Imagine all the singles

No need for extra bases, it isn't hard to do

The new episode of We Can Pod It Out is about “Imagine,” by John Lennon, which was released on October 11, 1971.

Immediate thought: that was probably during the World Series, and indeed, it was. Game 2 between the Pirates and Orioles, an 11-3 drubbing that turned out to be Baltimore’s high point in the series, going up 2-0 before losing the next three in Pittsburgh, and the series in seven.

The box score for this game stands out for something that may be a record, but checking would be insanity: the Pirates used four different pitchers named Bob. Bob Johnson started, then after Bruce Kison walked both batters he faced, the Bucs used Bob Moose, Bob Veale, and Bob Miller.

All of those guys struggled, and so did Jim Palmer, who joined Jack Coombs (1910 Game 2, Philadelphia A’s vs. Cubs) and Jim Hearn (1951 Game 3, New York Giants vs. Yankees) as the only pitchers to survive eight walks and get a win in a World Series game. Liván Hernández joined them in Game 5 in 1997, getting a big boost from Moisés Alou’s three-run homer.

Palmer received no such support, even though the Orioles scored 11 runs. What Baltimore did that day was the greatest exhibition of station-to-station baseball in World Series history.

Drawing seven walks to go with 14 singles, the Orioles’ output that day shattered the record of the 1917 White Sox for the most runs in a Fall Classic game without collecting an extra-base hit (Shoeless Joe Jackson had three of the 14 singles in a win over the New York Giants). The closest challenger to the mark since then? Well, did you know that the Mets didn’t have an extra-base hit in their most famous victory?

The Mets had a pretty darn solid win last night, too, with Brandon Nimmo coming off the bench to hit a two-run walk-off homer. It’s the first time that the Mets have been down to their final strike at the moment they got a walk-off homer since June 11, 2005, back at Shea Stadium, when Cliff Floyd hit a three-run shot off Brendan Donnelly in the 10th inning to beat the Angels.

Floyd’s homer, a feat not seen again for 19 years, might not even have been the most memorable home run in that game. The Mets got to extra innings because Marlon Anderson hit an inside-the-parker off Francisco Rodriguez in the ninth.

The Mets’ last inside-the-park home run, as it would happen, was hit by Brandon Nimmo — at the other end of the game, as he led off with one in Denver in 2018.

Yesterday was the second time in NBA playoff history that Game 4 of a series was decided by exactly 32 points, and Knicks fans won’t like knowing that the other time it happened, it was in a series playing out like this one. The home team won each of the first four games of the 1977 NBA Finals, although unlike Knicks-Pacers, only Game 1 was close between the 76ers and Trail Blazers.

After Portland cruised to a 130-98 victory in Game 4, they won a close Game 5 in Philadelphia before closing out the series back in Oregon for their only NBA title.

The only other time the Knicks lost by 32 points in the playoffs, they didn’t get a chance to bounce back from it, as they were eliminated by the Rockets in 1975’s first round. The four times the Knicks suffered a more lopsided playoff defeat, they went on to lose each of those series, most recently a five-game elimination by the Heat in 2012 after a 100-67 score in Game 1.

The Pacers, meanwhile, have had two larger playoff victories than the one they enjoyed yesterday: 121-87 over the Cavaliers in Game 6 of the 2018 first round, and 120-87 over the Lakers in Game 5 of the 2000 Finals. Each of those games came with Indiana facing elimination (which should have been the case in this series… sigh), and in each case, the Pacers went down in the next game.

Same guy got the Knicks in 2012 and the Pacers in 2018, a Mr. LeBron James.