Part 1 -- Game Details

                              1  2  3    4  5  6    7  8  9   10 11 12     R  H  E
                                 -  -  -    -  -  -    -  -  -    -  -  -     -  -  -
    Minnesota Twins              1  0  0    0  0  0    1  2  0    0  0  0     4 10  1
    Atlanta Braves               0  1  0    1  2  0    0  0  0    0  0  1     5  8  2

    PITCHERS: MIN - Erickson, West (5), Leach (5), Bedrosian (6), Willis (8), Guthrie (10), Aguilera (12)
              ATL - Avery, Pena (8), Stanton (10), Wohlers (12), Mercker (12), Clancy (12)

               WP - Jim Clancy
	       LP - Rick Aguilera
             SAVE - none

   HOME RUNS: MIN - Davis, Puckett
              ATL - Justice, Smith

Part 2 -- Players of the Game, WPA Style

Mark Lemke: 33.5 %
Chili Davis: 30.3 %
Mike Stanton: 26.9%
Mark Guthrie: 26.9 %
Carl Willis: 23.9%

Game Changing Moment--Mark Lemke's game-winning single, increasing the Braves' odds of winning by 39%.

Part 3 -- Kelly Goes All Tony LaRussa

This game is famous for many reasons, one of which is the Twins using 23 players in one game and Aguilera having to bat in the 12th innings. But this could have been avoided if Kelly wasn't running the roster like it was game seven. How many mistakes did Kelly make? Let's count the ways.

1.  Calling in David West to replace Scott Erickson.

On one hand, West would be your long man, given that he was the only other starter on the team. But by using your only long man this early, you can pretty well guarantee you'll be screwed if you go to extra innings. Kelly said he eventually would have taken Aguilera out after three innings and put in Dan Gladden to pitch. Thankfully, he was saved this embarrassment.

2. Using Terry Leach For Just One Batter

By pulling Leach for Gene Larkin, Kelly left himself with four pitchers. Granted, he was able to milk a lot out of them, but he didn't need to. Kelly had the double-switch at his disposal. He could have removed Greg Gagne (who had ended the 5th inning) for Pagliarulo, moving Leius to short. Then, if Pags needs to be lifted against a lefty (which is what happened later anyway) you have Newman.

3. Replacing Chili Davis with Jarvis Brown

Now I get that Davis's range in right field was probably nil and he hadn't played there all year. And the game was tied. But it's not like Brown was Jesse Barfield. And it's not like Randy Bush was Delmon Young out there either. You leave Davis in, you have a huge bat in the lineup in the 9th when Harper is on 2nd base. Bush pinch-hit (and he was good against righties that year), which was fine, but then that left the Twins without an emergency fielder in Brown. Incidentally, Jarvis Brown didn't have one ball hit to him while he was in there.

Part 4 -- The Designated Hitter is Awesome

I would never argue that game three wasn't a blast. Rick Aguilera was almost as good a hitter as Al Newman, and he came pretty close to being the game's hero when he lined a Jim Clancy pitch to deep center field. But from a purely logical standpoint, it should never have to happen.

After Game 3, a lot of people were interviewed about the DH. Fay Vincent, who was adamantly against it, said the proof that the DH was bad was Game 3, because not having it made the game more interesting. Tommy Lasorda insisted that his job was tougher than Tom Kelly's because he had to deal with situations like in game 3, and that Kelly could manage from home because once he made the lineups, his decisions were over.

I don't like swearing at the WGOM, but I don't want to mention every other ignorant thing he said during the World Series broadcast, so give me just this one: Fuck Tommy Lasorda.

Perhaps worse, McCarver tacitly agreed with the above thoughts. He did point out that Kelly has to make pitching changes, but he also was on 87 broadcast, when it was mentioned that Kelly likes to be in control of every decision in the game. Kelly calls for bunts, calls for steals, calls for take signs.  He uses a stopwatch to time the pitcher and catcher.  All of it.

I sometimes enjoy the novelty of pitchers hitting. But as Tom Kelly says, the fans don't come to the ballpark to watch him manage or watch pitchers flail helplessly. They come to see hitters hit.

Part 5 -- Justice Was Out

I think.