Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Game of the Day (4/8/84)

After nearly a week of relatively tepid baseball, the 1984 season finally woke up on April 8. The day featured a Cubs-Padres game in which the score went from 1-0 to 1-1 to 2-1 to 3-2 to 3-3 to 5-3 to 5-5, with the last two rallies coming in the top and bottom of the ninth, before the Cubs finally won 8-5 in the tenth. It also included a Phillies-Reds game in which the Reds rallied from 6-1 down to tie, fended off three Philly scoring threats involving a runner on third (including bases loaded, one out, and second and third, one out), and came from behind again in the bottom of the eleventh to win 8-7.

And though both of them were easily better than any other game played in 1984 up to this point, neither of those exceptional outings was the best of the day. That honor goes to Yankees 4, Rangers 3 (13).

The game was started by franchise mainstays Ron Guidry (on his way to one of the worst years of his career) for New York, and Charlie Hough (on his way to a fine season, including an AL-leading 17 complete games) for Texas. Hough got things off to a very knuckleball start in the top of the first, as he walked Willie Randolph and saw him move up on a passed ball before Don Mattingly's single brought him around for the game's first run. Guidry worked around a Billy Sample single in the bottom of the first, and Hough circumvented a Roy Smalley single-and-steal in the second, which allowed Larry Parrish's leadoff homer in the bottom of the inning to tie the game.

Hough continued to allow intermittent baserunners - a Randolph double in the third, a Ken Griffey Sr. single in the fourth (Griffey would promptly be picked off), and a Tim Foli single in the fifth. Guidry, meanwhile, was flawless in the third and fourth, but ran into trouble an inning later. Gary Ward worked a leadoff walk, and one out later, Ned Yost stepped to the plate. Yost would go on to produce an undistinguished batting line of .182/.201/.273 in 1984, which was the last season in which he would gain anything approaching regular playing time. But facing a near-Hall of Fame pitcher in this at bat, Yost launched a go-ahead two-run homer. Wayne Tolleson then doubled, and would make it as far as third before the end of the inning.

The game had taken a decidedly pro-Texas turn, and things tended in that direction over the next two innings, as Hough yielded only a walk while Guidry had to work out of fairly serious trouble in both of them - a Buddy Bell walk and a Parrish single in the sixth, and a Tolleson single-and-steal with one out in the seventh. Guidry did escape both innings without further damage, however, and the game remained within a manageable margin.

New York managed it in the top of the eighth. Omar Moreno led off with a double, and Randolph singled him to third. Mattingly followed with an RBI single, with Randolph going first-to-third on the play, and Don Baylor added a sacrifice fly to tie it at 3. Hough retired two of the next three hitters without additional scoring, but the damage was done.

With Guidry having looked increasingly shaky as the game progressed, the Yankees turned to their bullpen, summoning a pitcher who was making only his second major league appearance (and man, do I wish it had been his debut, because that would have been cooler to write about) - Jose Rijo, the future ace of the world champion 1990 Reds. Rijo allowed a leadoff single to Bell, but kept him at first. Hough hurled a perfect ninth, while Rijo walked Pete O'Brien and saw Curtis Wilkerson reach on an error by Foli, moving the winning run to third. Rijo then struck out Sample to send the game to extras.

Hough was finally removed after nine solid innings. Reliever Dave Tobik allowed a one-out Mattingly double and intentionally walked Dave Winfield a batter later before coaxing a force from Griffey. Dave Righetti supplanted Rijo in the bottom of the tenth and allowed a Bell leadoff hit and nothing else. Smalley led off the top of the eleventh with a single, and Butch Wynegar then reached on an error by Tolleson. Foli bunted the runners to second and third, and Moreno popped up for the second out to keep them there.

And Tobik then intentionally walked Willie Randolph... to face Don Mattingly.

Now, 1984 would go on to be the first season in which Mattingly was an actual superstar - in fact, it was early enough in his career that he wasn't actually playing first base in this game (he was in left, with Griffey at first). But he had still been a credible hitter in 1983, and he had already accrued three hits and two RBI in this very game. Moreover, Mattingly was left-handed, while Randolph was right-handed; this would hold the potential of making sense except that Tobik was right-handed as well, meaning the Rangers were intentionally giving away the platoon advantage with this walk.

Naturally, Mattingly grounded out 3-1, proving that even senseless intentional walks will appear to be the right decision a majority of the time, because even excellent hitters make outs more often than not. That, I think, is why they keep happening.

Texas threatened in the bottom of the eleventh, as Yost reached on Foli's second error of the game and Tolleson singled, but Righetti recovered to strand both runners. Griffey singled with two outs in the twelfth, but the Yankees got nothing else going in the inning, and the bottom half played out similarly, with George Wright managing a single against new reliever Dale Murray but no other Rangers contributing.

Tobik allowed a leadoff hit to Wynegar in the thirteenth, but Foli hit into a 1-6-3 double play, seemingly extinguishing the rally. However, Moreno singled and stole second, and Randolph walked (unintentionally this time). With Mattingly up next, the Rangers replaced Tobik with Odell Jones, who was... also right-handed. (They had not yet used a lefty in the entire game - did they not have one? The pitcher usage here is entirely alien from the perspective of a 2014 observer.) Mattingly doubled, scoring Moreno with the go-ahead run, and Murray worked around a Bill Stein single in the bottom of the inning largely thanks to Yost, who hit into a force, took second on a groundout, and then got himself picked off.

As mentioned, this game was not Jose Rijo's major league debut, although it was close. It also was not Don Mattingly's first appearance, or especially close to being so. It was, however, arguably his breakout performance: it was only his second start of the season (and the first was rain-shortened), and he established temporary career highs in hits (4), RBI (3), and WPA (an impressive +.518).

This is a fantastic baseball game (the best of the year so far, with a WPL of 6.65) even if you completely ignore any sense of context; it lasted 13 innings, and after the Yankees tied it in the eighth, the go-ahead run would be left in scoring position five separate times before New York finally brought it home in the thirteenth. When you include the fact that, in hindsight, it sort of launched Don Mattingly's four-year run as one of the very best players in baseball... let's just say that games like this are the reason I love looking through the old seasons.

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