Jim Gantner turned in a legendary post season performance driving in 7 runs in the final two games of the NLCS at Miller Park to complete an epic comeback against the ' 88 New York Mets. The Brewers have now earned the right to face the ' 85 New York Yankees in the Fall Classic. Milwaukee had returned home for Games 6 and 7 down 3-2 in games after staving off elimination in New York by winning Game 5 > http://buzzingthetowersawx.blogspot.ca/2014/11/nlcs-game-5-82-brewers-vs-88-mets.html .
New York's Dwight Gooden seemed to be unhittable in Game 6 as he struck out 8 of the first nine Brewer batters. Darryl Strawberry's RBI single in the first inning gave New York a 1-0 lead and they nursed it for five innings. Over the course of those 5 innings, Gooden would end up with 10 strikeouts, but his dominance left him in the sixth. Milwaukee got consecutive singles from Cecil Cooper and Ted Simmons. Gorman Thomas then drove a single to center field and it looked as if the Brewers would get on the board, but Cooper indecisiveness left him hung up in a run down after Lenny Dykstra threw behind him. A Gooden wild pitch then moved Simmons to third and Thomas to second, so the Mets elected to intentionally walk Ben Oglivie some they could get to the light hitting Gantner.
Gantner came into the game batting .121 but ended the day for Gooden by driving a bases clearing double into the left center field gap to give Milwaukee a 3-1 lead. New York brought Terry Leach in to face Brewers' starter Moose Haas, but he rapped a single to turn the order over. Paul Molitor drove the nail in the coffin with a three run homer to deep center field to make the final score 6-1.
Haas quietly went about his business in this one turning in seven solid innings of one run baseball for his second win of the playoffs. This game was a rematch of Game 2 starters with Haas suffering the loss. Gooden was not involved in the Game 2 decision. Boxscore and key blasts by Gantner and Molitor are below.
In the deciding seventh game, Mets' starter Bobby Ojeda had the makings of another dominate start as he struck out 10 Milwaukee batters in only 4.1 innings of work. Unfortunately, he was the victim of poor timing we he got nicked up.
Milwaukee jumped out to an early 1-0 lead as Gorman Thomas and Charlie Moore hit back to back two out doubles. New York came roaring back in the top of the third as the Mets added a couple of two out hits of their own. Howard Johnson led off the inning with a single that glanced off Brewers' starter Pete Vuckovich and was then sacrificed to second by Ojeda. Centerfielder Lenny Dykstra lashed a single to score Johnson and was then driven home by a Wally Backman double to give the Mets a 2-1 advantage.
Cue more heroics by Jim Gantner in the fourth. After Milwaukee loaded the bases, Gantner drilled a two out double to left center off Ojeda to clear the bases and give the Brewers a 4-2 lead.
Controversy ensued in the eighth. New York closed the gap after Lenny Dykstra came home to score on a Keith Hernandez double with one out. Hernandez was then lifted for pinch runner Mookie Wilson. That would end the day for Vuckovich who held New York down scattering 9 hits and striking out 6. Jerry Augustine was the first out of the pen and he got Darryl Strawberry to pop out to third. Then, in came Jim Slaton to face Kevin McReynolds and he allowed a single up the middle to a charging Gorman Thomas. Brewers' third baseman Paul Molitor drifted into the base line and became momentarily tangled up with Mets' pinch runner Wilson as he approached third. He was consequently thrown out at the plate to end the inning, and despite much acrimony, the call was allowed to stand leaving Milwaukee clinging to a 4-3 lead. Check out the clip below.
Milwaukee padded their lead in the bottom half of the inning as Gantner again supplied the fire power lacing an RBI single to score Ben Ogilvie which would finish of the disheartened Mets and vault the Brewers into a World Series duel with the '85 Yankees. Check back for highlights of this classic matchup.
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