It will be the first ever Boston vs Detroit baseball post season clash in the 2013 ALCS. The Detroit Tigers earned a berth opposite the Boston Red Sox, with a (3-0) win at Oakland vs the Athletics, in the decisive 5th game of their division series last night.
For the second straight year, in a Thursday night decisive game of a division series, Justin Verlander (this time for 8 innings) and the Tigers shutout the A’s.
It is the sixth time in as many decisive games of a division series, that the Athletics have fallen. Their team was built around a concept called “Moneyball,” and it is to be credited for the Oakland team’s success with a relatively small payroll.
However, with six losses in as many decisive games and with only one division series win, the era could better be described as “Non money ball.” Incredibly, five of the decisive losses were on the Athletics’ home field in Oakland.
The ALCS opens in Boston on Saturday night and perhaps Jim Leyland should be upset that Tim McCarver, in his last year as a baseball analyst, will be in the broadcast booth.
This is not because Leyland, unlike me, is critical of McCarver as an analyst. No, it would be because a Leyland managed team has never won a post season series with McCarver as an analyst. They are (0-6) in such series encompassing all six of Leyland’s post season series losses.
McCarver worked Leyland managed, Pirates’ NLCS losses to the Reds in 1990 and the Braves in 1991 with Jack Buck, Joe’s father.
In 1992, the Braves broke Leyland and the Pirates’ hearts scoring 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th inning, the final two on an all time clutch 2 out, 2 run single, by the otherwise obscure, Francisco Cabrera.
The ’92 NLCS hero Cabrera, is not exactly in the same hitting class as current Leyland managed, Tigers player, Miguel Cabrera. The latter Cabrera had the game’s key blow, a two run home run in the top of the fourth inning last night.
McCarver worked the 1992 NLCS with a terrific broadcaster named Sean Mc Donough. See there are some broadcasters I like, even a son of a famous sportswriter as is the case with Mc Donough.
Talent is talent and his exciting call on the ’92 NLCS deciding hit is “one for the ages,” not quite like Abraham Lincoln (it was said Mr. Lincoln “belongs to the ages”) but “pretty darn good,” as Larry David might say.
So Leyland was (0-3) in Mc Carver worked series, two with a Buck, in that case Jack, while managing the Pirates in post season.
Leyland is also (0-3) with Mc Carver working with Joe Buck, having lost the 2006 World Series to the Cardinals, the 2011 ALCS to the Texas Rangers and last year’s World Series to the San Francisco Giants. All of those losses occurred as Detroit Tigers’ manager.
Leyland has won a World Series, and in fact is the only one of the managers from the four remaining teams to have even made a World Series.
His triumph was with the wild card Florida Marlins in 1997. Their NLCS and World Series triumphs featured Bob Costas, Joe Morgan and Bob Uecker on the broadcast team. None of the team’s divisional series wins that year were in “McCarver/Joe Buck” games.
For the third time the Dodgers and Cardinals will play a series of games to determine the National League Pennant winner.
Their 2013 NLCS begins Friday night in St.Louis where on Wednesday, the Cards raised their “winner take all” series or “play in” game record to (15-6) beating the Pittsburgh Pirates (6-1).
The first time the two teams played for the pennant was in 1946 when the Dodgers were still in Brooklyn. The two teams had finished tied over the course of the 154 game regular season. A best of three playoff was played and the St. Louis Cardinals prevailed in two straight games.
The other previous clash for the N.L. pennant was in 1985, when the Cardinals won the NLCS in six games.
I still can not believe Dodgers’ manager Tom Lasorda allowed Cards’ slugger, Jack Clark to swing the bat and not walking him when L.A. at home, was clinging to a one run lead, and “St. Loo” had runners at second and third with two out.
The home run Clark hit just landed somewhere in outer space and Lasorda, despite that decision, is in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
My rooting for the Dodgers ended that day with that stupid decision to pitch to Clark. I “cut off my nose to spite my face,” and that is my tough luck.
Still, the decision confounds me and remains in my not so humble opinion, one of the worst managerial decisions in baseball history.
All three years of these Dodgers vs Cardinals series/playoffs for the pennant (1946, 1985 and 2013) have the same calendar.
The Dodgers are seven to five favorites in the upcoming series. Their current manager, Don Mattingly, who pitched ace Clayton Kershaw on three days rest vs Atlanta will not repeat that, at least for game one. Kershaw will start in game two.
Two divisional series have gone to a decisive fifth game (the St. Louis Cardinals host the Pittsburgh Pirates tonight while tomorrow night, for the second straight year, the Detroit Tigers will play in Oakland vs the A’s in a decisive game). Both the Los Angeles Dodgers and Boston Red Sox won their divisional series in four games.
The American League top seed, Red Sox, who finished five and a half games ahead of the Tampa Rays in the A.L. East, but had to beat them in a short series, did so, wrapping it up with a (3-1) win in game four last night. The Junior Circuit pennant winner will have the home field advantage in the World Series.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers won just their third post season series since Kirk Gibson, Orel Hershiser and company upset the favored Oakland Athletics in the 1988 World Series. In doing so the Dodgers handed the Atlanta Braves a 6th straight divisional series loss.
Atlanta also lost the “play in” game last year and worse in my opinion, have but one world title to show for 17 post season appearances in what will be 22 completed baseball seasons from (1991-2013). (There was an incomplete major league baseball season in 1994).
The Red Sox, as alluded to earlier, will have the home advantage vs the Tigers/A’s winner in the ALCS which will open Sunday night.
In my last post I “knocked” announcer Joe Buck and am grateful that the football/baseball doubleheader from Boston this Sunday will not have Buck on both games. He was allowed to do that once (in San Francisco) a few years back.
However, and you can call me envious and bitter, but the play by play man on football from the Boston area (it is an intriguing (5-0) New Orleans Saints at the (4-1) New England Patriots game) will be Thom Brennaman, who isn’t any better.
The sacrosanct New York Times, which once misspelled Wayne Gretzky’s name, ripped into Brennaman’s performance in a relatively recent, college football national title game.
A friend of mine had a succinct thought on Brennaman’s work. After enduring three hours plus of Brennaman on last week’s Eagles/Giants tilt, he told me, “the play by play action is an afterthought to his incessant talking.” When will these guys learn that less is more?!!
Meanwhile the Dodgers await the result of tonight’s decisive game in St. Louis to not only see whom they will play, but also the location of the game.
The L.A. manager, Don Mattingly, was very grateful, not only to have advanced, but to have avoided a plane trip to Atlanta, after the clinching victory vs Atlanta.
Toward that end, he had started ace pitcher Clayton Kershaw on three days rest. The Dodgers went from a roughly three to two to a five to two favorite in the final game vs Atlanta.
Luckily (for them) they won, as an all time clutch player, Juan Uribe, delivered the big blow. Now there is no decisive game tonight in Atlanta with Kershaw unavailable to start. That would have been the situation had the Dodgers lost game four.
Now Mattingly and company will root for the Pirates, who exactly 39 years ago lost at Dodger Stadium in the final game of the NLCS, so they avoid the plane and open the NLCS at home. By the way, all this talk of planes evokes memories of Herve Villechaize.
If the Pirates win tonight and are the Dodgers’ NLCS opponent, L.A. will be large game, and series, favorites–especially with Kershaw starting in the series opener in Los Angeles.
If the Cardinals win, (they are a 3 to 2 choice tonight), the Dodgers with Kershaw starting game one, but on the road, will still be favored–but by not nearly that wide a margin in both the NLCS opener and for the series. 
The number of undefeated NFL teams has dwindled down to three as two previously unbeaten teams lost last week.
Two of the three (5-0) teams are in the AFC West. The Broncos have been dominant, although they had to score 51 points to fight back and win (51-48) in Dallas vs the (2-3) Cowboys.
The other (5-0) team from the AFC West, the Kansas City Chiefs (remember their huddle in the AFL and early AFC days with quarterback Len Dawson facing the other ten players) won (26-17) at Tennessee vs the Titans last week. The Titans were once the Houston Oilers and in 1962, faced the Chiefs franchise (the Dallas Texans) in a 2 overtime AFL title game.
Tommy Brooker’s field goal won the game for the Texans. Jack Buck, who begot Joe Buck, conducted post game interviews that day and was also the lead announcer for far greater Texans/Chiefs’ franchise glory when K.C. upset the Vikings in the 4th Super Bowl.
I witnessed the utter disgrace of Joe Buck, at an event honoring his father, saying “my father broadcast the Ice Bowl in 1969.”
The game was played on the last day of 1967. It was a dinner honoring your dad and yet you (Joe Buck—always talking at me) did not get the facts straight on one of the great games in history.
It has not hurt Buck very much as he makes millions as the “top” announcer in sports today. In a span of a few months, he will “call” both the World Series and Super Bowl in the same season for a record tying fourth time (Curt Gowdy also broadcast both in the same season on four different occasions) this year.
The location for that fourth Super Bowl was New Orleans and the “Crescent City” houses the other (5-0) team, the New Orleans Saints. They won by 8 points at Chicago last week.
Calendars are fun. I still look at those calendars replete with gorgeous women and beautiful scenery or art, a different entity for all twelve months in the solar based year.
I also have recall of past dates and past games and find the repeat or non repeat of “history” interesting, if not fascinating.
Please bear with me as it (history) has repeated in “same calendar,” possible NLCS pairings but not regarding possible ALCS entrants.
Since 1969 and the advent of League Championship Series, this is the sixth calendar with this configuration (for example tragic November 22nd is again on a Friday). The other such years were 1974, 1985, 1991, 1996 and 2002.
The four National League teams (the Pirates, Cardinals, Dodgers and Braves) currently playing in the divisional series, comprised 9 of the 10 entrants in the NLCS in those same calendar years (’74, ’85, ’91, ’96,and 2002) as 2013.
Thus by definition, there will be a redux of one of those NLCS in the 2013 version. Oddly, all four possible match ups occurred once each in those years (’74 Dodgers/Pirates, ’85 Cardinals/Dodgers, ’91 Braves/Pirates and ’96 Braves/Cardinals). In 2002 the Giants beat the Cardinals in the NLCS. None of the five NLCS winners in those years won the World Series.
In the American League, only one of the ten slots in the “same calendar” ALCS was filled by a team playing at this point this season.
That team, the 1974 Oakland A’s did win the World Series, giving them three straight titles, a feat matched or topped only three other times in baseball history.
All three other times it was accomplished by the New York Yankees (5 straight titles (1949-1953), four straight (1936-1939) and three straight (1998-2000).
While the best of five divisional series between the Detroit Tigers and Oakland A’s is tied at a game apiece, the three other such series could end today.
In the other American League series the top ranked Boston Red Sox can win their first post season series since 2008 with a win at Tampa, vs the Rays.
The BoSox won both Fenway park tilts putting Joe Maddon’s Rays on the precipice of a third straight divisional series loss all in a four season span (2010-2013).
The loss is likely but far from certainly to occur in their “no real atmosphere,” home in Tampa, also for a third time in as many appearances in that span.
In the National League with each team playing on the exact 39 year anniversary of their game two clash in the 1974 NLCS, the Pittsburgh Pirates and Los Angeles Dodgers won home divisional series games yesterday, making a 1974 NLCS redux a likely, but still far from certain, outcome.
There is action in all four series today. The Tigers host the A’s in the day’s first game, a scheduled 1 pm eastern time start.
The next game will be the Pirates vs the St. Louis Cardinals in game four. The Pirates are hoping to win their first post season series (play in game is not a series) since winning the 1979 World Series in that 3pm start.
Next, the aforementioned Red Sox’ bid to wrap up their series will be in game three at Tampa with a 6pm scheduled starting time.
The day’s final game is in Los Angeles (9:30pm scheduled start) with the Dodgers facing the Atlanta Braves in game four.
Yesterday, on the exact 50 year anniversary of winning the 1963 World Series in four straight games vs the still great New York Yankees, the Dodgers moved one win away from just their third LCS appearance in 25 seasons(1989-2013) with a “football score”(13-6) win vs the Atlanta Braves.
There was more history made on Friday October 4, 2013. After the first two of the four divisional games produced The Pirates and Red Sox winning post season games on the same day for the first time, the Detroit Tigers’ victory in the day’s final game also produced an historic first.
Yesterday was the first time in history that the two franchises (the Pirates and Tigers) which met in the 1909 World Series, won post season games on the same day.
In the last of the four divisional series games played yesterday, the Detroit Tigers scored three runs in the first, (Miguel Cabrera getting the key hit) and held off the Oakland A’s (3-2) in their division series opener.
In 1909, the Pirates, (who lost that first World Series to the Red Sox franchise 5 games to three in a best of nine event in 1903), beat the Tigers in the first seventh and deciding game of a World Series (the Pirates are (5-2) in World Series play, (5-0) in decisive game sevens).
Each team featured an all time baseball great. The Pirates had shortstop Honus Wagner while Ty Cobb played in the outfield for the Tigers.
Only once since their 1909 World Series clash have the Pirates and Tigers made the baseball post season in the same year.
That year was 1972 and as is the case this year the Tigers’ post season opponent is Oakland(A’s). Additionally the Pirates’ lone 1972 opponent, the Cincinnati Reds, were also a post season opponent for Pittsburgh this year.
Similarly and of course coincidentally, the two previous times the Pirates and Red Sox were in post season play together, in opposite “brackets” if you will, their opponents were the Reds and A’s.
In 1972, four times the Tigers and Pirates played on the same day, the Tigers in the ALCS and the Pirates in the NLCS. On Saturday October 7th, the Pirates won but the Tigers lost in series openers. The next day, both teams lost. Only the Pirates played on Monday October 9th, winning to take a (2-1) series lead.
However it was the Pirates’ last win and on Tuesday October 10th and Wednesday the 11th while the Tigers won each day to force a decisive 5th game, the Reds beat the Pirates both days to take the series in five games.
Hence yesterday October 4, 2013 was the first time that the Tigers and Pirates, World Series opponents 104 years ago, won post season games on the same day.
The A’s won that decisive 5th game in 1972 and went on to win their first World Series in 42 years and after having moved from Philadelphia to Kansas City (remember innovative A’s owner Charles O–for owner–Finley and his “pennant porch” in K.C.) and again to Oakland.
Since that 1972 ALCS, the Tigers are (8-2) vs the A’s in the playoffs, winning series in 2006 and last year.
Already pre series 8 to 5 favorites, and having won a road opening game in a best of five series, Detroit will be considered huge favorites in the current series vs the A’s.
Ty Cobb and Honus Wagner
Rather than tell you how horrible the broadcasting and the seven post season games have been thus far, I will give you an interesting fact you will not likely find elsewhere.
The two teams (Boston Red Sox franchise and Pittsburgh Pirates) that met in the first World Series 110 years ago, won post season games on the same day for the first time in history on Friday.
The Pirates eased (7-1) in a noon or so start at St. Louis and squared the division series at a game apiece.
The Red Sox beat the Tampa Rays (12-2) in their division series opener. This snapped a four game Red Sox post season game loss skein that started with a game seven loss to the Rays in the 2008 ALCS.
Other than in 1903 when they faced each other, only twice before have the Red Sox and Pirates been in the post season the same year.
In 1975 while the Red Sox swept the Oakland A’s, the Cincinnati Reds, (who, 38 years later, today fired their manager, Dusty Baker despite a 90 win season, after their loss to the Pirates) swept the Pirates. Each series went three games in a best of five LCS.
The other time both teams made the post -season in the same year was 1990 and each team (The Red Sox and Pirates) faced the same opponent.
The Reds again beat the “Bucs,” this time it was 4 games to two in a best of seven series. Meanwhile the A’s, who had swept the Red Sox in 4 straight in the 1988 ALCS, did it again winning four straight from them in the 1990 ALCS.
Thus on Friday October 4, 2013, 110 years after meeting in baseball’s first post season contest, the Red Sox and Pirates won post season games on the same day for the first time in history.
Let’s cite the exception to the bad broadcasting: it’s Bob Costas, broadcasting the sixth of seven “little or no drama” games (Pittsburgh Pirates’ rout of the St. Louis Cardinals) in this horrible extra round(s) of baseball playoffs.
Costas mentioned that the Cards’ “pitching advantage” upcoming in #4 last year, when broadcasting #3 of St. Louis/ Washington Nationals (the Cards lost that game but rallied to dramatically win the decisive 5th game), cited the Pirates “edge” in #3 this year with starter Francisco Liriano pitching at home.
“Las Vegas” “agrees” as the Pirates are three to two favorites in the upcoming tilt. The series is considered even after St. Loo was a nearly three to one series favorite after game one.
Costas is still a joy to hear, making the best of a bad game without trying to con us that the game’s winner is in doubt.
As always, Bob did a good, professional job. Sadly it is his only broadcast of the post season and I believe just his second in the last thirteen seasons.
Bob Costas
The Tampa Bay Rays are in the divisional series for the third time in four seasons after posting a (4-0) victory at Cleveland (Indians) in the American League “play in” game.
The Wednesday night victory in Cleveland followed a Rays’ victory in another must game at Texas two nights earlier.
The Rays, who have made the division series four times in six seasons, played three games in four days in three different seasons. They survived, winning (7-6) Sunday afternoon in Toronto.
The busy itinerary continues when the Rays face the American League top seed, Boston Red Sox in Boston on Friday.
That is game one of the division series which is a redux of the 2008 ALCS, won by the Rays in the maximum 7 games vs the Red Sox. This will be a best of five series.
The Rays return to Tampa for game three of the division series on Monday. In a two week span the Rays will have played in Tampa, New York, Toronto, Texas, Boston and Tampa again.
The Rays still managed by Joe Maddon repeated a Maddon post season entity victory over Terry Francona, who managed the 2008 Red Sox and is the current Indians’ manager.
Exactly fifty years ago today, the great Los Angeles Dodgers’ pitcher Sandy Koufax set a World Series record, striking out 15 New York Yankees in a (5-2) Dodgers’ win in the World Series opener.
It was Wednesday October 2nd, 1963 and as is the case today, was a beautiful day in the New York area. The game was played at the original Yankee Stadium.
I have incredibly fond memories of the game, lucky to have watched while in my third grade classroom.
I had a great teacher, Mrs. Drusin, who let the class watch the game.
And I wouldn’t leave the classroom until I got to see Sandy strikeout Harry Bright to break Carl Erskine’s record of 14 strikeouts in a World Series game.
Not too far away, future great broadcaster and already a baseball lover, Bob Costas saw the game in his sixth grade class.
That was because as Bob so eloquently put it during his brilliant, moving eulogy for Mickey Mantle 32 (Koufax’ number) years later, his teacher Mr. Tomasee, “a very wise man knew that the World Series was more important, at least for one day, than any school lesson could be.”
Life went on and horrible tragedy struck just one month and twenty days later when of course, President Kennedy was killed.
Yet the memories of that innocent and bold day on October 2nd remain tucked into a rare special place of happiness for me.
Destined to go vs the flow even then, I succeeded that day with my once beloved Dodgers against a once intensely disliked Yankees team.
Yet 50 years later, the memories and greatness of those Yankees; Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Edward “Whitey” Ford to name three, are as sweet as those of Dodgers Sandy, Don Drysdale and John Roseboro (who hit a big three run home run in game 1). Almost, anyway.
Jack Nicholson’s character “Mc Murphy” in his award winning performance in the film, “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” badly wants to watch the 1963 World Series and that “opener,” as he calls game one. His character tries again to watch the next day and is again denied. That depicted the harsh reality of mean triumphing over good.
Still amidst the sad in the film, is broadcaster Ernie Harwell’s actual recap of Game 1, as part of the “preview” for game two.
The ads for the game (players like Roseboro or the Yankees Elston Howard telling us how much they love the new Gillette razor), the price of razors, and the Gillette theme to open the World Series broadcast all take me back to better days.
The game, exactly 50 years ago today, represented much of what, (and here are those saddest words again), “might have been.”
I am grateful that for one day, at least, it was “what might have been.”
Not only did Sandy strikeout 15 but former New York governor and minor league baseball player Mario Cuomo, in attendance that day, years later told me: “most remarkable was that Bobby Richardson, who rarely struck out, fanned three times that day.”
Frank Howard’s second inning double to the famed, on the field monuments was hit as hard as any ball was ever hit.
What great memories!
Andy B Sports 