simpson looked about out of gas, so Don Gullett came on in relief to start the 9th. Chipper Jones was forced to hit from the right side of the plate and promptly lined out back to the originator for the first out. Scheduled up next was the hot Ryan Klesko, who traditionally has issues with lefties. The Braves went to the bench and brought in 19 year old Andruw Jones to pinch hit. Jones laced a triple down the right field line and scored 1 batter later when Jermaine Dye singled him home to tie tie game at 3. Gullett looked rattled and when Javy Lopez single and took second on an error by Tolan the Braves had runners on 2nd and 3rd with only 1 out and Jeff Blauser stepping to the plate. Normally the 8th place hitter would not get anything to hit, but since there was already a pinch hitter on deck the Reds decided to pitch to him. Blauser worked the count to 2-1 before hitting a hanging slider from Gullett deep into the left field pavilion for a walk off 3 run homer as the Braves earned a split with the Reds.

'71 O's split with '06 Tigers

Another split (for Baltimore), 2-2. Dave McNally & Bonderman both were sharp. Frank Robby finally homered for the Birds. Chris Shelton was a big stick for the Tigers (8 for15, 3 HR, 6 RBI). I kept looking for the HBP button. -submitted by Jesse Elicker-

'96-Braves sweep '68-Redbirds

GAME 1: The series opener featured a HOF matchup between Bob Gibson and future HOF'er Greg Maddux. Atlanta scored firsto on a single by Mark Lemke was followed by Gibson beaning the crime dog Fred McGriff. Chipper, don't call me Larry, Jones knocked in Lemke with an RBI single. Gibby then proceeded to strike out the next to batters to end the inning. Atlanta added 1 more in the 5th and 6th innings (Ryan Klesko HR). The Cards began to scrape back with 1 in the 6th and 8th, but fell short thanks to leaving 12 men on base. Maddux allowed 2 runs in 8 innings of work and Wohlers came on to save it. Gibson took the loss, as he gave up 3 and did not get any run support due to Maddux's clutch performance.
GAME 2: John Smoltz faced Nelson Briles in this matchup. The big story was the 4 errors made by the Cards to undo Briles, who was outdueling Smoltz. Klesko homered again for Atlanta and Wohlers notched his 2nd save in 2 days.
GAME 3: Lefty Steve Carlton got rocked by the Brave offense allowing 7 runs (6 earned) in only 6 1/3 innings pitched. Atlanta's lefty, Tom Glavine, was almost flawless in a 3 hit CG Shutout. The big blow occurred in the first inning as Klesko hit a grand slam to spot Glaving 4 runs.
GAME 4: Steve Avery went 7 innings and gave up only 2 runs (1 earned). Brad Clontz pitched the final 2 scoreless innings to notch the save. The big story was Ryan Klesko hitting his 4th homer in 4 consecutive games, which is a KOD record. Klesko went 7-14, 4HR and 7 RBI in the series. Cards made 3 huge errors to open the floodgates in this one.
Offensive stars: Orlando Cepeda is hitting .375 and Chipper Jones is hitting at a .563 clip.

'03 Bombers take 3 of 4 from '90 A's

This post came from Ed Mikhli of the 2003 NY Yankees:

What two teams played and who were the coaches ? A`s- Yanks. Eddie/ Marc/ Greg
What was the final score(s) ? Yanks took 3 out of 4
Provide a brief summary of your game or series. 1st 3 games were very tight ending in 2 run or less differences in score
List the turning point. Greg showed up to play the 4th game and assure his team no chance of victory in game 4 after 3 close nail biters against Marc. Thnaks Greg(Run my team into the ground Marcucci)
Who would you consider the MVP and why ? Greg. For burning out his bullpen

Final score(s) ? 5-2 sf, 8-1 sf, 1-0 cin, 4-1 sf
Giants won game 1 behind O'Dell. Cepeda and Haller knocked in 2 apiece. SF's offense clicked in game 2 and Sanford shut down the Cincy attack with a 3 hitter.
In Cincinnati, the Reds captured game 3 1-0 in 10 innings via a bases loaded walk to Tolan by Marichal. McGlothlin and Wilcox combined on the shutout for Cincy.
Game 4 went 15 innings before SF pulled it out 4-1. Mays 2 run 2b was the key hit to break the tie in the 15th.
Both offenses struggled in Cincinnati. The Reds didn't perform up to standard on offense. The Giants pitchers are good but not THAT good.
Orlando Cepeda went 8 for 18 and drove in 3 to lead all hitters.