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ArquimedezPozo · 06-26-2020, 04:36 PM

Series 34: 1909 Pittsburgh Pirates vs. 1905 New York Giants

Our only all-deadball matchup to this point (though if the Giants win, we could have on in the next round which would be a fascinating 1905 Giants vs 1908 Giants clash – Christy Mathewson vs Christy Mathewson, anyone?). I’m looking forward especially to watching Mathewson face Honus Wagner – two of the all-time greatest. Though 1909 wasn’t Wagner’s greatest season, it was up there in his top six or seven, and he had a lot of great seasons. The same can be said of Mathewson in 1905.

Both of these clubs have a relatively top heavy offense – Wagner dominates for the Pirates and Donlin for the Giants. Add in a lower scoring deadball environment and we’re likely looking at some 1-0, 2-1 scores. The Giants have a stronger rotation and a stronger offense, and are clearly the favorites here, but keep your eye on rookie Babe Adams, who would have put up much better cumulative stats if he’d gone a full season; he only threw 130 innings, and still has one of the greatest all time walk rates in history – a career BB/9 of 1.3. Here’s an amazing note on that from his SABR profile: “To put Adams’ mark in perspective, the preeminent control pitcher of recent years, Greg Maddux would have had to pitch another 217 consecutive nine-inning games without a walk to lower his lifetime walks per nine innings to the same level.” He’s the Pirates secret weapon.

Game 1, Polo Grounds, New York, New York, 1905: Howie Camnitz vs. Christy Mathewson, series tied 0-0.

Pregame: I said above that 1905 wasn’t one of Mathewson’s greatest seasons, and that’s a technically true statement. But it shouldn’t be read to suggest that it wasn’t a great season, because good lord was it ever, Mathewson, at age 24, went 31-9, leading the majors in wins, and in ERA at 1.28. He led the NL in FIP (2.03), strikeouts (206) and WHIP (0.933), as well as K/BB (3.22) courtesy of a 5.47 K/9 (third in the league behind his teammates Red Ames and Hooks Wiltse) and a 1.7 BB/9, 4th in the NL. He allowed base hits at a lower rate than all but the Cubs Ed Reulbach. And he did it all a lot, ranking third in the NL in IP at 338.2. He was essentially the best most well-rounded pitcher in the game at age 24.

Howie Camnitz was good too, though he wasn’t Christy Mathewson. In 1908 he was 4th in ERA (Mathewson was first then too) with 1.56, but a FIP of 2.37 (good, but not elite in that era). He walked a decent number (2.6 per nine), and struck out batters at the fourth best rate in the NL – so he was close to Mathewson’s level in stuff, but lacked his command. So again, and especially here, I expect a pretty low-scoring affair, without the use of any bullpens, such as they existed at the time – the Giants got through 1905 employing exactly six pitchers, all year, and one of them only threw about 40 innings. The Pirates used more than that, but only seven who threw 45 innings or more.

Postgame: Aside a busy first inning, this game was exactly what I expected – a tight pitcher’s duel in which the offenses had to scrap for every run. What I wasn’t expecting was a first inning that saw each team plate two against some brilliant pitching.

Mathewson was rocky from the get-go, walking the first batter he faced, Fred Clarke. Tommy Leach made him pay for it, rocking a triple to left center on the second pitch he saw, and giving the Pirates a 1-0 lead before Mathewson had even gotten an out; he sat down Honus Wagner on strikes (and Honus Wagner’s performance is one of the stories of this game), but Dots Miller plated Leach with a fly ball out. Mathewson gave up two singles before finally getting the third out of the inning, striking out Bobby Byrne. But New York came right back against Camnitz in their half of the inning: Camnitz hit Art Devlin with his second pitch, and after Sam Mertes flew out and Devlin stole second, Mike Donlin singled putting men on first and third for Dan McGann, who doubled to almost the same spot Leach had tripled to for Pittsburgh. Both Devlin and Donlin scored to tie the game up at 2.

From there, both pitchers settled in for the long haul. Each worked out of a couple jams: In the 3rd, Camnitz had runners on first and third with two outs but escaped it when Dan McGann was caught stealing second by C George Gibson. And in the 6th, Mathewson had to work around a leadoff Dots Miller double. But the zeroes held for both clubs until the bottom of the sixth, when Sam Mertes singled and Donlin drove a ball down the RF line and into the corner for an RBI double to make it 3-2 Giants.

From then on, Mathewson was in control, allowing just a couple of harmless singles between the 7th and 9th. Camnitz essentially matched him pitch for pitch, but the damage had been done, and when Fred Clarke flew out to RF George Browne with two outs in the ninth, the Giants streamed out to celebrate a Game 1 victory on their home field.

FINAL: New York Giants 3, Pittsburgh Pirates 2

Game 2, Polo Grounds, New York, New York, 1905: Babe Adams vs. Red Ames, New York leads series 1-0.

Pregame: I’m becoming a huge fan of Babe Adams, a pitcher I’d never heard of before this tournament. I liked to this above, but his SABR biography is really worth a read. As a rookie in 1909, Adams was a reliever, but got slotted into the rotation late season and evidently impressed player-manager Fred Clarke enough for him to get the starting nod in the 1909 World Series. He pitched three times, winning all three including a shutout, with his top notch control and killer curve. He went on to an excellent career marked by extraordinary control; in 1920, at age 38, he threw 263 innings and walked 18 batters. Which is NUTS. He was excellent in two starts in the Pirates series vs. the 2019 Rays, but the competition will be a lot stiffer here, facing the second best team by WAR in NL history (and the best if we’re looking at WAR/162).

To that end, the Giants will be sending up Red Ames, a great pitcher in his own right despite existing in Christy Mathewson’s long shadow. Ames was brilliant in 1905, almost Mathewson’s equal, with a 2.74 ERA but a 2.35 FIP, striking out a league-best 6.8 batters per nine. He was fairly wild though, walking 3.6 per nine and leading the majors with 30 wild pitches. Still, a very effective pitcher and a significant obstacle for the Pirates if they hope to tie this one up.

Postgame: I guess that’ll teach me to wax poetical about a pitcher before the start. Adams got himself roughed up – though through the first several innings he was excellent – while Red Ames dominated to give the Giants a 2-0 series lead and a clear path to Round 3.

The first inning started tough for the Pirates, as Sam Mertes tripled (the first of two triples for him on the day) and Mike Donlin brought him home with a single, providing the Giants with a 1-0 lead. But Adams bore down after that, and between the second and sixth was stellar, allowing only a single baserunner who reached via error. Ames, meanwhile, was strong but not as dominant: he pitched shutout ball through the first five, but gave up five hits and walked two over that span.

Honus Wagner, who was hitless in Game 1 but had singled earlier in Game 2, tripled to open the sixth inning; he was immediately brought in on a Dots Miller single. But Ames got through the rest of that one, and then became literally unhittable: the only baserunner he allowed for the rest of the game was a two out walk in the ninth to Bobby Byrne.

While Ames was setting them down, Adams was losing it: after a Sam Mertes bunt hit, Dan McGann homered to right over the short porch at the Polo Grounds to make it 3-1. In the seventh, the same heart of the order did more damage: another Mertes triple, followed by a Mike Donlin double and two singles by McGann and George Browne, scored an additional two. With Ames dealing the way he did at the close, 5-1 proved insurmountable.

So the Giants grab a 2-0 lead in the series, and we head to Forbes Field – in its first year of operation, 1909 – to see if the Pirates can get something going against Hooks Wiltse and the Giants.

FINAL: New York Giants 5, Pittsburgh Pirates 1

Game 3, Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1909: Hooks Wiltse vs. Vic Willis, New York leads series 2-0.

This series is full of interesting players that I haven’t heard of before, which isn’t surprising as the deadball era tends to be popularly unknown except for a few select players (Cy Young, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson, Ty Cobb…). Both of today’s starters fall into that category.

Hooks Wiltse didn’t have a particularly long career, but was a key player in the Giants’ dynasty of the mid 00s. He was a more strikeout oriented pitcher than most at the time, and appears to have been a versatile performer, logging fairly large inning counts in several seasons, split between the pen and the rotation (which was really the case for a lot of pitchers at the time, but moreso for Wiltse). 1905 was, with 1908, one of his best seasons, as he struck out 5.5 per nine and put up a 2.62 FIP with a relatively low 1.11 WHIP (ranking ninth in the league). It was far from enough to make him a known quantity in today’s game, but he was certainly one in his time.

Vic Willis, on the other hand, has a bit more name recognition despite a relatively short career (13 seasons). He was inducted to the Hall by the Veterans’ Committee, though he’s borderline by the numbers themselves. Still, he was a force to be reckoned with in his best years, including a 1902 in which he threw 410 innings (third most after 1899) and an excellent 1909, his second to last season, in which he threw 289 innings with a 2.24 ERA (2.60 FIP) and a 1.12 WHIP. His sweeping curve was his highlight pitch. Willis only got one chance at postseason pitching, in 1909, and didn’t have much success.

So these two will help decide whether we get a more competitive series or whether the Giants leap out to a near-insurmountable three game lead with Christy Mathewson back on the mound for Game 4.

Postgame: If you’d picked Hooks Wiltse to have the pitching performance of the series I’m not sure I would have bought it, but here we are. Wiltse was, aside from one factor, exceptional in Game 3: he pitched a complete game, two hit shutout and stymied the Pirates (including, and still, Honus Wagner, who was hitless). He walked 5, which might have hurt had he given up more than two hits but as it stands never really landed him in any danger.

At least for the first several innings, though, Willis was right there with him. The pitcher traded zeroes for the first six innings, with Willis facing the minimum the first time through the order. In the 4th, Willis faced a threat with the bases loaded and two outs, but got out of it by retiring George Browne; Wiltse faced a second and third situation with two outs in the 5th, but with Vic Willis batting Wiltse got out of it easily. And those were the only real threats of the day, until the seventh; at that point, it was still very much a tossup as to who was having a better outing.

But in the seventh, C Roger Bresnahan doubled with one out. The next batter was light-hitting SS Bill Dahlen, but he had enough in him to single (only his second hit of the series) and bring Bresnahan home for the game’s first run. As it turned out, that would be all the Giants would need, but as they didn’t know that they opted to add more: three in the eighth on two singles, a Dan McGann double, and a sacrifice fly; and another for good measure in the top of the ninth on an Art Devlin triple and a Mertes single.

So Hooks Wiltse ended it to give the Giants a 3-0 lead, and the Pirates now face the steepest of climbs, back from a three game hole. As the 2004 Red Sox said, don’t let us win tomorrow.

FINAL: New York Giants 5, Pittsburgh Pirates 0

Game 4, Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1909: Christy Mathewson vs. Howie Camnitz, New York leads series 3-0.

Pregame: A reprise of Game 1; only the home field has changed, as Christy Mathewson looks to finish off the series he started, and Howie Camnitz tries for a restart. Dan McGann has been the offensive driving force for the Giants, so keep an eye on him; the biggest story of the series for the Pirates, meanwhile, has been the ineptitude of the offense, centered especially on Honus Wagner who has just two hits. If the Pirates hope to survive, they’ll need to flip a switch here.

Postgame: That was a pretty unfortunate way to end this series – a sloppily played game where the majority of runs were unearned. Mathewson was strong, as was Camnitz, but their respective defenses let them both down – the Pirates more than the Giants.

The first two innings went fast and without any real incident. But in the top of the third, the Giants broke out with what would be their game winners: a Bill Dahlen double was followed by a comebacker to Camnitz who botched it, allowing both Dahlen (an offensive star today) and 2B Billy Gilbert to reach safely. After a Mathewson bunt, a walk to Art Devlin loaded them up with one out; Sam Mertes struck out for #2. But Donlin singled, driving in Dahlen and cracking the first run open for the Giants. Then the big one: McGann hit a lazy fly ball that RF John Wilson reached up for, but didn’t catch. It clanged off his glove to score two and make it 3-0 Giants.

That’s how it stayed until the 5th, when George Wilson doubled, and Pirates 3B Bobby Byrne – the MVP of the Pirates/Rays series from Round 1 – lofted a ball into right. Just as John Wilson had done, Giants RF George Browne let it clang off his glove. Wilson had been hanging back to tag up, and Browne’s recovery was quick, so Browne only made it to third and Byrne to first. But Howie Camnitz hit a sac fly to bring in Wilson and give the Pirates their first run. Incredibly, there would be another dropped fly in the OF – this time a liner to CF Tommy Leach from Mike Donlin in the top of the 6th – but that one didn’t result in any runs. Still, to this point, four runs had been scored, and none of them were earned.

That changed in the seventh, when Bill Dahlen smacked an inside the park homer deep into the far reaches of Forbes Field’s center field. It nearly went out, but instead took an odd hop off the wall which led to Leach having to chase it aways; by the time the ball came back in, Dahlen was scoring the Giants’ 4th run. The Pirates managed one more off Mathewson on two singles and a double in the 8th, but Honus Wagner struck out with men on second and third in the middle of the rally, missing a prime opportunity to tie it up and keep the series alive. He would end up with just a .200 BA and no RBI in the series.

Mathewson finished it out with ease in the ninth, giving him another CG win – this time allowing eight hits but only one earned run (two total) on six strikeouts and a walk. Camnitz was nearly as good, but his defense really cost him; He went seven, allowing just four hits but four runs, only one earned. He struck out five. In the end, the only Pirates player who rose to the occasion in this series was 2B Dots Miller, who hit .500 on the series and drove in three of the Pirates’ total five runs over the course of it.

So the Pirates are out, along with their franchise – the 1971 club lost to the 1999 Astros in Round 1. Meanwhile, the Giants – the NL #2 seed – are headed to Round 3. There they’ll face either Randy Johnson and the 2001 Diamondbacks or, interestingly, Christy Mathewson and the 1908 Giants. Either would be fun, but man am I pulling for the latter.

FINAL: New York Giants 4, Pittsburgh Pirates 2

Overall: New York Giants win, 4-0

Series MVP: 1B Dan McGann – .462/.533/.846, 1 HR, 2 doubles, 5 RBI

Next Series: 2008 Tampa Bay Rays (25) vs. 1954 Chicago White Sox (24)

Full series page: https://topteamstournament.wordpress...w-york-giants/

06-26-2020, 04:36 PM	#41
ArquimedezPozo Minors (Triple A) Join Date: May 2020 Posts: 226	Series 34: 1909 Pittsburgh Pirates vs. 1905 New York Giants Our only all-deadball matchup to this point (though if the Giants win, we could have on in the next round which would be a fascinating 1905 Giants vs 1908 Giants clash – Christy Mathewson vs Christy Mathewson, anyone?). I’m looking forward especially to watching Mathewson face Honus Wagner – two of the all-time greatest. Though 1909 wasn’t Wagner’s greatest season, it was up there in his top six or seven, and he had a lot of great seasons. The same can be said of Mathewson in 1905. Both of these clubs have a relatively top heavy offense – Wagner dominates for the Pirates and Donlin for the Giants. Add in a lower scoring deadball environment and we’re likely looking at some 1-0, 2-1 scores. The Giants have a stronger rotation and a stronger offense, and are clearly the favorites here, but keep your eye on rookie Babe Adams, who would have put up much better cumulative stats if he’d gone a full season; he only threw 130 innings, and still has one of the greatest all time walk rates in history – a career BB/9 of 1.3. Here’s an amazing note on that from his SABR profile: “To put Adams’ mark in perspective, the preeminent control pitcher of recent years, Greg Maddux would have had to pitch another 217 consecutive nine-inning games without a walk to lower his lifetime walks per nine innings to the same level.” He’s the Pirates secret weapon. Game 1, Polo Grounds, New York, New York, 1905: Howie Camnitz vs. Christy Mathewson, series tied 0-0. Pregame: I said above that 1905 wasn’t one of Mathewson’s greatest seasons, and that’s a technically true statement. But it shouldn’t be read to suggest that it wasn’t a great season, because good lord was it ever, Mathewson, at age 24, went 31-9, leading the majors in wins, and in ERA at 1.28. He led the NL in FIP (2.03), strikeouts (206) and WHIP (0.933), as well as K/BB (3.22) courtesy of a 5.47 K/9 (third in the league behind his teammates Red Ames and Hooks Wiltse) and a 1.7 BB/9, 4th in the NL. He allowed base hits at a lower rate than all but the Cubs Ed Reulbach. And he did it all a lot, ranking third in the NL in IP at 338.2. He was essentially the best most well-rounded pitcher in the game at age 24. Howie Camnitz was good too, though he wasn’t Christy Mathewson. In 1908 he was 4th in ERA (Mathewson was first then too) with 1.56, but a FIP of 2.37 (good, but not elite in that era). He walked a decent number (2.6 per nine), and struck out batters at the fourth best rate in the NL – so he was close to Mathewson’s level in stuff, but lacked his command. So again, and especially here, I expect a pretty low-scoring affair, without the use of any bullpens, such as they existed at the time – the Giants got through 1905 employing exactly six pitchers, all year, and one of them only threw about 40 innings. The Pirates used more than that, but only seven who threw 45 innings or more. Postgame: Aside a busy first inning, this game was exactly what I expected – a tight pitcher’s duel in which the offenses had to scrap for every run. What I wasn’t expecting was a first inning that saw each team plate two against some brilliant pitching. Mathewson was rocky from the get-go, walking the first batter he faced, Fred Clarke. Tommy Leach made him pay for it, rocking a triple to left center on the second pitch he saw, and giving the Pirates a 1-0 lead before Mathewson had even gotten an out; he sat down Honus Wagner on strikes (and Honus Wagner’s performance is one of the stories of this game), but Dots Miller plated Leach with a fly ball out. Mathewson gave up two singles before finally getting the third out of the inning, striking out Bobby Byrne. But New York came right back against Camnitz in their half of the inning: Camnitz hit Art Devlin with his second pitch, and after Sam Mertes flew out and Devlin stole second, Mike Donlin singled putting men on first and third for Dan McGann, who doubled to almost the same spot Leach had tripled to for Pittsburgh. Both Devlin and Donlin scored to tie the game up at 2. From there, both pitchers settled in for the long haul. Each worked out of a couple jams: In the 3rd, Camnitz had runners on first and third with two outs but escaped it when Dan McGann was caught stealing second by C George Gibson. And in the 6th, Mathewson had to work around a leadoff Dots Miller double. But the zeroes held for both clubs until the bottom of the sixth, when Sam Mertes singled and Donlin drove a ball down the RF line and into the corner for an RBI double to make it 3-2 Giants. From then on, Mathewson was in control, allowing just a couple of harmless singles between the 7th and 9th. Camnitz essentially matched him pitch for pitch, but the damage had been done, and when Fred Clarke flew out to RF George Browne with two outs in the ninth, the Giants streamed out to celebrate a Game 1 victory on their home field. FINAL: New York Giants 3, Pittsburgh Pirates 2 Game 2, Polo Grounds, New York, New York, 1905: Babe Adams vs. Red Ames, New York leads series 1-0. Pregame: I’m becoming a huge fan of Babe Adams, a pitcher I’d never heard of before this tournament. I liked to this above, but his SABR biography is really worth a read. As a rookie in 1909, Adams was a reliever, but got slotted into the rotation late season and evidently impressed player-manager Fred Clarke enough for him to get the starting nod in the 1909 World Series. He pitched three times, winning all three including a shutout, with his top notch control and killer curve. He went on to an excellent career marked by extraordinary control; in 1920, at age 38, he threw 263 innings and walked 18 batters. Which is NUTS. He was excellent in two starts in the Pirates series vs. the 2019 Rays, but the competition will be a lot stiffer here, facing the second best team by WAR in NL history (and the best if we’re looking at WAR/162). To that end, the Giants will be sending up Red Ames, a great pitcher in his own right despite existing in Christy Mathewson’s long shadow. Ames was brilliant in 1905, almost Mathewson’s equal, with a 2.74 ERA but a 2.35 FIP, striking out a league-best 6.8 batters per nine. He was fairly wild though, walking 3.6 per nine and leading the majors with 30 wild pitches. Still, a very effective pitcher and a significant obstacle for the Pirates if they hope to tie this one up. Postgame: I guess that’ll teach me to wax poetical about a pitcher before the start. Adams got himself roughed up – though through the first several innings he was excellent – while Red Ames dominated to give the Giants a 2-0 series lead and a clear path to Round 3. The first inning started tough for the Pirates, as Sam Mertes tripled (the first of two triples for him on the day) and Mike Donlin brought him home with a single, providing the Giants with a 1-0 lead. But Adams bore down after that, and between the second and sixth was stellar, allowing only a single baserunner who reached via error. Ames, meanwhile, was strong but not as dominant: he pitched shutout ball through the first five, but gave up five hits and walked two over that span. Honus Wagner, who was hitless in Game 1 but had singled earlier in Game 2, tripled to open the sixth inning; he was immediately brought in on a Dots Miller single. But Ames got through the rest of that one, and then became literally unhittable: the only baserunner he allowed for the rest of the game was a two out walk in the ninth to Bobby Byrne. While Ames was setting them down, Adams was losing it: after a Sam Mertes bunt hit, Dan McGann homered to right over the short porch at the Polo Grounds to make it 3-1. In the seventh, the same heart of the order did more damage: another Mertes triple, followed by a Mike Donlin double and two singles by McGann and George Browne, scored an additional two. With Ames dealing the way he did at the close, 5-1 proved insurmountable. So the Giants grab a 2-0 lead in the series, and we head to Forbes Field – in its first year of operation, 1909 – to see if the Pirates can get something going against Hooks Wiltse and the Giants. FINAL: New York Giants 5, Pittsburgh Pirates 1 Game 3, Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1909: Hooks Wiltse vs. Vic Willis, New York leads series 2-0. This series is full of interesting players that I haven’t heard of before, which isn’t surprising as the deadball era tends to be popularly unknown except for a few select players (Cy Young, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson, Ty Cobb…). Both of today’s starters fall into that category. Hooks Wiltse didn’t have a particularly long career, but was a key player in the Giants’ dynasty of the mid 00s. He was a more strikeout oriented pitcher than most at the time, and appears to have been a versatile performer, logging fairly large inning counts in several seasons, split between the pen and the rotation (which was really the case for a lot of pitchers at the time, but moreso for Wiltse). 1905 was, with 1908, one of his best seasons, as he struck out 5.5 per nine and put up a 2.62 FIP with a relatively low 1.11 WHIP (ranking ninth in the league). It was far from enough to make him a known quantity in today’s game, but he was certainly one in his time. Vic Willis, on the other hand, has a bit more name recognition despite a relatively short career (13 seasons). He was inducted to the Hall by the Veterans’ Committee, though he’s borderline by the numbers themselves. Still, he was a force to be reckoned with in his best years, including a 1902 in which he threw 410 innings (third most after 1899) and an excellent 1909, his second to last season, in which he threw 289 innings with a 2.24 ERA (2.60 FIP) and a 1.12 WHIP. His sweeping curve was his highlight pitch. Willis only got one chance at postseason pitching, in 1909, and didn’t have much success. So these two will help decide whether we get a more competitive series or whether the Giants leap out to a near-insurmountable three game lead with Christy Mathewson back on the mound for Game 4. Postgame: If you’d picked Hooks Wiltse to have the pitching performance of the series I’m not sure I would have bought it, but here we are. Wiltse was, aside from one factor, exceptional in Game 3: he pitched a complete game, two hit shutout and stymied the Pirates (including, and still, Honus Wagner, who was hitless). He walked 5, which might have hurt had he given up more than two hits but as it stands never really landed him in any danger. At least for the first several innings, though, Willis was right there with him. The pitcher traded zeroes for the first six innings, with Willis facing the minimum the first time through the order. In the 4th, Willis faced a threat with the bases loaded and two outs, but got out of it by retiring George Browne; Wiltse faced a second and third situation with two outs in the 5th, but with Vic Willis batting Wiltse got out of it easily. And those were the only real threats of the day, until the seventh; at that point, it was still very much a tossup as to who was having a better outing. But in the seventh, C Roger Bresnahan doubled with one out. The next batter was light-hitting SS Bill Dahlen, but he had enough in him to single (only his second hit of the series) and bring Bresnahan home for the game’s first run. As it turned out, that would be all the Giants would need, but as they didn’t know that they opted to add more: three in the eighth on two singles, a Dan McGann double, and a sacrifice fly; and another for good measure in the top of the ninth on an Art Devlin triple and a Mertes single. So Hooks Wiltse ended it to give the Giants a 3-0 lead, and the Pirates now face the steepest of climbs, back from a three game hole. As the 2004 Red Sox said, don’t let us win tomorrow. FINAL: New York Giants 5, Pittsburgh Pirates 0 Game 4, Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1909: Christy Mathewson vs. Howie Camnitz, New York leads series 3-0. Pregame: A reprise of Game 1; only the home field has changed, as Christy Mathewson looks to finish off the series he started, and Howie Camnitz tries for a restart. Dan McGann has been the offensive driving force for the Giants, so keep an eye on him; the biggest story of the series for the Pirates, meanwhile, has been the ineptitude of the offense, centered especially on Honus Wagner who has just two hits. If the Pirates hope to survive, they’ll need to flip a switch here. Postgame: That was a pretty unfortunate way to end this series – a sloppily played game where the majority of runs were unearned. Mathewson was strong, as was Camnitz, but their respective defenses let them both down – the Pirates more than the Giants. The first two innings went fast and without any real incident. But in the top of the third, the Giants broke out with what would be their game winners: a Bill Dahlen double was followed by a comebacker to Camnitz who botched it, allowing both Dahlen (an offensive star today) and 2B Billy Gilbert to reach safely. After a Mathewson bunt, a walk to Art Devlin loaded them up with one out; Sam Mertes struck out for #2. But Donlin singled, driving in Dahlen and cracking the first run open for the Giants. Then the big one: McGann hit a lazy fly ball that RF John Wilson reached up for, but didn’t catch. It clanged off his glove to score two and make it 3-0 Giants. That’s how it stayed until the 5th, when George Wilson doubled, and Pirates 3B Bobby Byrne – the MVP of the Pirates/Rays series from Round 1 – lofted a ball into right. Just as John Wilson had done, Giants RF George Browne let it clang off his glove. Wilson had been hanging back to tag up, and Browne’s recovery was quick, so Browne only made it to third and Byrne to first. But Howie Camnitz hit a sac fly to bring in Wilson and give the Pirates their first run. Incredibly, there would be another dropped fly in the OF – this time a liner to CF Tommy Leach from Mike Donlin in the top of the 6th – but that one didn’t result in any runs. Still, to this point, four runs had been scored, and none of them were earned. That changed in the seventh, when Bill Dahlen smacked an inside the park homer deep into the far reaches of Forbes Field’s center field. It nearly went out, but instead took an odd hop off the wall which led to Leach having to chase it aways; by the time the ball came back in, Dahlen was scoring the Giants’ 4th run. The Pirates managed one more off Mathewson on two singles and a double in the 8th, but Honus Wagner struck out with men on second and third in the middle of the rally, missing a prime opportunity to tie it up and keep the series alive. He would end up with just a .200 BA and no RBI in the series. Mathewson finished it out with ease in the ninth, giving him another CG win – this time allowing eight hits but only one earned run (two total) on six strikeouts and a walk. Camnitz was nearly as good, but his defense really cost him; He went seven, allowing just four hits but four runs, only one earned. He struck out five. In the end, the only Pirates player who rose to the occasion in this series was 2B Dots Miller, who hit .500 on the series and drove in three of the Pirates’ total five runs over the course of it. So the Pirates are out, along with their franchise – the 1971 club lost to the 1999 Astros in Round 1. Meanwhile, the Giants – the NL #2 seed – are headed to Round 3. There they’ll face either Randy Johnson and the 2001 Diamondbacks or, interestingly, Christy Mathewson and the 1908 Giants. Either would be fun, but man am I pulling for the latter. FINAL: New York Giants 4, Pittsburgh Pirates 2 Overall: New York Giants win, 4-0 Series MVP: 1B Dan McGann – .462/.533/.846, 1 HR, 2 doubles, 5 RBI Next Series: 2008 Tampa Bay Rays (25) vs. 1954 Chicago White Sox (24) Full series page: https://topteamstournament.wordpress...w-york-giants/ Last edited by ArquimedezPozo; 06-26-2020 at 05:44 PM.