Top Of The Third

Sunday, 2 October 2016

Wild Card Jays Can Look To 2014 Giants For Inspiration

It was a rough September, but the Toronto Blue Jays won enough games to claim home field advantage in the one-game Wild Card matchup with the Baltimore Orioles, which will take place on Tuesday evening. After looking a shade mediocre over the final week, the wins in their final two games with the Boston Red Sox over the weekend has entered them into MLB’s postseason for the second year in a row.

And while the September struggles, combined with the inconsistency of the bullpen all season plus the struggles at the plate with runners in scoring position, the slate has been wiped clean and everything starts anew. The question marks I raised are causes for concern but if the bats get hot and the starting pitchers keep up the performances they’ve put up in the past two weeks, well, hey, anything can happen.

Now before critics and Blue Jays haters out there—you know who you are—start to scoff at the prospect of the Jays going deep into the postseason, I have a set of numbers and two words to say to you: 2014 San Francisco Giants.

That’s right, those same Giants who won the World Series are the source of inspiration for the Blue Jays and their fans. In 2014, San Francisco led the National League West until the end of July, slumped a bit and struggled to get into the postseason. The finished up 4-6 in their final ten games and qualified as the second wild card team with a record of 88-74.

They went into Pittsburgh and defeated the Pirates in the Wild Card game by a convincing 8-0 score. Then it was onto the NLDS against the Washington Nationals who led the National League with 96 wins. The Giants won the first two games in Washington en route to winning the best-of-five series in four games.

After disposing the Nats, it was on to the NLCS where they took out the St. Louis Cardinals in five games. A seven-game World Series victory was made even sweeter when they took the seventh game on the road. All together, San Fran finished with a 6-3 record away from home during the postseason.

Now let’s look at the 2016 Blue Jays. First of all, they finished with more wins (89) than the Giants did in 2014, and they will have the Wild Card at the Rogers Centre. If they win, they play the Texas Rangers who they beat in the ALDS in 2015. In seven games against each other this year, the Jays won four. And don’t think the Rangers won’t forget Jose Bautista’s bat flip from last year, so expect some fireworks in that series.

If they beat Texas it will be on to the ALCS against Cleveland or Boston. They lost the season series against Cleveland (Toronto won three of the seven games) but held a 10-9 advantage over the Red Sox. Either matchup would be intriguing. And maybe, just maybe, the Jays could defeat either of those teams and advance to the World Series.

It doesn’t matter who they play at that point, but one thing is for sure, they will have the home field advantage thanks to the American League’s win at the All-Star break. So again, you never know.

Am I dreaming? Going crazy? Too optimistic? Perhaps. But so were the 2014 San Francisco Giants, and well….it kind of worked out for them.

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This Day In Postseason History: October 2, 1978: Bucky Dents Red Sox Hopes

October 2^nd, 1978

A.L. East Tie Breaker

New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox

Fenway Park, Boston

This game should never have even taken place. In the middle of July, the Yankees trailed the Red Sox by 14 games in the standings. To make things worse, Yankee manager Billy Martin had lost control of the team. He was feuding with his players, the media, and even owner George Steinbrenner. He was fired and replaced by Bob Lemon. The change in managers seemed to have a positive affect on the Yankees as they went on a 53-21 run in their final 74 games.

The Red Sox meanwhile, went the other direction and finished their last 74 games with a 38-36 record. Boston actually fell behind the Yankees by one game with a week to go in the season. And even though New York pulled of a 6-1 record in the final week, the Red Sox did them one better and went 7-0. The teams finished with identical 99-63 records, meaning there would be a one-game division tie-breaker for the American League East Championship, to be held at Fenway Park on Monday afternoon, October 2^nd.

Ron Guidry (24-3) would start on the hill for Yankees while the Red Sox would go with Mike Torrez (16-12). The Red Sox jumped to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second when veteran first baseman, Carl Yastrzemski hit a solo shot off of Guidry.

From there, the two pitchers settled into their grooves and runs were hard to come by. In fact, Torrez had shut out New York through six and his teammates would reward him in the bottom of the inning. Jim Rice singled to centre, knocking in Nate Burleson and Boston increased their lead to 2-0. Needing only nine outs to win the division, it appeared the Red Sox would escape after their season-ending swoon.

With one out in the top of the seventh, Yankee first baseman Chris Chambliss singled. Then outfielder Roy White singled. Torrez buckled down and got the second out on a fly ball, bringing light-hitting shortstop Bucky Dent to the plate. Dent would forever solidify a spot in Yankee lore when he smacked a three-run home run over the Green Monster giving the Yankees a 3-2 lead. They added a fourth run later in the inning when Thurman Munson doubled in Mickey Rivers.

Reggie Jackson would then extend the lead to 5-2 with a solo home run in the top of the eighth. But in the bottom of the inning, the Red Sox would close the gap to 5-4 on RBI singles by Yastrzemski and Fred Lynn.

In the bottom of the ninth, it was the Yankees who were three outs away from completing the comeback when their closer, Rich “Goose” Gossage, ran into trouble. He surrendered a walk and single with one out. A sacrifice fly moved the tying run to third and brought Yastrzemski back up to the plate with two out.

But Yaz hit a lazy pop fly to third base. The Red Sox rally died as Graig Nettles squeezed the third out, giving the Yankees a 5-4 win and the division. They would go on to defeat the Kansas City Royals in the ALCS and then take care of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series.

For Red Sox fans, it was a tough loss to swallow. Having squandered such a huge lead left the team devastated. They wouldn’t return to the postseason until 1986. However, suggesting Boston choked would be disrespectful to the Yankees’ comeback. What New York managed to achieve, after a first half full of turmoil, was a great accomplishment.

And this tie-breaking game symbolized their entire season and their never-give-up attitude.

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Saturday, 1 October 2016

This Day In Postseason History: October 1, 1932: Ruth Calls His Shot

Finally, it’s here. October. The best month of the year. The month where we get to see the beautiful orange, yellow and red colours displayed by the trees before their leaves—as Lucy van Pelt once said—fly south for the winter. October also brings as such wonderful treats like Thanksgiving (if you’re Canadian), Halloween and pumpkin pie.

And it’s the month where we get to witness the start of another hockey season, while college football and the NFL get deeper into their short seasons.

But more importantly, the biggest reason of all why I love October is simple: post-season baseball and the World Series. There is nothing bigger in the world of sports than October baseball. The expectations of the spring, continue through the summer for some teams while fewer still experience the excitement and drama of October…then are met by the cruel harsh reality of unfulfilled dreams (except for one team, of course) as the realization comes that, yes, winter is here.

For the month of October at Top Of the Third, we will focus on an important and exciting game from post season play that corresponds with the date on the calendar. We will do this right through to the end of the World Series. These are some of the best games in post-season history and I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I did writing them for you.

Enjoy October.

October 1^st, 1932

World Series, Game 3

New York Yankees at Chicago Cubs

Wrigley Field, Chicago

This will forever be remembered as the game where Yankees’ slugger, Babe Ruth, supposedly pointed to the bleachers and predicted he would hit a home run, then did it. But did he really “call his shot?” That has been debated for the past 84 years. While there is video evidence that shows The Babe waving his hand in the direction of the outfield, it’s very inconclusive that he actually did brashly tell the Cubs he was going to go deep.

The game itself was an interesting affair in which the Yankees won 7-5 to take a 3-0 lead in the Series on their way to a sweep. Ruth hit two home runs in the game, as did teammate Lou Gehrig.

The game was tied at four in the top of the fifth when the controversial moment with Ruth happened. Until his death, Ruth played along with the debate, never admitting whether he called the shot or not.

Ford Frick, who would later be National League President and the Commissioner of Baseball, asked Ruth about the story when Frick was a sportswriter for the New York American. The following conversation ensued:

Frick: Did you really point to the bleachers?

Ruth: It’s in the papers, isn’t it?

Frick: Yeah. It’s in the papers. But did you really point to the stands?

Ruth: Why don’t you read it in the papers? It’s all right there in the papers.

I’ll let you draw your own conclusions.

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