The Cardinals, Giants and Dodgers have each represented the NL in the World Series 18 times. Somebody is about to make it 19.
Nope.
Rule 6.05(h) Comment: If a bat breaks and part of it is in fair territory and is hit by a batted ball or part of it hits a runner or fielder, play shall continue and no interference be called. If batted ball hits part of broken bat in foul territory, it is a foul ball.
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/official_rules/batter_6.jsp
Still a ways to go but just wanted to point out that the largest shellacking in a game 7 LCS was 15-0, Braves over the Cardinals in 1996.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/ATL/ATL199610170.shtml
Actually Osborne pitched decently in the beginning of ’97 but he got hurt in early May, didn’t come back till late July and got roughed up a couple of times late in the year to drive up his ERA. Following year he again missed a lot of time but had an ERA of 3.06 through September 5th before pitching poorly in his final three starts. Osborne was a decent pitcher but he could NOT stay healthy.
Who could have known that the Cardinals would so
successfully accept the baton of offensive fultility
from the Yankees.
I did not realize that the Yankee collapse was merely a preamble
to these last 3 NLCS games.
I wonder if their has ever been a year when both LCS
featured the complete collapse of a teams offense.
I realize the Cardinal collapse was only 3 games and
the Yankees offense was inept the entire post season.
To me the stunning thing is how the Cardinals immediately
forgot how to hit the ball once the Yankees season ended.
It was Tulo against the Yankees.
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=16259051&c_id=mlb
As the runs started to pile up in tonight’s game 7 I began to think about that 1996 series, which others have mentioned already, in which St. Louis was up 3 games to 1 on Atlanta. Atlanta stormed back to win 14-0, 3-1 and 15-0. It helps when you start Smoltz, Maddux and Glavine against Stottlemyre, Benes and Osbourne. Atlanta, the defending champions, then romped past the Yankees IN New York by scores of 12-1 and 4-0 in the first two games of the World Series. Atlanta had won 5 consecutive NLCS and WS games by a combined scored of… Read more »
Chipper Jones still talks about what changed in the Braves clubhouse after going down 3-1 to the Cards. It was Cards closer Dennis Eckersley turning directly toward the Braves dugout and taunting them after finishing Game 4. Mr. Jones, in his second full season with the Braves, stood up after the game in the clubhouse and told everyone that they were not going to lose to a guy like that. Charged up, the Braves opened the floodgates in Game 5 and it just kept going after that. Maybe the fact that the Braves were on such a roll after going… Read more »
I imagine the game 4 and 5 losses add to the stinging as well. Braves were up 6-0 after five innings in game four. A great chance to go up 3-1 but the Yankees rally and win 8-6. The Yankees then win game five 1-0, with the one run being unearned. Braves get the tying run to 3rd base with one out in the ninth but can’t bring him home.
As a Yankee fan I remember 1996 well. What I remember thinking
is that the Yankees would not and could not beat the Braves
that year.
When it was 2-0 I bought an AL Pennant T-Shirt thinking
that I would not have the opportunity to buy a World Series
shirt.
The Braves had been so good for five years by that point. I can
certainly see where that would be the greatest dissapointment for a Braves fan.
What I remember most about the ’96 Yankees is that they were a fun team to root for. (As a transplant to NYC who had adopted the Mets rather than being born to them, I did not feel obligated to hate the Yankees.) There were no current superstars on that team. The biggest names they had were in decline (Boggs, Gooden) and in part-time roles (Straw, Fielder, Raines, Sierra). I guess Cone was a superstar, but he missed most of the year. No hitter reached 30 HRs or 4 WAR. Fourteen different guys got 200+ PAs, the most of any… Read more »
Still up 6-3 in the top of the 8th inning of game 4, the Yanks got two on, and then Mark Wohlers infamously hung a slider to unlikely hero Jim Leyritz. Leyritz banged a 3-run HR to tie the game, and the Braves walked in the winning run in the top of the 10th.
It was all downhill after that.
Comment 25 was a reply to Ed’s comment 21, sorry.
Yes, Lawrence, I was speaking from my Braves-encapsulated bubble, from which I rarely emerge.
I can’t even imagine the horror of being a Yanks fan in 2004. But you guys did have four World Series rings in the last 8 prior years to soothe the pain.
Most of my closest friends are Red Sox fans and Pats fans.
On the morning of game 4, which followed that
19-8 drubbing in games 3, we were all sure
it was over.
I went to Dunkin Donuts that morning and bought a Boston Kreme. Then I spent the
next hour or so telling everyone that I would eat it when the Yankees eliminated these
Boston Creampuffs.
Four days later I threw the damn thing away.
Luckily, Super Bowls 42 and 46 restored order.
Go Big Blue!