1997 Series (no Marlins)

No rematch here. This is the first postseason meeting of these franchises that began life as the St. Louis Browns and the Boston Beaneaters. They could have met in 1969, but the Braves (and then the Orioles) fell before the magical Mets.

An interesting sidelight to our series is that Kenny Lofton, who played for our 1996 champion Indians, is now with the Braves. He was dealt to Atlanta as part of the deal that sent David Justice to Cleveland. Would that deal have been made if the Indians had won it in ’96? It’s unlikely even with the Indians’ outfield glut. But Lofton, who despite being on several Series teams never played on a world champion, gets to go for two in a row in the alternate world.

Aside from Lofton, the Braves look mostly the same, although the scene shifts from Fulton County Stadium to the brand-new Turner Field, fresh from its use as the stadium for the 1996 Olympics. Otherwise it’s still Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz, Chipper, McGriff and the rest.

The Orioles trade places with the Indians, as they knocked each other out of the real playoffs; the Orioles actually put Cleveland out in the first round in ’96 and the Indians returned the favor in a six-game ALCS in ’97. The Orioles had an interesting mix of veterans and youngsters. Only Cal Ripken was still around from the last Baltimore champion, in 1983. Several have been on winning Series teams – Roberto Alomar and Jimmy Key from the Blue Jays championship team, Eric Davis and Randy Myers with the Reds, Mike Bordick with Oakland, Scott Erickson from Minnesota and Jesse Orosco with the Mets.

Because they went out in the first round, and the Orioles haven’t had a winning season since, the 1997 Orioles aren’t really remembered much these days. A great trivia question would be, who was the No. 3 hitter on this team? On a team with Ripken, Alomar, Rafael Palmeiro, Harold Baines and B.J. Surhoff, the answer is … Geronimo Berroa. He did have 26 homers that year. Pitching is led by Mike Mussina (15-8, 3.20), Erickson (16-7, 3.69) and Key (16-10, 3.43). Myers saved 45.

Can the Braves claim another title? They’ll have other chances. The Orioles … well, I already mentioned the problems they’ve had since 1997. There’s more at stake for them.

1997 WORLD SERIES

GAME 1

Orioles ... 000 001 020 – 3 6 4

Braves .... 200 220 62x –14 13 1

W: Maddux L: Mussina

HR: Berroa, C. Jones, McGriff 2

The Braves played their first Series game in Turner Field in memorable fashion, getting to O’s starter Mike Mussina and then torching the bullpen.

Fred McGriff set the tone with a two-run homer in the first and added a solo shot in the eighth. Chipper Jones’ two-run homer off Mussina in the fifth made it 6-0. Greg Maddux pitched very well until giving up a two-run homer to Geronimo Berroa in the eighth, but by that time the game was well in hand for Atlanta.

A bizarre six-run seventh featured two errors by Gold Glove second baseman Roberto Alomar, a bases-loaded hit batsman and just four hits – one by Maddux that drove in a pair of runs.

GAME 2

Orioles ... 000 000 000 – 0 5 0

Braves .... 000 102 00x – 3 5 1

W: Glavine L: Erickson S: Wohlers

HR: McGriff

Tom Glavine redeemed himself from his 1996 Series disaster and Fred McGriff went deep again as the Braves took a 2-0 lead to Baltimore.

Ryan Klesko drove in the go-ahead run with a fourth-inning single, and that was all Glavine needed. After being knocked out in the second in his only ’96 appearance, Glavine went eight shutout innings this time, giving up five hits and two walks and fanning six. Mark Wohlers pitched a perfect ninth for the save.

McGriff hit his third homer in two games off Scott Erickson, who went seven innings and gave up just five hits and three runs.

A bizarre six-run seventh featured two errors by Gold Glove second baseman Roberto Alomar, a bases-loaded hit batsman and just four hits – one by Maddux that drove in a pair of runs.

GAME 3

Braves .... 010 020 100 – 4 7 1

Orioles ... 100 020 000 – 3 9 2

W: Smoltz L: Key S: Wohlers

HR: A. Jones, Anderson, Alomar

Kenny Lofton’s RBI single in the seventh broke a tie and gave the Braves a 3-0 series lead.

Orioles starter Jimmy Key walked Danny Bautista and Tony Graffanino with one out in the seventh. Arthur Rhodes came in and gave up the RBI hit to Lofton. That was enough for John Smoltz, who scattered nine hits over eight innings and got ninth-inning help from Mark Wohlers. The Braves closer pitched around his own error, retiring Geronimo Berroa with the tying run on third to end it.

Graffanino drove in a pair of runs and Andruw Jones homered for the winners.

GAME 4

Braves .... 101 010 001 – 4 10 0

Orioles ... 000 001 000 – 1 6 0

W: Neagle L: Mussina S: Wohlers

HR: C. Jones, Blauser 2

The Braves completed their first sweep since the 1914 World Series behind Denny Neagle and three relievers.

Atlanta led all the way after Chipper Jones’ solo shot in the first off Mike Mussina. Fred McGriff’s RBI single in the third made it 2-0 and Jeff Blauser homered twice to complete the scoring for the champs. B.J. Surhoff singled in the only run off Neagle, who gave up six hits over seven innings. Mike Cather and Alan Embree each got one out and Mark Wohlers got the last four, retiring Harold Baines on a comebacker for the final one.

WRAPUP

The Braves’ Big Four each got one win, so it would be another hitter to win the MVP. The system gave it to Fred McGriff, and I agree. He had team-high three homers and six RBI, and led the way by going 7 for 14 (.500). Would they have updated those Tom Emanski video spots? We will never know. Jeff Blauser and Chipper Jones each had two homers. It was total domination as the Braves outscored the Orioles 25-7. Kenny Lofton got his second straight ring, and he contributed two runs and two RBI to the cause. (Alan Embree, who went to Atlanta with Lofton, also got a ring with both the ’96 Indians and ’97 Braves.)

For the Orioles, it all went wrong, and not much has been right since with the franchise which used to be a symbol of things done right. Roberto Alomar was great at the plate, hitting .563 with one of the Orioles’ three homers. But even he made a pair of crucial errors, and aside from Brady Anderson (.357, solo homer) and Geronimo Berroa’s meaningless homer in Game 1, the Baltimore offense was non-existent. The Orioles had 26 hits, while the Braves scored 25 runs. Mike Mussina took two of the losses, posting a 5.68 ERA, throwing three wild pitches. At least he would get more chances in our Series replay. The Orioles would not.

Next, a really good matchup with the great 1998 Yankees and perhaps the best Braves outfit of all, a 106-win squad that didn’t get to the real Series. The Braves will look a little different as Lofton was dealt back to the Indians and McGriff would move on to the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The Yankees ... I think we all know them.

The 1996 World Series, take 2

Setting the scene: This would have been a rematch of the 1995 Series, won by Atlanta in six games. That ended up being Bobby Cox’s only world championship with the Braves – though he’ll have a few more chances in our alternate reality version.

The ’95 result was seen as a bit of an upset because the Indians had won 100 games in the shortened (144-game) regular season. But the Braves were postseason veterans and they won 90, which would be about 101 in a normal-length season, so they weren’t slouches.

In those days, before All-Star Games “counted,” the leagues took turns with home-field advantage. It was the AL’s turn in 1996, so the Indians host the opener of our alternate Series – something that the Cleveland franchise has never done. All five of the Indians’ Series appearances have begun in the NL stadium.

As we’re using actual Series rules – DH in the AL park, pitchers bat when the NL team is at home – we’re also using 25-man rosters. For the teams that made it to the Series, like the Braves, the actual roster is used. For the teams like the Indians, we can use a roster from an early round. They used 24 in the division series loss to Baltimore, with Dennis Martinez being the only player who didn’t appear.

Indians: Though they had a great run in the late ’90s under GM John Hart and manager Mike Hargrove, the Indians weren’t able to end the team’s world championship drought that dates to 1948 – when they beat the Braves, then located in Boston. Even in our alternate version, this is their only shot with this group, as not surprisingly the Yankees will dominate as the AL representative.

In 1996, the Indians won the AL Central easily again, going 99-62 as they didn’t need to make up the rainout that could have given them a second straight 100-win season. The Braves won 96 games in ’96.

In the division series, Charles Nagy (17-5, 3.41 in the regular season) pitched the opener and former Cy Young winners Orel Hershiser (15-9, 4.24) and Jack McDowell (13-9, 5.11) followed. The Indians lost the first two and won the third game late. Instead of Martinez (9-6, 4.50) going in Game 4, Hargrove went back to Nagy on three days’ rest. The Indians were up 3-2 going to the ninth but Jose Mesa gave up the tying hit to Roberto Alomar with two outs, then gave up a homer to Alomar in the 12th. (What was he still doing in the game in the 12th inning?) Chad Ogea (10-6, 4.79), the other option for a fourth starter, only appeared after Mesa was finally removed, so perhaps he was being held back for Game 5 which of course never happened. I think we’ll go with Nagy, Orel and Black Jack in that order to open for the Tribe and see where we are when we get to the fourth game.

Braves: The defending champs usually opened with Greg Maddux (15-11, 2.72 in 1996), and Tom Glavine (15-10, 2.98) was coming off the ’95 World Series MVP. But John Smoltz won the Cy Young Award that year, going 24-8 with a 2.94 ERA, so he goes first, followed by Maddux and Glavine. The fourth starter is Denny Neagle (16-9, 3.50 overall) who was acquired from the Pirates as Steve Avery was losing effectiveness.

Ryan Klesko will be the Atlanta DH for the first two games with 19-year-old rookie Andruw Jones in left field and another youngster, Jermaine Dye, in right. Marquis Grissom was still in center for one more season.

1996 WORLD SERIES

GAME 1

Braves .... 001 202 000 – 5 10 0

Indians ... 103 000 002 – 6 8 1

W: Shuey L: Wohlers

HR: Franco, Wilson

Nigel Wilson – who had just 12 at-bats in the regular season for Cleveland – homered with a man on off Mark Wohlers in the bottom of the ninth. He had two homers in those 12 at-bats, so Hargrove sent him up to hit for Sandy Alomar after Manny Ramirez walked with one out. Wohlers had relieved John Smoltz, who gave up a three-run homer to Julio Franco in the third to fall behind 4-1 but pitched well after that. Charles Nagy went seven innings for the Indians, and gave up the lead in the sixth when Franco’s error kept the inning alive and Andruw Jones doubled home two runs. Paul Shuey went 1 1/3 for the win.

GAME 2

Braves .... 300 100 021 – 7 14 0

Indians ... 000 020 002 – 4 10 0

W: Maddux L: Hershiser S: Wohlers

HR: Blauser, Giles

After losing Game 1, Mark Wohlers struck out Albert Belle with two out to end it and tie the series heading to Atlanta. Greg Maddux went eight innings, giving up seven hits and two runs, and every Brave starter had at least one hit in support of him. Atlanta scored three in the first off Orel Hershiser when Lemke and Chipper Jones singled and McGriff doubled him home. A wild pitch scored another run and an infield out made it 3-0. Jeff Blauser’s solo shot in the fourth made it 4-0. Cleveland scored in the fifth on Omar Vizquel’s RBI double and Jose Vizcaino’s run-scoring groundout. The Braves tacked on a couple against Eric Plunk in the eighth. Dye singled, Andruw Jones doubled and Blauser and Eddie Perez each hit sacrifice flies. Jose Mesa gave up a run in the ninth, which proved to be big as Cleveland rallied. Brian Giles batted for Alomar and just as Nigel Wilson did in the opener, homered off Mike Bielecki. After Lofton singled and Kevin Seitzer doubled him in, Wohlers relieved and walked Thome before striking out Belle.

GAME 3

Indians ... 01(10) 040 001 – 16 17 0

Braves .... 200 000 001 – 3 9 1

W: McDowell L: Glavine

HR: Franco 2, Thome 4, Belle 2, Ramirez, Grissom, McGriff

Never in World Series play has there been a power performance like the Indians put on in Game 3. Jim Thome hit a record four homers in a single game, and he, Franco and Belle went back-to-back-to-back twice – in the same inning! The Braves led 2-1 when Franco led off the third with a homer off Tom Glavine. Thome, who struck out his first time up, went deep to put Cleveland ahead for good. Belle homered for a 4-2 lead and Manny Ramirez did the same – four in a row, which has only happened seven times in MLB history through 2010. Jeff Kent walked and Sandy Alomar hit into a double play. But Vizquel singled and Glavine walked Jack McDowell, who singled in Cleveland’s first run (and who never had an MLB at-bat). Lofton walked to load them up and Mike Bielecki relieved Glavine. Franco then cleared the bases with his second homer of the inning, giving him five RBI. Thome homered again and so did Belle before Ramirez struck out. Thome hit a three-run shot off Bielecki in the fifth and a solo shot off Brad Clontz in the ninth. Lost in the power show was McDowell’s solid outing. Marquis Grissom started the night with a homer and Chipper Jones’ RBI single made it 2-0 before McDowell had retired a batter, but thatwas it. He walked no one and struck out six in seven innings.

GAME 4

Indians ... 000 210 002 – 5 11 0

Braves .... 002 000 000 – 2 9 2

W: Martinez L: Neagle S: Mesa

HR: Lofton, Alomar, Blauser

After the record 11-homer Game 3, the teams only managed seven total runs, and veteran Dennis Martinez more than justified his spot on the roster, stopping the Braves on two runs in seven innings to push Cleveland just one game from its first Series title in 48 years. Blauser homered and Lemke singled in a run to give the Braves a 2-0 lead in the third, but for the second straight game, they couldn’t hold it. Sandy Alomar hit a two-run homer off Denny Neagle in the fourth, and a Blauser error followed by Belle and Ramirez singles put the Indians ahead 3-2 in the fifth. That was it for the scoring until the ninth, when Kenny Lofton homered off Greg McMichael with a man on in the ninth. Paul Shuey and Jose Mesa finished up for the Indians, with Mesa striking out the side in the ninth.

GAME 5

Indians ... 030 001 000 – 4 9 0

Braves .... 000 000 001 – 1 5 0

W: Nagy L: Smoltz

For the first time in 48 years, the Cleveland Indians are world champions. Charles Nagy pitched a phenomenal game, allowing just two hits in eight innings, and even singled home a run in the Indians’ three-run third off John Smoltz. The first run came in on Jose Vizcaino’s infield out and the third one on Julio Franco’s RBI hit. Nagy didn’t give up any hits in the first five innings, and the Braves didn’t score until Jose Mesa came on to try to close it out. Fred McGriff and Ryan Klesko singled with one out and Andruw Jones’ two-out hit ended the shutout and brought the tying run to the plate. Jeff Blauser’s high foul ball was caught by Sandy Alomar and the celebration began in Cleveland.

WRAPUP

I’m letting the game engine’s awards system pick the Series MVP, unless there is a standout performance that they somehow ignored. They do keep pitchers and non-pitchers separate, so that could be a problem.

While Nagy had a great final game, it’s gotta go to a hitter. Tribe batsmen hit .307 in five games, with an incredible 14 homers. Amazingly, Thome had the four-homer game, but no other hits in the Series. So it’s tough to give it to him. He still finished second in the “voting” and the winner was Julio Franco, who was the top regular at .409 with three homers and a team-high nine RBI. He made the only error of the series for the Indians, but Nigel Wilson’s big homer in the opener erased that. He seems to be a fitting choice as he was part of the Indians in the 1980s before being dealt to Texas. And he played until he was almost 50, so who didn't love Julio?

Other thoughts on Game 3: The 16 runs was not a record, as the Yankees beat the Giants 18-4 in the second game of the 1936 Series (they won in six, and won the finale 13-5). The 10-run inning tied the record set by the 1929 Philadelphia Athletics and equaled by the 1968 Detroit Tigers.

The Braves managed just four homers, two by Jeff Blauser. Fred McGriff was the series’ top hitter for average at .421. Maddux had a great start, but Neagle was OK, Smoltz wasn’t that good and Glavine was a complete disaster. Interestingly, these were the last games at old Fulton County Stadium and the Braves lost all three, just as they did in the “real” Series against the Yankees.

But the Braves will be back in 1997 (and several more times) in their new home, Turner Field. They’ll face the Baltimore Orioles.

It's 1996 again

Don't worry, I won't be doing the macarena. It's time for our alternate World Series between the Atlanta Braves and the Cleveland Indians.

This would have been a 1995 Series rematch, of course. The Braves won that one in six games for Bobby Cox’s only world championship – though he’ll have a few more chances in our alternate reality version.

The ’95 result was seen as a bit of an upset because the Indians had won 100 games in the shortened (144-game) regular season. But the Braves were postseason veterans and they won 90, which would be about 101 in a normal-length season, so they weren’t slouches.

Though the Indians had a great run in the late ’90s under GM John Hart and manager Mike Hargrove, they weren’t able to end the team’s world championship drought that dates to 1948 – when they beat the Braves, then located in Boston. Even in our alternate version, this is their only shot with this group, as not surprisingly the Yankees will dominate as the AL representative.

In 1996, the Indians won the AL Central easily again, going 99-62 as they didn’t need to make up the rainout that could have given them a second straight 100-win season. The Braves won 96 games in ’96.

In those days, before All-Star Games “counted,” the leagues took turns with home-field advantage. It was the AL’s turn in 1996, so the Indians host the opener of our alternate Series – something that the Cleveland franchise has never done. All five of the Indians’ Series appearances have begun in the NL stadium.

As we’re using actual Series rules – DH in the AL park, pitchers bat when the NL team is at home – we’re also using 25-man rosters. For the teams that made it to the Series, like the Braves, the actual roster is used. For the teams like the Indians, we can use a roster from an early round. They used 24 in the division series loss to Baltimore, with Dennis Martinez being the only player who didn’t appear.

In the division series, Charles Nagy (17-5, 3.41 in the regular season) pitched the opener and former Cy Young winners Orel Hershiser (15-9, 4.24) and Jack McDowell (13-9, 5.11) followed. The Indians lost the first two and won the third game late. Instead of Martinez (9-6, 4.50) going in Game 4, Hargrove went back to Nagy on three days’ rest. The Indians were up 3-2 going to the ninth but Jose Mesa gave up the tying hit to Roberto Alomar with two outs, then gave up a homer to Alomar in the 12^th. (What was he still doing in the game in the 12^th inning?) Chad Ogea (10-6, 4.79), the other option for a fourth starter, only appeared after Mesa was finally removed, so perhaps he was being held back for Game 5 which of course never happened. I think we’ll go with Nagy, Orel and Black Jack in that order to open for the Tribe and see where we are when we get to the fourth game.

For the Braves, while Greg Maddux (15-11, 2.72) was usually the No. 1 starter in the postseason and Tom Glavine (15-10, 2.98) was coming off the ’95 World Series MVP, John Smoltz won the Cy Young Award that year, going 24-8 with a 2.94 ERA. The fourth starter is Denny Neagle (16-9, 3.50 overall) who was acquired from the Pirates as Steve Avery was losing effectiveness. We’ll stay with the same order for the Braves’ “second chance” Series.

Ryan Klesko will be the Atlanta DH for the first two games with 19-year-old rookie Andruw Jones in left field and another youngster, Jermaine Dye, in right. Marquis Grissom was still in center.

And in the next post, what would have happened in the 1996 World Series ...

What am I doing?

Yeah, so it's been another month. Not much to say, I guess; kind of a problem for a blogger.

I can't wait for the end of this election season, even though the next one will begin about five minutes after the polls close.

Loved the Chilean miners story, as apparently a lot of other people did too. It reminded me of why I used to be a news junkie ... and why I no longer am one. It's just too hard to watch, due to the lack of actual news (replaced by manufactured stories).

So let's talk baseball. I'd rather do that anyway. The playoffs have been good so far this year, with several well-pitched games, including the first postseason no-hitter in 54 years. But what I really like to do is look back on the history of the game.

Joe Posnanski, one of the best sportswriters there ever was, posted some interesting thoughts on his blog about the baseball playoffs today. It's almost as if Joe wishes that college football and major league baseball would trade systems.

I don't think college football will ever change, because people have been talking about possible playoffs as long as I can remember, and I've been around for awhile. But baseball used to do it that way, before divisions and wild cards and November games. Joe wondered about the October match-ups if the teams with the best records had met in the World Series.

So, not having a lot to do for a few weeks yet, I decided to take Joe's post a step further and dig out the Strat-O-Matic game and see who would have won these series. Since 1995, all but two series ('95 and '99) would have had different teams than the real thing. I'll let the Braves' 1995 and Yankees' 1999 championships stand, and play the rest. It won't take that long to play a few best-of-seven series. And there will be a lot of different teams in this thing, including one team that hasn't won a championship in any of our lifetimes.

First up: The alternate 1996 Series between the Braves and the Cleveland Indians. The real champion Yankees didn't make it; but don't worry, they'll be around a lot.