Welcome, welcome! We are now two rounds in to the Salt City Strat 2023-24 season featuring the 1977 Major League baseball season! Round two was a doozy as the Big Red Machine keeps on going! While the series went a full three games, none of the games were all that close and the much maligned Reds pitching staff, managed two shutouts! Well, and a game where they gave up 12 runs...so yeah, maybe still a bit inconsistent? Or are they? Does that match games we've seem this postseason?
The Reds pitching staff have now notched three shutouts in four postseason games, and while the one non-shutout was that 12 run outburst by the Mets, that's overall pretty good pitching for a team know for it's hitting. That pitching with the bashers in that lineup has the Reds manager heading to Pittsburgh like...
Well, he might stay that way if focusing on the present, and tis the season for presents, but the Ghost of Stratmas Recent Past might slow that roll a bit. Take a look at the head-to-head numbers this season:
Exactly, Snagglepuss. The Pirates owned the regular season series, and these Buccos have some bigger slugging power than the Tigers and Mets. Plus, the Archer franchise possibly has something to prove.
You see in the first season, Archer took his 87 Pirates squad to the playoffs and was immediately vanquished. The following year his 98 Expos failed to even make the playoffs. This season, a red hot start had him out in front early, but the Buccos would quickly fall back to earth, leading many pundits to label them Pitts-BLARGH! Now, the Pirates managed to finish strong, but not strong enough to get a bye. Still they have home field here, and are just four wins from the LCS. So there's a new hope that they can still make a run.
With Bull and Carew leading the way this lineup is very formidable and they have more than contained the Reds bats in the previous meetings. Surprisingl,y of the Buccos' named startrs for this series, it's their ace Dave Rozema who struggled the most. The fact the Grand Rapids Roze has struggled against the Reds to the tune of a 7.27 ERA, coupled with the fact he is most likely slated for three starts in this series, should it go seven, makes things interesting. Let's look at the pitching matchups with their numbers against the current opponent.
Game 1 at Pittsburgh: Mike "The Loaded Pun" Flanagan* (2 GS, 0-1, 9.82 ERA, 2,091 WHIP) vs "The Grand Rapids Rocket" Dave Rozema (1 GS, 0-1, 7.27 ERA, 1.500 WHIP)
Game 2 at Pittsburgh: Paul Hartzell Fire (3 G, 1GS, 0-1, 5.87 ERA, 2.739 WHIP) vs Dennis "El President" Martinez (1GS, 1-0, 3.00 ERA, 1.500 WHIP)
Game 3 at Cincinnati: Jon "Take 'em to the Mat" Matlack (1 GS, 1-0, 0.00 ERA, .562 WHIP) vs Rudy "Rude Awakening" May (4 G, 0-0, 2.70 ERA, 1.800 WHIP)
So while the overall numbers from the regular season favor the Buccos, some numbers aren't so Rozey for Pittsburgh and the Reds are carrying some momentum, which may have the Reds hopes flipped around.
Tough to not like that Reds momentum and a Cinderella story, but is that enough to counterbalance the regular season struggles they've had against the Buccos?
I think the Reds make it closer than the regular season series, but in the end, it's Pirates in SIX.
Regardless of who wins, we know the Dodgers are hard at work preparing to host the winner.
*Flanagan was noted for his sense of humor, especially when it involved using puns to create nicknames. In his baseball column in the Sunday issues of The Boston Globe during the late-1970s, Peter Gammons ran a regular feature called the "Mike Flanagan Nickname of the Week". One example was John "Clams" Castino, which was a play on clams casino. Another was "Mordecai Six Toe" Lezcano, based on Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown and given to Sixto Lezcano. When the Blue Jays allowed Tony Solaita to sign with the Nippon-Ham Fighters after the 1979 campaign, he was dubbed "Tony Obsolaita" During the 1980 season, Flanagan called himself "Cy Young", Jim Palmer "Cy Old", Steve Stone "Cy Present" and Scott McGregor "Cy Future". When Storm Davis, whose pitching motion resembled Palmer's, joined the Orioles two years later in 1982, he was "Cy Clone".
Comments
Post a Comment