Bring In the Right-Hander!

by Jerry Reuss

  Having Cey back in the lineup in the first game paid an immediate dividend. He drove in the first run with a double and scored the second run, as we took a 2–0 lead after two innings. The score remained that way, as Burt Hooton and Bill Gullickson matched zeroes on the scoreboard, until we batted in the bottom of the eighth. With two outs Cey singled and Guerrero homered. Scioscia connected for a solo home run, as we took a 5–0 lead. Bob Welch, who replaced Hooton with one out in the eighth, gave up a double to Gary Carter, leading off the ninth. A double by Larry Parrish scored Carter. Steve Howe restored order after a single put runners on first and third, with an infield pop-up and a game-ending double play.22

  Game Two featured Fernando, who beat the Expos twice during the regular season, against Ray Burris, who lost in his only start against us. Montreal scored two in the second on three singles and a double. They added a solo run on two singles and an error in the sixth inning. Meanwhile, we couldn’t mount any kind of an attack against Burris, who pitched well in his final two regular-season starts but was beaten by the Phillies in the Divisional Series. We had two runners on base in the sixth and ninth innings, but Burris and the Expos eased the threat with double plays and evened the series, winning by a score of 3–0 as both teams headed for Canada.23

  With a split of the first two games in Los Angeles, the Expos had the advantage of momentum for the first game at Olympic Stadium. With the game-time temperature in the midforties, I was matched against Montreal’s Steve Rogers. Steve and I had a history that went back to high school and American Legion ball. In 1966 I lost to Steve’s Springfield team 1–0 in the American Legion State Finals in Springfield, Missouri. I returned the favor in the 1967 Missouri State High School semifinal, shutting out his Glendale High School team by a 3–0 score. Neither of us would have guessed at the time that we’d match up against each other fourteen years later in a game with a trip to the World Series at stake. Prior to the LCS, I held a 4–0 record against Steve. (Ultimately, I was 6–0 against him.) All of our matchups were close, as he was always an opponent to be respected.

  This game would be no different. We drew first blood in the fourth, as Baker singled and advanced to third on Garvey’s single. Dusty scored on a groundout by Cey. The score remained 1–0 until the bottom of the sixth. With two outs Dawson grounded a single past Russell. Carter walked. Larry Parrish ripped a single to left to tie the game. That brought Jerry White, an outfielder who batted .176 against me lifetime, to the plate. White lifted a fastball down the left-field line just barely fair but far enough for a three-run home run. That gave the Expos a 4–1 lead, and Rogers made it stand as Montreal led the series, two games to one.24

  After the game many of the players didn’t want to return to their rooms. After experiencing the highest of highs after the comeback against Houston, we were facing another unhappy ending. What better way to deal with reality than to head to the bar at the top of the team hotel with wives in tow and discuss the situation with teammates! Imagine if you will, highly talented athletes (with egos to match) and the adrenaline of a game still coursing through their veins mixing disappointment, frustration, and alcohol. Yeah, what could possibly go wrong? The alcohol lubricated the lips, as the pent-up frustration poured out. This was a veteran team with guys who spoke their minds, and the reality of this last chance to win as a team was evaporating. For the rest of us, who knew if there would be another chance to play in a World Series?

  As the tension was building and the voices were getting louder, I had to visit the restroom. I made my way to the men’s room, located up a long spiral staircase that had bright spotlights marking the way. What would possess someone to put restrooms at the top of a staircase in a bar anyway? Maybe it was a Canadian thing!

  Even in my semi-inebriated state in this moment of relative calm, I observed the beautiful antique floor-to-ceiling mirrors in the men’s room. Taking a moment to gaze at my reflection after I finished my business, I noticed my topcoat (I never bothered to remove it once in the bar) was a few inches short. I turned around and saw that it was just as short in the back. By now, the voices of my teammates were loud enough to pierce the doors of my fortress of solitude. I knew where the party downstairs was headed. Lasorda would make out lineups tomorrow based on who was out on bail.

  Some players find solace in their religious faith. Other players hope to find it in the bottom of a glass. For me, in times of great stress, I find clarity and comfort in my humor. Besides, I had to deal with a more important problem at hand . . . a topcoat that was too short! But I needed another opinion or . . . maybe many opinions! That’s when the solution occurred to me.

  With all of those opinions flying around the bar downstairs, why not let my teammates, the ones at an emotional peak just below the stairs, help me solve this dilemma? So I removed the coat and, for good measure, my pants. I then put the topcoat back on and buttoned it. After neatly folding my pants over my arm, I was ready to make my entrance . . . after just one more look in the mirror, though.

  Through the doors and standing at the top of the stairs, I noticed just how bright those lights were. I posed there with that faraway look in my eyes as the top models would . . . only with my pants hung over my arm! I made my way down the steps, pausing after each while changing the direction of my stone-faced gaze. After the first few steps the feverish, near-manic voices stopped in midsentence, mixed with the sound of quiet giggles from the wives who were present.

  After the next few steps I spotted the faces of the men I called friends and teammates, with their eyes and mouths in suspended animation and total disbelief. Once I had arrived in front of the tables, I said in a quiet and controlled manner, “Since all of you have opinions to express, I beg for one more.” I paused and did a 360. “Is this topcoat really too short for a man of my height?” The faces, red with anger just moments before, were sporting grins from ear to ear as laughter replaced the venom spewing from their lips. The clouds of doom disappeared, attitudes changed, and it was time to get some rest. Somebody said, “I’ll take care of the tab, and we’ll square it up tomorrow” (that’s a teammate for life in my book!). My work in Montreal was done.

  There were a few smiles on the bus regarding the night before. Once at the park the mood was all business, as the guys in the lineup put on their game faces with their uniforms. Pitching for us was Burt Hooton, who had two postseason wins, allowing just a run in fourteen and a third innings against Houston and the Expos.

  We scored a run in the third, and the Expos answered with a run in the fourth. That was the score until the top of the eighth. With the home crowd of nearly 55,000 singing verses of “The Happy Wanderer,” a German composition written shortly after World War II that featured the lyrics “Val-deri, Val-dera,” Dusty singled with one out, and Garvey followed with a two-run homer to give us a 3–1 lead.25

  The Expos threatened in the home half of the eighth with a leadoff single, a force out, and a single by Carter. Lasorda went to the bullpen to summon a well-rested Bob Welch. It was the right move, as Welch fanned Parrish and retired the previous night’s hero, Jerry White, on a fly to center.

  Welch’s effort changed the momentum. Ten Dodgers batted in the top of the ninth to produce four runs and set the stage for Steve Howe’s 1–2–3 bottom of the ninth and Dodger victory that evened the series.26

  The fifth and deciding game was scheduled for 4:00 p.m. Thinking that the rain mixed with snow would stop, the powers that be waited until 7:30 to call the game. Looking at the positive side, the postponement gave Fernando, our scheduled starter, an extra day’s rest. He pitched with just three days’ rest in his last four starts, including all three of his postseason starts.

  Just before game time on Monday, October 19, the home crowd was subdued, which is totally opposite of what someone would expect, as the winner of this game would travel to New York to face the American League champion Yankees in the World Series. They were more than subdued, because there were not as many of them. The announced atten
dance of 36,491 was nearly 20,000 fewer than Saturday.

  The empty seats didn’t affect the Expos, as they posted a run on a double, a sacrifice bunt, and a double-play grounder in the first. Expos starter Ray Burris, who had pitched a five-hit shutout against us in Los Angeles, picked up where he left off. He worked out of a jam after Russell tripled in the first and was left on base, as both Baker and Garvey were retired on ground outs.

  The lead stood until we scored a run in the top of the fifth on singles by Monday and Guerrero, a line out by Scioscia, followed by a wild pitch that put runners on second and third. We scored our first run on a ground out to second off the bat of Valenzuela.

  With one out in the Expos’ eighth, manager Jim Fanning sent Tim Wallach to pinch-hit for Burris. Wallach, with home run power, could send the Expos to the World Series with one swing of the bat. Tim grounded to the pitcher, and Raines flied to center in a 1–2–3 inning.

  Steve Rogers, who pitched extremely well in the postseason, allowing just two runs in twenty-six and two-thirds innings, came on to pitch for Montreal in the top of the ninth. He retired Garvey and Cey on flyouts. That brought Rick Monday to the plate. Lifetime, Rick batted .176 against Rogers, with two home runs and twenty-six strikeouts in seventy-four plate appearances. But that wasn’t during the postseason.27

  With a 3–1 count, Mo lifted a fastball to right center that nobody on our bench could see. I watched Andre Dawson chase the arc to the track. Once he stopped running, he watched the ball clear the wall, and that told the story. The entire bench emptied to greet Monday when he crossed the plate.

  “Rogers kept pitching me away, away, and he fell behind in the count, 3–1, forcing him to give me a pitch I could handle,” said Monday. “He had to want the pitch more outside, but it got a lot of the plate and I crushed it to the right-center gap. As the ball cleared the fence, I just passed first base and was heading to second. I threw my left arm in the air and continued my jog around the bases, jumping a little when I got to home plate. My teammates beat the heck out of me, which I thought was a little premature, because the Expos had the heart of the order due up in the bottom of the ninth.”28

  Fernando, with a league-leading eleven complete games during the regular season, knew how to finish a game. A grounder to Garvey and a flyout to right brought two quick outs. None of us on the bench believed the Expos would go down without some kind of fight. Carter coaxed a two-out walk. Larry Parrish also walked. Now Lasorda had to make a decision: let a tiring Valenzuela face switch-hitting Jerry White or bring in a fresh Bob Welch. Tom chose Welch, and it turned out to be the right decision. White grounded out to second. The celebration began with Garvey on his knees and the final out in his hand. We cleared the field and the cold temperatures and proceeded to celebrate in the clubhouse.

  Knowing that we had to face the Yankees the next day, we kept the festivities in check. Still, we sung a few bars of “Val-deri, Val-dera” between sips of bubbly to mark the occasion. The LCS was ours, as we came from behind, one game from elimination in our second consecutive series, to advance, this time to the 1981 World Series.29

  New York, New York

  Shifting gears from an emotional series is something every player should experience. From the high of victory and back to the business at hand with little time to make the transition is what the postseason is all about. Because of the Sunday rainout (or snowout!), we didn’t have the luxury of an off day between the League Championship Series and the World Series. It was a quick transition from Monday in Montreal to Tuesday in New York. So, after a detailed meeting with the advance scouts about the Yankees, it was time for Game One of the 1981 World Series.

  As a kid growing up in St. Louis, every October meant the World Series on radio and television. Because the games were played in the afternoon prior to 1971, the good sisters of All Souls School in Overland must have been baseball fans, as they allowed a radio in the classroom so we could get game updates. I’d either rush home after class to catch the rest of the game on TV or stand in front of the store window of Brockman’s Television in downtown Overland to watch their color TV in the window. During the mid-1950s and early ’60s, except for 1959, the Yankees represented the American League. Because of baseball’s blackout policy, the World Series and All-Star Games were the only times I could see games other than the local Cardinals telecast. So that was my introduction to the World Series and Yankee Stadium.

  Experiencing the House That Ruth Built in person had a profound effect on me. Everywhere you looked, walked, or sat was historical. That’s fine . . . if you’re a tourist. It’s not so good if you’re facing a well-rested Yankee team ready to beat your ass!

  The Yankees started Ron Guidry, 11–5 on the season but 2–0 in World Series play, as he beat the Dodgers in both 1977 and 1978 with complete games. Guidry had a 1–2–3 first inning. My first World Series inning was memorable, but for the wrong reasons. With two outs and a runner on first, Lou Piniella (our respective career orbits crossed many times) doubled just inside the bag down the first base line. Bob Watson hit my first pitch to right-center for a three-run homer. One pitch, thrown belt-high over the middle of the plate, put the Yankees in the lead. I had a 1–2–3 second inning but in the third a single, a two-out stolen base, and a run-scoring double by Piniella, and my introduction to Yankee Stadium and the World Series was finished.

  Guidry pitched seven innings, getting his third World Series win against the Dodgers, as the Yankees won Game One by a score of 5–3. That’s not how I hoped my first World Series game would turn out. Hell, who would?30

  Game Two featured two former teammates, Burt Hooton, who was selected the LCS MVP, and Tommy John, who had moved to the Yankees after six years with the Dodgers, including 1977 and 1978. T.J. had his sinker working, as he retired the first twelve batters he faced. Burt was nearly as effective, as he allowed a base runner in three of the first four innings but kept the Yankees scoreless. We had our biggest threat of the night in the fifth inning with two men and one out but couldn’t score, as Landreaux struck out and Yeager grounded out. The Yankees scored their only run against Hooton on an error and a two-out RBI double by Larry Milbourne in the home half of the fifth. The Yanks scored two more in the eighth on three singles, an error, and a walk against Steve Howe to seal a 3–0 victory.31

  Once again, we were in familiar territory, behind in another postseason series with our backs against the wall. Unlike the LCS in Montreal, there were no alcohol-induced reactions while returning to Los Angeles. I even kept my pants up the duration of the trip.

  The Green, Green Grass of Home

  The day off allowed everyone to breathe a bit easier, considering the ups and downs of the LCS and the first two games of the World Series. I bet everyone held his or her collective breath when an early-morning earthquake hit Southern California on Friday. As far as earthquakes go in the region, this one was memorable only when Yogi Berra, then a coach with the Yankees, said, “I didn’t feel it. It must have bypassed me.”32

  Game Three featured rookie starting pitchers—Dave Righetti for the Yankees and Fernando for the Dodgers. This was just the third time in Major League history that rookies faced each other in a World Series start; the last time was in 1967, when the Cardinals started Dick Hughes and the Red Sox countered with Gary Waslewski.33

  When Ron Cey homered in the bottom of the first with two on and two out, it gave us our first lead in the series. It was also the same way we started our three-game comeback against Houston just two weeks earlier. We hoped that giving Fernando a three-run lead would allow us to cruise to a win.

  That didn’t happen. The Yanks scored two in the second inning on a solo HR by Bob Watson, a double by Rick Cerone, and a run-scoring single by Larry Milbourne. They struck for two more runs in the third when Piniella singled and Cerone homered. With our team trailing by four runs, Lasorda went to the mound to talk to Fernando. “Everybody thought I was going to take him out,” Lasorda said. “A lot of people wanted me to tak
e him out. But I knew him. He loved to pitch out of jams. He used to pitch like he didn’t know we had a bullpen. He didn’t like to come out of games. A lot of guys, when they get in trouble, they’re looking down there for help. But not him.”

  Lasorda eventually went back to the dugout, but not without giving Valenzuela a few last words of encouragement. “I said to him in Spanish, ‘If you don’t give up another run, we’re going to win this ballgame,’” Lasorda said. “And then he says to me in perfect English, ‘Are you sure?’”34

  Righetti struggled through two-plus innings and was replaced by George Frazier in the third inning, as Garvey began the Dodgers’ fifth inning with a single. Cey walked, Guerrero doubled in Garvey, and the score was tied at four. After an intentional walk to Monday, Rudy May was brought in to face Mike Scioscia, with the bases loaded and nobody out. Lasorda, recognizing the chance to break the game wide open, sent Reggie Smith to the on-deck circle to bat for Fernando in the event that Scioscia made out without producing the go-ahead run. Scioscia’s run-scoring double-play grounder turned out to be pivotal, as it kept Fernando in the game.

  “If Scioscia pops up, I’m gonna hit for Valenzuela,” Lasorda admitted after the game. It was one of many times that Lasorda considered removing Fernando, especially when he was wild high early in the game with less than his best stuff. “I thought about it,” Lasorda admitted, “but I said no. This is the Year of Fernando.”35

  Fernando held the Yankees in check in the sixth and seventh but ran into trouble in the eighth. Consecutive singles by Aurelio Rodriguez and Milbourne to lead off the inning brought Bobby Murcer, pinch-hitting for May, to the plate.