[Syd Thrift]

Just noticed that this is still in the old dynasties section. ANNOYING. I'll just have to move it on over to the new location. Anyway...

After that wiiiild NLCS Game One, let's just... be normal this game, okay? A position by position breakdown of the ALCS:

Catcher: Chicago uses Chris Flores (.211, 0, 19), who is pretty much the epitome of the good-field, no-hit backstop. His backup, racecar driver Rene Arnoux (.149, 1, 7), is somehow even worse at the plate. For Detroit, Armando Flores (.228, 6, 41), the former starter in Atlanta, isn't, like, anything great but he doesn't have to be to be the better guy here. Advantage: Detroit

First Base: Speaking of racecar guys, Detroit's Niki Lauda (.255, 20, 64) had a good, solid, if not spectacular sophomor season. The sky's the limit! Hope nothing happens to him! Normally the Sox would completely outclass him here but with Alice Cooper out, Jeff Nation (.274, 27, 109)... okay, he still outclasses him. Advantage: Chicago.

Second Base: Chance Hopka (.267, 0, 29) is in his 2nd full year with Chicago and also the second year where they tried and failed to find someone better. He's a good fielder, so the complete lack of power isn't *terrible*. Detroit has All-Star and punk rocker Joey Ramone (.310, 11, 97), who also finished 4th in the AL with 42 doubles. Yeah. Advantage: Detroit.

Third Base: 24-year-old Joe Theismann (.289, 5, 38) is good with the bat and a potential future Gold Glover out there. He's only league average as a hitter right now but... wait 5 years (and oh boy, I hope nothing bad happens to him in other sports!). For the Chisox, Brian Maccioli (.231, 8, 42) is in the prime of his career but took a big step back from a good 1972 (.252, 15, 63). He's a good to great fielder as well but I've got to go with the rising future star here, I think. Advantage: Detroit.

Shortstop: After 2 years of being, frankly, kind of trash at the plate with Cleveland, Chicago's John Johnson (.315, 5, 61) used a change of scenery to get his game back together, finishing 2nd in the AL in hits (198), 6th in doubles (38), 10th in runs (89), and 7th in BA. Detroit's platoon of Rob Curran (.259, 2, 35) and Matt Mullen (.276, 5, 32) is... fine but not nearly at Johnson's level of output. Advantage: Chicago.

Left Field: The Tigers are also employing a platoon here with the veteran Danny Hohman (.282, 5. 53) getting the at-bats vs RHPs and prospect Tom Berenger (.257, 4, 18) handling the job vs lefties. The White Sox have alighted on 22 year old Peabo Bryson (.236, 6, 19), who looks like he could be a guy once he learns to make better contact (70 strikeouts in 242 MLB at-bats this year). He does walk a lot so he's not, like, non-valuable. Advantage: Detroit, but it's kind of close.

Center Field: Clearly the outfield is not how the Sox made the playoffs this year. Alan "The Project" Parsons (.267, 1, 20) is a sneaky good fit for a Chicago team (IRL he wrote the instrumental track that's been the Bulls' stadium intro for the past 35 years) but, you know, he lives up to his name. Right now he really doesn't do anything but hit singles and he doesn't hit a lot of them. Alvin Romero (.347, 5, 54) on the other hand is the premier leadoff hitter in the game, breaking his own MLB steals record this year with 80 and finishing 2nd in the AL in triples (15) and runs scored (116). Advantage: Detroit.

Right Field: Detroit has another under-25-year-old starter in Frankie Faison (.304, 7, 83). This team's gonna be big for a loooooong time, I think. The Sox have Josh Wade (.291, 7, 66), who's a guy but he did have a career year this year. Both of them were pretty rough in the field. Advantage: Chicago if only for the extra experience.

Designated Hitter: The Sox had to scramble all over the place to make something work and so they finished the year with 2B Yukio Hatoyama (.275, 4, 38) as the DH. He doesn't really have that middle-of-the-lineup power but hey, it's a new position and maybe you can live with a political guy who has good bat control. Detroit's got cleanup hitter Jose "Joker" Ayala (.310, 24, 98), who set a career high in RBIs at age 32, which is easy to do with those table-setters in front of him. Advantage: Detroit.

Bench: Detroit's bench, outside of the platoon guys, is kind of nothing special. They do have Manny Duran (.333, 1, 9) as a pinch-hitter; Duran was expected to be in that position all year but got hurt in spring training. Otherwise, yeah, it's not a lot. Chicago's got a couple guys to fill in for Parsons late, a 3rd catcher, and 24 year old Patrick Tambay (.364, 2, 4), who played over his head after a midseason call-up (he hit .245/5/33 in 86 games at AAA Iowa in the first half). Advantage: Detroit by default I guess.

#1 Starter: 29 year old Rich Reese (18-7, 2.68) was just another relief pitcher last year but turned it up a notch when asked to start. He did lead the league in walks with 135 and he doesn't really have the stuff to quite make up for all that. Still, a gameplan that revolves around putting the ball in play to the Chicago defense is a strong one. Even without Jimmy Goddard, the Tigers sport former Minnesota Twins ace Chris Benavides (20-7, 2.87), who'd be a Cy Young candidate if not for his teammate. Advantage: Tigers.

#2 Starter: Bruce Rubio (14-13, 3.39) was a tick worse by the stats compared to last year but also didn't lead the league in HRs (see the #3 guy) so that was nice at least. He still allowed 26 dingers. Chicago's Chris Messina (13-19, 3.41) led the AL in losses, not a great look for a potential pennant-winner. He's one of those "how exactly do you do anything" guys but he gets results... kind of. Advantage: I want to call this a push but if I had to choose... Chicago, I guess.

#3 Starter: Chicago's got youthful scientist Steven Chu (17-12, 3.62), who's really only the #3 man this year because of the fact that he has all of 59 starts to his name so far in his young career. Detroit's Edgar Molina (20-19, 4.02), oh yeah, co-led the AL in losses and what's more he set a brand new major league record - blew it out of the park, more like it - by allowing 53 homeruns this year. He did lead the league in strikeouts, so there's that. Advantage: Chicago.

Bullpen: Jim Marceau (7-7, 2.42, 21 Sv) was a decently effective closer sitting in front of a good, if not, like, Padres level of lights-out bullpen. Chicago's pen is defined by Malcolm Post (8-2, 2.31, 35 Sv), who broke the single-season saves record set by Montay Luiso back in 1964 and equaled by Geoff Saus in '71. The guys behind him were OK with the caveat of course that Post takes all the high-leverage innings. Advantage: Chicago.

OKAY let's get it on! It's cold (47 degrees) at Tiger Stadium, with the wind even blowing in from center field. After last night's 13-10 hitathon I will assume absolutely nothing, though.

Top 1st: Josh Johnson flies to left to get things underway. Yukio Hatoyama hits a grounder right at 1B Niki Lauda for the unassisted putout. Josh Wade, maybe a little out of place as the #3 hitter, nevertheless drops one in just behind 3B Joe Theismann for a 2 out base hit. Jeff Nation extends the rally with a solid single into left. Brian Maccioli tries to go the other way with a 2-2 fastball but gets under it. RF Frankie Faison grabs it for out #3. 0-0.

Bottom 1st: Alvin Romero leads off with a triple. Have I mentioned that he's my favorite player in this league? That's also his very first postseason extra-base hit (all 9 of his base hits in last year's ALCS and WS were singles). Frankie Faison hits it medium left field but with Romero's speed, that's a sacrifice fly. 1-0! Joey Ramone knocks a pitch into left for the "we would have gotten it anyway" base hit. Jose Ayala grounds into a 6-4-3 double play so there's no more damage done. 1-0, Tigers.

Top 2nd: Peabo Bryson pops out to 3rd base. Chance Hopka hits one towards the middle that SS Rob Curran is able to get to in time to throw him out, 6-3. Alan Parson flies out to center and hey, a 1-2-3 inning. Those are possible! 1-0, Tigers.

Bottom 2nd: Niki Lauda grounds back to Reese, 1-3. Joe Theismann hits one fairly hard but into the deepest part of the ballpark and CF Alan Parson catches up to it in time for the out. Danny Hohman strikes out swinging. 1-0, Tigers.

Top 3rd: Chris Flores looks baaad, striking out on 3 pitches. Johnson pops out to first. Hatoyama hits one to 3rd; Theismann handles it for the 5-3 inning-ender. 1-0, Tigers.

Bottom 3rd: Flores pops out to first base. The 9 hole hitter Rob Curran hits a grounder towards the first base line that 1B Jeff Nation gets to and walks to first himself. Romero flies to right. 1-0, Tigers. 13 straight batters retired for both sides now.

Top 4th: Wade grounds out 4-3. Jeff Nation flies out to center. Maccioli pulls a 1-2 pitch right at 3B Joe Theismann for another 5-3 out. 1-0, Tigers.

Bottom 4th: Frankie Faison hits a sharp groundball that takes a tricky hop that 1B Jeff Nation can't handle. He just straight up drops the ball for an error, Faison reaching 1st on the play. Joey Ramone hits a line drive about where Nation would have been had he not been required to hold the runner. The ball goes into right field, Faison takes 3rd easily... but pitcher Rich Reese takes the cutoff throw from RF Josh Wade and throws Ramone out as he tries to stretch it into a double! Reese chooses to pitch to Ayala with the lefty Lauda due up next. Ayala hits a ground ball with eyes for the hole between short and 3rd. It's a single and Faison scores easily. 2-0! Lauda proves that pitching around Ayala wouldn't have been a good idea anyway, as he belts a ball over the first base bag and all the way into the right field corner. The double puts runners on 2nd and 3rd. Theismann singles into left; the slowpoke Lauda's not going to push it but Ayala scores! 3-0, still only one out, and that one only came on a play on the bases. Danny Hohmann belts one into the gap for a double! Theismann gets home all the way from first but for the second time this inning a runner gets cut down trying for an extra base! Score it 8-3-5 as Hohman had himself a double but tried to do too much. Flores singles into left with the bases now empty. Reese is only at 65 pitches and I ain't pulling him yet. Someone FINALLY hits a ball for an out: Rob Curran flies to center to retire the side. 5-0, Tigers, and somehow it could have been a lot worse.

Top 5th: How will Benavides handle the big lead? Well... this one starts off the same way, more or less, as the bottom of the 4th did: Peabo Bryson hits one towards Niki Lauda at first base and Lauda muffs it for the error, breaking up a long outs streak. Chance Hopka belts one into the gap for a double. Peabo Bryson holds up at 3rd - he's surprisingly slow for a younger guy - and it's looking like maybe the Sox will get a chance at making up some ground. Alan Parsons hits one right to 2B Joey Ramone, who looks back Bryson before throwing to Lauda for the 4-3 putout. Chris Flores also grounds to 2nd but he makes Ramone move enough that Bryson is able to score on the play. 5-1! Johnson strikes out on a 91 mph fastball. 5-1, Tigers.

Bottom 5th: Romero hits a hot shot to first which this time Jeff Nation handles cleanly for a 3-1 putout. Faison hits a towering popup on the right side of the infield that Josh Johnson gets underneath for the P6. Joey Ramone grounds out 5-3. 5-1, Tigers.

Top 6th: The Sox cracked Benavides last inning; can they do it again? Hatoyama gets it started off right with a single up the middle. Josh Wade walks on four pitches. That's Benavides' first walk all game. Nation hits a slow grounder to Joey Ramone, who scoops it up and gets the force at 2nd base but it's way too slow for a double play. Hatoyama moves up so we've got a man on 3rd, less than 2 out situation for Brian Maccioli. He hits one over to Niki Lauda at first. Lauda takes it to the bag and then sees an opportunity to throw out Nation at 2nd. The throw is not in time! Hatoyama scores on the play and it's 5-2 now! Peabo Bryson grounds out to Lauda 3U to retire the side. 5-2, Tigers.

Bottom 6th: Look, this is 1973. Pitchers don't come out after 5, especially not aces of the staff. The Joker grounds out 5-3. Lauda also grounds out 5-3. Theismann gets jammed and grounds out 4-3 to retire the side. 5-2, Tigers.

Top 7th: Okay, so Chris Benavides has gotten scored on in each of the last 2 innings. He's still only at 90 pitches though. Chance Hopka drills a 3-1 pitch into left for a leadoff single. Parsons hits a roller back to Benavides, which he picks up in time to get a force-out at 2nd but Hopka takes out SS Rob Curran before he can complete the twin killing. With 3 catchers on the roster, I'm gonna pinch-hit here with Patrick Tambay. Benavides loses one in the dirt for a wild pitch. He had 9 of those in the regular season this year. Tambay flies out the other way to left; it looked like an "oppo taco" (absolutely not) at first but I guess the wind must have held it up. John Johnson singles up the middle and scores Parsons from 2nd. 5-3 and it's within striking distance now! Hatoyama hits a grounder to 1st to retire the side. 5-3, Tigers.

Bottom 7th: Coming in at catcher is Robert Keith (.180, 2, 11), a marginally better hitter than Rene Arnoux. Reese is up to 89 pitches and is starting to look a little worn out. Hohman flies to deep right. Flores hits what looked to me like a straight single to left but Bryson is a little slow in playing it and the wily Tigers catcher stretches the hit into a double. That brings up Rob Curran and with 3 lefties due up I'm going to go ahead and make a pitching change here.

The new man is Sergio Alvarado (6-3, 3.08). In 30 games as a reliever he was 5-1 with a 1.53 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 35.1 IP. This is a man who wipes out lefties: they hit just .227 this year off of the 23 year old. Matt Mullen will come in in place of the lefty Curran to face him. He flies out to center for out #2. Romero hits one to deep center that CF Alan Parsons is juuuuust able to catch up with for out number 3. 5-3, Tigers.

Top 8th: Mullen takes over at shortstop for Curran. I'm not really huge on the recent trend from Benavides so I'm going to bring in closer Jim Marceau to hopefully shut things down. The 32 year old did blow 9 saves in 30 chances and he's facing the heart of the White Sox' order so, um, yikes. Wade grounds out to 2nd. Nation goes down 5-3. Maccioli drops a 2-out single into center. Bryson has a 7 pitch at bat end in a walk. Hopka singles to right, scoring Maccioli. It's 5-4 now! Parsons flies out to center to retire the side. 5-4, Tigers.

Bottom 8th: Alvarado threw just 5 pitches and we still have a lefty due up so he'll stay in for one more batter. Faison drills a 3-1 pitch up the middle for a base hit and so that'll be all she wrote for him.

The new man is stopper extraordinaire / known Dutchman Malcolm "Stroopwaffel" Post. His K rate was way down this year from 7.0 to 4.9 but oldheads insist this was a choice. Joey Ramone, 2-3 so far today, faces him. Hey, maybe it was a choice; he induces Ramone to hit into a "pitcher's best friend" 6-4-3 double play. Okay, um. The Joker belts one over the left-center fence for the homerun to add some insurance! 6-4. Post allowed just 1 HR the entire regular season, in a 13-8 win vs Texas on September 3rd. That's also Ayala's 2nd career postseason ding-dong. Niki Lauda walks on 4 pitches. Theismann also walks. Is the Stroopwaffel rattled? Danny Hohman smashes one down the 3rd base line but Brian Maccioli at 3rd is positioned to take it for out #3. 6-4, Tigers.

Top 9th: Pinch-hitting for Robert Keith is the lefty hitter Mohammed Abdelaziz (.220, 2, 28). He was one of the guys the Sox tried in center this year before they settled on Parsons and... he's fast, at least. He also had a .276 OBP this year. He swings and misses at a curveball that missed the plate for out #1. John Johnson knocks a grounder through the hole and into left field for a base hit. Hatoyama walks and the tying run is on base. Wade hits a ball into left and the fleet-footed Danny Hohman is just barely not able to get to it before it drops in for a hit. That said, it was such a close play that John Johnson has to stay at third. Bases loaded, 1 out. Jeff Nation flies to right; the ball isn't quite deep enough to risk a play and 1 run doesn't change things anyway. 2 down. Jim Marceau strikes out Brian Maccioli swinging for the final out. FINAL SCORE 6-4, Detroit.

Leave it to Jim Marceau to make this one eventful, I guess. Also not sure I'd grant Chris Benavides the PotG here... This game got a lot closer than it looked like it was going to be early but the result is still the same.