The hefty lefties squared off here (David Wells and CC Sabathia), with
neither faring particularly well. Sabathia allowed just one baserunner through
three, but then was crushed for nine runs over his final 1 2/3, including three
run homers to cap each inning. Wells did better, yielding four runs over five
grueling (111 pitches) innings. The Indians chipped away against
Kerry Wood did it all on this afternoon at Wrigley. He pitched eight shutout innings, walking three and fanning seven. He ran into some trouble in the eighth, walking two and loading the bases, but struck out Adrian Beltre to end it and his outing (with 121 pitches because why not). More notably, though, he opened the scoring when he jumped on the first pitch Kaz Ishii threw in the third for a homer to left.
There are a couple names that seem a bit out of place on this one – Steve Finley, Jayson Werth, and a young David Ross as Dodgers, Nomar as a Cub.
Scoring note: Izturis K in the fifth is circled because it came on a foul bunt. That’s not how I would score it now (K with the squiggly line I use for bunt beneath it), and I’m not sure why he was bunting in an 0-2 hole with two outs and David Ross at first.
Two excellent lefties with very different styles matched up in this one – Jamie Moyer (7 IP, 1 W, 6 K) got the better of CC Sabathia (8 IP, 2 W, 4 K). Despite the velocity difference, Sabathia didn’t get his first K until he got Edgar Martinez leading off the sixth.
The most interesting play of the game was the first one. Ichiro tripled on a
groundball down the right field line, and somehow when the ball was returned to
the infield, Travis Hafner threw it away, allowing Ichiro to complete the
little league homer. While
The Indians were the erstwhile AL Central power, and the Twins were en route to their first playoff appearance in eleven years. This reversal of fortunes was bound to cause some friction, and it evidenced itself in this one.
The video (***) is worth a watch, as Torii Hunter misremembers – he thought he had homered earlier in the game, but actually had bounced to third twice.
This game featured homers by two members of the 500 home run club, plus luminaries Dustin Mohr, Luis Rivas, Bill Selby, and Ben Broussard.
On a scoring note, apparently I missed the location/trajectory of Milton Bradley’s eighth inning single as it’s marked with a generic dash.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6CoTcnb_0Y
The Mariners set the all-time win record in 2001, but the Indians shut them
out in the playoff opener behind eight shutout innings from Bartolo Colon, who
struck out ten and walked two. The only time
Losing to the Royals in late September was sub-optimal for an Indians team desperately trying to win the wildcard. They jumped to the lead with two in the second, but wouldn’t score again, and Greg Zaun would hit a two-out homer off Steve Karsay in the eighth to spell doom.
There was a Manny being Manny baseruning moment – he lead off the third with a walk, but was doubled off on Thome’s fly to left. David Segui followed with a double. Sigh.
Note that after Rey Sanchez led off the bottom of the third with a single, there was a one hour 49 minute rain delay.
Why was my handwriting so bad in 2000? I have no idea. I also was copying copies to get scoresheets – I’ve cleaned up some of the random splotches but there’s too many to whitewash.
This game may have been played on Independence Day, but it was not a
celebration of
* Stars of the ‘80s, still hanging around and in one case having his last great season (Rickey Henderson, Orel Hershiser)
* First-class stars of the ‘90s all over the place (Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones, John Olerud, Mike Piazza, Robin Ventura, John Smoltz)
* Memorable ‘90s names all over the place (Bret Boone, Randall Simon, Edgardo Alfonzo, Benny Agbayani, Rey Ordonez, Armando Benitez to name just a few)
* A player whose son would take his name and far outshine his fame (Pat Mahomes)
* The best NL rivalry of the later part of the decade playing out between the Braves and Mets
* It’s the ‘90s, so there were lots of runs despite a future Hall of Famer pitching (13), and lots of homers (5)
* And a very entertaining game to boot
It seems like every time I stumble across a Greg Maddux scoresheet, it’s of a less-than-sterling outing. Since Maddux was one of my two pitching idols (along with Mike Mussina), this is unfortunate, but this was a fun slugfest. The Braves got a pair of two-run homers in the first from Andres Galarraga and Maddux’s personal catcher, Eddie Perez. (Inexplicably, I failed to note Andruw Jones scoring on the latter; confusingly, I also didn’t distinguish between the Joneses, assuming that the positions would make it obvious which was which. Later I would transition to putting a first initial in front of the player I deemed less worth, which would be a harder determination in the case of two stars such as the Joneses. Now I try to remember a first initial in front of a last name if two players with that surname have appeared on a roster at any point during a season, although I’m not fanatic about doing so when one is a hitter and the other a pitcher).
The Dodgers answered right back with solo homers to lead off the second from Gary Sheffield and Eric Karros, then loading the bases with nobody out before Maddux got two Ks and a sac fly to escape with the lead. Atlanta got one back in the second, with Maddux drawing a walk to chip in, but LA went up 6-5 when Raul Mondesi and Sheffield reached to start the third and Karros launched another homer. The Braves tied it when Andruw Jones singled, walked, and scored on a double play.
A leadoff walk to Maddux in the fourth started a three-run
Karros (3-5, D, 2 HR, 2 R, 5 RBI)
Andruw Jones (4-5, HR, SB, 2 R, 2 RBI)
Jack McDowell was a huge disappointment as a free agent signing for the
Indians in 1996, not pitching well and eventually getting injured in 1997. One
of the simple but painful “what ifs” to ponder for the mid-90s Indians is “what
if they had been able to sign David Cone as a free agent in 1996 rather than
Jack McDowell?” McDowell left the Yankees for the Indians, while
This was a bad 1997 McDowell start. He made it through the first two having
yielded just a walk to
Milwaukee meanwhile got a good start from Ben McDonald, who yielded just two hits and a walk over seven frames, setting down twelve Indians in a row between the first and fifth, and then the last seven he faced after that. The Tribe did muster two off Bryce Florie in the ninth, but that didn’t even offset the three runs that Paul Shuey had surrendered in relief of McDowell (the big blow being a two-run homer by Dave Nilsson).
In 1996, the Indians had the best record in MLB, going 99-62. The Tigers had
the worst, going 53-109. The Indians went 12-0 against the Tigers. Granted, one
of the games went to extra innings, but this was the only one in which
Carlos Baerga’s first inning homer off Felipe Lira put the Tribe up 1-0, but Detroit answered with four, the big blow a three-run shot by Curtis Pride. With two outs in the fourth, Kenny Lofton hit his own three-run homer to tie it up, but Mark Lewis came right back with a solo shot to tie it up.
In the sixth, the Indians loaded the bases with one out, but Richie Lewis was summoned to fan Julio Franco and get Baerga to groundout. In the seventh, Albert Belle walked and stole second (TIL Albert Belle was 11 for 11 on steals in 1996). With two outs Manny Ramirez walked, then Sandy Alomar drove in Belle with a single and pinch-hitter Jeromy Burnitz drove them both in with a double. Melvin Nieves homered in the eighth to make it a one-run game, but Detroit could only muster a one-out single off Jose Mesa in the ninth and fell short, 7-6.
The didactic play-by-play here is to compensate for how hard this scoresheet is to read.
