We are back again (yeap, and we'll be here all month) for anther series of games for The Good Phight's All-Time Phillies Tournament. Today's games feature some of the heaviest hitters ever to wear the red pin stripes and my stomach is all a flutter just thinking about it.
#7 Ryan Howard vs #10 Jim Thome
#1 Mike Schmidt vs #16 Steve Jeltz
#5 Willie Jones vs # 12 Johnny Briggs
#4 Sam Thompson vs #13 Nap Lajoie
You can find the most updated bracket by opening the link on the left bar, or clicking the link below.
The Good Phight's All-Time Phillies Tournament
Round 1 - Game #13:
#7 Ryan Howard vs #10 Jim Thome
Outfield fans beware as the longball will be visiting you soon. The hired gun versus his young replacement. Jim Thome was brought to Philly to usher in a new era and just as quickly he was ushered out to usher in a new usher who sang like Usher when he won ROY and MVP in his first two years. Is that enough to paint him as the best Phillie ever? The battle of the beasts starts off with in an interesting way. Ryan Howard strikes out in his first 3 Abs on 9 pitches. If that weren't an omen, Jim Thome leads off the bottom of the 1st with a walk and a triple to score the first run of the game. Howard then gets that run back with a homer in the 3rd (smallball this ain't). A 2 run shot puts Howard up 3-1 in the 5th. Thome answers back with a big bat of his own and puts 4 on the board in the sixth on the strength of 3 homeruns. Thome adds 4 more the next inning on the back of 2 more homers. Deciding that the chicks did the shortball, Howard gets 4 runs back in the top of the 8th on 3 walks and 4 singles, but it just isn't enough. RyHo struck out 19 times. Round two featured similar results, but reversed. Homers in the 2nd, 5th and 7th put this one in the bag for Howard, winning 9-3. In game 3, Thome and Howard trade homers in the first inning, but Thome adds 1 in the second, 1 in the third and 1 in the fourth to go up 6-3. Neither player puts the ball in play the rest of the game. Howard was facing a must win situation in game 4 and he and his pitcher came through. He lead off the game with a homer and that is all he needed as Jimbo could only muster 2 hits and 4 walks the entire game. That leaves the drama for game 5. Howard strikes first scoring on an error in the second, but Thome comes right back with a homer in the bottom of the inning to tie it up. Thome goes deep again in the 3rd and tacks on another in the 4th and 5th. Down 5-1 in the 6th, Howard leads off with back to back singles and then his a 1 out 3-run blast over the batter's eye into Ashburn's alley, which is amazing since they are playing in the Vet. 1 out later he ties it up with another blast. The score remained 5-5 until the 9th when Howard again goes deep with 1 out. Thome leads off the bottom of the 9th with a walk and then proceeds to strike out 3 straight times on his way to Chicago.
Series totals:
HRs - Howard: 16 Thome: 15
Ks - Howard: 83 Thome: 79
G1: 10-7 Thome
G2: 9-3 Howard
G3: 6-3 Thome
G4: 8-0 Howard
G5: 6-5 Howard
Howard wins series 3-2.
#1 Mike Schmidt vs #16 Steve Jeltz
Matchups like this don't come very often. I was tempted to double all of Jeltzie's number to give him a chance, but, alas, I decided that the pure, unadulterated results would sting much more. If ever I wish I could cheat for a stunner, this would be it. Just to see their numbers side by side is shocking considering that Schmidt has 4.6 times the Isolated Power. Well, ladies and gents, PREPARE TO BE SHOCKED. Jeltzie actually lead in 2 of the games at one point. I could hit the highlights, but I am more stunned that they weren't more of a blowout. Schmidt hit 3 homers and had 6 extra base hits to Jeltz's 1 CS in game 1. Jeltz did leave twice as many runners on base and you know, a team that leaves a lot of runners on base scores a lot of runs. Game 2 had 7 Schmidty homers and Jeltz got his first 2 extra base hits! Game 3 actually was a shot for old Steve-O as he lead 1-0 until the bottom of the 8th. But a homer in the 8th and 1 in the 9th won the game for Schmidt who barely broke a sweat. In a 100 game simulated contest, Schmidt won 85 times. How he lost 15 times has to be a glitch in the software.
G1: 12-1 Schmidt
G2: 9-3 Schmidt
G4: 3-1 Schmidt
Schmidt wins series 3-0.
#5 Willie Jones vs # 12 Johnny Briggs
Puddin' Head vs The Brigginator (Arnold stole this from him and it is being argued in court as we speak). I want old Puddin' Head Jones to win, just because I can't imagine how he got that name other than maybe a mishap in the cafeteria line. Game 1 saw Pud shoot out to an early lead and not look back. 1 in the 3rd and 3 in the 6th were all he needed to wrap up game 1. Briggs plates 2 in the first inning of game 2 with a triple an Jones ties it up with 1 in the 4th and 1 in the 7th. Briggs hits right back with a lead off homer in the bottom of the 7th and scores another to go up 4-2. Pud Head then loads the bases in the next inning with 3 straight walks and scores 3 runs on an error and a passed ball. He tacks on 2 more in the top of the 9th on a couple of sacrifice flies. Down by three, J-man scores one on a double, and then plates 2 more on an error to 2nd. In the 10th, Jones gets a 1 out single and then barely beats out a fielder's choice to keep the inning alive. Following an error and a walk to load the bases, Willie grounds out sharply to the 1st baseman. Briggs then gets HBP to lead off the 10th, sacrifices him over and scores the winning run on a single to left. In game 3, Willie whips out the whoopin stick and smacks 4 homers which helped him score 20 runs to take the game. In game 4, with his back up against the wall, Briggs fires first with 4 runs in the first. Jones gets 2 back in the 2nd and 4th, but Briggs busts it open with back to back homers in the 5th plating 4 more runs winning 9-3. Game 5 promised to be a doozie, but it ended being a dud. A 7 run 5th inning put the game and series away for JBrig sending Puddin Head to the showers.
G1: 6-1 Jones
G2: 8-7 Briggs
G3: 20-9 Jones
G4: 9-3 Briggs
G5: 12-2 Briggs
Briggs wins series 3-2.
#4 Sam Thompson vs #13 Nap Lajoie
Sam "I'm bringing sexy back" Thompson versus Nap Lajoie should prove to be a good matchup. Except, it wasn't. Sam brought a lot more than sexy to the ballpark. Game 1 saw Sam do a little bit of everything as he was one of the Phil's first 5 tool players. He had already scored 13 runs before Nap got on the board. Game 2 started of better for Lajoie as he put 6 runs up in the first 5 innings. Sam then went to town in the bottom of the 6th scoring 10 times in the first game that had a # in the boxscore. The inning featured 2 singles, 3 doubles, 2 walks, 1 stolen base, 1 passed ball and a monster Grand Slam. Nap, knowing he had to match Sam with the stick put up two quick runs in the first inning in game 3. Sam cam back with 1 in the first and 2 each in the 2nd and third. It looked like doom for Nap, but he scored 2 in the 7th to pull with in 6-4 and in the 9th, he lead off with a triple and scored on a single. But Nap failed to wake up in time and struck out to end the game.
G1: 13-1 Thompson
G2: 18-6 Thompson
G3: 6-5 Thompson
Thompson wins the series 3-0.