ALCS Jays vs. Cleveland Game 3
Fans can take heart from these underdogs who got the job done
The Blue Jays, after losing the first two AL Championship Series games played in Cleveland, are not attempting to do something that is unprecedented in playoff history. In fact, there are three previous occasions since the AL and NL Championship Series went to the best-of-seven format in 1985 in which the team losing Games 1 and 2 has come back to win and advance to the World Series. Baseball is a game of numbers.
One of those times involved the Blue Jays, losing the ALCS to the Royals in 1985 after taking a two-games-tonone lead at Exhibition Stadium. One of those times involved making history, as the Red Sox lost the first three games of the 2004 ALCS to the Yankees, then rebounded in a series of unlikely circumstances to storm past the New Yorkers in seven.
The last of those LCS comebacks haunts my dreams — explanation to follow. It was the 1985 NLCS and the Dodgers took a two-game lead in Los Angeles before losing the series to the St. Louis Cardinals in six games on some questionable managing by Tommy Lasorda.
1985 ALCS: Royals 4, Jays 3
It was the first time the expansion Jays had reached the post-season. Under Bobby Cox, they won the first two games at home and then headed to Kansas City. The Royals were a 1969 expansion team, but had a 10-game playoff losing streak back to the 1980 World Series vs. the Phillies.
The Jays looked good, taking a 5-2 lead in Game 3 on a Rance Mulliniks three-run homer. But George Brett’s two-run homer in the sixth, his second of the game, tied it. Steve Balboni’s RBI single off Jim Clancy was the 6-5 winner.
The Jays took a three-games-to-one lead in Game 4. They trailed 1-0 in the ninth, but Lloyd Moseby doubled home the tying run. George Bell singled and Al Oliver to secure the win.
It was Tom Henke’s second win and series victory was nigh.
The Royals, fighting for their lives, won Game 5 — 2-0, behind Danny Jackson — then took Game 6 at Exhibition Stadium by a 5-3 score. Brett broke a 2-2 tie in the fifth and the Royals added a pair in the sixth. In Game 7, Cox made a bold move — familiar to those who watched Game 1 of the current NLCS, when Dodgers manager Dave Roberts issued an intentional walk with men on first and second to set up a Miguel Montero grand slam. Cox chose to walk Balboni with men on first and second in the sixth while leading by a run, setting up a deciding triple off the top of the fence by catcher Jim Sundberg. Series over.
2004 ALCS: Red Sox 4, Yankees 3
When Boston lost Games 1 and 2 at Yankee Stadium and then was crushed 19-8 at Fenway Park, all hope in Red Sox Nation was lost. Nobody had come back from three games down. But David Ortiz stepped up.
In Game 4 — a 6-4, 12-inning win — Ortiz crushed a Paul Quantrill fastball for a game-winning two-run blast. This was the game that Sox fans remember for Roberts stealing second in the ninth as a pinchrunner, then scoring the tying run on a Bill Mueller single. In Game 5, the Sox stayed alive again with a 14-inning 5-4 win.
Trailing by two in the eighth, Ortiz led off with a homer and Jason Varitek sac fly.
The Sox refused to die. Back at Yankee Stadium for Game 6, lighthitting second baseman Mark Bellhorn hit a three-run homer in the fourth for the lead and the Sox forced Game 7. In the finale, it was no contest as Boston won 19-8, relying on an Ortiz first-inning two-run shot and a Johnny Damon grand slam in the second. Damon homered again in the fourth and the Sox were going to the Series, where they swept the Cardinals in four games.
1985 NLCS: Cardinals 4, Dodgers 3
Before describing the sequence of the comeback, here’s what I remember: About four hours prior to Game 3 at Busch Stadium, I was alone in the press box manning the MLB telephone. Neither team took batting practice because of a light rain. I was there as a PR volunteer with the Expos. The only player on the field was speedy Cards left fielder Vince Coleman.
Coleman was stretching on the first-base line sitting on the artificial turf, with his back to the dugout. I watched the automatic tarpaulin come out of the ground and start to unroll to cover the field. I watched as the tarp crept towards Coleman, swallowed him up and rolling over top of him as I tried to call out and warn him.
He did not hear. The NL stolenbase leader suffered a fractured ankle and was done.
However, trailing by two games, the Cards rallied to win four straight with Tito Landrum now in left field. They won 4-2 in Game 3 and 12-2 in Game 4, setting up high drama in Game 5.
In the ninth inning of a 2-2 game, closer Tom Niedenfuer entered and Ozzie Smith smashed a homer off the back wall in right to win it, his first-ever homer from the left side.
Back at Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles led 4-1 in the seventh. With two men on, Lasorda brought in Niedenfuer to face Smith again. This time, Ozzie tripled home a pair. In the ninth, Lasorda had Niedenfuer walk Smith intentionally and Jack Clark smacked a game-winning three-run homer.
The Jays are looking for history to repeat.