MINNESOTA 4, ST. LOUIS 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Sunday, October 25.

Batting stars:  Tim Laudner was 2-for-3 with a walk and a run.  Kirby Puckett was 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI.  Greg Gagne was 2-for-5 with a run and an RBI.

Pitching stars:  Frank Viola pitched eight innings, giving up two runs on six hits and no walks with seven strikeouts.  Jeff Reardon pitched a perfect inning.

Opposition stars:  Tony Pena was 2-for-3 with a double, a stolen base, and an RBI.  Todd Worrell pitched three innings of relief, giving up one run on three hits and a walk with two strikeouts.  Steve Lake was 1-for-3 with an RBI.

The game:  St. Louis took the lead in the second inning.  They opened the inning with consecutive singles by Jim Lindeman, Willie McGee, and Pena to take a 1-0 lead.  The next two batters were retired, but Lake came through with an RBI single to make it 2-0 Cardinals.  That was all St. Louis would get, as Viola retired the next eleven batters and would give up only two more hits over the next six innings.

The Twins got one of the runs back in the bottom of the second.  Don Baylor was hit by a pitch and Tom Brunansky singled.  With one out, Laudner singled, but Baylor was thrown out at the plate.  Steve Lombardozzi followed with another single to make it 2-1.

It stayed 2-1 until the fifth.  With one out, Greg Gagne got an infield single.  It was the first hit the Twins had gotten since the second inning, but Whitey Herzog pulled starter Joe Magrane in favor of Danny Cox, who had started Game Five.  It didn't work, as Puckett drove his first pitch into deep left-center for a double, scoring Gagne and tying the game.  The Twins ran themselves out of a bigger inning.  Gary Gaetti walked, but Puckett was thrown out at third on the front end of a double steal and Gaetti was thrown out at home trying to score on a Baylor single.  Still, the score was tied after five innings.

The Twins took the lead in the sixth.  Cox opened the inning with walks to Brunansky and Kent Hrbek and was removed for Todd Worrell.  With one out, Worrell walked Roy Smalley to load the bases.  Dan Gladden struck out, but Gagne got another infield single, scoring Brunansky with the go-ahead run.  The Twins got an insurance run in the eighth, as Laudner got a one-out single and scored from first on Gladden's two-out double.  Reardon came in to pitch the ninth and retired Tom Herr on a fly to center, Curt Ford on a popup to third, and Willie McGee on a grounder to third to win the game and give the Twins their first World Championship.

Notes:  The quick hook for Magrane appears to have been based solely on the fact that he was a rookie.  He was pitching well at the time, and appears to have been the Cardinals best starting pitcher in 1987 (best ERA, best WHIP, best FIP, most strikeouts per nine innings).  Bringing in Cox, who was pitching on two days' rest, had not pitched in relief all year, and had a WHIP of 1.48 in 1987, does not appear to have been a smart decision...This was the only start of the postseason for Steve Lake.  Tony Pena, the regular St. Louis catcher, was used as the DH...I remember thinking at the time that I would have left Viola in to pitch the ninth.  He had thrown 105 pitches, which was not considered as high a total then as it is now, and was pitching well.  I couldn't argue with the results, however...Reardon had an excellent World Series, pitching 4.2 innings over four games and giving up no runs on five hits and no walks with three strikeouts...Puckett batted .357/.419/.464 for the World Series...Baylor batted .385/.467/.615 in fifteen plate appearances...Tim Laudner batted .318/.444/.500...Lombardozzi batted .412/.474/.647 in nineteen plate appearances.

Record:  The Twins won the best-of- seven series 4-3.

THE MINNESOTA TWINS ARE WORLD CHAMPIONS!!!!!

MINNESOTA 11, ST. LOUIS 5 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Saturday, October 24.

Batting stars:  Kirby Puckett was 4-for-4 with a walk and a stolen base, scoring four times and driving in one.  Don Baylor was 2-for-3 with a home run and a walk, scoring twice and driving in three.  Kent Hrbek was 1-for-4 with a grand slam and a walk.

Pitching stars:  Juan Berenguer pitched three shutout innings, giving up three hits and no walks with one strikeout.  Jeff Reardon pitched a scoreless inning, giving up two hits.

Opposition stars:  Tom Herr was 3-for-5 with a home run.  Terry Pendleton was 2-for-3 with a walk and two stolen bases, scoring once and driving in one.  Willie McGee was 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI.

The game:  Herr homered in the first inning to put the Cardinals up 1-0.  The Twins came back with two in the bottom of the first.  Dan Gladden led off with a triple and scored on a single by Puckett.  He went to second on a ground out and scored on a Baylor single.  Jose Oquendo singled in a run in the second to tie it 2-2.  In the fourth, Dan Driessen led off with a double, went to third on McGee's single, and scored on an infield single by Pendleton to give St. Louis a 3-2 lead.  That ended the day for starter Les Straker, as Dan Schatzeder came in.  He gave up a sacrifice fly to Oquendo to give the Cardinals a 4-2 advantage.  It went to 5-2 in the fifth on McGee's RBI single, and Twins fans could be forgiven if they started to think their magical season was coming to a close.

The Twins were not to be denied, however.  Puckett led off the fifth with a double and scored on Gary Gaetti's single to cut the lead to 5-3.  Baylor followed with a two-run homer, tying the game 5-5.  The home run did not kill the rally, as Tom Brunansky singled, went to second on a ground out, and scored on a Steve Lombardozzi single, giving the Twins a 6-5 lead.  In the sixth, Greg Gagne led off with an infield single and Puckett walked.  A passed ball advanced the runners.  With one out, Baylor was intentionally walked.  With two out, the Cardinals brought in Ken Dayley to face Hrbek.  Hrbek greeted him by slamming his first pitch over the center field fence, putting the Twins ahead 10-5.  Berenguer and Reardon slammed the door on St. Louis, the Twins added a run in the eighth, and the stage was set for a deciding game seven.

Notes:  I had forgotten how much the Twins used Dan Schatzeder in the post-season.  He pitched in five of their twelve post-season games, throwing 8.2 innings.  Other than game four of the World Series, he did pretty well, too...Straker pitched only three innings, giving up four runs on five hits and a walk with two strikeouts...St. Louis starter John Tudor didn't do much better, pitching four innings and giving up six runs on eleven hits and one walk with one strikeout...Hrbek's grand slam was the only run Ken Dayley gave up in the 1987 post-season.

Record:  The World Series was tied 3-3.  The Twins would send ace Frank Viola to the mound against Cardinals rookie Joe Magrane.  One game would decide the world championship.  How would it go?  We'll see tomorrow.

ST. LOUIS 4, MINNESOTA 2 IN ST. LOUIS

Date:  Thursday, October 22.

Batting stars:  Dan Gladden was 1-for-3 with two walks and a stolen base, scoring once.  Gary Gaetti was 1-for-4 with a triple and two RBIs.  Steve Lombardozzi was 1-for-2 with a walk.

Pitching stars:  Bert Blyleven pitched six innings, giving up three runs (two earned) on seven hits and a walk with four strikeouts.  Jeff Reardon struck out three in 1.2 scoreless innings, giving up three hits.

Opposition stars:  Danny Cox pitched 7.1 innings, giving up two runs on five hits and three walks with six strikeouts.  Ozzie Smith was 2-for-4 with two stolen bases, scoring once and driving in one.  Vince Coleman was 1-for-3 with a walk and two stolen bases, scoring twice.

The game:  The game was scoreless until the sixth.  Coleman led off with an infield single and Smith followed with a bunt single.  With one out, the two pulled off a double steal, leading to an intentional walk of Dan Driessen.  Willie McGee was caught looking, but Curt Ford singled home two and an error by Greg Gagne allowed a third run to score.  Smith's RBI single in the seventh made it 4-0.  The Twins got back into it in the eighth.  Gladden led off with a single and Gagne followed with a bunt single.  The next two batters flied out, but Gaetti hit a two-run triple to make it 4-2.  The Twins got the tying run on base in the ninth, as a one-out walk to Roy Smalley and a two-out walk to Gladden put men on first and second, but pinch-hitter Don Baylor popped up to short right field to end the game.

Notes:  The Twins used five pinch-hitters in the game:  Gene Larkin, Al Newman, Smalley, Randy Bush, and Baylor.  They combined to go 0-for-4 with a walk.  These days, there aren't five position players on the bench...The Twins had knocked Cox around pretty well in game two, but couldn't do much with him in this game...Coleman's two stolen bases gave him six for the series so far...In the non-DH games, Twins pitchers were 0-for-4 with four strikeouts...Reardon pitched 1.2 innings and threw 35 pitches in a game where the Twins were behind.  In fact, they trailed 4-0 when he entered the game.  That was presumably in part to get him some work, as he hadn't pitched since game two and the next day would be an off-day.  It also may show, however, that Tom Kelly was going to do everything he could to give the Twins a chance to come back.

Record:  The Twins trailed the best-of-seven series 3-2.  They would now go home, needing to win two games to take the series.  They would send rookie Les Straker to the mound.  Could he come through for them?  We'll see tomorrow.