Following Steve's lead, let's take a quick look at some historical post-season happenings, specifically the 1996 AL Division Series between the Texas Rangers and the New York Yankees. Or, as I like to call it, the Juan Gonzalez show.

Back in 1996, the new Yankee dynasty was just getting going. That year, the Yankees were coming off their first post-season appearance since 1981, having been eliminated in 1995 by the Seattle Mariners. (Remember that hit by Edgar Martinez off Jack McDowell when Ken Griffey Jr slid into home plate to end the series? That still ranks as the greatest moment in the fairly pathetic Seattle franchise history.) Don Mattingly retired at the end of the season, and the 1996 team featured 22-year-old rookie shortstop Derek Jeter (who most of us expected to make 40+ errors due to his minor-league defensive track record) and Mariano Rivera in his first season as a full-time reliever.

That same year, 1996, was a banner year for the Texas Rangers. It was the first time since 1977 that they finished with more than 87 wins, the first time ever that they had won their division, as well as their first ever post-season appearance. (These firsts include their days as the Washington Senators.) Juan Gonzalez won his first MVP that year (although it was the year when a sportswriter allegedly voted for the Rangers' other star, Ivan Rodriguez, by accident when he meant to vote for Alex Rodriguez, which would have given A-Rod the MVP over Juan Gone.) Also in 1996 Dean Palmer had his best season in the bigs, as did, surprisingly, Kevin Elster, with career highs in HR, RBI, R, BA, SLG, and OPS.

Guess who was AL manager of the year in 1996? The late Johnny Oates (Texas' manager) and first-timer Yankees manager Joe Torre shared the award.

Juan Gonzalez had a truly monster year with 47 HR, 144 RBI, and a 1.011 OPS. He was, by far, the most feared hitter on either team in the series, and this was a series featuring Tino Martinez, Cecil Fielder, Bernie Williams, Will Clark, and the aforementioned Jeter, Palmer, and I. Rodriguez.

So let's take a look at Gonzalez' influence on the series:

Game 1 featured John Burkett, who came over mid-season from Florida, vs. David Cone. The Yankees scratched out a run in the first, and everything was fine until the top of the 4th. Cone gave up a leadoff single to IRod, and then made the huge mistake of walking Rusty Greer ahead of Gonzalez. Three pitches later, it was 3-1 Rangers on Juan's first homer of the series. Palmer added a 2-run shot the same inning and the Yankees got one back in the bottom of the inning to make it 5-2 Rangers. Gonzalez struck out in the 5th, and later in the game Mark McLemore added an RBI to make the final score 6-2. But the damage had been done by Gonzalez and the Yankees feared him the rest of the series. Burkett went the distance for the win.

Game 2 featured Ken Hill vs youngster Andy Pettitte, who started his climb up to the top of the list of most post-season HR allowed. Top of the second, Gonzalez led off with a deep home run to make it 1-0. The Yanks scratched a run in the bottom of the inning to tie it. The third inning was a disaster, though, for Pettitte. Elster led off with a double, and then Darryl Hamilton hit a line drive that was snagged for an out. IRod hit a deep fly ball for another out, and it looked as if Pettitte might escape. But then he committed the same cardinal sin as Cone, walking Greer ahead of Gonzalez, who proceeded to launch a second deep home run to make it 4-1. Then, for a time, it became the Big Daddy show. Cecil Fielder hit a solo homer in the 4th and (after a Charlie Hayes sacrifice fly) a game-tying RBI single in the 8th. Gonzalez was intentionally walked in the 10th with 2 outs and a runner on third. In the 12th, he batted with 2 outs and a runner on first and singled, before Palmer flew out with the sacks full to end the inning. The game finally ended in the bottom of the12th on one of the botched sacrifice bunts that was mentioned in one of Steve's posts. Who got the win for the Yankees? Brian Boehringer. The series was tied, but now the Yankees were really scared of Gonzalez.

Game 3 featured Jimmy Key against Darren Oliver. Bernie Williams hit a first-inning solo shot to make it 1-0. Then guess who homered in the 4th to tie it up? Yes, that man Juan Gonzalez again. Rodriguez doubled in a run in the 5th to make it 2-1, and that's the way the score stayed until the 9th inning. The Yankees rallied in the ninth. Jeter and Tim Raines singled to open the action, and a Williams sac fly and Mariano Duncan RBI single later, the Yankees were up 3-2. John Wetteland made it stand up in the 9th, avoiding having to face Gonzalez. Jeff Nelson got the win.

Game 4 featured Kenny Rogers vs Bobby Witt. Gonzalez walked in the first inning, and later the Rangers scored twice in the 2nd inning to go up 2-0. Leading off the 3rd inning, some guy named Gonzalez hit a home run to make it 3-0. McLemore added an RBI and in the bottom of the inning the Yankees got 3 back making it 4-3. Later, they went ahead 5-4, helped by two Bernie Williams homers. Gonzalez came up in the bottom of the 9th against Wetteland, representing the winning run (IRod had already walked to open the inning.) Wetteland walked him, but went on to get Clark and Palmer out to end the game and the series. David Weathers got the win for the Yankees.

So the Yankees won the series, not even needing a 5th game. But all their wins were close, and nobody on either team was as offensively dominant as Gonzalez. For the series, he had 7 hits in 16 ABs, and 5 of those 7 hits were homers. His averages ring in at .438 / .526 / 1.375, with 9 RBI in 4 games. Not too shabby, especially for the post-season. (In fairness, Bernie Williams had a killer series too, although not nearly as dominant as Gonzo.)

It makes me wonder a few things. Has any other player ever homered in all of the games in a post-season series? Who else (in addition to Reggie Jackson in the '77 World Series) has had as many as 5 homers in a post-season series? Is 9 RBI the record for a 5-games series?

Who'd like to use the PI to find the answers to these questions?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 11th, 2007 at 8:52 am and is filed under Box Scores, Event Finders. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.