Brewers 1982

Covering the Milwaukee Brewers throughout the 1982 season, in real-time, as it would have happpened.

Yount Plays Like AL MVP

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Brewers 15, Orioles 6
Brewers now 92-61 (1st by 4.0 games)
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Robin Yount
Robin Yount is playing like the AL MVP.

MILWAUKEE — Who is the American League MVP? Just listen to the County Stadium crowd for the answer.

M-V-P! M-V-P! M-V-P!

Don Sutton and the Brewers fell behind the second place Baltimore Orioles 4-0 in the first inning tonight. It’s the first of seven games between the two teams over the final 10 games of the season. The tone was being set. But then…

M-V-P! M-V-P! M-V-P!

Paul Molitor led off the bottom of the first with a single to center, and Robin Yount hammered the second pitch from Mike Flanagan into the center field bleachers for his 25th home run of the season.

“As soon as he hit the ball,” Molitor said, “I knew we were back in it.”

M-V-P! M-V-P! M-V-P!

The Brewers tied the game in the third. Then Yount started the scoring in a five-run fourth with an RBI single. The Orioles then started to claw back, scoring three in the top of the sixth to make it a 9-6 game.

With three runs across the plate in the bottom of the sixth and two runners on with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Robin stepped to the plate again. Yount blasted a three-run homer into the bleachers in right to make it 15-6.

M-V-P! M-V-P! M-V-P!

The crowd chanted. The roars got louder as Yount entered the Brewers dugout. The All-Star shortstop obliged and acknowledged the fans with a hat tip.

“It was touching,” Yount said of the curtain call. “I will admit it was difficult to concentrate after that. But it felt good.”

Yount became the first American League shortstop with more than 196 hits in a season. He now has 199. MVP indeed.

Beyond the crucial win, the Brewers got more good news today. Injured reliever Rollie Fingers threw 30 pitches for his personal trainer H Paul Bauer, and Bauer thinks that Fingers will be back by October 1 for the series in Baltimore.

“I tell you right now,” Bauer said, “I guarantee he will be back within a week.”

Bauer is the physician for the San Diego Chargers, but formerly with the Padres when Fingers played there. Worried he doesn’t know what he’s talking about?

“I’ve been in baseball quite a few years,” he assures us. “He is going to hurt a little but he is going to throw. I know Rollie pretty well. He is a little worried because he is afraid he is going to tear something further.

“But I can guarantee he will be ready and not hurt himself anymore.”

Want confirmation from Fingers? Good luck.

“If you ask me how my arm is I’m going to deck you,” an agitated Fingers warned. “And spread the word around the press box.”

So… Be optimistic… but don’t talk to Fingers about it?

Caldwell Complete Again

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Brewers 3, Red Sox 1
Brewers now 91-61 (1st by 2.5 games)
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Mike Caldwell
Mike Caldwell AGAIN!

MILWAUKEE — Mike Caldwell pitched another gem, allowing one run on four hits in a complete game victory over the third place Boston Red Sox.

If it seems like you’ve read this recap before it’s because it’s becoming a common occurrence. Sure, the opponent may change, but the results are the same.

It was Caldwell’s third consecutive complete game, his seventh in his last 10 starts and his 12th overall.

Wait, are we talking about the same Mike Caldwell who was 4-5 with a 4.70 ERA through May and seemed to be on his way off the team? That Mike Caldwell? Yes, that Mike Caldwell.

“It’s simple,” Caldwell said, “you can sum it up in two words, Harvey Kuenn. When a man sends you out and believes in your ability, it’s easy to do the job you’re capable of.

“When Harvey came in, he told me I was one of his pitchers. He showed complete confidence in me. It’s an intangible. It helps you be a successful player.”

The stats back it up. Caldwell is 14-5 with a 3.38 ERA since June 2 when Harvey Kuenn took over as manager.

The offense was largely Ben Oglivie. Typically a pull hitter, Oglivie hit a solo home run to the opposite field in the second and an RBI double that same way in the eighth. The home run was his 32nd of the season.

The Brewers picked up a half game on Baltimore after their game with the Tigers was rained out. The Brewers have a day off tomorrow before hosting the Orioles for three games.

Extra Innings Again, but Boston Prevails

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Red Sox 4, Brewers 3 (10)
Brewers now 90-61 (1st by 2.0 games)
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Paul Molitor
Paul Molitor's eighth inning home run forced extra innings.

MILWAUKEE — For the second consecutive day, the Brewers mounted a late rally to push the Red Sox to extra innings. Unlike yesterday, however, the Brewers couldn’t pull out the win for the home crowd.

With two outs and a runner on third in the 10th inning, reliever Dwight Bernard walked Dwight Evans on four pitches. His first two pitches to Jim Rice were also out of the strike zone.

“With the count 2-0, you have to figure he’s looking for a pitch to jerk,” Bernard said of his approach.

Rice hit a bouncing ball up the middle for a hit to score Glenn Hoffman for the eventual winning run.

“I am a ground ball pitcher,” continued Bernard. “I got a ground ball out of Remy. I got a ground ball out of Rice. He just hit it in the wrong place, no one was there to catch it.”

After Paul Molitor hit a home run to tie it in the eighth, the second dramatic late-inning home run to tie a game in as many days, it seemed the Brewers would pull out another big win. But they stranded two runners in the ninth and couldn’t get a runner past first in the 10th.

The good news is that the second place Baltimore Orioles also lost to remain two games out. Of course, the bad news is also that the Baltimore Orioles lost. The Brewers missed an opportunity to finally gain a game.

The other bad news is that embattled reliever Rollie Fingers still isn’t progressing from his forearm injury. He participated in his third throwing session in five days today, and was able to throw 30 pitches before his arm stiffened instead of 20. But there’s still no timetable for his return.

“It’s the same as the other day,” said manager Harvey Kuenn, “so we will wait and see what develops. If he can come back and pitch it’s a bonus. At this point, you have to figure that you won’t be able to use him for the rest of the year.”

Not what we were wanting to hear, Harvey. Hopefully there’s a miracle left in that arm.

Oglivie’s Clutch Homer Gives Brewers Life

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Brewers 4, Red Sox 3 (11)
Brewers now 90-60 (1st by 2.0 games)
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1982 Fleer Ben Oglivie
Ben Oglivie's last gasp home run in the ninth gave the Brewers life.

MILWAUKEE — For 8 2/3 innings and 83 pitches, Dennis Eckersley dominated the Milwaukee Brewers. But then, with a 3-2 lead and an 0-2 count…

“With two strikes I had to swing at anything close,” Ben Oglivie said of his ninth inning at bat. “I was looking for hard stuff. He got me out the other three times up that way.”

Oglivie guessed right. Eckersley dealt him a high fastball that Benji smacked into the right field bleachers to tie the game at three.

“This would have to be one of my biggest moments as far as the team… It has to be one of the greatest moments for me.”

Of course, had the Brewers lost in extra innings, Oglivie’s heroics would have been simply a footnote.

Robin Yount started the 11th by beating out an infield single. Cecil Cooper then singled to right to put runners at first and second with no outs. Third base coach Harry Warner then gave Ted Simmons the bunt sign. It would be Simmons’ first sacrifice bunt of the season.

“It was a hell of a bunt,” Warner said. “Boggs was playing behind Coop at first. The whole team thought he was going to hit.”

After Simmons’ surprise sacrifice bunt, the Red Sox intentionally walked Ben Oglivie to load the bases and set up a double play opportunity with Gorman Thomas at the plate.

“He’s got the best sinker in the league,” Thomas said of Red Sox reliever Bob Stanley. “Last thing I wanted to do was hit it on the ground.”

Thomas was able to hit a fly ball to left to score Yount with the winning run.

It was a classic Pete Vuckovich game. He regularly got himself into and out of trouble. The Red Sox stranded nine runners, but were 2-for-15 with runners in scoring position and grounded into an astounding five double plays. Vuckovich pitched all 11 innings for his 18th win in 22 decisions.

“Anytime you win one it’s a big one,” Thomas said. “But because there are only so many left (12 games), they seem so much bigger.”

Every win does seem big right now, particularly with Baltimore winning seemingly every night. They won yet again, taking the Tigers 3-1 to remain two games back of the Crew.

Game Notes: Charlie Moore extended his hitting streak to 12 games and Cecil Cooper to 14 games. … Paul Molitor, who hit .429 with three homers, two triples, nine RBI, 25 total bases and 11 runs scored, was named AL Player of the Week.