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Brewers 1982

Brewers 1982

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

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Larry Gura

Stars Come Out in California

August 25 Leave a Comment

Brewers 7, Angels 3
Brewers now 73-51 (1st by 5.0 games)
Box Score | Season Schedule

1982 Topps Stickers Robin Yount
Yount went 4-for-5 with two doubles and a home run.

ANAHEIM — Tonight’s game with the California Angels was won by the Milwaukee Brewers because of three players: Ted Simmons, Robin Yount and Pete Vuckovich.

It was the slow-footed Simmons who dropped a surprise bunt in the first with two outs and Yount on third that would score a run.

“That surprised everyone,” manager Harvey Kuenn told the Milwaukee Sentinel. “Including myself. He did it strictly on his own. I know he caught the Angels by surprise and us too. A pleasant surprise.”

In the bottom of the first, Simmons stepped up again to keep the Brewers in the lead. With two outs, Rod Carew took off from first on a pitch to Fred Lynn. Lynn laced a base hit into the gap in right center, and Carew raced around third towards the plate. Outfielder Charlie Moore fired a one hop bullet to Simmons, who blocked the plate and tagged Carew before he could score.

Simmons, of course, was not done. In the fifth inning and the score still 1-0, the Brewers catcher again made his presence known with two outs. Simmons drove a Steve Renko fastball over the right field wall for a two-run homer to give the Brewers a 3-0 lead.

That would be a critical hit as the Angels would strike right back in the bottom of the fifth with two runs of their own. The Angels would then pull to within one on a Reggie Jackson solo homer in the bottom of the sixth.

At that point, it was shortstop Robin Yount who took center stage. Robin doubled home Paul Molitor in the top of the seventh to give the Brewers a two-run lead and knock out Renko. Then, in the top of the ninth and Molitor on again, Yount knocked a two run homer to put the game out of reach. Yount finished with four hits, two runs scored and three runs batted in.

The contributions of Simmons and Yount were nice, but it was the mound work of Pete Vuckovich that kept the Brewers in control all game. Vuke allowed only three earned runs on seven hits in a complete game to improve to 15-4. Vuke shares the league lead in wins with Kansas City’s Larry Gura, and he stands alone with a .790 winning percentage. Vuckovich is now 29-8 in his two seasons with the Brewers and is gaining a reputation for winning big games.

“He’s got to be the best,” Kuenn said of Vuckovich. “He rises to the occasion each and every time.”

The second place Red Sox beat the Mariners 5-4 in 12 innings to keep pace five games back of the Brewers. Milwaukee has a day off tomorrow before starting a four-game series with the A’s in Milwaukee.

Game Notes: Reggie Jackson hit his 31st home run of the season, pulling to within one of Gorman Thomas for the AL lead. … Rickey Henderson of the A’s stole two more bases and now has 116, two shy of Lou Brock‘s single season record. Henderson and the A’s now head to Milwaukee for four games, where the Brewers will be challenged to prevent Henderson from breaking the record.

Filed Under: Game Recap Tagged With: Angels, Charlie Moore, Fred Lynn, Gorman Thomas, Harvey Kuenn, Larry Gura, Paul Molitor, Pete Vuckovich, Reggie Jackson, Rickey Henderson, Robin Yount, Rod Carew, Steve Renko, Ted Simmons

Yount’s Homers Not Enough

July 25 Leave a Comment

Royals 6, Brewers 4
Brewers now 55-39 (1st)
Box Score | Season Schedule

Robin Yount
Robin Yount's two home runs were not enough.

KANSAS CITY — Royals starting pitcher Larry Gura had a dream last night. “I had a no-hitter through eight innings,” he told the Milwaukee Sentinel after the game. “I told my wife I didn’t know what happened in the ninth.”

Well, Robin Yount put an end to that dream quickly with a home run in the first inning, but Gura did a good job of holding the Brewers’ bats down all game long in a 6-4 Royals win.

In fact, other than the first inning home run and a second Yount homer in the fourth, Gura was perfect through the first 6 1/3 innings. He was so frustrated with Yount that in the sixth inning he told catcher Don Slaught to let Robin know what pitch was coming next. Slaught declined and Yount grounded out to third.

Gura should not be ashamed considering Yount is 14-for-23 (.609) on this road trip, and is now hitting .337 overall, only eight points behind the league leader, Royal Willie Wilson.

Trailing 6-2 in the seventh, the Brewers did manage to make the game interesting. With one out, Ted Simmons doubled off of the wall in right center and Gura then walked both Gorman Thomas and Ben Oglivie to load the bases. Don Money then hit a two-run single to end Gura’s night and Mike Armstrong relieved him. Jim Gantner then hit a liner to center that Willie Wilson misjudged, only to recover and make a spectacular running catch. If not for his speed, the Brewers would have likely tied the game there if not taken the lead.

Armstrong would allow only a hit over the final 2 2/3 innings for his third save, giving the Royals the series win.

Unfortunately for the Brewers, the Boston Red Sox beat the Twins to pull back to within a half game of first place. But if you ask Harvey Kuenn, Boston may not be the team the Brewers should be worrying about.

Every morning, he opens the sports section to check the AL East standings. He starts with the Brewers and then scrolls down to find out where the Orioles are, the team he fears the most in the division.

Game Notes: The Brewers have a .681 winning percentage since Harvey Kuenn took over.

Filed Under: Game Recap Tagged With: Ben Oglivie, Don Money, Don Slaught, Gorman Thomas, Harvey Kuenn, Jim Gantner, Larry Gura, Mike Armstrong, Robin Yount, Royals, Ted Simmons, Willie Wilson

May 3-5 Series Preview vs. Kansas City

May 3 Leave a Comment

Match-ups
May 3 at 7:30 pm
Mike Caldwell (1-1, 3.16 ERA) vs. Paul Splittorff (1-1, 3.38 ERA)

May 4 at 7:30 pm
Bob McClure (1-1, 5.94 ERA) vs. Larry Gura (2-1, 5.54 ERA)

May 5 at 12:30 pm
Moose Haas (1-1, 4.10 ERA) vs. Vida Blue (1-2, 4.15 ERA)

1982 Records
Milwaukee Brewers: 11-8 (3rd in AL East)
Kansas City Royals: 12-9 (2nd in AL West)

George Brett
If the Royals are going to beat the Brewers, George Brett may have to do it on his own.

At 11-8, the Brewers are an above average team that has compiled its record against teams that have a combined 44-62 (.415) record. Of the five teams they’ve faced (Chicago, Cleveland, Minnesota, Texas and Toronto) only Chicago (.571) has a winning percentage over .410. But the Brewers only played the White Sox twice and split the series.

So what do we know about a team that has played 17 of their 19 games against bad teams? Not much. They can win more than they lose when they play them. That’s good.

But it’s easy to be disappointed in the start. The schedule was lined up for the Brewers to have a lead in first place in the AL East prior to taking on a wicked schedule against AL West teams during the month of May. The Brewers could have used some cushion.

The Royals are not the Minnesota Twins. They’re not the Chicago White Sox, for that matter. This is a new challenge. How they perform in this series will help us get a peek at whether the Brewers are a legit contender or a paper champion that has benefitted from a weak April schedule.

[Read more…] about May 3-5 Series Preview vs. Kansas City

Filed Under: Series Preview Tagged With: Amos Otis, Bob McClure, George Brett, Larry Gura, Lee May, Mike Caldwell, Moose Haas, Paul Splittorff, Royals, UL Washington, Vida Blue, Willie Aikens, Willie Wilson

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