we know leylands best teams were the 97 marlins and the recent AL champion tigers.......but its tough to say which pirate team was his best?
2006-11-22 07:27:48 · 3 answers · asked by Anonymous in Sports ➔ Baseball
I'd go with the 1992 team. It was the year Andy Van Slyke had a career season, and the first season in which Barry Bonds showed himself to be a dominant force, hitting 34 homers and putting up an OBP of more than .450.
On the mound, they got another excellent season from Doug Drakek (15 wins and a 2.77 ERA), while Bob Walk, Zane Smith and Randy Tomlin all pitched well. They also brought up a 26-year-old knuckleballer named Tim Wakefield that year, and he'd be awesome during the second half of the season and into the playoffs.
The Pirates should have played for the World Series that season, but the usually astute Leyland made a bad pitching decision by leaving Doug Drabek in with a 2-0 lead going to the bottom of the ninth in Game Seven. Drabek was tired, and he ended up loading the bases with nobody out before leaving the game in Belinda's hands. I'm sure every Pirates and Braves fan remembers what would happen, with Sid Bream scoring on Francisco Cabrera's single to send the Braves to the Series.
Bonds would be in San Francisco the next season, Drabek came back down to being a mortal, and Van Slyke began a rapid decline. But for a few seasons, they had a great run.
2006-11-22 08:18:14 · answer #1 · answered by Craig S 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
1992 Drabek, Bonds, Bonnila, Slyke
2006-11-22 16:00:09 · answer #2 · answered by Mister E 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
91 that team was great bonds bonilla van slyke spanky lind drabek walk
2006-11-26 11:31:25 · answer #3 · answered by soxfan 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋