Alternative Greatest Teams tournament

[ArquimedezPozo]

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/

[ArquimedezPozo]

Series 35: 2008 Tampa Bay Rays vs. 1954 Chicago White Sox

The three biggest upsets of the tournament so far were the 1954 White Sox over the 2019 Twins, the 2008 Rays over the 1984 Tigers, and the 1982 Brewers beating the #4 seed 1939 Yankees. Amazingly, all of them are crowded into the same corner of the bracket, and two of them will face off here.

Now, it seems unlikely that the Brewers will wind up facing off against either the 08 Rays or the 54 Sox, though of course you never know. But this does ensure that we somehow have our “worst” series by combined WAR in our second round, and that at least one low seed will make it to Round 3.

Who will it be? Always hard to say, and maybe especially so here as we’ve got some very well matched clubs. Their pitching WAR is quite close, with the White Sox taking a slight edge, 19.8 to 19.2. But the Rays have a slight edge in offense at 29.2 vs 28.9, and that’s without even mentioning that the White Sox offense is essentially the product of a single player: Minnie Minoso. Minoso came up with the Indians but played the vast majority of his career with the White Sox. He was the first Black Cuban ever in the majors, and one of the first Black players in the AL as his power/speed combo made him a star on the South Side. 1954 was likely his best overall season – 7.8 WAR, hitting .320/.411/.535 with 19 homers and 18 SB, and a walk rate almost double his K rate. After Minoso, the White Sox were a pretty bad hitting team, actually posting negative BR as a group (for comparison, the 2008 Rays had a team BR of 38.2). They were a pretty exceptional group of fielders, though, which likely helped their pitchers gain an edge.

The 2008 Rays are a tough crew, though, with a generally consistent offense and a deep pitching staff. No real aces, but also few weak spots. James Shields was particularly good in 2008, especially in clutch situations.

Also excited to get a more detailed look at the beautiful 1954 Comiskey model stadium here – the last series for the White Sox was a short recap so we didn’t really get good looks. We will here.

Game 1, Comiskey Park, Chicago, Illinois, 1954: James Shields vs. Virgil Trucks, series tied 0-0.

Pregame: I’ve already talked about James Shields, who had a few strong years with Tampa Bay before largely flaming out. But I haven’t written much about Trucks, who had a strong career mostly with the Tigers (where he won a World Series game in 1945 despite having thrown only five innings in the regular season, due to military service in WWII). While he wasn’t consistently great, he had seasons of brilliance, and 1954 was one of them: at age 37, he went 1912 with a 2.76 ERA (2.90 FIP) over 264 innings of work, while striking out about 5 and a half batters per nine.

So while he tries to hold down the Tampa lineup, Shields will try to hold down Minnie Minoso.

Postgame: Trucks was largely successful; Shields was not. Minoso went 3-4, driving in one and scoring another, while Trucks held the Rays to just five hits and a run, giving the White Sox a close series opener, 3-1.

Minoso gave the Sox both their first and final runs of the game. He opened the second against Shields with a double, advancing to third on a fly ball and home on a groundout by SS Chico Carrasquel. RF Jim Rivera provided the White Sox’ second run with a solo homer in the sixth. Then in the eighth, with runners on second and third, Minoso singled; Cass Michaels scored, but Nellie Fox was gunned down at the plate or the White Sox would have won 4-1.

For his part, Trucks was excellent – he struck out seven over his complete game, allowing a run only in the sixth, when BJ Upton doubled and scored on a Carlos Pena single. Beyond that inning, Trucks allowed just three hits all game, along with a walk. He escaped a couple of jams, most notably a bases-loaded, two out second inning that had featured the walk and two more of the hits. But it was clear from most of the game that Trucks was in full control here.

So the White Sox take the first game; I’m hoping this will be a more competitive series than the first two in this round, so here’s to a Rays win in Game 2.

FINAL: Chicago White Sox 3, Tampa Bay Rays 1


Game 2, Comiskey Park, Chicago, Illinois, 1954: Andy Sonnastine vs. Billy Pierce, Chicago leads series 1-0.

Pregame: In 1954, Billy Pierce was a fairly average pitcher, with a 3.48 ERA (3.20 FIP) and a ghastly 1.4 WHIP courtesy of an unlucky BABIP and an unfortunate 4.1 per nine walk rate. He led the majors with 7.1 K/9, but in all other respects he was pretty ordinary. In 1955, he was the best pitcher on the planet, leading the majors with a 1.97 ERA, a 2.83 FIP, a 1.09 WHIP, and a 2.45 K/BB comprised of 6.5 K/9 and just 2.8 BB/9, low for the era. It’s hard to say whether 1954 or 1955 was more of an outlier: he never really had a prime year like either of those before or after them. Pierce was a consistently reliable pitcher with good stuff, at times a bit wild but not out of the ordinary for the era.

He’s facing Andy Sonnastine, whose only decent year was 2008; he posted a 4.38 ERA, which was slightly above average on the year, backed by a 3.91 FIP. He had good control, but not the best stuff, and profiled best as a #4 or #5 guy. Why the AI is giving him this start over Garza, who was an objectively better pitcher, is unclear to me. But, so it is.

Postgame: This game belonged to Billy Pierce from start to finish. He was exceptional, running into a rough patch late in the game but otherwise being fully and completely in command. He didn’t allow a hit until the 5th inning, and only allowed 6 over the course of the game; he struck out six and walked just one.

The White Sox mostly did their damage against Sonnastine late as well, though they did much more of it. Two runs came in during the third, when Cass Michaels homered, followed by singles from Jim Rivera (caught stealing), Minnie Minoso, 1B George Kell, and Chico Carrasquel, who has been excellent at the plate and in the field thus far. That socred another to make it 2-0. But Sonnastine held the White Sox to two for the next four innings, only losing it in the 8th. Kell and Carrasquel were in the thick of it again, both singling; when Carrasquel tried to steal second with Kell at third, the ball skipped past Ben Zobrist at second and into center, bringing in Kell. Then Catcher Sherm Lollar drove a 1-1 pitch way out and over the left-center fence for a two run homer than ran the score to 5-0.

The Rays would get one in the ninth when a tiring Pierce loaded the bases on two singles and a walk before inducing a double play ball that scored Evan Longoria. He got the next batter, SS Jason Bartlett, to fly out to right to end it and put the White Sox up 2-0.

So once again – for the third straight time this round – we have a team heading to their home field down 2-0. I hope the Rays get some life there, because these low-scoring sweeps and near sweeps lack a certain excitement that was present in Round 1.

FINAL: Chicago White Sox 5, Tampa Bay Rays 1


Game 3, Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida, 2008: Jack Harshman vs. Matt Garza, Chicago leads series 2-0.

Pregame: Matt Garza was never exactly a good pitcher, but neither was he ever really bad. Between his first full year in the majors – 2007, at age 23 – and his age 30 season in 2014, he never posted an ERA+ above 120 or below 100. He pretty consistently struck out between 7 and 9 batters per nine, and walked between 2.4 and 3.5. He was the kind of pitcher few teams really want, but every team really needs: a reliable inning eater who won’t kill you. That’s certainly what he was in 2008, going 11-9 with a 3.70 ERA (4.14 FIP), 6.2 K/9, and 2.9 BB/9.

Jack Harshman was better in his high points than Garza,though worse in his low points. But 1954 was a high point: Harshman’s first full season, and a good one, in which he went 14-8 with a 2.95 ERA (3.11 FIP). He walked a lot of batters, nearly five per nine innings, but then that was the era – lots of high walk counts. Harshman was certainly worse than average, but less so than he would be in today’s game. He was effective, and that’s what most counted.

If the Rays lose today, once again we’ll be looking at a 3-0 hole – our third in Round 2. If they’re going to avoid that, they’ll need production; of those in their starting lineup, only BJ Upton has had any success thus far. Crawford, Longoria, and to a lesser extent Pena need to start hitting.

Postgame: Three in a row, three times in a row: for the third straight series, the higher seed has a 3-0 lead in the series. This one was different, though – a taut pitcher’s duel that saw both Harshman and Garza put up zeroes in the first eight innings. Only the bat of Minnie Minoso kept this one from extra innings, and even then he needed a bit of help getting there.

It’s hard to say which pitcher had the better night before the ninth inning. Garza came into the ninth having allowed just four hits and a walk, with Sherm Lollar’s eighth inning double the only extra base hit. Garza only struck out three, but kept the White Sox off balance resulting in a steady stream of weak contact, in the air and on the ground. Harshman, meanwhile, allowed only three hits all game, and none in the ninth; he struck out four and didn’t allow a single extra base hit. But he walked five batters, and had runners on third in both the 5th and 6th, though they were stranded.

In the end, it’s an academic argument: the ninth inning existed, and it went more poorly for Garza and the Rays than for Harshman and the Sox. Minnie Minoso drilled Garza’s first pitch of the inning deep to center, where it hit the wall only a couple of feet from a homer. The speedy Minoso made it to third, where – after an intentional walk – George Kell singled to bring him in and give the White Sox a 1-0 lead. Garza came back to get three straight groundouts, but Harshman allowed only a single walk in the ninth to put the game away and give us a gem of a 1-0 pitcher’s duel.

So the Rays are on the brink of extinction, and the White Sox are on the brink of Round 3. Will we get our second consecutive sweep? Or will the Rays win Game 4, with an option for more?

FINAL: Chicago White Sox 1, Tampa Bay Rays 0


Game 4, Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida, 2008: Bob Keegan vs. Scott Kazmir, Chicago leads 3-0.

Pregame: Not to alarm anyone, but the Tampa Bay Rays have scored two runs this series. I’m not sure what the lowest total is, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it had been the previous series, where the Pirates scored five; we could see a new titleholder after this game. Or, the Rays could win today, and see where the road takes them; they’re facing the right pitcher for it. Bob Keegan made his major league debut with the White Sox in 1953 at age 32, and spent six seasons in the majors. 1954 was by far his best, at least in terms of WAR, due to the fact that it’s the only season where he saw a full workload, going over 200 innings. He had a 3.09 ERA, though his 4.00 FIP and 1.397 WHIP change the perception of that somewhat. He’s certainly the most vulnerable pitcher the White Sox have put on the mound so far.

The Rays are throwing Scott Kazmir, who I wrote about already, here (Game 4).

So, do or die for the Rays, and for the White Sox a chance to sweep and roll into Round 3 with momentum. They’ll need it, as there’s a good chance they’d be facing off against the 1927 Yankees (the other alternative is the 1915 White Sox).

Postgame: Well that was different. The Rays live on, and we had ourselves a slugfest. More runs scored in this game than in all three of the previous ones combined, and though it got close there for a moment, the Rays wound up winning 10-5 behind the hitting of Evan Longoria and Dioner Navarro.

The Rays jumped onto the scoreboard early, more than doubling their series-long run output by plating three in the first inning. After Upton reached on an error by 3B Michaels, Longoria singled, Pena singled, and Gabe Gross drew a bases-loaded walk. Then it was Navarro, who shot a ball through the hole between first and second to score two more.

It was quiet, after that, until the fifth. Chicago finally broke through, as Kazmir opened the inning with a pair of walks and then surrendered a double to George Kell for one. Sherm Lollar added another on a sacrifice fly, and the White Sox were one run back at the midpoint. But in the bottom of the inning, Tampa struck again, using the same sequence – walk, walk, double – that had worked for Chicago in the previous half inning. That gave them one; the Dioner Navarro double that followed gave them two more and drove Bob Keegan from the now 6-2 game.

His replacement was Sandy Consuegra, who was outstanding over the next three innings, retiring seven straight and allowing only a walk in the 7th. And while he kept Rays bats quiet, the White Sox kept coming: Minnie Minoso led off their half of the 6th with another triple, this time scoring on a Johnny Groth ground ball that also represented the second out in the inning. But instead of escaping with just one run, Kazmir walked Ferris Fain, the DH. Then Chico Carrasquel reached on an error by Jason Bartlett at short, which put men on second and third. Kazmir was rattled, and hurled a run-scoring wild pitch before George Kell singled Carrasquel home. The inning only ended after BJ Upton made a stunning over the shoulder diving catch in center to rob Sherm Lollar. Three more runs for Chicago, and the Rays were only one run up.

But Sandy Consuegra’s magic ran out in the 8th. He gave up back to back singles to Jason Bartlett and Akinori Iwamura, and then Ben Zobrist shot a ball down the RF line for Tampa Bay’s 7th run. BJ Upton’s sacrifice fly made it 8-5. Morrie Martin then relieved Consuegra and got Carl Crawford. But Longoria wasn’t done, blasting an 0-2 pitch 462 feet to left center for a two run homer to make it 10-5. The White Sox didn’t get a thing off Chad Bradford in the 9th, and Tampa Bay celebrated a big win with their backs against the wall. They’ll have to do it three more times in a row to survive, though.

FINAL: Tampa Bay Rays 10, Chicago White Sox 5


Game 5, Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida, 2008: Virgil Trucks vs. James Shields, Chicago leads series 3-1.

Pregame: We’re more or less back where we started, with Big Game James facing off against Virgil Trucks, though this time on Tampa Bay turf (literally). The biggest question for the Rays, after their offensive explosion in Game 4, is whether they can keep it going here – they probably won’t need ten runs again, but five? Six? That could be enough to extend this to a Game 6, which would be a first for the tournament (Round 1 was all best of five). For the White Sox, there are two main questions: can Trucks continue what he started in Game 1 and keep shutting the Rays down? And, can they sustain themselves with an offense built on Minnie Minoso and George Kell alone? Minoso, by the way, has only driven in one this series, largely because he keeps leading off innings: out of his 16 plate appearances thus far, 12 have been with the bases empty, and six of those have been because he led off an inning, despite hitting either third or fourth each game. One of the biggest culprits has been Nellie Fox, who despite a Hall of Fame resume has hit just .143 so far.

No matter how this one goes, I’m just hoping for an exciting game – let’s see where we wind up.

Postgame: It was certainly exciting! There was honest-to-god drama to this game, including a come from behind victory, some great defense (and some terrible defense), clutch hitting, and tough as nails pitching. But in the end, Chicago came out on top, and will be headed to Round 3.

Tampa jumped out to an early lead against Trucks, with Upton leading off the game with a triple and being driven in by an Evan Longoria double. Longoria himself scored on a Carlos Pena single to make it 2-0 in the first. In the third, they added another, as Longoria – who has come alive over the last couple games – homered to left.

But Chicago began their comeback in the fourth. Not surprisingly, it began with Minoso, who doubled – his fourth extra base hit of the series. DH Ferris Fain knocked him in with a single to narrow the gap to 3-1. In the fifth, the White Sox got something going on a Groth single followed by walks to Sherm Lollar (who was subsequently thrown out on a questionable double steal call) and Cass Michaels. That brought up Nellie Fox, who seized the opportunity with his third hit of the series, an RBI single to make it 3-2.

It was the sixth inning, though, when the complexion of the game changed completely. Minoso led off with a walk, going to third on a Fain single. Kell walked, and the bases were suddely loaded with no one out. Carrasquel went down on strikes, but Johnny Groth singled to tie the game and reload the bases. Sherm Lollar grounded into a fielder’s choice at home for the inning’s second out, but George Kell singled, scoring another two to make it 5-3 White Sox. Then Nellie Fox struck again – a single into left which Carl Crawford botched, allowing Lollar to score and the White Sox to go up 6-4. That was it for Shields as Chad Bradford, the submarining righty, came in from the pen to get Jim Rivera for the last out of the frame.

The Rays got one back in the bottom of the inning, with a walk, a Dioner Navarro double, and a Jason Bartlett ground out. But including the Bartlett groundout, Trucks retired the last 11 batters of the game in a row to secure the game and the series for the unlikely third round 1954 White Sox. Their opponent is undetermined, either way it will be interesting: they’ll either face the #1 seed 1927 Yankees, the greatest team by WAR in MLB history, or they’ll face… themselves: the 1915 White Sox, our #17 seed. As for the Rays, that’s it for them and for the franchise, as the 2019 club lost to the 1948 Indians in round 1.

FINAL: Chicago White Sox 6, Tampa Bay Rays 4


Overall: Chicago White Sox win, 4 games to 1

Series MVP: LF Minnie Minoso – .400/.429/.700 with 2 doubles, 2 triples, 6 runs scored, 1 RBI

Next Series: 1988 New York Mets (11) vs. 2019 Los Angeles Dodgers (6)