Schilling effects

Wow, what a series!

Curt Schilling got to go up against Walter Johnson twice, and the Anchorage-born hurler more than held his own. In the first game of the series, his Alaska/Hawaii squad led 1-0 before Johnson keyed a three-run rally for a Kansas win. But the 59ers won two of the next three to get the series back to the Pacific, and in Game 5, Schilling outdueled “Barney” 1-0 — and scored the game’s only run in the last of the eighth.

Every game was interesting. Two went extra innings and four were one-run contests. The “blowout” was the 3-1 Game 2 win for the Alaska/Hawaii team.

The top hitter for the winners was the Flyin’ Hawaiian, Shane Victorino, at .435 (10 for 23). He scored five of the team’s 16 runs. But almost everyone contributed for the Alaska/Hawaii team. Eleven players drove in runs, with Mike Lum leading with three. And with the balanced pitching, it could be that the 59ers will give the next opponent fits. That’s Massachusetts, another place Schilling is quite familiar with.

Kansas was a surprising first-round participant at first glance, but the offense just didn’t hold up. The Jayhawks hit only .218, and big hitters Bob Horner (.174) and George Grantham (.111) didn’t produce enough. Horner did have a homer and a team-high four RBI. Beals Becker hit .333 to lead the batters. Johnson (1-1, 1.59) did everything he could, including scoring the winning run in both Kansas wins. But it wasn’t quite enough.

One more first-round series, matching the District of Columbia and Arizona, and then it’s on to some of the larger teams.

Alaska/Hawaii vs. Kansas

Game 1 at Alaska/Hawaii

Kansas.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 - 3 9 0
Alaska/Hawaii... 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 - 2 6 0
W: Johnson L: Schilling
HR: Kutcher

Walter Johnson went the distance, allowing six hits, and his single drove in the first of three Kansas runs in the eighth.

Curt Schilling took a 1-0 lead into the eighth, as Mike Lum knocked in the only run of the game to that point in the fourth. In the eighth, Joe Tinker hit a bloop double with one out. Johnson batted for himself and drilled a single up the middle, tying the game. Johnny Damon then doubled to score Johnson and Damon later came home on George Grantham’s double.

Randy Kutcher homered off Johnson leading off the eighth, but the “Big Train” kept the lead. Prince Oana tripled with two out in the ninth and Johnson retired pinch hitter Bronson Sardinha on a grounder to second.

Game 2 at Alaska/Hawaii

Kansas.......... 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 1 6 2
Alaska/Hawaii... 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 x - 3 6 0
W: Hough L: Brewer S: Wilcox
HR: Lum

Charlie Hough held Kansas to five hits in seven innings and Mike Lum homered to help Alaska/Hawaii square the series.

Benny Agbayani went 3-for-3 and scored a run for the winners. Chet Brewer pitched the second straight complete game for Kansas, but took the loss despite allowing just six hits and two earned runs.

Game 3 at Kansas

Alaska/Hawaii... 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 - 5 13 2
Kansas.......... 0 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 - 6 16 2
W: Lindblad L: Yates
HR: Victorino, Daulton, Segui

David Segui tied the game in the 11th with a leadoff homer, then won it with a two-out single in the 14th as Kansas took a 2-1 series lead.

Segui’s single scored pinch runner Walter Johnson, the Game 1 starter who replaced Ray Mueller after the backup catcher batted for winner Paul Lindblad and drew a walk from Tyler Yates. Darren Daulton’s single moved Johnson to third and Segui singled off Doug Capilla, the eighth Alaska/Hawaii pitcher to appear in the game and the 45th player in the box score overall.

Earlier, Daulton had an inside-the-park homer and Kansas led 4-1 behind starter Rudy May, who pitched seven strong innings. When Shane Victorino led off the eighth with a home run, manager Gene Mauch went to his bullpen. Another run came in during the eighth, and in the ninth, pinch hitter Scott Loucks tripled with two out. Another substitute batter, Joey Meyer, followed with a single to tie it.

Alaska/Hawaii went ahead 5-4 in the 11th on Mike Huff’s sacrifice fly, but Segui, batting for the first time in the series, led off the Kansas half with a homer off Steve Cooke, who was otherwise brilliant in 3 2/3 innings of relief.

Game 4 at Kansas

Alaska/Hawaii... 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 1 - 5 11 3
Kansas.......... 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 1 0 - 4 6 0
W: J. Williams L: Hendrix S: Diaz
HR: Horner

Another extra-inning classic, this time won by Alaska/Hawaii on Shane Victorino’s triple followed by a Claude Hendrix wild pitch in the 10th, and the series returned to the Pacific for Game 5.

Sid Fernandez took a no-hitter and a 1-0 lead into the sixth, but second baseman Steve Staggs booted consecutive grounders and Bob Horner followed with a three-run homer. Fernandez gave up just two hits in 7 1/3 innings.

Elden Auker was also outstanding for Kansas, but in the eighth, Victorino doubled with one out. Josh Phelps singled and Ed Siever relieved Auker. Mike Lum followed with another hit, scoring Victorino, and pinch hitter Bronson Sardinha tied the game with a single off Frank Wickware. Randy Kutcher followed with a sacrifice fly for a 4-3 Alaska/Hawaii lead.

Bingo DeMoss doubled leading off the bottom of the ninth, and Scott Feldman was then relieved by Dave Williams. Joe Tinker’s single tied it, and eventually Kansas loaded the bases with Horner at the plate. Jerome Williams retired Horner on a fly to left and was rewarded with the win when his teammates scored in the 10th. Carlos Diaz got the last two outs with the tying run at third for the save.

Game 5 at Alaska/Hawaii

Kansas.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 4 0
Alaska/Hawaii... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 x - 1 7 1
W: Schilling L: Johnson

Curt Schilling pitched a four-hit shutout and scored the only run of the game as he outdueled Walter Johnson and lifted Alaska/Hawaii into the second round.

Schilling had only given up two hits in eight innings, and batted for himself leading off the home eighth. He beat out a slow roller to second, moved to second on Steve Staggs’ sacrifice bunt and went to third on Shane Victorino’s grounder. Josh Phelps came through with just his third hit in 22 at-bats in the series, and first RBI.

With two out in the ninth, Johnny Damon and Bob Horner singled, putting runners on the corners for George Grantham. Schilling responded by striking out the Kansas cleanup man on his 126th pitch. It was his eighth strikeout and he walked no one.

Johnson was almost as good, striking out eight, walking one in his eight-inning effort.

Central casting

Unlike the previous two groups, there is no obvious winner, nor is there necessarily a sixth-place team that jumps out at you. The Central may be the most competitive group, along with the South, and therefore could be the most fun. Expect a lot of tight games featuring some of the greatest pitchers to ever toe the slab.

If you were going by baseball “population,” Missouri would be far and away No. 1. And they should at least advance to the tournament round. But it will not be easy, because as you can see, there are no days off in this group.

My guess:

1. Oklahoma. Not by size, but by peak talent. The Mick, Stargell, Bench and Joe Rogan will lead the way. Rogan’s pitching, and ability to play second base when he’s not on the mound, will be the difference.

2. Missouri. They don’t have the big bats of some of the others, including Oklahoma, but their consistent pitching led by Carl Hubbell and reasonably productive offense (Yogi, Ken Boyer) will keep them in the medal play hunt.

3. Nebraska. With Bob Gibson and Pete Alexander starting about half the games, and enough offense with Boggs, Ashburn and Crawford, I really can’t see them failing too often.

4. Kansas. Now it gets tough. Any of the other three could go here, and certainly one could knock out one of the top trio. I will pick the Kansans because of Walter Johnson.

5. Iowa. Hard to picture Bob Feller not making it to the medal round, and it certainly could work out that the Hawkeyes make it, but I don’t know if they will score enough to support their talented twirlers.

6. Arkansas. Would be a contender in most groups, and they will be a tough team here. But there’s no Gibby, King Carl or Rapid Robert on the squad.

Next: International.

Barney and friends

It’s back to the Heartland and the state of Kansas.

I mentioned in the Iowa post about the Plains producing some of the very best pitchers. Walter Johnson is possibly the best of them all.

He was born 112 years ago this week on a farm outside Humboldt. His family moved to California (another one!) when Walter was 14. Eventually he made his way to Idaho, where he was spotted by a Washington Senators scout.

I hope that scout got a bonus, because Johnson was possibly the greatest pitcher who ever lived. He won 417 games, behind only Cy Young, and far ahead of anyone else. His career ERA was 2.17. He struck out 3,509 batters, a total that held up for more than a half-century as the most in history. He won the pitchers’ triple crown (wins, ERA, strikeouts) three times. Perhaps most impressive of all, he recorded 110 shutouts. Safe to say that one’s going to hold up for a while.

Like with most of his Nats teams, though, the Kansas crew is not really up to the standards of “Barney” – Johnson’s nickname, after auto racer Barney Oldfield. Because Johnson threw very hard, you see, and the sportswriters also called him the Big Train because locomotives were still the thing 100 years ago. Airplanes were just, um, taking off.

The only other Hall of Famer on the squad is Joe Tinker, who is mostly enshrined because he was in a poem. A good shortstop, though. The biggest threats on offense are George Grantham of the 1920s Pirates, Braves 1978 Rookie of the Year Bob Horner and former Phillie catcher Darren “Dutch” Daulton. Johnny Damon is here too. Johnson will have some help from Negro league greats Chet Brewer and Frank Wickware.

As for the manager, I could have gone with Ralph Houk, who won World Series in his first two seasons, a pennant in his third, then managed mostly mediocre teams in New York, Detroit and Boston. But “The Major” is needed as the third-string catcher, so I’m going with the fiery Gene Mauch.

Gene is better known for never reaching the World Series despite coming ridiculously close three times (’64, ’82 and ’86). He managed and won more than anyone else in that category, by far. This seems more like his kind of team, at least in terms of speed and talent. And he does have the Big Train, making this a tough team to beat when “Barney” takes the mound at least.

KANSAS JAYHAWKS

RH Elden Auker
OF Beals Becker
RH Chet Brewer
OF George Brickell
RH Larry Cheney
1B Tony Clark
OF Johnny Damon
CA Darren Daulton
2B Bingo DeMoss
2B George Grantham
RH Claude Hendrix
3B Bob Horner
CA Ralph Houk
RH Walter Johnson
2B Pete Kilduff
LH Paul Lindblad
OF Don Lock
LH Rudy May
CA Ray Mueller
OF Butch Nieman
RH Steve Renko
SS Bill Russell
1B David Segui
LH Ed Siever
RH Luther Taylor
SS Joe Tinker
OF Mitch Webster
RH Frank Wickware

Next: West Virginia.