Brewers 1982

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

Ken Griffey

Brewers Lose Game of Inches in 10

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Yankees 5, Brewers 4 (10)
Brewers now 83-57 (1st by 4.0 games)
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Ben Oglivie
Ben Oglivie's three-run homer wasn't enough.

BRONX, NY — This was a game of inches. Or feet. Either way, they didn’t go in the Brewers’ favor in the opening game of a four-game series with the Yankees.

In the third inning, the Yankees took a 4-0 lead. But it could have just as easily remained scoreless.

With one down and two on, Ken Griffey hit a pop-up to left. Robin Yount headed out and Ben Oglivie crashed in, but it fell in between them for a two-run double. Then Dave Winfield blasted a two-run homer off of the right field foul pole.

“Give me three feet,” general manager Harry Dalton said after the game, “and we are out of that inning with no runs.”

Even so, the Brewers didn’t give up.

Down 4-0 with two outs in the top of the eighth, Gorman Thomas cashed in on his own luck with a squib base hit off the end of his bat that scored a run. Then Ben Oglivie threw luck out the window with a monstrous three-run homer to tie the game.

Pete Vuckovich threw for the first nine innings, and other than the third was excellent. When he ran out of steam, Pete Ladd relieved him in the 10th. With one out, Jerry Mumphrey launched a 1-1 pitch into the bleachers in right center for the game winner.

“I didn’t think it was a home run at first,” lamented Ladd. “Then it carried, then I thought Thomas had a shot at it and then it went out.”

Of course, Ladd likely would not have been in that position if not for the injury to closer Rollie Fingers. Out with a slight tear in his pitching forearm, Fingers is expected to be out at least another week.

“I know the sun will come up tomorrow,” Ladd said. “Fingers came right up to me and said not to worry as it has happened to him 25 times.”

Maybe. But that doesn’t keep Brewers fans from worrying.

Steinbrenner Protests Brewers Win

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Brewers 3, Yankees 2
Brewers now 37-29 (2nd)
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Pete Vuckovich
Vuckovich has been the game's most successful pitcher since the start of the 1981 season.

MILWAUKEE — Following today’s game, Yankees owner George Steinbrenner was fuming. He was so steamed that he is protesting the results and sent a videotape of two plays to league president Lee McPhail.

In other words, the Yankees lost and George needed someone to blame. The plays in question were of little consequence. Had they gone another way, there is little guarantee the Yankees could have found a way to score.

The truth is that had the Yankees taken advantage of a first inning opportunity, George would be happy. After nine pitches and no outs, New York had loaded the bases on Brewers starter Pete Vuckovich, who had thrown only two strikes. Somehow, some way, Vuke escaped that inning by only allowing a single run. It would be important in what would become a low scoring game.

Cecil Cooper quickly made the Yankees pay for failing to score more runs when he hit a booming two-run home run to right in the bottom of the first. The Yankees would tie it up on a Roy Smalley solo homer in the top of the second, but Marshall Edwards would give the Crew the lead for good in the bottom of the inning with a run-scoring, infield single.

That’s right. Each team scored at least one run in each of the first two innings, but that was it. Of course, that doesn’t mean the following innings lacked controversy.

Willie Randolph led off the top of the third with a bunt in front of the plate. Vuckovich made an athletic play to get to the ball and throw a bullet to first. Randolph was called out, and he showed his disapproval. George, too, griped about the call.

Ken Griffey would follow with a walk, but the Yankees would fail to get a hit that inning. So there is little reason to believe that a close call at first would have changed the game in the third.

In the eighth, Yankees left fielder Dave Collins popped up a foul behind the plate. Ted Simmons went back to the screen and made the catch. Steinbrenner claimed Simmons trapped the ball against the screen. This dispute borders on ridiculous. Had Simmons actually trapped the ball, Collins still needed to reach base. Vuke had retired the Yankees in order in the eighth, so this was far from a game-changing call.

What isn’t in dispute? Rollie Fingers‘ dominance. After Jerry Mumphrey singled to lead off the top of the ninth, Fingers was summoned from the bullpen. Eight pitches and two strikeouts later, the inning and game were over.

Covering his last two outings, Rollie has thrown 18 pitches, 17 for strikes. He’s retired all six batters he’s faced and five were via the strikeout.

The Brewers keep winning, and they’re having fun. “We were a squabbling, bickering bunch of guys for a while,” first baseman Cecil Cooper said of the days under former manager Buck Rodgers. “I think [Kuenn] deserves a lot of credit just for creating that type of atmosphere. It’s fun. I think that’s the way it should be. Come out and have fun.”

It’s this type of atmosphere that is lacking in New York. It’s why the Yankees are losing, and it’s why George Steinbrenner needs someone to blame.

Game Notes: It was the Brewers’ seventh straight win, remaining four games back of the Red Sox … At 23-6, Pete Vuckovich has won more games than any pitcher in baseball since the start of the 1981 season. He’s won eight straight, tying Mike Caldwell for the club record … Rollie Fingers recorded his 16th save … Yankees shortstop Bucky Dent announced after the game that if he is selected to start the All-Star Game that he would decline. Robin Yount is currently second in the balloting.