Brewers 1982

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

Don Sutton

A Little Breathing Room

Leave a Comment

BOSTON — Still holding your breath, Brewers fans?

From the first hit — a single by Paul Molitor to open the game — to the last — Charlie Moore‘s infield squibber to the pitcher in the ninth — it was good to see Harvey’s Wallbangers remembered how to bang walls. Last night, the Crew pounded out 17 hits off three Red Sox pitchers en route to a 9-3 win over Boston at Fenway Park, which means the Brewers and their fans could breathe a little easier.

1982 Topps Don Sutton
Don Sutton takes the hill for the Brewers.

Just as important as the Brewers’ win was the Orioles’ fall-from-the-lead 9-6 loss to the Tigers in Detroit. The Crew now leads the O’s by three games with six to play and Milwaukee’s magic number is now 4 (any combo of Crew wins/O’s losses totaling four means our beloved Brewers are AL East champs).

Really, though, Milwaukee’s magic number — with apologies to the man who wears No. 4, Molitor — is 19. The Kid has been The Man in the AL, and all of baseball, this season. On Tuesday, he showed why he will walk away with the AL MVP.

Yount went 3-for-5 with a homer and three RBI to help power the Crew. It was his 59th multi-hit game of his incredible season and hopefully is the start of a huge week for Yount, who was 5 for his last 24 entering Tuesday night’s game.

Then again, in pounding out 17 hits, everyone — except Stormin’ Gorman Thomas, who took the collar — got well. They can keep it going tonight as John Tudor (13-10) takes the mound for the Red Sox. The Crew kicked the stuffing out of Tudor on June 26 in Boston, banging out five hits, including homers from Charlie Moore, Cecil Cooper and Ben Oglivie, in four innings.

More of the same tonight would be nice. Don Sutton (3-1), who has been dandy since Harry Dalton pilfered him from Houston on Aug. 31, takes the hill for the Crew. Game time is 6:35 CT.

Yount Plays Like AL MVP

Leave a Comment

Brewers 15, Orioles 6
Brewers now 92-61 (1st by 4.0 games)
Box Score | Season Schedule

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?

Brewers Complete Impressive Sweep of Yanks

Leave a Comment

Brewers 14, Yankees 1
Brewers now 89-60 (1st by 2.0 games)
Box Score | Season Schedule

Gorman Thomas
Gorman Thomas led the offensive assault with two doubles and his league leading 37th homer.

MILWAUKEE — Remember those four games in New York last week where the Brewers sustained three of their toughest losses of the season? Yeah, that’s kinda history.

Thanks to a nine-run eighth, the Brewers roasted the Yankees again to complete a three-game sweep in which they outscored humbled New Yorkers 34-5.

“This just shows we aren’t nervous,” said Gorman Thomas, who connected on two doubles and his league-leading 37th homer to lead the Brewers’ attack. “I know certain people have been saying that we’re feelin’ the pressure, that the noose is around our neck. This just shows we’re not feelin’ it. We know that pressure is put on yourself. There is no pressure at the top.”

It was merely a 5-1 Brewers lead until the eighth inning. The Brewers connected on seven consecutive hits (including four doubles and a home run) and eight consecutive baserunners before the first out was recorded by the third Yankees pitcher of the inning. Then, just as it seemed the Brewers would finally put the Yankees out of their misery, Gorman hit his two run homer.

The offense this season has been bordering on historic. The Brewers have a shot at becoming the first team since the 1936 Yankees to have five players drive in at least 100 runs. Cecil Cooper (114), Gorman Thomas (107) and Robin Yount (101) are already there, while Ben Oglivie (95) is certain to join them. Ted Simmons (86) is the only question mark.

Just as amazing, the top three in hits in the American League are all Brewers: Yount (194), Cooper (188) and Paul Molitor (183).

“It’s like trying to fight an octopus,” said Brewers starter Don Sutton, who missed the offensive barrage while he was icing his arm after coming out of the game. “You may be able to stop two, three or even four of the guys, but you know they’re never going to be able to stop them all. They just wrap those arms around you and you can’t shake loose from those tentacles.”

The Brewers may see the second place Orioles with the same level of frustration. Baltimore won again to remain two games back. The Brewers just can’t shake loose.

But now, of course, it gets interesting. Both teams have 13 games remaining, with seven games against each other. The Brewers next host Boston for three games before the Orioles come to town for three. Then it’s a brutal stretch to finish the season in which the Brewers play three in Boston and four in Baltimore.

This thing is far from over. It’s times like these that the Brewers need their closer, Rollie Fingers. He threw on the side again today, but without success.

“It was the same old thing,” Fingers said. “I stopped after 20 throws when the stiffness came. And the only good thing was I threw a little harder this time than [on September 17]. I had a little more velocity.”

Fingers will throw again in a couple of days. Doctors have said he’ll miss a minimum of six more games.

“It feels a little better every day but it’s slow,” Fingers said. “I am hoping to be ready by [September 24 or 25] for Baltimore. That gives me another six days.”

The team is 10-7 without Fingers in the bullpen, but the biggest test is yet to come.

Sutton, Bullpen Implode in Painful Loss

Leave a Comment

Yankees 9, Brewers 8
Brewers now 84-59 (1st by 3.0 games)
Box Score | Season Schedule

Jamie Easterly
Jamie Easterly was a big reason for today's horrible loss.

BRONX, NY — Yesterday’s 14-2 loss was considered the worst under manager Harvey Kuenn. Well, maybe it’s now the second worst.

This article could and should have been about how the Brewers hit back-to-back-to-back home runs for the third time this season. That was merely a footnote in this disaster.

The Brewers led the Yankees 8-2 midway through the sixth inning. Don Sutton, who had sparkled in his two prior Brewers appearances, was on the mound. There was no way they were giving away this game.

Unfortunately, it seemed the Brewers’ players were thinking the same thing. After scoring their eighth run in the fourth, they went scoreless on only two hits the rest of the way.

But an offense that scores eight runs gets a pass. Things got a little less comfortable when the Yankees scored three in the sixth to make it 8-5. But the eighth and ninth, innings typically reserved for closer Rollie Fingers with a three run lead, were the source of greatest concern.

Jamie Easterly relieved Sutton in the bottom of the seventh and struck out pinch hitter Lou Piniella to end the inning. The dependable Jim Slaton was warmed up and ready to pitch the eighth. But Kuenn stuck with the not-so-dependable Easterly.

“He was throwing pretty good but was a bit erratic,” Kuenn explained.

Fine. But Graig Nettles led off the bottom of the eighth with a home run to make it 8-6. With one down, Easterly walked Barry Evans to bring the tie run to the plate.

Time for a bullpen move? Hello? No?

Bobby Ramos then hit his second career home run to tie the game. In the bottom of the ninth, Jim Slaton finally came into the game and proved that he may not have been a superior option. He loaded the bases before giving up the game winning hit to Roy Smalley.

Clearly, the Brewers missed Rollie Fingers today, who is still out with a slight tear in his forearm and is out for an unknown amount of time. This is not the first time a healthy Rollie Fingers could have been the difference and it is unlikely to be the last.

“I don’t think about not having him,” Kuenn assured us. “Though I wish every day he would come in and tell me he was ready. We have other guys who can get the job done. I am sure of it.”

Well, I’m not so sure, Harvey.

The Orioles also lost so the Brewers remain up three games in the AL East. Tomorrow starts a three game series with the Tigers in Detroit.

Brewers Make Most of Hits

Leave a Comment

Brewers 9, Tigers 7
Brewers now 83-56 (1st by 4.0 games)
Box Score | Season Schedule

Cecil Cooper
Cecil Cooper hit his 29th home run of the season.

MILWAUKEE — Yesterday, the Brewers dominated the Tigers with the suffocating pitching of Don Sutton. Tonight, well… They just found a way to win.

It wasn’t pretty. The Tigers outhit the Brewers 17-10. They had five extra base hits to only three for the Brewers.

“We scattered 17 hits very nicely tonight,” manager Harvey Kuenn joked to the Milwaukee Sentinel. “We just outscored them. It isn’t exactly what you’d call a well played ballgame. But you are going to play some of these and win them. This was a big win for us.”

When the Tigers started the game with two runs in the first, the Brewers responded with four, thanks largely to a three-run home run by Cecil Cooper before an out was made.

The Tigers tacked on a couple more in the top of the third on a double by Enos Cabell, and the Brewers fought back with three of their own. Take a jab, connect on two uppercuts.

It happened again in the fifth when the Tigers started with two runs on hits by Lance Parrish and Jim Turner. The Brewers countered with two of their own in the bottom of the inning, one on a two-out squeeze single by Charlie Moore and another on a hit up the middle by Ed Romero.

That’s the way it was all night long. The Tigers didn’t have much trouble scoring on Brewers pitching, but they simply couldn’t keep up. Bob McClure, staked to a 7-3 lead in the fourth, was unable to survive the fifth to get the win. Moose Haas, who moved to the bullpen to make room for Don Sutton in the rotation, allowed two runs in five innings of relief.

Of course, it was Haas who pitched the final two innings because Rollie Fingers is still nursing a slight tear in his forearm. He was originally expected to be out a week, but after an evaluation today it looks like he’ll be out another week.

Fingers says his arm feels a little better, but there is still pain when he throws. When will he return? “Your guess is as good as mine,” Fingers said.

The Baltimore Orioles and Boston Red Sox, second and third in the AL East, both lost and fell to 4 and 5 1/2 games back respectively. The Orioles have won 17 of 19, yet gained only 2 1/2 games on the Brewers who finished up a solid homestand.

Next up is a four-game series in New York.

Sutton Shines in Shutout

Leave a Comment

Brewers 4, Tigers 0
Brewers now 82-56 (1st by 3.0 games)
Box Score | Season Schedule

1982 Topps Don Sutton
Don Sutton was awesome!

MILWAUKEE — This is why the Brewers gave up three prospects for Don Sutton.

Sutton was absolutely brilliant. Locked in a pitcher’s duel with Dan Petry, Sutton didn’t blink. Petry finally did.

The Brewers were held scoreless by Petry through seven innings on only three hits. Meanwhile, Sutton had blanked the Tigers as well on six hits. In two starts with his new team, the Brewers had provided two runs of support.

“I had been reading the box scores all summer,” said Sutton. “I knew what these guys could do. They just wanted to break me in, not have me take it for granted.”

In the eighth inning, the Brewers offense figured the initiation of Sutton was complete. Ed Romero, Paul Molitor and Robin Yount hit consecutive one-out singles, with Yount’s hit scoring Romero. Then Cecil Cooper hit a three-run blast to right to cap it off.

Sutton’s final line was exactly what the Brewers had paid for, and then some: Nine innings, no runs, seven hits, no walks, nine strikeouts. And, most importantly, the win.

The shutout was Sutton’s 56th of his career, tying him with Bob Gibson for ninth all-time. Brewers catcher Ted Simmons caught a few of those from Gibson as well.

“I just followed Simmons all night long,” Sutton said. “I think I changed two pitches from curveballs to sliders. But I followed him all night long.”

Sutton had the Tigers pounding grounders all night long. The outfielders had to be bored, accounting for only five of the 27 outs. Only three Tigers reached as far as second base, and only once were there two runners on base at a time.

“I’d say he was worth the investment,” manager Harvey Kuenn confirmed.

There is no doubt after this game. Brewers fans aren’t even phased by the fact that Frank DiPino, among the prospects dealt to Houston, made his sparkling debut tonight, striking out 10 and walking none in five innings.

If Brewers fans have anything to worry about, it’s closer Rollie Fingers, who has been forbidden from even picking up a ball. The slight tear in his forearm will be examined tomorrow.