Part 4: The Final
Week
With
one week to go in the regular season, the Jays seemed to have the division all
wrapped up with a five and a half game lead over the New York Yankees. All the
critics, particularly the American Baseball writers and commentators who didn’t
want a team in a Canadian city in the playoffs, had to tune down their
predictions that the Jays’ young team couldn’t handle the pressure in a pennant
race, and instead tried to put the city of Toronto in a negative twist. They started
complaining about how cold it would be in Toronto in October. There were even
some who sarcastically suggested that the visitors playing in Exhibition
Stadium in the American League Championship Series or World Series would have
to pack their snowshoes in order to get better footing on the frozen wintery
turf.
None of them bothered to mention
that northern cities in the United States, ummm, let’s see, Detroit, New York,
Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis, Milwaukee (I guess I’ll stop there)
are also subject to inclement weather in the winter. They also didn’t bother to
say that winter in Toronto usually doesn’t start until December, maybe the
middle of November at the earliest.
However, nothing could sour the Jays and their fans who were savouring the
opportunity to see the team win its first division crown—except the slump the
Jays were about to have at the worst possible time.
After sweeping Milwaukee on the
second last weekend of the season, the Jays’ record stood at 98-57. The talk
was no longer if they could win the division; it was how many wins on the plus
side of one hundred could they get.
On the final Monday, the Jays
were idle, while the Yankees beat Baltimore 5-4 to pick up a half game and were
now five back. On Tuesday, the Yankees beat Milwaukee 6-1 while the Jays lost
to Detroit by the same 6-1 score; the lead was down to four games. On
Wednesday, the Jays lost again to the Tigers, 4-2, but caught a break when the
Yanks lost 1-0 to Milwaukee. On Thursday, the Jays lost again, getting swept by
Detroit while the Yankees won, closing the gap to three games.
Things were getting tense in
Toronto. The lead was down to three, with three games left to play—against the
Yankees. Even though the three games would be held in Exhibition Stadium, Jays’
fans were starting to fear the worst. If the Yankees swept the weekend series,
the two teams would be tied, which would necessitate a tie-breaker that would be
held on Monday at Yankee Stadium.
Deep breath!
Friday night was the first game.
Toronto needed only to win one of three games to clinch the division. Jimmy
Key started on the hill for the Jays while the Yanks countered with Ed Whitson.
New York opened the scoring with two in the top of the fifth when Bobby Meacham
doubled to score Willie Randolph, and Rickey Henderson singled to score
Meacham. Yankees up 2-0.
However, after a walk, a single
and a wild pitch in the bottom of the inning, Yankee shortstop Meacham
misplayed a Lloyd Moseby ground ball and Ernie Whitt and Damaso Garcia both
touched home plate to tie the game at two.
The sixth and seventh went
scoreless and the Jays pushed ahead the potential division clinching run in the
bottom of the eight when Cliff Johnson singled in Moseby to make the score 3-2.
With three outs to go, the Jays
had closer Tom Henke on the mound to try and close out the game. Mike
Pagliarulo popped out to Garcia at second, and Randolph struck out. The Jays
were one out away from clinching. However Yankee catcher Butch Wynegar smacked
a Henke pitch over the wall for a home run to tie the game. After a single and
a walk, Toronto pitcher Steve Davis replaced Henke and got Yankee batter Don
Mattingly to hit a high fly ball to centre field. Moseby camped under and
squeezed the ball for the third out—only he didn’t squeeze it. The ball popped
in and out of his glove and landed on the turf. The Yankees took the lead on
the error and Yankee closer Dave Righetti got the final three outs in the
bottom of the ninth. The final score was 4-3 for the Yankees and the lead was
down to two.
The optimistic Jays fan could
refer to the series in mid-September when the Yankees took the first game of
the set but the Jays rallied to win the next three. One could only hope for a
similar result.
Doyle Alexander started the second game for the
Jays, and made it through the first two innings giving up one single. The Blue
Jays hit the scoreboard first in the bottom of the second when catcher Ernie
Whitt took Yankee starter Ed Crowley’s pitch over the right field fence for a
home run and a 1-0 lead.
After Alexander retired the
Yankees one-two-three in the third, Lloyd Moseby and Willie Upshaw hit
back-to-back home runs to extend the lead to 3-0. A George Bell sacrifice fly
scored Al Oliver and the third inning ended with the Jays out front 4-0.
In the fourth, a Dave Winfield
single off Alexander scored Ken Griffey (Sr) to make the score 4-1, but the
Jays quickly got that back in the bottom of the inning when Garcia singled in
Tony Fernandez.
Alexander gave up a single in
both the fifth and sixth, but no runs. It was three up, three down for the
Yankees in the seventh and eighth. The Jays scored no more runs in those
innings either which brought the game into the nervous ninth with Toronto on
top 5-1.
The Toronto starter, looking for
a complete game to wrap up the division, got Mattingly to ground out to Upshaw
at first for out number one. Winfield flew out to Bell in left for the second
out. For the second game in a row, the Jays were one out away from a division
title, although this time with a four-run lead instead of one.
Ron Hassey, the Yankee hitter who had hit a
grand slam to beat Toronto in the first game in the Bronx three weeks earlier
was the batter. Alexander got him to hit a short fly ball to left where Bell
squeezed it in his glove and dropped to his knees, threw up his hands and
high-fived shortstop Fernandez to start the celebration (see picture above).
The Jays mobbed Alexander and
lifted him up on their shoulders to carry him off the field. Toronto went nuts. And
so did a little nine-year old watching the game on TV in small town, Ontario.
After dinner, I went to the back yard and as the daylight faded into an October
evening, I replayed the final out over and over and over again, with me playing
the role of George Bell, of course.
On Sunday, the Jays failed in
their attempt to win their 100th game of the season. They were
beaten by Yankee knuckleballer Phil Niekro, the victory being the 300th
of his career.
I couldn’t wait to go to school
on Monday and talk about the game with all my classmates. I was also looking
forward to Tuesday and the start of the American League Championship Series.
The World Series ticket poster was another step closer to reality.
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