The showdown series continues between Jack Bauer Squared and Steroids Make You Fast with first place in the NL West and a playoff spot on the line. After JBS took the first two games and opened a 3-game lead, Steroids desperately needed to win at least one of the final two games at Dodger Stadium to keep us from running away with it.
The third game evoked a playoff atmosphere for sure, and if it had been aired on national television it might be fondly remembered as a classic.
Ryne Sandberg tripled in the 1st inning, his 15th (second in the league), but Carlos Delgado and Bobby Murcer failed to bring him home. In the bottom of the 1st, Steroids jumped out to the lead instead on Willie McCovey’s two-run homer. JBS got one back in the 2nd when Garry Maddox doubled and scored on Gene Tenace’s single, but Steroids came right back with one of their own to make it 3-1.
Things stayed quiet until the top of the 5th, when Kal Daniels belted his 20th homer, a two-run shot to tie it, and Murcer singled in Sandberg to give JBS a 4-3 lead. Steroids, however, came right back to even it in the bottom of the 5th on three straight singles.
Undeterred, Maddox singled to lead off the 6th and came home on a single by Rafael Ramirez to put us back up, 5-4. Then in the 7th, Delgado singled and Murcer doubled him home for a 6-4 lead. Steroids got one back in the 8th, and then Tenace singled in a run in the top of the 9th to put us back up by 2 before we left the bases loaded.
That set up Bob Woodward and his microscopic ERA for a shot at his 36th save in 37 chances. With one out, he hit Jose Canseco with a pitch and allowed a single to Cal Ripken Jr. to bring the dreaded McCovey to the plate.
McCovey belted one to right-center as the graceful Maddox and speedy Murcer raced to the wall to try to make a game-saving catch. But our outfielders ran out of room as McCovey’s blast just cleared the wall for a walk-off three-run homer.
The 8-7 victory kept Steroids’ hopes alive and cut our division lead back to 2. Woodward’s ERA ballooned to 1.35 as he allowed as many runs in that inning as he had all season. Our magic number remained at 8.
That set up the final game of the series, which would either end with JBS up by 1 game or 3 with 8 to play. That’s a big difference.
No one pushed a run across until the 4th inning, when JBS put together a big two-out rally. Ramirez, pitcher Burt Hooton, and Daniels singled successively, and then Sandberg doubled in a pair for a 5-0 lead. Maddox hit his 8th homer in the 5th to put us up 6-0 and well on our way.
Steroids wasn’t going to go quietly, however. They got to Hooton in the 6th, first on a homer by (who else?) McCovey and then on a walk and two singles to make it 6-2. In the 7th McCovey singled home Ripken and scored on a single as Steroids chipped away again to close the gap to 6-4.
The JBS bullpen was a bit fatigued and turned to little-used lefty Gary Lucas to start the 9th against the feared McCovey, whom he promptly walked. After a strikeout from Lucas (side note: he’s a native of my longtime town, Riverside, CA), the JBS manager summoned usual starter Bert Blyleven from the pen to try to get the final two outs.
Blyleven, who was being skipped in the rotation during the critical series, rose to the occasion and recorded a strikeout and a groundout to preserve the 6-4 victory. The win lowered our magic number to 6 and sent us into the final 8 games with division opponents 3, 5, and 5 games behind us.
At 76-78, we may not be a juggernaut but we’ve got a shot at a .500 record and a playoff spot. After the way things were headed midseason, I can’t complain.
