World Series Preview

’82 World Series: Game 7 Preview

ST. LOUIS — For those who haven’t followed the Brewers all season, they might look dead. For those who have followed the Brewers, the Crew has the Cardinals right where they want them.

After a 13-1 rain-delayed debacle in Game 6 that was as ugly and as soggy as it sounds, the Brewers have to pick themselves off the stained carpet of Busch Stadium, wring themselves out and get back to fighting.

Again, the Brewers face an ultimate game whose results will have ultimate consequences. Win and they’re world champions. Lose, and they have a long, cold winter thinking of what could have been.

Now, here’s where it gets tricky. Harvey Kuenn is going to hand the pea to Pete Vuckovich, the Brewers’ Cy Young candidate. Normally, such a move wouldn’t be questioned. But, in this case, it should be.

Vuke got cuffed around in Game 3. He hasn’t been on his game this postseason. We have mentioned that he hasn’t been the same since throwing 160-plus pitches in an 11-inning game in Septemeber. While he’s been man enough to not refuse the ball, and he won’t refuse the ball here, he’s not the man for the Crew on the hill. Harvey should put Mike Caldwell on the mound.

Caldwell is a horse and he’s completely befuddled the Cards throughout this series. He’d be going on three-days rest, but the Cardinals have yet to figure him out. There is no margin for error in a Game 7.

The Brewers, meanwhile, have yet to figure out Joaquin Andujar, the man who will pitch for the Cards, the man who is 2-0 this postseason.

First pitch of the rest of their baseball lives is at 7:20 p.m. ET.

As always, if you can’t watch the game or listen to it, you can follow our tweets at @tweetsfrom1982.

’82 World Series: Game 6 Preview

October 19 Leave a Comment

[UPDATE as of 4:30 p.m. CT: It appears as if some heavy weather could move through the St. Louis area. Temps are dropping rapidly and they’ve issued a tornado watch. It could wreak havoc with Game 6. Follow our tweets at @tweetsfrom1982 for the latest news.]

ST. LOUIS — With the chance to grab history, what will the Milwaukee Brewers do in Game 6? Will Don Sutton and the Crew ride off into the dim sunset of late autumn as champions of the baseball world; or will they be drowning their sorrows in a St. Louis hotel bar wondering why they’re playing a Game 7?

Yount’s been on fire and could help capture the Crew’s first Series title.

If it’s the latter, you know why: they’re our Milwaukee Brewers, a group of men for whom nothing comes easy. Baltimore. California. They must be hanging by a thread before they spring into action. They don’t steam roll, they rock-and-roll.

But the Crew would be wise to step to the plate and act like Game 6 is Game 7. Not that they couldn’t win an ultimate contest (and probably do it in the ninth with Rollie Fingers miraculously appearing from the bullpen to shut down any Cardinal rally), but why give the Cards life? Why give them hope?

There’s no reason to and there’s no reason to believe Sutton will provide that hope. After the Game 2 debacle where he gave up four runs all with two outs, Sutton should be in lockdown mode for Game 6. As for the offense, an encouraging sign has been its relative awakening. Save for Gorman Thomas, who’s trying to get it done on one wheel, the rest of the Crew has been smacking the pellet around the park. None more so than the Crew’s MVP candidate Robin Yount, who with four hits in four trips to the plate in Game 5 became the first man to have two four-hit games in the same World Series.

“It’s nice to set a record, whatever it is,” Yount said to reporters in a postgame press conference. “But again, I’m not out to set records. I’d be happy to come out with a world championship with no record being set. I’m only interested in winning the World Series. That’s the only goal I ever set and the only one I’m striving for.”

Yount earned the “M-V-P” chants that rang throughout the Stadium in Game 5 even if he was uncomfortable with them. He couldn’t have been as uncomfortable as Cards pitchers, however, as the Crew continued to deliver timely hitting in Game 4 and 5.

The Crew will again look to knock around John Stuper early in Game 6 as they did in Game 5. After two weekend mid-afternoon games, the Series goes back to a 7:20 p.m. CT start.

As always, if you can’t watch the game or listen to it, you can follow our tweets at @tweetsfrom1982

’82 World Series: Game 5 Preview

October 17 Leave a Comment

MILWAUKEE — Simply put, in a seven-game series there is no more pivotal game than Game 5. If you lead 3-1, you can clinch the series. If you’re tied 2-2, as the Brewers and Cardinals are, the winner of Game 5 only has one more to win.

For the Crew, Game 5 is a must win. It’s at home with the next two* (one more game for sure, another if necessary) scheduled for St. Louis. Yes, the Crew split the opening two games at Busch Stadium, but we’ve seen what has happened to the Brewers when they’ve tasted success. Their gag reflex kicks in. Then, their fight or flight instinct revs up as they realize they may not be able to keep playing baseball.

Or as Gorman Thomas told The New York Times, he fully expected submarines to be waiting for the Brewers: “[They] are out there waiting for us. They are lurking in some estuary. But hopefully our sonar will be on track today.”

Gorman said, “estuary.” Erudite.

But there is still plenty of baseball to be played thanks to a rally that … well, a rally that showed the Crew must need to go all Fonzie on their sonar. Down 5-1 in the seventh, the Crew staged a remarkable six-run rally to stun the Cards, 7-5, in Game 4.

“It’s just like an avalanche,” Thomas said of the rally. “The more space it takes up, the bigger it gets. The more guys we got on base, the more runs we scored.”

It would be nice for the Crew not to need to rely on another late-game rally, but then these are the Brewers. I don’t know if they know any other way. It would be cool of the Crew cruised for a change. The Brewers don’t cruise. Drama is their thing.

Except in Game 1, where Mike Caldwell and the Brewers offense blunted any sense of drama by winning 10-0. Iron Mike takes the hill in Game 5. Brewers fans would welcome a similar caning of the Cards at County Stadium today. Their Game 1 victim, Bob Forsch takes the mound for the Cards. Game time is 3:25 pm ET.

If you can’t watch the game or listen to it, you can follow our tweets at @tweetsfrom1982

’82 World Series: Game 4 Preview

October 16 4 Comments

MILWAUKEE — Willie McGee with two home runs and four RBI from the eight hole. Of course that’s how the Crew would fall into a 2-1 hole.

After all that has befallen our beloved baseball team, it would figure that a guy who hit only four homers would hit two in a game. Because that’s how the Brewers roll. Or, in this case, stumble. Right, Gorman?

“We’re in the same boat we were in against Baltimore, in the same boat we were in against California,” Thomas told The New York Times. “The boat hasn’t changed. We’re still riding the same boat. Call it PT-109 or the Love Boat, the boat’s been bottom up in the bay before and we always seem to rise to the occasion.”

Pete Vuckovich hasn’t won since Sept. 20. You may remember that game. Vuke went 11 innings, threw close to 165 pitches. He may be asking if it was worth it. Meanwhile, the Crew couldn’t figure out Joaquin Andujar, who only gave up three hits in 6 1/3 before a Ted Simmons rocket clipped Andujar in the knee.

If Cards pitchers keep befuddling Crew batters as Andujar did, the Brewers may be reduced to caning Cards hurlers in the knees in the bowels of the Stadium.

But if we know anything about these Brewers, it is that they bounce back. Moose Haas will take the mound for the Crew while rookie Dave LaPoint gets the egg for St. Louis.

As always, if you can’t watch the game or listen to it, you can follow our tweets at @tweetsfrom1982.

’82 World Series: Game 3 Preview

October 15 Leave a Comment

MILWAUKEE — With a day to ruminate about the Crew’s silly 5-4 loss to the Cards in Game 2, some of the pain from a painful defeat has abated.

Pete Vuckovich — He’s the man on the hill for the Crew today.

The beauty of today is that it was once a tomorrow to look forward to. If blowing a game as they did in Game 2 happened in a clincher or a Game 7, then it would be a longer, colder winter than usual in Milwaukee.

Yet, only a game, and some momentum, was lost. The series stands at 1-1 and the next three are at County Stadium. The last time the Crew played three in a row at the Stadium, they won all three to make the World Series. Win all three again and the world championship is theirs.

Sounds good doesn’t it? Then, only four of the last 13 World Series have ended in five games or less. The historic trends don’t suggest this series will end early in favor of the Crew. Or the Cards for that matter.

For one, the Brewers are rarely ever comfortable when they’re comfortably ahead (see also: last week of the regular season). Watching them race to leads, whether it’s in the standings or a game, only to see them cough up one or the other or both is still disheartening, but not surprising. Brewers fans have been on a wild ride all season. Why should we expect smooth sailing now?

We shouldn’t, which is why Game 3 will be an interesting litmus test for the Crew. How do they respond to Game 2? How will they handle Joaquin Andujar, the Cards starting pitcher? All those questions will begin to be answered when Pete Vuckovich throws the first pitch at 7:30 p.m. CT.

As always, if you can’t watch the game or listen to it, you can follow our tweets at @tweetsfrom1982

’82 World Series: Game 2 Preview

October 13 Leave a Comment

Paul Molitor — Molly's five hits in Game 1 were a World Series record.

ST. LOUIS — Good ‘ol F. Scott Fitzgerald doesn’t think there are any second acts in American lives. In Game 2, let’s hope the Crew provides a reason for Mr. Fitzgerald to F. himself.

The Crew cruised past the Cards in Game 1 with a 10-0 stomping that was downright historic. It was the third-best shutout in World Series history. Only one team, the 1959 Chicago White Sox (yes, people, they’ve been to a World Series before), scored more in a Game 1 skunking, when they crushed the Dodgers, 11-0. Those damn Yankees own the biggest margin of victory via shutout when they tied the 1960 Series at three games apiece with a 12-0 caning of the Pirates. The Yanks also beat the Pirates 10-0 in Game 3.

There’s an interesting –and frightening — note about both series: the Sox and Yankees, despite their outbursts, lost their respective series. Let’s hope the same fate doesn’t befall the Crew.

An encore in Game 2 would be awesome, though not probable. (Molly getting another record five hits? Robin getting another four? Another double-digit win?) For a team that’s been playing from the seat of its pants for the past two weeks — going to the last game of the season with the Orioles and falling behind two games in the ALCS against the Angels — it will be interesting to see how the Crew handles success.

“We just have to put it behind us and come back and take it easy and have some fun,” Crew skipper Harvey Kuenn told The New York Times after Game 1. “Tonight is over. The key thing for us will be to concentrate on tomorrow.”

Don Sutton takes the mound for the Brewers in Game 2, and if that sounds good to you, that’s because it is. Sutton has been everything the Crew hoped he’d be when they traded for him on Aug. 31. But, where Sutton was able to baffle American League hitters who hadn’t seen him before, the Cardinals know him. They beat him on July 25 as Sutton went eight innings, giving up eight hits and four runs in a 4-3 loss at Busch Stadium.

The Crew, meanwhile, have never seen Stuper, a big, right-handed rookie who has average stuff except for his sinker, which makes life tough on right-handed hitters. Then again, the Brewers seem to be fearless whenever it comes to facing someone new. They swing away regardless of who’s on the hill. That’s why we love ’em.

We would love it if the Crew gave someone else a taste of desperation. If they could put the Cards in a two-game hole, they’d have the next three* (Games 3 and 4; and Game 5, if necessary) at County Stadium. Game 2 isn’t a must win for St. Louis without being an elimination game, but it’s close.

Game time is 7:20 PM CT. Play ball and go Crew!

Of course, if you can’t watch or listen to Game 2, you can follow all the action on our Twitter feed: @tweetsfrom1982

#	Brewers	POS
1	Molitor	3B
2	Yount	SS
3	Cooper	1B
4	Simmons	C
5	Oglivie	LF
6	Thomas	CF
7	Howell	DH
8	Moore	RF
9	Gantner	2B
	Sutton	SP

#	Cardinals	POS
1	Herr	2B
2	Oberkfell	3B
3	Hernandez	1B
4	Hendrick	RF
5	Porter	C
6	L. Smith	LF
7	Iorg	DH
8	McGee	CF
9	O Smith	SS
	Stuper	SP