Yet Another OOTP6 Dynasty, Year 2: One Flew Over the Pale Hose

[cknox0723]

First pitch to the home run hitting garbage picking field goal kicking third baseman is a fastball, carefully placed with pinpoint accuracy on the inside half of the plate for a strike. In the middle of Garland's delivery Jeter took off to second and Torrealba's throw was late. Oh no oh no oh no...
Pale Hose 0, Yankees 0
Man on second, bottom of first

[cknox0723]

Garland runs the count full, or maybe Rodriguez intimidates the count full. Payoff fastball down in the strike zone is fouled off, and the next 3-2 offering is a little outside but right in the middle of the zone, waist high. "Mr. Clutch" lashes at it and lines a rocket to the right side...

...but literally right at 1B Frank Catalanotto. Two down, barely, Godzilla coming up.
Pale Hose 0, Yankees 0
Man on second, bottom of first

[cknox0723]

The left-handed hitting Matsui pops up a 1-1 changeup high in the air to left, and Scott Podsednik squeezes it for the third out. Even before the end of that at-bat, I came to my own little conclusion that, yeah, here it is Game 7 and it could go either way, Jeter be damned. Second inning coming up.
Pale Hose 0, Yankees 0

[cknox0723]

Schmidt comes out throwing strikes in the second inning, pumping in two quick ones to Vernon Wells. Forced to swing defensively with an 0-2 count, he doesn't get much wood on a fastball on the outside half and rolls over a little grounder to second for the first out.

Frank Catalnotto takes another overthrown fastball in the dirt for a first pitch ball, so Schmidt goes to the changeup on 1-0 and an eager Cat is a cranky Cat, because he hits a soft little liner towards center field that's no trouble for Randy Winn to haul in.

Adam Kennedy grounds out to third on a one-one pitch to end the inning. What scares me is that Schmidt got him on a slider. He doesn't have much on his fastball with so much mileage on his arm right now, but if he can snap off those sliders there might not be much scoring by the visitors until we get to the bullpen.
Pale Hose 0, Yankees 0 heading to the bottom of the second

[cknox0723]

One Giles after another in this lineup. Second baseman Marcus singles to right to start the inning, but aging older brother Brian erases him on the base paths with a fielder's choice, three-six in the scorebook. Jon Garland got that out thanks to snapping off a solid curveball with a full count, but one gets away from him in the next at-bat and plunks Jeremy Giambi. With the eight and nine hitters coming up, Garland just needs to get them out to get out of the inning.
Pale Hose 0, Yankees 0
Men at first and second, one out, bottom of second

[cknox0723]

Garland snaps off a curve for a strike to the catcher Lunsford, who's hitting .125 in the postseason. Swing and a miss for strike two, in one of those classic scenes of a pitcher overpowering a weaker hitter that you can see at any level of baseball. Way ahead in the count, Garland can waste one but instead he goes for the K with another heater. But Lunsford cracks it right back up the middle on the ground. Garland knocks it down with the glove, scrambles, gathers it and flips it to second in time for the force on the extremely slow Giambi and record out number two.

Lunsford hit .237 in three seasons in the minors, .273 this season even though he's obviously been exposed this postseason.
Pale Hose 0, Yankees 0
Men at the corners, bottom of 2nd, 2 out

[cknox0723]

The pitcher Schmidt singles to right on an 0-2 fastball. It's one-nothing, home team, and I break something.

Garland redeems himself, saving the inning and ending it with a strike out of Jeter which lowers his postseason average to .432. It's a huge out even though it's only the 2nd, because a big hit there makes it a three run or four run game. But there's a little bitter taste to that big out...if Schmidt holds us hostage and never lets up a run, the season's over for the Pale Hose.
Pale Hose 0, Yankees 1 after 2 innings

[cknox0723]

C Torrealba is killing (yorviting?) the ball in the playoffs, I almost batted him sixth, but he grounds out to short on Schmidt's first pitch of the third, a slider disguised as a fastball. That pitch maybe is made even more dangerous because Schmidt doesn't have a ton of zip on his fastball, you can't tell the difference between the two that way.

Garland can't hit at all and grounds out to first. Leadoff man Vazquez tries to work the count and take a strike, but then Schmidt goes in the zone with his second pitch and that plan is all fouled. A waste pitch runs the count to 1 and 2 but a strikeout pitch, a nasty changeup that drops in the dirst, does just that to Vazquez, strikes him out. And with the three in the books, their ace pitcher's allowed one hit and no runs, throwing 28 pitches. More intimidating is, he's flashing that nasty slider and worked through first inning control issues to get ahead in the count on almost everyone. This is on three days rest. Wouldn't know it if I didn't already know it.
Pale Hose 0, Yankees 1 after two and a half

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Garland could give the game away, maybe if it was April or August he would, but there's something about this 28 year old, some reason he didn't fade into obscurity after his 4-15 year two seasons ago. Randy Winn strikes out for the second time, Alex Rodriguez hits a rocket line out for the second time, and Hideki Matsui strikes out and I don't know what he did first time up but I'm cool with a strikeout. It's Garland's fourth punchout. He's already at 55 pitches which is just way way way way too many, but no worries, all hands on deck. The fourth inning's coming up, and it seems too soon. Let's get some runs!
Pale Hose 0, Yankees 1 after three

[cknox0723]

Here's craziness, Podsednik's leading off the fourth and what the hell, maybe you make him bunt even though he went crazy with these extra base hits and a home run in the ALDS, maybe that silly little bunt will wake the offense up, get something going.

Nah...

[cknox0723]

Hey, what do you know, all it takes is one bad pitch and one pitch that just misses, and even Jason Scmidt will have an at-bat or two like that. Suddenly the count's 2 and 1, there's a fastball with just a little less mustard on it, one that's aimed rather then pumped out, and "ALDS Jesus" puts the round bat on the round ball and loops a hit into right-center. A baserunner!

Now maybe you let him run wild and try to move him over with a ground ball and get a sac fly...
Pale Hose 0, Yankees 1
Man on first, no outs, top 4

[cknox0723]

Guess I'm not the only one going crazy with this thinking, "it's the playoffs, oh my god how do we score just one little run?" because after Schmidt's first pitch strike to Magglio Ordonez, catcher Lunsford fires one down to first base. He's trying to pick off a runner that's not moving, because really aren't you trying to outthink yourself with all this running and ground balls to the right side and stuff?

[cknox0723]

Next pitch, Schmidt's sharp slider just doesn't break, and does our #3 hitter ever come through. Liner down the left field line, into the corner, "Speedy Gonzalez" comes all the way around from first to touch home and WE ARE TIED, BABY!
Pale Hose 1, Yankees 1
Man on second, none out, top 4

[cknox0723]

Eric Munson strikes out, but it would have been a bad idea to ask him to bunt.
Pale Hose 1, Yankees 1
Man on second, 1 out, top 4

[ifspuds]

Woo!

[cknox0723]

Going to the bump on three days rest from a 114 pitch outing, it's kind of playing with fire. A little bite off the slider, a few battles with your control here and there and you're left with a below average fastball, which is leaving Jason Schmidt burned right now. Maybe a young pitcher will try to get outs with that fastball, a veteran would try to allow the hitters to get themselves out. And this veteran Cy Young winner...he'll keep coming at it with everything he's got in that 88 mph fastball, that slider, the solid changeup, but one little miss and he's behind in the count 2 and 1. Going back to the slider, again there's a little bit of break missing and cleanup man Vernon Wells pounds a liner into left field. Ordonez romps home, there's no throw and I hate to bust out large font but
THE PALE HOSE ARE WINNING!
Pale Hose 2, Yankees 1
Man at first, one out, top fourth

[cknox0723]

Frank Catalanotto at the plate, one of those hit or miss situations. Schmidt's obviously struggling, but Cat's been getting himself out a lot in the postseason, batting just .229, and going even further back he's below .250 since August. So maybe you take a gamble here, maybe you send the runner and see if the Cat can line one into the outfield...

...Or maybe you just go for broke and send the runner, and maybe it'll work because Schmidt's focusing everything on throwing strikes right now, or maybe the catcher Lunsford will throw the ball into center field...

Or maybe both. Who would have ever thought to send that runner, huh? I don't want to get a swelled head, though, plenty of ballgame left.
Pale Hose 2, Yankees 1
Man at third, one out, top fourth

[cknox0723]

Catalanotto's behind in the count thanks to taking that first pitch to allow Wells to steal, but it evens up when Schmidt bounces a fastball that Lunsford has to smother just to prevent a wild pitch. A changeup right on the black puts the count at 1-2, but Cat fouls off one of those nasty strikeout changeups to stay alive, and Schmidt follows with a slider that's in the right handed batter's box. Two and two and Schmidt goes with as much heat as he's got left, and I'm as surprised as Cat is that the radar gun reads 93, but he gets a piece to keep the A.B. going. Going with a slider to put him away might have worked twenty pitches ago, but this one gets fouled away and Schmidt gets another new baseball. I guess he likes 'em dirty (stop, stop) because he buries this one in the ground, and the count's full. Again Schmidt goes with the change, by far his best offering at this point, but Cat lines it foul down the third base line. Then he does it again, same pitch and same result except with a little more air and depth under it, it ends up a souvenir in the seats midway down the left field line.

An inning ago Schmidt was at 28 pitches, his slider was sharp and it was an open question if three days rest even effected him. His fifty-first pitch of the game and twenty-third of the inning was also fouled off, a little pop up to the right side that just snuck into the seats. Finally on his fifty second pitch, twenty fourth of the inning and tenth of the at bat, he got Catalanotto to bite on a fastball that he probably shouldn't have swung at, but Cat got enough wood on it to loft a fly ball to center. Vernon Wells tagged and scored from third to make it 3-1.
Pale Hose 3, Yankees 1
Two out, top fourth

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If there weren't two outs, might have gotten more. Adam Kennedy singled to right to give Yorvit Torrealba a chance to lengthen his stellar postseason resume, but his hot smash up the middle was handled impressively by SS Jeter, and his throw to first finally gets Schmidt out of the inning. 3 RUNS, 4 hits, no errors, one man left. Maybe the best inning in Pale Hose history. Take a moment to soak it in before reading on, I'm going to.
Pale Hose 3, Yankees 1 heading to the bottom of the 4th

[cknox0723]

If the Yankees don't score two more runs over the next eighteen outs, the Pale Hose are going to the World Series. Unbelievable.

It's going to be Buehrle time if Garland gets in serious trouble or there's any big boppers coming up in the late innings, two days rest be damned.

[cknox0723]

Marcus Giles takes the first pitch of the bottom of the fourth because only a fool wouldn't, it goes about forty-five feet and bounces on to the backstop. Garland's next pitch is a curveball that doesn't have too much of a break on it and it's lined hard to left, all I can think is that if it falls and the other Giles hits a home run the game will be tied just like that, but Scott Podsednik makes a running catch and all seems well.

Seems. The next Giles in the lineup doesn't hit a home run, anyway, he pops it up on the infield and there's two down. But if I wasn't paying such close attention I wouldn't have realized that just like he's done all postseason, the Yankees right fielder basically got himself out, Garland's fastball was only hitting 85.

Jeremy Giambi takes two horrible pitches for balls and then murders a fastball for a single. There's only a man on and two outs and a two run lead but Garland's in serious trouble, and he's not the one working on three days rest after 114 pitches, it's his arm or something, and even if I was naive enough to ignore it he's motioning to the dugout, he knows something is wrong and why go with nothing in the ALCS game 7 if you can't even 90 on the radar gun? Oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no oh no. It's not Buehrle time, not yet, not now, he's not ready and I'm sure as hell not.
Pale Hose 3, Yankees 1
Man on first, two outs, bottom 4th

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It's Nannini time, Mike Nannini was our fifth starter during the season and he's good for throwing strikes at least, but Trey Lunsford clobbers a double on his first pitch and I'm wondering if maybe this guy's arm or banana aren't hurt, too. The lead's down to a run and I almost expect the pitcher Schmidt to tie the game with a hit. He doesn't, he strikes out, but this one's gone from unbelievable to just unbelievable.
Pale Hose 3, Yankees 2, heading to 5th

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Pitcher's slot is of course due up to start the fifth, and I'd pinch hit but don't want to die with having to mix and match for too long. Nannini really seems like the best option right now, so he grounds out. Ramon Vazquez lines a single on the very first pitch he sees, so maybe now it's time to do something crazy like bunt. Sure...what the hell, right? Let's bunt, Ordonez will bring a run home then.

No, no, that's insanity. But Podsednik hits a sharp grounder to short, a tailor made double play ball, and we've got nothing but the solace that if the Yankees make 15 outs before they score another run, it's World Series time. If...if...
Pale Hose 3, Yankees 2 heading to bottom of the fifth

[cknox0723]

Top of the order for the home team, Jeter (.432 postseason), Winn (.300 regular season, Rodriguez (really good). Setup man Otsuka and fireballing middle reliever Calero are up in the pen. I don't really feel as excited typing this as I did typing PALE HOSE ARE WINNING but
OH BOY HERE WE GO FASTEN YOUR SEAT BELT

[cknox0723]

Nannini gets ahead of Jeter and he pops out to left-center. Winn makes his thousandth out in a row, grounding to short. One out away from the greatest inning ever pitched...

And Rodriguez hits a long, long home run to right center on a 1-0 fastball. YOU JUST KNEW IT WAS GONNA HAPPEN LIKE THAT! The way he crushed the ball his first two at-bats, fourth time up it's probably smartest to just take the bat out of his hands.

"Godzilla" Matsui makes the third out, and now whoever wins the last four innings wins the American League.
Pale Hose 3, Yankees 3 heading to 6th

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Heart of the order in the sixth. Ordonez grounds to second, Munson pops up to center, Wells grounds weakly to first and gets tagged out for out number three. Why everyone is hacking like that at an undoubtedly fatigued Schmidt I don't know. It's too bad no one could have bunted or moved a runner up.

That sinking despairing feeling is back. Bottom of the sixth, Giles, Giles and Giambi coming up, it's open question who should pitch. Nannini gets a hypothetical one batter leash and second baseman Giles doubles off the wall. Setup man Aki Otsuka comes in, strikes out right fielder Giles but loses first baseman Giambi to a walk.

And the catcher Lunsford, who entered the game hitting .125, .250-some career in the minors, he becomes the potential hero with a single to left. The pitcher Schmidt bunts, Otsuka improbably retires Jeter on a fly ball to center to keep it a one run game, and we're not out of it just yet. OOTP tells me that the Japanese set-up man is hurt and I wonder for a second just what the hell is going on. Then I remember, this is game 7 of the ALCS and that's what's going on. 2 3 and 4 hitters up for the Yankees next inning, so it's definitely Buehrle time. If we tie it before then I will say a thousand Hail Marys.
Pale Hose 3, Yankees 4, 7th inning

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Frank Catalanotto lines one to left field to lead off the seventh, it goes to the wall and he ends up on second base. Now I know why that sinking feeling was gone even as that lead evaporated last inning. Adam Kennedy executes a perfect sacrifice and there's a man at third, one out for Yorvit Torrealba. Boy oh boy.

[ifspuds]

Come on YORVIT!

(side note: I'm really worried about Buehrle coming on with short rest, but who am I to question?)

[cknox0723]

Torrealba sees a slider on the first pitch and just lets ball meet bat and before the looper's past the pitcher's mound, you know it's going to land in the outfield and the game's tied.

Raul Gonzalez bats next in the pitcher's slot and comes through with a base hit to left. Ramon Vazquez lines one into left field, the fat catcher comes home from second and
THE PALE HOSE ARE WINNING
Scott Podsednik singles and I keep blinking my eyes cause I can't believe it, but the lead's two runs. This is Pedro Martinez code right here, but I guess I'd rather die with a two-time 20-game winner too. #3 hitter Magglio Ordonez steps in, gets behind in the count, but then takes a couple bad pitches to even the count up.

Schmidt's two-two offering is a changeup that's up, off the plate towards the left-handed batter's box, but a changeup up in the zone is a feast for a hitter. Ordonez pounces and clobbers one high and deep to right field and there is no doubt how far this one's going, but there's 57,000 people trying to huff and puff and blow it to the right of the foul pole. All that huffing and puffing doesn't work...

...but the ball curves off foul anyway. That would have made the score 9-4.

Two pitches later Ordonez strikes out. Next batter Eric Munson strikes out. Nine more outs and it won't matter, it'll be Series time.

Right now it's Buehrle time.
Pale Hose 6, Yankees 4, heading to bottom 7

[gordyhulten]

Ack!

I can't take the suspense...

[cknox0723]

Originally Posted by ifspuds

Come on YORVIT!

(side note: I'm really worried about Buehrle coming on with short rest, but who am I to question?)

Me too, but up two runs, down a run, there's no one I'd rather have on the mound.

Randy Winn clubs his first pitch for a single to right center, Alex Rodriguez who has obliterated the ball all three trips to the plate steps in representing the tying run, and I wonder what the hell I was ever thinking bringing in Buehrle...

Rodriguez flies out to center.
Pale Hose 6, Yankees 4
Man on first, one out, bottom 7th

[gordyhulten]

Originally Posted by cknox0723

Rodriguez flies out to center.

<--- exhales

[cknox0723]

Inning's not over yet, though. Hideki Matsui doesn't seem like much of a threat since Buehrle eats lefties for all three meals and since he's not hit all postseason, but he is the #5 hitter on this conglomerate of a team.

Strike one.

Strike two.

Then a lame little 3/4th swing, which is WEAK...but it makes contact with a pitch up out of the zone, the ball goes looping out shallow right field and if it falls, there's trouble, if it falls, suddenly that two run lead doesn't seem too safe, if it falls, suddenly a home run would give those clowns the lead, if it falls...

Magglio Ordonez comes swooping in to make a sliding catch, one of those plays you could just watch over and over and over again. Marcus Giles grounds out to short to end the inning and Mark Buehrle's building up quite a legacy.
Pale Hose 6, Yankees 4 heading to 8th

[ifspuds]

Originally Posted by gordyhulten

Ack!

I can't take the suspense...

Yeah, he's killing me too.

[Rahhja]

omg OMG OMG!

[cknox0723]

I've been too busy not breathing to pay attention to the fact that it was Schmidt who struck out two of our best hitters to get out of that last inning, Schmidt who's thrown 107 pitches even though he's on short rest but it's hard to ignore the guy who's staring at us from the mound to start the eighth...you guessed it, Jason Schmidt. He gets Wells on a grounder, he gets Catalanotto on a strikeout, he gets Kennedy on a line out to first and I can't help but stop for a second and admire the greatest 11 hit, 6 run outing I've ever witnessed. 118 pitches on short rest.

I think it's even greater because we're winning. Giles, Giambi, Lunsford in the bottom half. Six outs away. I don't know who to pitch, Roa's blown a tie game and a save opportunity in the series already. I'm already nervous about the ninth but we need these three outs just as badly. I figure Buehrle is our best chance for these three outs so out to the mound he goes.
Pale Hose 6, Yankees 4 heading to bottom 8

[cknox0723]

The left-handed hitting RF Giles has nothing left in the tank at age 36, at least if his .230 average and homerless stretch since August is any indication. Buehrle carves him up. Strike one, strike two, strike three swinging on a slider. Then his name goes red, which in OOTP world means he's done. Right-handed closer Roa and right-handed fireballer Calero are up but it's Buehrle's game until he shows otherwise, colors be damned.

Bet he comes out in a batter or two though! If their 1B Giambi didn't bat left I'd probably pull him. But, what the hell, right?
Pale Hose 6, Yankees 4
None on, one out, bottom 8

[cknox0723]

Buehrle misses high with a fastball, misses low and away with a slider, and Giambi bloops a 2-0 slider into right center for a single, but not exactly the kind of hit that would make you want to pull a guy. Due to bat is eighth place hitting catcher Trey Lunsford, who could have been the hero if only, and his two for three line is suddenly making me think, Luis Sojo. And all I can think about Joe Roa is, Byung-Hyun Kim. Now I don't know who to pull, who to bring in, and I want Buehrle to be the hero so bad that I'm afraid to make a decision right this second. Gonna go think for a second.

Five outs away from the World Series. What a game. Would it ever suck if the computer crashed right about now.
Pale Hose 6 Yankees 4
Man at first, one out, bottom 8

[cknox0723]

Buehrle or bust, at least for one more batter.

[cknox0723]

With his fastball hitting 85 on the radar gun, Buehrle gets ahead on Lunsford 0-1 and then 1-2, but the little catcher that could fouls off one pitch, then another, takes one outside and then fouls off two more. Somehow this career .240 something hitter lines a slider back up the middle and with a pinch hitter named Brian Myrow coming up, now it's finally Joe Roa's chance. If his splitter is on after warming up for most of an inning, this one could be in the books with one pitch. If not, top of the order's coming up, and if we...I don't even wanna think about that.
Pale Hose 6, Yankees 4
Men at first and second, one out, bottom 8