For the all-important Game 5, the Reds again went with a starter on 3 days rest with John Smiley. The Braves countered with their own lefty, Tom Glavine.
Things didn't start out well for the Braves as they lost their starting second baseman, Mark Lemke, in the bottom of the 1st. The team trainers said he could miss an additional 7 games. However, the Braves got on the board first on a 2-run HR by Ryan Klesko in the 2nd inning. The Reds responded in the top of the 4th with a 3-run shot by Reggie Sanders. The Braves quickly re-took the lead in the bottom half of the frame, the big shot a 2-out, 2-run double by Marquis Grissom and added another run in the bottom of the 5th on an RBI single by Rafael Belliard.
The Reds responded with a run in the top of the 6th on an RBI double by Benito Santiago to cut it to 6-4. A 2-run single by Javy Lopez in the bottom of the inning stretched the lead back out and chased Smiley.
The final scoring was from a 2-run double by Bret Boone in the top of the 8th off Brad Clontz to give us our final score of 8-6. The series heads back to Cincinnati with the Braves holding a 3 games to 2 lead.
With the Reds beating the Braves ace Greg Maddux in game 3 to take a 2-1 series lead, the Braves turned to Steve Avery in the hopes that he could help them win the pivotal game 4.
The Reds countered with Pete Schourek on 3 days rest. The Braves got on board first in the 4th inning behind a leadoff Chipper Jones homerun. They loaded the bases on three singles with one out, but Schourek got out of the jam, retiring Belliard and Avery.
Avery was magnificent, allowing only two hits and holding the Reds scoreless through the first 7 innings. A two-out two-run Ron Gant homerun gave the Reds a 2-1 lead and they were only 6 outs away from taking a 3-1 series lead. Avery finished with a line of 7.2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 12 K.
Fred McGriff tied things up in the bottom of the 8th with a solo homerun, his sixth of the postseason, off of Dave Burba.
Things would remain deadlocked until the bottom of the 11th, when Javy Lopez blasted a 2-run walkoff homerun off of Hector Carrasco, sending Braves fans happy and tying up the NLCS at 2 games a piece.
As the Braves return home to Atlanta Fulton County Stadium for Game 3, with the series tied 1-1, they handed the ball to the man who had one of the greatest pitching seasons of all time, Greg Maddux.
However the Reds would not be rattled. In the 3rd inning, they strung together 4 singles and a walk to score two runs, even though they left the bases loaded. The Braves got one back in the bottom, but a leadoff Jeff Branson homerun in the 4th made it 3-1. A 2-run single by Bret Boone in the 5th made it 5-1.
The Braves got one back in the 8th, but Bret Boone scored Reggie Sanders on an RBI triple in the top of the 9th to made it 6-2. With a tired bullpen and a 4 run lead, the Reds brought in Mark Portugal to close things out. However a 2-run homerun by Mark Lemke chased Portugal and made it 6-4. Jeff Brantley came in the close things out and although he gave up a solo shot to Fred McGriff to make it 6-5, he was able to get David Justice to foul out to Benito Santiago to get the save and give the Reds a victory and 2-1 lead in the series.
With the Atlanta Braves having dropped Game 1 of the NLCS, they turned to John Smoltz to keep them from returning home down two games to none.
And Smoltz was up to the task. Tossing a complete game shutout, allowing a single hit, a two-out single to Barry Larkin in the 3rd inning.
For the Reds, John Smiley was nearly as good, allowing 6 hits and one run in 7 2/3 innings.
The Braves scored their lone run in the 7th. A leadoff walk to David Justice was following by a Mike Deveraux single. With Justice on third, a Javy Lopez fly ball to left scored the run that turned out to be the difference.
With the series tied 1 game a piece, we head to Atlanta Fulton-County Stadium as Greg Maddux awaits the Reds.
Now that we have finalized the four teams (matching the real life participants), we will start to focus on the championship series game by game. Starting things off with the National League Championship Series, matching up the Atlanta Braves (90-54 IRL) vs. the Cincinnati Reds (85-59).
There were a couple of things that stuck out to me about this series, that I did not remember. First, the Reds had the home field advantage due to a predetermined formula which awarded home field advantage to the Central Division champion or its playoff opponent. And second, the Reds acquired David Wells (to go with Pete Schourek and John Smiley to make an all-lefty starting rotation) from the Detroit Tigers for the express purpose of matching up with all of the left-handed power of the Braves (McGriff, Klesko, Justice, etc). IRL, the Braves swept the series. We'll see if history repeats itself.
In Game 1, the pitching matchup was Tom Glavine versus Pete Schourek. The Reds got to Glavine early, scoring 4 runs in the first 5 innings behind a two run Benito Santiago homerun in the 3rd and a solo Reggie Sanders blast in the 5th. A 2-run Fred McGriff blast brought the Braves closer, but the game would end with a 4-2 Reds win. Schourek went 8 innings, allowing only 4 hits and 1 ER, striking out 7. Jeff Brantley tossed a scoreless 9th to record the save.
In real life, this was a series that produced one of the most inconic images in postseason baseball history, Ken Griffey Jr scoring from first on an Edgar Martinez double off of Jack McDowell, pitching in relief in the bottom of the 11th of game 5.
My replay had nearly as much excitement. The Mariners won game 1 at Yankee Stadium, 3-1. Chris Bosio threw 7 shutout innings. David Cone took the loss. Tino Martinez's 2 run HR in the top of the 2nd was all that Bosio needed.
Game 2 was a wild, wooly affair that saw the Yankees win 12-11 after scoring 4 runs in the 9th. Both starters got knocked around early. Andy Benes gave up 8 runs in 6 IP for the Mariners and Andy Pettite got knocked out in the 4th after giving up 9 ER on 8 hits. After getting up 9-4 in the fourth, the Yankees pulled back 3 runs in the 5th. The Mariners scored 2 more in the 8th off of Yankees closer John Wetteland on an RBI single by Vince Coleman, who later scored on a Wade Boggs fielding error. But the bottom of the 9th was where the action was.
Bobby Ayala, the Mariners regular season closer who had struggled throughout the year was sent out to try and hold the 3 run lead. After back to back walks to Randy Velarde and Boggs, Ayala was pulled in favor of Jeff Nelson. Nelson proceeded to strike out Bernie Williams and Paul O'Neill. Ruben Sierra strode the plate as the tying run with two outs in the bottom of the 9th and the Yankees on the verge of travelling to Seattle for 3 games, down 2-0. Sierra proceeded to put Nelson's pitch in the right field bleachers. Nelson, clearly shaken, allowed Don Mattingly to reach first when he fumbled a grounder back to the mound. Dion James stepped up, and drilled a walk off triple down the right field line, scoring Mattingly, crushing the Mariners faithful, and sending the series to Seattle tied one game a piece.
In game 3, the Mariners pinned their hopes to 6'10" Randy Johnson. The Big Unit struggled, though, giving up 9 hits, 5 walks, and 4 runs in 8 innings of work. On the flip side, Jack McDowell was lights out - a complete game, allowing only 5 hits and 1 run, while striking out 10. Sierra was again the offensive star for the Yanks, blasting two more homeruns.
Facing a do-or-die game 4, the Mariners again turned to Chris Bosio. Again, he was lights out. Allowing only 1 run on 5 hits in 7.2 innings of work. The M's turned to Norm Charlton and Bob Wells to close things out. Offensively, the Mariners exploded, scoring 12 runs on 13 hits, knocking around starter Scott Kamieniecki and young reliever Mariano Rivera. Ken Giffey Jr hit two longballs. Jay Buhner and Edgar Martinez added a homerun a piece to power the Mariners to a deciding game five...
Game 5 saw a matchup of David Cone and Andy Benes. The Yankees struck first, on a 2-run homerun by Paul O'Neill in the 4th inning. The Mariners struck back in the bottom of the same frame, behind an RBI single by Jay Buhner and then a two-run triple by Luis Sojo. The M's added another run in the 6th on an RBI double by Joey Cora and then two more in the bottom of the 7th behind a solo HR by Griffey and then Mike Blowers drew a bases loaded walk. The Yanks would claw one back when a Wade Boggs single scored Mike Stanley after his leadoff double. But that would be it and the game would end with a 6-3 Mariners win, sending them to their first ever ALCS. Andy Benes went 5 solid innings and Norm Charlton and Jeff Nelson would each pitch two innings of relief to close things out.
Mike Stanley (6-15, 5 2B), Bernie Williams (7-21, 2 HR), and Paul O'Neill (6-22, 5 RBI, 2 HR) led the way offensively for the Yankees. Amazingly, the hero of games 2 and 3, Ruben Sierra went only 3-19 (with 3 homeruns).
For the Mariners, they hit .292 and slugged .515 as a team. Dan Wilson went 7-15 with 2 HR. Vince Coleman went 9-22, scoring 5 runs. Tino Martinez (8-21) and Edgar Martinez (6-18) both had timely hits. But it was the kid, Ken Griffey Jr. (8-22, 6 RBI, 3 HR) who was the star for the upstart Mariners.
The Cleveland Indians, the team with the best record in baseball, took care of the Boston Red Sox, 3 games to 1, but the Red Sox certainly didn't make things easy for the Tribe.
In the middle of the 7th inning of game 1, the Indians trailed the Sox 2-0 behind a 2-run Mike Greenwell homer in the 6th. The Indians scored 1 run in each of the final 3 innings, to win 3-2. Kenny Lofton had a one out triple in the bottom of the ninth and scored on Omar Vizquel's walk-off single off of Stan Belinda.
In game 2, the Red Sox returned the favor, scoring 2 runs in the 8th on a Tim Naehring homerun. Erik Hanson got the win for the Sox and Belinda and Rick Aguilera both had scoreless innings to close it out and send the Sox back to Boston with a tied series.
In game 3, the Indians scored three runs in the 5th against Tim Wakefield to break the game open. They ended up winning 4-1. Naehring hit another homerun.
Game 4 was a back and forth affair. The Indians got off to a 3-0 lead in the 5th off of an RBI single by Kenny Lofton and a 2-run single by Omar Vizquel. The Red Sox got one back in the 6th off of a Mo Vaughn solo homer and then tied it up on a 2 run double by Luis Alicea in the 7th. The game remained tied until the 11th. The Red Sox went to game 2 starter Erik Hanson out of the pen in the 11th and then a Jim Thome double scored Manny Ramirez and Herb Perry scored on a Hanson wild pitch. Back to back singles by Jose Canseco and Mike Greenwell off of Jose Mesa in the bottom of the 11th would bring Tim Naehring up as the winning run. But Mesa would strike out Naehring and pinch hitter Matt Stairs to send the Indians to American League Championship Series.
Offensively, the Indians were paced by Jim Thome (6-12, 2 2B, 3 R), Manny Ramirez (7-17), and Albert Belle (5-14, 2 2B). Amazingly, the Indians, who led all of baseball with 207 regular season homeruns, hit a grand total of ZERO homeruns in the ALDS. The Indians were aided by a team ERA of 2.61.
The Red Sox were led offensively by Jose Canseco (6-15, 3 2B, 2 R, 2 RBI) and Tim Naehring, who slugged .688.
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