Postseason | The Baseball Zealot

Unlikely Postseason Heroes: The baseball players you didn’t expect to make the headlines

In baseball, the postseason is the time for players to shine, to give everything they got. More than likely, it’s the big stars who make the headlines but every so often we see the unlikely hero who steps up and gets the job done during the most important games of the season.

Here are 10 unlikely heroes of the baseball postseason because they are perhaps a little light with the stick, unknown players, or in one case, have no business getting on the field because of injuries.

Ozzie Smith (St Louis Cardinals, 1985 NLCS)

No doubt Ozzie Smith, the defensive whiz and speedster, has had his moments offensively but what happened in the 1985 NLCS must have surprised even the most die-hard Cardinal fan. With 13 career homeruns to name, Ozzie made himself a St Louis folk hero with one swing of the bat.

In Game 5 winner-take-all, the Cards and the Dodgers were locked up in a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the ninth. With one out and righty Tom Niedenfuer on the mound, Ozzie batted left. Not having hit a homerun in his previous 3,009 left-handed at-bats, he did the impossible. He hit a homerun. His four-bagger to right won the game for the Cardinals 3-2 and the series 3-2.

Bucky Dent (New York Yankees, 1978 one-game playoff)

This light hitting but slick fielding shortstop Dent was never known for his bat. His highest batting average was .274 in 1974 and for his career he hit .247. As for power, well, there wasn’t much. In his 12 year career, he hit forty homeruns with a career high of eight in 1977.

But Bucky Dent will always have a special spot in every Yankee fan’s heart for what he did in one-game AL East playoff against the hated Boston Red Sox in 1978. Down 2-0 in the seventh with two runners on, Dent hit a Mike Torrez pitch over the Green Monster to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead and sudden life. The Yankees went on defeat the Red Sox 5-4.

Dent wasn’t done. He batted .417 in the World Series against the Dodgers garnering the World Series MVP award.

Al Weis (New York Mets, 1969 World Series)

Among everyone on this list, Al Weis provides the widest disparity between his performance in the regular season and in the postseason. In his 10 year career, Al Weis was a .219 hitter with only seven homeruns. For the 1969 Amazin’ Mets, his average was even worse at .215.

But man, something change in him when it was time to face the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series. For the Series, Weis not only hit .455 (5 for 11) but also hit a key homerun in the final game. His at-bat total may seem a bit low for 5 games but that’s because he also led the Mets in walks with four.

Donn Clendenon won Series MVP rightfully so (he hit .357 with three homeruns) but no one can dispute Weis’ contribution in the ‘69 series.

Kirk Gibson (Los Angeles Dodgers, 1988 World Series)

Rather odd that an regular season MVP would be chosen as an “unlikely” hero. But it fits. Gibson won the 1988 MVP award on the measure of his leadership of the Dodgers plus his good (but maybe not great) stats (.290, 25 HR). But by the postseason came around, the full season had taken its toll on Gibby’s knees and he was in no shape to play.

The Dodger’s opponents were the feared Oakland A’s who had among others, Dennis Eckersley who had one of best seasons a reliever ever had.

Do I need to go on? We’ve all seen it. Bottom of the 12th. Gibson vs. Eckersley. Gibby practically limping to the plate on two hobbled knees. And the look of pure victory on his face and the fist pumping as he rounds the bases. And the ecstatic Tommy Lasorda jumping up and down.

The Dodgers won that game, of course. That was the only at-bat Gibson would have all series. I’ve talked to Dodger fans who tell me that even though it was only Game One, they knew the Series was won by LA right then and there.

Jim Sundberg (Kansas City Royals, 1985 ALCS)

This defensive stalwart behind the plate wasn’t known for his offense prowess. Sundberg was a mainstay behind the plate for the Rangers for 12 years (and one season for Milwaukee) but he never hit the postseason for them. Once he got to KC in 1985, he got his Championship ring. And in the 1985 ALCS when the Royals took on the Toronto Blue Jays, he made a difference.

In the seventh and deciding game, Sunny practically won the game on his own. He went 2 for 4 with a triple and four rbis to clinch the Series and take the Royals to the World Series.

Jim Lindeman (St Louis Cardinals, 1987 NLCS)

Probably the least known player on this list, Jim Lindeman was a highly touted St Louis Cardinal prospect who came up in 1986. He managed to stick around for nine seasons but only accumulated 736 at-bats and 21 homers in his entire career. That doesn’t matter to Cardinals fans though. He had his moment in the sun in the NLCS in 1987 against the San Francisco Giants.

In Game 3 of the series, Lindeman came up to bat in the seventh inning down 4-3 with runners on second and third. Lindy hit a homerun to right-center and drove in three runs to make it 6-4. The Cards ending up beating the Giants 6-5 and defeated the Giants in the NLCS 4-3.

Billl Mazeroski (Pittsburgh Pirates, 1960 World Series)

Bill Mazeroski falls into same category as Bucky Dent. Light-hitting, good fielding middle infielder. Ok, maybe that’s not fair. For his time, Maz may have provided more offense than first glance might suggest. He hit .260 for his career in a pitching-rich era. Also, Maz did manage to hit 138 homers in his career.

The 1960 World Series pitted the big bully, the empire, the dynasty, the New York Yankees against the upstart, underdog Pittsburgh Pirates. It’s only appropriate that it end the way it did.

Any baseball buff knows about and has seen photos of Maz’ homerun off Yankee Bob Turley to win the the 1960 World Series. After all these years, it’s still the only walk-off homerun that has won a World Series.

It’s been rated as one of the most exciting moments in baseball history.

Billy Hatcher (Cincinnati Reds, 1990 World Series)

Billy Hatcher was one of those outfielders from the 80s and 90s that produced just enough to stick around for 12 seasons. He batted .264 for his career with 54 homeruns.

But boy, the Reds were sure happy to have him around for the 1990 World Series against the Oakland Athletics. Hatcher just caught fire. So much so that he broke many offensive records for a four game World Series. Batting second in the lineup, Hatcher hit four doubles, four doubles and a triple in 12 at-bats. Nine for Twelve!!

With Hatcher’s bat, Cincinnati went on to sweep the A’s,

Jim Beattie (New York Yankees, 1978 World Series)

I remember when Jim Beattie came up. Oh how he was going to be the next Ron Guidry! George Steinbrenner pinned his hopes on him and when he went 9-15 his first two years with the Yanks, he was little “disappointed”.

But Beattie came to the 1978 postseason prepared. He won his game against KC, pitching 5 1/3 innings. And in the World Series against the Dodgers, he really showed his stuff. In the fifth game, he pitched a complete game win allowing just two runs to give the Yankees a 3-2 series edge.

I’m sure the Boss’ private opinion didn’t change but outwardly he was glad of Beattie performance.

David Eckstein (Anaheim Angels, 2002 World Series and St Louis Cardinals, 2006 World Series)

At 5’6”, shortstop David Eckstein has had the adjective “scrappy” placed before his name on scouting reports more than anyone. And it’s probably deserved. With his ability, comes some ability to win.

This postseason look comes in two parts. In 2002, David Eckstein was part of the Anaheim Angels World Championship team. Eck batted .310 in the World Series with six runs scored. All told he compiled 20 hits in the postseason in 2002.

But it was in 2006 when Eckstein was recognized for his postseason work. Then playing for the St Cardinals who were taking on the Detroit Tigers, Eckstein actually started out 1 for 11 in the first couple of games.

Then he caught fire. In the final three games, he went 7 for 11 and in Game 4 went 4 for 5 with 3 doubles. For his performance, Eck was named World Series MVP for the Cardinals who defeated the Tigers 4 games to 1.

Honorable Mention: Scott Brosius (1998 WS), Jose Vizcaino (2000 WS), Wayne Garrett (1969 NLCS and 1973 WS)

Who am I missing?

World Series quiz

Mental Floss brings us their latest quiz titled simply, “How Many Rings Did They Win?”

The premise is simple, Twelve players, without Googling, guess how many World Championship teams have they been on?

It’s worth taking just to see El Duque on the cover of Cigar Aficionado.

As for me, I did better than the average quiz taker but not by much. I guessed five right out of the 12.

One hint, I totally under-estimated Jack Morris.

Guest Blogger: Hardball Cooperative’s James Bailey looks at the AL hunt

Each day this week, The Baseball Zealot will be featuring special guest bloggers who will be giving their predictions on the 2009 MLB end-of year-awards and postseason matchups. Today, James Bailey gives us his take on the AL divisions.

James Bailey is a former editor of Baseball America and is now editor and major contributor to a new baseball blog, Hardball Cooperative. You can thank Bailey whose idea of more collaborative work between baseball blogs which gave me the idea for this week-long guest blogging project. When pressed, Bailey says he followed the Seattle Mariners but like a lot of us admits to mostly following his fantasy league players now. Ah, the times we live in.

Every time it looks like things are about settled in the American League, one of the down-and-outers sneaks back into the picture. A week ago the Tigers were on the brink of backing into the Central Division crown. They woke up Thursday morning with a 4.5 game lead, down from 7 games just 10 days earlier. The Twins, who have won four games in a row, are growing ever closer in Detroit’s rear-view mirror. The teams have seven head-to-head matchups remaining, starting with a three-game set this weekend.

The Central may be the tightest race in the AL, but it’s not the only one left to be decided. We technically have open contests in the East and West as well, though the Yankees and Angels hold leads of 6.5 and 6 games, respectively. The gap in the wild-card race is stretching out, though the Rangers, at 6.5 games behind the Red Sox, aren’t giving up hope quite yet. They have two different routes to the postseason. Both are dependent upon them winning at close to a .750 clip and getting help from above. Considering Michael Young and Josh Hamilton are spending more time on the trainer’s table than in the lineup, their odds are staggering. Still, with seven contests remaining against the Angels, they have the opportunity, at least on paper, to make headway.

While the Twins and Rangers are still breathing, it’s looking more and more like we’ll see some familiar matchups in October. If the standings hold the way they are now, the Red Sox and Angels will meet for the third consecutive year. Boston won that series both times. The other divisional series would match the Yankees and Tigers.

Here’s a breakdown of the races in each division:

AL East

The Yankees, who were three games behind Boston at the break, have gone on a tear since then, winning at a .729 clip (43-16). Their+89 run differential is the best in baseball over the second half. They looked to be pulling away from the Red Sox until Boston’s 7-game winning streak pulled them to within a stone’s throw of a miracle. There’s no one else to worry about, however, as the Rays were eliminated from the East race over the weekend.

The Yanks lead the majors in runs, and it’s not close. Their 843 runs are 45 more than the Angels, the next closest team. It’s not all a product of Yankee Stadium, either. They have tallied 414 runs on the road and 429 at home. If there’s an area of concern for the AL’s best team, it’s the starting rotation, where only C.C. Sabathia owns a sub 4.00 ERA. Andy Pettitte (13-6, 4.14) will be there when it matters, but the Yanks have to be getting a little nervous about A.J. Burnett, who has gone 1-5 with a 6.14 ERA in his last nine starts. That includes four games in which he’s allowed six or more earned runs. Joba Chamberlain has been even worse since the start of August, going 1-3 in eight starts with a 7.09 ERA in 33 innings. If they have a lead to hand to their bullpen, Phil Hughes and Mariano Rivera are likely to hold it for them. But they’ll need more than Sabathia and Pettitte to get them through the playoffs.

It’s been pitching that has spurred Boston over the last week. In six of their last nine games they’ve allowed 1 run or less (two shutouts). Even Daisuke Matsuzaka, who missed most of the season due to injury, has contributed, with six scoreless innings on Tuesday. Boston has the best team ERA of any legitimate contender, and they figure to get even stingier when they pare down to their playoff rotation. Their offense has heated up over the second half, scoring 165 runs in August alone.

Team	W-L	Pct.	2nd Half	Since 8/1	Since 9/1
New York	94-53	.639	43-16	32-11	11-15
Boston	86-58	.597	32-24	26-16	10-4

Key Injuries

New York: None. Pettitte missed his start this week due to shoulder fatigue, but the Yankees are hopeful that won’t linger.

Boston: None. Kevin Youkilis has battled back spasms this week. He expects to be back to full strength soon.

Remaining opponents

New York: Seattle (3), Los Angeles (3), Boston (3), Kansas City (3), Tampa Bay (3)

Boston: Los Angeles (1), Baltimore (3), Kansas City (4), New York (3), Toronto (3), Cleveland (4)

AL Central

It’s Detroit’s to lose, and they just might do that. The Twins are closing the gap, thanks to a four-game winning streak, and the White Sox are lingering because the Tigers refuse to close the door on them.

Detroit’s +7 run differential hardly becomes a division leader. Since June 1, the Tigers have actually been outscored 450 to 412. Their pitching, led by Justin Verlander and Edwin Jackson, has been among the best in the league. The offense is another story. The Tigers rank 10^th in the AL in scoring, with just 668 runs. Miguel Cabrera is having a fine season, but he’s the only well-rounded threat in the lineup. Curtis Granderson and Brandon Inge have hit for power, but they’re hitting just .250 and .233, respectively. Magglio Ordonez, who has his average up to .291, has done most of his damage against lefties.

Joe Mauer is one of the leading contenders for AL MVP honors, and a dramatic run to the division title would certainly enhance his case. He lost his best protection when Justin Morneau bowed out this week, though he hasn’t stopped hitting. Jason Kubel and Michael Cuddyer need to get hot and stay hot over the next two weeks if the Twins hope to sustain their charge. A rotation that includes Carl Pavano, Nick Blackburn and Brian Duensing hardly seems up to the task at hand, but stranger things have happened.

The White Sox have posted losing records in two of the first five months of the season and were no better than two over .500 in any of the others. Yet they’re mathematically breathing in the Central. Maybe, just maybe, this division doesn’t deserve a representative in the postseason.

Team	W-L	Pct.	2nd Half	Since 8/1	Since 9/1
Detroit	78-67	.538	30-28	25-19	9-6
Minnesota	74-72	.507	29-28	22-21	8-7
Chicago	72-74	.493	27-31	19-23	8-6

Key Injuries

Detroit: None. Joel Zumaya is done for the year, but he wasn’t a key player this season for the Tigers.

Minnesota: Morneau was diagnosed this week with a stress fracture in his back and he’s finished. That leaves a huge hole in the lineup, though the Twins are winning without him. Kevin Slowey has missed the second half of the season and won’t pitch again this year.

Chicago: It’s hard to call Jake Peavy a key injury, as he has never thrown a pitch for the Sox, though they must have envisioned him in the rotation when they pulled the trigger at the deadline.

Remaining opponents

Detroit: Kansas City (1), Minnesota (7), Cleveland (3), Chicago (6)

Minnesota: Detroit (7), Chicago (3), Kansas City (6)

Chicago: Seattle (1), Kansas City (3), Minnesota (3), Detroit (6), Cleveland (3)

AL West

The season hardly unfolded the way any Angel fan would have hoped, with the death of pitcher Nick Adenhart and the sluggish start by the team. But in the end they found their way to the top of the division, where everyone expected them to be all along. The West looked to be a division with a front-runner and three favorites for fourth place, but the Rangers stepped up and have given the Angels something of a challenge. They’re too far back now to make a charge with some of their key offensive weapons barely upright.

If the Angels can push hard for another week or so, they should clinch early enough to rest their starting pitchers a little going into the first round of the playoffs. It’s their offense, however, that could use some reinvigoration. They’ve scored more than three runs just four times in 15 September games. MVP candidate Kendry Morales has just four RBIs in September after hitting 10 homers and driving in 33 runs in August. Bobby Abreu, who is second on the team with 96 RBIs, has picked up some of that slack, hitting .347 with 10 RBIs this month.

It’s been an up-and-down year for the Rangers, but if they finish too far on the down side of that to make the postseason, they won’t have any shortage of reasons. Their collective health will be near the top of the list, but the three losing months on their resume haven’t done them any favors (10-11 in April, 11-15 in June, 14-15 in August). They have looked like one of the best teams in the AL at times, when they’ve had the offense and their young pitching in synch. Scott Feldman (16-5, 3.65) and Tommy Hunter (8-3, 3.23) have exceeded all expectations on the mound. Veteran Kevin Millwood looked rejuvenated early in the year, but over the second half he’s just 2-3 with a 5.32 ERA in nine starts and is averaging only five innings per game. His tank appears to be near E.

Team	W-L	Pct.	2nd Half	Since 8/1	Since 9/1
Los Angeles	86-59	.593	37-22	25-19	8-7
Texas	80-65	.552	32-26	22-22	8-7

Key Injuries

Los Angeles: They’re as healthy as they’ve been all year, though their pitching staff would look deeper with Kelvim Escobar and Scot Shields in the pen.

Texas: Josh Hamilton’s season has been one injury after the next. He’s missed the past two weeks due to back troubles, and now he’s got a tight glute to deal with. It’s possible he’ll play again, but considering how long he’s been out he’s unlikely to contribute much. Michael Young has also missed most of September with a hamstring injury. He’s close to returning, but not to full strength. Jarrod Saltalamacchia is done for the season and faces surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome.

Remaining opponents

Los Angeles: Boston (1), Texas (7), New York (3), Oakland (6)

Texas: Los Angeles (7), Oakland (4), Tampa Bay (3), Seattle (3)

Thanks, James for the great analysis. Tomorrow we will have our last installment in our guest blogging series with David Pinto looking at the National League. Stay tuned for that. Check out all the great articles from our previous guest bloggers from this week.

MLB Playoff Picture Features No White Sox

no sox This man is just like the playoffs, no White Sox! GM Kenny Williams wasn’t shy about going out there and spending his bosses money. Picking up ace starter Jake Peavy, has yet to pitch for the Pale Hose, in exchange for lefthanded pitchers Clayton Richard & Aaron Poreda and righties Dexter Carter & Adam Russell. Then Williams spent more money on a waiver claim from the Toronto Blue Jays, outfielder Alex Rios.

But then a funny thing happened on the way to the playoffs, we started losing, and it snowballed out of control. After the first portion of a tough roadtrip, in which the Sox lost six of seven to Boston & New York, I’m declaring the season OVER! Especially seeing Chicago now takes its sorry act on the road to their own personal place of horrors, the Metrodome. I know the experts are saying, we need to sweep in order to have a chance, I know better.

We have not played well for a variety of reasons, surely there have been some good times, the highlight being Mark Buehrle’s Perfecto. But things have gone South in a hurry, and not in a Southside kind of a good way. All season long we never had a 4th or 5th starter we could depend on, tough to win conceding 40% of your games. Alexei Ramirez has not looked good at SS, he was very good at secondbase, why did we move him? Carlos Quentin is still not healthy, somehow he’ll always manage to be hurt, face the facts. A.J. Pierzynski couldn’t throw me out attempting to steal, he doesn’t have an arm, and has driven in only 37 runs, while hitting .313, that’s tough to do, maybe not with the slowsters batting ahead of him. We talked about improving team speed, but didn’t. Why can’t our pitchers hold on baserunners and why can’t our hitters bunt? We’d really be introuble, like we’re not now, if we didn’t hit home runs. Mark Buehrle, Paul Konerko, & Jermaine Dye have all stopped contributing, what’s it going to be like when Jermaine isn’t playing for us next year? No different from this year, he stopped playing some time ago. Batting Jim Thome, who walks, ahead of Paul Konerko, who hits into doubleplays, not a good idea. Our fundamentals are terrible, whose fault is that, Jay Mariotti’s? The bullpen has gone up in flames like a California wildfire. Brent Lillibridge is a minor leaguer. We went into the season without a leadoff hitter, luckily we plucked Scott Podsednik off the garbage pile, where would we be without him? Also Gordon Beckham has done well at thirdbase, despite the fact he never played it in the minors or in the Arizona Fall League, at least not on a regular basis, and why not? Did we really believe as Hawk kept spouting, that Josh Fields reminded him of Harmon Killebrew, maybe when he swung & missed. We could blame it on Rios for not providing the spark we really needed when we got him or we could simply look into the mirror and see we just aren’t that good.

Baseball Digest Daily covers the Postseason

Eric SanInocencio contacted me to plug his baseball talk show, Baseball Digest Daily. I took a listen and it’s a good one.

When it comes to guests, BDD gets some pretty top draws. The show I listened to billed as the "Playoff Roundtable", featured ESPN’s Buster Olney as well as Chicago Tribune’s Mark Gonzalez and Adam Rubin from the NY Daily News.

This show (dated 9/27) is an apt show to start with as they preview the postseason. Give it a listen.

Link