One night after pounding out 17 hits, in a a 14-1 victory over the Yankees, the Cubs found a way to win the biggest game of the year with just two hits.
Ron (Big Game) Massaroni threw a gem for the Cubs, shutting out the Yankees, allowing just two hits, two walks, and one hit batter, while striking out 5. It was necessary for him to pitch that well because the Yankee's pitchers were matching his effort every step of the way. Jerry Solomon threw the first 3 innings for the Yanks, allowing just 1 baserunner in each of those 3 innings. He allowed a one out walk in the first; a two out hit batter in the second; and a one out single by Scott Ross in the third. Darrell Duncan came on in the 4th inning and was almost impossible to hit. The knuckle ball was dancing and Darrell retired all 6 hitters that he faced in the 5th and 6th innings.
The Cubs were able to push a run across, in the bottom of the 6th inning, when Andy Hoyle led off with a single and stole second. Ron McCarthy put down a sacrifice bunt, to get Andy to third, and Hoyle scored on a Duncan knuckleball that got away from his catcher and rolled all of the way to the screen.
The Yankees would not go down quietly! In the top of the 7th, the Yankees got the tying run on base when Massaroni hit Paul Cerone with a pitch. Cerone stole second, and the tying run was in scoring position, with one out and the top of the Yankees order coming up. Paul Post walked and now the go ahead run was on base. Joe Careccia grounded into a fielder's choice, leaving Cerone just 90 feet from tying the score. Jack Griffin strode to the plate as a real threat to not only tie the game, but give the Yanks the lead, as he had already doubled off of Massaroni in the 5th inning. Ron reached down deep and came up with a perfect set of pitches and struck Griffin out swinging, to end the game and start the celebration for the Cubs!
Massaroni was a Maestro all night, but was not without help, as his defense made several nice plays behind him. The most important of those players was Dave Mitchell. Dave scooped 3 or 4 low throws to not only save errors, but also save runs. The biggest one was in the 5th, when Jack Griffin led off the inning with a double. The Yankees chose not to bunt him over, and the Yanks' 3 hitter popped out to third. Pete Geanellis walked to put runners on first and second with just one out. The Cubs hurler made a great pitch to the Yanks 5 hitter, and induced a comebacker to the mound. He spun and threw to second, but the relay to first was terribly short. Dave stretched out into a split and scooped the throw saving the inning ending double play from turning into an error that would have cost the Cubs the tying run, and who knows what else. Huge play!
Congrats to Tim Brown and all of the Damn Yankees on a super year. One that inspired Twin's Manager Jim Edelman to call them "by far the best team in the 55+ division." I can't blame him for that as John Weber and Darrell Duncan provided them with superior pitching all year, and their batting order was very strong all of the way to the 11 or 12 spot. With the defense they had to back up their pitching and hitting, this was a real team to be reckoned with every time we met between the lines, and a fine group of gentlemen on and off the field!
This game was played in a crisp hour and 47 minutes. The post game cooler session went on for well over double that time. It was one of the most enjoyable cooler sessions in this guys time on the field, due to all of the friend's who shared the experience. Every player on the Cubs roster had a hand in a 2020 championship that included 17 wins 1 loss and 1 tie. The Cubs lost 5 key players from last year's championship team, but were very lucky to pick up 5 guys who filled in admirably. It is always tough as a manager to keep everybody happy when you have as much talent as we did on this year's team, but these guys made it easy. Nobody complained, and everybody pulled together and played great team baseball. Many players were moved around and played more than one position . . . whatever was asked of them. It is what it takes to win it all. Great job guys!
I can't wait until next year to do it all again!
-- Edited by mgirard11 on Friday 16th of October 2020 09:27:35 AM
Congratulations to the Cubs! While disappointing to fall short of our team goal, you have to tip your hat to them. Their pitching duo of Girard and Massaroni shut the door on a strong Yankee line-up. To hold us to 2 runs over 2 games is impressive. We get frustrated when we don't score 2 runs in an inning. That's why those 2 guys are HOF players. I am glad Mike gave a shout out to Dave Mitchell. As a fellow 1B, I appreciate how he saved what could have been some long innings. Special thanks to Timmy Brown for leading a great group of guys through this pandemic season. See you next Spring!
