The Colorado Rockies continue to forge ahead with their Cinderella postseason taking Game 1 at the Polo Grounds in convincing fashion. They punched their ALDS ticket by beating one of the greatest left-handed pitchers of all time in the National League Wild Card game, and then slayed another mythical hurler in Christy Mathewson. Mathewson was a twenty-game winner 9 times and a thirty-game winner 4 times in his storied Hall of Fame career. Christy was the author of 373 wins and owns a lifetime ERA of 2.13, but he didn't phase a potent Rockies' attack.
The Rockies pounced on Mathewson for 6 runs on 11 hits for a 6-3 win to open their series with the Giants. Charlie Blackmon led the charge with 4 hits in 5 trips to the plate and drove in 2 runs. Larry Walker delivered a key blow in Colorado's 4-run fourth inning dropping a two-run single into left with the bases loaded.
Colorado joins Boston, Chicago, and Detroit in the win column after the opening games of the divisional series. Chicago was the only team to win at home.
Roger Clemens was an indomitable force allowing only three hits and striking out fourteen Yankee batters to lead the Red Sox to a 6-1 Game 1 victory. The only blemish on his outing was a solo homer by Joe DiMaggio in the first inning. "Rocket Roger" struck out every batter in the Yankee lineup at least once and doubled up on Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Babe Ruth, Alex Rodriguez, and Lou Gehrig.
Berra's frustration was shared by the entire Yankee lineup
Clemens was the benefactor of a three-run cushion before he even threw his first pitch. Wade Boggs led off the game with a double and came around to count on a Ted William base hit. This clearly rattled Yankee starter Whitey Ford as he proceeded to walk Manny Ramirez. Despite his early struggles, it looked as though he would escape the inning as David Ortiz hit a weak grounder back to Ford, and New York turned a double play. Boston had other ideas though as Carl Yastrzemski dropped an opposite-field double down the line to bring home Williams, and Carlton Fisk dunked an RBI single into center field.
With Clemens on cruise control after the DiMaggio homer, Boston tacked on three more runs for good measure with Boggs and Garciaparra accounting for two of them. "Nomah" tucked an opposite-field solo homer just inside the right-field foul pole in the fifth, and he would get in on the scoring again in the seventh inning. After Garciaparra doubled into the gap in right, Wade Boggs crunched a triple into "Death Valley" to score him as the game was played in the older version of Yankee Stadium.
Hank Greenberg punctuated a four-run rally in the third inning with an opposite-field solo blast and the Detroit Tigers never looked back in a 9-4 victory over the Oakland Athletics in the first game of their ALDS.
In the home half of the first inning, Detroit starter Justin Verlander retired the first two hitters quite quickly but an innocuous free pass to Jimmie Foxx was a harbinger for an Oakland uprising. Reggie Jackson stroked a bullet down the third base line that was knocked down by Miguel Cabrera but he was unable to recover to make a play on Jackson. Jason Giambi made Verlander pay with an RBI single. Tigers' right fielder Al Kaline had a chance to nail Foxx at the plate to end the inning but his throw was high causing Lance Parrish to leave his feet to gather the throw which allowed Foxx to slide under him. Mickey Cochrane and Sal Bando tacked on their own run-scoring base hits to put the Tigers in an early 3-0 hole.
After the dust cleared in a 32-pitch inning, the sellout crowd at Shibe Park enthusiastically yelled themselves hoarse in appreciation of the prompt response of the Oakland offense. The Game One venue was chosen as a nod to the A's past as the club was one of the original American League charter franchises founded in 1901 in Philadelphia.
In the third inning, Tigers' shortstop Alan Trammell ignited another two-out rally by clubbing a three-run blast over the right field fence to even the score. Greenberg's homer followed as the Tigers went back-to-back to take the lead.
Trammell spearheading the Tigers' comeback
Detroit added on single runs in each of the next two innings with one of them coming on a solo home run by Ty Cobb. That closed the book on Oakland starter Lefty Grove. Detroit put the game out of reach in the eighth tacking on three more runs in another two-out rally with Catfish Hunter falling prey to a hungry Tiger offense. Once again, Trammell and Cobb were the catalysts as Trammell collected his fourth RBI of the game, and Cobb smacked a two-run single.
Verlander did settle in and gave Detroit 6 innings of work. Despite surrendering four runs, he only allowed one in his last five innings while striking out four Athletics. Charlie Gehringer was a force out of the ninth spot in a steep Detroit lineup going 3-4 with 2 doubles and 2 runs scored.
I haven't been posting game results as of late largely because I moved up to the PS5 console back in November, and most of my time was dedicated to creating classic rosters to use for MLB The Show 23. This is first version of the series I've purchased since the fabled MLBTS 20. Along with creating new content, I am also more involved in creating videos and livestreaming games on my YouTube channel in order to promote my classic roster projects.
The Sensational 70s all-decade set was the first classic roster that I released in January of this year, and I have documented some of the action on my new "Livestream" page where you can find my latest livestreamed games and a link to my playlist of other video highlights and games for this classic 70s season. I also created an all 80s decade set called the Electrifying 80s which I will feature later on.
I plan on finishing my all-time playoffs as I'll be carrying that over to the new console. I started the all-time playoff on MLB The Show 19 back in May of 2020 playing the entire regular season on the PS4, and began the playoffs on MLB The Show 20. Now, the plan is to complete the playoffs with MLB The Show 23 on the PS5. I am bound and determined to finish this season as this odyssey moves into its fourth calendar year.
I do plan to get back to some blogging at some point and wrap up that all-time playoff, so stay tuned.
Boston right fielder Dwight Evans belted a solo homer in the bottom of the eighth to send the Red Sox past the Cleveland Indians to the ALDS. Evans had come into the game in the top half of the inning as a defensive replacement for Manny Ramirez. The Red Sox were attempting to protect a slim lead at that point but had it slip through their fingers as the Indians got a clutch RBI single from Jose Ramirez.
With the score 3-2 for the Red Sox, Francisco Lindor led the eighth off with a single, and Nap Lajoie sacrificed to move him up to second. After Ramirez drove him home, that spelled the end of the game for Boston starter Pedro Martinez. Cleveland decided to push the envelope and had Ramirez try to steal second base. Carlton Fisk came up with one of the big defensive plays of the game, gunning him down on the attempt. Papelbon caught Jim Thome window-shopping on a fastball low and away to get the Red Sox off the field.
After Indians' reliever Bob Lemon secured the first out in the home half of the eight, Evans crushed a breaking pitch sending it out to deep center field. Boston then loaded the bases on two walks and a Carl Yastrzemski double. One of the free passes was intentionally issued to Fred Lynn. Early Wynn then came out of the Cleveland bullpen and struck out Nomar Garciaparra and Jason Varitek to stall a possible uprising.
Papelbon would face rough waters in the ninth as he immediately beaned Albert Belle. Kenny Lofton came on to run for Belle and was sacrificed to second by Victor Martinez. Larry Doby grounded out to second to put Lofton 90 feet away from tying the game, but Shoeless Joe Jackson bounced out to Wade Boggs to end the contest.
Evans was added to the postseason roster after having started the season with the big club. He was sent down about a third of the way through the year. He was added as a late-innings defensive option for Manny Ramirez, and Boston management looked like geniuses as it would be Evans's bat that would send them on a collision course with their storied nemesis, the New York Yankees. To see year-end stats for the American League in my all-time franchise season, click here.
Wild Card - National League
Colorado starter Ubaldo Jimenez slayed the giant as he convincingly outdueled arguably the greatest left-handed pitcher of all time in a 7-0 shellacking of Sandy Koufax and the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Rockies will now face the San Francisco Giants in the ALDS after an upset for the ages.
I don't think many baseball fans would have had a complete game shutout for Jimenez on their playoff bingo card against a steep Dodger lineup, but Jimenez surrendered only 6 hits in his gem. What was even more unbelievable was that Koufax was finished after only 4 innings. He allowed five runs on five hits with the dagger being a two out three-run homer by Andres Galarraga in the second inning. Galarraga was the offensive star for Colorado going 3-4 with a double and two runs scored. Vinny Castillo chipped in with a double and triple in three official plate appearances with two runs scored also.
Koufax had been stung for a leadoff double by Vinny Castillo, but he regrouped to whiff Nolan Arenado. After walking Dante Bichette, he fanned Ellis Burks, but he couldn't solve Galarraga who deposited a 412-foot missile into the left field bleachers. Colorado nickeled and dimed Koufax for single runs in the third and fourth on sacrifice flies to add salt to the wound.
Colorado will have to load up the slingshot once again as the Giants played Goliath in the National League dominating during the regular season. To see year-end stats for the National League in my all-time franchise season, click here.
