Halladay celebration

There were many heroes for Colorado. The top hitter of the everyday guys was the No. 8 batter, shortstop Ike Davis, who basically only played one season in the big leagues with the 1925 White Sox. A .235 career hitter, he batted .412 against Delaware. Roy Hartzell, who is the all-time Colorado-born leader in at-bats and many offensive categories, hit .389 while playing right field and third base. Roy Halladay, of course, had a 1.17 ERA in two starts and Goose Gossage saved all three Colorado victories, not allowing a run in 4 2/3 innings. But a tip of the hat to Salida Tom Hughes, whose three-hit effort over seven innings in Game 4 allowed Doc and the Goose to share the heroes’ mantle.

Delaware was also led by a lower member of the batting order in Bill Higgins, a good-fielding second baseman. He checked in at .357. Kevin Mench hit .316 and had the only home run for the First State (there were only three in the series). John Mabry was a bust, though, going 0-for-13 with 5 strikeouts. The Delaware bullpen was strong, with only the Game 2 run allowed by Sadie McMahon in the entire series over 9 2/3 innings.

So Colorado advances to the second round to face West Virginia. Next we have Mississippi against NJAA.

Delaware vs. Colorado

Game 1 at Colorado

Delaware........ 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 - 1 7 0
Colorado........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 6 1
W: McDonald L: Halladay
HR: Mench

Kevin Mench homered and Webster McDonald pitched a six-hitter to give Delaware the opening win on the road.

McDonald walked one and struck out one. Colorado’s biggest threat was in the sixth, when John Stearns and Johnny Frederick singled and Roy Hartzell walked to load the bases. But McDonald retired Larry Harlow on a groundout to end the inning. He set down the last nine Colorado batters to finish his 112-pitch outing.

Roy Halladay pitched great for the hosts, giving up just four hits in seven innings. But he hung a slider to Mench in the fourth and that cost him.

Game 2 at Colorado

Delaware........ 0 0 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 - 4 9 0
Colorado........ 1 0 0 3 0 0 1 0 x - 5 13 0
W: LaRoche L: McMahon S: Gossage
HR: Mouton

John Stearns’ single scored Johnny Lindell with the tiebreaking run in the seventh and Colorado earned a split at home.

James Mouton hit a leadoff homer in the first and drove in another run in the home team’s three-run fourth. Dave May had three hits, two of them doubles, and knocked in three runs for Delaware.

Scott Elarton went six innings for Colorado, striking out five and adding a single in the three-run fourth. Dave LaRoche got the win after allowing May’s two-out RBI double in the top of the seventh and Goose Gossage pitched out of a two-on, one-out situation in the ninth for the save.

Sadie McMahon, in relief of Chris Short, gave up a double to Lindell and the Stearns single in the seventh and took the loss.

Game 3 at Delaware

Colorado........ 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 - 3 6 2
Delaware........ 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 x - 4 6 4
W: Cunningham L: Packard S: Morris
HR: Stearns

Bert Cunningham pitched 8 1/3 innings and contributed a two-run single to give Delaware a 2-1 series lead.

Rube Vinson’s two-out, two-run single put Delaware ahead in the fourth and Cunningham knocked one through a pulled-in infield after Johnny Lindell dropped a fly in the fifth. Gene Packard gave up two earned runs, four total, in six innings to take the defeat.

It was a sloppy game, with Delaware committing four of the six errors, but Cunningham managed to pitch around the defensive problems. John Stearns hit a two-run homer in the eighth to cut the Delaware lead to 4-3, and after Delino DeShields booted a grounder with one out in the ninth, Delaware manager Dallas Green went to the pen. Huck Betts and lefty John Morris each got one out to wrap it up.

Game 4 at Delaware

Colorado........ 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 4 12 0
Delaware........ 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 - 1 4 0
W: Hughes L: Snell S: Gossage

Johnny Frederick had four hits and Tom Hughes pitched seven strong innings to keep Colorado alive and force a Game 5 back at home.

Hughes walked six, but gave up just three hits and got the victory, with help from Tippy Martinez and Goose Gossage, who got the last two outs for the save. Delaware stranded 10 runners in the contest.

Colorado got on the board right away against Ian Snell, with Frederick getting a base hit with two out in the first. Johnny Lindell doubled him home and then scored on Roy Hartzell’s single. Larry Harlow and Chuck Cottier drove in runs in the third. Snell lasted only four innings, allowing nine hits.

Game 5 at Colorado

Delaware........ 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 - 1 8 2
Colorado........ 0 2 2 0 1 0 0 0 x - 5 11 2
W: Halladay L: McDonald S: Gossage

Johnny Lindell went 3-for-3 with a pair of RBI and Roy Halladay did the rest, pitching into the ninth and carrying Colorado into the second round.

Halladay scattered eight hits and struck out eight while walking none, as Delaware was held to a single run for the second game in a row. After a pair of singles in the ninth, Goose Gossage came on, and after an error loaded the bases, Gossage got pinch hitter Spook Jacobs to hit into a double play to end the series.

Webster McDonald wasn’t as successful this time for Delaware, giving up five runs – three earned – in six innings. He balked with two on in the second, leading to an RBI groundout and sacrifice fly. Lindell drove in the second of two third-inning runs with a double and got another two-out, run-scoring hit in the fifth.

Next: The stars of this series, and a look at Mississippi against most of the Eastern Hemisphere.

Wanna get away?

Raleigh (Biz) Mackey, one of Texas' pair of Hall of Fame catchers.

The Southwest is the final group, alphabetically; not that we went in that order completely. The group doesn’t offer too much mystery at the top but there’s plenty in the middle.

It’s a wide swath from the Bayou down to Mexico City and up to Vegas and Salt Lake City, but we have combined some Western states as you know, and it made the most sense to do it this way. I thought Oklahoma fit better with the Plains teams and Louisiana was left out the “SEC” group unless I put Kentucky and/or Tennessee somewhere else and … I can’t tinker with this thing forever.

The end result is that it’s just too difficult to come up with a perfectly balanced field when trying to consider geography and the strength of the teams. So we do the best we can, and that’s why I’m including 32 teams in the big tournament. And why we have some unbalanced groups, like the Southwest.

So here goes:

1. Texas. Other than New York, the easiest call to win a group. With the additions of the Negro leaguers, particularly catchers Biz Mackey and Louis Santop, this is a devastating team and don’t be surprised if they’re in the final.

2. Louisiana. Texas is clearly tops in this group, but there is probably an even bigger gap between the Pelicans and the rest of the field.

3. Colorado. Someone is going to make the tournament that really doesn’t figure, and it will come out of this group. The Centennials can pitch, surprisingly, so if the light hitters get some baseballs to fly out of Coors, they’ll advance.

4. Mountain West. They have a Hall of Famer in Ralph Kiner and decent enough pitching. I don’t think they’ll be able to swing a trip to the tourney, but they could if they beat up enough on the next two.

5. Arizona. No stars on this team, a collection of OK ballplayers, and years away from changing that. Probably last in just about any other group.

6. Mexico. There was something in the air that night, the stars were bright, Fernando.

Next: More exhibition results and some last-minute roster adjustments.

Rare air

Ten teams to go. We’re into the homestretch for sure now.

The Colorado Centennials – so named because the state was ratified in 1876, or 100 years after the Declaration of Independence was signed – are a bit of a riddle.

Colorado is one of the smaller standalone states, with barely 80 players in big-league ball. Most of the good ones have been pitchers, which is a bit surprising given what the rest of us have seen of the effects of altitude on baseball games.

Roy Hartzell has the most at-bats for a Colorado player with 4,548; his last one came in 1916. Johnny Frederick, who played mostly for the Brooklyn Dodgers, hit 85 homers to top all Centennials in career numbers. No one appears likely to challenge those numbers any time soon. There isn’t a real, honest-to-goodness first baseman anywhere on the roster, and that’s a big problem.

But the pitching is solid, and at the top, it’s outstanding. The first native to make the Hall of Fame, Goose Gossage, won 124 and saved 310 after breaking in with “my” 1972 White Sox. Roy Halladay, the top starter, is the state’s all-time winner. With an ace like that at least the Centennials can compete. Modern relievers Tippy Martinez and Dave LaRoche complement the Goose, while Salida Tom Hughes, a 19th Century hurler who was actually born in Coal Creek, gives Halladay some rotation help.

The Centennials (Cents? C-Notes? 100s?) have three options at manager, none of whom had a long career running an MLB team. Two, Chuck Cottier and George Myatt, are on the team as players. So we’ll go with Tom Runnells, who is currently the Rockies’ bench coach. The Greeley native managed the Expos from 1991-92.

I don’t know if it’s because the Broncos are more entrenched or if people just prefer winter sports, but there aren’t a lot of Coloradans who play baseball real well. At least when Halladay starts and Gossage finishes, they have a chance.

COLORADO CENTENNIALS

OF Buster Adams
2B Chuck Cottier
SS Ike Davis
RH Scott Elarton
OF Johnny Frederick
RH Goose Gossage
RH Roy Halladay
OF Larry Harlow
UT Roy Hartzell
OF Chase Headley
CA Tommy Heath
RH Ron Herbel
RH Brian Holman
RH Tom Hughes
CA Mark L. Johnson
LH Cowboy Jones
LH Dave LaRoche
OF Johnny Lindell
LH Tippy Martinez
OF James Mouton
2B George Myatt
2B Bert Niehoff
LH Gene Packard
LH Frank Papish
OF Buddy Ryan
CA John Stearns
OF Dave Stenhouse
OF Jimmy Welsh

Next: The Dakotas.