October 20th, 1982
World Series, Game 7
Milwaukee Brewers at St. Louis
Cardinals
Busch Stadium, St. Louis
It
could be argued that the St. Louis Cardinals were the best team in baseball in
the 1980s. While the Los Angeles Dodgers were the only team to win two World
Series in the decade, the Cards seemed to be competitive every single year.
And, as I made mention a few days ago, they did it in a way that seems
unorthodox today: solid pitching and defense, speed and not much emphasis on
the long ball. The Cards would use this style of play to win three National
League Pennants: 1982, 1985 and 1987.
Their
opponent in the 1982 World Series was the Milwaukee Brewers; the only trip to
the Fall Classic in the history of the Brewers’ franchise. As we talked about
last week, Milwaukee came from behind to beat the California Angles in the
ALCS.
And
the Brewers wasted no time in taking the advantage in the Series with a 10-0
win in the first game in St. Louis. But the Cards would rebound quickly and
take Game 2, 5-4, and Game 3, 6-2. They seemed to be in a position to take a
stranglehold on the series when they jumped into a 4-1 lead heading to the
seventh inning of Game 4. But Milwaukee erupted for six runs to win, 7-4, then
took control of the series with a 6-4 win in the fifth game.
Game
6 wasn’t even close, a 13-1 thrashing by the Cardinals to tie the series and
set up a seventh game. It would be the first Game 7 in the World Series since
1975, and would feature Pete Vuckovich as the starting pitcher for Milwaukee
while the Cards would counter with Joaquin Andujar.
The
game was scoreless through the first three innings, but St. Louis had their
chances. While the Brewers went in order all three innings, the Cards had a
single in the first, two singles and a walk in the second (they left the bases
loaded), and a single and a walk in the third, but could never push any runs
across.
Finally,
in the bottom of the fourth, St. Louis hit the scoreboard. With two on and one
out, a single by Lonnie Smith scored Willie McGee and the Cardinals had the 1-0
lead. That lasted until the first batter in the top of the fifth. Ben Oglivie
hit the first pitch of the inning over the right field wall for a solo home run
to tie the game.
The
next inning, Milwaukee took the lead. Jim Gantner led of the inning with a
double. Paul Molitor attempted to drop a sacrifice bunt down the third base
line, but ended up beating out the bunt for a single. Gantner scored when the
throw to first was errant and Milwaukee took a 2-1 advantage. They extended the
lead two batters later when a sacrifice fly off the bat of Cecil Cooper scored
Molitor.
However,
the Cards battled back in the bottom of the inning. A bases loaded single by
Keith Hernandez scored Ozzie Smith and Lonnie Smith to tie the game. That was
followed by an RBI single by George Hendrick that scored Mike Ramsey and the
Cards had a lead they would never relinquish.
They
would add a couple more in the eighth on RBI singles from Darryl Porter and Steve
Braun and would take that 6-3 lead into the ninth inning, and had their closer,
Bruce Sutter, on the mound. The future Hall-Of-Famer had pitched a perfect
eighth inning and was looking to get the last tree outs to give St. Louis their
first World Championship since 1967.
Two
ground outs and a strike out later and the game—and series—was over. The Cards
had taken Game 7 by a 6-3 score. It would be the only World Series victory for
St. Louis in the decade. They would play the Kansas City Royals in 1985 and the
Minnesota Twins in 1987 but lose both series in a seventh game. They wouldn’t
be crowned champs again until 2006.
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