Brown and Costner... a tale of two Kevins

This post is about two guys named Kevin. Mentioning either of their names would elicit an eye roll from most of you.

Kevin Brown and Kevin Costner are both associated with excess, wasted money, bad decisions and alienated fans. And yet the early part of both of their careers were terrific and it is a shame that their positives have been almost wiped out of our minds after the negatives.

Let's take Kevin Brown.

What do you think about when you hear Kevin Brown? Chances are you would think of the fact that of all people HE was the first $100 million contract in baseball.

And after signing the bloated contract with the Dodgers he started demanding they pay his flights to visit his family in Georgia (as if 9 figures couldn't get some plane tickets.)

And he was such a prickly guy that Sports Illustrated called him an ornery S.O.B. on their cover.

If you are a Yankee fan you might remember he was a major bust when traded to the Bronx for Jeff Weaver.

And of course he committed two unforgivable sins in New York:

He broke his own hand against a wall down the stretch in 2004.
And in Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS he faced 9 batters, got only 4 of them out and was charged with 5 runs in 1 1/3 innings against the Red Sox... arguably the worst and most humiliating loss in the history of the team.

Yankee fans might remember how the Yankees couldn't give him away that off season and he returned in 2005 to make 13 starts and post a 6.50 ERA before his body and career finally broke down.

Yankee fans might also remember how Joe Torre described him breaking down in his tell all book. And of course he is mentioned in the Mitchell Report.

Not a great legacy.

Now take a look at Costner.

When was the last time anyone was excited to see a Kevin Costner movie?
When was the last time he was considered to be a bankable or likable star?

It's been a while.

His appearances in films like Rumor Has It or Swing Vote or Mr. Brooks didn't exactly light the world on fire.

And his career took an incredible nose dive with big bloated self aggrandizing epics like Waterworld and The Postman. (Seriously. If you haven't see The Postman... it is one of the craziest monuments to a man's ego that has ever been constructed. And yes I include the pyramids in that list.)

And maybe it all started to go wrong when he inexplicably was cast as Robin Hood in the unwatchable Robin Hood: Prince of Theives. Did nobody take note that Sir Robin of Loxsley was English?

He became a punch line of has-been stars and bloated Hollywood budgets.

But guess what?
It wasn't always that way for Costner.

There was a time where not only was he NOT a joke, but he was actually kind of awesome.

Lest we forget, baseball fans, that he starred in two of the great baseball movies ever.

He was Crash F---ing Davis!
Bull Durham remains one of the classic sports movies of all time and it aged like a vintage wine. And a huge reason for its success is Costner's funny, pained, macho, sensitive and sexy performance.

You believe he was good enough to make the show and could seduce just about any woman he wanted. You knew that Nuke owes his quick trip to the show to Crash. You believed that Annie would change her whole life for him. And no doubt he was going to be a great manager in Visalia.

And Field of Dreams is a film I do not apologize that I love.
And Costner is a big reason why it works.

He played some real crazy scenes in the film with 100% believability. Hearing the voices, seeing the ghosts of the ballplayers, meeting Burt Lancaster in the Minnesota town... those scenes would have been awful if you didn't have Costner's completely realistic performance.

I remember my dad said after seeing Field of Dreams "If I heard the voice, that's exactly how I'd react."

Beyond the baseball movies, he was great in Silverado and The Untouchables.
Yeah Dances with Wolves didn't age well and his winning the Best Director Oscar over Martin Scorsese in GoodFellas is one of the great headscratchers in Hollywood history. But he was a big enough and loved star to get a film like that off the ground.

I happen to be a fan of JFK as well. Yeah his accent was strange, but who could forget his performance in it? Right down to "Back and to the left... Back and to the left."

And while I was no fan of The Bodyguard as a movie, back then it was believable that he would not only save Whitney Houston, but that she would fall for him as well.

(Believe it or not there was a time when Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston were a pretty hot on screen couple. For my readers under the age of 25, consider your minds blown.)

So there was a reason why Costner got huge budgets and full creative control in those bloated turkeys in the past 15 years.

He was super cool for a while.

Like Costner, Kevin Brown was also once really REALLY good.

Six times Brown was an All Star, starting the 1992 game. Five times he ranked in the top ten in the Cy Young Award vote including being the runner up to John Smoltz in 1996 when he led the league with a 1.89 ERA.

He won another ERA title in 2000. In 1992 he was the first Texas Ranger in 18 years to win 20 games.

His 1996 was noteworthy because if the current trends in Cy Young voting were in vogue that year, Brown would probably have won. (He got 2 first place votes at the time.)

Smoltz had more wins (24 to Brown's 17), more strikeouts (276 to Brown's 159) and (253 2/3 to Brown's 233).

But Brown's ERA was 1.15 lower than Smoltz (1.89 to 2.94.) Brown's ERA+ was a league best 217 to Smoltz's 149. Brown also led the league in WHIP (.944 to Smoltz's 1.001). And Smoltz had the benefit for playing for the 96 win defending World Champions while Brown was on the 80 win third place Florida Marlins.

He was a workhorse, often being among the league leaders in innings pitched and complete games. Twice he had the highest WAR for pitchers.

In 1997 he threw a no hitter against the Giants and then tossed a complete game victory to clinch the pennant for the Marlins. It was Brown on the mound when the Marlins celebrated in Atlanta. The Marlins went on to win the World Series.

Shipped off to San Diego, he won 18 games and helped propel the Padres to the World Series. In the post season he out dueled Randy Johnson in Game 1 of the Division Series. In his two starts in the 4 game victory over the Astros, Brown posted a 0.61 ERA in 14 2/3 innings, striking out 21.

In the NLCS, he out pitched another future Hall of Famer when his 3 hit shutout beat the Braves and Tom Glavine.

In the off season he signed the $100 million contract but actually lived up to it the first few years. He was an 18 game winner and logged 252 innings his first year with the Dodgers. In his second he pitched 230 innings with 5 complete games, winning his second ERA title. He remained healthy for only one season over the remaining five years of the contract including his disappointing year and a half in New York and his implosion late in 2004.

In 2002 he was the highest paid player in baseball and yet threw only 63 2/3 innings all year.

But hey! The Dodgers didn't pick him at random for their $100 million offer!He put together a year that would have won a Cy Young award now. He won 17 or more games four times. He had a pair of ERA titles and a no hitter and some post season glory. In 1998, the Sporting News named him Pitcher of the Year.

That's not an awful resume. And it shouldn't be TOTALLY overshadowed by what happened in the last few years of his deal.

Too bad the great parts of his career happened in relative obscurity in Texas, Florida and San Diego and the disappointments were in Los Angeles and New York.

But Brown is a Kevin worth saluting for the good in his career.
Same with Costner.

I still expect to see Pete Incaviglia's name in the box score

I did it again today.

I saw the Rangers and Tigers played this afternoon. And I read over the accounts of the game thinking "Did Pete get in?"

He hasn't played since 1998 when he was with the Astros. And he's bounced around the minors and independent leagues as a coach and manager.

But he seemed to be around forever, never quite being the awesome MVP candidate that everyone projected he'd be in college. But all the while played 12 seasons in the bigs, hit 206 homers, watched Joe Carter's World Series winning homer sail over his head and finished his career in the 1998 Division Series as a member of the Astros.

And while he only hit 30 homers once in his career, he seemed like one of those bad ass big slugger who was one swing away from making you pay.

For whatever reason, I still expect to see him in the game.

Nope. No Pete Incaviglia today.

The Rangers matched their greatest post season ever

The Rangers went into today's game with a grand total of one post season win in their history.
Now they have two.

To understand how insane that is to double a team's post season success in one day, just imagine if the Yankees played a post season game... and in the process won the World Series 27 times in that day.

Thus the storied history of the Rangers just got some story to it!

Equally nutty... the Rangers scored more than twice as many runs in today's game as they scored in the 1998 and 1999 Division Series combined.

Actually Bengie Molina matched the post season home run and RBI totals of the 1998 and 1999 squads today.

This is why they got Cliff Lee. So much for home field advantage in the Division Series.

Now don't forget. They won Game 1 in 1996 against the Yankees as well... and they didn't win another post season game until this afternoon.

Game 2 is arguably the biggest game in the history of the Rangers.

And let me ask again... are you excited, Rangers fans?

100 win teams bounced in the Division Series

100 wins is still a magical mark for a season. It means you are an elite team and chances are one of the great teams in your franchise’s history.

And when a team wins 100 in the regular season, there is no doubt they are thinking beyond the Division Series. They are thinking they are a legit World Series contender… a pennant will have to be beaten from them.

But there have been teams that have won 100 games that were cruelly bumped out of the playoffs early and shown the exit in the Division Series.

The staff at Sully Baseball has compiled a list of the teams that reached the century mark but couldn’t make the LCS… and also listed the players on those teams who remain ringless and probably thought that was their year.

There have been 9 different teams… a few franchises have multiple entries.

And one year, 2002, saw three (count em, THREE teams!) that fell short.

1998 HOUSTON ASTROS
102-60 regular season record.
Lost Division Series 3-1 to San Diego Padres. (98-64).

Manager:
LARRY DIERKER

Ringless Veterans Include:
BRAD AUSMUS
JEFF BAGWELL
CRAIG BIGGIO
MIKE HAMPTON
DOUG HENRY
RICHARD HIDALGO
JOSE LIMA
SHANE REYNOLDS
BILLY WAGNER

1999 ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
100-62 regular season record.
Lost Division Series 3-1 to New York Mets. (97-66)

Manager:
BUCK SHOWALTER

Ringless Veterans Include:
OMAR DAAL
BERNARD GILKEY
GREGG OLSON

2001 OAKLAND A’S
102-60 regular season record.
Lost Division Series 3-2 to New York Yankees (95-65)

Manager:
ART HOWE

Ringless Veterans Include:
CHAD BRADFORD
ERIC BYRNES
ERIC CHAVEZ
RON GANT
JASON GIAMBI
TIM HUDSON
TERRENCE LONG
MARK MULDER
F. P. SANTANGELO
MIGUEL TEJADA
BARRY ZITO

2002 ATLANTA BRAVES
101-59 regular season record.
Lost Division Series 3-2 to San Francisco Giants (95-66)

Manager:
BOBBY COX (Won Ring as manager in 1995)

Ringless Veterans Include:
HENRY BLANCO
DARREN BRAGG
VINNY CASTILLA
JULIO FRANCO
MATT FRANCO
RAFAEL FURCAL
CHRIS HAMMOND
ANDRUW JONES
KEVIN MILLWOOD
B. J. SURHOFF

2002 NEW YORK YANKEES
103-58 regular season record.
Lost Division Series 3-1 to Anaheim Angels (99-53)

Manager:
JOE TORRE (Won Rings as manager in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000)

Ringless Veterans Include:
RON COOMER
JASON GIAMBI
NICK JOHNSON
STEVE KARSAY
RAUL MONDESI
MIKE MUSSINA
JUAN RIVERA
ALFONSO SORIANO
ROBIN VENTURA

2002 OAKLAND A’S
103-59 regular season record.
Lost Division Series 3-2 to Minnesota Twins (94-67)

Manager:
ART HOWE

Ringless Veterans Include:
CHAD BRADFORD
ERIC BYRNES
ERIC CHAVEZ
RAY DURAM
MARK ELLIS
SCOTT HATTEBERG
RAMON HERNANDEZ
TIM HUDSON
BILLY KOCH
TED LILLY
JOHN MABRY
MARK MULDER
MIGUEL TEJADA
RANDY VELARDE
BARRY ZITO

2003 ATLANTA BRAVES
101-61 regular season record.
Lost Division Series 3-2 to Chicago Cubs (88-74)

Manager:
BOBBY COX (Won Ring as manager in 1995)

Ringless Veterans Include:
DARREN BRAGG
VINNY CASTILLA
ROBERT FICK
JULIO FRANCO
MATT FRANCO
RAFAEL FURCAL
MIKE HAMPTON
ROBERTO HERNANDEZ
ANDRUW JONES
RUSS ORTIZ
JARET WRIGHT

2003 SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
100-61 regular season record.
Lost Division Series 3-1 to Florida Marlins (91-71)

Manager
FELIPE ALOU

Ringless Veterans Include:
EDGARDO ALFONZO
RICH AURILIA
BARRY BONDS
JOSE CRUZ, Jr.
RAY DURHAM
ANDRES GALARRAGA
JEFFRYE HAMMONDS
JOE NATHAN
SIDNEY PONSON
KIRK RUETER
BENITO SANTIAGO
JASON SCHMIDT
J. T. SNOW
TIM WORRELL

2008 LOS ANGELES ANGELS OF ANAHEIM
100-62 regular season record.
Lost Division Series 3-1 to Boston Red Sox (95-67)

Manager:
MIKE SCIOSCIA (Won Ring as manager in 2002)

Ringless Veterans Include:
VLADIMIR GUERRERO
TORII HUNTER
HOWIE KENDRICK
GARY MATTHEWS, Jr.
KENDRY MORALES
DARREN OLIVER
ERVIN SANTANA
JERED WEAVER


There are some heart breakers on this list… and a few players who might have a more compelling Hall of Fame resume if they lead these teams to October glory.

Right now, no teams in baseball are on pace to win 100. (The Rays and Yankees are on pace to win around 97 or 98 wins.) If they win 100, that is a great achievement. But don’t think you are guaranteed a spot even in the LCS. Just ask the teams above.

Sully Baseball Salutes NOMAR GARCIAPARRA

I have a hunch that Nomar Garciaparra has probably played his last game in the big leagues.

He hit for a decent average last year in Oakland, but with very little power and he of course got hurt. And he can't play the field.

I can't speak for every GM, but I can't imagine too many wish lists include "A punchless injury prone DH... who is right handed."

So his 13+ year career is probably kaput... his final game was on October 4 (my anniversary) in a 5-3 A's loss to the Angels.

Nomar went 2-3 with a run scored and struck out in the 8th in his final at bat.

Kind of anti climactic, huh?

Every year the free agent market plays a very cruel trick on a number of players. Their contract runs out and they see other players sign with other teams... and like a brutal game of musical chairs, spring training rolls along without an invitation.

And they find out their career has ended because nobody wanted to sign them. No farewell tour. No bows. Just a phone that doesn't ring.

Last year players like Ray Durham found themselves scrambling for a seat.

The year before Kenny Lofton and others saw productive careers unceremoniously end.

Even Hall of Famers like Rickey Henderson and Steve Carlton saw their careers just fade away, and not on their terms.

And now it seems like Nomar is the latest player whose career will probably end because nobody wanted him.

But let's not forget how great Nomar was...
For 6 out of his 7 full seasons in Boston he looked like he was going to be one of the great figures in Red Sox history.

He came out of the gates blasting, hitting a homer in his first at bat as a call up in 1996.
He was the 1997 AL Rookie of the Year and with Mo Vaughn put together an MVP caliber 1-2 punch that looked like it was the foundation of a potential World Series winner.

In 1998 he was the runner up to Juan Gonzalez for MVP. His power blossomed. His OPS soared to .946. His average finished off at .323 and was a 35 homer 122 RBI guy.

And in the playoffs, he homered 3 times in 4 games,driving in 11 and posted a slugging percentage of 1.000 in the Sox loss to the Tribe.

In 1999 the Sox were supposed to take a big step back when Mo Vaughn left for the Angels. But Nomar (and Pedro) carried the team on their backs. Nomar became a batting champ and continued to put up power and run producing numbers. His OPS rose to 1.022 and again he produced big in the Division Series and also the ALCS against the Yankees.

In 2000 he won another batting title and was intentionally walked a league leading 20 times.

At that point he was approaching legend status.
His first name was a rallying call for Red Sox fans. Just scream "No-MAH!" and you knew you were amongst friends.

As if his first name wasn't enough of a challenge for Native New Englanders, try Gah-Cee-Ah-Pah-Rah!

He was the heart throb before Johnny Damon (and the pink hats) started showing up.

He was the Red Sox answer to the shortstop debate of the late 1990s/early 2000s. Jeter was the winner, A-Rod the best all around player, Vizquel the best defender... but Nomar was the best hitter.

And he got what it meant to play for the Red Sox. He got close with Ted Williams, knowing that if all went well, number 5 would hang on the right field facade.

When he came back from a injury plagued 2001 season to regain his All Star stroke in 2002, it looked like he was going to lead the Sox to the promise land... especially after the Yawkey family finally gave up control of the team. In fact going into the last month of 2003, Nomar seemed like as good a choice as any for AL MVP... and the team looked destined to win the AL Pennant.

If you stopped time right there in September of 2003 and I told you the Red Sox were going to win the World Series in 2004 and 2007, you would only assume that Nomar was not only going to be on the team... but be one of the heroes.

If I told you that the trading away of Nomar was going to be the turning point of the 2004 season for the better because injuries, the botched trade of Nomar in the off season and his souring attitude made dealing him imperative, you'd commit me to an insane asylum.

If I told you then that he had only one All Star caliber year left in him... and that would be as a first baseman for the Dodgers in 2006, you would say "Yeah right. And Johnny Damon is going to the Yankees!"

Alas Nomar won't be among Yaz, Williams or Rice.

His legacy will be more like Fred Lynn or his teammate Mo Vaughn... an MVP while with the Red Sox but whose post Boston career literally limped along with injuries.

His timing is along the lines of Don Mattingly, who missed one Yankee World Series run by a year at the start of his career and missed another by a year at the end of his career.

So let's forget all of that now.

Let's just go back and remember Nomar right up until his slump at the end of 2003...
Let's freeze him in time and remember the charismatic player who wanted to win in Boston so badly.

If his career is over, I hope Francona hires him as a coach. If the Sox ever win another World Series, it would be nice for him to be on the field as a champion.

And maybe he and Mia can have a boy one of these days that the Sox could sign.

But don't think of him sulking in the dugout while Jeter flew into the stands in 2004.

Think about the post season homers and the clutch hits.

And think of those crazy tics and rituals in the batters box, tapping his feet and pulling at his gloves.

Come on... you used to imitate him. Admit it.

SULLY BASEBALL AWARDS THE DIVISION SERIES MVP

Why don't they name a Division Series MVP?
Seriously... why do they play a post season series and not award an MVP for it?
They name player of the game for each regular season game and the All Star Game has an MVP...

But a player who leads his team to October glory gets diddly?
How does that make sense?

And don't tell me a best of 5 series (and the possibility of a 3 game sweep) is not enough time to determine an MVP!

They gave out MVPs for the best of 5 NLCS from 1977 to 1984.
The best of 5 ALCS crowned an MVP from 1980 to 1984.

Some of these series were 3 game sweeps, but that didn't prevent Frank White, Graig Nettles, Kirk Gibson, Willie Stargell and Darrell Porter from picking up some hardware!

So it's up to the staff at Sully Baseball to right this wrong.

With no further delay... starting with this season and going back to 1995... we'll start handing out hardware to
THE DIVISION SERIES MOST VALUABLE PLAYERS


2008
American League


JASON BAY, Boston Red Sox
Bay batted .412 with a .882 slugging, 2 homers and 5 runs batted in during his first post season. But that only tells part of his impact in the Red Sox 4 game victory over the favored Angels.

His 6th inning 2 run homer put the Angels on their heels seemingly for the rest of the series.
His 3 run shot in the first inning gave the Red Sox a 4-1 cushion early.
And he scored the series winning run after his 1 out 9th inning flair bounced into the stands for a ground rule double.


AKINORI IWAMURA, Tampa Bay Rays

Yes, Evan Longoria's home runs were almost as sexy as Eva Longoria. But Iwamura hit a key triple in game 1, hit the go ahead homer in game 2, gave the Rays an early lead with a single in game 3 and went 2-5 in the game 4 clincher against the White Sox.

In all, Iwamura batted .389 with a .722 slugging in the series.


National League

MANNY RAMIREZ, Los Angeles Dodgers
As if his numbers weren't gaudy enough (2 homers, a .500 average and a 1.743 OPS in the stunning three game sweep of the Cubs) his presence was even a bigger threat.

With 2 outs and a 2 run lead, Ryan Dempster walked Ramirez in the 5th inning... which set up the James Loney grand slam.

Manny simply changed the series by being Manny.




BRETT MYERS, Philadelphia Phillies
Any hope for the Milwaukee Brewers winning the Division Series hinged on the left arm of CC Sabathia. Not only did he beat Sabathia in the 5-2 Phillies win in game 2, but his gritty at bat in the second inning where he kept fouling off two out two strike pitches to ultimately coax a walk set up Shane Victorino's game winning grand slam.

Myers 7 inning, 2 hit performance loomed even larger when the Brewers won the next game but were eliminated in game 4.






2007
American League

DAVID ORTIZ, Boston Red Sox
Everyone remembers Manny standing at home plate after his walk off homer in game 2... but that was set up by the intentional walk to Big Papi.

Ortiz hit .714 with an OPS of 2.417 in the three game sweep of the Angels. Plus he hit homers in games 1 and 3.



GRADY SIZEMORE, Cleveland Indians
Batted .375 with an OPS of 1.212 from the lead off spot.
Scored the tying run on Joba Chamberlain's insect inspired wild pitch and hit the lead off home run in game 4 that sunk the Yankees 3 games to 1.





National League


STEPHEN DREW, Arizona Diamondbacks
Hit a key homer off of Carlos Zambrano in game 1 and doubled and scored in the heart breaking first inning at Wrigley.

Finished the three game sweep of the Cubs at an even .500 with an OPS of 1.643 and 4 RBI


KAZ MATSUI, Colorado Rockies
Matsui erased a 1 run deficit with a 2 out 4th inning grand slam in game 2. The Phillies never recovered and were swept away in 3.
He also hit a 2 out RBI triple in the clinching third game.
In the end he batted .417 with a 1.583 OPS.






2006
American League



FRANK THOMAS, Oakland Athletics
With his 2 home runs in game 1 (including one off of Johan Santana) Thomas crushed the Minnesota Twins' late season momentum and turned the series into a surprising 3 game sweep.

In the end, Thomas batted .500 with an OPS of 1.783




CURTIS GRANDERSON, Detroit Tigers
An o-fer in the fourth and final game of the Tigers upset over the Yankees made his numbers less eye popping than some of his teammates. (Especially Carlos Guillen's .571 average and 1.625 OPS.) But make no mistake, it was Granderson who hit the key home runs, started the key rallies and basically drove the Yankees nuts.

By the time he went 0-5 in the finale, the Yankees were already reeling.


National League

CARLOS DELGADO, New York Mets
Delgado went 4-5 in his first ever post season game, including a home run and the game winning hit in the 7th inning.

He finished the series with a .429 Average and a 1.072 OPS.










CHRIS CARPENTER, St. Louis Cardinals
Went 2-0 in the 4 game upset of San Diego.
Pitched 7 strong innings in the game 4 clincher












2005
American League

BENGIE MOLINA, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Hit the game tying single and then a key home run in game 2 and then homered off of Randy Johnson in the game 3 win in Yankee Stadium.

In all he batted .444 with an OPS of 1.418 with 3 homers and 5 RBI in the Angels 5 game win over the Yankees.



A. J. PIERZYNSKI, Chicago White Sox
Pierzynski homered twice in the 14-2 game 1 rout of the Defending Champion Red Sox.
Doubled to lead off the 9th inning of game 3 and scored a critical insurance run to complete the 3 game sweep.

Finished with a .444 average and a 1.878 OPS.




National League


LANCE BERKMAN, Houston Astros
Batted .357 with 5 RBI in Houston's 4 game victory over the Braves.

Brought the Astros back to within one in game 4 with an 8th inning grand slam. The Astros would tie the game in the 9th and go on the 18 inning marathon before clinching on Chris Burke's homer.





REGGIE SANDERS, St. Louis Cardinals
Sanders drove in an incredible 10 runs in the three game sweep of the San Diego Padres.
6 of those runs were driven in game 1 with a 2 run single and a grand slam.









2004
American League


DAVID ORTIZ, Boston Red Sox
Pretty cut and dry choice here.
Ortiz hit .545 with a 1.688 OPS for the three game sweep of the Angels... and ended the series with a dramatic 2 out 2 run walk off 10th inning home run that sent Fenway into a frenzy.









ALEX RODRIGUEZ, New York Yankees
It was strange for me to type the words Alex Rodriguez in a post about October heroes...
But lest we forget (and no doubt Scott Boras would remind us) A-Rod won his first Yankees post season series almost single handedly.

He batted .421 with an OPS of 1.213 in the 4 game victory over the Twins. He drove in 3 runs in the extra inning game 2 victory including a one out game tying double in the 12th. In the clinching game 4, he doubled in the 11th, stole third and scored what would be the series winning run on a wild pitch.

Between his heroics against the Twins and his .368 average with a 1.244 OPS in the first 4 games against Boston, A-Rod's post season legacy in New York looked down right heroic... little did we know!





National League

EDGAR RENTERIA, St. Louis Cardinals
In a line up full of power threats like Pujols, Walker, Rolen, Edmonds and Sanders, it was Renteria who put up the biggest numbers. He batted .455 in the 4 game victory over Los Angeles with a 1.236 OPS.

Hit key RBI double in game 1, a big RBI single in the clincher and seemed to be involved in rallies throughout the series.




CARLOS BELTRAN, Houston Astros
Beltran's spectacular cameo in Houston included blasting 4 home runs in the Astros' 5 game victory over Atlanta. 2 of those homers took place in the do or die game 5.

In all, Beltran's amazing salary drive included a .455 average, a 1.591 OPS, 4 home runs and 9 RBI





2003
American League


ANDY PETTITTE, New York Yankees
Down 1-0 to the Twins, Pettitte pitched a solid game 2 and held Minnesota off long enough for the Yankees to rally for 3 7th inning runs to win the game.

The Yankees responded by winning the next two games in Minneapolis, but who knows how the series would have unfolded if New York was down 0-2?




TODD WALKER, Boston Red Sox
Smashed 3 home runs in the 5 game series with Oakland, including one in a possible elimination game 4 that brought the Red Sox to within 1.

He picked up the slack for the slumping Ortiz and Ramirez with a .313 average and a 1.228 OPS.
Now someday I'll understand why Grady kept pulling him in the late innings.


National League


IVAN RODRIGUEZ, Florida Marlins
Sure his numbers in the Marlins 4 game victory over the heavily favored Giants were great (.353, 6 RBI, 1.038 OPS) but his flair for the dramatic was even better.

His 2 out 2 run walk off single capped a come from behind rally to win a critical game 4 in 11 innings. His collision at the plate with Yorvit Torreabla allowed himself to score the go ahead run and let an important insurance run come home as well.

And the series ended with J. T. Snow crashing into home with the potential tying run, but Pudge held onto the ball and ended the series.





KERRY WOOD, Chicago Cubs
Facing the 101 win Atlanta Braves, Kerry Wood pitched road victories for game 1 and the clinching game 5.

He pitched into the 8th inning striking out 11 in game 1.
He then threw 8 innings letting up only 1 run in the clincher... the only post season series victory for the Cubs since 1908.





2002
American League


TIM SALMON, Anaheim Angels
Drove in 7 runs in the shocking 4 game upset of the Yankees. His 2 run double started the Angels come back rally from a 6-1 game 3 deficit.









BRAD RADKE, Minnesota Twins
Won game 1 and the clinching game 5 in Oakland as the Twins stunned the heavily favored A's.

Finished the series with a 2-0 record with a 1.54 and only one walk in his two starts.




National League


FERNANDO VINA, St. Louis Cardinals

Gave the Cardinals unbelievable production from the top of the order as they swept the defending champion Diamondbacks in 3 games.

He finished with a .600 average and an OPS of 1.225 and was always on base as sluggers like Pujols and Edmonds slugged the Cardinals past Johnson and Schilling.



RUSS ORTIZ, San Francisco Giants
Won the opener of the series on the road in Atlanta by pitching 7 solid innings letting up only 2 runs and 5 hits.

Came back to win the clinching game 5, pitching into the 6th inning letting up a single run as the Giants upset the Braves.






2001
American League


DEREK JETER, New York Yankees
His .444 average and .976 OPS would be enough for consideration... but his miracle flip play to nail Jeremy Giambi at the plate probably prevented an Oakland sweep.

He made a crashing catch into the stands for good measure.







ICHIRO SUZUKI, Seattle Mariners
Batted .600 with a 1.269 OPS in the 5 game victory over Cleveland. Got 12 hits in the short series including a key RBI hit in the series saving 7th inning rally in game 4.








National League
CURT SCHILLING, Arizona Diamondbacks
Schilling threw complete game victories in game 1 and the clinching game 5 over the St. Louis Cardinals. He let up a total of 9 hits and only 2 walks while striking out 18 to a 0.50 ERA.







CHIPPER JONES, Atlanta Braves
Jones' 3 run 8th inning homer gave the Braves the lead in game 1 and they never looked back in their sweep of the Houston Astros.

Jones finished the series with a .444 average, a 1.694 OPS, 2 homers and 5 RBI/










2000
American League

MARIANO RIVERA, New York Yankees
With the Yankees stumbling into the 2000 playoffs, the 2 time defending champs looked vulnerable to the upstart A's. Joe Torre needed to call on Rivera to come into the 8th inning three different times.

In game 2, Rivera came in the 8th with the tying run at the plate and got out of the jam.
In game 3, started the 8th and pitched 2 shut out innings for the save.
In the game 5 clincher, Rivera came in with the tying run at the plate and only one out and finished the game without letting up a run.

In all, Rivera let up no runs, no walks and only 2 hits in 5 innings as he saved all 3 wins.



EDGAR MARTINEZ, Seattle Mariners
Martinez hit a 2 run game winning 10th inning home run off of White Sox pitcher Keith Foulke.
In all, Martinez hit .364 with a 1.189 OPS in the three game sweep of the White Sox.







National League



JIM EDMONDS, St. Louis Cardinals
Batted .571, homered twice, drove in 7 runs and finished with an OPS of 1.886 as the Cardinals massacred the Braves in 3 games.












BOBBY JONES, New York Mets
With the Mets up 2-1 in the series after two thrilling extra inning wins over San Francisco, Jones shut down the Giants once and for all in the game 4 clincher.

Jones let up a double to Jeff Kent and a walk to J.T. Snow in the 5th inning... but was perfect in the other 8 as his 1 hit complete game shutout crushed the Giants and propelled the Mets to the NLCS.






1999
American League

ORLANDO HERNANDEZ, New York Yankees
Blink and you would miss the 1999 division series between the Rangers and the Yankees. The tone of the series was set early by El Duque who shut down the mighty Rangers to only 2 hits over 8 shut out innings in the opener.

The Rangers would score a single run in the SERIES as they were swept in 3.


PEDRO MARTINEZ, Boston Red Sox
Yes Nomar got some big hits... and Valentin drove in 12 runs in the 5 game series against the Indians... and O'Leary's 2 homers sealed the deal.

But the spectre of Pedro loomed over this entire series.
When Pedro got hurt in game 1 after throwing 4 shut out innings, it gave the Indians a fighting chance.
And when he came in the 4th inning as a reliever in the deciding 5th game, their fate was sealed.

Pedro threw 6 no hit innings to finish the series and combined for 10 innings, only 3 hits and 11 strikeouts.


National League


KEVIN MILLWOOD, Atlanta Braves
Millwood let up a second inning home run to Houston's Ken Caminiti in game 2. He didn't allow a hit nor a walk for the rest of the game as he threw a complete game one hitter.

That performance would be enough for consideration but the next game, he came out of the bullpen and threw a 1-2-3 12th for the save.

The Braves would clinch the next day.



EDGARDO ALFONZO, New York Mets
"Fonzie" homered 3 times in the 4 game victory over the Diamondbacks. His second one was a 9th inning grand slam that put the Mets ahead and set the tone for the series.

He would finish the series with a 1.243 OPS and helped turn 5 double plays.







1998
American League

SHANE SPENCER, New York Yankees
Spencer didn't even start the first game of the three game sweep of the Rangers.
But he hit the go ahead homer in game 2 and put the clinching game 3 away with a three run shot...
giving him a .500 average and a 2.000 OPS.


KENNY LOFTON, Cleveland Indians
Lofton finished the series with a .375 average and a 1.225 OPS including 2 homers in the 4 game series win over the Red Sox.
His single and stolen base set up the 2 run rally that gave the Indians the 2-1 series ending victory in game 4.

He also hit the go ahead run in Cleveland's game 2 victory and homered to put the Indians ahead for good in game 3.



National League


JOHN SMOLTZ, Atlanta Braves
Smoltz threw into the 8th inning, letting up only 1 run, 5 hits and walking none as the Braves slowed down the Cubs momentum and took control of the series early.

Despite a scare in game 2, the Braves would go on to sweep.






KEVIN BROWN, San Diego Padres
Out dueled Randy Johnson in a thrilling game 1 showdown. Brown went 8 innings letting up only 2 hits and no runs while striking out 16 in the Padres 2-1 victory.

Combined with his game 3 start where he threw into the 7th inning, Brown had a 0.61 ERA in 14 2/3 innings while striking out 21 as the Padres beat the Astros in 4.






1997
American League

SANDY ALOMAR, JR, Cleveland Indians
Batted .316 with 2 homers, 5 RBI and an OPS of 1.000 in the Indians tense 5 game victory over the Yankees.

But no hit was bigger than his game tying home run off of Mariano Rivera with the Indians just 4 outs from elimination in game 4.
Cleveland would go on to win games 4 and 5 by one run each.



MIKE MUSSINA, Baltimore Orioles
Out pitched Randy Johnson at the Kingdome for game 1 and then beat him again in the clinching game 4 in Camden Yards.

Finished the 4 game series with a 2-0 record, a 1.93 ERA and 16 strikeouts in 14 innings as the Orioles beat the star studded Seattle team for a trip to the ALCS.



National League

GREG MADDUX, Atlanta Braves
Astros pitcher Darryl Kile held the mighty Braves to only 2 hits and 2 runs in the opening game in Atlanta.
And it wasn't good enough as Greg Maddux threw a complete game and held the Astros to a single run. Having avoided the Astros biggest threat, the Braves swept Houston in 3.






GARY SHEFFIELD, Florida Marlins
Finished the 3 game sweep of the Giants with a .556 average, an OPS of 1.714.
Homered in the game 2 win and always seemed to be on base as the Marlins won 3 heart stopping games.











1996
American League


BERNIE WILLIAMS, New York Yankees
Truth be told, I almost gave this to Juan Gonzalez... who hit 5 homers in 4 games for the Rangers and was a one man wrecking crew. But I couldn't give it to a player on the losing team! I just couldn't.

Besides, Bernie did his share of damage... including scoring the tying run in game 2, driving home the tying run in the 9th inning of game 3 and homering twice in the come from behind game 4 clincher.



B. J. SURHOFF, Baltimore Orioles
Surhoff homered twice in game 1 and finished the series with 3 homers, a .385 average and an OPS of 1.462 as the Orioles stunned the defending AL Champion Indians in 4 games.







National League


JOHN SMOLTZ, Atlanta Braves
In a series dominated by pitching, nobody pitched better than Smoltz who shut the Dodgers down to 1 run over 9 innings in the opening game. Smoltz would get the victory as the Braves won in 10 and would sweep Los Angeles despite hitting only .180 for the series.



DENNIS ECKERSLEY, St. Louis Cardinals
In a tight series where all three games could have gone either way, Eck came through with 3 save, letting up no runs in 3 2/3 innings as the Cardinals swept the Padres.









1995
American League

EDDIE MURRAY, Cleveland Indians
Batted .385 in the three game sweep of the Red Sox.

In game 1 hit a go ahead single in the 8th.
In game 2, his 2 run shot put the game away.
In game 3, he singled twice, walked twice and scored twice in the clincher






EDGAR MARTINEZ, Seattle Mariners

Yes Griffey homered 5 times in 5 games and yes Big Unit won 2 of the Mariners 3 games against the Yankees... but it was Edgar Martinez's grand slam that set up the mind boggling game 5... and it was Edgar Martinez's 2 run double that won the series for the Mariners.

His numbers, .571 average, 1.000 slugging, an OPS of 1.667, 10 RBIs in 5 games, would merit the award even without his flair for the dramatic.


National League


CHIPPER JONES, Atlanta Braves

Marquis Grissom had gaudier numbers, but Jones' home run won game 1 against the Rockies... and he seemed to be driving in runs or scoring runs in every big Braves rally in a series that was a lot closer than it had any business being.





HAL MORRIS, Cincinnati Reds
Batted an even .500 in the three game sweep of the Dodgers.
He drove in the first 2 runs of a 4 run first inning outburst in game 1 that set the tone for the series.
Started the rally in the 6th inning of game 3 that knocked Nomo out of the game and put the game (and the series) out of reach.



So there you have it.
A smattering of superstars, some Hall of Famers and a few Kaz Matsuis, Shane Spencers and Hal Morrises sprinkled in.

And a special salute to Chipper Jones, John Smoltz, David Ortiz and Edgar Martinez... the multiple winners.

I'd like to send these players an award, but frankly I can't think of one.
Now for all of you who read this, please e mail info@sullybaseball.com and let me know what you think an appropriate award should be (keep in mind, I can't afford to get them all a new car!)