In preparation for the impending delivery of the 1920 season set for Box Seat Baseball, I got out the 1985 cards to shake off some Box Seat cobwebs with a replay of the famous Royals-Cardinals Fall Classic. My re-do of the Series was not nearly the cliffhanger that we experienced in real life . . .
John Tudor was more than the Royals could handle in the Series opener, tossing a complete-game four-hit shutout while Terry Pendleton's two-out RBI single in the 7th scored the game's winning (and only) run. Tudor was in a little trouble straight off in the bottom of the 1st when Lonnie Smith led off with a double and moved to third on a ground out, but he struck out George Brett and retired Frank White on a ground ball to third; that was the last time that KC would get a runner that far along the base paths, only reaching second base once again when Smith singled and stole a bag in the 6th. The Cardinal hitters weren't faring much better against Danny Jackson, but heads-up base running finally got them across the plate in the 7th. With one out and Tito Landrum on first, Cesar Cedeño hit a long fly ball to the right field wall which was caught by Darryl Motley with his back pressed up against the fence. Landrum tagged up and reached second ahead of the throw back in, a base that would prove crucial when, one out later, Pendleton singled up the middle and Landrum was able to round third and score. Tudor set the Royals down in order in the 7th and 8th, and got the first two men in the 9th before Willie Wilson singled. Desperate to scratch out a tying run, Dick Howser gave Wilson the green light and he was gunned by Darrell Porter down attempting to steal second for the final out of the game with Brett at the plate. Jack Clark and Ozzie Smith each had two hits for St. Louis. St. Louis 1-6-0, Kansas City 0-4-1. [scoresheet]
Kansas City completed a long comeback by scoring the winning run in the bottom of the 9th inning on one of the oddest decisive plays in World Series history. The Royals took an early 2-0 lead when Steve Balboni homered in the 2nd and George Brett doubled in a run in the 3rd, but the Cards got to starter Charlie Leibrandt in the 4th. Darrell Porter doubled, Danny Cox singled, and Frank White threw Willie McGee's grounder in the dirt at first to score the first STL run, and Ozzie Smith followed with a two-run double.The next batter, Tommy Herr, singled Smith home to make it 4-2 and Leibrandt was gone. Joe Beckwith put out the fire momentarily, but allowed another St. Louis run in the 6th on Cesar Cedeńo's single, stolen base and Darrell Porter's RBI hit, making the score 5-2 in favor of the visitors. Dane Iorg's pinch-hit double got one of those runs back for the Royals in the 6th and three singles and a walk in the 7th got them back even again. In the bottom of the 9th, with Jeff Lahti on the mound for STL, George Brett led off with a walk and Frank White singled to left to move him to second base. Pat Sheridan deadened a bunt in front of the plate for a sacrifice to bring Jim Sundberg (3-for-4 with an RBI thus far on the evening) to the plate with the winning run at third and one out. He hit a shallow pop-up behind first base which Jack Clark chased into foul ground, running with his back to the plate to make a nice basket catch, but when he planted his foot to turn back to the infield he slipped and fell and Brett took the opportunity to break for home - Clark's throw from his backside was weak and off line and the Royals had leveled the Series. Kansas City 6-14-3, St. Louis 5-11-0. [scoresheet]
Andy Van Slyke had three hits, three steals, forced two errors and scored twice to give Joaquin Andujar and two relievers all of the support they needed to win the first game at Busch Stadium. The contest was scoreless in the bottom of the 2nd when Van Slyke singled to start the inning, stole second, and took third when Jim Sundberg's throw skipped into center field. Terry Pendleton then grounded out to second to push Van Slyke the final ninety feet with the opening run of the game. In the 6th, with the score still 1-0, the Cardinal right fielder came to the plate with Tommy Herr on third base and one away, and singled to left the double the lead. He then stole second base and forced another Sundberg throwing error, this one sailing over the head of Buddy Biancalana, but was stranded at third base when Bret Saberhagen whiffed both Pendleton and Darrell Porter. Kansas City struck back in the 7th when, with two outs and Andujar having retired nine of the last ten, Lonnie Smith singled and stole second and the Willie Wilson tripled to left-center field. The tying run was now at third with George Brett at the plate and out went Andujar. The left-handed Ricky Horton was summoned to face Brett, and got him to fly routinely to center to end the threat with STL still in front by a nose. In the last of the 8th, Van Slyke walked with one out and Herr on second, and Pendleton then ripped a two-run double to center off of Steve Farr to make it a 4-1 game. All that was left was for Todd Worrell to pitch his second shutout inning of relief and the Cards had nudged the Series in their own favor. St. Louis 4-9-0, Kansas City 1-6-2. [scoresheet]
St. Louis pounded Royals pitching for seven runs in the first three innings and then cruised to an 8-1 win that put them a game away from a Series title. Bud Black retired Willie McGee to start the bottom of the 1st, but five of the next six Cardinals singled with Tito Landrum, Cesar Cedeño and Terry Pendleton each knocking in a run before Black could extricate himself on Tom Nieto's force-out grounder. But Black couldn't escape from the 2nd inning - except by being removed from the game - as a walk and two straight singles, all coming with two outs, added another run and Dick Howser was forced to take early evasive action. Joe Beckwith got KC out of the 2nd, but the 3rd was worse; again, after two men were out, a hit batsman and back-to-back doubles by John Tudor (!) and Willie McGee led to two runs and then a single and two straight walks forced home another to give STL a 7-0 lead. That became eight in the following frame when Steve Balboni's error led to an RBI single by Nieto, before KC could finally score a run off of Tudor on four 5th-inning singles. It looked as if the Cardinal ace might actually be on the ropes, but George Brett grounded into a crushing double play to end the inning and Tudor set down the next six men in a row before yielding to the bullpen after seven innings of work. St. Louis had fourteen hits and six walks, leaving thirteen men on base despite scoring eight times. Ozzie Smith and Tom Herr had three hits apiece. St. Louis 8-14-0, Kansas City 1-7-1. [scoresheet]
After he had given them a valiant effort in Game One, the Royals had their hopes pinned on the left arm of Danny Jackson in Game Five, but things did not go according to either hope or plan. Once again, the Cardinals were all over the KC starter from the gun - a walk, three singles, a stolen base and Buddy Biancalana's two-base throwing error accounted for three St. Louis runs in the 1st inning to put the Royals on the ropes right away. KC got one back in the top of the 2nd when Steve Balboni hit his second long ball of the Series, but the Cards clapped right back in the bottom half with two singles and a ground ball to stretch their lead back to three runs. Perhaps the omens were there for all to see when Willie McGee swung and missed at a third strike in the dirt from Jackson in the 4th, but reached first when the ball skipped to the backstop. He promptly stole second and scored one out later on Tommy Herr's base hit. The home team fought to make it a game, scoring twice in the 5th when Willie Wilson singled with runners at second and third, but Cesar Cedeño tripled and scored on Terry Pendleton's single in the bottom half, and the Cardinal pen came on to toss three scoreless innings to take a 6-3 game into the 9th. The finish was not without drama, as the Royals mounted a two-out rally - a walk and a double from pinch-hitters scored a run and brought the potential tying run to the plate but Todd Worrell blew a fastball past Lonnie Smith for the third strike of the last out of the World Series. St. Louis 6-11-1, Kansas City 4-6-1. [scoresheet]
This was almost the exact same result as my previous replay of this Series using Season Ticket Baseball. You look at this Royals lineup, with Frank White, Jim Sundberg and Pat Sheridan/Darryl Motley batting in the middle three spots of the order, and you wonder how they are going to score runs. Well, they didn't - twelve in the five games, half of which came in the Game Two outburst. If their starting pitchers didn't shut St. Louis down, they were going to have no chance, and they didn't do that either; while they failed to hit the ball out of the park (Clark had a miserable Series), Cardinal batters kept the line moving effectively with the bats (.290 average) and with the legs (ten SB). [Series stats]
Herr, Cedeño and Ozzie had very nice Series with the bats and gloves, but Cardinals LHP John Tudor was a significant difference between the two teams. Allowing only ten hits and one walk in sixteen innings, Tudor throttled the Royals lineup In Games One and Four on his way to two wins and a WHIP and ERA well south of 1.00.
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