Here is another installment of The Good Phight's All-Time Phillie Tournament. A couple of big names, but mostly just Phillies philler over their careers. Today's matchups look like this:
#3 Pat Burrell vs #14 Jim Eisenreich
#8 Pete Rose vs #9 Willie Montanez
#6 Tony Gonzalez vs #11 Ron Northey
#5 Cy Williams vs #12 Jack Clements
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 # 21:
#3 Pat Burrell vs #14 Jim Eisenreich
This will likely be the best matchup of the bunch despite being the largest ranking difference. The heartless Pat versus the heartfull Eisey. If only you could fuse them together and you'd get a guy who doesn't care AND curses at the fans. Talk about a win-win scenario. Game 1 saw Jim get out to a quick 4-0 lead with 3 in the first and 1 in the second on the power of a 2 run shot to left. Pat got 2 back with loading the bases on walks and a HBP, then beating out a DP (guess the foot is healed) and a single. In the sixth, pat got 2 men on again and then proceeded to strike out twice (shocker) and then hit a 2 out, 2 strike homerun that barely cleared the fence on an awful helicopter swing. Many fans still don't count it as a hit. Up 5-4, Pat tacks on 3 more in the 8th on a double and a single. Jims gets 2 back in the 9th, but it isn't enough. These two put on a show in game 2. Jim started the scoring with a HR in the second, but Pat doubled him up in the bottom of the inning. Jim then put 4 on the board in the 3rd on a 3 run blast and 3 singles in a row. Pat, not wanting to fall too far behind then hits a 2 run shot in the bottom of the inning. Pat takes a 5-4 lead in the 4th, but Jim puts up 2 in the 5th thanks to a stolen base and a wild pitch. Jim puts up 1 more in the sixth and 3 in the 7th to take a 11-5 lead. Pat matches Jim's 3 run shot with one of his own in the bottom of the 7th and adds on another to make it 11-9. Eisenreich then scores two more in the 8th and 9th and despite Pat's 3 run shot in the bottom of the 9th, he falls short. Series tied 1-1. Game 3 saw Eisey jump out to a 4-0 lead after 3. Pat scored on in the bottom of the third, but Eisenreich put 2 more up in the 4th to lead 6-1. Pat came back with 3 in the bottom of the 4th and 2 in the 7th on a HR, but Eisenreich scored 2 more in the 8th to seal the game and take the series lead. Things looked grim for Burrell, and to the joy of most fans as Jim took a 4-0 lead in the first inning of game 4. He got booed loudly as Eisey scored his fourth run on an error to third base. Pat shrugged off the negativity, caught the eye of a hottie in the front row, and scored 7 runs in the bottom of the first on a 2B, BB, BB, 2B, HR, HR, HR. Apparently the hottie had a sister and Pat put up 4 more in the bottom of the second to take a 11-4 lead and cruised to victory. The hotties apparently didn't have tickets to game 5 as Eisenreich built up a 4-1 lead after 5. The two teams traded runs in the 6th and Eisey added another in the 7th to lead 6-2. Pat loaded the bases in the seventh, but struck out looking to end the inning to the jeers of the fans. In the bottom of the eighth, Pat lead off with a single to left. After an error and a strike out and a HBP, Pat plated a run with a single. Another K and 2 more walks brought in 2 runs each and now Pat was down 6-5. Pat then hit the first pitch to left that Jim lost in the stars and it got behind him for a 3 run error. What a clutch non-hit! Down 8-6, Jim got 2 men on base in the 9th, but Ked to end the game
G1: 8-6 Burrell
G2: 15-12 Eisenreich
G3: 9-7 Eisenreich
G4: 14-8 Burrell
G5: 8-6 Burrell
Pat Burrell wins series 3-2.
Round 1 - Game #22:
#8 Pete Rose vs #9 Willie Montanez
We were thinking long and hard about banning Charlie Hustle from the tournament, but we got a letter from his PR guy stating that he apologized for gambling and submitted his entry. Since this contest required no money to enter, I felt obligated to at least put him in. Of course, he tried to bribe me with half the back Phillies Franks (if I let him win them) and I knocked him down to an 8 seed. In game 1, Willie came out firing with 2 in the first on back to back HRs. Pete got them back in the second and knocked out 1 catcher and a second baseman. Thankfully we have an unlimited supply of Willies. Willie put up 3 more in the 3rd to take a 5-2 lead. Rose would come back with 1 in the 5th and 2 in the sixth to tie it up. Willie hopped out again with 1 in the seventh and 1 more in the ninth to have a 7-5 lead. Pete got one back, but came up just short. Willie came out again in game 2 on fire. 1 in the first, 2 in the second and third put him up 5-0. Rose got on back, but then 2 more by Willie gave him a 7-1 lead in the 5th. Rose got 2 back on 3 straight singles in the bottom of the inning, but Willie added one more in the 7th. Rose scored 2 in the bottom of the 7th, but Willie then got those right back in the top of the 8th on a homer. That started a brawl where 11 Pete Roses got ejected from the game. Unfortunately, we have an unlimited supply of them as well. Rose scored 3 in the bottom of the 8th and 1 more in the ninth, but came up short one more time. Sounds like a reoccurring trend. In game 3, Pete decided it would be better to score early. 2 in the second and one on a questionable play at first gave Pete a quick lead. 2 more in the third and Pete was up 4-0. Willie scored 6 in the 4th to take a 6-4 lead on some shoddy defense. Pete got one back in the bottom of the inning. Willie put one more up in the 6th and 7th, but Pete answered each with 2 in the 6th and 3 in the 7th and 1 in the 8th to take a 11-8 lead. Rose looked in line to win his first game, but Willie ended up smelling like Roses (but, that isn't so pleasant after all). An error and 2 homers lead to a 4 run 9th and a eventual 12-11 win. Rose lost all 3 games by 1 run.
G1: 7-6 Montanez
G2: 10-9 Montanez
G3: 12-11 Montanez
Willie Montanez wins the series 3-0.
Round 1 - Game #23:
#6 Tony Gonzalez vs #11 Ron Northey
No read sidebars here, let's get to the games. Tony started off the first game with a couple of singles. After a caught stealing, he hit a sac fly, got a walk and nailed a 2 run shot. Northey fired back in the third with 2 homers himself, and tied it up 3-3. Gonzalez answered back with 2 in the bottom of the inning to go up 5-3. 3 more in the 6th sealed the game for him. Northey scored first in game two, but Tony put 2 up in the first, third and 5th innings to take a 6-1 lead. Northey got one back in sixth, but Gonzalez hit another one deep to go up 9-2. Northey made a late charge with 3 in the 8th and 2 in the ninth (all with two outs), but then grounded out to short to end the game with the bases juiced. Tony started game 3 with a run in the 3rd, but Northey put up 2 in the 4th and 2 in the 5th to take the lead. Gonzalez made it close with 2 in the bottom of the 5th, but Northey exploded for 7 in the 6th (all with no extra base hits) to take game 3. Game 4 was decided early as Gonzalez scored 2 in the 3rd, but Northey took the lead with 3 in the 4th. Tony put the series away with 5 in the 4th and 2 more in the 5th and 3 in the 6th. Northey didn't have an answer for that.
G1: 8-5 Gonzalez
G2: 9-7 Gonzalez
G3: 11-4 Northey
G4: 12-4 Gonzalez
Tony Gonzalez wins the series 3-1.
#5 Cy Williams vs #12 Jack Clements
These two guys have a couple manly man's names. So, who kicked your ass last night. Oh, man, Cy Williams and Jack Clements. Damn, those are 2 tough hombres. Jack, showing how tough he is, started off game 1 with a 5 run first inning on 2 singles, 2 doubles an error and a sac fly. Cy got one back in the second, but Jack made this game a laugher with 3 in the third to go up 8-1 and he never looked back. Cy, not wanting to fall behind 2-0, started off game 2 with 1 in the first and after Jack put up 2 in the second, he scored 4 in the third for a 5-2 lead. Jack scored one in the 5th, but blew it open with 8 in the 7th on the strength of 6 singles, a triple and 2 walks (it looked like Bugs Bunny out there). In game 3, Clements came out firing with 3 in the first to put Cy's back up against the wall. He responded. Jack didn't score again and Cy had a 5-3 lead going into the 7th when he scored 6 runs and then 5 more in the eighth. Game 4 had Cy leading off the game with a HR and scored 1 more in the first and 2 in the second. Clement came back with 2 in the third and 3 in the 5th on a 3 run blast. Cy tied it up with a leadoff homer in the 6th and the score was 5-5. The teams totaled 2 base runners over the next 3 innings, both by Williams. In extras, Clements lead off the 10th with a single, moved him over with a sacrifice and then scored on another single. Down to his last 3 outs, Williams did...nothing.
G1: 9-4 Clements
G2: 14-5 Clements
G3: 16-3 Williams
G4: 6-5 Clements
Jack Clements wins the series 3-1.