ALCS Game 3
Detroit's got a chance to sweep today... but it's going to take Edgar Molina (20-19, 4.02) being the good Edgar Molina to do it. Man... when he's hot, he's got a mid-90s heater and a lockdown slider and forkball. He's led the league in Ks each of the last 2 years and 3 times in the last 5. When he's not... yeah, 53 HRs is actually more than anyone in real life baseball ever gave up. His opponent Steven Chu is a 25 year old mid-rotation guy who's... solid, not great, but solid, so basically it seems like it's all up to what Molina decides to do today.
They're in Chicago today so it's spacious Comiskey Park, which should help Molina a bit. Also it's a very Chicago-y partly cloudy, 49 degrees, and a strong wind blowing in from right. This doesn't really factor into gameplay but Comiskey in the early 70s had this really, really dorky setup with a turf infield, regular old infield dirt (as opposed to the sliding dugouts that most astroturf-using teams employed in the era), and then a normal grass outfield. I'll try and post a picture...
Top 1st: CF Alvin Romero fouls out to 3rd and we are under way! RF Frankie Faison singles into right. 2B Joey Ramone hits a hard grounder wide of short; John Johnson picks it and fires to first but 2B Chance Hopka's not able to deliver the throw to first as he's wiped out by Faison. DH Jose Ayala flies weakly to center. 0-0.
Bottom 1st: SS John Johnson flies out to centerfield. DH Yukio Hatoyama hits a chopper to SS that Rob Curran is juuuuust able to pick up in time to throw out the runner. Josh Wade belts one into the right-center gap. It gets down and he's in at 2nd base standing up with a 2-out double. Jeff Nation strikes out swinging to retire the side. 0-0.
Top 2nd: 1B Niki Lauda grounds out to short. 3B Joe Theismann also grounds out 6-3. LF Danny Hohman drops a line drive past LF Peabo Bryson, where it hits the wall in left-center. He slides into 2nd well ahead of the throw for a double. C Armando Flores hits towards the middle that juuuust about looked like it had a chance but SS Josh Johnson picks it in time for the 6-3 groundout. 0-0.
Bottom 2nd: 3B Brian Maccioli launches a solid single into left. LF Peabo Bryson hits a line drive into right but directly at RF Frankie Faison for out #1. 2B Chance Hopka hits a ground ball to 3B Joe Theismann; he picks it up and gets the 5-4 putout but 2B Joey Ramone's not even close to being able to finish a double play with the ball. CF Alan Parson singles the other way into left field; the two-out base hit is his first-ever postseason hit! C Chris Flores flies out to left. It wasn't even that deep left but I'm holding onto my butt every time someone hits the ball off Rubio into the air. 0-0.
Top 3rd: SS Rob Curran hits a two-hopper back through the box for a leadoff single. Alvin Romero does the same... and CF Alan Parsons is caught napping! Curran lumbers into second ahead of the throw and the always-cagey Romero slides into 2nd behind him. No way you load the bases for this murderer's row so Frankie Faison will get to hit... the Sox trade the run for the out on the 6-3 grounder. Curran scores and Romero gets to 3rd. 1-0. No, wait! There's a quick conference at the mound and the umps concur: Faison beat the throw! We've got runners at the corners with no outs now. Ramone grounds into a 4-6-3 double play but Alvin Romero walks in from 3rd. 2-0! The Joker stands there like a statue looking at a 1-2 fastball for out #3. 2-0, Tigers.
Bottom 3rd: Johnson goes down 6-3. Hatoyama swings and misses at a 1-2 forkball that was clearly off the plate for out #2. Josh Wade continues to be a devil vs Molina and on the series (he's hitting .500) with a 2-out single up the middle. Molina can't finish off Jeff Nation with a 2-2 pitch and instead the right-hander smashes a fastball into right field for a base hit. Wade takes the sign and runs into third and the throw from RF Frankie Faison is not in time! Nation gets into 2nd on the play. Suddenly the tying run is in scoring position with 2 outs. Maccioli hits a little blooper to right-center that looks like a sure base hit... but Frankie Faison robs him of it for out #3. 2-0, Tigers.
Top 4th: Lauda hits a miles-high popup that 3B Brian Maccioli fields for the out. Theismann hits a soft liner to the shortstop. Danny Hohman hits a charge into right-center that hangs up at the end for a putout for CF Alan Parsons. 2-0, Tigers.
Bottom 4th: Edgar Molina's given up 5 hits in 3 innings, which is very uncharacteristic of him, but he's also only at 41 pitches so far. He strikes out Bryson on 3 pitches. Hopka hits a flyball into center but once more it comes down softly for Alvin Romero to catch. Alan Parsons collects his 2nd hit, a single back through the box. Flores hits a ball juuuust past SS Rob Curran into left. CF Alan Parsons scoops it up quickly and looks like he's going to nail Parsons at third easily... but the throw is over 3B Joe Theismann's head! Flores gets into second and Parsons scores on the play! 2-1. Johnson lines one right at SS Rob Curran for the final out. 2-1, Tigers.
Top 5th: Flores hits a ground ball to the left of 3B Brian Maccioli at third. He's forced to rush the throw a little bit and it pulls 1B Jeff Nation off the bag! It's getting scored as an E-5 but could have been an infield single. Curran hits a sharp line drive right at SS John Johnson. Flores got caught off the bag and he's doubled up, 6-3! Romero hits a line drive towards 2nd that looks like a single all the way but Chance Hopka somehow manages to catch up to it for the final out. 2-1, Tigers.
Bottom 5th: Molina's been really unlucky today, and yet maybe a bit lucky that most of the hits he's allowed haven't come home. He finishes a 6-pitch at-bat with Hatoyama with a fly to center. Wade hits a roller back to him and Molina records the 2nd out of the inning with a 1-3. Nation grounds out 4-3. 2-1, Tigers.
Top 6th: Faison lines one into right field for a leadoff base hit. He's 3-3 on the day now. Unfortunately he's erased by a 6-4-3 double play hit by Ramone. Ayala flies out to center to retire the side. 2-1, Tigers.
Bottom 6th: Maccioli grounds out to second. Peabo Bryson sends one into right that falls right in front of Frankie Faison for a base hit; Molina's outs streak ends at 5. Hopka singles up the middle. That's somehow the 9th hit Molina's allowed. Parson strikes out on a wicked forkball. Flores swings at the first pitch he sees and grounds out to 1B Niki Lauda, who takes 2 steps to the bag to end the 6th. 2-1, Tigers.
Top 7th: Steven Chu is doing what he does and has thrown just 60 pitches so far; needless to say, he's staying in. Lauda singles into left-center. Theismann hits a hot shot towards short; all SS John Johnson can do is knock it down. That's an infield hit! Runners on 1st and 2nd. Danny Hohman hits a chopper back to the mound. It really looks like the only play's going to be at first but Chu sees Theismann got a slow jump off of first and he fires to 2nd for the 1-4 fielder's choice play. Lauda gets to 3rd. Flores grounds out to 2B Chance Hopka but the ball's hit up the middle and so gives Niki Lauda the ability to score from third. 3-1! Hohman advances to 2nd on the play. Curran hits one over 3B Brain Maccioli's head and on into left! By the time Peabo Bryson collects it in foul territory, Curran's sitting on second base and Hohman has scored! 4-1! Romero strikes out looking to retire the side. 4-1, Tigers.
Bottom 7th: Rubio's got a little bit of a cushion now, hey hey! Tigers fans listening at home can breathe a small sigh of relief... but not too large, as the Sox have the top of the order up this inning. Rubio strikes out Johnson on a 3-2 fastball. Hatoyama also goes down swinging. Rubio gets a liiiiiiittle too fancy trying to strike out the side and grooves one for Josh Wade. He properly hits one into the right-field stands and the White Sox are a run closer at 4-2! Wade only hit 7 HRs the entire year but you can't just put one down the middle against anyone in this league and Rubio really should have figured that out by now. Nation cracks a 2 out single into left. Maccioli hits a line drive over the shortstop and Jeff Nation's able to get to 3rd as the throw from CF Alvin Romero is off line. Peabo Bryson flies to left to retire the side. 4-2, Tigers.
Top 8th: Steven Chu is
still only on 85 pitches and even last inning was pitching to contact. He'll stay in but I've got my eye on him. Faison grounds out 6-3. Ramone goes down 3U. Ayala flies to left, giving Chu a much-needed 1-2-3 inning. 4-2, Tigers.
Bottom 8th: Molina's up well over 100 pitches now, although he does have a fair share of stamina: he did lead the AL in complete games (18) and finished 2nd in innings pitched (308.2). We're looking at the bottom 3rd of the order so we'll take it batter by batter. Hopka fails to check his swing on a 1-2 slider for Molina's 7th K and the first out. Parsons seemed like he'd solved Molina earlier in the day so why not leave him in? He flies to center. I will remove the catcher Chris Flores for PH Patrick Tambay, who's 1-2 in this series. Guess what happened? If you guessed a 2-out HR into right, you guessed correctly! 4-3 and I'm done with Molina.
Jim Marceau will make his second and hopefully last appearance of this series. He grounds out to 1B Niki Lauda for the inning-ending 3U. 4-3, Tigers.
Top 9th: Hey, let's give C Rene Arnoux some postseason PT! He hit .149 in the regular season but the White Sox are carrying 3 catchers so if he comes up to hit he can be safely removed. Also, since there's no reason not to I'm going to replace Steven Chu with ace closer Malcolm Post, who's making his second appearance in the postseason. Lauda flies out to center. Theismann drops one down the left field line that kicks up some chalk before bouncing into foul territory; that one's ruled a fair ball and he's into second standing up. Danny Hohman belts one down the other line and while this one does get handled by RF Josh Wade before it hits the wall, Hohman's nevertheless able to slide into 2nd with an RBI double! 5-3! OF Alejandro Cortes (.196, 7, 18) will come in to face Post. He had an awful season at the plate but is a career .292 hitter vs Post (7-24) and the 1966 MVP, so he's done it in the past. Post walks him on a 3-2 pitch. I think that was the first walk by either team this game. Curran gets jammed on an inside pitch and flies weakly into left. Alvin Romero scorches one down the first base line, past 1B Jeff Nation, and... man, you do not want to give Romero that kind of room! He slides into 3rd base with a bases clearing triple! 7-3! Faison walks. Is Post just not able to respond to the pressure? Ramone singles to right center, with Romero scoring easily and Frankie Faison charging into 3rd on the play.
ALL RIGHT that's got to be it for Post. In comes Daniel Roche (4-3, 2.95), the 35 year old who started the year in Montreal but was claimed off of waivers by Chicago at the end of July. He was 1-0, 2.49 with his new team, albeit with only 8 strikeouts in 21.2 IP. Ayala drives in Faison with a single to left. 9-3! Lauda strikes out to fiiiinally retire the side but man, this one got real ugly real quick. 9-3, Tigers.
Bottom 9th: Backup C Joel Moise (.230, 2, 24) also tastes his first postseason playing time. He proved to be a good defensive catcher his rookie year, although his arm is not graded well (he did throw out 33% of baserunners so what do the scouts know?). With the team up by 6 runs, I think it's time to save Jim Marceau for Game 4 (or, let's face it, the World Series) and instead bring in Alex Ruiz (0-1, 2.20). Ruiz was called up midseason after, if I'm being honest, not the greatest first half in AAA Toledo (6-4, 3.92, 7 Sv). He was pretty solid as a pitch-to-contact guy in 23 games in the 2nd half.
Hatoyama fouls out to 3B Joe Theismann. Josh Wade's been a real thorn tonight but Ruiz, who only K'ed 16 batters in 32.2 IP during the season, shoots down Wade with his high-80s heater. Nation's the last chance: he hits one towards short that looks like it's got a shot but SS Rob Curran dives for it, picks it, and makes the play! The Tigers are going to the World Series!!!
This one ended... I won't say like I expected but like so many Tigers games ended this year, with a few HRs allowed but so much offense that it didn't even matter. Alvin Romero was named the ALCS MVP; he was 5-14 with 2 triples, 4 runs scored, and 3 RBI for the series winners.
...and while we're at it, since this is the last time we could see this place, here's Old Comiskey circa 1973:
