COVID World Series 1973 Players Edition - Part 13

Game 2 of the COVID 1973 World Series followed a similar playbook to game 1. My time scored first, gave up the tying run a few innings later and then Darrell Evans hit a home run to beat me.

• 1st inning Ralph Garr, tripled but consecutive strikeouts and a ground out left him stranded
• Paul pulled his started early again to rely on his depth in the bullpen.
• Cliff Johnson homered off Don McMahon in the 4th to make it 1-0
• Paul tied it up in the bottom of the 6th ruining a strong outing for Vida Blue
• Ellie Rodriguez caught Rod Carew trying to steal second base
• Concepcion walked then was successful in his steal of second
• George Scott singled and Concepcion scored 
• The two teams had few chances going forward
• Top of the 8th Rodriguez grounded out with Toby Harrah on 3rd and Bill Melton at 1st
• Bottom of the 8th Reggie Jackson started the inning on 2nd after a poor throw from Harrah ended as a 2-base error - but he would get no further
• George Hendrick led off the top of the 9th with a single, went to second on a deep fly ball from Dick McAuliffe, but neither Garr, or Ron Hunt could get him home.
• In the bottom half, Grant Jackson walked Evans and Bob Watson, but induced a double play ball from Ted Simmons and after walking Willie Horton intentionally, got another ground out from Don Kessinger
• Finally leading off the bottom of the 11th, Darrell Evans hit his second homer of the World Series for the 2-1 win and 2-0 series lead 

Game 3 tomorrow night 

COVID World Series 1973 Players Edition - Part 12

Game 1 of the COVID-1973 World Series was dominated by the pitchers.

Frank Tanana had a shaky first inning falling behind 1-0 when John Mayberry doubled home Ron Hunt.

Paul's tied it up in the second inning Carl Yastrzemski singled with the bases loaded, Bert Blyleven got out of the jam with a popup and a double play.

It stayed that way until the bottom of the 6th, when Darrell Evans continued his hot hitting from the NLCS with a solo home run off Blyleven. After Ted Simmons lined to 3rd, Bobby Murcer hit a home run of his own to make it 3-1

Paul's bullpen made that hold up as 6 pitchers combined for a 5-hit gem.

Game 2 will have Vida Blue, well rested after 2 short starts in the ALCS facing Jerry Koosman, who started game 7 for Paul.

COVID World Series 1973 Players Edition - Part 11

Game 7 in the NLCS

Shaky start for Paul as Jerry Koosman walked Hank Aaron and Willie Stargell with 2 outs then gave up a 3-run homer to Sal Bando. Lee May walked before Koosman was able to get the final out of the first inning.

They got 2 runs back in the 3rd with 3 doubles. Willie Horton doubled leading off as a pinch-hitter for Koosman. He scored on Bob Watson's double. Watson then scored on a double from Darrell Evans.

Paul went with, stopper, Don McMahon early. With 2 outs in the 4th and Dave Concepcion on first, he chose to bat McMahon rather than lose his ace. Concepcion stole 2nd. Then Paul's confidence paid off as McMahon doubled home Concepcion. Giving up a double to the pitcher was enough for Leo and he pulled Jim Palmer and brought Ken Frailing in to pitch. Rod Carew greeted Frailing with a two-out single but Stargell's throw beat McMahon trying to score from second. That ended the inning tied at 3.

Frailing did not have it last night. In the 5th inning he walked Watson and gave up a single to Reggie Jackson. Next up was Darrell Evans - who broke the game open with a 3-run homer. That ended frailing's night 1/3 of an inning, 3 hits and a walk and the only out recorded was McMahon trying to score on a basehit.
Ted Simmons took Vic Albury's first offering into the seats to add another run making it 7-3.

Stargell gave Leo a little life with a solo home run off McMahon in the 6th. After that only two base runners - both on errors as Paul closed out the 7-4 victory

COVID World Series 1973 Players Edition - Part 10

Game 6 of the NLCS lead off the night. Leo down 3 games to 2 faced Frank Tanana - who took the L in both those losses.

• They set the tone in the first with 2 doubles - Dave May Scoring on Willie Stargell's to stake Don Sutton to a 1-0 lead
• No further scoring until the 5th when 4 more doubles brought home 3 more runs to extend the lead to 4-0 and chase Tanana
• Carlton Fisk scored from second on Freddie Patek's double
• Patek scored on Joe Morgan's double
• After a Dave May single - Morgan scored on Hank Aaron's double
• Steve Mingori, Tom Hilgendorf and Don McMahon would not allow any further runs, could Paul's offense get anything going?
• In the bottom of the 8th 
• they got on the board - Dave Concepcion singled, stole second and scored on Rod Carew's base hit.
• Fisk threw Carew out attempting to steal ending the inning
•  Trailing 4-1 in the bottom of the 9th 
• Reggie Jackson walked with 1 out, moved to 3rd on Darrell Evans' single and scored on a Ted Simmons ground out.
• Fred Beene got Boby Murcer to popup to end the game and force game 7

On to the deciding game of the ALCS

• Defense and pitching was the story early
• In the bottom of the 4th Dusty Baker tripled with one-out
• Thurman Munson hit a hard shot to 3rd, Bill Melton threw home and Ellie Rodriguez applied the tag to hold the game scoreless
• Munson took second on a Andy Messersmith wild pitch then was headed home on Rennie Stennett's single to right
• George Hendrick made a perfect throw and Rodriguez again applied the tag to keep it scoreless
• Joe's team threatened again in the 5th.
• Mike Cuellar helped himself out with a base-hit
• Davey Lopes walked
• After a Pete Rose fly-ball out, Bill Madlock smashed a double to center, scoring Cuellar, but Lopes was out at the plate trying to score a second run with a throw from Garry Maddox

• In the top of the 7th, the thrown out at home continued as Toby Harrah tried to score on John Mayberry's double, but Jose Cardinal's throw to Munson, beat him at the plate.
• Next up Melton tied the game at 1 with a double of his own.
• The deciding runs came in the 8th as Ralph Garr singled and stole second
• Garr took 3rd on George Hendrick's single 
• Manny Sanguillen's grounder to Stennett with the infield in, held Garr at 3rd, but Hendrick took 2nd
• After a Maddox popup, Ron Hunt's 2-out single scored both runners to make it 3-1
• Joe got 2-on in both the 8th and 9th, but was unable to score, making the final 3-1

COVID World Series 1973 Players Edition - Part 9

Joe and I met for Game 6 - in a rematch of starting pitchers from Game 2. As in that outing, neither starter pitched very well. The bullpens for both teams dominated after the starters left.
My team was able to stave off elimination a second time and force a deciding game 7 with a 5-3 victory.

• Amos Otis and Dick Allen scored on Jose Cardinal's 2-out double off Vida Blue in the first to jump out to a 2-0 lead.
• Bill Madlock scored on Davey Lopes single in the second making it 3-0 before Blue could end the 2nd inning
• I felt I couldn't let it get further out of hand and pinch-hit for Blue in the top of the 3rd. Joe's lineup against left-handers is a murderer's row.
• My team cut into the lead in the top of the 4th off of Nolan Ryan
•  Dave Winfield scored on Ellie Rodriguez's hit-and-run triple
• Garry Maddox knocked in Rodriguez with a double making it 3-2
• In the 5th inning Cliff Johnson hit a 3-run homer, scoring Ralph Garr and Winfield in front of him, to take the lead 5-3.
• The two bullpens limited batters to 2 singles the rest of the way and that's the final score 
• Pedro Bourbon, Deigo Gegui, Sparky Lyle and Ray Burris for me
• Al Hrobowski and John Hiller for Joe

 

COVID World Series 1973 Players Edition - Part 8

We played two games in the NLCS yesterday as the ALCS took another day off.

Game 4 was a tight one all the way:

• Dave Concepcion continued his hot hotting with a 2-run homer in the second to put Paul up 2-0
• Henry Aaron's solo shot in the 3rd cut the lead in half
• Concepcion knocked in Bobby Murcer in the 4th to make the lead 2 again
• The Leos made it 3-2 in the bottom half with Sal Bando scoring on a Freddy Patek infield hit
• One inning later they took their first lead
• Lou Brock - pinch running for Willie Stargell scored on a Bando Double
• Patek scored Bando again - making it 4-3
• The lead was short lived as Ted Simmons homered and then two batters later Carl Yastrzemski homered with Murcer on, making it 6-4
• Lee May cleared the fence in the bottom of the 7th to cut the lead back to one, but that's how it ended 

 

Leo's team facing elimination in game 5 went with Wayne Twitchell, against Game 1 loser, Frank Tanana.

• Leo got a quick start with Joe Morgan walking, stealing second then scoring on an Aaron ground out
• Paul answered in the top of the 2nd with back-to-back homers from Murcer and Yaz for a 2-1 lead
• But the bottom of the second was the difference - all 9 batters came toe the plate and ever one who didn't make an out scored
• Carlton Fisk doubled home Bando
• Twitchell executed the suicide squeeze, scoring Lee May
• Fisk and Morgan cam home on Dave May's 3-run homer - ending the day for Tanana
• Henry Aaron greeted Terry Forster with a solo-shot making it 7-2
• Lee May added anther solo homer in the 5th to make it 8-2
• Murcer homered again for Paul in the 7th, with Simmons on to make tighten it to 8-4
• Willie Stargell ended the scoring in the 7th with another home run - the 7th of the game and 12th of the "day" for the two teams.

Both series are now 3-2 headed back to the leaders park for game 6 (and hopefully for me at least ) and game 7

COVID World Series 1973 Players Edition - Part 7

Another double header last night and two more close outcomes.

The NLCS game was a back and forth affair.

• Henry Aaron homered in the first to give Leo the 1-0 lead. 
• Ted Simmons answered in the 2nd scoring on a Dave Concepcion single and in the 3rd with a homer of his own as part of a 3-run inning. 
• Frank Robinson's pinch-hit home run in the bottom of the 3rd tightened the game to 4-3
• That score held until the 8th when a Ken Singleton drive caused a collision between Concepcion and Bob Watson. 
• A hustle play by Bobby Murcer (just making things up here) held Singleton to first base. 
• Both Concepcion and Watson had to come out of the game. 
• Lou Brock came in to pinch run and stole 2nd and 3rd. 
• Brock then scored on a Dave May single through a drawn in infield tying the game at 4.
• Horton came up in the top of the 9th with 1 out and laced a double - he scored on Reggie Jackson's base hit to make it 5-4
• A spotless bottom of the ninth leaves Paul's team ahead 2-1

The ALCS was quick, pitcher's duel.

• An injury in this game led to the first run as Rusty Staub crashed into the wall chasing Down a long drive by Dave Winfield. Ron Hunt scored and Winfield landed on 3rd base with a triple.
• That was the only run Bert Blyleven needed as he pitched a 5-hit shutout 
• Insurance runs by Winfield and Bill Melton made the final 3-0 and staved off elimination
• The teams go back to Madden-land with Joe ahead 3 games to 2

Next games will be played Saturday

COVID World Series 1973 Players Edition - Part 6

For the first time in this go-round of COVID Statis-Pro, both ALCS and NLCS games were played in one night.
In the opener Paul's team evened the series at 1 game-a-piece in a back and forth battle that ended on Dave Concepcion's home run in the 11th inning.

In the night cap, my team again had little success on offense. We scrambled for 2 runs against Gaylord Perry to tie the score only to give 2 runs right back in the next inning - Davey Lopes, again a thorn in my side. Perry and John Hiller made it stand up for a 4-2 victory for Joe. This moves me to a game from elimination down 3 games to 1.

Another double header is planned for tonight.

COVID World Series 1973 Players Edition - Part 5

First game of the NLCS (non-alumni of James T Jones Championship Series) was played last night. The game was closer than final score as neither team generated much consistent offense. But 2 homers for Leo's team including a Carlton Fisk* 3-run shot spelled doom for Frank Tanana.

Tom Seaver limited Paul's team to 3 hits. The only run he allowed also came via Fisk, as his errant throw trying to get Rod Carew stealing 2nd allowed Carew to get all the way home.

The final was 5-1.

*It is strangely hard to find a color image of Fisk's game 6 home run in the 1975 World Series. I had to add the word "color" to my image search. And I'm not convinced this picture isn't just a pop out -as it seems more daylight than his extra-inning blast.

COVID World Series 1973 Players Edition - Part 4

After both starters left early in game 2, Mike Cuellar and Andy Messersmith battled in a pitchers duel.
My team struck first as Toby Harrah's double knocked in a run - however Rusty Staub threw out Ellie Rodriguez trying to score from first to keep the score 1-0.
Joe's team managed only 4 hits off Messersmith in 7 innings - but one of them was Davey Lopes 2-run homer.
Cueller, and John Hiller made that 1-run lead hold up for 2-1 final.

COVID World Series 1973 Player Edition - Part 3

My team evened the series with Joe last night in a 9-6 slugfest. Vida Blue got knocked out in the 3rd inning and Nolan Ryan met the same fate in the 4th. But My team followed it up with 3 more in the 5th off of Bill Greif. The bullpens held everyone in check the rest of the way.

COVID World Series 1973 Players Edition Part 2

As I feared, my team struggled against Joe's last night in Game 1 of the 1973 ALCS.

Davey Lopes and Pete Rose were all over the bases - scoring 4 runs and Steve Rogers and 3 relievers scattered 6 hits in a 5-0 shutout.

COVID World Series - 1973 players edition - Part 1

We decided to start up another round of COVID Statis-Pro Baseball. This time I found a site that has free ready made cards. We decided to go with the 1973 R/L split cards.
Each of were allowed/required to pick one player from each of the 24 rosters available to us. We submitted our preferred rosters then duplicates were finessed out until our final rosters were as follows:

Team	Mike	Paul	Leo	Madds
ATL	Garr	Evans	Aaron	Baker
BAL	Jackson	Reynolds	Palmer	Cueller
BOS	Moret	Yaz	Fisk	Montgomery
CAL	Llenas	Tanana	Robinson	Ryan
CUBS	Burris	Kessinger	Monday	Cardinal
CWS	Melton	Forester	Frailing	Allen
CIN	Borbon	Concepcion	Morgan	Rose
CLE	Hendrick	Hilgendorf	Sanders	Perry
DET	McAuliffe	Horton	Northrup	Hiller
HOU	Johnson	Watson	May	Cedeno
KCR	Mayberry	Mingori	Patek	Otis
LAD	Messersmith	John	Sutton	Lopes
MIL	Rodriguez	Scott	May	Money
MIN	Blyleven	Carew	Albury	Terrell
MTL	Hunt	Taylor	Singleton	Rogers
NYM	Stone	Koosman	Seaver	Staub
NYY	Lyle	Mercer	Beene	Munson
OAK	Blue	Jackson	Bando	Fingers
PHI	Tovar	Boone	Twitchell	Scarce
PIT	Sanguillen	Rooker	Stargell	Stennett
SDP	Winfield	Jones	Colbert	Grief
SFG	Maddox	McMahon	Fuentes	McCovey
STL	Segui	Simmons	Brock	Hroboski
TEX	Harrah	Harris	Nelson	Madlock

I will face off with Joe in the ALCS (Attended James T Jones League Championship Series) and Paul and Leo will battle it out for the NLCS (Not Alums of James T Jones League Championship Series). I feel like my team is the weakest... Good luck to all.