Paul Splittorff

Closers Fall, Brewers Lose in 9th

July 23

Royals 4, Brewers 3
Brewers now 54-38 (1st)
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KANSAS CITY — Through eight full innings, neither the high powered Brewers nor the Royals could score a run. Starters Bob McClure and Paul Splittorff did all they could do, but neither pitcher would earn a decision.

The game fell on the two preeminent closers in the game, Dan Quisenberry of the Royals and Rollie Fingers of the Brewers. Things changed in a hurry.

Quisenberry took the mound after Splittorff allowed a leadoff single to Ted Simmons in the ninth. Gorman Thomas deposited an 0-2 fastball into the left field bleachers to give the Brewers a 2-0 lead. On the very next pitch, Ben Oglivie made it 3-0 with a home run of his own.

You’d think that would be more than enough to win. Whether or not McClure would remain flawless, the Brewers have Rollie Fingers as back-up. Surely, he wouldn’t fail like Quisenberry, right?

Unfortunately, wrong. McClure allowed a leadoff single to UL Washington and George Brett connected on the first well-hit ball off of McCLure on the evening, a two run home run. Rollie Fingers took the mound and allowed three singles that tied the game before Frank White laid down a successful suicide squeeze to win the game.

Kuenn said it was the hardest defeat in his 45 games as the team’s manager. It may be Brewers’ fans hardest defeat of the season.

Improbable 2-out Rally Carries Crew

July 9

Brewers 9, Royals 6
Brewers now 46-35 (2nd)
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MILWAUKEE — Bottom of the fourth inning. Two outs. Two strikes. Bases empty. Paul Splittorff on the mound for the Royals. Ben Oglivie at the plate for the Brewers.

There is no reason to write about anything that happened in this 9-6 Brewers win over the Kansas City Royals other than that one-third of an inning. It was incredible. Glorious. Improbable. Breath-taking. Baffling.

All the Royals needed was one strike or one out, whatever came first. But Ben Oglivie singled to center. Don Money walked. Ed Romero singled to left to bring in a run. Charlie Moore singled to right to bring in another run. Paul Molitor walked to load the bases. Robin Yount hustled out an infield single to score another run. Cecil Cooper drove in two with a double to center.

Seven straight baserunners? With two outs and the bases empty? You’re kidding?

Well, that wasn’t all. It was all for Splittorff, but the Brewers weren’t quite done. Former Brewer Bill Castro came on to intentionally walk Ted Simmons to load the bases and face Gorman Thomas. Gorman then doubled in Yount and Cooper. Ben Oglivie then came up again and was also intentionally walked. Don Money then struck out to finally end the inning.

Ten batters. Seven runs. Six hits. Four walks. All with the bases empty and two outs.

“With two out,” Gorman Thomas reflected, “you more or less resign yourself to thinking the inning is over.”

Well, that “you” Gorman referred to is apparently anyone other than these Brewers.

“You never figure to score that many,” Gorman continued, “much less with two outs, much less with two outs and nobody on, much less with two outs and two strikes on the hitter.”

Gorman the philosopher is correct. “You” never figure that. But again. These are the Brewers.

Harvey Kuenn has only led this team for a shade over a month, and even he is bright-eyed regularly by the offensive production from this team. “I can’t remember ever seeing an inning like that one,” he said. “It just goes to show you how these guys are capable of battling, especially against a club as good as the Royals.”

Harvey Kuenn was a .303 career hitter who has seen a lot of baseball. This is not the first time this month when he has said that his team did something he had never seen before.

So the Brewers took a 7-1 lead that inning, the Royals battled back to make it somewhat interesting, Mike Caldwell pitched just well enough to hold on, and Rollie Fingers threw 10 of 11 pitches for strikes to get all three batters he faced. That was pretty much the story of the game other than that one-third of an inning.

Oh, and the Twins beat the Red Sox 4-1 in Boston today, meaning the Brewers are back to within a game of first place.

Game Notes: Jim Gantner received a cortisone shot in his ailing throwing shoulder and will not return until after the All-Star Break. … The Brewers and Chicago White Sox will make up their July 6 rainout on July 15 as part of a double header in Milwaukee. Although the originally scheduled game was played in Chicago, there are not any remaining games scheduled between the two teams there.

May 3-5 Series Preview vs. Kansas City

May 3

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)

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.