Y4L Total Classic Games. Work In Progress

[Yankee4Life]

Settings used:

Innings..9

Fielding..Manual

Batting View...1-Hitters Eye

Fielding View...Zoom or Ariel (alternate)

Strike Zone..Off

Hot/Cold Zones...Off

Hitters Eye..On

Catcher circle Assist..On

Variable Strike Zone...Off

Base Umpire Blown Calls..On

Pitching Cursor...Fade

Fielding aid...On

Vector Line...On

Throw Meter...On

Player Names...Off

Player Icons...On

Auto Replay Frequency...Medium

Check Swing Frequency.... Medium

Missed Swing Replays....On

Injuries....On

Errors..On

DH Rule...NONE

Batter overlay...Cycle

Pickoff Returns...Automatic

Variable "Stuff"...On

Cooperstown Effect...On

Teams Used: Teams provided by Total Classics Phase 2 by TeamFUZZ

Game One

CPU 1968 St. Louis Cardinals at Y4L 1970 Baltimore Orioles

Baltimore 2, St. Louis 0

WP: Mike Cuellar 8IP, 7K

LP: Bob Gibson

Save: Eddie Watt

RBI: Frank Robinson, Boog Powell.

This is a locked thread. I'm just practicing here.

[Yankee4Life]

Notes: Kind of satisfied. I made two fielding miscues that did not end up hurting me. Maybe playing against a live player it could have caused a little damage. Although the first one (a triple by Curt Flood) may not have been a miscue because Flood was a fast guy, and probably would have made third anyway. The second one, throwing to the wrong base on a groundball, was a clear mistake.

Hitting was ok. Getting some extra base hits against Bob Gibson was good. The pitching was just fantastic.

Game played at Camden Yards.

Next game...undecided.

[Yankee4Life]

Game Two: Y4L 1963 Chicago White Sox vs CPU 1964 Kansas City Athletics

Kansas City 2, Chicago 0 (Game played at Oly Park)

WP: Orlando Pena

LP Gary Peters 6IP, 6 H, 6K

RBI: Wayne Causey, Jim Gentile.

Special settings:Ariel view.

Quick game facts On the second pitch that Gary Peters threw in the first inning, Wayne Causey hit a solo homerun over the right center field wall to give the A's a quick 1-0 lead. It was the only legitimate run that Gary Peters would give up in six innings of work. Once again and unexplainable error by the Y4L defense killed them. This time it happened in the sixth inning. With two out and Bert Campaneris at first base, Jim Gentile hit a scorching grounder to shortstop Ron Hansen and it somehow got past Hansen and went to the wall. No excuse. Campaneris, a fast runner, scored from first base and that completed the scoring for the day.

The Teams: The 1963 Chicago White Sox were a good team that had fantastic pitching. They won 94 games that year but finished 10 1/2 games behind the pennant winning Yankees. Their team ERA was 2.97. The Sox in '63 hit as a team .250, but that was not that bad for that year because the Twins lead the AL in hitting with a .255 team average. The 1964 Kansas City Athletics were a bad team. They finished in last place, 42 games off the pace behind the pennant winning Yankees. They hit .259 as a team and had a 4.71 team ERA.

[Yankee4Life]

CPU 1964 Houston Colt 45's vs Y4L 1948 Cleveland Indians

Cleveland 6, Houston 1 (Game played at Municipal Stadium)

WP: Bob Lemon

LP: Bob Bruce

HR's: Lou Boudreau (2), Ken Keltner

Special Settings: Ariel view on. Not a bad view to play a game once you get used to it.

The Indians hit the ball early and often in this game to make a winner out of Bob Lemon. Lou Boudreau's second home run in the seventh inning, a three run shot off of Don Larsen, put the game out of reach. Houston's Eddie Kasko went 3 for 4. Kasko went on to manage the Red Sox just a few years later.

The most interesting matchup came in the seventh inning. Don Larsen came on in relief for Houston and he ended up facing Dale Mitchell. These two, as you may recall, had a memorable confrontation in the 1956 World Series. Mitchell was the last hitter Larsen faced during his World Series perfect game and was called out on strikes to end the game. In this game, Mitchell singled to left and scored on Boudreau's homer.

The Teams: The 1964 Houston Colt 45's were a ninth place team in the National League. Their pitching was not too bad at a combined 3.41, but they only hit .229 as a team and that doomed them to low finish that year. Help was on the way though. For the 45's had two young players on their team that would do well in the coming years, Joe Morgan and Rusty Staub. Both were twenty years old. The 1948 Cleveland Indians did not have pitching problems. They had two twenty game winners in Bob Lemon and Gene Beardon. Bob Feller came close, as he posted 19 wins. The Indians that year lead the American League in pitching with a 3.22 ERA and in hitting with a .282 average, which was sixteen points higher then the American League average. This was a great Indian team and they went on to win the World Series against the Boston Braves.

[Yankee4Life]

Not a bad fielding game. In fact, very impressive. The final score in these games are not what is concerning me. It's how I get there.

[Yankee4Life]

Y4L 1969 Seattle Pilots vs CPU 1969 Washington Senators

Washington 3, Seattle 2 (10 innings. Game played at Griffith Stadium)

WP: Bob Humphreys

LP: Mike Marshall

Hr's: Washington's Ed Stroud. A solo shot in the tenth off off Marshall.

Settings: Zoom view.

One of the toughest and closest games I've played against the CPU. Seattle pitcher Gene Brabender pitched seven shutout innings for the Pilots and only gave up six hits. He left with a 1 - 0 lead, all thanks to him. His RBI single drove home the game's only run to that point. The Pilots added one more run in the 8th to take a 2-0 lead. Jim Bouton shut down the Senators in the eighth, but Mike Marshall ran into trouble in the ninth and still almost worked out of it.

With one out and runners on first and second, Marshall got the second out on a 97 mile an hour fastball. Next up for the Senators was light hitting Eddie Brinkman (.266 hitter in 1969.) Brinkman clobbered Marshall's third pitch to deep center and both runners scored. It was not until then that Marshall would record the third out.

In the tenth, his fourth pitch to Ed Stroud (.252 avg, 4 HR in 1969) was hit deep over the right center field wall to end the game and give the Senators the win.

Marshall would, of course, get a lot better. This is the same Mike Marshall that appeared in 104 games for the 1974 Dodgers and won the Cy Young award for the National League Champions.

The Teams: The 1969 Seattle Pilots finished in last place in the AL West, 33 games behind the first place Twins. They had a record of 64-98. It was their only year in major league baseball. In 1970, the team relocated to Milwaukee and became known as the Milwaukee Brewers. They had the worst pitching staff in the league (4.35 ERA) and were 11th in team hitting with a .234 average. The pitcher who started this game (Gene Brabender) was the ace of the staff with a 13-14 record and a 4.36 ERA. The 1969 Washington Senators fared a bit better. They were 87-75 and finished in fourth place in the AL East, 23 games behind AL Champion Baltimore. The Senators pitching was not as bad as Seattle's (3.98 ERA) and their hitting (.251) was a few points above the league average. Although the Senators were a superior team on paper, the Pilots had a 7 - 5 record against them in their only season of play in 1969.

Ed Stroud is greeted after rounding the bases to beat Seattle in extra innings

[Yankee4Life]

There has to be a comeback code in this game! If any of you played High Heat baseball, you know darn well they had it in there. The CPU always turns it up a notch in the late innings when they are down.

[Yankee4Life]

CPU 1964 Chicago Cubs vs Y4L 1961 New York Yankees

New York 1, Chicago 0 (Game played at Forbes Field)

WP: Whitey Ford (9 IP, 3 H)

LP: Larry Jackson

RBI: Roger Maris.

Settings:Zoom

In a game where both pitchers hung around until the ninth inning, the Yankees pulled out a thrilling 1 - 0 over the Cubs. With one out in the bottom of the ninth, Mickey Mantle was intentionally walked. The next batter was Roger Maris and Maris hit a double in the left center field gap that scored Mantle from first and made a winner out of starter Whitey Ford.

The Teams: The 1964 Chicago Cubs had a 76-86 record which was good enough for 8th place in the National League. Little did the Cubs know, but on this team was two good young players coming into their own in Ron Santo and Billy Williams. And another young 21 year old named Don Kessinger. Their hitting was middle of the road (ranked 5th in the league) but their pitching was bad as they came in eighth place in the National League with a 4.08 ERA. And yet one guy stood out. Larry Jackson, the same hard luck pitcher in this game. Jackson was 24-11 in 1964 with a very good 3.14 ERA. The 1961 New York Yankees team was one of the best Yankee teams to come out of the Bronx since 1927, at least it was the popular belief. But with a 109 - 53 record, it is hard to argue with. And yet with winning 109 games, they did not run away from the American League. The Detroit Tigers won 101 games that year, good enough for a pennant any other year except for 1961. All that got them was eight games off the pace. The Yankees hit .263, fourth in the league. Detroit was first at .266. But the pitching, lead by Whitey Ford at 25-4, had a 3.46 ERA as the Yankees finished off 1961 by winning the World Series over the Reds in five games.

[Yankee4Life]

CPU 1905 New York Giants vs Y4L 1909 Detroit Tigers

New York 2, Detroit 1

WP: Christy Mathewson

LP: George Mullin

SV: G. Ferguson

Settings:Zoom

Christy Mathewson's two out RBI single in the seventh inning drove in the Jints second run as New York made the most out of four Tiger errors to win 2 - 1. Mathewson pitched eight innings of six hit ball and overcame a first inning homerun by George Moriarity that gave the Tigers a quick 1 - 0 lead. But the aforementioned four errors helped the Giants first tie the game, and then win it. Although a case can be made for two of the errors (the ball was hit back to the mound off of the pitcher twice and it was ruled an error.) The other two times they clearly were as Tiger shortstop Donnie Bush threw two balls away.

Bush in 1909 was the starting Tiger shorstop and committed a almost unheard of 71 errors that season. This was of course, during the deadball era and the gloves used at that time were very, very small. Bush's 71 errors did, in fact, lead the Tigers in that category that year and by a wide margin.

Christy Mathewson, on the other hand, was something else. Posting a 31-9 record in 1905 with a 1.28 ERA, Mathewson went on to pitch three complete game shutouts against the Philadelphia Athletics in the World Series as the Giants beat Philadelphia in four straight games. That would be the only time Mathewson would be on a World Championship team.

So those were the two people that played a big part in the top of the seventh in this game. With one out and a runner on first base, Art Devlin hit a ground ball to Donnie Bush. Bush got the lead runner, but not Devlin because he threw the ball over Tiger first baseman Claude Rossman's head. The ball went down the right field line and the speedy Devlin found himself on third, out of breath but happy.

Up came Mathewson, and on George Mullin's fourth pitch to him, Matty hit a sinking liner to left field to score Devlin with the hit that won the game.

The Teams: The 1905 New York Giants were a very powerful team. At 105-48, they owned the National League that year and won the pennant by nine games over the Pirates. They had a team batting average of .273, which was fantastic for a team in the deadball era of baseball. Of course, that average lead the league. Their pitching posted a 2.39 ERA, thanks mainly to Mathewson's amazing year. To look at the stats of this Giant team you would clearly understand why they were so good. But here's a little tidbit that meant nothing then, but everything now. If you ever saw the movie Field of Dreams and you remember the part where James Earl Jones and Kevin Costner go to find Moonlight Graham, you'll find him right here as a member of the 1905 Giants. Take a look for yourself on this page. The 1909 Detroit Tigers were lead by Ty Cobb and his .377 average. They also lead their league in hitting that year at .267, but it was mostly Cobb that did it. The closest regular to Cobb was outfielder Sam Crawford who hit .314. Detroit was lead by George Mullin's 29-8 record as the Tigers posted a 2.26 ERA for 1909.

Donnie Bush fittingly makes the final out in the ninth inning as the Giants win 2 - 1

[Yankee4Life]

CPU 1986 Boston Red Sox vs Y4L 1987 St. Louis Cardinals

WP: Bill Dawley
LP: Roger Clemens

Special settings: Ariel view
Played in Shibe park, version 2 by Paulw.

The Cardinals pushed across three runs in the eighth inning off of Red Sox starter Roger Clemens and reliever Joe Sambito to win this battle of mid-80's league champions.

John Tudor (10-2, 3.84 ERA in 16 games in 1987) retired the first 17 batters he faced in order to start the game but with two out in the sixth, Roger Clemens hit a clean single up the middle that no one touched and the no-hitter was gone.

The game almost got away from him in the seventh when the Sox pushed across a run to take a 1-0 lead. Rich Gedman missed a two run homer by two feet, and Curt Ford caught the ball up against the wall. The Cardinals did have some chances against Clemens (24-4, 2.48 ERA in '86) but Clemens got tough when he needed it, and the Cardinals did not score for seven innings.

That is, until the eighth. With one out, Ozzie Smith hit a fastball in the gap in Shibe Park and before Sox centerfielder Tony Armas got to the ball and threw it in, Smith found himself at third base. Tommy Herr then hit a line shot back at Clemens, who had a hard time recovering the ball. Herr was safe at first and Smith did not advance because the ball did not get that far away from Clemens. Jack Clark hit a long fly to right field to score Smith and Herr advanced to third.

On the first pitch to Terry Pendleton, Pendleton hit a liner down the right field line scoring Herr to make it 2 - 1. Joe Sambito came in and gave up an RBI single to Tony Pena and Pena was retired trying to stretch it into two. That made it 3-1 and that's how it ended as Dawley retired the Red Sox in order in the ninth to end the game.


The Teams: The 1986 Boston Red Sox were a very tough team. They had a good pitching staff, and not counting some tough stretches during that season, were the tops of the A.L. They had a 3.93 ERA, which for a team that played eighty-one games in Fenway Park, was amazing. They had a .271 batting average, which came in second in the league. The 1987 St. Louis Cardinals were a team built around speed, the hit and run, good pitching and one power guy. The power guy was Jack Clark. He hit 35 home runs for the Cardinals and had a .286 average. The Cardinals, even with Clark's 35 home runs, still did not hit 100 home runs as a team in 1987. They hit 94, which was last in the National League. But an interesting stat is this one. They hit .263 as a team and that was sixth in the NL. That shows that they hit when it mattered and that it is possible to win without hitting home runs. The pitching was very good, posting a 3.91 ERA which for that year was good enough for fifth.

[Yankee4Life]

This was a good game. I don't care if I won it or not. I care about how I played it. For nine innings I gave the defensive effort I have been striving for. The run the Red Sox got, they earned it. I didn't give away a thing. That's the purpose of these games. Winning them is just a bonus. It's how I get there is what I am looking at.

[Yankee4Life]

Y4L 1948 St. Louis Browns vs CPU 1974 Texas Rangers

Texas 3, St Louis 2

WP: Jim Shellenback

LP: Ned Garver

Sv Steve Foucault

Special Settings: Ariel view. (Game played in Arlington Stadium)

Lenny Randle's RBI double in the eighth inning broke a 2-2 tie as the Rangers beat Ned Garver and the Browns.

The Browns, 59-94 in the American league in 1948, gave the Rangers (84-76, second place in the AL West in 1974) all they could handle in this game as they took a 2 - 0 lead halfway through the game. And with the way Ned Garver was pitching (7-11, 3.41 in '48) it seemed at that time to be just enough. Garver was 22 years old in 1948 and had a bright future ahead of him. In 1951 at the age of 25, he went 20-12 for a Browns team that only won 52 games all year. They lost 102.

When the bottom of the fifth came, Garver was nursing his 2-0 lead and each run scored by St. Louis he had a part of. His sacrifice bunt advanced Jerry Priddy to second and Priddy scored later on that inning on a double. Garver himself homered in the fifth that plated the Browns second run.

Ranger catcher Jeff Torborg hit a hanging curveball by Garver in the fifth to cut the lead in half. In the next inning, Jeff Burroughs, the 1974 American League MVP, drove home the tying run with an opposite field RBI double.

Garver retired the Rangers in the seventh and in the eighth was only able to face two batters. He was obviously tired. He retired one, but gave up a leadoff double to pinch hitter Jim Spencer and Lenny Randle drove him home with a booming double off of reliever Al Widmar.

Steve Foucault came on in the ninth and retired the Browns in order to preserve the win for Texas.

The Teams The 1948 St. Louis Browns finished 37 games off the pace behind the World Champion Cleveland Indians. This was a very good hitting team. They ended up in fourth place in the American League that year at .271, but the pitching was dead last, coming in with a dismal 5.01 ERA. The 1974 Texas Rangers had the best hitting team in the American League as they recorded a .272 average. Their pitching did them in as they finished tenth in a twelve team league with a 3.82 ERA. Their bright spot on the staff was Ferguson Jenkins, who was 25-12. Jim Bibby also won 19 games for the Rangers, but at the same time lost 19 games too. Billy Martin was the manager of the Rangers in 1974, but as in all cases with him, did not last the entire season in 1975. Martin was let go in August of that year and was promptly hired by the Yankees, thus beginning a chain of events that would lead to three straight pennants from 1976 to 1978.

No screen capture for this game, many apologies

[Yankee4Life]

Good game and fun game. But one thing I am noticing is that I can practice hitting, and running and fielding and pitching in these game. But I can't practice playing the game when a lag is present.

[Yankee4Life]

CPU 1978 Boston Red Sox vs Y4L 1978 New York Yankees

New York 9, Boston 4

WP: Jim "Catfish" Hunter

LP: Jim Wright

Hr's: Rice, Boston 2nd inning

Piniella, New York, 7th inning.

Special Settings: Zoom view. Played at Yankee Stadium night.

Lou Piniella's three run home run off Red Sox reliever Jim Wright capped off a seven run 7th inning for the Yankees as they fought back to beat the Red Sox 9 - 4. Thurman Munson put the Yankees ahead with a two run double that landed one foot away from the right field foul line before Piniella came up two batters later to put the game away for good.

Boston's Mike Torrez started the game and lasted six innings. He was touched for two runs in the first but then pitched shutout ball the rest of the way. Jim Hunter nursed a 2 - 1 lead into the seventh until tiring. RBI doubles by Fred Lynn and George Scott gave the Red Sox the lead and knocked Hunter out of the game when the Yankees came up on their half of the frame.

Sparky Lyle pitched a perfect eighth and ninth for the Yankees as the Red Sox did not get the ball out of the infield.

The Teams: The 1978 Boston Red Sox were a great, but flawed team. Sure, they had great hitting. Twenty-five year old Jim Rice was the MVP that year with a .315 average, 46 homeruns and 139 RBI's. Carlton Fisk (20, Fred Lynn (22) and Dwight Evans (24) each had over 20 home runs for this very potent lineup. They were especially tough at home in Fenway, where they posted a 59-23 record. Their team pitching was at 3.54, good for fourth in the AL. So why didn't they win? Because they got hurt at the wrong time and the Yankees played over .600 ball down the stretch. The 1978 New York Yankees got by with their pitching. They lead the league with a 3.18 earned run average. This was Ron Guidry's stellar year. 25-3, 1.74 ERA and the Cy Young award. These numbers have not been matched since. Almost forgotten was Ed Figueroa, who was the first Puerto Rican pitcher to win twenty games in the big leagues. Figgy was 20-9 with a 2.99 ERA. The Yankees did not hit as many home runs as the Red Sox (only Graig Nettles and Reggie Jackson hit more than twenty as they hit twenty-seven apiece. But the Yankees had something that Boston did not: a bullpen of Sparky Lyle and Rich Gossage. Together they combined to save 36 games, which was first in the league.

Many books have been written about this magical season. This is when the Boston Massacre took place. And the famous one game playoff in Fenway Park. Roger Kahn even wrote an excellent book about it right here that goes into detail what happened in 1978. It's a pleasant history lesson for a Yankee fan or any fan of the game.

Yankee Lineup

Mike Torrez pitches to the Yanks

Lou Piniella. The forgotten hero of the Playoff game. His two great defensive plays prevented Boston from winning the game.

Yankee captain Thurman Munson. 1978 would be his last full year in baseball.

Lou Piniella and Bucky Dent walk off the field after beating Boston.

End game linescore

[Yankee4Life]

CPU 1987 St. Louis Cardinals vs Y4L 1984 Detroit Tigers

Detroit 2, St. Louis 0

WP Jack Morris

LP John Tudor

SV Willie Hernandez

Hr's: Chet Lemon and Howard Johnson (8th inning)

Special Settings: Ariel view. Played at Tiger Stadium.

Chet Lemon and Howard Johnson both hit solo home runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to break a scoreless tie against Cardinal ace John Tudor. Lemon's shot broke the 0-0 tie and Johnson's homerun put the game seemingly out of reach with the way Jack Morris was pitching.

Morris pitched eight strong innings and only gave up three hits while striking out nine. The key for Morris was keeping the Redbird speed trio of Vince Coleman, Ozzie Smith and Willie McGee off the bases, and he did just that as those three combined to go 2 for 11 in this game. Willie Hernandez, who had a fantastic year in 1984, shut the Cardinals out 1-2-3 in the ninth to earn the save. He also racked up two strikeouts for his one inning of work as his screwball was dancing past the National League Champions.

John Tudor (10-2 in 1987) was the hard luck loser. He pitched a complete game four hitter and struck out four. Tudor was a slightly better than .500 pitcher with the Red Sox in the early 80's, but really came in his own as a member of Whitey Herzog's Cardinals.

The teams: The 1987 St. Louis Cardinals were the NL Champs for that year. A team that was built on speed for the artificial turf that Busch Stadium used to have, this team stole 248 bases in 1987. Vince Coleman had 109 all by himself. Jack Clark was their only legitimate power hitter. And yet they won. They had good pitching, excellent defense and timely hitting. They proved you don't need the long ball to win games. And if they didn't play the World Series that year against the Twins in that sorry excuse for a stadium in Minnesota, they'd have won the Series too. The 1984 Detroit Tigers took the American League by storm that year. After winning 92 games in 1983, the veteran club burst out of the gate in 1984 with 35 victories in their first 40 games -- a major-league record. The spent the entire season in first place and won a Detroit team record of 104 games. The Tigers beat the Padres in the World Series in five games in a very lopsided World Series. But with all the heroes that Detroit had that year, one player that they got from Philadelphia in spring training put them over the top. Detroit sent Glenn Wilson and John Wockenfuss to the Phils for Dave Bergman, who became the everyday first baseman, and Willie Hernandez. Hernandez won nine games that year, converted 32 of 33 save opportunities and had a ERA of 1.92. Oh, and he also won the AL Cy Young award and the AL MVP award. Not a bad trade after all for the Tigers.

Chet Lemon has just connected off of John Tudor

Lemon circles the bases as Tiger Stadium cheers

Howard Johnson joins in the fun

John Tudor looks dejected after giving up two home runs

Willie Hernandez comes in to pitch the 9th. He was lights out in 1984

Hernandez strikes out Ozzie Smith to end the game

Boxscore from the game. Total Classics is just a pleasure to play. Thank you again and again TeamFuzz.

[Yankee4Life]

Y4L 1953 New York Yankees at CPU 1980 Philadelphia Phillies

New York 6, Philadelphia 3

WP: Whitey Ford

LP: Steve Carlton

Hitting Stars: Yogi Berra and Gene Woodling both went 3 for 4 for New York. The Yankees hit six doubles in the game.

Special settings: Played on Ariel view. Game played at Veterans Stadium.

Steve Carlton gave the Yankees all they could handle as he pitched shutout ball for eight innings as he protected a slim 2 - 0 lead that the Phils gave him. Two clutch sacrifice flys drove home Garry Maddux in the fifth and then Manny Trillo the next inning off of Yankee starter Whitey Ford.

But in the seventh, Carlton faultered and the Yanks were ready. Mickey Mantle lead off with a double off the wall. Gene Woodling drove him home with the first run of the game for the Yankees with another double. After a walk, Yogi Berra stepped to the plate and doubled both runners home to give the Yankees the lead they would not lose. The Yankees went on to score three more runs off of the Phillie bullpen to make a winner out of Whitey Ford, who pitched the entire game. Ford struck out nine and gave up three hits, but kept the Yankees in the game by getting key strikeouts throughout the game.

The Teams The 1953 New York Yankees won 99 games en route to the American League pennant and won the World Series for a record fifth time in a row by beating the Brooklyn Dodgers in six games. Whitey Ford lead the team in victories with 18 and Eddie Lopat (at 16-4) was right behind him. This was a solid pitching staff that lead the league in pitching that year. The Yankees hit .273 as a team that was good for first in the league also. But what is most impressive about this is how evenly spread out this was. The leading hitter for that year was outfielder Gene Woodling at .306. The 1980 Philadelphia Phillies did what every Phillie team past or present has not done; that is, they were able to win a World Series. In the plus 100 year history of the Phils, this is the only team to own a World Series trophy. Lead by Steve Carlton who was 24-9, 2.34 ERA that year, the Phils had a pitching staff that was stingy on the National League. Richard Ruthven (17 wins) and Bob Walk (11 wins) were the only other double digit winners for the Phils. And the hitting lead by Mike Schmidt (48 homeruns, 121 RBI and a .286 average) had the perfect combination of speed and power for the Veteran Stadium artificial turf.

Phil Rizzuto is up at bat for the Yankees

Billy Martin. Martin collected 12 hits in the 1953 World Series against Brooklyn

Yogi Berra slides into second safely with his double

Mickey Mantle at the plate. He's having a good game

Yogi Berra at the plate in the late innings

One of Whitey Ford's nine strikeouts in the game

Billy Martin is upended trying to turn a double play

Philadelphia warms up two pitchers to try and stop the Yanks

The last hope for the Phils

That's all for this game

[Yankee4Life]

CPU 1973 New York Mets vs Y4L 1973 Oakland Athletics

Oakland 5, New York 1

WP: Catfish Hunter

LP: Tom Seaver

Special Settings: Game played on zoom view. Played in Pirate's new McAfee Stadium.

Catfish Hunter pitched eight innings of five hit ball and outdueled Tom Seaver, who struggled in the first inning against the Champion A's.

The A's scored three quick runs off of Seaver when Bert Campaneris doubled, Reggie Jackson singling him home and Sal Bando hit the first of his two home runs off of Seaver. This first one was a two run shot deep in left center field.

Seaver, after this rough start, immediately settled down. Sal Bando's second home run, a solo shot in the fourth, was the only run he surrendered after the first.

Hunter, on the other hand, was just the opposite. He started the game retiring the first twelve Mets in a row. When he tired in the eighth inning, the Mets pushed across their only run on a Rusty Staub two out single. Hunter struck out seven Mets and walked none in his eight innings of work.

The Teams: The 1973 New York Mets won the National League pennant in 1973 despite having a record three games over .500 (82-79). But they got hot when it counted in the playoffs as they beat the Reds in five games. The Reds won 17 more games than the Mets that year but were outplayed in that series by the exuberant Mets. This Mets team was not a hitting team. In fact, they finished 11th in the National League in hitting. Jon Milner lead the team with 23 homeruns. Clearly this was a team that won on pitching and with Tom Seaver and Jerry Koosman in the rotation, this team compiled a 3.26 ERA, good enough for third in the league. The 1973 Oakland Athletics were in their second year of their three year dynasty. The had no problem hitting the ball. This was the year that 27 year old Reggie Jackson won the MVP. Jackson hit .293, had 32 home runs and had 117 RBI's. And the pitching was this Oakland club's strong point. Ken Holtzman, Vida Blue and Catfish Hunter each won 20 games. Rollie Fingers anchored the bullpen as he recorded 22 saves with a 1.92 ERA. Oakland would win one more World Series in 1974, and then with the advent of free agency, the team was broken up.

Reggie Jackson, the 1973 American League MVP and World Series MVP

Willie Mays. 1973 was his final year

Slick fielding Bud Harrelson of the Mets throws out an Oakland runner.

Rollie Fingers enters the game in the ninth inning

Slugger Jon Milner is the last hitter of the game. He grounded out to first base to end it.

That's the game. It's another fun one thanks to teamFUZZ.

[Yankee4Life]

Y4L 1949 Brooklyn Dodgers at CPU 1967 Boston Red Sox

Brooklyn 2, Boston 1 (14 innings)

WP: Erv Palica

LP: Jose Santiago

Special Settings: Game played on ariel view and in the new version of Cleveland Municipal Stadium by Paulw. Great stadium, I highly recommend it.

In a game that saw three double plays turned by each team, one costly walk and a clutch two out double, it could not compare to what Brooklyn's Carl Furillo did. "Skoonj" went 4 for 6 including the game winning home run off of Boston's Jose Santiago in the 14th inning. Santiago was the ninth pitcher used by the Red Sox in this game, and like the pitchers that came before him, he was not successful in containing Furillo.

Brooklyn took an early lead on a solo homerun by Gil Hodges when he connected off of Jim Lonborg in the fifth inning. And that held up until two outs in the ninth inning, when a tiring Don Newcombe walked Carl Yaztrzemski on five pitches. Big Newk pitched nine innings of seven hit ball and struck out three. He only gave up one walk but it was at the worst possible time. Because the next batter, first baseman George Scott, hit the fourth pitch he saw off of Newcombe and Yastrzemski scored from first to tie the game to send it into extra innings. Scott in 1967 hit .303 and was an offensive force for this ballclub. He hit 19 homeruns and had 82 RBI for the Sox that year. Most people today if they saw a photo of George Scott, they would see him as a older, heavier player. (Try and picture Mo Vaughn when he was a Met) But Scott during this time was anything but, as his two doubles in this game showed.

Thanks to great bullpen work by Brooklyn and Boston, each team did not threaten at all until Furillo broke through in the 14th with his heroics, and the Dodgers and Erv Palica came off with a hard fought victory.

The Teams The 1949 Brooklyn Dodgers won the pennant by just one game over the St. Louis Cardinals as Branch Rickey's current tean held off his previous team. This was a Dodger team that lead the NL in homeruns, thanks to playing half their games in Ebbets Field. This was a ballpark made for hitting and this Dodger team (.274 team batting average) took advantage of this all year. Their pitching, while not spectacular (no one won 20 games) was lead by Don Newcombe as he went 17-8 at the age of 23. Preacher Roe (15-6) complemented Newcombe in the rotation. This Dodger team would go on to lose the Series that year to the Yankees in five games. The 1967 Boston Red Sox were the "Impossible Dream" team for all of New England. In 1966, this Red Sox team finished twenty-six games off the pace behind World Series winner Baltimore. But in 1967, they were involved with the Twins, White Sox and Tigers for a four team race for the pennant. The team was lead by 27 year old Carl Yastrzemski, who was in his seventh year as a member of the Red Sox. And in 1967, Yaz did it all. He played in 161 games, had 44 home runs, 121 RBI's and hit .326. He won the triple crown that year and remains the last player in baseball to do so. Helped along by Yaz's 44 homeruns, the Red Sox that year lead the league in homeruns (158) and batting average (.255) in a pitching rich American League. How tough was pitching in 1967? Well, the Red Sox posted a team ERA of 3.36, which was good enough for eighth in a ten team league. Jim Lonborg (22-9, 3.16) was the ace. Boston lost the 1967 Series to St Louis in seven tough games.

Gil Hodges gives Brooklyn a 1-0 lead that would last until the 9th

Boston's Tony Conigliaro. What might have been....

Carl Yastrzemski is about to walk in the 9th off of Don Newcombe.

And the next hitter George Scott ties the game with a double!

Carl Furillo hits a homerun to deep center field in the 14th inning

The Reading Rifle rounds the bases. He went 4 for 6 on the day

Tony Conigliaro is about to ground out to first baseman Gil Hodges to end this long game.

Final Score: Brooklyn Dodgers 2, Boston Red Sox 1. You too can play these games by going to the download section and getting Total Classics Phase 2

[Yankee4Life]

CPU 1990 Cincinnati Reds vs Y4L 1978 Los Angeles Dodgers

Cincinnati 2, Los Angeles 1 (10 innings)

WP: Rob Dibble

LP: Burt Hooton

SV: Randy Myers

Special Settings: Zoom view. Played at Dodger Stadium.

Pinch hitter Ron Oester hit a sacrifice fly in the tenth inning off of Burt Hooton to break a 1-1 tie as the 1990 Reds won a tough extra inning game against the 1978 NL champion Dodgers.

Joe Oliver led off the final frame with a double off the left field wall. Mariano Duncan then hit a scorching line drive up the middle and it looked as if the tie would be broken right then, but second baseman Davey Lopes dove behind second, planted himself and threw out Duncan at first. Oliver had to settle for being on third instead of scoring.

Chris Sabo gave the Reds an early 1 - 0 lead when he hit a lead off homerun off of Don Sutton in the first inning. Sutton pitched seven innings but labored for the first five innings as the Reds had men on base every inning. Only some quality pitching and some good Dodger defense prevented the Reds from scoring a few more runs when he was out there. The Dodgers tied the score on a two out single by Dusty Baker in the first inning. Baker lined the ball down the right field line past first baseman Hal Morris as Steve Garvey raced home with the tying run.

Right after that, Reds starter Tom Browning settled down and the Dodgers only got a runner as far as second one more time during his time out on the mound. The Reds bullpen of Norm Charlton, Rob Dibble and Randy Myers completely shut the Dodgers down. Dibble struck out all four hitters he faced. This trio helped make up a very formidable bullpen for the 1990 Reds. Known as the "Nasty Boys", these guys threw hard every time out there. Charlton, 12-9, 2.74 ERA, Dibble, 8-3, 1.74 and Myers, 4-6, 2.08 combined for 24 wins and 44 saves in 1990.

So when Ron Oester came up with one out in the tenth, the Dodgers knew they got Dibble out of the game (Charlton pitched before Dibble) but they also knew they had to get Oester (a .299 hitter in 1990) out because Myers was coming in. And on the second pitch by Burt Hooton, Oester hit the ball 344 feet to score Joe Oliver with the winning run. Randy Myers made sure of it as he retired the Dodgers in order to save the game.

The Teams: The 1990 Cincinnati Reds were the first Reds team to win a World Series since the days of the Big Red Machine in the 1970's. Lou Piniella's team swept Oakland in the Series in four straight games, an upset if you consider how good Oakland was during this time. The Reds lineup was nothing if not consistent. Mariano Duncan lead the team with a .306 average. The Reds hit .265 as a team, and that lead the National League. As for their pitching, you had to look at it two ways: the bullpen was fantastic with the Nasty Boys out there and all the help they had. But even though the Reds posted a 3.39 ERA as a team, (second in the league) the starting pitching was not that spectacular, at least not what you would expect from a World Series winner. Tom Browning with 15 wins lead the entire staff in wins. This was a team built clearly for the bullpen and for Lou Piniella in 1990, it worked. The 1978 Los Angeles Dodgers repeated again as National League Champions, but once again lost the World Series to the New York Yankees just as they did in 1977. This Dodger team could hit. They had three starters with over twenty home runs and two others, Rick Monday with 19 and Davey Lopes with 17, just missed. The Dodgers scored 727 runs and lead everyone in the NL in 1978 in hitting. Dodger pitching was even better then their hitting, if at all possible. Posting a 3.12 ERA to also lead the league, Burt Hooton lead the team in wins with 19. Right behind him were Tommy John with 17 and Don Sutton and Doug Rau with 15 apiece.

Don Sutton catches a bunt off the bat of Tom Browning and fires to Steve Garvey at first base to double off Mariano Duncan

Mariano Duncan just did not have a good day out on the basepaths. Here Don Sutton picks him off first base. The Dodger first baseman is Steve Garvey

Paul O'Neill. For some reason he looks better in a Yankee uniform

Dusty Baker, who later on became the most popular Cubs manager ever. Or was it unpopular? Oh well.

And this one belongs to the Reds

[Yankee4Life]

Quick notes about these series of games:

1. I use Fraps v2.6 for my screen captures.

2. I use Imageshack to post my screens.

3. My personal jukebox for Total Classics:

4. You want Total Classics Phase 2 by TeamFuzz? Here is the link right here so you don't have to search the download area. Click here!

[Yankee4Life]

CPU 1978 San Diego Padres vs Y4L 1969 Atlanta Braves

Atlanta 2, San Diego 1

WP: Phil Niekro

LP: Gaylord Perry

SV: Cecil Upshaw

Special Settings: Game played on Ariel view, and played at Turner Field.

Light hitting shortstop Sonny Jackson broke a scoreless tie with a two run, two out single in the seventh inning off of Padres starter and loser Gaylord Perry. Jackson's single, a line shot to right, fell in front of Dave Winfield as Rico Carty and Henry Aaron scored ahead of his strong throw that Aaron barely beat.

The Padres came back in the eighth off a tired Phil Niekro when Ozzie Smith lead off the frame with a triple. With one out, Bill Almon hit a sacrifice fly to medium deep left field that Smith was able to score on thanks to his speed. That cut the lead in half and that's where it stayed as Niekro retired the final batter of the inning and gave way to Cecil Upshaw in the ninth. Upshaw, 6-4 in 1969 with 27 saves and a 2.91 ERA was up to the challenge as he retired the Padres in the ninth while only giving up one hit.

The Padres in the game turned two important double plays. While the Braves only had six hits in the game, they had runners in scoring position each time they collected their hits and only the fine glovework by Ozzie Smith prevented Atlanta from scoring in the early innings. But there is no defense for a well placed single or a great slide to elude the catcher as Aaron did, and the Padres came up one run short.

This game featured pitchers that had a combined 632 wins in their careers. Gaylord Perry had 314 wins while Phil Niekro posted 318. And with the way they both pitched, you could see why they won so many games.

The Teams The 1978 San Diego Padres did something that year that no other Padre team did before since San Diego joined the National League in 1969. They ended the season with a winning record with 84 wins and 78 defeats. The Padres finished over the .500 mark thanks in large part to Cy Young winner Gaylord Perry. Perry went 21-6 with a 2.73 ERA in 1978. The rest of the Padre pitchers were just ordinary (Eric Rasmussen was the only other starter with a winning record with 12-10) but they had an ace in the bullpen too. Former Oakland reliever Rollie Fingers saved 37 games for the Padres and the Padre bullpen saved 55 games, good enough for first in the league. The hitting was mediocre. Only Dave Winfield had more than twenty home runs (he also had 97 RBI and a .308 average.) Only outfielder Gene Richards hit over .300 along with Winfield. The 1969 Atlanta Braves were lead by 35 year old Hank Aaron. Aaron hit an even .300 with 44 homeruns and 97 RBI. Rico Carty and Orlando Cepeda complimented Aaron in the lineup and it was hard for the National League pitchers to pitch around this trio of Brave hitters that year. Atlanta's pitching was middle of the road. Ranked sixth in a twelve team league at 3.53, Phil Neikro's 23-13, 2.56 ERA stands out as Atlanta's best that year. Unfortunately for Niekro and the rest of the Braves, they would be swept in the playoffs by the New York Mets in three straight games. 1969 was the first year the playoff system would be used in baseball and 1969 was also the year of the Amazin' Mets.

Ozzie Smith. Many people forget he came up as a Padre. He's mostly remembered as the All-Star shortstop of the 80's Cardinal teams.

Hank Aaron. #44 hit 44 in 1969 but couldn't get the Braves past the Mets.

Hank Aaron approaches home plate to try and score Atlanta's second run.

And he slides and beats the throw by Dave Winfield. 2 - 0 Atlanta.

Last chance for the Padres against Cecil Upshaw

It's done. Atlanta 2, San Diego 1.

[Yankee4Life]

CPU 1946 Detroit Tigers at Y4L 1929 Philadelphia Athletics

Philadelphia 7, Detroit 3

WP: Lefty Grove

LP: Hal Newhouser

SV: Ed Rommel

Special Settings: Played on Zoom view and played at Shibe Park.

It all fell apart for Hal Newhouser today in the sixth inning. Detroit's All-Star lefthander was shutting down the powerful Philadelphia Athletics for

five innings, but in the sixth the A's broke the door down and kicked it in.

Nursing a 3 - 0 lead thanks to a first inning three run homerun by Hank Greenberg, Newhouser shut the A's down for the first five frames despite

not having his best stuff on the mound. He was aided by three Tiger

double plays in the first five innings that prevented Philadelphia from posting a run including one that came in the fourth ining when the A's

had the bases loaded and one out and Newhouser got Mule Haas to

ground into a inning ending double play.

In the sixth, the A's again loaded the bases but this time Sammy Hale was able to break through on Newhouser as he lined a single in right center

field to score two runs. The A's tied the game at 3-3 on Lefty Grove's

third hit of the game. Grove went 3 for 3 in the game with one RBI. Max Bishop's two run double capped off a five run sixth off a tiring Newhouser.

Since Grove's struggles in the first when he gave up three runs on three hits, he settled down the rest of the way and pitched seven innings of

seven hit ball and struck out six. He was never able to solve the powerful

Greenberg, who went 3 for 3 on the day with 1 run scored and 3 RBI. But against the rest of the Tigers, Grove was overpowering them as he kept

Philadelphia in the game until Newhouser finally tired.

The Teams The 1946 Detroit Tigers won four more games then their 1945 World Championship team, but finished twelve games off the pace behind the pennant winning Red Sox, who won 104 games. This was a team with fantastic pitching lead by 25 year old Hal Newhouser. All Newhouser did that year was go 26-9 with a 1.94 ERA. The team ERA was 3.22, good enough for third in the league. The Tiger hitting was headed by Hank Greenberg, who hit .277 in his first year back from the war. But Greenberg also had 145 hits, 44 homeruns and 127 RBI's. George Kell at

.327 and Roy Cullenbine at .335 were the leading hitters on this powerful Tiger team. The 1929 Philadelphia Athletics were a scary team to face in that they were that good. They had a record of 104 - 46 with a

winning percentage of .693. They won the pennant as they ran and hid from the second place Yankees by eighteen games. They had the best pitching staff in the American League with a 3.44 ERA. They were the only team in the league that year with a team ERA under 4.00. (Cleveland posted a 4.05 team ERA which was good for second place.) The trio of Lefty Grove (20-6, 2.81, George Earnshaw 24-8, 3.29 and Rube Walberg with a 18-11 record, 3.60 ERA) ran through the American League at will. The Athletics as a team hit .296 and that wasn't even good enough for first in the league. The Tigers rolled in with a .299 team average, just beating the A's. The right handed hitting duo of Al Simmons and Jimmy Foxx put up numbers that made every pitcher in the league think twice about facing them. Young 21 year old first baseman Jimmy Foxx had 33 homeruns, 118 RBI and had a .354 average. His teammate Simmons beat him in every category! All Simmons did was club 34 homeruns, drive home 157 runs and hit .365! This was a special ballclub lead by Connie Mack. From 1929 to 1931, this ballclub won 313 games. Remember, back then it was a 154 game schedule. They won 104 games in '29, 102 in 1930 and then 107 in 1931. In these three years they won two World Titles. And here's the most important fact that is overlooked today: when the Athletics of Philadelphia were dominating the league for three straight years, they were doing it when Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig were in their prime. They were beating extremely tough Yankee teams, and it took a great depression to make Connie Mack sell off his players and the A's sunk into the second division not long after. 1931 was in fact Mack's last pennant.

Hank Greenberg hits a long homerun off Lefty Grove as the Tigers take a 3 - 0 lead.

Philadelphia turns a double play in the third inning, one of four they turned in the game.

Sammy Hale hits a two run single as the Athletics finally get on the board.

Pitcher Lefty Grove has just connected for his third straight single in the game, this one ties the game at 3 - 3.

Bing Miller homers in the left field stands at Shibe Park to give Philadelphia a 7 - 3 lead in the 8th.

In the ninth inning, the Athletics turn their fourth and final double play of the game.

Eddie Rommel faces the last hitter of the game. After his playing days were over, Rommel became a major league umpire.

The 1929 Athletics win. They didn't lose much that year.

[Yankee4Life]

Y4L 1927 New York Yankees vs CPU 1929 Chicago Cubs

New York 6, Chicago 4

WP: Waite Hoyt

LP: Art Nehf

SV: Bob Shawkey

Special Settings: Game played on zoom setting and played at Wrigley Field.

The 1929 Chicago Cubs were able to keep Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in the ballpark in today's game but they couldn't say the same for Yankee catcher Pat Collins and second baseman Tony Lazzeri.

Collins, a .275 hitter in 1927 and a .254 hitter in his ten year big league career, hit a three run homerun off of Cub reliever Art Nehf in the 8th inning. That homerun put the Yankees on top 5 - 4, and it gave them their first lead in the game. Tony Lazzeri followed in the ninth with a solo shot to complete the scoring.

The Cubs scored three quick runs off a shaky Waite Hoyt in the first to take an early 3 - 0 lead. Riggs Stephenson drove home two of the runs with a long homerun deep into the centerfield stands. Stephenson hit .362 in 1929 and had a .336 batting average for his career.

But Waite Hoyt, (22-7, 2.63 ERA in 1927) stopped the Cubs right there. He retired the next 17 Cubs in order before Charie Grimm touched him for a homerun with one out in the seventh innings that gave the Cubs a 4 - 2 lead. That would last until Collins came up in the visitor's half of the next inning.

The Teams: The 1927 New York Yankees are widely looked at as the greatest team ever in baseball, and for good reason. They had it all that year and they did it all. They posted a 110 - 44 record and won the pennant by 19 games over the up and coming Philadelphia Athletics. They swept the Pittsburgh Pirates in four games in the World Series. They scored 975 runs and only gave up 599. They hit .307 as a team and they had five .300 plus hitters in their lineup. It was a breakout year for young 24 year old first baseman Lou Gehrig. He lead the team in hitting with a .373 mark with 47 home runs and 175 RBI. Along with Gehrig, three other Yankees had over 100 RBI also. Tony Lazzeri with 102, Bob Meusel with 103 and Babe Ruth with 164. That's why this was called the Murderer's Row. This was also the year of Ruth's 60 homeruns, a record that would last until Roger Maris hit 61 in 1961. The pitching combined for a 3.20 ERA, good for first in the league. Waite Hoyt was the ace of the staff, but he was not alone. Urban Shocker (18 wins) and Herb Pennock (19 wins) were the aces behind Hoyt. Both were dependable starters who combined for 31 complete games. The 1929 Chicago Cubs were managed by future Yankee manager Joe McCarthy. The Cubs won the pennant by 10 1/2 games over Pittsburgh with a record of 98 - 54. This was a team that did not struggle in the hitting department either. These Cubs had their own little "Murderer's Row" of their own right here that year. Rogers Hornsby lead the team in hitting with a .380 average. Along iwth Hornsby, the Cubs had four players in their lineup that hit over .300 and had more than 100 RBI. Hack Wilson (39 HR, 159 RBI and .345 BA),

Kiki Cuyler (15,102 and .360), Riggs Stephenson (17, 110, .362) and the aforementioned Hornsby at a .380 clip with 39 homeruns and 149 RBI. With these four hitters, the Cubs ran through the National League that year and scored 982 runs. The pitching staff had a high 4.16 ERA but it was still good enough for second place in the final league totals. Pat Malone with 22 wins was the only Cub starter with more than twenty wins. Charley Root (with 19) and Guy Bush (18) were the other two consistent Cub starters. This team may have given up a lot of runs (758) but they were good enough to do that because they knew their hitters could, and did, hit enough to make up for any deficit.

This Yankee runner was safe but the umpire saw it different.

Riggs Stephenson, a very good hitter. And Waite Hoyt can verify that as Stephenson hit a long two run shot off him in the first inning.

Lou Gehrig comes up to bat in the fifth inning...

...and Gehrig singles into right center to drive home a run and the Cub lead is cut to 3 - 2!

Babe Ruth facing Cubs starter Charlie Root. In 1932, these two would have a classic confrontation at Wrigley Field. Some say it happened, some say it didn't. Root was on the mound that day when Ruth called his shot.

Charlie Grimm gets Chicago's fourth hit of the day, a long homerun to right field off of Waite Hoyt. Cubs lead 4 - 2.

Yankee catcher Pat Collins deposits an Art Nehf offering over the left field bleachers to give the Yankees a 5 - 4 lead.

Bob Shawkey's got himself into a tough spot. Bottom of the eighth, bases load and two outs. Yanks only have a 5-4 lead and he's got to get the dangerous Hack Wilson out somehow. He does, as Wilson hits a bullet to second baseman Tony Lazzeri, who moved one step to the left to catch it.

[Yankee4Life]

CPU 1961 Milwaukee Braves at Y4L 1982 Milwaukee Brewers

Brewers 6, Braves 3

WP: Mike Caldwell

LP: Warren Sphan

SV: Rollie Fingers

Special Settings: Played on zoom view and played at the Astrodome.

Milwaukee's former team could not beat their current team but it wasn't for a lack of trying. The Braves got ten hits in a losing effort, five for extra bases, as they fell three runs short to the 1982 Brewers. After tying the game at 2 - 2 in the fourth thanks to a long homerun by third baseman Eddie Mathews, Warren Sphan could not hold the Brewers.

In the Brewer half of the fourth, Sphan gave up four runs to the hard hitting Brewers. "Harvey's Wallbangers" as they were called at that time in honor of their manager Harvey Kuenn, knocked around Sphan for 12 hits in seven innings of work and they scored all six runs of the Braves lefty, five of them earned. Robin Yount (.331 hitter in '82) provided the big blow with a two run single.

In the fifth inning, Warren Sphan took it upon himself to get the Braves back in the game. He lead off with single off Mike Caldwell and came around to score his team's third run of the game on Lee Maye's RBI single. Caldwell had all he could handle with this Braves team as he was touched for nine hits in his eight innings of work. Five of those nine hits were extra base hits but they also grounded into two double plays against Caldwell that killed two rallys.

In the ninth, after a lead off single by Frank Thomas, the Braves grounded into their third double play of the game that all but ended the game. One batter later against Rollie Fingers, it was done. The old team from Milwaukee couldn't beat the new one but they didn't make it easy on them either.

The Teams: The 1961 Milwaukee Braves were the fourth place team in the National League that year finishing ten games behind first place Cincinnati. This team had some hitters. Every player in their starting lineup with the exception of the shortstop had at least ten or more homeruns. Joe Adcock lead the team with 35 with Henry Aaron right behind him with 34. Their 188 home runs was good enough for first in the league. Adcock (108 RBI), Aaron (120) and Eddie Mathews (91) were the top three run producers for the team. But they posted a team batting average of .258 which was sixth in the league. The homerun was their main weapon and when they didn't get that, they didn't win. Warren Sphan anchored a mediocre pitching staff with a 21-13 record and a 3.02 ERA. Lew Burdette was 18-11 with a high 4.00 earned run average. But after that, no other Braves pitcher won more than nine games. And that's what did them in in 1961. Only two quality pitchers they were able to throw out there at any time and that doomed them to fourth and fifth place finishes not only in 1961, but for the rest of the time they were based in Milwaukee up until 1965. The 1982 Milwaukee Brewers had no problems at all hitting. They scored runs in bunches and at will. They had a hefty .279 batting average, six points behind the Royals in this category. Their lineup was scary. Consider these guys that were thrown out there on a daily basis: Ted Simmons (23 HR, 97 RBI, .269 avg), Cecil Cooper (32, 121, .313), Paul Molitor (19, 71, .302), Robin Yount (29, 114, .331), Ben Oglivie (34, 102, .244) and Gorman Thomas (39, 112, .245). These guys were major contributors to a team that scored 891 runs or 5.5 runs a game. As good as their hitting was, their pitching was just the opposite. Posting a 3.98 ERA, the Brewers ranked sixth in the league. Pete Vuckovich was the ace of the staff at 18-6 and a 3.34 ERA. Mike Caldwell (17-13, 3.91) was right behind him. The rest of the staff struggled but posted winning records thanks to the great hitting by the offense. A 35 year old Rollie Fingers anchored the bullpen for the Brewers as he recorded 29 saves with a 5-6 record and 2.60 ERA.

Joe Torre of the Milwaukee Braves. I've heard of him before.

Hank Aaron makes a sliding catch in center field

Brewers pitcher Mike Caldwell scores a run in the third inning.

Look how far Eddie Mathews hit this homerun in the Astrodome! This shot ties the game at 2 - 2.

Robin Yount has just broken the tie with this two run single off of Warren Sphan.

Warren Sphan has just crossed the plate with the Braves third run of the game.

Jim Gantner has just hit a line drive off of Warren Sphan's glove. The ball was hit so hard it went off the top of his glove and up in the air and alert Braves shortstop Roy McMillan is about to catch it to retire Gantner. Mark that play 1 - 4 if you are scoring.

The Brewers turn their third double play of the game on the former residents of Milwaukee.

[Yankee4Life]

CPU 1986 California Angels at Y4L 1998 New York Yankees

New York 9, California 0

WP: Andy Pettitte

LP: Mike Witt

Special Settings: Game played on ariel view and played at Yankee Stadium.

Once again, the genius of TeamFuzz with their work of total classics shown through in this game. This game captured the greatness of the team that was the 1998 New York Yankees and this group of modders made sure to create a team here exactly like the Yankees of seven years ago. That team had pitching, hitting and defense and all of that was displayed in today's game.

This game was over in the first inning when the Yankees scored four quick runs off of Angel starter Mike Witt. Paul O'Neill's two run double scored Derek Jeter and Chuck Knoblauch and O'Neill later scored on Bernie William's RBI double. Witt was not around long in this game as he only pitched 3 2/3 innings and gave up nine hits and seven runs, all of them earned.

Andy Pettitte was sharp from the very first hitter. He retired the first thirteen Angels in order before giving up a single with one out in the fifth. Unfazed, Pettitte got the next hitter to hit into a double play that ended the frame. By that time, the score was 7 - 0. A solo homerun by Scott Brosius in the sixth and Tino Martinez in the 7th completed the scoring. The Yankees had sixteen hits in the game and every one of the starters had at least one. Darryl Strawberry (4 for 4, 1 run scored and 2 RBI) lead all Yankee hitters. And at the top of the lineup, Chuck Knoblauch and Derek Jeter both went 3 for 5.

Pettitte pitched a total of eight innings and gave up four hits and struck out three. Jeff Nelson worked the ninth and retired the Angels to preserve the win. For those of you too young to remember the 1998 Yankees, total classics has successfully captured how good this team was.

The Teams: The 1986 California Angels were a veteran team of All-Stars with some youth. They were sparked by the play of 24 year old Wally Joyner, who replaced Rod Carew at first base. The rookie Joyner hit 22 homeruns with 100 RBI and a .290 average for the Angels that year. The other young star they had was 23 year old Dick Scholfield, a light hitting (.249 average) but good fielding shortstop. The youth they had on this team was overshadowed by the expensive free agent veterans they had. Brian Downing, Reggie Jackson and Bobby Grich were three veterans that came over via the free agent market that lead the Angels to the A.L West title that year. They may have not been the best hitting team in the league (.255 average that ranked 9th) but they lead the league in walks, which put pressure on the opposing pitchers. The pitching staff was lead by hard throwing righthander Mike Witt (18 - 10, 2.84 ERA) who was the ace of the staff. Kirk McCaskill was 17 - 10 with a 3.36 ERA in his second year in the league. The bullpen was lead by Donnie Moore, who recorded 21 saves in 1986 with a 4-5 record and a 2.97 ERA. Unfortunately, Moore is remembered more for the one game he did not save. In game five of the ALCS, Moore failed to hold a lead against the eventual AL champion Boston Red Sox. Boston won the game in extra innings and then won the final two games in Fenway Park to win the pennant. Fans blamed Moore for this loss and in 1988, the Angels released him because he was not effective any longer. Less than a year after this happened, Moore took his own life. The 1998 New York Yankees won 114 regular season games and won the American League East by 22 games over Boston. This was a team that many say you would only see once in a lifetime. Because they knew how to do it all and they did it all. They hit (.288 team average, second in the league), they pitched (3.82 team ERA, first in the league) and they fielded their positions well. Not one member of the starting lineup was a big home run hitter, and yet four of them had more than twenty home runs. But they hit and ran, they stole bases (153 as a team) and they put pressure on the opposition. That's how they won. They also won with the emergence of 28 year old Mariano Rivera as an elite stopper. Rivera appeared in 54 games and posted a 3 - 0 record with a 1.91 ERA and 36 saves. To really appreciate how good this team was, you would have to go to this webpage right here and see for yourself. This ballclub started out the season 1 - 4. That means they only lost 44 more times after that.

Derek Jeter scores on Paul O'Neill's 2 run double in the first inning.

Paul O'Neill slides in safely on Bernie William's double in the first inning. It's 3 - 0 New York.

Angel leftfielder Brian Downing tries to catch this sinking liner by Darryl Strawberry but it falls in front of him and the Straw man is credited with a double. The Angels did not get Strawberry out all game as he went 4 for 4.

It's the fourth inning and Chuck Knoblauch has just hit a two out triple.

And Knoblauch scores on Derek Jeter's single to make it 7 - 0.

Derek Jeter turns a smooth double play in the fifth inning.

Scott Brosius hits a solo homerun in the sixth inning. 8 - 0 Yanks.

In the seventh, Tino Martinez makes it 9 - 0 with a solo shot of his own.

Bernie Williams, the 1998 American League batting champion with a .339 average.

Derek Jeter was 3 for 5 in this game and hit .324 in 1998.

Jeff Nelson comes in the game in the ninth to finish things up.

Tino Martinez has just caught a popup for the final out in the ball game and recieves congratulations from his teammates.

Final score, 9 - 0 for the 1998 Yankees