George bracket: Orioles (69) defeat Dodgers (69) in seven games

Game One: 69 Orioles 6, 69 Dodgers 4 (16 innings)
WP: Hardin (1-0)
LP: A Foster (1-1)
Save: Watt (1)
HR: D Johnson (1)

Game Two: 69 Orioles 3, 69 Dodgers 2
WP: McNally (3-0)
LP: Osteen (4-2)
Save: Watt (2)
HR: Etchebarren (1)

Game Three: 69 Dodgers 5, 69 Orioles 2
WP: Singer (4-2)
LP: Palmer (3-1)
Save: Brewer (5)
HR: F Robinson (7)

Game Four: 69 Dodgers 8, 69 Orioles 2
WP: Sutton (3-3)
LP: Phoebus (1-3)
HR: Kosco (6)

Game Five: 69 Dodgers 2, 69 Orioles 1
WP: Osteen (5-2)
LP; Cuellar (2-1)

Game Six: 69 Orioles 4, 69 Dodgers 3
WP: McNally (4-0)
LP: Singer (4-3)
Save: Watt (3)
HR: Buford (1), Russell (1)

Game Seven: 69 Orioles 6, 69 Dodgers 1
WP: Palmer (4-1)
LP: Sutton (3-4)
HR: Powell (7)

It was a road warrior series, as the visitors won each game. The Orioles prevailed despite being outscored 25-24.Three of the seven games were decided by one run, and another went 16 innings.

That marathon was the opener, played in Dodger Stadium. Boog Powell singled home Don Buford in the first inning, and Buford had an RBI single in the fourth to give the Orioles an early 2-0 lead. The Dodgers  The Dogers used a walk, two singles and a sac fly to tie it in the bottom of the fourth, then took the lead on another sac fly in the fifth. Davy Johnson tied it in the eighth with a homer off reliever Jim Brewer, and the bullpens dueled deep into extra innings. Dave Leonhard threw five scoreless frames for the Orioles, who took the lead in the 12th when Johnson singled off Pete Mikkelsen, stole second and came around on Powell's double. But Pete Richert couldn't hold the lead; Bill Russell doubled and scored on Ted Sizemore's two-out single. There followed three more scoreless innings. In the top of 16th, Hardin singles, Buford walked, Johnson doubled home Hardin and Frank Robinson plated Buford with a ground ball. Eddie Watt relieved Hardin in the bottom of the inning after a one-out single to wrap it up.

Game Two was a shorter affair. Andy Etchebarren hit a two-run homer off Claude Osteen in the second inning. In the seventh, Mark Belanger tripled and scored on a fly ball. Dave McNally carreda three-hit shutout into the eighth, when, with one out, Tom Haller and pinch-hitter Bill Sudakis singled and Maury Wills walked. Reliever Dick Hall induced a popup, but then Willie Davis singled in two runs before Hall got out of the inning. Watt allowed a harmless single in the ninth to secure the win.

The series moved to Memorial Stadium in Baltimore for Game Three, and the Dodgers nicked Jim Palmer for two runs on five singles in the first inning, with Wills stealing second and third. Frank Robinson retaliated in the bottom of the inning with a two-run homer, but the Birds wouldn't score again, while Palmer was victimized for three runs in the fifth. Davis and Willie Crawford singled and Wes Parker walked to load the bases. Sudakis singled home the first two runners, and Len Gabrielson's fly ball plated Parker. The Orioles loaded the bases with one out in the eighth, but Brewer got pinch-hitter Curt Motton to bounce into a double play.

The Dodgers evened the series in Game Four by pummeling Tom Phoebus for six runs in five innings. Andy Kosco hit the Bums' first homer of the series in the second inning, but the big damage came in the third. Don Sutton led off with a walk. He took second on a wild pitch and third on Wills' bunt. Sizemore singled Sutton home. Davis walked, and both runners advanced on Crawford's grounder. Parker singled both men home, and Tom Haller brought Parker around with a double. Davis was 3-for-3 with two walks and three runs scored, while Parker had four RBIs. Sutton went seven innings.

Game Five was not only a close contest -- 2-1 Dodgers -- but saw three key players taken out for the rest of the series by injury. Frank Robinson went down in the first inning for Baltimore, while the Dodgers lost Parker in the third inning and Davis in the sixth, The Dodgers scored first in the second inning; Jim Lefebvre singled, went to third on Mike Cuellar's throwing error, and scored on Jeff Torborg's base hit. In the third, Wills singled, stole second, took third on Sizemore's bunt and scored on Davis' single. The Orioles got one back off Osteen in the fourth, but the scoring ended there. Osteen scattered nine hits, all singles.

The series returned to Los Angeles with the Dodgers one win shy of advancing. Buford put the Orioles ahead with a homer in the third, and the Dodgers never caught up. The Orioles added a run in the fifth on Dave May's sac fly, Buford doubled in another run in the seventh and Brooks Robinson homered in the eighth. Bill Russell homered off McNally in the sixth, and the Dodgers scored two in the eighth to make it close.

Game Seven pitted two Hall of Fame hurlers in Palmer and Sutton. It was scoreless for three innings, but in the fourth the Orioles scored three runs -- Brooks Robinson doubled, Paul Blair singled, Johnson and Merv Rettemund walked, Elrod Hendricks singled and Belanger hit a sac fly. Palmer's error set up a Dodger run in the bottom of the inning, but in the fifth Johnson singled, Rettemund doubled, Hendricks singled in Johnson and Belanger brought in Rettemund with a grounder for a 5-1 lead. Powell capped the scoring with a homer in the seventh. Palmer went the distance, allowing just three hits.

Player of the series: Davy Johnson went 15-for-29 with five runs and two RBIs.

Player availability: Frank Robinson will be available for Game One. Palmer cannot pitch until Game Three.

Projected rotation: Cuellar-McNally-Palmer-Phoebus (or Hardin)-(Cuellar)-(McNally)-(Palmer)

Stat break: 09 Angels

Hitters

Name                AB   R   H   RBI   2B  3B   HR   BB   SB   Avg,
Abreu                67   14   22   16        6    1      1      10      0     .328
Aybar                91   12   22     9        3    3      0        4      1     .242
Figgins             97   15    22     8        2    0      0     21      8      .227
Guerrero           69     5   17     7        2    0      1        4      0      .246
Hunter              90   13   23   15        6    0      4        6      2      .255
M Izturis             7      1    1     0        0    0      0        0      0      .143
Kendrick           89   12   21   15        3    3      3        5      0      .236
Mathis               27     1     3     1        0    0      0        4      0      .111
Matthews Jr      32     5     7     2        1    0      0        8      0      .219
Morales             98   17   39   14        8    0      3        6      0      .398
Napoli               57   10   14     5        2     0     2        7      0      .246
Quinlan               2     1     1     1        0    0      0        0      0      .500
Rivera               80     7   19   17        2    0      2        8      0      .238
Willits                 5     2     2     1        0    0      0        1      0      .400

Pitchers

Name                G    GS   IP        H    R    ER   BB    K     Sv.     W    L   ERA

Arredondo          2      0      1          0     0     0       0      1       0      0    0       0.00
Bulger                8      0    10          4     2      2      6    11        1      0    1       1.80
Fuentes              9      0       9        10     6      6      9      7        5      0    2       6.00
Jepsen                8      0       9          6     2      2      3      4        0      0    0       2.00
Kazmir              2      2     12.3      11    4      4      6     10        0      2    0       2.91
Lackey              6      6     38.3      41  17    17      8     29        0      2     1      3.99
Loux                  2      0       5          7     3      3      1      0        0      0     0       5.40

Oliver              13      0     16.3     15     5      3      3      9        0       3     1      1.65
O'Sullivan         2      0       5          2     0      0      1      2        0       0     0       0.00
Palmer               4      0    12          9     4      2      5       1        0       1     0      1.50
E Santana          3      3    19.6     22     5      5      4      14       0       2     0      2.29

Saunders           6      6    32        43   26    26     10     19        0      2     2      7.31

Weaver             8      8    56.3     58    27    21     14    45        0      2     4      3.36

Stat break; 09 Giants

Hitters

Name                  AB   R   H   RBI   2B  3B   HR   BB   SB   Avg,
Aurilia                     8     2     3     1       1    0      0      1      0      .375
Ishikuma              43     5   14     4       5    1      0      5      0      .326
F Lewis                35   10   15     3       5    1      1      3      1      .429
B Molina               66     6   15     5       2    0      1      2      0      .227
Renteria               35     2   10     3       0    0      0      2      0      .286
Rowand               69   15   20   11       7    0      4      5      0      .290
F Sanchez           91   13   28   13       8    0      3      4      0      .307
Sandoval             81    15   28   16       5    1     3      5       0      .346
Schierholtz          54     3    16     8       7    1     0      0       0      .296
Torres                 14      3      4     1       0    2     0      0       1      .286
Uribe                   72    12   22    19       3     1    6      8       0     .306
Velez                   38      9   16      5       1    2     0      3      2      .421
Whiteside             6     0      1      0      0     0      0      0      0     .167
Winn                   42     3    10     3       4     0      0     1       0     .238

Pitchers

Name                G    GS   IP        H    R    ER   BB    K     Sv.     W    L     ERA

Affeldt               5      0       6.3       3     1      1      2      8        1      0     0      1.42
Cain                  5      5     33.6    39   12    12      3     41        0      2    2       3.21
Howry               6      0       5.6      2     0      0      3       6        0      0     0      0.00
R Johnson        1      1       5         5     2      2      0       3        0      0     0      3.60
Lincecum          7     7     53.3    40   19    16    17     50        0      6     0      2.70

Medders           7      0       9.6    11     4      4      2     11        0      4     0      3.72
Ju Miller            2      0       4.3      0     0      0       4     4        0      0     0      0.00
Romo               3      0       2.6      2     1      1       0      0       1      0      0     3.37
J Sanchez       3      3      18.3    13   11    10     10    17        0      1     1     4.90
B Wilson        10      0       9.6       8     1      1       1     9      10      0     0     0.93
Zito                   4      4     29.3    18    10    10     18    25        0     3      1     3.07

John bracket: Giants (09) defeat Angels (09) in six games

Game One: 09 Giants 6, 09 Angels 4
WP: Lincecum (5-0)
LP: Bulger (0-1)
Save: B. Wilson (8)

Game Two: 09 Angels 5, 09 Giants 1
WP: E Santana (2-0)
LP: Cain (2-2)

Game Three: 09 Giants 5, 09 Angels 2
WP: Zito (3-1)
LP: Saunders (2-2)
Save: B Wilson (9)

Game Four: 09 Angels 8, 09 Giants 3
WP: Lackey (2-1)
LP: J Sanchez (1-1)
HR: Ju Uribe (6), J Rivera (2)

Game Five: 09 Giants 7, 09 Angels 4
WP: Lincecum (6-0)
LP: Jer Weaver (2-4)
Save: B Wilson (10)
HR: Morales (3), Rowand (4)

Game Six: 09 Giants 6, 09 Angels 3
WP: Medders (4-0)
LP: D Oliver (3-1)
Save: Romo (1)

The two teams combined for 54 runs in the six games but only four homers in a series marked by sequential offense.

It opened in San Francisco's AT&T Park, where the Giants broke out early with two runs in the first inning. Fred Lewis singled, and Freddie Sanchez' hit-and-run single moved him to third. Jered Weaver wild-pitched Lewis home, and Pedro Sandoval doubled Sanchez home. The Giants made it 3-0 in the third, when Aaron Rowand walked with two outs and Juan Uribe doubled him home. But the Angels strung together a walk, three singles and a sac fly in the fourth to tie it, with Juan Rivera gathering two RBIs. The teams traded runs in the fourth and fifth innings. The Giants took the lead for good in the eighth, stringing together three walks and two singles.

Ervin Santana shined in Game Two, allowing one run on five hits in seven innings for the Angels. He walked one, hit one and struck out three, and drove in two runs himself with doubles in the second and fourth inning off Matt Cain. Howie Kendrick scored three runs and went 3-for-4.

The series moved to Anaheim, and Barry Zito was "effectively wild" for the Giants in Game Three. The lefty walked seven in six-plus innings. The Angels loaded the bases with no outs in the second and did not score; they loaded the bases with no outs again in the third and got just one run out of it on a double play. Zito allowed two runs on four hits. Meanwhile, his teammates scored twice in the second and three times in the third off Joe Saunders; the third inning rally featured five consecutive singles, by Sanchez, Sandoval, Uribe, Nate Schierholtz and Beng Molina.

Rivera's grand slam in the fourth inning of Game Four powered the Angels to the win and evened the series once more. Jonathan Sanchez allowed eight runs in four innings on just five hits; he walked six and allowed four steals. Kendrys Morales drove in three runs while scoring twice. John Lackey scattered eight hits in seven innings. In a significant injury, Torii Hunter was lost for the rest of the series during the big fourth inning rally.

Game Five was a see-saw affair early. The Giants scored twice in the first inning, getting doubles from Lewis and Uribe. Morales homered in the second for the Angels. and Gary Matthews Jr., subbing for Hunter, doubled in two more to give the Angels the lead. The Giants took advantage of a two-out error by Erick Aybar to score twice in the fourth, but Howie Kendrick tripled home Mike Napoli in the bottom of the inning to tie it. But Tim Lincecum stiffened after that -- he allowed just one more hit in the next four innings -- and the Giants scored twice in the fifth on a Uribe single, Eugenio Velez triple and Randy Winn double, and tacked on another run in the sixth on Rowand's solo homer.

The series returned to San Francisco, and the Giants scored single runs in the first and second innings to stake Cain to a 2-0 lead, which he held into the seventh. With one out, Aybar tripled, and Napoli and Matthews singled. Bob Howry relieved to get pinch-hitter Vladimir Guerrero to pop up, but Chone Figgins and Abreu singled to give the Angels a 3-2 lead. Darren Oliver threw a scoreless seventh for the Angels and got the first two outs of the eighth. But then Travis Ishikawa doubled, and Molina singled him home for the tie. Oliver wild-pitched the plodding Molina to second, and Rowand double him home. Figgins booted Winn's grounder to keep the inning alive, and Schierholtz doubled Rowand and Winn in. Sergio Romo got three outfield flies in the ninth for the save and the series win.

Player of the series: Juan Uribe led the Giants in runs (five), RBIs (seven), hits (eight) and walks (four) while tying for the team lead in doubles (two) and homers (one).

Player availability: Cain can pitch Game Two with the penalty. Or Zito can pitch on full rest.

Projected rotation: Lincecum-Cain-Zito-J Sanchez-(Lincecum)-(Cain)-(Zito)

The Elite Eight

One team will end this tournament with 24 wins. Eight of them are halfway there, and the other 56 are finished.

And what of these eight? One -- the 1987 Twins -- won the World Series. One -- the 1969 Orioles -- is a representative of one of the greatest mult-year dynasties in baseball history. One -- the 1969 Pilots -- was a first-year expansion team that lost 98 games. The San Francisco Giants are represented twice, with the 2009 team and the 1987 team. Two teams, the Pilots and the 2009 Reds, had sub-.500 records in real life, but here they each won three best-of-seven series against teams with superior records.

There are two teams from 1987 and three each from 1969 and 2009. The final four will have a team from each of those seasons; only one of the four series in the fourth round crosses time to match a 1969 team with a 2009 team, and that series pits the two worst records left in the field. There are two DH teams remaining.

In order of real life records:

69 Orioles (109 wins)
09 Angels (97)
87 Giants (90)
09 Giants (88)
87 Twins (85)
69 Dodgers (85)
09 Reds (78)
69 Pilots (64)

That's probably a pretty good approximation of the likelihood of any one of them winning this tournament, with the O's the most likely and the Angels next.

One other thing I will mention here: Before the tournament began, I suggested that I might devise my own closer, wild pitch and passed ball ratings for the 1987 team that reached the final four. I will not do so. The one or two series involving the 1987 team will be played without those ratings.

Round Three recap: Ringo bracket

Advancing: 87 Giants, 87 Twins

Eliminated: 87 Blue Jays, 87 Cardinals

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Both series went six games. Of the 14 possible games, 12 were played. The Ringo bracket, of course, consists of all 1987 teams, and the American and National Leagues were in opposite halves, so we have one American League team and one National League team in the fourth round.

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Even though the Twins were the top seed, I regard the outcome of that series as an upset. The Giants over the Cardinals isn't much of an upset, although it does reverse the outcome of the real live NLCS. The team the Giants ended 1987 with was markedly strong than the one it opened the year with.

Stat break: 87 Cardinals

Hitters

Name                AB   R   H   RBI  2B  3B  HR  BB  SB  Avg,
J Clark               57   15  18   10       3    0     2    20      0    .316
V Coleman        70   10  18     4       1    0     0    11    16    .257
Driessen              9     0     0     0       0   0     0      2      0    .000
Ford                   33    3   10     2       1    1     0      0      3    .303
Herr                   71    7   19   14       5    0     0      7      0    .268
L Johnson            4     0    1     2       0    0     0      1      0    .250   
Lake                    1     0    0      0      0    0     0      0       0    .000
Lindeman            6    0     1      0      0    0     0      0      0    .167
McGee              74     8  17    15      2    4     2       2      0    .230
Morris               17     1    7     1       0    1     0       0      0    .412
Oquendo           23     4    9     2       1    0     0       2      0    .391
Pena                  71     7  17     7       2    0     0       2      0    .239
Pendleton          72     7  23   10       2    2     0       3     3     .319
O Smith            81   13   25     4        4   0     0      7     3     .308

Pitchers

Name                G    GS   IP        H    R    ER   BB    K     Sv.   W    L   ERA

D Cox                 5      5    36        37   15    13    10    12        0     3     2    3.25
Dawley               6      0      6.6       8     5      5      0      3        0     0     1    6.75

Dayley                6      0    10          6     4      4      1      7        1     0     0    3.60

B Forsch             4      0    11.3       6     2      2      3      7        0     0     0    1.59

Horton                6      0      6.6       7     8      7      5      0       0      0     1    9.45

Magrane             4      4    25.6     18     7      7      7    13        0     3     0    2.45

Mathews             6     6    37.3     38   20    18    12    29        0     3     2     4.34

Tudor                 3      3    17.3     28   13    13       3      9       0      0     2    6.75

Tunnell              4      0      4.6       6     5       5      1      5       0      0     0    9.64

Worrell              5      0      6          4     1       1      3      4       4      1     0    1.50