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’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.

The St. Louis Massacre

October 19 1 Comment

Cardinals 13, Brewers 1
World Series now tied 3-3
Box Score | Season Schedule

ST. LOUIS — There was rain. There was mud. The only thing missing from this one-sided battle was blood.

After two stoppages totaling two hours and 39 minutes in rain delays, the St. Louis Cardinals finally put the Brewers out of their Game 6 misery by winning 13-1. It was torture to watch.

Here’s hoping the Brewers pull out Game 7 to win the World Series. Then, and only then, will I be able to forget this debacle.

If the Brewers win Game 7, Tuesday’s game will be something we smile and laugh about. It’ll even be a game pushed entirely out of our memories. “Remember Game 6 when the Brewers embarrassed themselves and their fans with an all-around pathetic display in the midst of more than two hours of rain delays?” Nope. Don’t remember it. I just remember running naked around the neighborhood after the big Game 7 win.

It shouldn’t have been this way. The Brewers were coming off of two emotional victories that gave them a 3-2 series lead. They had a day off to rest their weary. They had Don Sutton on the mound, the man who so many times during the past month and change has saved their season.

For the first time since his acquisition, Don Sutton was awful. In a game that the Brewers desperately needed a complete or nearly complete effort, Sutton went only 4 1/3 innings before turning it over to the bullpen. By the time he handed the ball to Harvey, his team had a seven-run deficit.

“I have no excuse,” said Sutton. “I was sitting in the clubhouse icing my arm trying to think of one but there are none.”

We don’t care about excuses, Don. We just want wins.

Meanwhile, rookie John Stuper pitched a complete game, allowing only four hits. The only run scored on a wild pitch in the ninth inning. The performance was all the more impressive given that it covered nearly five hours, including the rain delays.

Jim Slaton and Dwight Bernard were solid in relief for the Brewers, as they and the rest of the bullpen have been all postseason. But Doc Medich, who is more accustomed to the work of an ineffective starter, gave up the remaining six runs in two innings of work.

In Game 5, Mike Caldwell and the Brewers held the Cardinals to four runs even though they mashed out 15 hits. St. Louis was much more efficient in Game 6, scoring 13 on 12 hits. Of course, four Brewers errors tended to help. Robin Yount and Jim Gantner each committed two, and Gantner tied a World Series record (also held by Honus Wagner) with at least one error in four straight games.

Those four Brewers errors led to four unearned runs. The Brewers defense has committed at least one error in all but the first game of this World Series, flubbing 11 over the remaining five games. Going back to Game 4 of the ALCS, the Brewers have committed 17 errors in eight games.

You want to prevent the opposition from scoring 13 runs, and the pitching and defense were not up to that challenge. But when your offense is set down in order five times and reaches on only four hits, you’re not going to win many games. Actually, you shouldn’t win any games.

The cowardly retort would be to blame the rain. Don’t blame the rain. The Brewers were already down 7-0, the game well out of reach, when the tarp first touched the infield. No, this was a full team effort. A colossal failure in every respect.

Paul Molitor (1-for-4) and Robin Yount (0-for-4 and two errors) didn’t contribute much in this game. But it’s tough to blame two players who are batting .326 and .366 respectively in the playoffs. And Charlie Moore is hitting a surprising .389 while Jim Gantner hits a respectable .270 (though his defense certainly isn’t helping).

It’s everyone else in between. It’s amazing we’re still in the position to win a World Series title when Cecil Cooper is hitting .222, Ted Simmons is hitting .189, Ben Oglivie is hitting .184 and Gorman Thomas is “hitting” .108. Essentially, the Crew’s only chance of scoring starts at the bottom of the order. Not how they drew it up.

And Harvey. Please, Harvey. Don’t play Roy Howell in Game 7. The bearded wonder has yet to collect a postseason hit.

“Everybody always wants to see the World Series go 7 games,” claims manager Harvey Kuenn. “So now everybody should be happy.” I don’t know who these people are who want a Game 7, Harvey, but they aren’t Brewers fans.

We’ll have Vuke on the mound for that seventh game, and I don’t know if that’s a blessing or a curse. He’s the possible AL Cy Young winner for the regular season, but Pete Vuckovich hasn’t won a big game since Sept. 20 in Boston.

Maybe he’s due? Oh, is he ever.

I tend to overreact. What are your feelings about this loss and the prospects for another final game win?

’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

Almost There…

October 18 Leave a Comment

MILWAUKEE — One win away. Just one more win until baseball immortality. Just one more win until the Brewers deliver the city’s first World Series title since 1957.

Yount was every bit his MVP self in Games 4 and 5 in Milwaukee.

Still, Brewers fans stormed the field after Game 5 as if the Crew had won the Series. (And if they had not gagged in Game 2, this series would be over.) There’s a saying about acting as if you’ve been there before, but to be frank, the Crew hasn’t been there before. No one in my generation has been there before. It may be the last time until a victory parade that the Brewers fans would be able to get up close and personal.

Here’s hoping some of them didn’t storm the field thinking the Series was five games and that it was over. It was almost as if the parade plans have been made.

As much as i’d like to imagine the parade, the celebration and the ability to bribe my mom into staying up past my bedtime to watch Game 6 and Game 7, if necessary, will have to wait.

No, the Brewers need to get this over with in Game 6 with Don Sutton on the mound. Giving the Cards another shot in Game 7 could prove disastrous. Now is the time. It would be the smart and judicious thing to do.

The Brewers haven’t proven to be that this season, waiting ’til the last second to pull another rabbit out of their ball-and-glove caps, thrilling and frightening us every step of the way. But it’s time to get off the roller coaster ride. Game 4 was another example. With a comfortable 6-2 lead, the Crew surrendered two in the ninth and the Cards had two on with the winning runs at the plate for two outs.

It’s time to get off the roller coaster and earn a leisurely ride down Wisconsin Avenue with a World Series trophy in their hands. There’s no better time than now.

Brewers Win, Lead 3-2

October 17 1 Comment

Brewers 6, Cardinals 4
Brewers now lead World Series 3-2
Box Score | Season Schedule

Mike Caldwell was good enough to win Game 5.

MILWAUKEE — After winning Game 5 of a best of seven World Series to take a 3-2 lead, Brewers fans are getting confident. They may even be getting a bit cocky.

Following Robin Yount‘s solo home run to give the Brewers a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the seventh, fans responded by chanting MVP! MVP! MVP!

When Ozzie Smith stepped to the plate in a fruitless at bat with two outs in the top of the eighth, fans screamed Ozzie who? Ozzie who?

When All-Star closer Bruce Sutter stepped on the field moments later in an effort to keep the Cardinals close, fans repeated their chant for Sutter’s benefit: Sutter who? Sutter who?

The Brewers then took a 6-2 lead on a RBI singles by Charlie Moore and Jim Gantner. Even as the Cardinals mounted a rally in the top of the ninth, Brewers faithful started loading the bottom of the stands in preparation for a victorious eruption.

As soon as Gene Tenace‘s fly ball landed in Ben Oglivie‘s glove for the final out of the game to complete the final Brewers home game of the World Series, fans rushed the field to celebrate. Knowing that they wouldn’t have a chance to swarm the field in St. Louis when the Brewers eventually win the World Series, they stormed the County Stadium turf. They took chunks of grass as souvenirs along the way.

Moments after the victory, fans then stormed the streets of downtown Milwaukee, breaking beer bottles and branches along Wisconsin Avenue. As many as a dozen fistfights broke out, most related to intoxication.

“I’m sick of this stuff,” said an unnamed officer. “Do you know how much it costs tax payers to clean up this mess night after night?”

No, we don’t, sir. But I don’t think we care.

Lost in the mayhem, Robin Yount collected four hits for the second time of this World Series, setting yet another record in his likely MVP season. He’s on pace to wrap up the year with even more hardware: A World Series MVP.

“I wasn’t aware of it,” Yount said about the record. “I guess I feel the same about it as getting the four hits. It’s not a big deal. I don’t care about World Series records. Winning the World Series is what’s on my mind right now.”

Damn right, Brewers fans. Damn right.

After a day off tomorrow, the series will pick back up on October 19. The Brewers will then try to make the celebration in Milwaukee official.

’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