A Look Back: 1982 – Game Six

The year 1982 marked the first of three 1980′s appearances in the World Series for the St. Louis Cardinals. It also marks the one and only time that the Milwaukee Brewers reached the World Series.

With the two teams, now in the same league, prepared to face off for the National League Pennant, i70baseball brings you a look back to that series in 1982. A monumental series that took all seven games to decide a winner. A series that would see would see both teams win a game by a double digit margin as well as each team winning a game by two or fewer runs.

You can read more about Game One by clicking here.
You can read more about Game Two by clicking here.
You can read more about Game Three by clicking here.
You can read more about Game Four by clicking here.
You can read more about Game Five by clicking here.

Milwaukee had taken care of business at home and now traveled to St. Louis having to only win one game to upset the Cardinals and claim a world championship for the city. St. Louis found themselves taken by surprise with the upstart Brewers and suddenly had their backs against the wall, needing to win both games at home in order to advance.

Game Six: Tuesday, October 19, 1982
The weather would be one of the top stories of game six as the St. Louis area was tortured by storms throughout the day. Fans at Busch Stadium would be required to suffer through over two and a half hours of rain delays in order to see this game play through to completion. The game would be completed that night and the Cardinal faithful would not be disappointed.

It was a rematch of game two in this series as the Brewers sent veteran Don Sutton to the mound to oppose the Cardinals’ rookie hurler John Stuper. Game two required a come from behind victory for the Cardinals as Stuper found himself in trouble quite often. The offense for St. Louis wanted to make sure that would not have to happen again.

It was the bottom of the second when the Cardinals offense, coupled with the Brewers defensive gaffs, would jump on the board. Dane Iorg would drive a two out double ahead of Willie McGee. McGee would reach base on an error by Brewers’ shortstop Robin Yount, allowing Iorg to score. A double from the bat of Tom Herr would follow, and the Cardinals jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead.

George Hendrick would lead off the bottom of the fourth inning with a base hit and advance to second on a rare balk by Don Sutton. Darrel Porter would then drive a pitch out of the park to right field and the Cardinals’ bats were providing some entertainment for the fans. Iorg would then triple down the right field line and score on Herr’s sacrifice bunt. The Cardinals were now ahead 5-0 and sending a statement to the Brewers.

The Cardinals would benefit, uncharacteristically, from the long ball in this game. Keith Hernandez would hit a home run in to the right field power alley after Lonnie Smith‘s leadoff single in the fifth, tacking on two more runs and putting the Cardinals ahead 7-0. Hernandez’s home run would also push Sutton out of the game.

Milwaukee reliever Jim Slaton would retire the final two hitters of the fifth inning and yield to Doc Medich in the sixth. Iorg would lead off that inning with a double, advancing to third on Medich’s wild pitch. McGee would step in and drive a base hit into right field, scoring Iorg. Herr would follow with a single of his own and both runners would advance to second and third on Medich’s second wild pitch of the inning. Medich would get Ozzie Smith to ground out to first without surrendering the run before walking David Green, who took over for Lonnie Smith in left field, to load the bases. Kent Oberkfell would hit a ground ball to Brewer first baseman Cecil Cooper, which would result in McGee being thrown out at home as Milwaukee looked to get out of the jam with two outs now. Hernandez would then drive a base hit into right field, scoring both Herr and Green and allowing Oberkfell to advance to third. With runners at the corners, Hendrick would single and advance to second on the unsuccessful attempt to throw out Hernandez advancing to third, scoring Oberkfell in the process. Jim Gantner‘s error at second base on Darrel Porter’s ground ball would allow two more runners, Hernandez and Hendrick, to score. Iorg would lineout to left to put an end to the disastrous, six run inning for the Brewers, the Cardinals now leading 13-0.

Stuper would go the distance for the Cardinals, surrendering a run scored to Gantner on a wild pitch in the ninth inning, otherwise scattering four hits and two walks over the nine inning, rain soaked affair.

The series was tied and a deciding game seven would be played at Bush Stadium the following day. The conclusion of the 1982 World Series would come in a dramatic final game.

Stay tuned as i70baseball brings you game recaps for all seven games of the 1982 World Series on game days of the 2011 National League Championship Series.

Bill Ivie is the editor here at I-70 Baseball as well as the Assignment Editor for BaseballDigest.com.
He is the host of I-70 Radio, hosted every week on BlogTalkRadio.com.
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