If you're just tuning in now, too bad. You needed to see this one.
A magnificent ball game, and I don't know what I could achieve by discussing it. What can I possibly add to that, without diminishing it somehow?
We saw some wonderful defensive plays by John McDonald and Orlando Hudson. We could have expected that. The gems turned in by Randy Johnson and Bernie Williams (well, it was a gem for Bernie at this stage of his career - ten years ago it's a routine catch) were a little unexpected.
One very timely hit. DUDE!
And two great, great pitchers.
Some of Doc's reviews:
Derek Jeter: "He's as good as they come."
Alex Rodriguez: "He can shut you down. And that's what a great pitcher does."
Joe Torre: "He was dynamite. He was in complete control of the game."
Maybe sometimes pitching really is 75 per cent of the game. This was one of those nights.
And all over the majors, we had the opportunity to look at all kinds of fascinating pitching stories.
In Cleveland, two of the American League's most promising young pitchers hooked up: Cleveland's C.C. Sabathia and Zack Greinke of the hapless Kansas City Royals. This one didn't amount to much. Mike Sweeney threw away a potential inning-ending double play ball in the second, leading to a pair of Cleveland runs; they added three more in the third. Up 5-0, this game was over by that point the way Sabathia was dealing. He allowed just three hits over seven shutout innings.
In Texas, a couple of veterans who have had their ups and downs locked horns. Tim Wakefield, just entering a knuckleballer's prime at age 39, was sailing along with a 2-1 lead with two out in the sixth when Hank Blalock (with a runner on) and Alfonso Soriano suddenly touched him up for back-to-back homers. The beneficiary of this sudden offense was Chan Ho Park, whose improbable revival has to be one the most unexpected developments of the young season. Park limited the potent Red Sox attack to just three hits over seven innings, with seven strikeouts. He walked three of four batters over a shaky stretch in the fourth inning, when Boston scored both their runs; he was able to put the hammer down after that until his offense came through. Chan Ho Park is now 3-1 3.86 and no one saw this coming.
The National League had two fascinating match-ups. In Atlanta, two of Oakland's erstwhile Big Three faced each other as opponents for the first time ever. Pehaps the sense of occasion got to them. In the top of the first, the Cardinals roughed up Tim Hudson for four singles, a walk, and a double. Four runs were in before Yadier Molina bunted into a 1-5 double play to get the Braves off the field. Mark Mulder gave two of those runs back in the bottom half, and the Braves tied it in the third on Brian Jordan's two run homer. But in the fifth, Walker doubled and Pujols homered and the Cards were ahead to stay. The Braves put the tying and winning runs on base with no one out in the bottom of the ninth, but came no closer.
St Louis at Atlanta was also the first game featuring two managers with more than 2000 wins - Tony LaRussa (2129) and Bobby Cox (2015) - since Joe McCarthy managed against Connie Mack in 1950.
This was one cool night, around the majors, no?
It gets better. It's true that only nine managers have won 2000 games, whereas 22 pitchers have won 300 games. But no one goes to the ball park to see a manager work. In Houston, two 300 game winners were starting against each other for the first time since a very washed up Steve Carlton, barely hanging on with Minnesota, matched up with Don Sutton of Anaheim. Like Sutton, Maddux is still an effective pitcher even if he is no longer what he once was. And unlike Carlton, Clemens looks nowhere close to being washed up. The defending Cy Young winner came into tonight's game having thrown 23 straight scoreless innings. He had allowed one run since the season began, in his 3-2 victory over Cincinnati in his first start. But in each his next three starts, the Rocket threw seven shutout innings and came out of the game with the score still tied at 0-0; the Astros went on to lose each game 1-0.
Not this time, buddy. The Astros scored a run off Maddux in the very first inning tonight - and, no doubt confused by this turn of events, Clemens promptly surrendered a pair in the second. Houston tied it in the third, and then the two old masters matched zeroes through the middle innings. In the top of the 7th, Jeromy Burnitz led off with a homer off Clemens; Maddux ("I'm a six-inning pitcher now - I can only go through a lineup three times") left for a pinch-hitter, and the Cubs bullpen held on for the 3-2 win.
And in California, two of the National League's young guns were tangling in San Diego. Brandon Webb (3-0, 2.63) who has helped lead the surprising Diamondbacks (surprising? I'm shocked, appalled, and mortified) to first place in the NL West, was matched up with the Padres brilliant Jake Peavy. Neither one was really on top of his game; Peavy allowed just one single in the early going while striking out six - this was offset, however, by the home run, the triple, and the three doubles Arizona touched him up for. Meanwhile, Webb was giving up hit after hit after hit, but the Padres stranded most of their baserunners. The Padres took a 4-3 lead to the 9th, but with two outs Tony Clark singled off an 0-2 pitch from Trevor Hoffman to drive in Shawn Green and take Webb off the hook and blow the win for Peavy. That game's still going on as I write, but now that Peavy and Webb are done (and I don't have to think about the NL West for the next ten days or so)... well, I don't care so much anymore.
Doc and the Unit. This was, I say, an all-time Blue Jays classic and I've been wracking my brain trying to think of comparable games from the team's history. The first great pitching duel I always think of is the great Pat Hentgen - Kevin Appier from May 1994. In the fourth inning, Devon While singled, stole second and scored on a Joe Carter single for the game's only run. Appier allowed just one other hit, a Dick Schofield single, and struck out 10. Hentgen, however, allowed just two hits and struck out a then-team-record 14.
But still... while Hentgen-Appier were both fine pitchers, and Hentgen would win the Cy Young two years later - they weren't quite Halladay-Johnson. Neither are David Wells and Carl Pavano, although they hooked up in a dandy back in 1999. Wells threw a two-hit shutout to beat Pavano 1-0.
So maybe the closest parallel to last night's classic in Blue Jays history came in the final week of the 1992 season. On Wednesday 30 September, the Jays were 2.5 games ahead of Milwaukee. The Jays had four games remaining, the Brewers had five to play. Boston was at SkyDome that night - I remember the game, I was in the press box. David Cone, 4-2 since coming over from the Mets, started for Toronto; it was two years before he would win his Cy Young Award. Cone was superb, striking out 7 and allowing just 4 hits over 8 innings. One of those hits, however, was a fourth inning homer by John Valentin. And that was all Frank Viola would need. Viola had won the Cy Young in 1988 while with Minnesota - he was just 12-12 coming into his season finale with Boston, but that night he pitched probably the finest game of his career. He took a no-hitter into the ninth inning, losing it on Devon White's leadoff single. After Alomar's sac bunt, Viola retired Carter and Winfield to complete the shutout. It's one of two one-hitters I can remember attending: the other was Roy Halladay's season finale against Detroit in 1998 (the Bobby Higginson game). Dave Stieb's classic in August 1989, which I was also fortunate enough to see (the Roberto Kelly game), remains the finest pitching performance I have ever seen; it was, however, a two-hitter, and not even a shutout.
And in some ways, last night's game was even more enjoyable. Beating Randy Johnson feels way better than beating Clay Patterson Parker.
So how did everyone do last night?
IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Game Score Halladay (W 4-1) 9.0 3 0 0 1 9 0 3.40 89 Sabathia (W 2-0) 7.0 3 0 0 1 4 0 2.00 74 Johnson (L 2-2) 9.0 7 2 2 3 9 1 3.74 71 Peavy 8.0 6 3 3 1 7 1 1.77 70 Park (W 3-1) 7.0 3 2 2 4 7 0 3.86 66 Clemens (L 1-1) 7.0 7 3 3 2 4 1 1.03 53 Maddux (W 1-1) 6.0 7 2 2 1 3 1 4.20 52 Wakefield (L 2-1) 6.2 6 5 5 0 4 1 2.78 46 Webb 6.0 12 4 4 2 3 1 3.24 45 Mulder (W 3-1) 7.0 8 5 4 2 3 1 3.50 44 Hudson (L 2-1) 6.0 9 6 6 2 3 1 2.38 31 Greinke (L 0-2) 4.1 8 6 4 1 1 0 3.65 27And that's all I have for you. Last night's game was too good, too brilliant to even talk about. A wonderful treat, a delicious helping of baseball. I just want to savour it for a while. OK?
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20050430003254410