COVID-19(73) Baseball, Version 3, World Series, Game 6

Ken Holtzman our pitched Andy Messersmith in game 3 and was hoping to again in game 6 to keep his team alive.

The Matts got all they needed in the first and then came back for more.

• With one out Manny Mota singled
• Joe Ferguson hit a sinking liner that got by Bill North on right and the ball bounced around in the corner long enough for Ferguson to end up on third with a triple.

In the fourth inning, likely series MVP Merv Rettenmund homered to make it 2-0

• The fifth inning ended any suspense
• With one out Messersmith singled
• Davey Lopes followed with a walk
• Mota collected his third hit, scoring Messersmith
• With runners in second and third Holtzman uncorked a wild pitch, scoring Lopes and ending his night
• Ferguson greeted Horacio Piña with a single, scoring Mota
• Rettenmund grounded into a force, erasing Ferguson
• Chris Speier has trouble on, Bobby Grich's hard shot, kicking it into short left. Grich got to second and Rettenmund to third
• Piña intentionally walked Al Bumbry to load the bases and Ron Cey made him pay with a run scoring single for a 7-0 lead

Messersmith, Bob Reynolds and Grant Jackson scattered 4 hits and 7 total base runners for the shutout and 4-2 series victory

As I said above Rettenmund is most certainly the MVP 

The Alteses are now the statis-pro version of the 1990s Atlanta Braves with their 3 consecutive World Series loss

With some sports, particularly baseball back, this may be our last season for the summer, if we come back it might be for a fall classic.

Thanks to Leo, Madds, Paul and Matt for letting me relive my nerdy youth. And thanks to Melissa for not being too angry at the nights spent on Zoom 

COVID-19(73) Baseball Version 3 World Series Game 5

 The first elimination game of our World Series was a rematch of the game 2 starters - Jim Palmer for the visiting Matts and Catfish Hunter, trying to keep the Mikes hopes alive

Hunter got out of the first with only a base hit allowed to red-hot Merv Rettenmund (increased his average from .500 to .545 in game 5) before retiring the side. Palmer was not so lucky.

• Bill North greeted Palmer with a line drive to left, it looked like Al Bumbry might make the play, in fact if a runner had been on first, he would have held up to see if it was caught. But North was full out from the start and when the ball dropped in he was safe at second
• North took a long lead from second and broke for third on Palmer's first move
• Palmer rushed the throw to Ron Cey at third and Cey couldn't dig it out, North again running with reckless abandon, turned for home and Bumbry had no chance to get him at home.
• Bobby Bonds patiently worked a walk as Palmer was still a little unsure of what had happened so far, Bonds then stole second 
• Making matters worse, Palmer walked Willie McCovey
• He finally settled down and got Gene Tenace on a weak fly ball to center field
• Now with some confidence, Palmer struck out Sal Bando for the second out
• Garry Maddox hit one back through the middle, scoring Bonds
• Chris Speier, recovered from his collision with the tarp/wall yesterday, ended the inning grounding out to second

Boog Powell lead off the second with a base hit but was erased on a 6-4-3 double play from Cey

 Palmer found the rhythm setting down 12 in a row at one point

The Borris offense finally sparked in the top of the 4th

• Rettenmund singled on the infield to start
• Willie Crawford followed with a single to right, Rettenmund taking third
• Bobby Grich hit a hard liner that went in and out of Speier's glove at short, while he was trying to pick up the dropped ball, Crawford was able to scramble to second and Grich was safe at first to load the bases
• Unbelievably, a near identical situation occurred on Powell's line smash to McCovey at first
• McCovey had it and lost it then kicked the droop ball around long enough for everyone to advance a base and Powell was safe, re-loading the bases and cutting the lead to 2-1
•  Cey followed with his second 6-4-3  in as many at bats, but this one scored Crawford, tying the score
• Joe Ferguson flew out to left to end the inning

A third 6-4-3 double play in the top of the 6th off the bat of Grich ended a minor chance for the Matts

The bottom of that inning ended up determining the game 

• McCovey got his 3rd hit and first that wasn't a homer of the series
• Tenace flew out to left for the first out
• After taking a close potential strike three, Bando pulled a line drive just over the wall in left for a 2-run homer and the 4-2 lead
• Ferguson was not happy with Augie Donatelli for that ball call before the home run and spent the next at bat - a Maddox single and the first few pitches to Speier letting Donatelli know about it
• Augie had finally had enough and tossed Ferguson for arguing balls and strikes
• Earl Williams replaced Ferguson
• Palmer retired Speier and Tito Fuentes to end the inning
  

Hunter and Don McMahon allowed only 2 more hits and 3 more base runners the rest of the way - McMahon picking up the first save of the series along the way

Game 6 will move us back to Matt's home (Dodger/Memorial Stadium) with Ken Holtzman attempting to fend off elimination for the Mikes against Andy Messersmith

COVID-19(73) Baseball Version 3 World Series Game 4

The Bay Area Alteses looked to even the series at 2 games each, sending Vida Blue to face Don Sutton. It started well enough for the home team:

• With two outs in the bottom of the first Willie McCovey hit his second home run of the series making it 1-0 Mikes

Sutton had more trouble in the third:

• With one out Bill North walked then stole second base
• Bobby Bonds sent a single to center
• North was sent home and beat the throw from Merv Rettenmund to stake Blue to a 2-0 lead
• McCovey hit another screamer, but this one was right to Bobby Grich who had been cheating behind Bonds to hold him close
• Grich beat Bonds to the bag for the inning ending double play

Through 3 innings Blue had been stellar, in the 4th the Matts started to find their way:

• With one out Joe Ferguson worked a walk
• Rettenmund then doubled to center, but Maddox got the ball in quickly and held Ferguson at 3rd
• The Altese brain trust decided to intentionally walk Grich to face the left-handed hitting Al Bumbry
• Bumbry flew out to Bonds in right field, Ferguson bluffed home, but stayed at third
• Blue got Ron Cey looking to end the inning

The 5th inning was when the Borrises did their real damage:

• Boog Powell singled to lead off the inning
• Sutton's bunt to Sal Bando was well positioned and advanced Powell to second
• Davey Lopes tripled to the gap in left center, cutting the lead to 2-1
• Manny Mota hit a liner to left field, Bonds couldn't bring it in and when the dust cleared, Mota was on second with a double and the score was tied
• Blue crossed up Gene Tenace with a wild-pitch sending Mota to third
  
• Ferguson continued the hit barrage with a run scoring single for the 3-2 lead
• Blue settled down to strikeout Rettenmund
• Ferguson went to third on a base hit from Grich
• Al Bumbry flew out to center to end the inning

Blue went out to start the 6th

• Cey singled
• Powell was a strikeout victim
• Sutton placed an even better bunt, giving Bando no play to put runners on first and second and ending the night for Blue
• Horacio Pina continued his great work this series getting lopes and Mota to line out to McCovey 

The 7th inning brought more intrigue

• Pina walked Ferguson to start the inning
• Rettenmund popped up to Chris Speier at short for the first out
• Grich hit a foul ball into the area behind third base and Speier misjudged the wall and injured himself trying to make a play on the ball. Bert Campaneris had to come in to replace Speier.
• Grich then singled to center
•  Ferguson tried to take third on the play, but North made a great throw to Bando for the second out
• With Grich taking second, Pina intentionally walked Bumbry to face Cey and recorded a strikeout
  

 After cruising through the middle innings, Sutton faced a little trouble in the 7th

• Gene Tenace worked a walk to lead off the inning
• Gary Matthews was sent in to replace him on the base-paths
• Bando struck out
  
• Maddox was given the hit-and-run sign with 2 strikes and swung through a high fastball for strike three
• Ferguson then fired to Grich to catch Matthews trying for second base to end the inning

In the eighth, the Alteses threatened again 

• Campaneris singled and looked to get a large lead to take second
• Sutton threw wildly to first on a pickoff play and Campy ended up on third
• Sutton really showed his mettle here
• Tito Fuentes couldn't find a Sutton curve for strike three
• Dave Rader had replaced Tenace and was batting in the 9th spot popped up to short
• North finally hit the fly ball that would have scored Campy, but it was for the third out

Sutton worked a quick ninth for the complete game victory

 

COVID-19(73) Baseball Version 3 World Series Game 3

The COVID-19(73) World Series shifted to the Bay Area for game 3. Ken Holtzman took the mound for the Alteses facing off against former Alteser - Andy Messersmith.

Bill North singled in the bottom of the first to stop the streak of 9 hit-less innings for the Matt pitching staff. But both pitchers cruised until the bottom of the 4th.

• Willie McCovey worked his 3rd walk in as many games to start the inning
• Gene Tenace followed that by depositing a Messersmith fastball into the left field seats for the 2-0 lead
• Sal Bando struck out for the first out of the inning
• Garry Maddox hit a come-backer to Messersmith, but he dropped it and by the time he got back in control he couldn't get the speedy Maddox at first
• The pitcher's best friend a 4-6-3 double play grounder from  Chris Speier ended the inning

The Borrises fought back in the top of the 5th:

• Bobby Grich singled to start the inning
• Holtzman struck out Willie Crawford for the first out
• Ron Cey grounded to Fuentes but Grich slid hard into Speier to stop any potential double play
• With Cey at first Boog Powell singled to right moving Cey to third
• The Matts sent Don Baylor up to pinch-hit for Messersmith and he succeeded with a double to right field
• Cey scored and Powell was sent home as well by Lasorda coaching third
• North gathered the ball in the corner and threw to Tito Fuentes
• Fuentes made a perfect replay to Tenace to get Powell at home, end the inning and preserve the lead 2-1

Jim Brewer made his second appearance on the Series, replacing Messersmith in the 5th

• Brewer walked Fuentes
• Holtzman attempted to bunt Fuentes to second
• Joe Ferguson could not field the bunt cleanly and everyone was safe
• Cey and Grich teamed up for a great double play erasing Holtzman and getting the speedster North at first to calm things down
• The Matts had a conference on the mound to discuss pitching to Bonny Bonds or walking him to face the left-handed hitting McCovey, they chose poorly
• Bonds homered to make the score 4-1

With two outs in the 6th the Matts mounted another threat 

• Red-hot Merv Rettenmund singled in the infield 
• Holtzman lost a long at-bat to Ferguson in a base on balls
• With two out and two on, the Alteses contemplated taking Holtzman out with Grich coming to the plate
• Holtzman stayed in and made it pay off - striking out Grich to end the inning

Holtzman and Rollie Fingers limited the Coastal-Script-Jerseys to 2 singles the rest of the way for the 4-1 win, tightening the series to 2 games to 1 

COVID-19(73) Baseball Version 3 World Series Game 2

 After a lengthy delay - maybe someone was in COVID quarantine? We finally played game 2. Jim Palmer took the hill for the Matts dueling with Catfish Hunter for the Mikes

It was a shaky first inning for Palmer:

• Bill North led things off with a walk - then stole second base
• After Bobby Bonds flew out to center field, Willie McCovey homered to post 2 runs on the board
• Palmer then retired Gene Tenace on a comebacker for the second out
• Sal Bando singled to keep the inning alive
• And scored when Garry Maddox tripled to the gap 
• Chris Speier grounded out to end the inning

Hunter was shaky as well:

• With one out Merv Rettenmund singled
• Willie Crawford followed with a single as well
• Rettenmund beat the throw to third and Crawford took second on the throw 
• Bobby Grich walked to load the bases
• Boog Powell hit a grounder that drew Speier to his right
• His only play was to try to force Crawford at third
• Bando not only got the force at third but relayed to McCovey at first to get Powell for the double play

Speier started another double play in the second after Ron Cey led off the inning with a base hit.

In the third Hunter finally paid for his troubles:

• Palmer led off the inning with a triple
• Al Bumbry got him home with a sacrifice fly to North in right

The top of the 4th got even worse for Hunter:

• Powell singled to start things off
• Ron Cey homered to tie the game at 3 

Defense behind Hunter kept the game tied in the 5th

• With one out, Hunter hit Rettenmund
• Crawford grounded to second, but Tito Fuentes could only make the play at first moving Rettenmund to second base
• Willie Crawford singled to right field 
• Third Base coach Tommy Lasorda, sent Rettenmund, but North's throw to Tenace was perfect, keeping the score tied at 3 and ending the inning

 Since the 3-hit, 3-run first, Palmer had only allowed one other baserunner, a third inning walk to Tenace through the 5th inning. The 6th was a little more interesting, however:

• McCovey walked to lead off the inning
• Palmer then struck out Tenace and Bando
• Maddox then worked another walk to put two on with two out
• Steve Ontiveros came in to pinch-hit for Speier, but could only manage a tapper back to Palmer to end the threat
  

 Not only was that the last threat, Maddox was the last Bay Area Batsman to reach base in the game...

Hunter gave way to Horacio Pina in the 7th, who walked Bumbry with two outs, but Tenace erased him, trying to steal second

 

In the 8th, the Matts threatened again:

• Rettenmund tripled off Pina to start the inning
• Pina was replaced by Darold Knowles
• The lefthander stuck out Crawford before walking Grich intentionally
• Knowles then struck out Powell as well
• Don McMahon came in to face the right-handed hitting Cey and got him to ground out to Fuentes

 Game 1 winner, Grant Jackson had replaced Palmer after 7 innings and was spotless through the 10th

McMahon had an easy 9th, but not so in the 10th

• Bumbry's base hit started the inning
• Rettenmund singled sharply to left, even the speedy Bumbry couldn't get the extra base
• McMahon was not happy with a ball four call to Crawford that loaded the bases for Grich
• Grich made the first out with an infield popup to Bando
• Powell hit a grounder to Campaneris that looked like it might end the inning or at least was hit sharply enough for a close play at the plate
• Perhaps all that was going through Campy's mind as he bobbled the ball and couldn't get it out of his glove allowing Bumbry to score the winning run 
  

 Palmer allowed 3 hits in the first, then he and Jackson combined to no-hit the Mikes for the next 9 innings

After holding the Gotham Pauls to 4 runs and a .167 team batting average in the NLCS, the Script-Jerseyed Matts have allowed 4 runs in two games, but have held the Mikes to a .132 batting average. 

COVID-19(73) Baseball Version 3 World Series Game 1

The NLCS Champs - the Coastal, Diagonal Script Jerseyed Matts hosted the ALCS Champs the Bay Area Mikes in Game 1 of the COVID-19(73) Statis-Pro World Series.

Don Sutton, who dominated the Gotham Pauls in the ALCS took the bump against Vida Blue, who also won 2 games in the LCS, against the Leo RedSox.

Sutton was a little shaky in the first - giving up two singles, but a double play grounder ended that mini threat.

Blue was his equal until the bottom of the 4th:

• With 2 outs, Bobby Grich drew a walk
• Grich moved to third on Willie Crawford's base hit
• Ron Cey put the Matts on the board with another base hit

After Sal Bando lead off the 2nd with a single, Sutton put down 9 straight Altesemen before giving up a lead-off walk to pinch-hitter Steve Ontiveros in the 6th.

Sutton eliminated the next 4 in order before Sal Bando tied the game with a solo home run to left field with 1 out in the 7th.

Bob Reynolds for the Matts and Horacio Pina, Darold Knowles and Don McMahon for the Mikes held the score at 1-1 until the 10th.

• Charlie Hough opened the 10th with consecutive screwball strikeouts of Garry Maddox and Chris Speier before giving way to Jim Brewer to face the switch hitting Tito Fuentes
• Fuentes battled Brewer and eventually hit a seeing-eye single
  
• Jesus Alou, pinch-hitting for McMahon singled Fuentes to 3rd, ending the night for Brewer
• Grant Jackson came in and retired Bill North to hold the score at 1 apiece

Rollie Fingers relieved McMahon and got two quick outs, but 2-out Matt Magic struck again

• Lopes singled and stole second base
• Merv Rettenmund then knocked a base-hit out to Bobby Bonds in left
• The speedy Lopes just beat the throw for the 2-1 win

COVID-19(73) Baseball Version 3 ALCS game 7

We come to Game 7. This series has had several reverses of fortune, what did the final match-up bring - more of the same!

Vida Blue was going for the Alteses and the Leos countered with Roger Moret, in a surprise start over Jack Billingham. Neither starter were involved in the decision.

Moret had a shaky first inning:

• Bill North walked
  
• Johnny Bench caught North straying a bit too far off of first after a pitch to Garry Maddox and picked him with a perfect throw to Tony Perez
• Maddox singled and consecutive walks to Willie McCovey and Gene Tenace loaded the bases
• Sal Bando singled scoring Maddox and McCovey to make it 2-0
• Gary Matthews ground out put runners on 2nd and 3rd with 2 out
• Moret made one more mistake, hanging a slider to Chris Speier and Speier deposited it in the seats for a 3-run homer making it 5-0.
• Moret retired Tito Fuentes, but the inning seemed to drain the RedsSox crowd of energy

Not for long...

• Joe Morgan leadoff the bottom of the first with a single
• After Dave Concepcion struckout, Reggie Jackson hit a moon shot over the rightfield fence to make it 5-2
• Tony Perez made the second out on another hard hit ball that was right at Bando
• Red-hot George Foster then matched Reggie with a home run of his own, cutting the lead to 5-3
• Reggie Smith continued the ripping, with a double
• Carl Yastrzemski completed the team cycle in the first inning with a triple to the gap in center, scoring Smith and cutting the lead to one
• Johnny Bench his a grounder to Speier at short that looked like it would end the inning, but Speier threw it away, scoring Yaz and putting Bench on second
• Phil Gagliano, pinch hitting for Moret grounded out to McCovey ending the inning, but the score was 5-5

Billingham relieved Moret and held the Bay Area squad in check until the 4th

• Fuentes singled to start the inning
• Bobby Bonds had replaced Matthews in left after a double switch walked to put runners on first and second
• Morgan made a great play on North's grounder, stepping on the bag and making the throw to Perez to double up the speedy North, Fuentes moved to third
• Maddox came through with a 2-out single to score Fuentes and put the Mikes back on top 6-5

Horacio Pina and then Catfish Hunter had replaced Blue on the bump and had held the RedsSox to 5 until Yaz leadoff the 6th with a line drive homerun into the seats in right, tying things back up at 6

Ray Culp, Mel Stottlemeyer, Bob Veale, Bobby Bolin and Luis Tiant followed Billingham for the Leos. Tiant was working his second inning in the top of the 9th, still tied at 6

• With two outs, Maddox singled
• McCovey followed with a double and Maddox beat the throw from Pete Rose, to take the 7-6 lead

Don McMahon came in in the bottom of the 9th looking to get the series ending save, Darold Knowles, Glenn Abbot and Rollie Fingers had held the Leos to this point

• Concepcion singled to start things off, but was erased on a fielder's choice by Jackson
• McMahon then walked Tony Perez, putting the tying run on second and the winning run on base
• Dan Driessen popped up for the second out
• Andy Kosco, pinch-hitting for Tiant, became the last hope for the Leos
• Kosco kept the series alive with single, scoring Jackson
• Tommy Harper couldn't end it though as he popped up to Bando for the 3rd out

Into extra innings we went, Pedro Borbon came in for the RedsSox and allowed only a hit batter in the 10th and worked a perfect 11th

McMahon got out of a jam in the 11th

• After allowing a 2-out double to Perez
• McMahon intentionally walked Driessen
  
• With no hitters left, Borbon went out trying to help himself, but could only manage a popup to Dave Rader behind the plate to end the threat

Borbon had some trouble himself in the 12th

• McCovey walked to start he inning
• McMahon moved him to second with a sacrifice bunt
• After Bando walked, Borbon hunkered down and got the last tow outs to end the threat

McMahon had a quick 12th bringing us the 13th inning

• Chris Arnold had taken over at second base for Fuentes back in the 10th leadoff the inning with a single
• Bert Campaneris - the last hitter on the bench for the Mikes - came in to run for Arnold
• Campy stole second
• Borbon was rattled with the baserunner and walked Bonds and North to load the bases
• Maddox made the first out of the inning, but it was productive - a deep fly to left, scored Campy to make it 8-7
• Tom Hall came in to face the lefthanded McCovey, but failed at his job, McCovey doubled scoring Bonds, but North held at third - 9-7
• McMahon hit a grounder to Morgan who throw home, but North slid in under the tag making it 10-7, still only one out
• Hal walked Bando to get to the left-handed hitting Rader
• Rader followed Maddox's example, with sacrifice fly to left, scoring McCovey - making it 11-7

McMahon came out in the 13th with his second chance to seal the game - the 4-run lead was more precarious than it seemed as McMahon would likely have to come out if he allowed anyone to reach base, the bull pen remainders for the Mikes all have serious flaws vs one side of the plate

But McMahon was able to get Morgan, Concepcion and Jackson to end the game and the series

The Mikes move on to face the NLCS Champion Matts later this week - schedule tbd

COVID-19(73) Baseball Version 3 ALCS game 6

The RedsSox facing elimination back home in game 6, sent game 2 winner, John Curtis to the bump to face-off with Ken Holtzman.

The Bay Area Mikes threatened in the second:

• Sal Bando lead off the inning with a single
• After Bobby Bonds struck out, Chris Speier continued his hot hitting and doubled, but Bando was held at third
• Curtis got Tito Fuentes to pop up to Joe Morgan for the second out
• Ken Holtzman came to the plate and foul tipped one into Johnny Bench's bare hand - the pain was too much and Carlton Fisk had to replace Bench
• Holtzman the ended the rally by popping up to Fisk

The Leos were more successful in their half of the second

• With one-out, George Foster, getting his first start of the series, doubled
• Reggie Smith singled, moving Foster to third
• Carl Yastrzemski hit a hard ground ball to Bando at third, he knocked it down, but had not play, Yaz was credited with a single and Foster scored
• Holtzman retired Fisk and Curtis  to end the inning

The lead was short-lived

• With one-out in the top of the third, Garry Maddox singled and Curtis walked Willie McCovey
• After Gene Tenace popped up to Fisk, Bando singled and Maddox came around to score from second and tie the game 1
  
• Bonds struck out again to end the inning

Holtzman was undone in the bottom of the third

• With one out Dave Concepcion doubled
• Jackson singled and Concepcion beat the throw home to make it 2-1
• Holtzman looked like he might get out without further damage as he got Tony Perez to foul out to Tenace
• But George Foster struck again, this time with a 2-run home run to make it 4-1
• Smith grounded out to end the inning

Curtis was very good but had a little trouble in the 6th

• Bando collected his third single of the game to lead off the inning, but was erased on a ground ball from Bonds
• Bonds beat the relay back to first
• With Speier at the plate, Bonds strayed to far trying to steal second and Curtis picked him off for the second out
• Speier singled but Fuentes flew out to Smith to end the inning

The Leos added an insurance run in the 8th

• Perez lead things off with a double against reliever Elias Sosa
• Pete Rose batted for Foster and singled moving Perez to third
• Don McMahon game in for Sosa and gave up another hit, a single to Smith, scoring Perez
• After Yaz popped up to McCovey, Fisk squibbed an infield single to load the bases
• Andy Kosco batting for Curtis lifted a fly to shallow left, but it was too shallow to score Rose
  
• McMahon then induced Morgan to ground out to McCovey to end the inning, but the score was now 5-1

Pedro Borbon, has had troubles throughout the series, but he pitched a perfect 9th to seal the win and forcing a deciding game seven tomorrow at 2pm CDT